How you can support the Cornwall Historic Churches Trust
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.
Become a friend
The simplest way is to become a Friend of the Cornish Historic Churches Trust. Friends membership is available to individuals or Churches.
Individual and joint Friend membership - For just £20 a year individual membership or £30 a year for two adults at the same address you can become a Friend of CHCT and play an active role in supporting the Trust. You will recieve an annual report along with invitations to all of our special events.
Church Friend membership – a Church Friend applying for a grant has the benefit of a maximum possible offer increased from £5,000 to £7,000 as well as being directed to other grant funding bodies which have helped with similar projects. We very much hope that every church in the Duchy will become a Friend.
Details of how to become a Friend are on the form which you can download here. If you have any queries, send an email to
To find out more about becoming a friend and to read about past events visit our Friends Page
Cornwall Churches Day
Our annual major fundraising event is Cornwall Churches Day. This is a celebration of churches and chapels across the county and we are keen for as many parishes as possible to get involved by holding a celebration event which encourages people to visit your church (and surrounding churches in the area!) Proceeds from these events are shared 50/50 with CHCT and the parishes.
We ask that for this one event each year you split the funds raised equally with the CHCT (50% each) and in return we will help you promote your events on our website and can provide templates for posters.
Sharing the funds raised between CHCT and your church both benefits your parish and also supports our vision of providing an insurance policy for when your parish church needs help for larger projects that seem overwhelming. The CHCT can offer local knowledge and often when they support an application larger more wealthy bodies are minded to follow suit.

A flower arrangement inspired by Damian Hirst at Withial
How your support helps
Churches of any denomination are able to apply for grants of up to £10,000 to help with costs of restoration & repair. Smaller Projects grants and one-off Maintenance Grants of £500 are also available. In 2023 we initiated a Kickstart scheme to assist with the initial outlay required to assess a project. You can find out more by visiting our Grants page.
Previous grants have included:
- £2000 to Falmouth Methodist Church for essential fire prevention upgrade
- £5000 to St Neot for repairs to North wall to prevent ingress of water
- £1400 to Trevenson Church Illogan for rewiring, replacement lighting and heating
- £2000 to St Martin’s Lewannick for repairs to windows, replacement flooring and replastering
- £5000 to St Stephen’s Launceston for a new roof
- £5000 to St Sithney, Sithney for a replacement floor and associated archaeological work
- £2000 to Old Kea for repairs to pillars
- £5000 to St Julitta, Lanteglos for replacement of rotten medieval timbers
- £1400 to Church of Our Lady of the Portal and St Piran, Truro for replacement flat roof
COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING
Illuminating Cornish Lantern Crosses

Andrew Langdon gave a brilliant talk at St Mawgan-in-Pydar on 18th April 2024 based on his book “Illuminating Cornish Lantern Crosses” co-written with Ann Preston-Jones. Seventy people attended raising £459 split between the PCC and CHCT as part of the Cornwall Churches Day initiative.
We were blessed with rare (this year) spring sunshine to view St Mawgan’s Lantern Cross, the old St Mawgan Cross brought from what is now part of the airfield to the churchyard and the 10th Century Lanherne Cross in the adjacent convent afterwards. A great day out. Thank you to Rev Helen Baber and David and Jackie Oglethorpe for welcoming CHCT to your church.
St Neot Midsummer Event

A thoroughly enjoyable evening was enjoyed by 120 people at Trevenna, St Neot celebrating Midsummer and raising the magnificent sum of £2,500 for church funds. CHCT is immensely grateful to the PCC for donating £500 of this to us. Thanks are due to PCC member Jonathan Rowe for allowing St Neot Church to use his wedding venue, Trevenna, Mandy and all the staff at Trevenna plus all the community volunteers who dressed the marquee, set up the games, entertainment and music.
FUNDRAISING IDEAS
Community events
Over the years we have seen some fantastically creative fundraising events; parishes have held sponsored walks, garden safaris, coffee mornings, quizzes, music workshops, church tidies and church yard clearances to name a few. These events have been a lot of fun for all involved and are a great way of getting the wider community involved.
Sometimes it is just not practical for a parish to hold an event on Cornwall Churches Day because of other commitments, so we are keen to stress that CHCT fundraising events can be held at any point in the year. The important thing is to let us know the what is happening so that we can help to advertise your event on this website.
Individual fundraising
As well as supporting local fundraising events, individuals can take part in a sponsored walk or cycle which encourages people to visit different churches in their area en route.
Download a sponsorship form here.
Or if cycling/walking between churches isn't your thing how about following one of our Drive About Trails.
Event ideas
- have a go at bell ringing
- climb the church tower
- children’s activities
e.g. I-Spy trails & teddy bear’s picnics - quiz the vicar
- coffee morning & cake sales
- worm charming in the churchyard!
- guided nature walk
- history talks & guided tours
- teddy abseil down the tower
- guided church tour
- flower arranging competition
There are more wonderful ideas that have been successful at other churches here on
the Church Times website.
Recent Fundraising
A huge thank you to all the communities who raised funds for us last year and hoping to build on this success this 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.
Drive About trails
Our annual Drive About is the brain child of Carole Vivian of Pelynt; each year she organises a drive about, starting from her home village and encompassing 3 or 4 churches. 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.
EVENTS
Next CHCT Event

Tregothnan Garden Open Weekend
26th and 27th April
Full details soon
Talk by Paul Cockerham
Cornish Churches in the Nineteenth Century
From Notes on Cornwall’s Churches by Daniel and Samuel Lysons (c. 1805-10),
and Sir Stephen Glynne (c. 1840-70)
2pm 1st May St Ewe
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

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.