Roscroggan is a hamlet to the north of Camborne. This profile of Roscroggan Wesleyan Chapel has been compiled by Jo Lewis and Tony Mansell.
The first Wesleyan Chapel was slightly further down the road from the second, by the Red River, and can be seen on 1879 maps. This proximity to the river meant that the little sanctuary was prone to flooding when there was heavy rain and the river overflowed. There are no known pictures of the original chapel, which lay on the Camborne side of the parish boundary, west of the river.
(Photo: courtesy David Thomas)
(Photo: courtesy David Thomas)
(Photo: courtesy David Thomas)
“If we travel a little further towards the sea from the settlement of Tuckingmill down the valley of the Red River we would eventually come to the place called Roscroggan, which straddles the boundary of the ancient parishes of Camborne and Illogan. It might also seem incredible to us, if we were to drive along the road from Camborne to Tehidy and pass through Roscroggan, as there is hardly a house to be seen anywhere, that this tiny community in the nineteenth century possessed not one, but two Methodist chapels, one being Wesleyan and the other United Methodist Free Church, emblematic of the major divisions within the Methodist movement from around 1850, which I have previously discussed in my notes on the Tuckingmill chapels. Roscroggan however in the 1800s was close to a major industrial area, with the Tolvaddon mining stamps and arsenic works to the south and was adjacent to the Red River’s heavily exploitative tin streaming industry, part of the business empire of the Bassets of Tehidy. Travelling a little further down the river one would have encountered the huge tin streaming complex at Reskadinnick.
Though strictly speaking the late nineteenth century Roscroggan Wesleyan chapel, constructed in 1888, lies in the old parish of Illogan I am including it in this Camborne chapels survey for the sake of completeness and context. The building is on the right as one climbs the hill from Camborne towards South Tehidy from the bottom of the valley and is now a guest house. In the Camborne Methodist Circuit archives at Kresen Kernow, Redruth the oldest surviving account book of this Wesleyan chapel dates from 1870 and this is a clue to the fact that there was an earlier Wesleyan chapel at Roscroggan. This building was much further down the hill and close to the Red River and this proximity meant that the little sanctuary was prone to flooding when there was heavy rain and the river overflowed. The decision was therefore taken in the later 1880s to build a new chapel up the hill and well out of the way of the river. There are no known pictures of the original chapel, which lay on the Camborne side of the parish boundary, west of the river.
Our first image is a postcard from around 1902 by W J Bennetts of Camborne showing the then relatively new chapel, with its adjacent little Sunday School in a pleasing Gothic style. There are some highly ornate cast iron railings and gates fronting the buildings and these were made by the Holman Brothers Foundry of Camborne, using patterns for the new railings for Camborne parish church made in 1887. Identical gates were also provided by that firm for the two new entrances of the Camborne cemetery in 1889 at the bottom of College Street, as well as railings of the same pattern for St Agnes parish church in the 1890s.
The second photograph is a slightly different angle of the buildings by Redruth publisher T Martin in about 1905. In the background can be seen the heavily industrialised Tolvaddon valley with its stamps and arsenic flues.
The third picture dates from around 1960 and shows the chapel interior decorated for a Harvest Festival. It was taken by Camborne photographer Henry Parkinson. There is a large heavy fringe on the coloured pulpit cloth, a feature of many nineteenth century chapels, often one of the only nods to decorative furnishings. The little pipe organ sits nicely in its apse.
Many older local people will remember the late Mrs Marjorie Basset who lived in her little wooden bungalow ‘Wilmar’ at South Tehidy. She was a member of the Mitchell family by birth and as a girl was appointed the chapel organist in 1916, a post she held for most of the remainder of the twentieth century. She would almost certainly, as a chapel stalwart, have assisted with the decorations in Henry Parkinson’s picture.” (David Thomas)
First Chapel
The original Roscroggan Wesleyan Methodist chapel is shown at this position on the 1st Edition 1:2500 1880 OS Map. By 1907 it has been demolished and a new chapel 138919 has been constructed on a new site to the north of the original Sunday school 138920. (Cornwall Heritage Gateway)
There are extracts from a circuit preacher’s book,1799, which note a list of names of members of Methodist classes for Roscroggan. There is certainly a certificate of registration from 1850 so this may have been the build date of the first chapel with the congregation having met earlier.
1774-1799: Copy of Cornwall Western Circuit book, 1774-1796. Quarterly accounts of circuit stewards, with money received from each society in the circuit (steward of each society listed) and money paid out on circuit expenses, 1774-1796. Information copied from book formerly in the possession of Mr Samuel Martin of Redruth, passed to his son-in-law Mr John Pierce on his death. Also extracts from a circuit preacher’s book, 1799, possibly begun by The Reverend Thomas Longly, then superintendent of the Redruth Circuit. For each society in Redruth Circuit, lists name of class leaders and number of members in each class, with total of 4087 class members in Circuit. Notes changes to Circuits following Methodist conference in 1799. List of names of members of Methodist classes at Tuckingmill, Roscroggan, Condurrow, Illogan Downs, Lower Merrose, Illogan Highway, Grenefer? (Illogan), Tolvaddon Downs, Pengegon, Pool, Carnkie and Bridge at Midsummer 1799. Copy made by William Arnall of Illogan in 1843 and 1849. (Kresen Kernow MRR/3001)
Wesleyan Sunday school next to 1888 chapel and probably of similar date, disused at time of survey and probably now converted to house. Granite rubble with granite and brick dressings. Gothic style with pointed arches. Symmetrical 2-window front with gable ventilator and name plaque above doorway. Low forecourt walls with granite coping and piers. Good Gothic style group. (Cornwall Heritage Gateway)
1850: Possible chapel build date. (Kresen Kernow)
29 Oct 1850: Certificate of registration, Roscroggan Wesleyan Chapel, Illogan. Certificate of registration as place of religious worship. (Kresen Kernow MRCB/1775)
The Sunday School (Photo: Jo Lewis)
1872: Sunday school foundation stone laid. (Royal Cornwall Gazette – Saturday 20th July 1872)
1879: Chapel and Sunday school shown on old.maps.co.uk.
Chapel Demolished
Sunday school converted to dwelling.
1888 Chapel
Wesleyan chapel, disused at time of survey, now probably converted to house, built to replace original early C19 Wesleyan chapel on nearby site. It is granite rubble with granite dressings; dry slate roof with crested and pierced clay ridge tiles. Gothic style with pointed arches and corner buttresses. Front end has pinnacle gable with traceried ventilator over 4-light window with traceried centre. A very Anglican looking example. Good Gothic style group with Sunday school. (Cornwall Heritage Gateway)
The decision was taken in the later 1880s to build a new chapel up the hill and well out of the way of the river. The new chapel was built in 1888 and this building by the stream has disappeared, presumed demolished.
The 1888 Chapel (Photo: Jo Lewis)
1888: The second chapel, a much grander gothic building, was built nearer to the Sunday school.
1888: Chapel build date. (Cornwall Heritage Gateway)
1932: The Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and the United Methodist Church amalgamated to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
1932: Became Roscroggan Methodist Church.
1940: Seating for 130. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
5 Dec 1944: Declaration, new model deed, Roscroggan Methodist Church, Illogan. Declaration of adoption of new model deed for Roscroggan Methodist Church, Illogan. (Kresen Kernow MRCB/1782)
1984-1987: Logbook, property, Roscroggan Methodist Church, Illogan. (Kresen Kernow MRCB/988)
1991: Chapel closed. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
6 Oct 1992: Copy covering letter, deeds of Roscroggan and Tregajorran Methodist Churches, Illogan. Letter from Eleanor Williams, circuit office, Camborne to Alan Butterfield, Walters and Barbary, solicitors. (Kresen Kernow MRCB/1788)
Converted to dwelling. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
Became a guest house.