Churches of the British Isles

In the first twenty years of the nineteenth century the building was consistently recorded by successive rural deans as being 'out of repair'. Minor improvements were attempted but, by the 1860s, it was noted that the building was neglected and (again) 'out of repair'. A substantial restoration was undertaken by J P St Aubyn between 1872-1878. Today the church consists of its chancel, nave, a short north aisle, a south transept or vestry, and a porch and west tower.

Trewidland Bible Christian Chapel, on the eastern side of the River East Looe, south-east of St Keyne, is in the village centre on the main road's west side. It was built in 1835 following local preaching in 1817. It was restored in 1880 as the date stone shows. It became Trewidland United Methodist Church (1907) and then Trewidland Methodist Church (1932), with its own burial ground. It closed in 1998, to be sold and converted into Wesley House in 2005-2006.

Trewidland Wesleyan Reform Union Chapel sits slightly further down the road (to the south), opposite the cemetery. The chapel was built in 1865 by the Wesleyan Reform Group. It fell into disuse in 1964 when the Wesleyan and Methodist groups amalgamated, and was then owned by the local farm to be used by the farmer to incubate ostrich eggs (Brown's nursery in the village used to be an ostrich farm!). Sold in 2004 it is now the residential 'The Old Chapel'.

Leanhill Old Chapel once stood on the western flank of Leanhill Cottage within a package of land which forms (or formed) part of the Leanhill House estate, to the north-east of Trewidland. A chapel is marked here on OS maps, possibly now the garden of Lean Hill House. A 1753 document notes a small chapel-of-ease here which had been used within living memory but was now in ruins. The chapel was supposedly exempt from tithes but nothing now remains to prove its existence.

The site of the long-lost Fursdon Old Chapel can be found by heading a short way east of Leanhill to reach the B3252, then heading south for a little over a kilometre and turning west at Fursdon Cottage. The farm pictured here sits at the western end of the lane. This was formerly the site of a manor house. Henderson records a medieval chapel at Fursdon, but no records exist to show any remains. Possibly the chapel was part of the manor house.

Two photos on this page kindly contributed by Roy Reed via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group.