Wesleyan Methodist Church

Wesleyan Methodist Church, Torpoint

A Methodist church dated 1795 on its Quarry Street front, with a substantial extension dated 1908 on the Fore Street front. The building underwent considerable remodelling during the 1908 alterations, at which time a row of late 19th-century cottages was attached to the church on the Quarry Street side and converted for use as a schoolroom and meeting rooms.

The main church is built of rubble, rendered, beneath a slate roof with gable ends. The Quarry Street cottages are constructed of Devon limestone rubble with brick dressings and slate roofs, with stacks since removed. The interior plan comprises an entrance through a vestibule under the gallery, leading to the auditorium with a rostrum at the opposite end, and a vestry to the rear right (east). The cottages extend eastward along Quarry Street, creating an overall U-shaped plan.

The Quarry Street front is set on a plinth with rusticated pilasters and a pediment. A central pair of recessed doors, both double doors with 2 panels, are flanked by plain pilasters and a plain frieze. Two windows at upper level feature round arches with eared architraves and triple keystones, triple aprons, and are each of 2 lights with round-headed lights and an upper roundel. A cornice and pediment above contain a central panel with moulded surround and guttae, bearing the inscription "Wesleyan Chapel 1795".

The Fore Street front comprises 4 bays to the right of the 18th-century building and one bay to the left, dating from 1908. The right bays have 2-light windows at ground floor with round-headed lights and segmental heads over, with raised aprons; upper-level windows are similarly 2-light with round heads, smaller than those below, with segmental arch, eared architrave and triple keystone, and moulded apron with guttae. Rusticated pilasters and a moulded eaves cornice run along this elevation. The end bay to the left, dated 1908, sits on a plinth with rusticated pilasters and features a large round-headed window in a shouldered architrave with triple keystone and plain apron. A pediment above contains a shield in a scrolled surround with swags of fruit to each side. Windows are lattice-glazed throughout.

On the Quarry Street front, a row of 2-storey former cottages is attached to the right, meeting the end bay at a straight joint. The ground floor has 3 20th-century windows and a door to the left, all with brick segmental heads and surrounds; a similar 4-pane sash window sits at upper level to the right. The first floor contains two 4-pane sashes in brick surrounds beneath the eaves. The right side comprises 2 blocks, each of 3 storeys on a rendered plinth. The left block has 4 windows and the right has 5, all 4-pane and plate-glass sashes except for the 2nd floor to the right, which has 2 large lattice-glazed windows with transoms. The roof is hipped to the right end, and the end wall was rebuilt in brick at 2nd floor level.

The interior retains its gallery over the vestibule from the 1795 building, with a panelled front on cast iron fluted piers with fluted capitals. All windows feature roll-moulded surrounds with segmental heads. Dado panelling runs around the ground floor, with a cornice above the ground floor windows and a moulded cornice to the entire auditorium. The rostrum at the opposite end from the gallery has a front in cast iron panels in a fish-scale pattern; to right and left are tiers of pews extending to each side of the organ positioned to the rear of the rostrum. These pews also feature cast iron front panels. Behind the organ stands a round arch with pilasters to the sides and a keystone. A similar round arch with triple keystone stands to the left, while to the right is an arch with keystone and panelled soffit, flanked by pilasters. This arch provides access to the vestry, from which two small rooms lead off. A straight stair to the rear of the vestibule provides access to the gallery. A line in the ceiling marks the point where the church was extended in 1908. The row of cottages on the Quarry Street front underwent considerable alteration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to create a schoolroom at ground floor and meeting rooms at first floor.

The church is a prominent building in Torpoint.