History

John Wesley first visited Canterbury in 1749 and seems to have returned every year after then. This may be because he had friends, the Perronet family, in the area. Vincent Perronet was Vicar of Shoreham and the brothers Charles and Edward became prominent in the Wesleyan Society. However the first reference to Wesleyanism in Canterbury is of a preacher, Samuel Stationed in Canterbury in 1746, at which time there was no Society in the city. There obviously was by the time John visited in 1751 because he 'examined' the members and from then on he seems to have visited annually. In 1756 he visited on two occasions and each time commented on the number of officers and men in his congregation, as he did again in 1759.

In 1758, there were Methodists living and worshipping in St. Alphege's, St. Dunstan's and St. Paul's parishes; St. Mary Bredin parish actually had an eighteen year old Methodist Preacher, but the only place of meeting mentioned is the French Church in the precincts. At that time of course, and for quite some time afterwards, Methodists were still members of the Church of England, attending parish churches, often being among the most regular worshippers at both services and sacraments. The core of the society was the Class Meeting led by a local person - and always arranged so as not to clash with Anglican services.

Eventually the need arose for a separate building that was built in King Street using materials from St. Andrew's C/E Church and which had been demolished (because the military complained that since it projected into the High Street, it interfered with troops marching down the street). The chapel was a polygon and nicknamed the Pepper Box chapel because of its shape. Since Methodists still worshipped in Anglican churches until after Wesley's death in 1791, their buildings were primarily preaching places rather than places where the sacraments were administered. So everything centred on the pulpit, which was probably very high, and there was no sanctuary area or communion rail.

There was an organ in the Pepper-Box - records show it was brought to St. Peter's. The most famous organist was Thomas Clark who is best known for composing the tune to 'On Ilkla moor baht 'at'. But other instruments would be used too. Clark's uncle played the serpent in the King Street chapel orchestra and his father was the choirmaster. The orchestra would probably have sat in the gallery.

In 1786 there is a reference to two places of worship: one in the Palace 'which used to be in St. Alphege' and another 'of Mr. Wesley's party' - probably reflecting the rift between Wesley and Edward Perronet. All the same, John's congregation was too big for the building on his visit in 1789 and of course the people were still attending parish services.

St. Peter's, built in 1811, became the main place of worship for the Wesleyan tradition. By about 1820 the Sunday School at St. Peter's had 37 members.

St. Peter's still looks much the same outside but has undergone changes over the years. In 1851 a church census says it had 1100 seats and an average attendance in the morning of 418, in the afternoon 82 and in the evening 828.

Originally there was an oval gallery with the organ below the central pulpit which was high and said to have been modelled on the one in Wesley's Chapel in City Road, London. It had three tiers: for preacher, lector and precentor. The communion table stood behind it and was curved to fit against the wall - and the rail could accommodate just 12 people at a time, emphasising the importance still given to preaching over the sacraments!

The table was sold when alterations were carried out in 1976. Earlier alterations had cut back the gallery, set the pulpit to one side - and lowered it by one tier - and put choir pews at right angles to the apse on either side of the dais. The organ was moved to the front right hand corner of the chapel. The communion rail remained across the apse.

In 1976 the sanctuary area was enlarged and the pulpit lowered even more. The latest alterations, leaving the church as you now see it and with greater flexibility, were completed in 1998.

There is a map on our contact us page showing where St. Peter's Methodist Church is located in Canterbury.