Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde — Sacred Ground at Chatburn (1837)

During Heber C. Kimball’s 1837 mission to England, he and Orson Hyde visited Chatburn (also rendered Chadburn), Lancashire, a weaving village beyond Clitheroe. Although Kimball had been warned that it was one of the worst places in the country, where sectarian priests had preached for thirty years without effect, the missionaries found the people humble, honest, receptive, and seeking truth. Kimball preached and baptized twenty-five people. As Kimball walked the streets, he experienced an overwhelming physical sensation: his hair rose on his head, and he felt compelled to remove his hat and shoes in reverence without knowing why. Orson Hyde recalled that the missionaries felt the ground was sacred; Kimball removed his hat, walked the streets, blessed the country and people, and let his peace come upon them. Kimball also recorded that the Spirit rested powerfully on the village: as he blessed the people they wept, followed the missionaries into the streets, and mourned when the missionaries departed. When Kimball later described his experience to Joseph Smith, Smith explained that ancient prophets had traveled through and dedicated that land, and that their blessing had fallen upon Kimball.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

I recollect once in a certain place in England, when traveling along with brother Kimball, it was in a country town called Chatburn, where the people were humble, simple, and honest; they loved the truth, and were seeking for it—when we went there, their hearts and doors were opened to receive us, and our message. What were our feelings? We felt that the ground upon which we stood was most sacred, and brother Kimball took off his hat, and walked the streets, and blessed the country and the people, and let his peace come upon it. These were our feelings. Why? Because the people were ready to receive the word of our testimony, and us for Christ's sake. I have often thought of that circumstance, and I have thought that if we could only get the people in this country to be as humble, and as simple, and as honest as they were in that little town of Chatburn, we should see the work of God roll forth with greater power than it has ever done yet.