Northumberland Street, Orphan House (Wesleyan)

HER Number

6983

District

Newcastle

Site Name

Northumberland Street, Orphan House (Wesleyan)

Place

Newcastle

Map Sheet

NZ26SW

Class

Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad

Place of Worship

Site Type: Specific

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel

General Period

POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Hanoverian 1714 to 1837

Form of Evidence

Documentary Evidence

Description

John Wesley founded an orphan house in Northumberland Street outside the Pilgrim Gate in 1742-3. It was never used as an orphange but became the base for Wesley and his fellow preachers' activities in the north and the local headquarters for Methodism. Wesley was here in 1745 when the town was fortified against the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Orphan House was outside the town walls but Wesley was confident: "Nay, but the Lord is a wall of fire to all that trust in Him…". After its demolition in 1857, a Wesleyan school was built on the site. This was demolished in 1955 when Barratt's shoe shop took over the whole site.

Easting

424870

Northing

564580

Grid Reference

NZ424870564580

Sources

L. Wilkes and G. Dodds, 1964, Tyneside Classical - The Newcastle of Grainger, Dobson and Clayton; Jimmy Donald, 1994, Not Just Bricks and Mortar; Thomas Oliver, 1844, Historical and Descriptive Reference to the Public Buildings on the Plan of the Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead; Peter F Ryder, 2012, Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in Newcastle and N Tyneside, a survey; Wesley Historical Society North East Branch, 2007, The Orphan House of John Wesley; Geoffrey Fisher and Rev. Terry Hurst, Wesley Historical Society North East Branch, 2009, The Orphan House Wesleyan Schools 1858-1956; Geoffrey Fisher and Rev. Terry Hurst, North East Methodist History Society, 2010, Methodism in Newcastle upon Tyne 1742-2010, p 7; George W Dolbey, 1964, The Architectural Expression of Methodism - The First Hundred Years, pages 43-45 and 72; L.F. Church, 1948, The Early Methodist People, page 62; W.W. Stamp, 1863, The Orphan House of Wesley; Wesley's Journal for 7th and 8th December 1742