Billy Bray's 'Three Eyes' Chapel.
William 'Billy' Trewartha Bray was born 1st June 1794, in Twelveheads in the parish of Kea, in Cornwall. He was a tin miner and lived almost all his life in Cornwall, except for a seven years when he worked in Devon. In 1821, he married Johanna, with whom he had several children.
Whilst working in Devon he claimed 'I became the companion of drunkards, and during that time I was very near hell'. He returned to Cornwall a drunkard, spending all the money he had on ale, rather than to feed his wife and children.
In November 1823, he happened to read John Bunyan's book 'Visions of Heaven and Hell' and from that time he had a desire to improve his life. He became a Christian and started to live by his faith. He became a man of prayer and worship and to this end he built three chapels, Bethel, Kerley Downs and Great Deliverance.
He died on 25th May 1868 and his grave can be found at Baldhu Church. CM 4407
A 1906 postcard of the chapel, thanks to the Redruth Roamers for this.
As the Chapel is today
"Sometimes I have had blisters on my hands and they have been very sore but I did not mind that, for if the chapel should stand for one hundred years and if one soul were converted in it every year, that would be a hundred souls, and that would pay me well if I get to Heaven"
Three Eyes Chapel is the second chapel built by Billy Bray, built only a mile from the village that he was born. In 1824, there was a society of recently converted men and women, who met regularly in a small premises. When the group was offered a small piece of land by Benjamin Paul, Billy felt that his call to help this society was confirmed. Billy and his son worked all their spare time to help build the chapel, even after a hard day working the mines. The deed of trust was drawn up dated 4th July, 1836, which means the chapel has been standing as a place of worship for over 150 years.
The chapel was originally a rectangular form with typical limewashed walls stone and cob walls, with an extension which probably housed a small fireplace. The present entrance porch has replaced an original porch. The extension on the east side of the chapel, appears to be a later extension and was probably originally used to shelter the visiting preacher's horse.
The original chapel was much smaller than the one that stands today, although it still had it's three windows -it's Three Eyes. Billy himself enlarged it, adding three more windows, a square for the choir and instrumentalists and a new pulpit. Also the style and stepping of the pews suggests that they were added later.
Regular services were held in the chapel until 1982, when the Billy Bray Memorial Trust took over the care of the building.
I recently was lucky enough to go in
The Cache is a straightforward multi.
Stage 1 How many coloured panes of glass in total
Yellow = A, Green = B, Purple = C, Blue =D
Final : N50 14.(A+B-1)(D/2)(A+D-1) W005 08.(D/2)(A-1)(D/2)
We hope you enjoy this Church Micro as much as we did researching it.
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