Tregony, sometimes in the past Tregoney, is a village known as the gateway to the Roseland. This profile of Tregony United Methodist Chapel has been compiled by Jo Lewis and Tony Mansell.
There has been an Independent, Protestant, dissenting congregation and meeting house in Tregony since 1750.
SW 94 SW TREGONY FORE STREET (south-east side) TREGONY 5/96 Congregational Church and – boundary wall 30-5-67 GV II. Independent chapel and boundary walls, gate piers and gates. Plaque dated 1824 and 1876. Slatestone rubble with granite dressings and low pitched roof with gable ends. Gothic features in Classical arrangement. Symmetrical, rectangular plan with later lean-to extensions. Entrance front facing street has central entrance in pointed arched opening with original double doors and blind fanlight with intersecting glazing bars. Small circular wheel window over flanked by original small paned sashes with intersecting glazing bars within pointed arched openings. Gable is in the form of a classical pediment enclosed by string and coping with 3 plain pinnacles over acroteria. Small oval central dated tablet. Each side wall has 2 pointed arched windows with marginal glazing probably 1876 within pointed arched openings. Interior has pine pews to sides and middle approached by 2 inner entrances. Plain panelled backs may be of 1876. Pulpit is approached by a short flight of steps to each side and has Gothic frontal panels. Organ was removed from chapel in Grampound was installed here in 1971. Gallery on 3 sides is supported on wooden pillars painted to simulate marble and Gothic panelled front is cantilevered out on shaped wooden brackets. Chamfered balusters to both gallery stairs, pulpit stairs and to the gallery pew backs by windows to admit more light. Rubble boundary wall has entrance to street with pair of square granite gate post with pyramidal caps. Wrought iron gates have diagonal crosses to bottom rail and circles to lock rail with curved top rails forming arch. Listing NGR: SW9250944875 (Historic England)
1824 Chapel
(Photo: Terry Knight of St Agnes)
1824: Build date (Date stone).
Possibly built as a Wesleyan Methodist Association or a Wesleyan Reform Church – these amalgamated to become the United Methodist Free Churches in 1857.
1876: Obviously a very important event occurred as this date is included on the date stone.
1880 map: Shown as Tregony United Methodist Church. (Old-maps.co.uk)
Shown on old maps as a United Methodist church until 1907 when it is marked as a Congregational Church. This is probably the original Methodist church before the congregation moved up the road to join the Wesleyans.
1907: Became a Congregational Church.
In the 1820’s a private, fee paying, boys boarding school had been opened at Tregony by Dr James Hart who was also a Minister at the local Congregational Chapel. The school, which was one of the largest in Cornwall, stayed in existence until 1893 when it was destroyed by fire. http://www.tregoneyhistory.co.uk/local.html
As the Congregational church, it was one of the few remaining independent Congregational churches (those that did not become part of the United Reformed Church.)
1971: New Organ for Tregony Congregational Church. (West Briton 1971)
Circa 2008: It became the (New) Bible Christian Church when it became independent from the Congregational Federation, and is still active in the village with its own Facebook group.
Not to be confused with the original Bible Christian chapels down the road.
The building is grade 2 listed.
(Photo: Jo Lewis)