Mapping Methodism – Halsetown Wesleyan Teetotal Chapel
Categories Mapping Methodism, Projects1 Comment
Halsetown is a village which was built in 1831 as a settlement for the nearby mine workers. James Halse sponsored the building, allowing each home sufficient land to entitle the occupier to vote in the elections for which he was standing. The village had a Hotel, the Halsetown Hotel, and three Methodist places of worship: two built in the 1830’s and this one in 1845. The main village pump was situated behind the hotel and easily accessible to all. Sir Henry Irving, who was born John Henry Brodribb, spent 7 years in the village as a child, from about 1842 – 1849. He described it “as a village nestling between sloping hills, bare and desolate, disfigured by great heaps of slack from the mines, and with Knill Monument standing prominent as a landmark to the east. It was a wild and weird place, fascinating in its own peculiar beauty, and taking a more definite shape in my youthful imagination by reason of the fancies and legends of the people…” This profile of Halsetown Wesleyan Teetotal Chapel has been compiled by Val Thomas of St Ives Old Cornwall.
Image courtesy of David Allan collection at the St Ives Museum
1838 February. James Teare, a teetotal advocate based in Preston, spoke at two meetings in the Wesleyan Chapel in St Ives. A local society was formed with 74 members. Three months later it had 1,195 members with fortnightly meetings held alternately in the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels.
1841 The Penberthy family from Halsetown had a lodger called John Victor (1819-1894) who was aged 21 and a school master. (Probably a Wesleyan Sunday-school teacher) He was born in Sancreed but went on to marry Sarah Penberthy’s sister Jane Behenna and move to Bristol as a Wesleyan Minister.
1845 The Halsetown Wesleyan Teetotal Chapel was founded. It had seas for 130. The Chapel is listed as Methodist Chapel (New Connexion) on the 1877 map.
1847 A revival teetotal meeting was held in the Teetotal Wesleyan Chapel, Halsetown, on 27th January when the speaker was James Teare. His address was one and three quarters of an hour long and many signed the pledge following it.
1851 John Worthington completed the return. The population of Halsetown at this time was 1,836 persons.
1860 There was crisis point for the St Ives circuit. Chapel Street Teetotal and others joined the Methodist New Connexion. The Methodist New Connexion minutes show that 234 members and seven chapels in the St Ives area came into the Connexion at this time.
1865 The last entry into the Halsetown Teetotal Wesleyan account book was dated 1865.
1866 The Church we now call St John’s in the Fields was erected at Hellesvean, a village near St Ives. It is often referred to as being in Halsetown though!
1865 – 1878 The Methodist New Connexion chapel must have closed as it was later re-opened after a period of disuse.
1971 The population of Halsetown is 1,810.
1878 The chapel reopened as St Mary’s Mission Church, a daughter church of St John’s in the Field Church of England Church which is built at Hellesvean, about a mile away, not Halsetown. There was, according to a newspaper report, a harmonium.
Image: David Allan collection from St Ives Museum. I think this shows a harmonium. If it is an organ, then it may be from the Wesleyan Chapel on Laity Lane, Halsetown.
Extract from ‘The Cornishman’, Thursday November 14th 1878: Opening a mission Chapel at Halsetown:
On Wednesday, the 6th inst, another of the many cheering signs of church-life was shown in the opening of St Mary’s Mission Chapel – a small building formerly used by one of the Methodist bodies, but for some time past deserted. Through the liberality of T. Jenkyn, Esq, it was rendered available for Church purposes; and, by the exertions of Rev. R.E.Coles, vicar of Halsetown, the interior has undergone a thorough renovation and now presents a most Church-like appearance. The reredros consists of hangings of a tasteful ecclesiastical pattern, in the centre of which is a cross, immediately over the altar, which stands on a footpace and was vested with a white frontal….. High over the altar, the emblematical lily was painted in a niche in the east wall. The little Church is constructed to take 80 persons supplied with chairs. A small font of serpentine was placed immediately opposite the porch and the seas for choir and clergy are simple and tasteful…
1882 The Cornish Telegraph, Thursday October 19th, contained an article about a report on religious education in Halsetown C.E. School attached to St John’s Church. The article seems to indicate that this school is linked to schools in the district which are not private, and that attendance at ratepayer’s schools takes precedence over other schools. Another report from 1919 also says Halsetown has a Church of England School. The school near the Wesleyan Chapel was a National School, not affiliated to religion. Could the mission room have been used as a school?
1883 The National School (mixed) (The one attached to the Wesleyan Chapel in Laity Lane) had 80 children with an average attendance of 50, supported by a Government grant and School fees. Miss Taylor was mistress.
1906 map published 1908, about 2,000 people lived in Halsetown at this time
1906 April 27th. The Cornishman wrote that Easter day was ushered in by celebration of Holy Communion at St Mary’s Mission chapel at 6.50am.
1910 October 13th. The Cornishman reported that a Harvest Thanksgiving service had been held at St Mary’s Mission room on Sunday afternoon. The vicar preached to a good congregation.
1944 Thursday June 29th. The Cornishman.
‘Teetotal was the name of the community who left the Wesleyan chapel in St Ives more than a century ago and built another chapel which has since been used as a drill hall. For some years the Teetotal Chapels were unattached to any denomination. In 1860 they approached the Methodist Connexion and joined that body. There was a pamphlet printed in St Ives in 1841 by Mr Kernick and headed: Rules of the people called Teetotal Methodists.’
1976-77 The Church was restored and opened as a Craft workshop/pottery by John Buchanan. The population of the village at this time was between 140 and 165 persons.
2020 The Craft centre/pottery/Chapel/Church was for sale.
2020: The Craft centre/pottery/Chapel/Church was for sale. (Image taken from the internet}
Images: Val Thomas March 2021
2021: This is the front, looking towards the Halsetown Hotel on the top right. A loft extension has been added since the original photograph was taken by David Allan.
The garage extension on the right is also quite new, but as Halsetown is a conservation area, buildings must conform to planning requirements.
The craft centre/pottery is now being renovated for use as a family home
Kresen Kernow resources:
Accounts: MR1/113
Resources:
Genuki.org.uk – maintained by Martin Dyer
The Wesleyan-Methodist magazine – google books
Full text of ‘Henry Irving: a record and review’
Find my past newspaper articles.
Find my past census
National maps of Scotland
West Penwith Resources – Sir Henry Irving aka John Henry Brodribb
Eprints.bbk.ac.uk – Birkbeck, University of London. Victoria Elizabeth Powell
Michael S. Edwards – Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society. –biblestudies.org.uk
The Teetotal Wesleyan Methodists – biblicalstudies.org.uk
The Churches of Britain and Ireland churches-uk-ireland.org
Kelly’s Directory 1883 West Penwith Resources. Halsetown. Also 1873.
Great pictures of The Craft Centre / St Mary’s Mission Chapel/ Weslyan Teatotal Chapel. I would have moved the ladders from the back of the property if I knew it was being photographed.