Description

SW 74 SE KEA TWELVEHEADS

1/181 The Old Schoolhouse and Bethel
Studio (formerly listed as Bethel
Chapel)
30.5.67
II

Methodist chapel (now studio) attached derelict cottage to south and former school-
house adjoining north east corner. 1842 and later. Stucco to entrance front of
chapel, otherwise painted rubble walls and slate sills. Low-pitched grouted scantle
slate roof with gable ends.
Plan: Square aisless plan with entrance at liturgical 'west' end (north) and rostrum
(removed) at liturgical 'east' end. Adjoining left of entrance front is former
schoolroom, now single-storey house, but it has been suggested that this was the
original chapel that Billy Bray built 'with his own hands'. Adjoining at liturgical
east end is later 2-storey manse/cottage, 1-room wide and 2-rooms deep. Schoolroom
and cottage are single-storied but cottage is 2 storeys under same eaves line to
right of liturgical south side of chapel. Chapel has symmetrical gable-ended north
entrance front now partly obscured to left by schoolroom. Original features of
central round-headed doorway with flanking tall round-headed windows and round
recessed plaque to gable with BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH 1842. Doorway has panelled
reveals, pair of 2-panel doors and traceried fanlight. Sash windows have 30 panes
plus tracery to tympana. Lower half of left-hand window is obscured by school house.
East and west walls of chapel each have 2 similar regularly spaced sashes but with
larger panes ie, 12 panes plus tracery. Mortared arches. Cast iron ogee gutters.
West wall of chapel has 1-window front of cottage adjoining to right. Cottage has
gable porch to entrance, left, and 4-pane sash to middle and over. Shallow brick
arches. Schoolhouse has rendered 2-window west front with nearly central C20 door
and flanking C20 windows probably in original C19 openings. Interior of chapel is
simple with flat plaster walls and ceiling. Fittings removed. Original roof struc-
ture with 4 king post trusses. Ruin of building a few yards to north which it is
said, Billy Bray helped to build. Billy Bray 1794-1888, born at Twelveheads, was,
in his own words, "formerly a drunken and lascivious miner" and became, after a sudden
conversion to Christianity a prolific and much loved and respected local preacher.

Listing NGR: SW7634842310

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26613951

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)