John Wesley's New Room

John Wesley’s New Room stands in central Bristol between The Horsefair and Broadmead. Built in 1739 as the first Methodist preaching house, it was enlarged in 1748 and remains the oldest purpose-built Methodist chapel anywhere. Historic England recognises it as a Grade I listed building. Statues of John and Charles Wesley stand in the courtyards around the chapel. The site also includes a museum in the preachers’ rooms above the chapel. The chapel began when John Wesley started open-air preaching in Bristol in April 1739. William Seward provided most of the funds, while George Whitefield helped gather support. The building used ship timber for pews and had a double-decker pulpit lit by an octagonal lantern window. Wesley allowed the chapel to be used as a schoolroom and dispensary for the poor. After 1748 the space hosted a bookshop selling Wesley’s works and one of Bristol’s first medical dispensaries. Today visitors find the restored chapel with its 1761 chamber organ and twelve upstairs rooms now part of an interactive museum. A garden opened in Broadmead Courtyard in 2011, and a visitor centre with café and archive opened in Horsefair in 2017. The site welcomes pilgrims from around the world as the oldest Methodist building of its kind.