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Churches of the British Isles

Gallery: Churches of Cornwall

by Jo Lewis, 26 October 2024

Carrick (North & West) Part 23: Churches of Skinners Bottom to Salem

Skinners Bottom Primitive Methodist Chapel (and Sunday School), Skinners Bottom, Cornwall

Skinners Bottom Primitive Methodist Chapel (and Sunday School) (Second Site) sits further down the lane from the first site (see links), when heading down the right-hand track at the staggered crossroads. A small sign points to house names with no suggestion that one was a chapel. It was built in 1875 but was immediately in financial difficulty, closing in 1909-1910 and being sold in the 1920s. Since then it fulfilled various tasks before becoming a private dwelling.

Wheal Rose (Ebenezer) Bible Christian Chapel, Wheal Rose, Cornwall

Wheal Rose (Ebenezer) Bible Christian Chapel can be found by backtracking to the Porthtowan road, and taking a left towards Wheal Rose. With 'Etherington's Farm Shop and Farm' on the right, the former chapel is on the left, just before reaching a stony track. Built in 1824, it may have replaced an earlier preaching house of 1799. Renovated in 1904, it became Wheal Rose United Methodist Chapel in 1907, closing about 1937. It is now a well-maintained storage barn.

Blackwater Reading Room, Blackwater, Cornwall

Blackwater Reading Room sits on the south side of the main road through the village. Commonly known as the 'Blackwater Lecture and Reading Room', the Blackwater Institute was founded in 1890 by local man John Passmore Edwards. Lord Falmouth donated the land and the Tywarnhale estate donated the stone for the building. Today it is the village hall, with Blackwater Community Church, a Free Christian group, regularly meeting there.

Blackwater Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Blackwater, Cornwall

Blackwater Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is on a north slip from East Hill, prior to reaching the row of shops, set back from the road. Blackwater's Wesleyans may first have met in a small building attached to the blacksmiths, on the Passmore Edwards Institute site (see above). The first chapel was built about 1810, small and located behind the present building. Lightening and fire destroyed it in 1821. The new chapel was built in 1822, completed in 1825, and closed in 1985.

Wheal Busy Bible Christian Chapel, Wheal Busy, Cornwall

Wheal Busy Bible Christian Chapel is hard to find. Pass under the A30, turn right (opposite a track), follow the road up the hill and under the railway, and turn right at the phone box. This simple wayside chapel appears on the right. It is dated to 1863 but may have been the successor to one of 1840. It closed in 1972 as Wheal Busy Methodist Church, but has continued as the independent Wheal Busy Chapel, still holding occasional services and celebrations.

Salem Primitive Methodist Chapel, Chacewater, Cornwall

Salem Primitive Methodist Chapel is on Killifreth Hill, reached via the Chacewater road. Salem is marked as being on the right, up a narrow lane. It started out as a Baptist chapel, being officially listed as Cornwall's first Baptist chapel. Jonathan Hornblower in 1758 founded it in 1767, next to his own house (Hornblower Cottages). It was Primitive Methodist by 1880, and then Salem United Methodist Chapel in 1907, but it closed soon after that.

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis.

 

 

     
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