Sithney is a village and civil parish in West Cornwall, north of Porthleven. This profile of Sithney Wesleyan Chapel has been compiled by Jo Lewis and Tony Mansell with help from Sonia French of Camborne.
Charles Wesley spoke in Sithney three times and his brother, John, four times. In his journal Charles writes on July 3rd 1746, ‘I showed above one thousand at Sithney the love and compassion of Jesus towards them. Many who came from Helston, a town of rebels and persecutors, were struck, and confessed their sin, and declared that they would never more be found fighting against God.’ http://ukwells.org/wells/sithney-the-wesleys
The Sunday school was possibly an earlier chapel and there may have been earlier meeting places.
Wesleyan chapel now converted to house, also detached stable within curtilage. Local stone with granite dressings under a hipped roof. 2-storey elevations with original sash windows. Front has 2 windows to first floor and central doorway to ground floor with pair of doors with arched panels. Interior now altered but originally had a horse-shoe gallery. Good village context. (Heritage Gateway)
1829: Richard Tyacke, Vicar of Sithney, gloomily wrote in his diary: ‘Sunday – the Church was but thinly attended – the rain pattered down so thick and fast, though at evening I observed the roads that led to the Methodists’ chapel were thronged in every direction’ (CRO/AD 715, entry for 5 April 1829)
(Photo: Sonia French of Camborne)
(Photo: Sonia French of Camborne)
1859: Build date. (Heritage Gateway)
Built as a Wesleyan chapel. (SWChurches)
4th January 1861: Assignment of lease.
From 1863: Sunday school attendance records exist.
1879: Sithney Wesleyan Sunday School: “… The children, with their teachers and friends, met at the schoolroom, from whence, headed by the Porthleven Band, they marched to Trevarno, the seat of Mr W Bickford-Smith, which was kindly thrown open to them.” (7 August 1879 – West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser)
Cedric Appleby states that the children of Sithney Wesleyan Sunday school went to Antron to enjoy their tea treats and were given “not only tea and a bun but also an orange, which is an interesting addition to the usual practice”. Unusual, perhaps, but not unique as the children at Mithian also enjoyed this additional treat.
1883: Chapel re-opened. (The Cornish Telegraph – Saturday 01 December 1883)
1932: The Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and the United Methodist Church amalgamated to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
1932: Became Sithney Methodist Church, (SWChurches)
1939: Chapel renovated.
1974: Chapel closure date. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
1974: Chapel sold.
Chapel converted to dwelling. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
Congregation moved to Sunday school. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
1991: Sunday school ceased to be used as chapel. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)
1992: The congregation joined the Beage congregation at their chapel, which became known as Breaney Chapel.
1996: Sunday school sold.
1996: Documents relating to sale, Sunday School and stable, Sithney Methodist Church. Sales particulars and correspondence. (Kresen Kernow MRLB/159)
Became a residence.
Sunday school converted to dwelling. (David Easton, Methodist Minister and historian)