In Wesley's day the West Street area was described as squalid, disturbed by quarrelling and the noise of costermongers and 'practising musicians'.

The chapel was built in the late seventeenth century for a Huguenot congregation and was rented by John Wesley in 1743 as his base in West London, with the approval of the Archbishop and the Bishop of London. Until the building of his new chapel in City Road, it was usually referred to simply as 'the Chapel', distinguishing it from the Foundery.

The Chapel was 'a plain, unpretending structure with large windows and a little belfry rising above the roof cornice.' The inside had Ionic columns and a plain arched ceiling.

Charles Wesley conducted the first Methodist Watchnight service there on 3 July 1747. John Fletcher hurried there from his ordination in March 1757 to assist John Wesley in administering the Lord's Supper and, as a consecrated building, it was the scene of regular sacramental services, prolonged by the large numbers of communicants. On 29 November 1759 services were held as part of the General Thanksgiving Day for Wolfe's capture of Quebec; and in 1779 Brian Bury Collins preached at a service inaugurating the Naval and Military Bible Society.

In 1798 the society moved to a chapel in Great Queen Street, the forerunner of the Kingsway Hall. The West Street building became a chapel of ease of St. Giles parish, used on weekdays as a boys' school. In 1830 it was bought by an Irish society for Anglican services in Celtic and in 1888 became the home of the Seven Dials Mission. The building still stands, with a plaque commemorating its use by the Wesleys.

Entry written by: JAV
Category: Place
Comment on this entry