Zelah Chapel, And Forecourt

Zelah Chapel, built in 1859, is a Methodist chapel and schoolroom located in St Allen, Cornwall. The chapel is constructed from killas stone with granite dressings and features brick arches over its openings. It has a near-square plan with the entrance on the north side. A narrower rectangular Sunday school was added in 1868, centrally located on the south face, with an entrance facing the road.

The front of the chapel includes a pair of six-panelled doors topped with a fanlight, set within a nine-inch brick arch that has a raised keystone displaying the date. Above the entrance, there are two round-headed windows leading to the balcony level, also featuring stone keys and margin glazed sashes. The side windows are similar, consisting of thirty-paned sashes with stained glass fanlights. The roof is hipped.

The schoolroom, which is pebbledashed with a slate roof, has two bays and features a central pair of boarded doors with a datestone above, along with two twenty-four paned sashes. A small gable stack and a lean-to gig-shed are located at the south end.

The forecourt of the chapel is semicircular, with killas walls approximately 1.5 meters high topped with peaked coping. Monolithic granite gatepiers support a simple bar-iron overthrow, although the lantern is missing. The gate features a scrolled ornamental crest, and the path from the gate to the chapel door is made of patterned yellow clayware pavoirs.

Inside, the walls are plastered, and the flat ceiling has a moulded cornice with four roses for pendant lights. There is a north gallery made of stained pine supported by a single central column, with a panelled front and moulded rails on paired brackets. The dog-leg stair has turned newels and balusters. The main body of the chapel features a central pulpit raised over six steps with a panelled front. Openwork iron panels flank the raised choir stalls, and there is a rail around the communion table enclosure supported by iron stanchions. An organ was later added to the left of the pulpit, and the pews in the aisle are turned at right angles and tiered. A white marble tablet on black slate commemorates five individuals who died in the 1914-18 war. The schoolroom includes raised staging with front boards that fold on trestles.