Mapping Methodism – Busveal Wesleyan Chapel and Gwennap Pit

Busveal is a mining settlement approximately one mile east of Redruth and in the civil parish of St Day. Its Wesleyan Chapel opened in 1833. This profile has been compiled by Jo Lewis and Tony Mansell.

 

Gwennap Preaching Pit (Photo: Jo Lewis)

1762 to 1789: John Wesley preached here to large crowds eighteen times.

1806: Landscaped to form a grassy terraced amphitheatre. (England’s Christian Heritage)

1807: Open-air service held in this year and annually since.

Two stone pillars on one side are known as Wesley’s Pulpit. (England’s Christian Heritage)

On the north side is a pair of stone posts with a rectangular stone between them. These formed the pulpit for the annual Whit Monday services.

Gwennap pit originated as either a mine collapse or an open cast working (b6,8). Its fame is due largely to the preachings of John Wesley, who used the pit on 17 occasions from 1776-89. He greatly exaggerated its size (he put it at 200x300ft and 50ft deep) and it is possible that the same applies to his estimate that his largest audience was 32000. In his memory the local people excavated the pit in 1806 into a regular oval 37m across and 8m deep. They added 13 rows of turf seats. A Whit-Monday service has been held there since 1807, and it has been used for other purposes, eg. Chartists met in 1839, and there was a theatre performance in 1951. See (b9) for superb aerial photo. The site is visible on numerous air photographs (p2 for example) and was plotted as part of the NMP. (Cornwall Council Heritage Gateway)

John Wesley described the pit as “the most magnificent spectacle this side of heaven”.

The pit can hold a crowd as large as 1,500 around its 12 ‘rings’.

Busveal Wesleyan Chapel (Photo: Jo Lewis)

1836: Busveal Wesleyan Chapel built.

Built as a Wesleyan chapel. (SWChurches)

Early C19 Wesleyan Methodist chapel located 20 m east of Gwennap Pit. Altered. Slobbered uncoursed rubble, slurried slate roof. Small almost square building in plan. Single storey, doorway at east end now covered by modern additions. 2 square-headed windows on each side, now with wooden glazing bars making an arched light in the centre. Interior not inspected. Listed and illustrated in Stell (b1). (Cornwall Council Heritage Gateway)

1870: “WHIT-MONDAY AT GWENNAP PIT. Perhaps no spot in Cornwall – a county which abounds in scenes of natural loveliness – is less attractive in itself than the ancient amphitheatre which bears the name of Gwennap Pit. Though in an elevated position, on the northern declivity of Cam Marth – the view is particularly bleak and uninviting. Scarcely a tree meets the eye in the whole range of vision, whilst dreary ruins and unsightly heaps of rubble, which tell of the abandoned hopes and wasted labour of a particularly persevering race, are visible at every turn. Even the supposition – a very apocryphal one by the way – that the Ancient Britons were here accustomed to display their physical powers by indulgence in the various athletic exercises of an age whose doings are hidden from us by impenetrable clouds of dust and vapour, would invite a pilgrimage only from a stray antiquarian or naturalist And, though the eminence of Carnmarth within a mile’s walk, commands extensive and varied scenery, embracing peeps of north and south coasts, not one person in five thousand of those who flock to Gwennap Pit ever tread, unless it be their shortest route – the dreary summit of Carnmarth, either to view the landscape or to burrow into its tumuli after ancient British urns, which are said to contain the ashes of the giants of yore, who took their morning exercises in the famous pit. A more powerful, a more enduring sentiment than any of these impel the Cornish men and women –more especially the men and women of West Cornwall – to pay their annual visit to this spot. It is hallowed by its association with the footsteps of one who came into Cornwall to awaken its people from the spiritual lethargy into which they had fallen, and to display before them the treasures of the Gospel and the beauties of a religious life. Just 127 years ago – 1743 – John Wesley, hearing of the deplorable spiritual condition of the Cornish people – full of zeal and love of souls – determined upon preaching the Gospel to the people of the west. He entered Cornwall at Launceston, on the 29th of August 1743, and five days later, on the 3^rd of September, preached his first sermon in Gwennap Pit, whose natural formation he at once saw was exactly suited to his project of addressing the multitude. His first audience, however, was a small one – not more than 500 people, and the effect of his earnest discourse was very discouraging. His own estimate of it being thus expressed – “A little impression made on two or three; the rest showing huge approbation and absolute unconcern!” However, so active, so zealous, and so earnest were the labours of this wonderful man that seventeen days afterwards, when he preached in Gwennap for the second time, there were ten thousand people there all anxious to hear him. He says “l started a little before six o’clock and spoke till dark. 1 preached Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and there was on all sides the deepest attention, none speaking, stirring, or scarce looking aside. “From that day the work of conversion went on with amazing rapidity, and Wesley, in the midst of persecution and revilement, with the records of which many of our readers are familiar, succeeded in effecting a thorough revival of religious life in the county. To no man are the sentiments of Longfellow, in the “Psalm of Life,” more applicable than to John Wesley. He truly made his life sublime, and having departed from the scene of his earthly labours at an advanced age, he has left “foot-prints on the sands of time,” which may never be effaced, ln the beautiful words of the Psalmist, “The sweet remembrance of the just Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust.” ‘Tis the affectionate remembrance of this just man, whose work has born such abundant fruit, visible all around us, and still pregnant with life and growth, which so powerfully influences the people of Cornwall and draws thousands annually to the shrine of his labours. For the benefit of such of our readers as have never paid a visit to Gwennap Pit, it may be necessary to explain that it is a circular basin, lined with greensward, about 40 yards in diameter at the top, and gradually diminishing by a series of 12 broad steps or seats, to a diameter of some 12 or 13 feet at the bottom, and calculated to seat from 2500 to 3000 people: as a considerable proportion of those on the outer limits of the pit stand, it may be said generally to contain 5,000 persons on the occasions of these religious services. lt certainly did so on Monday, when the brilliancy of the weather was most favourable to a large assembly, and the pit and its environs were accordingly crowded. Having heard a good many uncomplimentary stories about the irreverent conduct of the outsiders at these religious assemblies we were most agreeably surprised to find everything most orderly and decorous. The few venders of gingerbread, nuts, cooling drinks, and other refreshments of a more or less substantial character, and the never-failing congregation of the halt, the lame, and the blind, who followed the profession of beggars, were the only elements out of harmony with the religious character of the meeting. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, the mere idle seekers for sensation were indeed few. The great mass of the people, who filled the Pit, sang the hymns, joined fervently in prayer, which is the voice of faith, and listened attentively to the sermon, were all serious, respectable persons, many in a good position in life, and all evidently fully impressed by the importance and solemnity of the services in which they were engaged. On the outer circle might here and there be seen a sprinkling of the “Upper Ten” peering curiously into the interior of the pit, making audible comments respecting “the man without a hat” – the preacher of the day – and various enquiries as to the proceedings, which were wonderful to them: they had driven to the Pit “to satisfy their eyes with the things of fame that do renown the place,” and soon disappeared, leaving “the Methodists” to the undisturbed performance of their devotions. The services, which were conducted by the Rev. R. M. Wilcox, of Penzance, chairman of the district, commenced with the 50th of Wesley’s hymns, and the scene was impressively grand as the vast multitude lifted up their voices together, singing — “Thou God of glorious Majesty…” … The congregation afterwards dispersed in the most orderly manner, making it clear that the stories of licence and riot, which are said to take place after these gatherings, are either the offspring of the unbridled imaginations of persons who have never witnessed the scene for themselves, or the deliberate slander of scoffers and unbelievers in the sincerity of such manifestations of Christian faith. Any sincere and fair-minded person, who visited Gwennap Pit on Monday, however much he might differ from the ecclesiastical policy of the Wesleyan Methodists, or from their mode of conducting religious services must acknowledge that the whole of the proceedings were conducted in a manner which would do no discredit to any religious body – Churchmen or Dissenters – indoors or out.” (Royal Cornwall Gazette – Saturday 11 June 1870)

Gwennap Preaching Pit, a photo from the series titled ‘God’s Little Acre’ by Emily Thornhill

1907: Photograph, Wesleyan service at Gwennap Pit. Service at Gwennap Pit. (Kresen Kernow corn01144)

1923: Busveal Wesleyan Church, after renovation, was re-opened by the oldest member of the Church Mr. T, Marks…” (Cornubian and Redruth Times – Thursday 23 August 1923)

1932: The Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and the United Methodist Church amalgamated to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

1932: Became Busveal Methodist Church. (SWChurches)

1935: Draft lease, Gwennap Pit, chapel and cottage, Busveal, Gwennap. To Tom Wickett and others. (Kresen Kernow PT/13/8/2)

1936: Busveal Wesleyan Methodist Chapel renovated.

It had a Sunday school.

The exterior and interior are very plainly decorated.

Inside is a bust of Wesley and portraits of Wesley, his wife Susanna, and his brother Charles. There is a display of historical photographs and information about Methodism and the life of John Wesley. (Jo Lewis)

It is a grade 2 listed building. (Jo Lewis)

1980: Busveal Wesleyan Methodist Chapel renovated.

1990: History of Gwennap Pit, Indian Queens Pit and St Newlyn East Pit. Illustrated

pamphlet compiled by S C May, St Columb Road. (Kresen Kernow MRA/1133)

A considerable number of reports, correspondence and photographs are held by Kresen Kernow: https://kresenkernow.org/SOAP/search/gwennap%20pit/