In 1815 a deed of assignment was made covering an adjoining plot of land to the existing chapel. It being stated ‘the limits granted on their former deeds being found insufficient for any extension of the present building’.
A ‘building similar in size and shape to the existing chapel was built on the western side’, parallel with Wesley passage (the building which is now St Ives Theatre).
In 1825 the Methodist chapel was reopened after being enlarged. After the extension the St Ives Wesleyan Church now had two entrance doors both opening out onto the then main road of Street-an-Garrow. The first entrance lead into the Chapel, which is now the fire exit at the bottom of our rear granite staircase. The second entrance being a bit further up Street-an-Garrow which is the now the main entrance for the St Ives theatre.
In 1833 the Wesleyan Conference approved a school building policy and in 1844 the United Chapel and Wesleyan Education fund was set up to provide generous grants to build new schools. Soon new Wesleyan schools started to appear in Cornwall.
In 1845 the building of the St Ives Wesleyan school was completed. This is the front building facing The Stennack and is now the main accommodation area of Cohort.
1895 saw the last large-scale alterations to the main Chapel building (St Ives theatre). The whole of the inside was gutted, dividing walls taken down, walls raised and a new single roof (replacing the two pitched roofs) was put on to improve lighting and ventilation.
Following a period of wet weather, on the night of 14th Nov 1894 heavy rain hit St Ives again. The Wesleyan Church sits in the bowl of the Stennack valley which was turned into a huge torrent as water from the surrounding area poured down the steep valley and into the town. New utility mains had been recently laid which reappeared into sight after being disturbed by the floods. Tons of sand, gravel, blocks of granite and kerbstones flowed into Tregenna Place.
This image of a torrent of water from the night pre dates the widening of The Stennack. Various major floods over the years instigated the local council to address the flooding problems. A row of houses opposite the Wesleyan Chapel and School were taken down to make way for the widening of the road. If you look out onto The Stennack from our main entrance you can see where the remainder of the original row of houses still stand – look right out of the front entrance, on the opposite side of the road you will notice a house with an overhanging top window. This was part of the row of houses that were demolished to make way for the widening of the road.
“Today the streets present a scene of destruction; roads and pavements, gas and water mains, culverts and crossings have been ruthlessly torn up by vioent and overwhelming rush of waters. The careful, plodding work of years, improvements carried oit with the rates unwillingly wrung from a population experiencing the improverishing decline of the staple industries of the town; rates spent, nevertheless, with rigid economy, in the hope of making St Ives an attractive watering-place – the results of all this have, for the nonce, been swept away” – Cornish Telegraph 15/11/1894
Tee-totalism
One of biggest splits in the Methodist church in the 19th century was on the question of alcohol. The idea of tee-totalism (abstinence from alcohol) was controversial but became a strong force within grassroots Methodism in the 1840’s, with the Wesleyan authorities not supporting the fast-growing movement. Division occurred throughout the UK, but taking a step further, in St Ives a breakaway group from the St Ives Wesley Methodist Chapel formed the Teetotal Methodists; who then established the UK’s first Teetotal Society in 1841. Its first meeting house was in what is now the Drill Hall Arcade just behind Cohort. One of the first Ministers there was a guy called William Booth who went on to found The Salvation Army.
Within 3 months of formation the St Ives Teetotal society had 1195 members and within 2 years it had 2810 members which out of a population of 5000 people shows a majority of the town’s population pledged to totally refrain from the use of the ’drunkards drink’.
It was recorded that almost the entire mining population of St Ives were tee-total’ers, and 74 out of 86 vessels in the harbour sailed ‘without the use of the poisonous draught’.
Evidence of this teetotal movement can be spotted around St Ives via the various street names such as Teetotal Street and Salubrious Place (meaning ‘health / health-giving’).
Cornwall became the first county to sign a no drinking pledge. First at Padstow, and then St Ives signing in this Wesley Chapel.
The origin of the word ‘teetotal’ – apparently came from a Lancashire man called Richard Turner who during a speech in 1833 was making a comparison between total abstinence and moderation and to give emphasis he brought his fist of one hand down into the palm of the other and said “I’ll be reet down out-and-out t-t-total for ever and ever”. He was not stuttering but using the syllables for the means of emphasis. A Mr Joseph Livesay who was presiding over the meeting stood up and declared to the audience “this (teetotal) shall be the name of our new pledge”.