Churches of the British Isles

Rialton Priory can be found on the eastern side of Rialton Road, opposite the Priory Road entrance, about half a kilometre due north-east from the cemetery (above). Rialton Priory was built by Tomas Vivian (penultimate prior of Bodmin) between 1508-1533. Also known as Rialton Grange, it was a monastic grange which belonged to the priors of Bodmin, once with buildings arranged around two courts. Only the inner court survives, but the priory ceased last century.

St Pedyr's Chapel & Holy Well are shown on maps as sitting to the south of Treloy Farm, which is about 1.5km farther east on the A3059 from the priory (above). It would have sat towards the right of this photo, farther down the hill. Permission is required to visit the locations. Thought to date from 1283, the chapel was noted in 1700 but no trace of it now exists bar possible sections of stonework around the site. The well survives to link it to the lost chapel.

A little over half a kilometre east of Treloy (above) is the Trebarber crossroads. A short way north of this is what seems to be a row of cottages, but is actually the former Trebarber United Methodist Chapel. Opened before the beginning of the twentieth century, it later became Trebarber Methodist United Free Church. At the Methodist union of 1932 it was rebadged as Trebarber Methodist Church. It closed and was sold in 1949, being converted into dwellings in the 1980s.

The northbound lane at Trebarber junction (above) leads to RAF St Mawgan Chapel & RAF St Mawgan Roman Catholic Chapel, both of which formerly stood within the grounds of this RAF base. The 1988 map of the base show both chapels but they appear to have been closed at a later date. The base currently (2021) contains no chaplaincy. Archives exist of baptisms between 1952-1982, but no other information can be found about either chapel.

Returning south to the A3059 and crossing over to the Porth Reservoir makes it easy to find Tregoose to the south-east. Tregoose Old Chapel was one of the four ancient free chapels in this area of Cornwall as noted by Hals - 'Tregoos, Tresithney, Lanhizey, and Ruthos' (see links) - none of which survive in any form. William of Worcester wrote of a turretted mansion, which had belonged to John Tregoos Esq. Early OS maps offer little help in pinpointing the location.

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis.