Wesley Hill is located to the south of Castlemaine, after crossing the J.B. Patterson Bridge over Forest Creek. Initially, there were at least three churches belonging to different sections of John Wesley’s followers on the ‘Hill’. In 1852, the first service in Castlemaine to be conducted in a properly consecrated church was held in the newly built Wesleyan Church. There was gold mining in the vicinity and, in late 1854, an early steam powered quartz crushing plant was also established.
