Beacon is a village southeast of Camborne. This profile of Beacon Wesleyan Chapel has been compiled by Jo Lewis and Tony Mansell with considerable input by David Thomas of Camborne.
We walk along Condurrow Road towards the square at Beacon, passing on our right the mighty engine house of Great Condurrow mine, constructed in 1906 to drain Neame’s shaft. On reaching the square itself we have arrived at what was once an important confluence of ancient medieval trackways, where the path from Camborne Churchtown south towards Troon and beyond intersected the path that came up from Pengegon and proceeded down Tolcarne Road, forked left past Tolcarne farm and continued onwards to the ancient chapel of St James at Treslothan, the site of which, since 1842, has been occupied by the present Treslothan church.
Beacon Square is resonant in Methodist history and there have been no less than three buildings at the site of Methodist significance, only one of which still stands today. Beacon was a Wesleyan Society and became a Methodist one, upon Methodist Union in 1932. The first chapel was constructed in 1839, in the year of a great local Revival, on the site of the present chapel (the 1895 Sunday School) and was a small and very plain building. In the mid-19th century the population of the village gradually grew and houses sprang up south along Pendarves Street, north in Fore Street and west in Tolcarne Road. The peak of Cornish mining’s boom years was in the two decades between 1850 and 1870 and it was during this period, the old 1839 chapel becoming too small to accommodate its Wesleyan worshippers, that a brand-new chapel was constructed in 1865 on the other side of the square and adjacent to that ancient footpath which led to Pengegon. The 1839 chapel then continued in use until 1895 as a Sunday School, when it was demolished to build a brand-new Sunday School (the present chapel).
The new chapel of 1865 was a substantial building and, very unusually for a Cornish Methodist chapel, was cruciform in its ground plan with an apse and transepts, a very distinctive building indeed. Its construction meant a large financial outlay for the Society and it took them no less than 102 years, from 1865 until 1967, to pay off the mortgage debt. When this was finally done the original mortgage was burned in a ‘mortgage burning ceremony’, so the archival evidence was lost. There are however photographs of this event.
Towards the end of the twentieth century the 1865 chapel was vacated by the Society who then moved into the 1895 Sunday School building, adapting it for use as the present chapel with other meeting rooms. The 1865 building was subsequently demolished and the plot left empty, today marked by some remains of walls and an overgrown unused area.
Beacon Square itself, a large open area right outside the Wesleyan premises, was highly useful as a location for Methodist ritual, if you can call it that. The open space was used on Sunday School tea treat days at Whitsun for the ‘serpentine’ procession of Sunday School scholars, a unique form of parade seen in some parts of Cornwall. Photographs of this custom exist for the early twentieth century period.
More on Beacon next time. (David Thomas of Camborne)
1839 Chapel
The 1st and 2nd Edition 1:2500 1880 and 1907 OS Maps record a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at this location in Beacon. Sometime after 1907 the chapel was demolished and the congregation relocated to the c 1895 Sunday school 138881 which is now shown as ‘Beacon Methodist Church’ on the current Mastermap. (Heritage Gateway)
This photograph was taken around 1890 and is the only known close up image of the original 1839 chapel building, a plain, practical and uncompromising building, with a porch on the western side. Note the sash window in the gable end, in the ‘engine house’ style. The carpenters who made it probably also worked on nearby mining structures, hence the similarity of style. A gate leads to the chapel porch. (David Thomas of Camborne)
1839: Build date.
Built on the site of the 1895 chapel. (David Thomas of Camborne)
A small and very plain building.
Between 1850 and 1870: The chapel became too small to accommodate its congregation.
The original chapel footprint can be seen on 1878 maps and it continued use as the Sunday school until it was demolished to make way for the new Sunday School in 1895. A photo of the old chapel can be found on the Camborne nostalgia site.
1865 to 1895: Became the Sunday school. (David Thomas of Camborne)
1865 Chapel
This image is a snow scene of Beacon Square from around 1907 taken by photographer W J Bennetts, who lived close by at the post office. The 1865 chapel can be glimpsed in the distance while on the far right is the 1895 Sunday School building.
The interior of the 1865 chapel taken on the occasion of a Harvest Festival in about 1920-1930, another Bennetts view. The decorations are restrained, by comparison with photographs taken in other Cornish chapels, but of particular interest are the two decorative ‘Star of David’ frames at each end of the panelling fronting the choir area. Dominating the scene is the pipe organ, in its beautiful classical style case, reminiscent of a much earlier era of organ construction. It is believed that this instrument came from Tuckingmill Wesley in 1905 when that chapel acquired a new pipe organ from the Sweetland firm of Bath. It sits well in its apsidal home behind the choir pews. Was this the original organ for Tuckingmill’s 1843 chapel?
The second Wesleyan Chapel was a large building on the north side of the Condurrow Road; it is now an area of greenery although there are some surviving walls. This new chapel was constructed in 1865 adjacent to an ancient footpath which led to Pengegon. (Photo: Jo Lewis)
1865 Build date.
1887: Re-Opening Of Beacon Wesleyan Chapel. Beacon Wesleyan Chapel was re-opened on Thursday afternoon, after being closed for some time in order to undergo extensive alterations and enlargement. The former chapel would seat about 300 persons and was much too small for the increasing population of the village. was decided to make an addition, after plan suggested by Captain Rabling, and increase the accommodation to 500 sittings. This has been done, and the building as it now stands does considerable credit to the contractors, Messrs. Clifton and Bennallack. (The Cornish Telegraph – Thursday 03 November 1887)
Towards the end of the twentieth century the 1865 chapel was vacated by the Society who moved into the 1895 Sunday school building. (David Thomas of Camborne)
After 1907: Demolished. (Heritage Gateway)
1895 Sunday School / Chapel
Wesleyan Sunday school, recorded on the 2nd Edition 1907 OS Map, now used as Methodist chapel. Granite rubble and stucco. Gothic style. 2-storey front gable end has cross finial and cruciform capped stuccoed buttresses. Central tripartite windows, the upper window with stepped lights under a linked hoodmould and with Y-tracery to the central light. Entrance porch to right-hand return. (Heritage Gateway)
Wesleyan Sunday school used as Methodist chapel since the early C20 following the demolition of the original chapel across the road to the north.
Continuing the story of Beacon chapel we are going to look a little more at the Sunday School and its mission and outreach work, essential subjects for any church. (David Thomas of Camborne)
The laying of the foundation stones of the new 1895 Sunday School building. A new stone has been placed towards the bottom left of the picture while it seems that to the left of that again a portion of the original wall of the first chapel of 1839 has been left in position; demolition of the old structure does not appear to have been total. Standing in the centre of the photo with the top hat is Captain William Rabling, the layer of one of the stones. Born in Camborne in 1837 he had succeeded his father William as manager of the Real del Monte silver mines in Mexico and had been captured by Mexican brigands for ransom during the Mexican revolution when the Emperor Maximilian was deposed but had, like his father, later returned to live in Parc Bracket House in Camborne (now the Conservative Club). Back in Camborne he built up a successful business as a timber merchant, based at Rabling’s yard in Union Street, on the site of the present bus station. Much timber was supplied to the local mines for underground props. He was a lifelong supporter of Beacon Wesleyan chapel, became a Local Preacher in 1866 and for 35 years was a Class Leader, Sunday School teacher and superintendent. He was also a Justice of the Peace and served on the first Cornwall County Council in 1889. He died in April 1901 and subsequently a large memorial tablet was erected in the 1865 chapel. This was transferred to the new chapel after the old chapel was vacated. Rabling personifies the nineteenth century connection of mining, business and Methodism. The chimney stack at the back of the picture is on the chapel keeper’s cottage.
This image is a Bennetts view of Beacon Square in about 1905 and shows the completed Sunday School building. Its construction was not without controversy as there were objections from some persons to the fact that this Wesleyan building was crowned in its architectural termination by a sculptured gable cross. Some thought this was scandalous on a Nonconformist structure and there was correspondence in the local press about the matter. The cross was however left in place and survives to this day. The building provides an excellent focal point when entering the village from Camborne and dominates the village square. It is also of interest that the fifth and tenth houses up from the Sunday School in Pendarves Street both contain shops, now completely vanished.
This photograph, very clearly dated as 1921, shows a group of male and female adults and children taken outside the Sunday School. It is believed that this was taken on the occasion of an evangelistic mission at that time. Membership of the Society appears to be reasonably strong in this period. Mission and outreach work seem to have been particularly strong and very much a priority in the Beacon area.
This photograph, from the Edwardian period, shows a travelling horse drawn mission van of the CSSM (Special Children’s Service Mission), an evangelistic organisation founded in 1867. From the 1960s it came under the umbrella of Scripture Union. The missioner and his assistant have parked their van and pitched their mission tent in one of the fields off Tolcarne Road. In the top right can be seen the houses in Cadogan Road, built in 1899. Some will no doubt recall the CSSM beach missions on Perranporth beach in the summer.
Close to Beacon is the hamlet of Knave-go-By and, although but a stone’s throw away, did not escape the attention of Methodist missionary work.
The 1895 Building (Photo: Jo Lewis)
1887: Foundation stones laid, (The Cornish Telegraph – Thursday 14 July 1887)
1895: Build date.
1895: The congregation moved from the 1865 chapel to here.
1895: Became the chapel. (Heritage Gateway)
1932: The Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and the United Methodist Church amalgamated to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
1949: Beacon Methodist Chapel has been completely renovated and redecorated. Seven new windows have been installed, together with a new and up-to-date system of electric lighting. (Cornishman – Thursday 05 May 1949)