Mrs Henderson’s Copper Kettle
In his Times Past column this week, Jonathan Smyth recalls the story of Mrs Henderson’s Copper Kettle which reputedly was boiled to make a cuppa for the preacher John Wesley in 1756...
In the 18th century, Methodism began as a movement of religious renewal amongst a group within the Anglican Church whose intention was to reach out to people not always included in traditional worship. The brothers, John and Charles Wesley intended to include people of all classes, and, in many ways, as a result of their efforts, Methodism became the ‘working man’s’ church, especially in urban centres across England where in an industrial age, families moved to the cities to find work and often in these large communities they had neither church nor pastoral care. The Anglican Church was slow to act in such communities, while John Wesley at once began to step in and set up new Methodist places of worship in cities like Manchester and Birmingham where the people gladly flocked to join in.
John Wesley, the renowned preacher, came to Ireland a total of 21 times, during a 52-year period, helping set-up new congregations, often in the face of great opposition from the then ‘established’ church. Seeing the preacher ride into town on horseback and preaching to the assembled in the marketplace or on hillsides may seem romantic, however, preachers often experienced the violence of the mob. The first Methodist church formed in County Cavan was at Cootehill where the early members were regularly beaten on the street.
When John Wesley was not in preaching mode, it seems he enjoyed a nice cuppa, and according to a strong tradition, the Black family of Gartbratten House, Kilmore, put the kettle on for him in 1756.
Most of the early preachers licensed by John Wesley were in fact untrained, itinerant evangelists who under his influence blazed a trail of reform on social issues including the treatment of prisoners, the call to abolish slavery and it was Wesley who appointed the first woman to preach in the Methodist Church, in 1761; the woman’s name was Sarah Crosby. Both Charles and John, were greatly influenced by one woman in particular, their mother Susanna Wesley, who firmly established in their minds a strong appreciation for the intellectual and spiritual character of women. Another achievement of the Wesley brothers was their prolific hymn-writing talents, especially Charles whose pen produced over 6,000 hymns.
Copper kettle
In 2003, Monsignor Liam Kelly gave a talk to Breifne Historical Society members on John Wesley and Methodism in County Cavan 1750-1800, as part of a 300th anniversary commemoration of John Wesley’s birth. In the Breifne Journal for 2002, a research paper titled ‘The Growth of Methodism in Leitrim and Cavan: 1750-1800' by Liam Kelly, notes that John Wesley’s earliest trip to Ireland was on August 9, 1747, and sometime prior to his visit that year, the Methodists had ‘already’ formed a ‘society in Dublin’. Wesley’s visit was something of an encouragement and a morale boost for the newly formed church. His visit to Ireland in 1747 lasted two weeks where he mainly spent his time around Dublin.
During his visit in 1756, as mentioned, Wesley was strongly reputed to have stopped at Gartbratten House, Kilmore, home to several generations of the respected Black family, and in a beautiful tribute to Myrtle Henderson (nee Black) who died on December 18, 2020, at the age of 106 years, we are told that ‘Myrtle was the eldest of the seventh generation of the Black family to have grown-up at Gartbratten House, near Kilmore, in Cavan. Myrtle was raised ‘under the godly and kind influence of her mother, Mary Jane, and the ordered, dignified and quiet character of her father, Randal Young Black.’
The tribute records that John Wesley visited the family homestead while preaching the Gospel during a mission to Cavan in 1756 and that Myrtle ‘had the copper kettle sitting on her hearth to prove it!’ The copper kettle evidently served as a reminder of Wesley’s visit, the Gospel message he brought to the home, and that he availed of a nice cuppa during his travels through Cavan.
Pilot column
An early convert to Methodism living in County Cavan was John Smith who’d moved from Armagh. Prior to his conversion to Christ, Smith was something of the classical reprobate, ‘a wild colonial boy’ of sorts and a law unto himself. In a pilot column for Times Past, published in The Anglo-Celt, on December 4, 2014, I wrote about Smith’s supernatural experiences and his move to Cootehill for a fresh start in 1757. In the year that followed, Smith was amongst the Cootehill locals gathered to hear a preacher called Thomas Kead.
Kead’s words created a strong impression on John Smith and his ‘conversion was instant’. In May 1758, John Wesley himself arrived in the town and after speaking in the Market Square, he setup a Methodist society and appointed John Smith as its first leader in Cootehill.
Index of Churches
The Methodist Historical Society of Ireland have compiled an ‘Index of Irish Methodist Churches, Chapels and Preaching Houses’, which includes historical information on their churches in County Cavan. Within the Methodist community there are different denominations and therefore various towns needed more than one house of worship.
According to the index, a Methodist church was built at Arvagh, but no date appears; two churches are listed at Bailieborough, the first dated 1805 and the second is 1834, on Adelaide Road; Ballinagh formed a society in 1817, and first met in Drumkeel, then William Lowry built a church in 1881 that was later sold to the Faith Mission group in 1989; Ballyconnell had two churches, dated 1783 and 1869; Ballyhaise had one church, no date given; Ballyjamesduff had two churches, dated 1873 and 1874; Belturbet had three churches, they were built in 1782, 1826 and 1902; Blacklion had one church, built in 1849; Cavan town’s three Methodist church buildings, were dated 1798, 1826, and 1859; Cootehill had three churches listed, dated 1795, 1841, and 1870; Drumaloor Hall, built in 1905; Drumbullion, built in 1778; Drumheel, no date given; Killeshandra had two churches, dated 1810, and 1886; Kingscourt church, built in 1826; Knocknalossett church, sold to Mr Adams, no date given; and Redhills church, built in 1878.
I would like to acknowledge Concepta McGovern who suggested the topic for this week’s column.
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