Mapping Methodism – Harris Mill / Voguebeloth Wesleyan Chapel

Voguebeloth is an area in the parish of Illogan. This profile of Harris Mill / Voguebeloth Wesleyan Chapel has been compiled by Jo Lewis and Tony Mansell.

 

1839 Chapel

Methodist chapel, later used as a Sunday School (map evidence) now used as village hall. Probably mid C19. Local rubble with granite dressings and segmental brick arches; front end stuccoed and rendered and possibly altered. 2 storeys; 2-window front with pair of doorways. Windows to side elevations have rare original 25-pane sashes.

The 1839 Chapel (Photo: Jo Lewis)

1836: Assignment of term, Harris Mill Wesleyan Chapel, Illogan. Parties: 1) Joseph Blight, yeoman, of Illogan. 2) John Harris, miller, of Harris Mill; Samuel Sampson, miner; Thomas Allen, cordwainer; John Vivian, mason; Henry Woolcock, miner; William Arnall, carpenter, of Tehidy; Thomas Hichens, roper, of Fairfield; all of Illogan; Henry Trounce, miller, of Laity, Redruth. Party 1 is possessed of the tenement of Whitfield for remainder of two terms of 99 years determinable on the deaths of Joseph Pearce, Joseph Blight and Richard Blight, his brother. Party 2 has lately erected a chapel on the premises and party 1 has agreed to assign the premises. Piece of ground taken out of field called Moor Meadow, part of Whitfield tenement, together with chapel lately erected, situate at Harris’s Mill, Illogan, and waste plot adjoining on the south west, all now enclosed by a wall, 87 feet in length and 27 feet in width, with appurtenances. Consideration: 10 shillings. Term: assignment in trust for remainder of two terms of 99 years. Deed not executed. Endorsement: ‘This deed of darkness cost the trustees of Voguebeloth Chapel the sum of £2 0 0 paid to Mr Joseph Mead of Redruth. William Arnall’. (Kresen Kernow MRR/1636)

14 Dec 1837: Assignment of term, Harris Mill Wesleyan Chapel, Illogan. Parties: 1) Joseph Blight, yeoman, of Illogan. 2) William Arnall and William Penberthy, carpenters; Richard Blight and Thomas Andrew, miners; James Bray, roper; James Bath, Richard Paull and William Paull, yeoman, all Illogan; Francis Woolf, draper; Richard Woolf, writer; and John Pearce, painter, all of Redruth. Party 1 is possessed of plot of ground. Plot or pieces of ground now marked out and enclosed, measuring seven perches, part of the tenement of Whitefield, Illogan, with the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel lately erected, with appurtenances. Consideration: 5 shillings. Term: assignment in trust for remainder of 99 year term, granted by Honourable Anna Maria Agar of Lanhydrock to party 1 on 1 April 1835. Note: enrolled in Chancery 22 May 1838. (Kresen Kernow MRR/1637)

Suggested in one report to have been built in the 1820s.

1839: Build or registration date. (SWChurches)

1830s: Built as a Wesleyan chapel. (SWChurches)

Dr George Smith, later of Bickford Smith fuse works, apparently put the roof on. (SWChurches)

1866: Probably became Sunday school when the new chapel was built.

1890s: The chapel was possibly being used as a Sunday School for Voguebeloth Wesleyan Chapel. (SWChurches)

1909: Probably ceased to be used as a Sunday school when the new one was built.

An old photo of Harris Mill shows a tall cross from the Sunday school site.

Mid 20^th Century: Letter, history of Harris Mill Wesleyan Chapel, Illogan. Letter from Dr Enid Smith, of Florence Place, Falmouth [daughter of Sir George John Smith of Treliske] to Mr Osborne, concerning early history of Harris Mill Chapel and its relationship to the Voguebeloth society. She recounts that, when her grandfather Dr George Smith opened Voguebeloth Chapel, he ‘told the congregation that he and his brother put on the roof of Harris Mill Chapel one moonlight night’, which would have been in the 1820s before Dr G Smith gave up the building trade to concentrate on the fuse works. Enid Smith remembers Harris Mill Chapel still being in use around 1893, possibly as a Sunday School for Voguebeloth Chapel. (Kresen Kernow MRR/1638)

 

1866 Chapel

Wesleyan chapel. Local rubble with granite dressings; Delabole slate roof. Simple classical style with round-arched openings to the front. Symmetrical 2-window pedimented front with original tall sash windows with fanlight heads and original spoked fanlight over panelled doors. 3-window range, 2-storey side elevations have original 12-pane sashes. Organ-over-vestry apse at rear. Good full galleried interior has rare survival of original grained box pews and leaders’ pew plus free benches at the sides (one of only 3 examples where this arrangement survives). Good ceiling rose and moulded ceiling cornice, and panelled gallery front. Good balustraded rostrum with bowed centre. Rubble forecourt walls with low dressed granite wall at the front surmounted by wrought-iron railings and with granite monolith piers, the gateway with original gates and overthrow together with cobbled path. This chapel is one of the most complete examples of this date (b1). (Cornwall Heritage Gateway)

Wesleyan chapel, now Methodist Church. Dated 1866 in gable. Killas rubble brought to courses, with granite dressings, slate roof. Rectangular plan on north-south axis, 2×3 bays, gable to road. Two storeys; the symmetrical 2-bay gabled facade has a large round-headed doorway in the centre with quoined jambs, large stepped voussoirs and raised keystone, double doors with round-headed panels, and fanlight with radiating glazing bars; flanking the doorway are very tall round-headed sashed windows with radiating glazing bars and surrounds which match the doorway; the gable, above a hollow-moulded cornice, contains a large panel with concave corners and raised lettering: WESLEYAN CHAPEL – 1866
The 3-bay side walls have 12-pane sashed windows on both floors; the rear has a short extension on a lower level. Interior: not inspected but understood to have a horseshoe gallery with panelled front, and a choir gallery at the rear. The forecourt gates and railings have 4 short square granite piers, the central pair carrying a semi-circular hooped wrought-iron lamp-support with twists in the sides and scrolls flanking the vacant lamp-holder, and spear-headed gates and railings, with dog-bars in the gates; the path from the gateway to the door has pebble paving with a wheel pattern and lettering. Listing NGR: SW6771143426. (British Listed Buildings)

The 1866 Chapel (Photo: Jo Lewis)

1865: “The foundation-stone of the Wesley Chapel, about to be built at Voguebeloth, Illogan, was laid last week … A public tea followed, and in the evening the Rev. E. Nye preached in the old chapel.” (Royal Cornwall Gazette – Thursday 23 November 1865)

1866: Build date. (Cornwall Heritage Gateway / Plaque date)

Built as a Wesleyan Chapel. (SWChurches)

Part of Redruth Wesleyan Circuit. (SWChurches)

1867: “HARRIS’S MILL. Sunday last, sermons on behalf of the Wesleyan Sunday School this place were preached in the new Wesleyan Chapel …” (Cornubian and Redruth Times – Friday 13 December 1867)

Wesleyan Chapel Anniversary, Harris’s Mill. Easter Monday April 13, two sermons will be preached in the Chapel, Harris’s Mill: … In the afternoon a BAZAAR, in aid of the building fund, will be Opened in the Old Chapel …” (Cornubian and Redruth Times – Friday 10 April 1868)

The names Harris Mill and Voguebeloth seem interchangeable.

1899: Temperance meeting at Harris Mill Wesleyan Chapel. (Royal Cornwall Gazette – Thursday 30 March 1899)

1911: Harris Mill Chapel Harvest Festival. (Cornubian and Redruth Times – Thursday 28 September 1911)

5 Nov 1913: Letter, approval for organ, Voguebeloth Wesleyan Chapel, Illogan. Letter of sanction from Wesleyan Chapel Committee, approving erection of organ for £250. (Kresen Kernow MRR/1719)

1932: The Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and the United Methodist Church amalgamated to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

1932: Became Voguebeloth Methodist Chapel. (SWChurches)

Part of Redruth Methodist Circuit. (SWChurches)

1908-1936: Trust minutes and accounts, Voguebeloth Wesleyan Chapel, Illogan. Trust minutes, 1908-1926; stewards’ accounts, 1906-1936. (Kresen Kernow MRR/3194)

1940: Seating for 380. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)

1998-2002: Correspondence and papers, Voguebeloth Methodist Church, Illogan. Includes property schedules and Church Council agendas. (Kresen Kernow MRR/1980)

20 Nov 2002Circular letter, Chapel closure, Voguebeloth Methodist Church, Illogan. From the Circuit Ministers to Chapel members. (Kresen Kernow MRR/2063)

2002: Closed. (SWChurches)

2003: Closed. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)

It is grade 2 listed.

The organ was moved to St Nonnas Church, Altarnun, and dedicated in 2017.

2021: Unclear what is happening to the building.

 

1909 Sunday School

Methodist Sunday School, now church. Dated 1909 on aprons of 1st floor windows. Snecked rock-faced killas rubble with white granite dressings, slate roof. Rectangular plan on north-south axis, 3×4 bays, gable to road. Eclectic style. Gabled 2-storey facade, symmetrical, with plinth, granite quoins to the outer corners and to the centre, which breaks forwards; central round-headed doorway with hoodmould set in a shallow gabled surround, a round-headed 3-light window above, with wooden mullions and wavy transom, and diamond-leaded glazing; and above this a hump-topped plaque with raised lettering “WESLEYAN / SUNDAY SCHOOL”; outer bays have 2-stage 3-light windows in matching style, divided by plaques with raised lettering “A.D.” (left) and “1909” (right). The gable is taller than the roof behind it, and has moulded copings and kneelers. The base of the wall has a course of lettered foundation stones, double-tiered at all corners including the jambs of the doorway. Large square-headed windows in the sides. Included for group value with Methodist Church opposite. Listing NGR: SW6771443468 (British Listed Buildings)

The 1909 Wesleyan Sunday School (Photo: Jo Lewis)

1908: “Mr. Penna made an application on behalf of the trustees of the Voguebeloth Wesleyan chapel, for 209 yards of building stone from the Rayle Quarry. Granted.” (Cornishman – Thursday 31 December 1908)

1909: Build date. (Plaque)

4 Feb 1914: Letter approving grant, Voguebeloth Wesleyan Chapel, Illogan. Letter from Wesleyan Chapel Fund approving grant of £25 towards cost of new schoolroom. (Kresen Kernow MRR/1721)

Unknown closure date.

By 1960s: Became a Seventh-day Adventist church.

It is a grade 2 listed building.