Methodist Chapel, School, Gatepiers, Railings And Walls Returned Around Graveyard To East

This group comprises a Wesleyan Methodist chapel with adjoining Sunday school, set within a graveyard enclosed by mid-19th-century walls, gatepiers and railings. The complex is located in Pancrasweek and represents one of the best surviving examples of the numerous Methodist chapels that once flourished in the area.

The chapel was constructed in 1838 from random rubble local stone with brick relieving arches on the main elevation. It is a two-storey building of three bays with a pyramid slate roof. The first floor features small round-headed 12-pane fixed-light windows with thick glazing bars, while the ground floor remains unlit. A central semicircular hooded porch with moulded entablature and keystone is approached by double doors with decorative hinges, which were renewed around 1900. A square slate tablet inscribed in incised lettering 'Wesleyan Methodist Chapel 1838' is positioned on the first floor between the first and second bays. The right return comprises two full-height bays with round-headed 7 x 5 pane windows with pivoted heads, whilst the left return features similar but fixed-light windows.

The interior retains significant period features. A flat plastered ceiling with moulded cornice and ceiling rose is decorated with late 20th-century light fittings. A moulded surround with keystone and inscribed capitals dated AD/1838 frames a blind round-headed niche at the minister's end, with matching rere arches to the windows featuring rubble keystones and consoles, all picked out in gold. Stick stairs within the facade wall reentrants provide access to the gallery, which is carried on circular wooden piers. The gallery front features raised and fielded panelling with pilasters on console bracket plinths. Dados are generally plank and muntin, though the minister's end is matchboarded. Late 19th-century box pews remain in situ. A trefoil-headed low wooden screen with similar panelling encloses the east end, with the minister's desk approached by a short flight of stairs.

The adjoining school building, probably dating to the 1840s or contemporary with the chapel, is set back slightly and faces south onto the road. It is also two storeys and three bays, with a steeply pitched hipped slate roof. The first floor has round-headed 12-pane fixed-light windows with renewed glazing bars. The ground floor features a round-headed 5 x 5 pane window to the left, with its lower half pivoted, and a small semicircular-headed window to the right of a central round-headed doorway. The fanlight above the doorway has two vertical glazing bars. Double plank doors are approached by a flight of two steps. The schoolroom facade is partially roughcast, as is the south front more generally. Minor extensions were added to the school at the rear around 1878, with further extensions in 1903. A porch dated 1894 was constructed at the main chapel entrance. A day school operated on this site between 1878 and 1946. The churchyard itself was extended in 1920.

The cast and wrought-iron railings, dating to the 19th century, form an L-plan enclosing the pathway from the chapel porch to the entrance gateway, extending approximately 10 metres in length. The mid-19th-century gatepiers are constructed of random rubble with ball finials (which were obscured by vegetation at the time of survey in December 1987). The walls enclosing the south and east sides of the graveyard are similarly of mid-19th-century date, built from random rubble local stone with brick quoins and flat coping.