Salem Methodist Church, Watley's End, Winterbourne, (Bristol)

Last Thursday the staff of the Bristol and South Gloucestershire Methodist Circuit had a quiet day at Salem Methodist Church led by Rev Carrie Seaton. It was good to be together after the news of the death of our colleague Rev Michael Etheridge two days earlier.

Most of Winterbourne consists of post-WWII suburban development but the core settlement of Watley's End, built after 1770 on the old Common around the hatting industry, has a character which is visually distinct. Salem Chapel is one of the oldest Methodist Churches in the Bristol Methodist District. Salem was the first Wesleyan Chapel built in villages around Bristol in 1787 by hatters using local quarried pennant stone. The hatters were keen Methodists, and wherever they established a large community there was a Chapel.  John Wesley recorded in his Journal for September 17th 1787 that he preached on the foundation of a new preaching house. His entry for the day reads:

“Leaving this (Bath) Society in a better state than it has been for many years, I went to Bristol, where my brother has been for some weeks. By the way I preached at Winterbourne on the foundation of a new preaching-house. There was much rain before I began, and a violent wind all the time I was preaching; yet some of these I trust, did come to the marriage. I had now two or three days to answer my letters. Every evening our room (Bristol) was well filled with attentive hearers”

John Wesley had visited Winterbourne to preach on September 6th 1750, November 2nd 1752 and October 15th 1761 (details from his Sermon Register), so it took some years for the folk who heard Wesley preach to come to a point at which they could think of building a preaching house. The land was purchased by Robert Curtis, a hatmaker of Winterbourne, for 10 guineas, from Mr George Rolf of Thornbury. The condition of the sale was the preaching house has to be built within year, or the land reverted to its original owner.

In 1792 a further purchase of land took place. For one guinea, the land on which the present vestry, upstairs schoolroom and the area which is now the toilets, was purchased. Later that same year, Chapel House, including out-buildings, shops and small orchard was also purchased. This was transferred to a body of trustees in 1840, and later used as a ministers house, and later again by caretakers.

A certificate dated January 15th 1796 was sent to the Bishop of Gloucester stating that:

“Some of His majesty’s dissenting subjects have set apart for the service of God a room or building called the Methodists’ Chapel in the Parish of Winterbourne, which they desire may be registered in the Bishop’s Court according to an Act of Parliament of William and Mary”

(Extract from Salem Website)

The Chapel is still an important centre of religious and social life in Watley's End.

For an interesting guide around some of the Nonconformist Churches in the Bristol area click:  Here to download a map and tour guide produced by South Gloucestershire Council. 

Samuel Wesley's 250th Birthday Celebrations in Bristol

Events happing in the New Room 

Celebrating Samuel Wesley's Birthday.

Samuel son of Charles Wesley, the family lived in their family home in Charles Street Bristol where he showed his musical talent early in life. As a boy, he was recognised as a child prodigy by the  musical establishment;

He was full eight years old when Dr [William] Boyce came to see us and accosted me with, 'Sir, I hear you have an English Mozart in your house'. I called Sam to answer for himself. He had by this time scrawled down his Oratorio of Ruth. The Doctor looked it over very carefully and seemed highly pleased with the performance. Some of his words were, 'These airs are some of the prettiest I have seen. This boy writes by nature as true a bass as I can do by rule and study'

(The Musical Wesleys. London: Herbert Jenkins)

Wesley worked as a conductor  as well as a music teacher and lecturer. He seems to have been one of the pioneers of the British organ recital. His ability on the organ was so highly regarded that he was introduced to, and played for Mendelssohn. Many of his best-known compositions were written for the church; they include the motet In exitu Israel.

Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart (1756–1791) and was called by some "the English Mozart".

In 1784, Wesley privately converted to Roman Catholicism, to the dismay of his uncle John Wesley. His hymn-writer father Charles, expressed his opinion in the following words:

While ready and resolved is he to plunge into the dark abyss

And cast his soul away

That poison of the Romish sect

O let not his soul infect

 Samuel died in 1837 and was buried in St Marylebone Parish Church London.

CLICK HERE 

to listen to Samuel Wesley'sSymphony in E flat Major Allegro

New Room Development Project

Asbury Celebrations Birmingham 9th April2016

2016 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Bishop Francis Asbury, who sailed from the port of Pill, Bristol in 1771 after being ordained by John Wesley. Asbury became the first Joint Superintendent Methodist minister in America.

Asbury became a local lay preacher for Methodist meetings at age 18. At age 22, John Wesley appointed him as a travelling preacher. His home still stands and is open as a museum in West Bromwich, England. 

In 1771 he volunteered to travel to America. Within the first 17 days of being in the colonies, Asbury had preached in Philadelphia and New York. During the first year he was Wesley’s assistant and preached in 25 different settlements. When the American War of Independence broke out in 1776, he and James Dempster were the only Methodist ministers to remain in America.

In 1813, Asbury wrote his will. This was a time when “the greatest membership gain in the history of the church” was achieved. In 1814 his health started to fail and he became ill. In 1816 he started to regain strength and continued his preaching journey. He “preached his last Sermon in Richmond, Virginia” on March 24, “and dies at the home of George Arnold near Fredericksburg” on March 31

In partnership with the Black Country Living Museum, The Methodist Church are celebrating Asbury’s early years as a local apprentice metal worker, and the impact of Methodism on the industrialised Midlands of the nineteenth century.
There will be an opportunity to visit his childhood home in a vintage bus, experience a Victorian Sunday School and other activities, including a special visit of Burslem's Gospel Car.

Gospel Car 'No 11 Ebenezer' at Swan Bank Methodist Mission

The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists and Church Army all used 'Gospel cars' in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. They toured Markets, Fairs,and rural locations. Within Methodism, horsedrawn wagons were partly replaced by hand-pushed 'trek carts' in the inter-war years, and finally by deaconess' caravans in the 1950s.

Burslem is in the heart of the Potteries. John Wesley visited many times and it was the birthplace and early home of Primitive Methodist leader,William Clowes.
This faithful reproduction of Car No 11 was built in 2011, and is normally housed at Burslem's Swan Bank Mission between visits to schools and churches, when visitors can listen to '78s' on the gramophone, try the loud hailer, beds and harmonium, and watch a magic lantern slide show.

The Bristol & South Gloucestershire Circuit have a 21st century version - our VW converted Camper Vans known as Vincent & Wilfred!

Our Van also comes with built in projection - Flat screen TV, kitchen, tables and sofa's,

and will touring around the County Shows, and various other venues throughout 2016.

Anne and I have booked for the event at the Black Country Museum on Saturday 9th April at an early bird price of £9 per person. We will be staying overnight at the Premier Inn at Longbridge (£35). If you want to join us.

Click HERE for more information and tickets

Click  HERE to take the Asbury Quiz

Asbury’s boyhood home and now a small museum – is being opened between 11am and 4pm on Thursday 31 March, the actual anniversary of his death.