Comments on: At God’s Convenience

By: Guillaume

Guillaume — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 02:22:24 +0000

A cozy looking joint, suitable for an afternoon of expectant loitering…

By: Jo N

Jo N — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 21:55:01 +0000

How funny, I stumbled across the house and chapel on Thursday, but I didn’t know about the toilet! What I did discover downstairs though was a huge collection of Staffordshire pottery relating to Wesley, from hundreds of portrait figures to plaques, jugs and loving cups – including the three figures I’d recently picked up myself. I was poring over it all for ages! Very interesting too to have an enthusiastic guided tour of the house from one of the volunteers.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:20:54 +0000

An interesting post. I went on a trip to Scotland in 2019 with my local Civic Society, and there are men’s and ladies loos at Rothesay to match these ones. We were given a tour of them – albeit still in use, so had to be checked first that none of them were ‘engaged’ at the time! Thank goodness the ones here seem to have ‘soft’ toilet tissue, and not squares of newspaper or Izal.
Not sure I can work out John Wesley’s ‘exercise chair’ for horse riding. The mind boggles! I currently live in a ‘Georgian’ town in the north of England, and on one particular house on the back square, there’s a plaque to say John Wesley preached there.

By: Ken

Ken — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 18:27:16 +0000

Thanks for an excellent report. Bunhill Fields is also the resting place of Rev. Thomas Bayes, one of the founders of modern probability theory. The good Reverend is famed for teaching us how to compute posterior probabilities.

By: Claire D

Claire D — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 14:11:29 +0000

I remember similar conveniences, Ladies though, at the top of Putney High St (West side) 1960s – 70s. I took them for granted I’m afraid.

By: Maureen Musson

Maureen Musson — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:44:06 +0000

Thanks for all the most interesting posts, Ian.

Below John Wesley’s robe, you may have spotted the silver buckles from his shoes. They were given by him to my 5xgreat-grandparents, James and Mary Lelean. Wesley visited Mevagissey, Cornwall, where they lived in, in 1753. They sheltered him from a hostile mob, and put him up for a day or two. He gave them his buckles in gratitude.
The buckles stayed in the family for many years, and were eventually presented to the museum.

By: Cherub

Cherub — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:26:18 +0000

These facilities look majestic to me. There is a municipal museum and gallery in my home town, it’s in the memorial gardens and was built to honour the fallen in WW1. A few years ago it was refurbished and modernised internally but they decided to keep the original toilets and restore them.

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 10:12:46 +0000

I visited a few years ago allowing a suitable time looking round the chapel before descending to the main attraction.

By: Milo

Milo — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 09:33:12 +0000

What a shame Mr Crapper and Mr Wesley couldn’t have swapped names. It would be much more socially acceptable to say one was nipping off for a Wesley (or a Jennings come to think of it) than the alternative.

By: Angela Almond

Angela Almond — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 06:49:02 +0000

Thank you for this lovely post, witty and informative- as well as reflective. Over 60 years ago, my father took me, a small child then, to Bunhill Fields, and spoke of the worthy people interred there. Although a Baptist minister, my father had great respect for the Wesleys and their faith. Their commitment both to the spiritual renewal and the improvement of the physical condition of those around them.
But I never got to use the loos – maybe now I am a grandmother, I should take some of my little ones to City Road and show them, and tell them the stories…