Across the river Camel at Egloshayle the Revd Sir Harry Trelawny was vicar from 1793 to 1804. By birth, at Trelawne, near Looe, an Anglican, in 1777 Trelawney became a Congregationalist minister and built a chapel for them at Looe. He travelled Cornwall and Devon with Rowland Hill, preaching. Then he returned to the Church of England, taking the chapel with him! In 1781 he was ordained into the Church of England and in 1793 came to Egloshayle. In 1804 he left the Church of England to become a Roman Catholic layman and in 1830, after the death of his wife, was ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood at the age of 74.

During his incumbency at Egloshayle he had a class of young men under his instruction using Wesley's sermons and hymns. This group included Malachi Davey (1756-1828) and Alexander Menhinick (1775-1812) who became leaders in the CamelfordCircuit and in Wadebridge Methodism.

The area suffered in the disruption of the Camelford Circuit in 1834-5 and the growth of the Wesleyan Methodist Association locally. The town came to have Wesleyan, United Methodist Free Churches and Bible Christian chapels.

The recent history of the chapels in Wadebridge is complex. The ex-Bible Christian chapel in Trevannion Road closed in 1951, only to reopen in 1958. In 1961 Trinity, the ex-Wesleyan chapel, closed when the society merged with the ex UMFC society at Egloshayle Road. Yet when this chapel was demolished in 1969 due to road widening, the society reverted to Trinity. In 1970 the ex-Bible Christian society joined the Trinity society and Trevannion Road closed.

In the former Trinity church is a memorial tablet to Ann West (1783-1872), a Wesleyan class leader whose life story is told in Living Christianity, by Mary Higgs. She lived through the disruption and took part in re-building the Wesleyan society.

Entry written by: CCS
Category: Place
Comment on this entry