Mapping Methodism – Penzance Alexandra Road United Methodist New Connexion Chapel
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This profile of Alexandra Road United Methodist New Connexion Chapel has been compiled by Suzanne Trythall.
4th December 1901: agreement to build church and school, signed by the builder Edward Pidwell of 4 Penare Terrace, Reverend Matthew May, John Andrew, Secretary of the Trustees, and Edwin Nankervis, Treasurer of the Trustees.
Cost was to be £2,292 and 10s.
Architect: James Whittaker Firth of Oldham Lancashire
1902-1906: Alexandra Road Methodist New Connexion Chapel opened as a replacement chapel for the society meeting in Abbey Street. Cornish Telegraph 5 May 1887 reported that application had been made to Conference for permission to sell the Abbey Street Chapel with a view to the erection of a more suitable building on a more suitable site. In
1878 the Good Templars Hall in Abbey Street had come on the market for £520. The Methodist New Connexion Society had purchased it, although only having £20 in hand, a subscription list had been opened and the ladies held a bazaar. A Trust was formed and a loan of £400 arranged at an interest rate of 4.5%. However, the number of members gradually decreased, apart from the Sunday School which had 110 children. One reason given for this decline in numbers was the obscure location of the chapel.
Harvest Festival Alexandra Road UMC 1907-1932
Photo 2021: Abbey Street Chapel, now a private house
Photo undated of Alexandra Road Chapel, note roof without later window insertions
1907-1932: the new chapel was known as Alexandra Road United Methodist Church and was head of Alexandra Road United Methodist Circuit, which consisted of two chapels, Alexandra Road and Sheffield. The new chapel was in Gothic style, built with tower and spire and adjoining vestries and Sunday School.
1932: the chapel became Alexandra Road Methodist Church, head of Alexandra Road Methodist Circuit
Photos 2021: former Sunday School building
1994: Alexandra Road Chapel closed because of the decline in chapel attendance, due partly to the demise of the boarding house business. It was still financially secure thanks to a generous bequest by one of its former members.
May 2000: application to Cornwall County Council to convert the chapel to 10 flats
2021: the chapel now comprises 15 flats rented on a leasehold basis
Photo 2021: Alexandra Road Chapel converted to flats
Sources and further reading:
Newspapers: The Cornishman and The Cornish Telegraph (Find My Past)
Book: ‘Even in This Place: 19th century Nonconformists & Life in the Borough of Penzance’ by John Horner (2010)
Websites: A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland
Cornwall County Council (planning)
Map: The National Library of Scotland
Kresen Kernow
Morrab Library