Mapping Methodism – Trevellas & Crosscoombe Methodist Chapel

Trevellas is a village in St Agnes parish. This profile of Trevellas & Crosscoombe Methodist Chapel has been compiled by Clive Benney & Tony Mansell.

 

Mr G H Chilcott of Truro gave the site and the compensation received from the Air Ministry, together with a grant from the Methodist Conference, almost covered the building cost. Furniture from Crosscoombe Chapel was taken out of storage, the pipe organ, which had been temporarily used in the Wesleyan Chapel, was transferred to the new building and members of the congregation donated many new items.

1955 – October: The foundation stone of the new Trevellas and Crosscoombe Methodist Chapel was set in place, the first such ceremony in Cornwall for about a quarter of a century. Crosscoombe Primitive Methodist Chapel had been demolished for the war effort and Trevellas Downs Wesleyan Chapel was inadequate and in a dilapidated state so the community needed a new place of worship.

1950s: Minutes, opening day of new chapel, Trevellas and Crosscombe Methodist Church, St Agnes. Notebook includes minutes relating to opening day of new Trevellas and Crosscombe chapel on 9th June 1956, 3rd May – 29th May 1956, personal notes on profit on the opening day, sources of income for the new chapel, gifts of furnishings and purchase of furniture. Notebook originally used as Sunday School minute and account book, 1949, all earlier pages removed. (Kresen Kernow MRN/825)

Both the Primitives and the Wesleyans worshipped there and, of course, as both of those groups had been incorporated into the Methodist Church the new name became Trevellas and Crosscoombe Methodist Chapel.

1956 – 9^th June: The new chapel opened. It had a stage, kitchen, toilets and parking facilities which other chapels could only envy.

1956: “New Chapel Built Near St Agnes. First since Union…” (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 07 June 1956)

1981 (25 years ago) “Erected and furnished at a cost of about £6,000, the new Trevellas and Crosscoombe Methodist Chapel, which will be formally opened and dedicated on Saturday, is the first structure of its kind to have been built in the Cornwall Methodist District since Methodist Union. The new chapel will replace the existing ex-Wesleyan Trevellas Chapel.” (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Monday 08 June 1981)

Laying the foundation stone (Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)

1956 Trevellas & Crosscoombe Chapel…opening ceremony (Photo: Ken Young)

(Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)

(Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)

1960: Seating for 75. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)

The “West Briton” in the 1960s reported that the Trevellas and Crosscoombe Methodists held their old-fashioned tea treat when the children were given large saffron buns and soft drinks. “The fete was opened by Mrs W Gilmore who was on holiday with her husband from South Africa and staying with her parents at Trevellas. She was a member of the former Crosscoombe Chapel and was welcomed by the Revd P D Williams and thanked by Mrs T S Jennings. The fete had stalls and sideshows and radio music was provided by Mr Harry Thomas, a trustee.”

Horace Drew, nicknamed “Cor Blimey,” a greengrocer from Perranporth, used a horse and cart for his door-to-door deliveries and for local tea treats and fetes where he would sell his produce. In this, he had a rival in Johnny Letcher from Trevellas, and it seems, there was considerable competition that often got out of hand and on one occasion, fists were raised.

1980s: The congregation declined.

1991 – September 1991: The chapel closed and under the heading of “The last supper,” the “West Briton” reported. “Services will end at Trevellas and Crosscoombe Methodist Chapel with Sunday’s harvest festival. Numbers have dwindled to a handful. Decisions will be taken about the future of the 35-year-old building which is in a sparsely populated area where last century there were thriving Primitive and Wesleyan Chapels and working mines. The Revd John Haley said, ‘No one could have envisaged that today almost everyone would have a car and that there would be such a drop in chapel attendances throughout the country’.”

“Former Chapel sold for £50,500. About 40 people attended the auction on Friday at Trevellas and Crosscombe Chapel, near St Agnes. The sale was conducted by Miller & Co in the chapel schoolroom. The large, detached property on a third of an acre was said to an out-of-county buyer for £50,500. It has outline planning permission for conversion to a private dwelling. The original Primitive Methodist Church at Crosscoombe was built in the 1800s. With the outbreak of the 1939-45 war, the building was found to be in the flight path of the nearby Trevellas aerodrome and was demolished in 1940 on the instructions of the Air Ministry. Crosscombe worshippers then attended the old Wesleyan chapel at nearby Trevellas. In 1956, with assistance from the Air Ministry, a new chapel was built at Trevellas, but over the years attendances have dwindled and the chapel was closed in September last year.” (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser – Thursday 12 November 1992)

The Chapel was sold and converted into a dwelling.

Some of the pews ended up in the Bodmin and Wenford Railway waiting room at Bodmin. (Derek Skinner of Mithian)

1994: “The Revd Joe Ridholls retired and returned to the area. He said, “… I reflected on the situation that most of the chapels between Perranporth and St Agnes had closed: Trevellas, Mithian, Silverwell, Callestick and Goonbell. From a religious point of view the area seemed like a bit of a desert. I remember chatting to Reginald Mullett who lived in a bungalow very close to Zion House. We agreed that something should be done and for the next five years I ran fellowship meetings in his home.”

The converted chapel (Photo: courtesy Clive Benney)