Description

BRISTOL

ST5973 BROADMEAD, Broadmead
901-1/40/481 (North side)
08/01/59 The New Room
(Formerly Listed as:
BROADMEAD
Wesley's Chapel)

I

Shown on OS map as John Wesley's Chapel.
Chapel. 1739, enlarged 1748. Possibly by George Tully.
Restored 1929 by Sir George Oatley. Roughcast with limestone
dressings and hipped pantile roof.
Aisled hall plan, with galleried interior lit by central
octagonal lantern. Mid Georgian style. 2 storeys; 2-window
range.
The S front has a square-headed door with pronounced jambs and
key, semicircular 10/10-pane sash window above, and 2
first-floor windows with segmental heads to 8/8-pane sashes. N
front has a central segmental-arched doorway beneath a
segmental-arched window with 10/10-pane sashes, and 3
second-floor windows with 6/6-pane sashes.
INTERIOR: 4 bays with Tuscan columns, carrying panelled
galleries to the sides which curve in to the S end window. A
tall central octagonal lantern lit by 10/10-pane sash windows
to each side, and with 6/6-pane sashes to upstairs rooms to N
and S; NE conference room; first-floor has central full-length
dining room with Doric pilasters and study rooms to E and W
with fireplaces, one with an elliptical rubbed-brick arched
surround and blue tiles.
FITTINGS: a 2-tier pulpit at the E end with ramped handrail
and railed area in front, with column-on-vase balusters, box
pews to centre and fronts of galleries, fixed benches to
sides, and original communion table; organ by John Snetzler,
1761, given 1939; poor box, 1755, on N door.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the first Methodist meeting room in the
world, bought by Wesley and Whitefield in 1739 and enlarged in
1748. Originally square and with an entrance from the N, it
was extended by the addition of a further bay and an entrance
from Broadmead. The restricted site required living
accommodation to be placed over the Meeting Room, and the
whole interior to be lit by the lantern.
(Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural
History: Bristol: 1979-: 130; Sell: John Wesley's Chapel:
Bristol; An Inventory of Nonconformist Chapels...in Central
England: Stell C: Gloucestershire: London: 1986-: 65).

Listing NGR: ST5911373251

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• John Wesley's New Room at Wikipedia
• John Wesley's New Room official website
• Wikidata Q7011332

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)