Gwennap Pit is a grassy open air amphitheatre which may possibly be a sunken floor of a filled -up mine. The great amphitheatre has remarkable acoustic properties. It is Cornwall's Albert Hall, over 300 yards round with grassy tiers of seats which crammed with thousands of people to hear John Wesley preach. The two stone pillars on the side of the Pit are known as Wesley's pulpit.

1752-September 5th Wesley returned to Gwennap having preach to the miners before on a number of occasions. He first mentions the famous Pit.

"The wind was high at 5 (p.m) that I could not stand at the usual place at Gwennap. But at a small distance was a hollow capable of containing many thousand people beneath and on all sides."

He further preached at the Pit in 1766, 1769, 1770, 1773, 1775, 1777, 1778, 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1787.

1789-Was the last time Wesley was to preach at the Pit he died in London 1791

1806- The Pit was re-modelled to making seating and standing arrangements for 5,000 people.

1807-Whit-Monday June 18th it was re-opened and has been used continuously for preaching ever since. The Whit-Monday service is now held on the last Bank Holiday in May.

It is said that the mines of Gwennap yielded ten million pounds worth of copper and tin in the last century. It was on the closure of these mines many miners left Cornwall to seek employment all over the world .Many of our Cornish Cousins are related to these Miners.