Methodist Chapel

The Methodist Chapel in Gwithian, dating from around 1810, is a Nonconformist (Wesleyan) chapel. It features painted rubble and cob walls, with the lifts of the cob clearly visible, and a wheat-reed thatched hipped roof. The building has a small rectangular aisle-less plan, with a gallery at the rear (west) end and a doorway on the north wall.

The exterior consists of single-storey elevations. The north entrance front includes a late 19th-century horned sash window with coloured margin panes, positioned high on the left, alongside a doorway with a late 19th-century door. Similar windows are located near the centre of the opposite wall and at the centre of the east end.

The interior has not been inspected recently, but a former description notes a simple interior with plain plastered walls and a canopied ceiling. It features a 19th-century panelled gallery front with a coved cornice, a rostrum with choir stalls on either side, and two flights of steps. Much of the interior has been renewed in the 20th century.

The fittings were replaced in 1959. This chapel is notable as the only original thatched Methodist chapel remaining in Cornwall, reflecting the style of nonconformist vernacular buildings of the Old Dissent, such as the Quaker Meeting House at Come-to-Good, Kea. It stands as a very rare and outstanding example in the national vernacular tradition.