Wesleyan Chapel And Attached Schoolrooms

CHARLESTOWN

1584A CHARLESTOWN ROAD (East Side) Wesleyan Chapel SX 0351 NE 4/30

II*

Wesleyan chapel and attached schoolrooms. 1827 datestone, schoolrooms added probably mid C19, chapel refitted and refenestrated circa 1900 probably by Sylvanus Trevail. Pentewen stone ashlar front, otherwise killas rubble with Pentewen stone dressings; dry Delabole slate roofs, the 2 parallel roofs of the schoolrooms with clerestoreys with vertical glazing bars and random panes, some opening sections; brick stacks to right-hand gables of schoolrooms. PLAN: rectangular aisle-less plan chapel with gallery with quadrant-plan corners, the lower rear gallery with organ loft over vestry set into apse now enclosed by the schoolrooms at rear. EXTERIOR: 2-storey elevations with original round-arched openings. Symmetrical 3-window front with plinth, mid-floor string and surmounted by triangular pediment with moulded cornice and central date panel with moulded hood. Central doorway with distyle Tuscan porch and pair of doors. 2-light windows with wheel-head tracery. 3-window side elevations with similar windows. Single-storey schoolrooms have 2 windows to each elevation, all original 12-pane hornless sashes. INTERIOR retains original plaster ceiling cornice and elaborate central rose with acanthus leaves, also the gallery construction including a panelled front carried on scrolled wrought-iron brackets linked to wooden Tuscan columns. There is a wide pilastered and elliptically- arched opening to the proscenium arch of the apse. The pilasters have carved trailing decoration and the moulded arch is inscribed:" PRAISE GOD IN HIS SANCTUARY". FITTINGS are circa 1900 of pitch pine. The rostrum has a 2-tier arcade of cusped arches and a canted centre; the straight-flight staircases have turned balustrades. The main L-plan staircases are on either side of the entrance which is divided from the auditorium by a panelled screen with diagonal V-jointed boards. The pews have shaped ends and vertical V-jointed boards. The organ has a stepped case surmounted by panels containing painted and gilded pipes. This chapel is one of the earliest galleried chapels in Cornwall, and like other chapels of such an early date, the fittings are later but these are good examples of their kind. The interest is enhanced by the unique design of the schoolrooms and by the setting in this largely unspoilt china clay and fishing port.

Listing NGR: SX0377851807