Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 27/01/2012

SW 32 SE
7/187

ST LEVAN
LITTLE TRETHEWEY
Little Trethewey Wesleyan Chapel

GV
II*

Alternatively known as: Chygwidden Chapel, St Levan, LITTLE TRETHEWEY
Nonconformist (Wesleyan) chapel. 1868 datestone, extended to rear late C19.

MATERIALS: stuccoed walls with stucco detail; scantle slate roofs with projecting eaves, pedimented gable at front and gable end at rear; cast-iron ogee gutters.

PLAN: rectangular 4-bay aisle-less plan plus porch to right-hand side (entrance front) between first two bays and vestry between second and third bays; end gallery at the front end, organ loft and choir gallery to rear (ritual east end). Simple Italianate style.

EXTERIOR: unaltered single-storey elevations with round-arched openings with moulded architraves in recessed flat-headed keyed panels; all windows 4-pane horned sashes. 2-bay entrance front has simple entablature and moulded pediment with traceried oculus. Entrance front has window, porch, window, gable-ended vestry and window. Gable-ended porch has original pair of 3-panel doors with flush beaded panels within round-arched doorway. Left-hand return wall of vestry has 6-panel door and 4-pane horned sash.

INTERIOR: fine simple interior with moulded plaster ceiling cornice. Ramped end gallery carried on 2 Tuscan columns, the balustraded and pilastered gallery front with moulded cornice broken forward over the columns and with centre break for clock. The steep gallery staircase is a straight flight with closed string and stick balustrade at rear of gallery. Ritual east end has turned balustrade to front of organ loft.

FITTINGS include original pitch-pine box pews with doors, the ramped pews to gallery and immediately below with ramped ends; fine painted late C19 rostrum with turned balustrade over moulded cornice, the solid central panel broken forward, the lectern on consoles, open-string staircase right of rostrum with stick balustrade; bow-fronted communion rail overturned balustrade; piped organ with panelled front with consoles to moulded cornice.

The best representative example of this type of wayside chapel in Cornwall, built to a plan which could easily be extended. Its interest is enhanced by its group value as the principal item in the best wayside chapel group in Cornwall, with its manse, graveyard walls and schoolroom.

Sources: 1509 (Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England), An Inventory of Nonconformist Chapels by Christopher Stell (RCHM).

Listing NGR: SW3797523807

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17534716

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2