Trinity Methodist Chapel

Trinity Methodist Chapel is a Nonconformist (Wesleyan) chapel located in Newlyn, Penzance. Built in 1834 and enlarged in 1866, the chapel features coursed killas with granite dressings at the front and painted rubble on the sides, topped by a dry Delabole slate hipped roof with projecting eaves. The building has a large rectangular plan without aisles and a horseshoe-shaped gallery.

The two-storey elevations are symmetrical with a three-window front. The late 19th-century horned sash windows are set within original openings, with round arches on the first floor above a sill string. There are three round-arched doorways on the ground floor, with the central doorway being wider and situated within an open distyle Doric porch that has unfluted wooden columns and a plain moulded entablature. Above the central doorway is a spoked fanlight over panelled doors, while the other doorways, which provide access to the gallery, feature simpler spoked fanlights over panelled and glazed doors.

Inside, the chapel underwent a complete refitting in 1866, retaining some free pews alongside grained box pews and a box pulpit, which is a very rare survival incorporated into the rostrum from the 1880s. The oval gallery is supported by marbled cast iron columns and features a stencilled decoration on the panelled front, which includes grained box pews, cornicing highlighted in brown, and a stencilled frieze. The communion area was brought forward in 1939 and features turned balusters. There are also memorial windows dating from 1923-1924.

Trinity Methodist Chapel is regarded as one of the best and most complete early 19th-century chapels in Cornwall, having largely retained its original simple front elevation and containing significant and rare fittings, including the box pulpit and much of the decorative scheme from the 1860s.