Historical Vignette: LDS Church History of Herefordshire, England

Source: The following text is taken from information that is no longer available on the internet, but was previously posted at www.lds.org.uk.  The Google archived versions of these sites are available here and here.

Herefordshire Area
The largest concentration of LDS converts in the 1840-1841 mission of the Council of the Twelve in Britain came in the area around Ledbury, primarily in Herefordshire but extending towards Worcester and Gloucester.

It was here that Wilford Woodruff came into contact with a group who had left the Methodist Church and organised their own religious group called the United Brethren, led by Thomas Kington.

From the time of Elder Woodruff's arrival at the home of John Benbow on 4 March 1840, the growth of the Church in this area surpassed any previous missionary work in Britain.

Although Elder Woodruff preached in over fifty locations in this area and organised branches of the Church in most of them, six sites are more significant due to the special events that occurred.

Castle Frome
John and Jane Benbow lived at Hill Farm above the village of Castle Frome. It was here that William Benbow brought Wilford Woodruff to see his brother. William had been converted to the LDS Church in the Potteries where Elder Woodruff had been proselyting the previous month.

Guided by spiritual promptings and the suggestions of William Benbow, Elder Woodruff came to John and Jane and shared the message of the restored gospel. Two days after his arrival, he baptised them and three of their friends in the pond on Benbow's farm. From this humble beginning, Elder Woodruff began a ministry that brought nearly all of the United brethren into the Church in the next few months. Many were baptised in the pond at John Benbow's, and Church services were frequently held on the property in the hall licensed for preaching which John provided.

It was to this hall that a constable came one day to arrest Elder Woodruff but stayed to be baptised by him. And here two clerks sent by the priest at the Castle Frome church were also converted, prompting the minister to circulate a petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury requesting he obtain parliamentary sanction for banning the missionaries from England.

Hill Farm is easily reached on the B4214 northwest from Ledbury, taking the right fork in the road just prior to the turnoff to Castle Frome. The pond in which Elder Woodruff baptised so many remains today as it was then, and can be reached from the road.

Down the hill and across the B4214 is Moorend Farm, owned in 1840 by Edward Ockey , a friend of John Benbow and member of the United Brethren. Ockley auctioned his farm to provide financial support to many others to emigrate to America after he joined the LDS Church.

Dymock
Thomas Kington, head of the United Brethren, lived in the village of Dymock. When Kington first met Elder Woodruff he told him that if the LDS Church was true he would embrace it, but if it was false he would oppose. Elder Woodruff accepted this challenge and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and encouraged him to pray about the message of the restoration. Several days later, Kington returned and informed Elder Woodruff that the Lord had told him the Church was true. He was baptised soon thereafter and became a strong supporter of the Church among his group.

Dymock is also important as the site of a notable healing performed by Brigham Young. William Pitt and his sister Mary joined the Church in Dymock. Mary had been an invalid for many years and was promised she would be healed. When Brigham Young came to visit Elder Woodruff and work with him for a few weeks, the blessing was given and Mary was healed. The next day she walked through the streets of Dymock proclaiming the truth of the restored gospel. This so infuriated the local minister that he led a mob in stoning the home of the Church where the members of the Church were assembled. To protect Elder Woodruff, William Pitt braved the hail of rocks and bricks to get the names of those in the mob, a service Elder Woodruff recalled years later when he preached the funeral sermon for William.

Dymock today remains a peaceful and pleasant town south of Ledbury on the B4216 or just off the M50 on the B4215. The parish church in Dymock is noted as the site for the development of the first parish hymnal in the Church of England. William Pitt had served as choirmaster for the church, and this may have stimulated the frustration of the minister in leading the opposition to the missionaries.

Ledbury
Ledbury was the market town for the farms and villages that surrounded it in 1840. This became a base for there missionaries such as Brigham Young and Willard Richards who came to visit Elder Woodruff and join him in his proselyting. Elder Young stayed for a week in Ledbury during his visit and other missionaries sent and received mail there.

One day Elder Woodruff was visiting in Ledbury when he was approached by the minister of the Baptist Church there. Upon receiving an invitation to preach in the chapel, Elder Woodruff did so and baptised several members of the congregation in the font within the chapel. The church still stands in Ledbury on The Homend in the north section of the town.

Gadfield Elm
The United Brethren owned forty-five homes licensed for preaching and a chapel, at Gadfield Elm, to which John Benbow held title. When nearly the entire membership of the United Brethren were converted to the LDS Church, Brother Benbow gave the title to Elder Woodruff, making this chapel the first LDS chapel owned by the Church in the British Isles, and the oldest LDS meetinghouse still standing anywhere in the world.

When Brigham Young and Willard Richards came to visit Elder Woodruff and work for him for a few weeks, they both preached at Gadfield Elm. On Sunday, 14 July 1840, a special conference was held in the chapel at which time twelve branches of the Church were organised from former units of the United Brethren, and Thomas Kington was called as their president.

When most of the members from this area had emigrated to America, the chapel was sold to assist the poorer Saints to make the journey. The chapel was used as a farm building until it became derelict. Most of the roof had gone and one wall had been opened to allow the building to be used as a garage.

One memorable meeting was held there in the early 1980s, when Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve held a session of an annual mission presidents' seminar for all missions in the British Isles. Once again an apostle of the Lord preached the gospel in Gadfield Elm, the first time this happened since the days of Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff. The chapel was bought by a private trust, restored and given to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a second time. It was dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley in May 2004.

Hawcross
Elder Woodruff seldom encountered outright physical abuse during his ministry to Herefordshire, but a notable exception occurred at the village of Hawcross.

He went there to visit friends or relatives of some already converted, and found the house where he was to preach surrounded by a hostile mob. When some desired baptism following the meeting, in spite of threatened physical violence against them, Elder Woodruff responded that, "if they had faith enough to be baptised, I had faith enough to administer the ordinance unto them. We repaired to the pool, which was surrounded by the mob armed with stones. I walked into the water with my mind stayed on God and baptised five persons while they were pelting my body with stones, one of which hit me on the head and came very near to knocking me down."

While it is impossible to identify the specific house and pool in which this experience took place, the pond alongside the road in the hamlet of Hawcross is the most likely spot.

Hawcross is reached from the A417 south of the M50, and the pond is located near the base of a slight hill.

Herefordshire Beacon
This hill, site of an ancient Roman camp and even earlier fortifications, overlooks the Malvern Hills and was a favourite spot of Elder Woodruff's during his time in Herefordshire. He came here at least four times to meditate and pray and contemplate his work.

At the conclusion of the visit of Brigham Young and Willard Richards to Herefordshire, the two men accompanied Elder Woodruff to the Beacon where they held an important council meeting at which it was decided to publish the Book of Mormon in Britain plus a hymn-book. Immediately following this

 council meeting, Brigham Young returned to Manchester and set in motion the realisation of their plans. Both John Benbow and Thomas Kington had contributed a substantial amount of money to enable him to accomplish this, with the result that these two publications were soon achieved.

In recent times, other living prophets and apostles have visited the Herefordshire Beacon. Spencer W. Kimball once climbed the hill in company with Elder Derek Cuthbert and prophesied the great growth for the Church in the British Isles.

The Beacon can be reached along the A449 from Ledbury or Great Malvern, or the A4104 from Upton. The climb to the top is a rewarding view of both the Malvern Hills and the many villages in which Elder Wilford Woodruff preached so successfully. On a clear day one can see the three cities of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester.

The conversion of the United Brethren and a total of approximately 1,800 members within eight months in the Herefordshire area remains to this day one of the most significant missionary experiences in the history of the LDS Church. Reflecting upon it, Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal of the reason for his great success:

"The whole history of this Herefordshire mission shows the importance of listening to the still small voice of the spirit of God, and the revelations of the Holy Ghost. The people were praying for light and truth, and the Lord sent me to them. I declared the gospel of life and salvation, some eighteen hundred souls received it, and many have been gathered...In all these things we should ever acknowledge the hand of God, and give him the honour, praise, and glory, forever."

The History of Gadfield Elm Chapel
Gadfield Elm Chapel, in Worcestershire, was of great significance in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British Isles.

Built in 1836 by a fundamentalist Christian group—the United Brethren—the Gadfield Elm chapel was given to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1840 by John Benbow and Thomas Kington.

Gadfield Elm Chapel acted as the focal point of Church activity for thousands of Latter-day Saints until the majority emigrated to the USA to fulfil their dream of building a new Zion in the United States of America.

President Brigham Young preached at Gadfield Elm which, at the time, was the only Latter-day Saint chapel in the world.

Gadfield Elm chapel, built of native stone and standing in the quiet countryside of Worcestershire, is the last surviving memorial to the United Brethren, a religious group who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints en-masse upon hearing the ‘restored gospel’ message. It had a seating capacity of just 100 people.

The Chapel served the people who built it and the Latter-day Saints who inherited it. It stands as a reminder of one of the greatest Latter-day Saint missionary experiences of all time.

The events associated with the building in the history of Church missionary work are poignant, powerful and inspiring.

In its beautiful setting it provides us with a charming yet thoughtful reminder of the humble and simple beginnings of this world-wide Church.

Chronology:

• March 4th 1836: Land purchased by the United Brethren for £25 to build the chapel.
• April 4th 1840: Wilford Woodruff (4th President of the Church) preached and baptised 11 people.
• Three hundred of the United Brethren were baptized by immersion into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the pond on John Benbow’s farm, not far from Castle Frome. Eventually 600 United Brethren were baptized. Many subsequently became pioneering figures in the American West.
• Sunday, May 17th 1840: the 2nd President of the Church and famous American coloniser, Brigham Young, and Willard Richards addressed the membership gathered at the chapel.
• Sunday, June 14th 1840: The first conference organized in the British Mission. The Bran Green and Gadfield Elm conferences were organized by Elder Wilford Woodruff and consisted of twelve branches: Bran Green, Gadfield Elm, Kilcot, Dymock, Twigworth, Ryton, Lime Street, Deerhurst, Apperly, Norton, Leigh and Hawcross.
• September 7th 1840: The chapel was given to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• September 14th 1840: Elder Woodruff attended a Conference here and then Frome Hill. At these two conferences 40 branches of the Church were represented, containing 1,007 members. Five branches were added - Cheltenham, Bristol, Weston, Cranham & Highleadon.
• Sunday 14th December 1840: Brigham Young presided over a conference at the chapel.
• March 15th 1841: The addition of more Branches of the Church were reported - Forest of Dean, Flyford, Pinwich, Nantom Beachom, Hill Common, Frogmarsh, Walton Hill.
• 1842: Sold to help finance the emigration of the members to the USA.
• October 12th 1994: The Chapel was bought at Auction by the Gadfield Elm Trust. Restoration of the building and grounds commenced almost immediately.
• Sunday 23rd April 2000: Gadfield Elm Chapel dedicated by Elder Jeffrey R Holland of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
• Wednesday 26th May 2004: the Gadfield Elm chapel is handed back into the ownership of the Church, with a presentation to President Gordon B Hinckley by representatives of The Gadfield Elm Trust.
  

• John Gailey: History
• Historical vignette of Elder Woodruff's account of his 1840 mission in England
• Historical vignette: Benbow's Farm & Pond