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 Buryan Church

For November's Church of the Month we move a few miles inland to St Buryan where at the end of October a gathering of 70 were warmly welcomed for a talk by Dr Joanna Mattingly as a Cornwall Churches Day Event.
Dr Mattingly's talk "Painting the Church Red" began with the explanation that a rood loft refers to the entire construction including the rood screen across the chancel. St Buryan can proudly boast that its rood screen is one of the best remaining examples. A superb tea rounded off the afternoon which raised £477. Our thanks to all who helped make the day a success.
For more information about the Church see our history page here

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

70th Anniversary Celebration Service
Evensong 25th November 5.30pm in The Quire at Truro Cathedral
given by our Vice President, the Bishop of Truro,
The Right Reverend David Williams

Christmas Drinks Party
Monday 15th December 6.30 – 8.30pm
Scorrier House TR16 5AU
supported by Jonathan Cunliffe and Taylor Money Wealth Management
Tickets £25 from www.buytickets.at/cornwallhistoricchurchestrust/1864299 

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
“Painting the Church Red”

Talk at St Buryan Church TR19 6BA
on 23rd October 2pm
by Dr Joanna Mattingly

Dr Mattingly has studied Cornish medieval churches for forty years.
She will examine the surviving evidence of rood lofts of which St Buryan has one of the best and most colourful examples.
Entry including tea £7,
payment by cash or card on the day
proceeds shared between St Buryan PCC and CHCT
If possible please contact or if you intend to have tea to assist the caterers.
We understand the National Ride and Stride fundraiser doesn’t suit many. Any event with proceeds split in aid of CHCT at any time is welcome. Let us know and we’ll advertise it here. Thank you.

Recent Fundraising

Thanks to all who attended our Garden Open Day at Werrington Park in May and Tom and Fia Williams for generously hosting us we raised £2,500.

Thanks to our sponsors Taylor Money Wealth Management and Jonathan Cunliffe and all who helped on the night our Christmas Drinks Party at Boconnoc on 16th December 2024 raised just shy of £5,000.

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

Thanks to Joanna Mattingly, we have been privileged to be addressed by renowned experts on different stages of church architectural development. We have worked through the Romanesque, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods. 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.