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.
Read more here.

 

CHURCH OF THE MONTH

St Andrew's, Stratton

The Parish Church of St Andrew is Grade 1 Listed and stands on high ground in the centre of the historic and picturesque market town of Stratton, approximately 1 mile from the coast and the seaside town of Bude.
It is believed that the original Norman building, which may have had an apsed east end, was enlarged in the 13th century with transepts (as found in 1888 excavations). By the middle years of the 14th century the north transept was being superseded by an aisle, a gift of Sir Ralph de Blanchminster. Part of the decorated style arcade of Polyphant stone still survives from this time. Read more about the church here.
Work is well underway to repair the chancel roof at St Andrew’s Stratton for which the CHCT pledged a grant of £3,000 in September 2021.

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 MEETING
2pm on 25th May 2022
at St Julitta, Lanteglos-by-Camelford PL32 9RG

We are honoured to have as our speaker Professor Nicholas Orme who will give a talk on Going to Church in Medieval Cornwall. Tea will be served after the meeting at a cost of £5.00 per head, payable on the day, thanks to Lanteglos-by-Camelford PCC. If you would like to join us, please complete, and return this slip. No tickets will be issued. If you have any questions please contact our Honorary Secretary, Chrissie Hogg, 01326 565021 or e-mail

Summer Picnic and Garden Open Day at Trebartha PL15 7BD
11am – 4pm Sunday 19th June
Welcome talk by Caroline Latham at 11.30am.
Collect your picnic and enjoy while walking around the garden. Tea served 3 – 4pm.
Produce and Plant Stall
Garden Entry with Tea 2pm – 4pm

This historic landscape garden features ponds, streams, cascades, rock falls and woodland, with specimen trees, an ornamental walled garden and private modern country garden at Lemarne. Additionally there are ongoing developments of the C19th American garden and C18th fish ponds to view. Map provided, allow at least 1 1/2 hours to complete a circumnavigation of the 40 acre garden. Selection of shorter options possible.

Book your tickets for Talk, Picnic Lunch and Tea £25 pp; or groups of 4 or more £20 pp; Children under 16yrs Free (optional child’s picnic available for £5 pp); Garden Entry inc tea £10 pp Children under 16yrs Free at buytickets.at/cornwallhistoricchurchestrust  For picnics RSVP by Sunday 12th June, Afternoon Garden Entry also payable on the day. To apply for tickets by post download this application form.

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

Recent Fundraising

Savills have sponsored the Christmas Party since its inception in 2006 and continued their support despite us having to cancel the event in 2020, like all others, due to Covid. Our heartfelt thanks to them and also to all those who responded to the "non-invitation" with donations totalling in excess of £4,000. Thank you one and all.

A huge thank you to all the communities who raised funds for us last year. 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.