Gadfield Elm Chapel
Gadfield Elm Chapel is the oldest surviving chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located near the village of Pendock in Worcestershire, England, the chapel is of great significance in the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ in the British Isles.
In January 1840, Wilford Woodruff arrived in Liverpool with John Taylor and another missionary to labor in England. One of his most significant areas of his service was in the tricounty area in England, comprising Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. He concentrated most of his missionary labors in the Herefordshire area. He had felt prompted to journey south from Staffordshire, and recent convert William Benbow suggested he visit his brother John Benbow. Wilford and William rode a bus for twenty-six miles then rode a coach for thirty-four miles to Worcester. From there they walked sixteen miles to John Benbow’s 300-acre farm in Castle Frome.[1]
Through him, he met Thomas Kington, the leader of the United Brethren, a sect that formed in the 1830s after the group broke away from the Primitive Methodist movement. By 1836 the group had built their own chapel at Gadfield Elm in the Parish of Eldersfield, Worcestershire. Kington was converted and baptized on March 21, 1840, and within a month, he baptized 45 of the United Brethren preachers and 160 members.[2]
Wilford Woodruff left in April to attend a conference of the Church in Preston, and returned with Brigham Young, soon followed by Willard Richards.
“The first Church conference in the tricounty area was held on June 14, 1840, at the Gadfield Elm Chapel.”[3]
Gadfield Elm Chapel acted as the focal point of Church activity. After most of the United Brethren joined the Church, their leaders deeded the Gadfield Elm Chapel to the Church, making it the first Church-owned meetinghouse in Europe.
March 15, 1841, marked the last conference at Gadfield Elm. Many early British Saints gathered with the Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, strengthening the Church. Brigham Young directed that the building be sold to help fund the Saints’ immigration.
The building was privately owned until it was purchased in 1994 by the Gadfield Elm Trust, a group of members of the Church of Jesus Christ interested in preserving the chapel. At the time, only the walls of the original structure were intact. The Trust renovated and restored the chapel, and it was dedicated by Church apostle Jeffrey R. Holland on April 23, 2000. In 2004, the Trust donated ownership of the chapel to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it was rededicated on May 26, 2004, by Church president Gordon B. Hinckley.
The chapel is operated as a historical tourist site by the Church and admission to the public is free. Responsibility for managing Gadfield Elm Chapel has been delegated by the Europe West Area Presidency for the Church to the Cheltenham Stake, in whose area the building is located. Church Service missionary couples have been assigned to work there. Although Church Sunday services are not held in the building, some firesides and special meetings can be held there by reservations.[4]
