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 Crewenna, Crowan
Saint Crewenna is a little known Irish saint who is thought to have accompanied Saint Germoe and St Breaca on their mission from Ireland to Cornwall in the 6th Century. The church is 15th century, with parts dating to 11th century, but was restored by J.P. St Aubyn in 1872.
Leland, who visited Breage nearby, in 1538, wrote: “Breaca came to Cornwall (from Ireland) accompanied by many saints, among whom were Sinninus the Abbot, who was at Rome with Patrick, Maruanus the Monk, Germmochus the king, Elwen, Crewenna and Hellena.” Crewenna’s Feast Day is the Sunday nearest Candlemas, around 2nd February, and is still the highlight of the church calendar. There is evidence to show that in mediaeval times the parish centred around a chapel descended from foundations of the very active St Euny. who has the same Feast Day.
The church is relatively large owing to the fact that it was enlarged to accommodate the increase in population brought about by the influx of miners during the 18th & 19th centuries swelling to 4000 until the decline in mining.
The church has numerous interesting architectural features, brass and stone monuments and a curious repaired circa late mediaeval square granite font with round bowl with roll moulded cornice and corners with pieces of new stonework set in.
In September CHCT granted £3,000 towards repairs to the tower doors, repointing, chimney capping and making good gable ends.
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GET INVOLVED
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.
Next CHCT Event
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
Sponsored “Ride & Stride” on Friday 27 September in aid of CHCT and the 3 churches of Maker with Rame parish. Starting at the Rising Sun Pub, The Green, Kingsand PL10 1NH at 9 am. All bike riders electric or otherwise welcome. If the weather is too bad we will delay 24 hours to Saturday 28 September.
It is an 18 mile circuit of the Rame Peninsula taking in its 12 churches including Torpoint the nearest town and finishing at Maker Church adjacent to Mount Edgcumbe Country Park. Beware there are some steep hills!
For more information contact John Evans
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
Our Garden Open Day at Menabilly was a delight for all with perfect summer sunshine and raised £1077.13. Thank you to all who attended and Sir Richard Rashleigh for making it possible.
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
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.
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.
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.