Gulval Methodist Church And Attached Forecourt Walls, Gates And Railings

SW4731 PENZANCE GULVAL 866/4/10007 Gulval Methodist Church and attached forecourt walls, gates and railings

II

Nonconformist chapel. 1884 datestone. Killas rubble with granite dressings; dry Delabole slate roof with coped gable ends and brick stack over rear gable; crested and pierced clay ridge tiles; original cast-iron rainwater goods. Rectangular plan with chapel, with horseshoe amphitheatre seating arrangement, over basement schoolroom, the chapel with porch to centre of left-hand return approached by a ramp from the road. Interesting blend of simple Classical style with some Gothic features. 2-storey elevations; 3-bay ritual east end as road front, the central bay broken forward from an incomplete pediment. The central chapel bay has a mid Gothic style 3-light granite window with quatrefoil rose tracery. The other chapel windows are round arched with glazing bars continued as margin glazing to the arch. There are 4 bays to the right-hand return. The left-hand return has a gabled porch with a round-arched doorway to its front side; spoked fanlight over panelled doors. The basement windows are transomed with glazing bars; basement as plinth. INTERIOR is complete and unaltered. The plastered ceiling is trefoil in section (giving the impression of nave with flanking aisles) rising from a moulded cornice and with moulded ribs marking the truss positions. At the ritual east end is a tripartite arrangement of 3 round moulded arches carried on fluted piers and responds with moulded caps with enriched cornices. FITTINGS: original pitch-pine fittings include pews with shaped ends with ceramic numbers, all the pews ramped up from a small central horseshoe-shaped area of floor with bow-fronted communion rail on turned balustrade over step in front. The rostrum has a bowed S-panel centre with arched panels, pilasters and moulded cornices flanked by short straight sections surmounted by turned balustrades and terminal turned lamp stands with panelled bases over fluted pilasters. There is a short flight of stairs with open string and turned balusters at either side. Behind the rostrum is a shallow end gallery with pilasters and panels with diagonal boarding. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: low rubble and granite-coped forecourt walls and 2 pairs of square granite gate-piers with pyramid caps; iron gates and railings. Gulval Methodist Church is one of the best examples of a nonconformist chapel of this date in Cornwall. It's curious blend of Classical style and Gothic style features but is a well-balanced design, which groups with a virtually unaltered row of small early C19 houses. The plan arrangement IS here combined with high external quality and a good interior arranged as a semi-amphitheatre.

Listing NGR: SW4793331642