Churches of the British Isles

The chapel opened in 1886, accommodating one hundred and forty-five persons in a single sitting. Between 1925 and 1929 the Summer Lane chapel and its Sunday school were purchased by the Wesleyan Methodist church so that, at the Methodist union in 1932, it briefly became Summer Lane United Methodist Church before closing in 1935. It was then used as a dining hall by Pelynt School before being sold in 1962 to become the residential 'The Old Chapel'.

Pelynt (First) Summer Lane Chapel was built in 1837 as a Wesleyan Methodist Association chapel. It sits to the north of the village, at the B3359 junction with a northbound lane called Muchlarnick. When the Wesleyan Association broke away from mainstream Methodism they built their own chapel here, defiantly within sight of the original chapel. It became United Methodist Free and then the Sunday school, being sold in the 1960s to become residential in 1988.

Pelynt (First) Wesleyan Chapel (Shuffler's Hole) sat even farther north of the village. Shown only on pre-1880 maps, the site is about two hundred metres up the Muchlarnick lane from the (First) Summer Lane Chapel (above), on the east side of the road (the gate has since been replaced by corrugated iron). Built perhaps in 1814, it was neither convenient nor popular. Its members moved into the village in 1888 (see above). The building was demolished and the land sold.

Trefanny Hill Mission Church is found by heading north from the first Pelynt Wesleyan Chapel at Shuffler's Hole to Trefanny Hill. This former Anglican mission church is on the eastern side of the road at 'Trefanny Hill' immediately north of St Mary Manor. The chapel and school room were built at the end of the 1800s but the entire small village fell into disrepair, until it was rebuilt in the 1960s as a holiday village. The chapel was later converted into housing for the owners.

St Nun's Old Chapel was located to the south-east of Muchlarnick. A long v-shaped lane leads south from the village before doubling back to rejoin the main late to the village's east. The chapel sat beyond this gate, at the bottom of the 'v'. Served by Wilton Abbey in 1288-1540, it was licensed in 1400. The site was indicated by a slight mound and a vallum, while shaped stones and roofing tiles were occasionally exposed by ploughing. Now the mound is a faint platform.

One photo on this page by Jo Lewis, and one copyright © Tony Mansell / Mapping Methodism and reused with permission.