Image ID: 19817

View from 'Bob's Rock' (natural stone outcrop where John Wesley preached), south of Nottingham Road, Stapleford

South of Nottingham Road
Stapleford
England

Exact location unknown, however Bob's Rock is located between the cemetery, to the south, and Wesley Place, to the north. John Wesley (1703-91) was an English theologian, evangelist, and founder of The Methodist religious movement. The established Anglican church was hostile to Methodism and most of the parish churches were closed to him. Wesley's friend, the evangelist George Whitefield, was also excluded from churches and preached in the open air, in February, 1739, to a company of miners. Wesley hesitated to accept Whitefield's earnest request to copy this bold step. Overcoming his scruples, he preached his first sermon in the open air, near Bristol, in April of that year. He was still unhappy about the idea of field preaching, and would have thought, 'till very lately,' such a method of saving souls as 'almost a sin.' These open-air services were very successful; and he never again hesitated to preach in any place where an assembly could be got together, more than once using his father's tombstone at Epworth as a pulpit. He continued for fifty years, entering churches when he was invited, taking his stand in the fields, in halls, cottages, and chapels, when the churches would not receive him. The Wesley Place Chapel in Stapleford was built afterwards near this spot where John Wesley preached in 1774. He used the natural sandstone outcrop which stood next to a quarry. This rock is one of many outcrops in the area. The Hemlock Stone, Stapleford Hill and Bramcote Hills are all made up of red sandstone, which was deposited in the early Triassic period over 200 million years ago.

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Stapleford Library