17/04/2026
This oil paining by J.W. Hatherell in the museum collection shows John Wesley preaching outside, possibly in his childhood village of Epworth, Lincolnshire. John is said to have travelled 250,000 miles in his lifetime to evangelise.
Travelling in the 1700s was much more arduous than today. Going any distance on horseback or by carriage was physically tiring, and the roads outside England's major town and cities were in very poor condition. Any added difficulties such as severe weather made journeying near impossible.
By April, John's travelling season would have been well under way, and in April 1780 he had left City Road for a tour of Northern towns and cities. On 17th, he wrote in his diary, "I left Leeds in one of the roughest mornings I have seen. We had rain, snow, and wind, in abundance."
This grim start didn't stop him completing a gruelling schedule of preaching at Bramley, Pudsey and Bradford, as well as a visit to Fulneck!