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 we launched Grants for a Hostile Climate: Maintenance and Kickstart Scheme 2023. 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 Sidwell and St Gulvat, Laneast

Just as the PCC looked forward to being able to start a restoration programme with much work pending, including rotten floors in the north aisle and repairs to some of the pews another urgent task occurred.
In mid December we learnt that the granite on the door jamb had fallen off making it impossible to properly close the door and lock it. Also the large hole was letting in significant draughts just before the winter. The PCC contacted the DAC and the repair work was approved by the Archdeacon immediately; given the urgency they decided to proceed without waiting for the outcome of the grant application. At the Trust's meeting in January this year a Smaller Projects grant was awarded for £380.
The church was founded by the Augustinian Priory of St Stephen's in Launceston, and was served by curates from the Priory until the Reformation. The church and cemetery were dedicated by Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter in 1436, just after the tower was completed. Previously burials were made at St Stephen's.  John Wesley preached in the church six times. In the church yard is a three meter high Celtic cross (pictured).

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

Garden Open Day & Tea
Sunday 30th April 2023
Boskenna, St Buryan 2 – 5pm
Tickets will not be issued. Turn up on the day!

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
We have not been informed of any forthcoming Community Events.
If you are planning an event in aid of CHCT at any time, let us know and we’ll advertise it here.

Recent Fundraising

Our Christmas Drinks Party at Boconnoc raised pennies shy of £5,000! Thank you to all who attended or sent donations and to Bonhams and Jonathan Cunliffe for their financial support who together with our volunteer chefs made the event such a success. Diana Treffry won the Christmas hamper and promptly auctioned it off to raise an extra £130 with Johnny Croggan the successful bidder.

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.