A plaque on the premises of Messrs E N Mason and Sons Ltd, Maidenburgh Street, Colchester, now marks for all time the site of the first Methodist Church in Colchester, built by John Wesley in 1759. The Town Council has carried out the work, and the inscription reads:
This tablet was erected by the
Corporation of Colchester
On this site stood
Wesley's Chapel
built by
John Wesley 1759
Replaced by church
in Culver Street 1836
Members of the Council and representatives of the Colchester Methodist Circuit attended the unveiling ceremony, which was performed by the Mayor (Councillor Major G C Benham), who, with the Rev J Asquith Baker (Superintendent of the Colchester Methodist Circuit), spoke from the old pulpit, the only relic remaining of the interior fittings, moved to the spot for this occasion.
Rev J Asquith Baker outlined the story behind the day’s
event:
“We have often thought that the first Methodist Church stood where the present brewery stands, but we were not able to locate the site. With the help of several friends, however, we were able to do so. When the late Mrs E N Mason was approached, she showed her interest in the matter, and it was from an extract of the trust deeds of this building that we were able to locate the site, for it mentions a building once used as a place of religious worship. The chapel is spoken of, in documents we have, as Mr Wesley’s Chapel, and Mr L C Sier discovered in a history of Colchester, written in 1789, the statement that in this road stands a plain, round building erected by the Rev Mr Wesley and named Wesley’s Chapel. Well might it be so named, for Mr Wesley persuaded the people to build it, and visited it at least 32 times between 1759 and 1790.
It seemed to us that a Methodist Chapel, the first to be built in the two counties of Essex and Suffolk, which was the centre of a great work carried on in an areA of 40 miles all round Colchester, and having such associations with the revered name of John Wesley, might be considered a historic building, and we therefore propose to commemorate the fact. We approached the firm of Messrs E N Mason and Sons, and they quite readily granted permission for us to place a plaque on their walls. The Museum and Muniment Committee, through Sir Gurney Benham, decided to recommend the Town Council that the town should be responsible for the plaque, and we are proud of the fact that the Corporation agreed to mark this historic site in this way.
Through the researches of the late Mr J R Bedwell, we are able to give
more information of the chapel and the preacher’s house. Mr Bedwell, in 1874, says the preacher’s house stood in front of the chapel. He states: ‘ The old house is now the offices of the Brewery and the old entrance retained so we may take it that the entrance to che offices of Messrs Daniell’s Brewery was the entrance to the preacher’s house, though it has probably been renewed in front. The house next to Messrs. Mason’s was certainly the preacher’s house from 1759 to 1835, and many notable preachers have lived there, the most notable of all being Francis Asbury, afterwards the great pioneer of Methodism in the United States.
Mr Bedwell relates that there were gates at the side of the house, — that is, beneath the plaque, — leading to the chapel, which stood behind the house. The chapel was octagonal in shape, and held over 700 people. Behind the chapel was a lean to vestry, and from the vestry a door opened into a passage into the Castle Bailey.”