Cornwall

This is a list of chapels that had been registered by 1867, derived from ‘A list of places of meeting for public religious worship, certified to the Registrar General’.   Remember that registration was not compulsory. As registration was valid until cancelled, however, there may be duplication: i.e.  both the old and new chapels in a place may be listed. We have also discovered that the official location may not be the same as the name by which the chapel is commonly described.

Cornwall contained the most registered Bible Christian chapels of any county, but Methodist sources suggest that there may have been as many as fifty further places of worship in existence in 1867. According to the Registrar General no chapels of any denomination had been registered in the Scilly Isles, whereas the Bible Christians had a Circuit there containing three places of worship. I have been unable to locate three chapels [Carwine Farm, Gremacombe Moor and Wadling] and a further three have had to be given an indicative position on the map {Callas, Kenner’s House and Bodmin Land]

The Wesleyan Methodist Association had taken root in Cornwall, as well. By 1867 the newly formed United Methodist Free Churches had chapels across the whole of the county. Only Yorkshire and Lancashire had more at this time.  A number, however, ceased to be used in the following decades, and I have been unable to locate four of those listed (Anvewer, Kesinney, Mabel Burrow and Pradnack).  There may have been a further eight in use at this time.

The Methodist New Connexion was present only in the far west of the county. Methodist sources suggest that a further five chapels also existed at the time, and in the same area.

Unless otherwise stated each of these places of worship is described as a chapel.

The numbers on the list relate to places, and match those on the map. The base map is provided under this licence

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