Mapping Methodism – Higher Bal or Beacon Wesleyan Chapel, St Agnes
Categories Mapping Methodism1 Comment
Higher Bal is a small community in St Agnes parish. This profile of Higher Bal Chapel has been compiled by Clive Benney & Tony Mansell.
1814: Chapel built, location unknown. (R Symons of Truro).
1825: “No Society” recorded in R Symons circuit record so we assume that it foundered.
1837 Chapel
1837: Chapel built.
Built as a Wesleyan chapel. (SWChurches)
1842: Chapel opened which suggests a lengthy construction period.
1849: New Society formed although should, perhaps, state re-formed.
The Chapel seems to have served the community for the next 30 years but in November 1870 the chapel was seriously damaged during a storm; a wall collapsed and brought the roof crashing down. It was beyond repair and probably demolished to provide a site for the 1874 chapel.
1874 Chapel
1874: New chapel built – possibly on the site of the 1837 chapel.
1874 – 18th January: New chapel opened.
Circa 1890 (Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)
1900 circa: The St Agnes Wesleyan leaders agreed that the members at Beacon would be constituted into a separate society.
1907: Enlargement proposed. (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 17 October 1907)
1908: The chapel was enlarged and the event was celebrated with a tea and a public meeting. At this time there was no schoolroom.
Higher Bal Chapel with porch added (Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)
1932: Became Beacon Methodist Church. (SWChurches)
1930s – 1940s Chapel
1930s – 1940s: New chapel being built on adjacent site.
Building work following the Second World War Building commenced before the Second World War and completed after, which probably explains why the blockwork in the lower part appears different from the upper. (Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)
1940s assumed: The 1874 chapel converted into a dwelling.
1940s assumed: The new chapel opened.
The completed 1940s chapel which later became a dwelling “Chapel Coth” (Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)
1986: The 1940s chapel closed as a place of worship. (Rev. David Easton)
1968: Auction – Higher Bal Schoolroom. (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 17 July 1986) Possibly the Chapel.
1986 – July: The building was sold and converted into a dwelling.
1986: Services transferred to the Sunday school, (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
1987: The final service was led by Mrs Christine Roberts. (West Briton 3rd September 1987)
1987: Sunday school closed. (Rev. David Easton / SWChurches)
There is one little mystery about the 1874 chapel in that the date of 1837 is displayed on the gable. It was only after talking to Margaret Bonner in Chapel Coth that the reason became clear. The owner discovered that a chapel had been built in the 1830s and he assumed that the date 1870s date displayed was incorrect and altered it to 1837. That was, of course, the date of the previous chapel which may well have stood on the same spot.
I don’t think you have your dates right about the Higher Bal chapels. I was born in 1949 and we lived at Perran View just down the lane from the chapels. I started school at St Agnes Primary School, which I attended until I was approaching 6 when we left St Agnes. In all that time the ‘new’ chapel had not been built and the old chapel was a centre of the community. I went to Sunday School there. There were regular services, including special ones such as Harvest Festival. We used to return for holidays and stay at my “aunt”‘ s cottage, Surrey Cottage, and I can remember that the ‘new’ chapel started building and was completed after we left, although the site was always there, at the top of Mr Basher’s garden. I can’t be accurate but would guess that the ‘new’ chapel came into use in the 1960’s. That would be consistent with the 1968 auction of the ‘old’ chapel.