The Old Schoolhouse And Bethel Studio

SW 74 SE KEA TWELVEHEADS

1/181 The Old Schoolhouse and Bethel Studio (formerly listed as Bethel Chapel) 30.5.67 II

Methodist chapel (now studio) attached derelict cottage to south and former school- house adjoining north east corner. 1842 and later. Stucco to entrance front of chapel, otherwise painted rubble walls and slate sills. Low-pitched grouted scantle slate roof with gable ends. Plan: Square aisless plan with entrance at liturgical 'west' end (north) and rostrum (removed) at liturgical 'east' end. Adjoining left of entrance front is former schoolroom, now single-storey house, but it has been suggested that this was the original chapel that Billy Bray built 'with his own hands'. Adjoining at liturgical east end is later 2-storey manse/cottage, 1-room wide and 2-rooms deep. Schoolroom and cottage are single-storied but cottage is 2 storeys under same eaves line to right of liturgical south side of chapel. Chapel has symmetrical gable-ended north entrance front now partly obscured to left by schoolroom. Original features of central round-headed doorway with flanking tall round-headed windows and round recessed plaque to gable with BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH 1842. Doorway has panelled reveals, pair of 2-panel doors and traceried fanlight. Sash windows have 30 panes plus tracery to tympana. Lower half of left-hand window is obscured by school house. East and west walls of chapel each have 2 similar regularly spaced sashes but with larger panes ie, 12 panes plus tracery. Mortared arches. Cast iron ogee gutters. West wall of chapel has 1-window front of cottage adjoining to right. Cottage has gable porch to entrance, left, and 4-pane sash to middle and over. Shallow brick arches. Schoolhouse has rendered 2-window west front with nearly central C20 door and flanking C20 windows probably in original C19 openings. Interior of chapel is simple with flat plaster walls and ceiling. Fittings removed. Original roof struc- ture with 4 king post trusses. Ruin of building a few yards to north which it is said, Billy Bray helped to build. Billy Bray 1794-1888, born at Twelveheads, was, in his own words, "formerly a drunken and lascivious miner" and became, after a sudden conversion to Christianity a prolific and much loved and respected local preacher.

Listing NGR: SW7634842310