Methodism in this part of north Cornwall was originally that of the eighteenth century Anglican evangelicals, notably George Thomson, George Whitefield and James Hervey. Hervey was curate at Barnstaple, 1741-1742. It seems that a while for he was also serving the Kilkhampton parish. On his first visit to the village he entered the Parish Church and sat for a while. The result was his eighteenth century meditative classic, Meditations Among the Tombs, set in the church and graveyard.

Thomson had a Society here, and Whitefield preached in the village. There is no evidence that Thomson's society came into Wesley's Methodism: the Launceston Circuit first reported a Society here in 1811. The Wesleyans opened a chapel in 1830 and replaced it in 1886.

William O'Bryan and his family lived at Undertown from 1816 to 1819. The first Bible Christian Chapel (Ebenezer on West Street) opened in 1836 and was replaced in 1865. It closed in 1947 when the Society merged with the ex-Wesleyans on the main road.

Entry written by: CCS
Category: Place
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