Churches of the British Isles

Follow the coast from Pentewan to the southern end of Trenarran (Ledra). Trenarren Wesleyan Methodist Chapel lies on the eastern side of the main lane, down this short private road. The area is also known as Ledra. Planning documents suggest that the chapel originated in 1815. It was still open in the 1950s, when a local resident remembered going to Sunday school there, but had closed and was converted to private use by the early 1970s.

Porthpean is directly north along the coast from Trenarran (see above), which is where Porthpean Wesleyan Methodist Chapel formerly existed. It was sited on the eastern side of Porthpean Beach Road, immediately to the north of St Levan's Church (marginally visible here on the right - see below), and in what is now the forecourt of Rosemary Cottage (pictured in part), which occupies a slightly larger plot. The chapel had fallen out of use by the very early 1900s.

St Levan's Church, Higher Porthpean, stands at the north-east corner of Porthpean Beach Road as it turns east towards the beach. The site - and the whole village - once formed part of the Sawle estate. The church was built by the Sawle family at its own expense as a private chapel. The foundation stone was laid in 1884, while the building used local stone and slate and was consecrated on 22 October 1885. Today it serves as an Anglican mission church.

New Mills London Apprentice Primitive Methodist Chapel lies on the west side of Pentewan Road (B3273) at the northern end of New Mills and London Apprentice. An unsuccessful Primitive Methodist mission arrived here in the 1830s and ceased in 1846. A new society started in 1849, with services in the house of a Walter Coombe. The chapel was built in 1870, and enlarged in 1904 with a Sunday school. It closed in 1993, and the building is now a holiday cottage.

Tregongeeves Farm is on the western side of Tregongeeves Lane, about 250 metres south of the A390 junction. This was the site of Tregongeeves Quaker Meeting House and home to Loveday Hambly, one of Cornwall's best-known early Quakers. A friend of George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, her farmhouse became a meeting place for Quakers across all of mid-Cornwall. The estate now forms a set of luxury farm cottages, one of which is called 'Quakers'.

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis.