Churches of the British Isles

Tregongeeves Farm is on the western side of Tregongeeves Lane, about 250 metres south of the A390 junction. This was the site of Tregongeeves Quaker Meeting House and home to Loveday Hambly, one of Cornwall's best-known early Quakers. A friend of George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, her farmhouse became a meeting place for Quakers across all of mid-Cornwall. The estate now forms a set of luxury farm cottages, one of which is called 'Quakers'.

The Church of St Mewnus, St Mewan, is on the eastern side of St Mewan Lane in this tiny hamlet. Saint Mewan was a sixth-century Celtic saint who was born either in Wales or Cornwall, although he is generally venerated in Brittany. The church has Norman origins - the foundations for the granite bell tower and the base of the font were laid in 1100. The stained glass windows are Victorian, with the church being substantially rebuilt in 1854 and then enlarged in 1890.

The former Gover Valley Bible Christian Chapel can be reached from St Mewan by passing through eastern Trewoon via Stoney Lane, and then turning left onto Gover Road. The chapel is now a bed and breakfast, the third of three buildings on the western side of this section of road in Gover Valley/Sparnon Moor. A Sparnon Moor Chapel is listed in the Bible Christian 1901 list, possibly the same building. It is now 'The Old Chapel House' following post-war closure.

Amongst many other locations, John Wesley preached in St Mewan parish, at The Green in Trewoon where the railway now crosses the A3058. The first nonconformist chapel for the area, Trewoon Bethel Chapel, was built here in 1821 - admittedly some time after Wesley's death in 1791. It was demolished when the road bridge over the railway was built in 1859. Its replacement was Trinity Chapel (below), which was dedicated in honour of Wesley.

Trewoon Trinity Methodist Church is on the western side of Westbridge Road, just beyond the railway bridge. It opened in 1871 to replace the lost (1859) Bethel Chapel down the road (above). The work was pioneered by John Gaved, while Mrs Hennah of Hembal Manor donated the plot. It was renovated and expanded in 2002. Trewoon Reading Room, three buildings to the south-east of the church, is now the village's social club ('TRR 1904' is on the frontage).

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis. Additional information from Bed & Breakfast Stops in England, FHG Guides (p114, Gover Valley).