John Wesley Preaching at Gwennap Pit.  A hollow piece of ground which was said to have been formed from a collapsed mine working. Wesley found it was a superb place to preach. and called it ‘the most magnificent spectacle this side of heaven’.  Wesley preached there eighteen times between 1762 and 1789. The structure is said to be able to seat about 1500 people comfortably but on one occasion Wesley's preaching attracted 32,000 people!. The first use of Gwennap Pit was in September 1762 and John Wesley himself recorded the occasion: ‘The wind was so high that I could not stand at the usual place at [the village of] Gwennap; but a small distance was a hollow capable of containing many thousands of people. I stood on one side of this amphitheatre towards the top and with people beneath on all sides. I enlarged on those words in the gospel for the day Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see….hear the things that ye hear.’  

Today the Gwennap Pit can still be visited  - in about the year 1806. 12 terraces had been cut into the sides to create seating that still exists today. A group of local mine captains and a mining engineer had decided to preserve the pit as a memorial to John Wesley and his message.

Let us reflect on the amazing spiritual legacy John Wesley left behind and what God did through the Wesley brothers over 200 years ago. Today, many churches and denominations have since fallen away, turning their backs upon God. But they certainly do well to remember just how God blessed His faithful servants in times past, who were obedient and zealous for God and His Word.  And at the same time reflect on what will happen to those who refuse to listen and reject Him?  - A day of reckoning is fast approaching.