[WESLEY HERITAGE TOUR FULL ITINERARY] May 18 30, 2007

Transcription

1 [WESLEY HERITAGE TOUR FULL ITINERARY] WESLEY HERITAGE TOUR May 18 30, 2007 A Travel Seminar Sponsored by Candler School of Theology, Emory University Arrangements by Academy International Travel Services, Inc. DESCRIPTION The Wesley Heritage Tour, sponsored by Candler School of Theology at Emory University, is a travel seminar designed to acquaint participants with the historical background and religious heritage of the Methodist movement. We will visit many sites associated with John Wesley himself Epworth, his birthplace; Oxford, where he was both a student and a teacher and involved in the activities of the Holy Club ; Stanton Harcourt, where he preached some of his earliest sermons; Bristol, where he began his field preaching career and where the first Methodist Society was formed; and London, where the City Road Chapel became the center of Methodism. We will also visit Glastonbury, the birthplace (at least in legend) of Christianity in England, the ruins of the great medieval abbeys of Rievaulx and Whitby, and some of the magnificent English cathedrals, including Wells and Ely, York Minster, Christ Church in Oxford, King s College Chapel in Cambridge, and St. Paul s in London. We will not only see first-hand some evidence of the richness of the English religious heritage, we will also have a chance to experience the country that Wesley knew so well and loved so much: the gentle Cotswold hills country near Oxford, the rich fenland around Epworth, the barren beauty of the Yorkshire Moors, the charm of small rural English villages, and the glamour of famous cities such as Bath and London. By deepening our familiarity with John Wesley s England, we will strengthen our appreciation of Wesley himself, and of his message and his movement his religious and cultural heritage is also our own. The faculty leader of this travel seminar is Rex D. Matthews, visiting assistant professor of historical theology at Candler School of Theology, former senior editor of Academic Books for Abingdon Press, and editorial director for Scholars Press and for the Society of Biblical Literature. Matthews regularly teaches courses at Candler on The History of Methodism and The Theology of Wesley and Methodism, and has experience in leading travel seminars such as this. Beth Luton Cook, director of the Office of Church Ministries Education at Candler, will serve as co-leader. A lifelong Methodist, Cook is an elder in the North Georgia Conference and directs the Course of Study School for local pastors at Candler and a program of continuing education for clergy and laity. ITINERARY The following itinerary outlines what is planed for the Wesley Heritage Tour. The precise details of this itinerary are subject to alteration or adjustment without advance notice due to circumstances beyond our control, including but not limited to weather problems, road repairs, and unanticipated site or attraction closures. 1

2 Departure: From Atlanta to London Friday, May 18 Atlanta/London flight details to be provided later Departures from our various home cities may be arranged, connecting in Atlanta for the overnight flight to London. Day 1: From London to the Cotswolds Saturday, May 19 We will arrive at London s Gatwick Airport on Saturday morning, local time, where we will be met by our tour guide. We will travel by coach from the airport to our hotel in the Cotswold countryside, west of Oxford. After a brief rest and lunch at the hotel, in the afternoon we will visit some of the central Cotswold villages, including Bibury and Burton-on-the-Water (where a real English cream tea will be available if desired), before returning to the hotel for dinner. Day 2: Oxford Sunday, May 20 We will travel by coach to Oxford, where we will have a full day to experience the city which many call the golden heart of England. Oxford University, the origins of which date from 1167, has for over eight centuries been one of the foremost seats of learning in all of Europe. We will have a brief walking tour of central Oxford, ending at Christ Church College, John Wesley s undergraduate college, with its magnificent cathedral, where we will attend the Sunday worship service at 11:15 am. We will have a guided tour of Christ Church following lunch, then we will visit Lincoln College, where John Wesley was a fellow and where rooms have been restored in his honor. We will then have discretionary time for the rest of the afternoon to explore some of the other attractions of Oxford, including the Ashmolean Museum and the world-famous Blackwell s Bookstore. A stroll through Christ Church Meadows and along the banks of the Thames and Cherwell Rivers is highly recommended, as is a visit to the Eagle and Child pub (known locally as The Bird and Baby ) on St. Giles Street, where a plaque on the wall commemorates the regular meetings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and other friends in a group called the Inklings to enjoy a pint of ale and read each other passages from their current works. In the late afternoon we will re-board our coach to visit the village of Stanton Harcourt, just west of Oxford, where Wesley preached a number of times while he was in Oxford. We will then return to our hotel for dinner. Day 3: Bristol Monday, May 21 Today we travel to Bristol, where John Wesley preached both his first open-air sermon (near Avon Street on April 2, 1739) and his last (in King Square on August 29, 1790). In the morning we will have a general sightseeing tour of the city, including the Clifton Suspension Bridge, spanning the beautiful Avon Gorge, which is the symbol of the city of Bristol. For almost 150 years this structure has attracted visitors from all over the world. The foundation stone was laid in 1831 but the project was dogged with political and financial difficulties and was not completed until Designed in the early 19th century for light horse drawn traffic, it still meets the demands of 21st century vehicular traffic. In the late morning we will tour Bristol Cathedral, then have lunch. In the afternoon we will visit the New Room, the oldest Methodist chapel in the world. On entering the New Room, we will see the famous double-decker pulpit from which John and Charles Wesley, John Fletcher, Francis Asbury, Thomas Coke, and many other Methodist preachers have proclaimed the gospel the lower part being used for Bible readings and leading worship, the upper part for preaching. Also notable here are the original table at which both John and Charles Wesley 2

3 celebrated Holy Communion, and the equestrian statue of John Wesley in the forecourt. We will also visit the house at 4 Charles Street, where Charles Wesley lived with his wife, Sally, and their three children, Samuel, Charles and Sarah, from 1766 to 1771; it is now preserved as a Heritage Center. If time permits, we will also visit the nearby St James Church, the oldest in Bristol, which served as the parish church of Wesley s Horsefair community to which in the early days he brought his members for Holy Communion, where Charles Wesley s children were baptized and where five of his children are buried in the churchyard. As we travel from Bristol back to our hotel for dinner, we will stop briefly at Hanham Mount, on Mount Hill Road near the Kingswood area, where John Wesley and George Whitefield preached their earliest open-air sermons. Day 4: Bath, Wells, and Glastonbury Tuesday, May 23 In the morning we will visit the elegant Georgian city of Bath, immortalized in literature by such figures as Jane Austin and Charles Dickens, and the site of a famous confrontation between John Wesley and Richard Beau Nash, the dean of eighteenth-century social life in England. We will visit the Roman Baths, from which the city takes its name, which were rediscovered in 1727 and since restored, and we will have an opportunity to take the waters upstairs in the famous Pump Room. The fifteenth-century Bath Abbey hides a magnificent interior behind its grimy facade. We will have a chance to walk around the city to admire its splendid golden stone architecture, particularly the Circle, the Royal Crescent, and the Pultney Bridge across the River Avon. The fifteenth-century Bath Abbey hides a magnificent interior behind its grimy facade. The Countess of Huntingdon s Chapel, now restored, is where Wesley was accused by Horace Walpole of preaching very ugly enthusiasm. Lunch will be on our own in Bath. After lunch, we will re-board our coach and travel south to the lovely, tiny city of Wells, where the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew provides the best surviving example in England of a full medieval cathedral complex, complete with Bishop s Palace, Vicar s Close, and Chapter House. The most distinctive feature of the cathedral is its famous scissors arches, designed to transfer the weight of the central tower columns from a weaker to a stronger foundation. From Wells we will continue on to Glastonbury, the legendary birthplace of Christianity in England. One story says that Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury after the death of Jesus, and that the famous Glastonbury Thorn grew from the staff that he thrust into the ground there. He is also said to have brought with him the Holy Grail that was used in the Last Supper. This story provides a link to local legends about King Arthur. Nearby Glastonbury Tor is supposed to be the legendary Isle of Avalon, and the remains of Arthur and Guinevere are said to lie in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. After paying homage to the once and future King and his consort, we will return to our hotel for dinner. Day 5: From the Cotswolds to York Wednesday, May 23 This morning will travel by coach from the Cotswolds to York (about 225 miles). Established by the Romans in 71 A.D. as a military outpost, York quickly grew to become second in size and importance only to London in Roman Britain. The city is dominated by the magnificent York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in England, which we will visit in the afternoon after checking into our hotel. Built between 1220 and 1470, the cathedral houses an exceptional collection of medieval stained glass. John Wesley was a frequent visitor to York, and though there is no evidence that he ever preached in the cathedral itself, one of his preaching houses was located near the Shambles, one of the best preserved and most widely known medieval streets in England. 3

4 In the late afternoon, after a tour of York Minster, we will have a bit of time to explore the surrounding area, including the medieval city walls and the Shambles, and if time permits, the Merchant Adventurer s Hall, the Castle Museum, or the Jorvik Viking Center, which offers a very interesting and educational recreation of Viking village life, complete with sounds and smells. Dinner and overnight at our hotel in York. Day 6: Rievaulx, The Yorkshire Moors, and Whitby Thursday, May 24 In the morning we will visit Rievaulx, once the largest Cistercian abbey in England and one of the largest in the world. Founded in the twelfth century by monks from Brittany, the abbey now lies in ruins, but the surviving choir and refectory are among the finest remains of early English ecclesiastical architecture. After a guided tour of the ruins of Rievaulx, we will enjoy lunch in the nearby scenic village of Hutton-le-Hole, set on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, a beautiful area of heather-covered uplands, deep dales, and rock-walled farmland. This is the country of James Herriott s All Creatures Great and Small; his home and his surgery (hospital) are a few miles to the west in Thirsk (the real-life version of the fictional Darrowby). After lunch and a visit to the Rydale Folk Museum in Hutton-le-Hole, we will travel by coach through the heart of the North York Moors National Park, we will visit the ruins of Whitby Abbey, home of Caedmon, the illiterate herdsman whose prayer for the gift of song was answered miraculously and who subsequently came to be known as the Father of English Sacred Song. The abbey was built here in large part to commemorate the Synod of Whitby, which is 664 A.D. determined that English Christianity would follow the practices and customs of Roman Christianity rather than those of Irish or Celtic Christianity. From Whitby we will travel south along the coast to the picturesque town of Robin Hood s Bay, and then on to Scarborough, whose Fair was made famous around the world through the song by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle. We then return to York for dinner and overnight at our hotel. Day 7: Epworth and Ely Friday, May 25 We will travel by coach from York to Epworth, the birthplace of John and Charles Wesley. St. Andrew s Parish Church, the origins of which date from the twelfth century, still stands; Samuel Wesley served as its Rector from 1696 to 1735, and it was here that the young John Wesley was baptized. The beautiful silver Wesley Chalice in the church, inscribed Epworthiae in Insula de Axholm AD 1706, is believed to have been given by Samuel Wesley and used by John Wesley for his first communion. Later, John Wesley preached here on one occasion while standing on his father s tomb, located on the south side of the church, when he was denied access to the pulpit inside. The Rectory, which was rebuilt following the fire of 1709 (from which young John was saved as a brand plucked from the burning ), has been restored by the World Methodist Council to its condition during Wesley s childhood. The Wesley Memorial Church in Epworth was completed in 1889 in commemoration of the lives of the Wesleys. After lunch in Epworth, we will continue south for an afternoon visit to the magnificent Ely Cathedral. Often referred to as Ship of the Fens because of its visibility across the flat countryside, is considered to be among the finest architecture in England. The most distinctive feature of Ely Cathedral is the octagon, the inspiration of Alan of Walsingham over 600 years ago. Built to replace the original stone central tower, which had collapsed, the trunks of some of largest oak trees in the country were used to support the four hundred tons of lead, wood, and stone of the tower; its construction is a triumph of medieval engineering and craftsmanship. We will then proceed to the Cambridge area for dinner and overnight at our hotel. 4

5 Day 8: Cambridge Saturday, May 26 In the morning we will visit Wesley House, which was founded in 1921 as a Wesleyan theological college for the training of Methodist ministers. We wil then have a walking tour of Cambridge, during which we will visit the grounds and public areas of several of the great colleges, including King s, Queens, Emmanuel, Trinity, and Jesus, and see the view of the backs of the colleges and their gardens from across the River Cam. Unfortunately we will be visiting during Easter Term when many colleges are giving exams and are closed to visitors. The afternoon will be free to explore the many attractions of Cambridge, including the Botanic Garden and the Fitzwilliam Museum, which includes among its collections numerous medieval manuscripts and a sizeable number of William Blake s engravings and illustrations. Adventurous souls may wish to try their hand at punting in the River Cam; others may prefer to stroll along the river to view the backs the views of the great colleges from across the river perhaps continuing the three miles or so to Grantchester to take tea at the Orchard, a Cambridge tradition immortalized in the poem by Rupert Brooke which ends with the words: Stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there still honey for tea? We will then meet at King s College Chapel for the choral Evensong service at 5:30 pm, sung by the world-renowned King s College Choir, after which we will return to our hotel for dinner and overnight. Day 9: From Cambridge to London Sunday, May 27 We will travel by coach from Cambridge to London, arriving in time to attend Sunday worship at Wesley s Chapel. After Sunday worship and lunch, we will have a guided coach tour for an orientation to the city. The late afternoon is then free for us to explore London on our own. If the weather is good, consider a ride on the London Eye, also called the Millennium Wheel, the world's largest ferris wheel; or a stroll through one of London s expansive parks, such as Green Park or Hyde Park; or perhaps a visit some of its famous shops, particularly Harrod s in Knightsbridge. We are on own for dinner, perhaps at one of London s ubiquitous curry restaurants, before returning to our hotel for the night. Day 10: London The Methodist Sites Monday, May 28 Today we will visit the principal sites in London related to John and Charles Wesley and to Methodism, in particular Wesley s Chapel in City Road. This chapel was erected to replace the Foundery, the old cannon factory which John Wesley acquired and renovated in 1739 to be the original headquarters of Methodist in London. John Wesley himself laid the cornerstone of the new chapel in 1777, and preached the dedication sermon in By 1972, the chapel had deteriorated so badly that it was declared unsafe for public use. Contributions from Methodist people around the world helped to save and restore the chapel, which was reopened in John Wesley s house, on the south side of the chapel, was his primary residence from 1779 until his death in The upper floors of the house have been made into a museum where many of Wesley s personal artifacts, including one of his preaching robes, his portable writing desk, and one of his electrical machines, may be seen. Wesley himself is entombed behind the chapel. Across the street in the Bunhill Fields Cemetery is the grave of Susanna Wesley, who lies in distinguished company Isaac Watts, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, and William Blake are among the luminaries whose tombs are also to be found here. A mile or so to the south is the Charterhouse, originally a Carthusian priory which was transformed into a school in 1611; John Wesley was a student there from 1714 to 1720, when he went up to Oxford. The actual location of the house in Aldersgate Street where Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed on 5

6 May 24, 1738, is now unknown, but we will see the Aldersgate Memorial near the entrance to the City of London Museum. After lunch at Wesley s Café in historic Westminster Central Hall, we will have a guided tour of this famous building, long the headquarters of British Methodism. Built as Wesley Centenary Building and opened in 1912, it now serves as a church and conference center. The Great Hall, which seats 2,350 people, has a splendid decorated ferro-concrete dome, and a 4,731 pipe organ, was the meeting place of the first United Nations General Assembly in We will then make our way to the Charles Wesley Memorial in Marylebone High Street, where Charles Wesley is buried in the churchyard of Old Marylebone Church. In a memorial garden stands an obelisk in memory of Charles, his wife Sarah, and their two sons. Charles lived and died in nearby Great Chesterfield Street (now Wheatley Street) where the site is marked by a plaque on the King s Head pub. If time permits we may also visit Methodist Church House, formerly the headquarters of the Methodist Missionary Society, now housing the major part of the British Connexional Team, to see some important exhibits and portraits in the building. We will then return to the hotel, and be on our own for dinner. Day 11: London Free Day Tuesday, May 29 The full day is at leisure for exploration of the many attractions of the greater London area, such as St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, and the National Gallery of Art. For those so inclined, good day trips around London with easy transportation via the Underground or British Rail include the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, Windsor Castle, the palace and gardens at Hampton Court, or a bit farther afield, historic Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and symbolic center of the world-wide Anglican communion. We will be on our own for dinner before returning to our hotel for the night. From London to Atlanta Wednesday May 30 London/Atlanta flight details to be provided later After an early breakfast at our hotel, we bid farewell to London, and transfer by coach to Gatwick Airport for our return flight to Atlanta, arriving in the afternoon Atlanta time. FEATURES, CONDITIONS, AND COSTS The air and ground arrangements for this travel seminar are being coordinated by Academy International Travel Services, Inc., 125 Claremont Avenue, Ste. 350, Decatur, GA 30030; Phone ; Fax ; <academy@aitsatl.com>; Web < The price for this travel seminar is $4,500 per person, which covers all of the following: roundtrip coach-class airfare between Atlanta and London accommodations for 11 nights in clean and comfortable 2-3 star standard hotels (double occupancy assumed) two (2) meals per day breakfast and dinner throughout the trip except in London, where we will have bed and breakfast accommodations only all ground transportation in England (except for side trips taken on our own) normal tips to hotel personnel, local guides, and drivers admission fees to the historical sites and attractions on our official itinerary 6

7 Individuals or parties wishing to extend their trip for additional days at their own cost may make arrangements to do so with Academy International Travel Services, Inc., which can also make reservations for flights between Atlanta and other cities of origin. Hotel accommodations are based on double-occupancy rates; single rooms are available for supplemental cost of $500. Also included in the price for this travel seminar is a full scholarship covering all tuition and fees for up to 6 units of Continuing Education credit. The specific research and writing requirements of the seminar will be proportionate to the amount of credit requested. The cost of required or recommended textbooks used in connection with CE credit the seminar will be additional. Please note that the trip itinerary assumes a certain amount of walking every day, and that some hotel accommodations may require climbing stairs. Like many European countries, England is in general not as friendly to persons with physical disabilities as is the United States. Please check with the Office of Church Ministries Education (information below) to discuss any concerns that you may have. For further information about the travel seminar or for application forms, contact the Office of Church Ministries Education, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322; Phone ; Fax ; ocme@listserv.emory.edu. An initial deposit of $500 will be required by the registration deadline, 19 January