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Churches of the British Isles

Gallery: Churches of Cornwall

by Jo Lewis, 15 May 2020

Restormel (South) Part 21: Churches of St Austell

Bethel Bible Christian Chapel, St Austell, Cornwall

Bethel Bible Christian Chapel (Second Site), St Austell, stands at the north-east corner of the junction between Brockstone Road and Trenowah Road. In 1836 this replaced the first chapel which lay a very short way to the west (see links). It is shown on the OS 25-inch map of 1892-1914, while the old chapel was later converted into two private residences. This one became Bethel Methodist Church, probably at the Methodist union, either of 1907 or 1932.

St Austell Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, St Austell, Cornwall

St Austell Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is on the northern side of Kingfisher Drive, around eighty metres south of the junction with Gannet Drive. Jean and Terry Dean, long term members of the St Austell congregation, helped to build this chapel. Planning documents show approval for the erection of a church in 1975, and then of the new meeting house in 1991. This whole area, south of Sandy Bottom, was open fields until well after the Second World War.

St Austell Seventh-Day Adventist Church, St Austell, Cornwall

St Austell Seventh-Day Adventist Church sits at the south-east corner of the Bucklers Lane and Lyons Road junction. A smaller building than the present one appears on the 1977 OS map. By 1992 it had been enlargened to its present dimensions. Seventh Day Adventist details available online also list a 'plant' in North St Austell at what looks like a private home. The congregation grew out of the world-wide religious revival in the mid-nineteenth century.

Holmbush (Primitive) Methodist Chapel, St Austell, Cornwall

Holmbush Methodist Chapel was founded here, at the entrance to what is now a car park on the eastern side of Bucklers Lane about thirty metres north of the Holmbush Road junction. The chapel is marked on OS maps from the very early 1900s, and certainly by the inter-war period. It remained in use until after the Second World War, before disappearing altogether. It is likely that it was a Primitive Methodist chapel. Cuddra Hall (below) replaced it prior to demolition.

Cuddra Hall, St Austell, Cornwall

Cuddra Hall is on the north flank of the former Methodist chapel (see above), with its car park location partially visible here. The hall was built in the post-war period, and is shown on the OS 1:10,560 map of 1963 while the chapel still stood. The 1974 map shows that the chapel had gone and the hall housed the Women's Institute. It later hosted the Church of the Holy Spirit (see links) and now provides a meeting place for the nondenominational South Coast Church.

Holmbush Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, St Austell, Cornwall

Holmbush Wesleyan Methodist Chapel stood on the southern side of Hillside, just visible here immediately behind the garage seen on the right-hand side of the entrance into Oak Tree Close. Wesleyan records show that it was opened in 1828 on a small site. It is marked on the 1888-1889 OS map, but closure followed in 1907 - too early for a Methodist union merger. The date seems close to the opening of the Primitive Methodist chapel on Bucklers Lane (see above).

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis.

 

 

     
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