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Churches of the British Isles

Gallery: Churches of Cornwall

by Jo Lewis, 27 September 2019

Restormel (South) Part 7: Churches of Mevagissey & Pentewan

Mevagissey Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Mevagissey, Cornwall

Mevagissey Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (Second Site) lay right behind that street - on Wesley Court. The chapel was built in 1842 for six hundred sittings and was a fairly large building in this confined location. Upon the Methodist union in 1932 it became known as Fore Street Methodist Church. It closed in 1967 and has since been demolished in favour of modern flats and parking spaces. The pews went to The Wheel House (formerly Net Loft Chapel - see links).

Mevagissey United Free Methodist Chapel, Mevagissey, Cornwall

Mevagissey United Free Methodist Chapel lay at the east end of Valley Park Lane (seen here from the Tregoney Hill junction, with Corner Cottage on the left). A United Free (Methodist) chapel is marked on early maps, sitting behind the stone wall here on the right. This is likely what was recorded as the Free Methodist chapel, built in 1857, affording 250 sittings. It was still there (on maps) in 1938 but was not a chapel by 1963 and seems to have gone by 1971.

St Peter's Church, Mevagissey, Mevagissey, Cornwall

St Peter's Church is on the east side of Church Lane, at the very top of the lane to the north of the old town centre. The first church on this site was known as the Church of Lammorech - its original patron saints were Meva (Maven) and Issey (Issi). It was dedicated or re-dedicated by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter in 1259, but was still being recorded as St Maven & St Issi on Victorian OS maps. The upper tower collapsed in the 1600s and was restored only by 1887.

Mevagissey Mortuary Chapel, Mevagissey, Cornwall

Mevagissey Mortuary Chapel is also on Church Lane, around eighty metres north of the church (above) and on the north-eastern side of the lane. The chapel sits at the front of the cemetery which was formed in 1882 out of 0.81 hectares of land and at a cost of £400. The mortuary chapel was built to a design by Silvanus Trevail in two halves; one half was consecrated, the remainder being assigned for the use of Dissenters. It was converted into a workshop in 2005.

Trewinney Farmhouse, Mevagissey, Cornwall

Trewinney Farmhouse is immediately north of Mevagissey, at the eastern end of a lane which leads from the Cliff Road and Vicarage Hill junction. Wesley visited Mevagissey in 1753. He was met by a hostile crowd, being pelted with rotten eggs and fish. Rescued by James and Mary Lelean he was taken to safety at their house a mile from the town - Trewinney Farmhouse. Mary was baptised by Wesley using a cup from the farmhouse, becoming Mevagissey's first Methodist.

Glentowan Road Methodist Chapel, Pentewan, Cornwall

Glentowan Road Methodist Chapel, Pentewan, is on the west side of the road of the same name, seventy metres north of the West End junction. Built in 1820 it may originally have been a Bible Christian Chapel (BCC) The Methodists were initially meeting elsewhere, but that lost location (possibly the first Pentewan Hill chapel) was in use as a pilchard cellar by 1810. When the new BCC was built in North Road this became the Methodist reading room. It is now the village hall.

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis.

 

 

     
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