Summary
A Gothic-style Methodist church and attached Sunday school: the foundation stone was laid in 1900 and the church was in use from 1902.
Reasons for Designation
The Cardinham Methodist Church, attached Sunday School and gate piers is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest: an attractive example of an early-C20 church with good architectural detailing which, despite its late date, demonstrates the continued popularity of the Gothic style in Cornish chapel building;
Historic interest: it represents an interesting example of a church complex which retains a Sunday school room and trap house;
Internal feature: despite recent internal alterations, the building retains key features including the rostrum, plaster mouldings, timber work and internal partitions.
History
The Methodist church and Sunday school at Cardinham was built between 1900 and 1902. It succeeded a Wesleyan Methodist chapel located to the north-west of the village which was out of use by the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map (1908). The Trustees' Minutes for the Cardinham Methodists note that the congregation moved from the Wesleyan chapel, in use from 1837 to 1902, to the new church in the north of Cardinham in 1902. It appears on the 2nd Ordnance Survey map (1908) with a church, Sunday school room and trap house; the plan and room arrangement have not changed. Internally parts of the floorboards were replaced in the 1950s and a plasterboard ceiling, with taped joints, was inserted in 1970s. In 2011 listed building consent was granted to convert the church to residential use and in accordance with this most of the pews were removed with the exception of the side timber panels, most of the timber floor, two pews at the rear of the hall, the rostrum, associated ramp and attached front pews.
Details
MATERIAL: squared granite rubble with granite quoins and brick dressings, all under a slate roof with courses of scalloped slates, terracotta ridge tiles and finials.
PLAN: single auditorium plan with an attached wing on the east side.
EXTERIOR: the building sits on a dressed granite plinth. The south end has a central porch with a small arch window and a set of double doors under a chamfered lintel on the east side. Two windows flank the porch on either side. The windows, in common with all the glazing in the main church, are horned sashes with Y-traceried heads topped by a two-centred arch with dressed granite keystones and quoins, brick voussoirs and splayed glazing bars. A moulded string course runs over the top of the south end and is raised in a trefoil shape. The west elevation has two pairs of sashes and one pair on the east side. At the rear is a single-storey rubble lean-to consisting of a trap house with cobbled floor and timber partition, a pair of toilets and storage area. The Sunday school room, projecting from the east side of the church, has two square eight-pane sashes and central double doors with eight-pane overlight on the south elevation. There are two similar windows on the north side and a blind rendered east gable end.
INTERIOR: a moulded string course runs around the walls and is raised over three pointed-arched recesses in the north end. The paired windows are decorated with a trefoil in the spandrels. Most of the seating has been removed. Two pitch-pine pews have been retained at the rear of the hall, as has the rostrum, associated ramp and attached front pews in the north-east corner. The panelling along around the side of the hall has also been kept. The Sunday school is divided from the church by a timber screen with folding entrance door to the right and detachable timber wall panels. The auditorium has an 'A' frame roof and a plasterboard ceiling with taped joints. The undersides of the principal trusses are decorated with applied timber with chamfer and cusp detailing.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: two sets of granite gate piers and iron gates to the south and east; the main piers to the south have cruciform-heads.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 14/03/2013
