Welcome to Cornwall Historic Churches Trust

About Us

CHCT’s essential task is to support the historic fabric of religious buildings throughout the Duchy. Parishes can apply to us for funds which will go towards the restoration and repairs of Cornish churches.
Read more here

Grants

We offer grants, primarily for fabric repairs, to Cornish churches of all denominations which are used as places of worship. Unfortunately we cannot help closed churches or chapels. In February 2023 we launched Grants for a Hostile Climate: Maintenance and Kickstart Scheme which will continue into 2024. Jill Hore from Par PCC writes "We do hope that other churches seize the opportunity to apply, as – like us in Par – the church congregation no longer feels safe climbing on long ladders in order to clear gutters as part of the routine maintenance each year."
Read more here.

 

CHURCH OF THE MONTH

St Denys, North Tamerton

The Church of St Denys is situated on a hill close to a bridge across the Tamar, with views over West Devon. Denys was the first Bishop of Paris in 250 AD. The church is mentioned in late thirteenth century records but the patron saint is not recorded until 1334; it is possible that this was inspired by reference to dynas, the Cornish word for hill as at St Dennis in central Cornwall. John Wesley visited during his great tour of Cornwall; Stephen Hawker was curate of St Denys between 1830 and 1835 before becoming Vicar of Morwenstow.
The tower and the main body of the church date from the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. In 1549 it contained four bells, recast into a ring of five probably in the eighteenth century by the Cornish bellfounding family of Pennington and subsequently again recast in 1830 by J Taylor of Oxford into a ring of six with a tenor weighing 8 cwt. The church is now embarking on a project to repair and restore these bells, a project towards which CHCT granted £5,000 in September 2023.
For more information about the church visit chct.info/histories/north-tamerton-st-denys/

GET INVOLVED

Beating the bounds at Ladock

Why your support is essential

To enable us to offer the invaluable assistance for the preservation of our Cornish heritage, we need every church in the Duchy to support and work with us so that we can be there for all in times of need.

To support more projects, we need more funds and your community can help. If each of our 218 parishes could fundraise just £100 a year for CHCT we would have in excess of £20,000 additional funding to offer annually.  Find out more here.

Cornwall Churches Day

Our main fundraising event is Cornwall Churches Day which can be held at any time during the year. We hope all parishes will get involved and raise some essential funds for both themselves and CHCT.
Find out more here.

£200 was raised for CHCT and the same for Veryan church.
A celebration of cupcakes!

Next CHCT Event

Cornwall Historic Churches Trust

Annual Friends’ Outing
16th May 2pm 
at St Hilary Church TR20 9DQ
Talk by Caroline and Owen Baker “St Hilary’s Rich and Celebrated History and collection of unique artwork”
£10p.p. including Cream Tea

COMING UP
2nd June 2 – 5pm Garden Open Day with Tea, Menabilly, Par
Look out for further details

In the meantime why not take a virtual trip around some of Cornwall’s historic churches here or if you fancy a day out why not try one of our Drive About Trails.

Next Community Event

Cornwall Historic Churches Trust
The National Ride and Stride fundraiser is held in September however we understand this doesn’t suit many Cornish parishes. Any event with proceeds split in aid of CHCT at any time is welcome.
Let us know and we’ll advertise it here.

Recent Fundraising

Thanks to our sponsors Bonhams and Jonathan Cunliffe and all who helped on the night our Christmas Drinks Party at Scorrier on 18th December 2023 raised over £7,000. More information here

A huge thank you to all the communities who raise funds for us. Your support really does make a difference and together we can help to keep Cornish churches & chapels open for future generations.
See recent fundraising results here.

EXPLORE CORNISH CHURCHES

St Winnow, Lostwithiel PL22 0LF

Church Histories

Over the years, CHCT has been encouraging individual parishes to write a local history of their church. This is a short, informative piece and is written by the local parish with the help of our historian and archivist.

Is your local church missing from the archive? Full details of how to send us your information are included in the archive here.

Arches in the Decorated Style

Reading Cornish Churches

Over the past three years, thanks to Joanna Mattingly, we have been privileged to be addressed by renowned experts on different stages of church architectural development. To date we have worked through the Romanesque, Early English and Decorated periods. In 2021 we hope to move on to Perpendicular period. We have records of the lecture notes from each talk which you can view here.

Visit an interesting selection of churches on a guided drive

Drive About Tours

The annual driveabouts are created by Carole Vivian as a way of discovering 3-4 churches in a day. She writes about the history of the buildings and features to look out for and directs you from one church to another with suggestions for good places to stop for lunch en route. Trails from previous years are available for a donation of £5. Find out more here.

We are very greatful for the ongoing support of Scott & Co.
sponsors of this website.