Day 6 - Attingham Hall and Shewsbury

As it is Tuesday, my normal day off Anne decided we should have a "day off" from the Wesley Tour and do something different today. So we set off for a National Trust property of her choice -Attingham Hall.

Built for the first Lord Berwick in 1785, Attingham Hall and its beautiful parkland were owned by one family for more than 160 years. As their fortunes rose and fell they proved themselves to be spenders, savers and saviours - providing a fascinating story of love and neglect whose mark still stands in Attingham’s rooms today. In 1947 the property was given to the National Trust by the 8th Lord Berwick and for sometime used as a college of further education, it is now in the process of being restored.

In the stables .. could it be Mr Wesley's horse!

Shewsbury
In the afternoon we found a cup of tea in Shewsbury. Little did Anne realise that John Wesley visited and preached in this historic town on several occasions. Such was his involvement in this part of the country, that his influence is seen everywhere! 

Shewsbury Abbey

The Abbey was founded as a Benedictine Monastery by Roger de Montgomery in 1083 on the site of an existing Saxon church. It grew to be one of the most important and influential abbeys in England and an important centre of pilgrimage. Although much of the Abbey was destroyed in the 16th century during as part of the dissolution of the monasteries, However part of the Abbey building survived and continued as a Parish Church - as it is to this day. 

Shewsbury Unitarian Church - High Street

We came across the Unitarian Church, built in 1662, and discovered that Charles Darwin worshiped here in his younger day.

The Unitarian Church is a liberal religious movement rooted in Judaeo Christian traditions but open to insights from other world faiths, science and humanism. The roots of the Unitarian movement lie mainly in the reformation of the 16th century. At that time people in many countries across Europe began to claim the right to read and interpret the bible for themselves, to have a direct relationship with God without the mediation of priest or church, and to set their own conscience against the claims of religious institutions. 

Many people came to question orthodox Christian doctrine and to affirm beliefs of their own. These included: the unity or unipersonality of God, as opposed to the doctrine of the Trinity – hence the name ‘Unitarian’; 

· the humanity, as opposed to the deity, of Christ; 

· the worth of human beings, as opposed to ideas of original sin, inherited guilt and innate depravity; 

· the universal salvation of all souls, as opposed to the doctrine that most of humanity is predestined to damnation. 

The earliest organised Unitarian movements were founded in the 16th century in Poland and Transylvania. In Britain, Unitarianism was damned as heresy and the death penalty imposed on anyone who denied the trinity. With Unitarianism seen as heresy and specifically forbidden by parliament’s Toleration Act of 1689, several early radical reformers who professed Unitarian beliefs in the 16th and 17th centuries, suffered imprisonment and martyrdom. Today about 170 churches exist. In 1689 the Act of Toleration came into being and a small chapel was built in the garden of a timber merchant in the High Street, owned by Richard Price and reached by a narrow passage under the house, but this was destroyed by a Jacobean mob in July 1715. It was quickly rebuilt with a courtyard onto the street. George I granted a Royal Charter to the Church and this now hangs over the pulpit.