Explore the childhood home of John and Charles Wesley, pioneering evangelists and founders of the Methodist movement.
Epworth Old Rectory is a Grade I listed house, once home to the Wesley family. The sons of a cleric, John and Charles Wesley spent their formative years here; tours of the house reveal their childhood years and the characters within the large Wesley clan.
A brick and stone construction in Queen Anne style, the rectory was built when its thatch and timber predecessor burned down. The family only narrowly escaped the blaze, with a human chain forming to lift John from an upstairs window just before the roof caved in.
Opened as a museum in 1957, the rectory now displays important artefacts including portraits and letters, and is surrounded by gardens including a Physic Garden, based on John Wesley’s book of home remedies, and a walled garden that hosts fairs and outdoor theatre in the summer.
