Churches of the British Isles

Chacewater Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is on the western side of Station Road, forty metres from the Fore Street junction. It was built in 1832, but may incorporate fragments of an earlier 1830s meeting house. The building was renovated in 1905, and became Station Road Methodist Church in 1932. The two Methodist societies here amalgamated around 1978 (see below), using this building until it was declared unsafe around 2001. It was sold for flats in 2008.

Chacewater Methodist Church is found on the opposite side of Fore Street, by heading to the southern tip of The Square to find Church Hill. The church congregation meets in this building which is the village hall. That congregation was formed around 1978 out of an amalgamation of East End Church (see below) and Station Road Churches (see above). When the Station Road premises proved unfit for use around 2001 the congregation began meeting here.

The Church of St Paul, Chacewater, is on the eastern side of Church Hill, around 250 metres to the south of the village hall. The original church building was a late Georgian construction of 1828. It had a restrained, perpendicular design of elvan and granite with some stone dressings. Bishop Carey of Exeter consecrated it on 2 August 1828. It included three galleries and a seating capacity of 1,500. On 3 February 1866 it was struck by lightning, splitting the wall from ground to roof.

When St Paul's Church was rebuilt in 1892, the galleries disappeared and the seating capacity was reduced to five hundred, while the lych gate was added. In 1983 it was felt the building should be modernised. A new altar was added and some of the pews were removed to create a space which is now known as the 'Common Room'. The earlier oak and mahogany grained panels, now within the tower, show important Christian texts, all written in the Gothic style.

Chacewater Primitive Methodist Chapel is found by returning back to the village, being located on the northern side of Fore Street where it becomes Chacewater Hill. The chapel was opened in 1830 and had an associated Sunday school. It was enlarged in 1882, but became East End Methodist Church in 1932. The congregation amalgamated with that of the Station Road Wesleyans around 1978, moving into their building and then into the village hall (both above).

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis.