SAVE THE TABERNACLE

The Whitefield Tabernacle is one of the most important places in the world as far as Methodism is concerned yet it remains derelict.

Wesley's Tabernacle is in a very sorry state, especially after losing its roof in an arson attack three years ago.

But this Grade One listed building - whose origins go back as far as 1742 deserves more than our passing attention. Along with the New Room, in Bristol’s Broadmead, which was founded by John Wesley and his non-conformist followers in 1739, it is one of the most important places in the world in the history of Methodism and should therefore be saved for posterity George Whitefield was, along with the more famous Wesley a leading light in the 18th century spiritual struggle against what was seen as an uncaring and hierarchical Anglican church.

Along with other radicals who felt that the Church of England had lost its way Whitefield — who trained. like Wesley as a priest at Oxford University — started preaching to the masses, who at that time were suffering terribly from poverty and low wages.

At the same time as the founding of Wesley’s Room, Whitefield came to Bristol to preach. Banned from the pulpits of the city’s churches by a suspicious and sometimes antagonistic clergy he took to preaching in the open, something that had not been done since the days of the Friars. This was at Rose Green near Kingswood. outside the city and away from the influence of the Anglicans.

The people of Kingswood - regarded by many at the time as ungovernable and ungodly immediately took to a Whitefield who was, by all accounts, a wonderful preacher.

Whitefield - trying to communicate with a people whom Wesley described as. 'so ignorant ... that they seemed but one removed from the beasts that perish' - was a success, and he and Wesley went on to preach to thousands of colliers and labourers in the area.

Roy Hattersley, former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and an authority on ‘Wesley and Methodism, has this to say:

'George Whitefield was a great man who has too often been forgotten and who ought to be celebrated in what was his great place of worship. He was a great orator It was said that he could make his congregation weep by just saying ‘Mesopotamia’. It’s also said that you could never meet him with any money in your pocket without him extracting it from you to use to build his church. But, more important than that, he was a man of immense conviction'.

'He was a man who believed so strongly that he devoted his entire life to propagating what he believed to be right. And, by doing that, he helped to shape the nature of the century that followed his death'.

'Methodism encouraged working classes to be prosperous, to be respectable, to respect probity to be gentle, to avoid fraud, to be the sort of people who built the industrial revolution'.

'George Whitefield is one of the men who built this country and by saving his Tabernacle we can celebrate, as well as perpetuate, his memory'

George Whitefield was born at the Bell Inn, Gloucester in 1715. His parents were both Bristolians, his father being a merchant here before he took over the Bell Inn. Whilst at Oxford University George, he heard tell of a poor woman inmate of the workhouse who had tried to commit suicide.

Knowing the Methodists interests in the welfare of the poor, he sent a message concerning the woman, via an old apple-woman, to the Wesleys. He gave the apple-woman instructions not to reveal his identity, which instructions she disobeyed and subsequently Whitefield was induced to become a member of the Methodists.

In 1739 George Whitfield came to Bristol but was banned from preaching in Anglican churches because of his ideas. On the 17th February 1739 he preached for the first time in the open fields at Rose Green near Kingswood. Over the next few weeks he preached at various sites in and around Kingswood and the response from the previously ungodly people was immediate and dramatic.

The Whitefield Building Preservation Trust was set up in 1995 to spearhead the fight to save the Tabernacle for future generations. Its aim is to repair and then re-open the building for community use. Preservation Trust chair and local coundillor Heather Goddard said: ‘The Tabernacle is a vital part of Kingswood’s heritage.

It dates back to the 18th century when the miners living here - who were a pretty rough lot - were converted to Christianity by Whitefield and the Wesley brothers. Kingswood should be justly proud of the building and should fight to see it restored.

'We want to convert the building for 21st-century Kingswood - old buildings are for the living and the campaign reflects that as well as the need to preserve history' The historic site also includes an 18th century chapel house, a graveyard, a former schoolhouse and the Masters Church, which was built in 1851.

Services have not been held in the church since 1983 due to a dwindling congregation

MISSION TO SAVE FAITH LANDMARK - 09 January 2007

The regeneration of Kingwood's historic Whitfield Tabernacle will now, it's been revealed, include a memorial to the preacher whose name it bears.

The Whitfield tabernacle site - which at present consists of three derelict, listed buildings and a graveyard - will soon be transformed by the award-winning PG Group into an attractive area honouring the crusading cleric responsible for getting it built in the first place.The company's managing director, Ian Walker, said: 'The newly-landscaped site is to be called the Whitfield Memorial Garden. It will be home to a monument dedicated to the memory of George Whitfield as well as outlining the importance of the site to the Kingswood area.

'We propose to liaise with the Preservation Trust on the wording and siting of the monument and we'll also be consulting the local Methodist church.'

Stressing that very few graves would be disturbed by the project, he added: 'We'll liaise with relatives who visit to discuss seating and landscaping.

'After a team of workmen had been here last summer cutting back the undergrowth and brambles, we commissioned experts to survey and catalogue the graves - some of which are more than 100 years old and completely derelict - so that they can be sensitively landscaped.'

The PG Group, based in Redfield, bought the site from the United Reformed Church and is now seeking planning permission to convert two Grade II-listed buildings into homes.

It wants to add an extension to the Chapel House - which dates from around the same time as the tabernacle - and to create one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats.

The Gothic-style church would be turned into one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. The tabernacle itself - which is Grade I-listed - is currently on the English Heritage Buildings 'at risk' register after being severely damaged by an arson attack some six years ago.

The developers want to add an extension to the existing building to provide a library, coffee shop and meeting room.

Heather Goddard, chairman of the preservation trust which has been trying to restore the building, said: 'Obviously anything that brings this eyesore in the centre of Kingswood into vibrant community use has got to be welcomed.'

She is pleased that the tabernacle, part of Kingswood's heritage and designated a Conservation Area some 10 years ago, is to be preserved.

Only the second non-conformist building in the world, the tabernacle was featured on BBC2's Restoration programme where it had to compete for funding against other neglected buildings in the South West.

Despite an impassioned appeal by former Labour leader Roy Hattersley it didn't make it through to the next round - but it did receive a lot of public interest.

Commissioned by Whitfield himself in 1741, its history mirrors the development of the Evangelical revival of the mid 18th Century.

Born in the Bell Inn in Gloucester in 1714, the radical preacher is considered to be one of the greatest evangelists of all time. By the time of his death in America in 1770, Whitfield had preached more than 18,000 sermons - an average of about 500 a year or 10 a week.

During the 1730s, along with Methodist pioneers John and Charles Wesley, he was a young man at Oxford training to be an ordinary Church of England priest. The trio became increasingly influenced by the non-conformist ideas spreading up from Europe.

In 1739, Whitfield came to Bristol but, having been banned from preaching in the Anglican churches because of his radicalism, he took his message to the wild coal miners and their families in the open fields at Rose Green near Kingswood.

When he left to visit America he invited his old friend John Wesley to take over his work here. After seeing Whitfield preach in the open air Wesley wrote in his journal: 'I could scarce reconcile myself to this strange way of preaching in the fields'.

But his day would come and, in April 1739, Wesley found himself preaching in the open for the first time at Hanham Mount. Huge numbers of people, measured in their thousands, flocked to their non conformist banner and the site has remained a special one ever since.

On his return, Whitfield, who had moved towards a radical Calvanism, and so away from Wesley's philosophy, decided to build a tabernacle for his followers.

The original building of 1741 was extended in 1802 and 1830. However, by the mid 19th Century, the old meeting room, considered too small and outdated to accommodate a growing congregation, was replaced by a new church.

Designed by Henry Masters and completed in 1851, this served until 1983 when, due to falling attendances, the church finally closed its doors.

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