Summercourt is a village in mid Cornwall, five miles (8 km) southeast of Newquay. This profile of Summercourt Wesleyan Chapel has been compiled by Jo Lewis and Tony Mansell.
Summercourt Wesleyan Chapel with the Sunday school to the left (Photo: Jo Lewis)
Wesleyan chapel with attached later Sunday school, redundant and neglected at time of survey. Local rubble with granite dressings; hipped scantle slate roof over chapel; dry slate roof with crested and pierced clay ridge tiles over Sunday school plus brick end stacks. Simple Classical style with round-arched openings. Original windows boarded over at time of survey. 2-window front end within brick walled forecourt with granite copings and gate-piers. Sunday school has 2-window front with shouldered arches. Interior of chapel gutted! (Cornwall Heritage Gateway)
1845: Build date. (Cornwall Heritage Gateway)
Date stone (Photo: Barry West)
Built as a Wesleyan Chapel. (SWChurches)
Located in Chapel Town.
Non-Conformist. There was a Bible Christian chapel at Fraddon and Summercourt; the Wesleyan Methodists also has a chapel at Summercourt. (Genuki)
Mid to late 1800s: Sunday school added.
1874: Improvements recently carried out. (Royal Cornwall Gazette – Saturday 18 April 1874)
1897-1900: Receipts, new organ, Summercourt Wesleyan Chapel St Enoder. (Kresen Kernow MRCP/316)
1907: “WESLEYAN EXTENSION AT SUMMERCOURT. Tuesday last, a stone-laying ceremony took place Summercourt in connection with the renovation and extension scheme of the local Wesleyans. The scheme comprises a new schoolroom, the conversion of the old schoolroom into classrooms, and a new preacher’s vestry. The stone-laying ceremony took place on Tuesday in the presence of a goodly number friends…” (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 15 August 1907)
23 Apr 1910: Lease, schoolroom, Summercourt Wesleyan Chapel, St Enoder. Parties: 1) Henry Francis Whitefield, gentleman of Tolcarnia, Newquay, lessor. 2) Richard Tamblyn, carpenter, Lerrin Nancarrow, farmer, Henry Currah, cordwainer, William Dyer Tervarton [Trevarton], mason, Herbert Nancarrow, grocer, Albert John Ward, farmer, Sleeman Rundle, blacksmith, Tom Brenton, clay labourer, William James Key, carpenter, William Henry May, blacksmith, Thomas Champion clay labourer, Henry Halls, clay labourer, Asa Osborne, clay labourer, John Miners, clay labourer, William Truscott, clay labourer, Richard Cole, farm bailiff and Richard Stribley, clay labourer, all of Summercourt, St Enoder, James Trevarton, of Trevarren, St Columb, retired mason, George Burrow, of St Columb, bank manager, Richard Rundle, of Bodmin, blacksmith, John Henry Richards, of Retyn, St Enoder, farmer, Abraham Woodley, of Chytane, St Enoder, farmer, William Lanyon, of Newlyn East, farmer and Alfred Bond, of Newquay, chemist, Trustees and lessees. 3) William Hodson Smith, of Newquay, Superintendent Preacher of the Circuit in the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion in which the schoolroom is situated. Consideration: Rent and covenants. Term: 21 years from 29 September 1909. Rent: £2. Messuage schoolroom and premises situate at Chapel town in the parish of St Enoder, part of the plot of land numbered 719a in the Ordnance map of the parish and bounded on the north by the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel commonly called or known as Summercourt Chapel erected on another part of the said plot of land and on the east by the highway leading from Summercourt to Mitchell and on the west and south by the property of the lessor. Mines and minerals reserved to 1) below the depth of ten fathoms but without right of surface entry and also the free running of water and soil through all sewers and drains and access for the workmen of the lessor at reasonable times to repair and clean the sewers and drains, and excepting all trees and saplings. Suit and service to the Manor Court of Pencorse. Manor of Pencorse, number 3. (Kresen Kernow MRCP/319)
1908-1910: Correspondence, title to schoolroom, Summercourt Wesleyan Chapel, St Enoder. Correspondence between Chapel Committee and solicitors concerning title to schoolroom. (Kresen Kernow MRCP/318)
23 Apr 1910: Lease, schoolroom, Summercourt Wesleyan Chapel, St Enoder. Parties: 1) Henry Francis Whitefield, gentleman of Tolcarnia, Newquay, lessor. 2) Richard Tamblyn, carpenter, Lerrin Nancarrow, farmer, Henry Currah, cordwainer, William Dyer Tervarton [Trevarton], mason, Herbert Nancarrow, grocer, Albert John Ward, farmer, Sleeman Rundle, blacksmith, Tom Brenton, clay labourer, William James Key, carpenter, William Henry May, blacksmith, Thomas Champion clay labourer, Henry Halls, clay labourer, Asa Osborne, clay labourer, John Miners, clay labourer, William Truscott, clay labourer, Richard Cole, farm bailiff and Richard Stribley, clay labourer, all of Summercourt, St Enoder, James Trevarton, of Trevarren, St Columb, retired mason, George Burrow, of St Columb, bank manager, Richard Rundle, of Bodmin, blacksmith, John Henry Richards, of Retyn, St Enoder, farmer, Abraham Woodley, of Chytane, St Enoder, farmer, William Lanyon, of Newlyn East, farmer and Alfred Bond, of Newquay, chemist, Trustees and lessees. 3) William Hodson Smith, of Newquay, Superintendent Preacher of the Circuit in the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion in which the schoolroom is situated. Consideration: Rent and covenants. Term: 21 years from 29 September 1909. Rent: £2. Messuage schoolroom and premises situate at Chapel town in the parish of St Enoder, part of the plot of land numbered 719a in the Ordnance map of the parish and bounded on the north by the Wesleyan Methodist chapel commonly called or known as Summercourt chapel erected on another part of the said plot of land and on the east by the highway leading from Summercourt to Mitchell and on the west and south by the property of the lessor. Mines and minerals reserved to 1) below the depth of ten fathoms but without right of surface entry and also the free running of water and soil through all sewers and drains and access for the workmen of the lessor at reasonable times to repair and clean the sewers and drains, and excepting all trees and saplings. Suit and service to the Manor Court of Pencorse. Manor of Pencorse, number 3. (Kresen Kernow MRCP/319)
1932: The Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and the United Methodist Church amalgamated to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
1940: Seating for 162. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
1947: Declaration, new model deed, Summercourt Wesley Methodist Church, St Enoder. Declaration of adoption of new model deed for Summercourt Methodist Church, St Enoder. (Kresen Kernow MRCP/320)
1952: Tenders invited for repairs and decorating. (Cornish Guardian – Thursday 03 April 1952)
1964: “One Church Urged for Summercourt. The Redundancy Commission urged the two societies in Summercourt to form a united church and trust and to hold joint services in the School Road chapel and also to provide adequate Sunday school premises at School Road…” (Cornish Guardian – Thursday 07 May 1964)
1984: Chapel re-opened after three year’s work. (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 18 October 1984)
1988: Quinquennial inspection report, Summercourt Wesley Methodist Church, St Enoder. Report on structural survey of premises. Includes photographs. (Kresen Kernow MRCP/325)
1989: “Rescued chapel is closed. SUMMERCOURT Wesley Methodist Church. rescued by villagers five years ago after it had closed its doors through decay, has been shut down once again, but this time it seems it is for good Opened in 1845 the chapel closed in 1981 when falling plaster and rickety stairs made it unsafe for the congregation to use a local group was formed to reinstate it, led by the last Mr Gordon Trevarton a builder Mr Charles Keast, lay preacher and organist Mrs Esme Morcom Mr Trevarton who was then in his late seventies did much of the repair work himself, helped by community service workers and others, and the chapel was re-opened in October 1984. An inspection has now revealed that once again parts of the chapel are in a dangerous condition and areas have been roped off because of its condition and the fact that the congregation has dropped to a low level. It has been agreed that the chapel should close once and negotiations are taking place to decide what shall be done with it. The minister the Rev, Janet Knowles Berry said that the land on which it stands reverts to the owner, a descendant of the Pencorse Manor Estate from whom it was leased in the 1840s…” (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 02 March 1989)
1989: The chapel closed just four and a half years after its re-opening. (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 02 March 1989)
1989: Closure date. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
1988-1989: Papers relating to sale, Summercourt Wesley Methodist Church, St Enoder. (Kresen Kernow MRCP/267)
1983-1990: File, property and sale, Summercourt Wesley Methodist Church, St Enoder. (Krese Kernow MRCP/326)
2004: Sale particulars, former Methodist Chapel, Chapel Town, Summercourt. Former Wesleyan Chapel. Includes photograph and description. Produced by Bradleys Estate Agents, Newquay. (Kresen Kernow AD1618/9)
The Converted Chapel (Photo: Barry West)
ST ENODER SW 85 NE 11/315 Summercourt Wesley Church with – attached Sunday School II
Methodist church with attached Sunday school. Dated 1845; the Sunday school of mid-late C19 with some later C20 alterations. Stone rubble with granite dressings and quoins. Hipped slurried scantle slate roof with ridge tiles. The Sunday school is in granite rubble; slate roof with crested ridge tiles and gable ends, gable end stack to left with brick shaft. Plan: Single auditorium plan, with entrance at the front end and ritual east to rear. The Sunday school is attached to rear left, forming an L-plan. Exterior: Symmetrical 2-storey front has C19 panelled double doors with fanlight with radial glazing bars and dressed stone round arch. At upper level to right and left a C19 2-light 18-pane casement with dressed stone round arch. Central recessed moulded datestone with inscription: WESLEYAN CHAPEL AD 1845. The right side has two tall round-arched windows with dressed stone arches, with windows with mullions and transoms. Single storey lean-to attached to rear. The left side has two similar round-arched windows with C20 glazing. The Sunday school is a lower single storey building attached to rear left. The front has two 3-light casement with shouldered arches and double plank doors with shouldered arched overlight to right. Interior: Not accessible, but may retain good internal features such as a gallery and rostrum. Listing NGR: (Historic England) SW8827555947