Churches of the British Isles

St Newlyn Preaching Pit is on the southern side of Cargoll Road as it heads west from St Newlyn. It sits next to the cemetery and Methodist burial ground. The pit was originally a stone quarry, but by the 1840s it had fallen into disuse. Wrestling and cockfighting may have made an appearance after that. However, one stormy Sunday in 1848, lay preacher John Andrew led his congregation out of the chapel and to the shelter of the old quarry, prior to its refurbishment.

Trevarthian Gate Mission Room formerly existed at Trevarthian Gate in the St Newlyn East parish. According to Kellys (1905) it had seating for forty-five, with divine service being held every Thursday evening. The location has been lost but it may have been near the gate which leads to the manor house. The map for 1907 shows a building opposite the drive to the manor, and more buildings slightly to the north, but none of those are marked as a mission house.

Trevarthian Manor Chapel once existed on the site of today's Trevarthian Farmhouse, immediately to the east of Trerice which itself is about four kilometres to the north of St Newlyn East. John Syreston and his family received a licence for a chapel in 1400. This was renewed in 1407 and 1429. A deed of 1775 shows that there was a 'Chapel Meadow' at Trevarthian, on the site of a manor house which had already gone even by that date, no trace surviving.

Trerice House Chapel once existed within the current National Trust manor house which originated in the fifteenth century and which was later altered and extended. The earliest phase probably dates from before 1471. This comprised a tower house with a low north west block. In 1372 the Lambourns were living at Trerice. They applied for a licence to have a chapel in the house. Those licences were granted for a chapel on the site in 1410 and 1413.

Trerice Old Chapel was noted by Adams in relation to a 1650 survey of Trerice which he stated included 'one chapel chamber'. This may suggest that, by the seventeenth century, the old medieval chapel had been abandoned and an oratory had been set up within the house. The chapel has long gone, but it is remembered by the field name of Chapel Close. This is now the site of a complex of residential buildings which may have replaced the old house itself.

Five photos on this page by Jo Lewis, and one kindly contributed by Amy's Antics via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group.