of the chapel. This chapel succumbed to a fire in 1821. The Blackwater Methodist Church was completed in 1825, added a gallery in 1832 and received a pipe organ in 1923. Since the church closed in 1985 it has been used as a home and for business purposes. The Sunday School building, built with the funding and support of John Passmore Edwards was completed in 1893 and dedicated to Edward's late uncle, a St Day Sunday school superintendent and teacher. It was a stone building with granite dressings. Gothic cathedral glass and leadlight windows adorned the building. Education The local Blackwater Community Primary School provides services for infants, children 3–5 and juniors. The school facilities include a sports field, wild area and greenhouse. Commonly known as the Blackwater Lecture and Reading Room, the Blackwater Institute was founded in 1890 by John Passmore Edwards who was born in Blackwater. This was the first of many donated public buildings by Edwards. He also financed the construction of the Mithian Village Hall, St Agnes village Miners' and Mechanics' Institute and 69 other public buildings. Edwards was a successful newspaper owner but his beginnings were humble. The idea for the institute sprouted from a request for books for Blackwater's citizens by the Reverend of the Mithian church, Fursdon Rogers. Based upon the Reverend's request and his own memories of having joined the Chacewater Reading Society to access reading material, Edwards decided to build a building for educational study. Lord Falmouth donated the land and the Tywarnhale estate donated the stone for the building. James Prowse & Son created the masonry work and the exterior was decorated by Mr Craze and Solomon & Company. John Symons and his son, Frank, designed and decorated the building; the elder Symons was a school mate of Edwards. Two rooms were separated by a wooden divider that could be moved for large gatherings like concerts. The building has also been used for local meetings, County Technical Instruction Committee classes, men's snooker club and the 1920 Coroner's inquest into the unsolved double murder of Joseph Hoare and Laura Sara. Amenities The Red Lion Public House is the town's pub. Notable people The Victorian philanthropist and journalist John Passmore Edwards was born here. He had the Blackwater Institute built within a few hundred yards of the site of the cottage of his birth and youth. In popular culture Carlton Television's Murder