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From Wikipedia: Watts was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England, in 1674 and was brought up in the home of a committed religious nonconformist; his father, also Isaac Watts, had been incarcerated twice for his views. Watts had a classical education at King Edward VI School, Southampton, learning Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. BBC: A statue has been given new fingers to mark the 350th birthday of one of Read more...

Abney Park: Dr Watts is a famous nonconformist English Christian minister, theologian and wit. He was prolific hymn writer, poet, and notable man of logic with many quotes attributed to him. He is credited with writing some 750 psalms alone, the most famous still in use today, which has earned him the title “The Father of English Hymnody”. His hymns Read more...

Southampton: Isaac Watts is one of Southampton’s most famous sons. He was famous as an author, educator, philosopher and hymn writer. Born in 1674, he lived at 41 French Street and was educated at the nearby King Edward VI grammar school. Isaac Watts was one of the leading nonconformists in the town and is mainly remembered for his hymns which Read more...

DailyEcho: The family lived at 41 French Street where Isaac’s father ran a boarding school but the persecution of his father for his religious views forced its closure. Isaac was taught by his father until he was six then he attended the “Free School”, later known as King Edward VI Grammar School. His teacher there, John Pinhorne, recognised Isaac’s ability and saw Read more...

From UlsterScotsAgency: Reverend William Tennent, a Presbyterian minister with links to Portadown, and whose inspirational work in education in Pennsylvania helped create Princeton University, has been commemorated with an Ulster History Circle Blue Plaque. William Tennent worshipped at Vinecash Presbyterian Church. Some of his family were baptised there. He emigrated to America in 1718. His cousin James Logan, born in Read more...

Wikipedia: Horatius Bonar (/həˈreɪʃəs ˈbɒnˌɑːr, ˈbɒnər/; 19 December 1808 – 31 July 1889) was a Scottish churchman and poet who was a contemporary and acquaintance of Robert Murray M’cheyne. He is principally remembered as a prodigious hymnodist. Friends knew him as Horace Bonar. Licensed as a preacher, he did mission work in Leith for a time, and in November 1837 he settled at Kelso as minister of the new North Church founded in Read more...

Wikipedia: Attached to the church is a small graveyard, particularly noted for including the grave of C. S. Lewis,[5] who died on 22 November 1963. The epitaph on his tombstone, chosen by his brother Warren Hamilton Lewis (buried in the same grave after his own death on 9 April 1973) and taken from Shakespeare‘s King Lear, reads “Men must endure their going hence.” This quotation Read more...

Location of the jailing of Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer. Wikipedia: The Oxford Martyrs were imprisoned in the Bocardo Prison by the church before they were burnt at the stake in what is now Broad Street nearby, then immediately outside the city walls, in 1555 and 1556. Their cell door can be seen on display in the church’s tower. Read more...

“Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God’s grace shall never be put out!” Martyrdom of Bishop Ridley and Latimer Wikipedia: The three were tried at University Church of St Mary the Virgin, the official church of the University of Oxford on the High Street, Oxford. Read more...

Wikipedia: St Mary’s was the site of the 1555 trial of the Oxford Martyrs, when the bishops Latimer and Ridley and Archbishop Cranmer were tried for heresy. The martyrs were imprisoned at the former Bocardo Prison near St Michael at the Northgate in Cornmarket Street and subsequently burnt at the stake just outside the city walls to the north. A cross set into the road marks that location on what is now Broad Street; the nearby Martyrs’ Read more...

Wikipedia: The Kilns, also known as C. S. Lewis House, is the house in Risinghurst, Oxford, England, where the author C. S. Lewis wrote all of his Narnia books and other classics.[1][2] The house itself was featured in the Narnia books.[3] Lewis’s gardener at The Kilns, Fred Paxford, is said to have inspired the character of Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle in The Silver Chair.[4] The Kilns was built in 1922 on the site of Read more...

Wikipedia: The Holy Club was an organization at Christ Church, Oxford, formed in 1729 by brothers John and Charles Wesley, who later founded Methodism.[1][2][3] The brothers and associates, including George Whitefield, met for prayer, Bible study, and pious discipline. Photo by the author Read more...

From ChurchAndCulture: On Saturday, September 19, 1931, Lewis invited two friends to dine with him in his rooms at Magdalen. One was a man by the name of Hugo Dyson, a lecturer in English Literature at Reading University. The other was Tolkien. On that fall evening, after they had dined, Lewis took his guests on a walk through the Magdalen Read more...

From Wikipedia: The Tyndale Monument is a tower built on a hill at North Nibley, Gloucestershire, England. It was built in honour of William Tyndale, an early translator of the New Testament into English, who was born nearby. It is a Grade II* listed building.[2] The tower was constructed in 1866[2] and is 111 ft (34 m) tall.[3][4] It is possible to enter and climb up a spiral staircase composed of 121 Read more...

Hymn History: Come Thou Fount & Author: Robert Robinson “For disentangling a subject from confusion, for the power of development, for genuine simplification, for invention — what writer ever surpassed Robinson of Cambridge?” (Edwin Hatfield)   The Origin of the Hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” Among the hymns that have stood the test of centuries, few express the Read more...

Within a few feet of this spot, John Rogers, John Bradford, John Philpot, and other servants of God, suffered death by fire for the faith of Christ, in the years 1555, 1556, 1557. Wikipedia: John Rogers (c. 1505 – 4 February 1555) was an English clergyman, Bible translator and commentator. He guided the development of the Matthew Bible in vernacular English during the reign of Henry VIII and Read more...

Wikipedia: John Rogers (c. 1505 – 4 February 1555) was an English clergyman, Bible translator and commentator. He guided the development of the Matthew Bible in vernacular English during the reign of Henry VIII and was the first English Protestant executed as a heretic under Mary I. Photo Oosoom CC3.0 Read more...

From Wikipedia: John Foxe (1516[1]/1517 – 18 April 1587)[2] was an English clergyman,[3] theologian, and historian, notable for his martyrology Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the 14th century and in the reign of Mary I. The book was widely owned and read by English Puritans and helped to mould British opinion on the Catholic Church for several centuries.[4] Photo The Wub, Read more...

From ProtestantAlliance: Statute “De Haeretico Coniburendo”, the “Act for the burning of Heretics” passed in late 1400 or January 1401 was soon implemented – designed to suppress the Lollards, those godly followers of the teachings of John Wycliffe. The Act soon claimed its first victim, William Sawtrey. He was burnt at Smithfield on 26th February 1401. Just how horrific the Read more...

Thanks to Sarah (friend of the site) for finding this and noting the Wikipedia article: On 6 September 1762 John Wesley came to Gwennap and attracted a great crowd of copper tin miners. Unfortunately the day was very windy and Wesley could not make himself heard. Someone suggested the shelter of Gwennap Pit, about 1.5 miles away, so the whole Read more...