Churches of the British Isles

The isle of Samson contains two old chapels, but only one has been located. The ruins of the other, Samson Old Chapel, sit at the centre of the narrow mid-island 'neck' between West Porth and East Porth. Samson was named after a visiting Welsh saint of the early 500s, while the chapel site has early medieval Christian burials. The building was likely a timber structure, replaced by the rectangular stone building, east-west aligned, perhaps a hermitage rather than a chapel.

The ruins of South Hill Prayer House form one of the few cottages on the southern half of Samson. Baptists established themselves on all the islands in the early 1800s, including this one, with their meeting likely to have been held in the populous South Hill. After the 1843 dismissal of Baptists it is reported that one of the islanders held prayers and bible readings in this cottage. The island's remaining population of two families was removed by Augustus Smith in 1855.

Old Man of Gugh is a standing stone on Kittern Hill. It is aligned with several other stones and likely marks an early sacred or Christian site. One of the nearby chamber tombs is known as Obidiah's Barrow, containing the remains of a contracted male skeleton and a dozen Bronze Age cremation urns. These stone rows are very similar to those found on Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor which are thought to define a sacred space. This is also the site of an Iron Age fort.

St Agnes Bible Christian Chapel, St Agnes, sits on the north side of Old Lane, about a hundred metres north-east of the junction with New Lane to the chapel's west. The chapel had opened for services by 1832 following a visit by the young missionary, Mary Anne Wherry. Its closure date was relatively early, after which the building served as a reading room, and today it is a community centre and sports hall. The recent rearwards extension provides improved facilities.

St Agnes Old Chapel cannot now be located but is known to have been to the north-west of the parish church (see links), by the old lifeboat slip shown here. Leland about 1542 noted the chapel's existence. The 1652 parliamentary survey noted that one Bernard Hicks lived in a house at Port Eagles (now also lost), formerly in part a chapel, while his garden had been a burial ground. A dedication is thought to have been made for a local saint called Arana (later 'Warna').

Photos on this page kindly contributed by Ann Swindale / British Methodist Buildings via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, four photos copyright © Bob Embleton, Des Blenkinsopp, Andrew Abbott, and David Lally via Geograph, reused under a cc licence, and one photo copyright © Topo122, and reused under a cc licence. Additional information from Isles of Scilly Historic Environment Research Framework Updated Resource Assessment and Research Agenda 2019.