Church Of St John (Methodist)

The Church of St John is a large Methodist chapel accompanied by attached schoolrooms, built in 1828. It was restored and refitted in 1892 by Sylvanus Trevail, and a Sunday school was added in 1904, likely also by Trevail. The main chapel is constructed with a granite ashlar plinth and central pediment panel, Pentewan stone ashlar to the front, and local rubble with Pentewan stone voussoirs elsewhere, with dry Delabole slate roofing and cast-iron rainwater goods.

The chapel features a large, aisle-less interior with an apse at the east end, originally in a City Road style, and galleries on each side. The exterior is two-storey with round arches over flat arches. The symmetrical front has a 1:3:1 bay arrangement, with side bays projecting and clasping the corners. The original ashlar parapets flank an 1892 pediment containing a wide panel. The windows from 1892 have round-arched lights, with coloured leaded glass, and the first-floor windows incorporate round tracery. A central, pedimented Ionic porch and pilastered window surround, ornamented with festoons, provide access, bearing a datestone inscribed "BUILT 1828, RESTORED 1892".

The interior is particularly notable, featuring a fine 1892 panelled and carved plaster ceiling with moulded cornices, ribs, and an acanthus rose within the central panel, incorporating acanthus, anthemion, and scroll details. Galleries, remodelled or rebuilt by Trevail, display detail similar to Mount Charles Chapel (1873), Leek Seed Chapel (refitted 1903), and Zion Chapel (1880), using different coloured woods with Ionic pilasters flanking the panels. The furnishing also includes pitch-pine pews and a fine rostrum with a canted front and squat turned balustrades. An organ is housed within the apse. Good coloured glass at the entrance end depicts Wesley in a central roundel.

The original central window and porch are from Saunders Hill Mansion, Padstow. St John's is a distinguished example of a large, early 19th-century galleried chapel, notable for the exceptionally high quality of its 1892 re-fitting.