Summary

A former Wesleyan Methodist chapel, opened in 1848 and closed in 2011. The attached former Sunday school added in 1894 and extended in the 1930s, is not included in the listing. 

Description

A former Wesleyan Methodist chapel, opened in 1848 and closed in 2011. The attached former Sunday school added in 1894 and extended in the 1930s, is not included in the listing. 

MATERIALS: slatestone rubble walls with granite dressings and a slate roof with ridge tiles. The gable ends have raised coped verges.

PLAN:  a rectangular building on a N-S axis with a single auditorium plan.

EXTERIOR: the former chapel is a three-bay, single-storey building with a gable roof. At the centre of the front elevation is a gabled wooden porch on granite piers, topped by a slate roof with crested ridge tiles (in 2016 the porch roof was temporarily removed). The main entrance is a C20 double door. Above is a blind round granite arch. Above the entrance is a date stone with an inscription in raised upper case lettering reading ‘WESLEYAN CHAPEL AD 1848’ and in the apex of the gable is a recessed circular stone. The entrance is flanked on either side by a two-light C19 margin-glazed casement with top lights and a rounded granite arch with keystone. At the rear there are two blocked openings with granite lintels and keystones. The W elevation has three C19 two-light margin-glazed casements with top lights and flat granite arches with keystones openings, and the E elevation has two. 

INTERIOR: the chapel retains a rostrum at the N end and a timber gallery at the S end. The gallery is supported by cast-iron columns; it has been suggested these columns are replacements and the base of a timber column stands adjacent to the W end column. Above the auditorium is a sealed timber-plank ceiling. The roof structure is a king-post frame.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the adjacent former Sunday school is not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

Due to an increase in congregation size, the Cubert Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Holywell Road was built in 1848 to replace a smaller C18 preaching house located on the corner of Holywell Road and Wesley Street. It was built slightly set back from the main street. A lean-to organ loft was subsequently added to the NE corner of the church, and a porch was added to the front of the building in the latter half of the C19. Some of the glazing is also a later replacement. In 1894 a Sunday school (not included in the listing), was added to the E side of the chapel, with an internal door leading from the chapel to the school. In the 1930s the school was extended to the S, bringing it level with the street. By the early C21 the congregation had reduced in size and the decision was taken to leave the chapel and convert the attached Sunday school into a place of worship. In 2010 permission was granted to remove the organ and the organ loft and to convert the Sunday school (it opened as the new Cubert Methodist Chapel in 2012). Some of the seating in the former church was removed in 2011 and the roof was re-slated in 2014. Planning permission has been granted to convert the former chapel to domestic use, and further internal alterations have taken place (2016).

Reasons for Listing

The former Cubert Methodist Chapel, Chapel Terrace, Holywell Road, Cubert is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the chapel displays architectural detailing which is characteristic of a non-conformist chapel, including rounded window openings and date stone, clearly illustrating its original ecclesiastical use;
* Historic interest: a good example of a mid-C19 chapel which helps to contribute to our understanding of the development of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Cornwall.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26613987

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

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  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
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  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
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  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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