The Visit
John Wesley was born on the 17th June 1703 using the old Julian Calendar or on the 28th of June following adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. He was one of 19 children, including his brother Charles, born to the Reverend Samuel Wesley and his wife Susanna, a redoubtable woman by all accounts, at Epworth Rectory in Lincolnshire. John Wesley together with his brother Charles are considered the founders of the Methodist Movement, so called because of their methodical study of the scriptures. During his ministry Wesley travelled widely around the country, generally on horseback, and is estimated to have travelled 250,000 miles and preached 40,000 sermons, during one such journey it was arranged that he should preach at an open air meeting on Coleorton Moor. On hearing of this the local Squire (was this a Beaumont?) arranged to hire a gang of local colliers headed by a notorious and fearsome ruffian by the name of John Massey to disrupt the sermon. At the appointed hour the gang, liberally plied with alcohol and armed with truncheons, gathered amongst the crowd. John Wesley commenced his sermon, but rather than immediately ordering the attack Massey paused to listen to what this man had to say. It is recorded that after a while, as Wesley preached, an ‘arrow of conviction’ entered John Massey’s heart and tears fell down his cheeks. Presently, other members of the gang became impatient at the lack of action, but when asked ‘why the delay’, Massey told them that if any of them attacked Wesley they would have him to deal with the next morning round the pit bank. Well no one wanted to face John Massey round the pit bank the next morning or any other morning for that matter, and so John Wesley was able to complete his sermon and John Massey became a reformed man and a devoted preacher and disciple of methodism. John Massey died 23rd August 1819 aged 87 and is buried together with his wife Deborah in Griffydam Methodist Chapel graveyard.
The date of the above events is not certain, but they were reported in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for 1856 when it was referred to as having occurred ‘almost a century ago’, which suggests a date about 1760. It is generally assumed that the ‘local Squire’ referred to, who hired John Massey’s gang was one of the Beaumonts, however this may not be certain. The last ‘Lord of the Manor of Coleorton’ was Sir Thomas Beaumont 3rd Viscount Beaumont of Swords* who died without issue in 1702, after which the estate passed to a succession of distant members of the Beaumont clan who were effectively absentee landlords, leaving the management of the estate to their agents. It seems probable that their interest would have been largely confined to the income from their tenants and their coal mines rather than any day to day affairs in the village. It could be considered that perhaps the ‘local squire’ referred to in the above account could have been one of the Beaumont agents acting in loco parentis to the estate as it were! It would not be until 1808 that a Beaumont would once again take up residence in Coleorton.
*Viscount Beaumont of Swords, a town in the County of Dublin, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland, created in 1622 for the 1st Baronet.
Terry Ward
Coleorton Heritage Group
May 2026