Ladock Bells off to Loughborough
With the generous support of CHCT, the Truro Diocesan Guild of Ringers, the Garfield Weston Foundation, Benefact Trust, the Sharpe Trust, Ladock PCC and many individual donors from the Ladock and wider community (including Canada), it was possible to commence the project to recast and restore Ladock’s bells during June. With help of a team of volunteer ringers, the contractor, Taylor’s of Loughborough brought them down from the tower, putting them on display in the Church, the first time that they had been on general view since 1925 and in some cases, 1883. After a guest appearance of the 3rd at the village fete, the bells were removed from the church for the final time; the seven smallest bells were loaded onto a trailer and toured the Upper Fal Parishes area, escorted by a convoy of eighteen vintage tractors, before being transported to Loughborough: a fitting destination as all eight were originally cast by John Taylor. It is hoped that the bells will be back in the tower in time to ring for Christmas Day.
The bells are ringing again at St Dennis
In the astoundingly short period of 18 months, due to the dedication and support of so many people, the eight bells in St Denys Church have been restored and rehung.
The dismantling of the bells happened across two weeks in January 2024 – the worker from Taylors was ably supported by a team of local volunteers. At the end of this process all the fittings and the oldest bell were returned to the foundry for restoration and replacement. Three bells remained in the tower and four were securely stored for us by Cornish Lithium.
Liz Bradbury writes “Fundraising and awareness raising activities continued at pace. The hardworking committee constantly kept working – members came from across the village community, not just the church. This has certainly been a whole community project.
Nine people have been training or refreshing their training as bell ringers – this has been conducted at this stage by Phil Tremaine and the training bell at St Columb Major – when this stage of training is complete then weekly bell ringing practice will resume in St Dennis.
In June 2024, over a period of 4 weeks, the bells were rehung, tested and then handed over to Steve, as Tower Captain. The internal of the ringing chamber were made more hospitable with walls cleaned, cleaned curtains, new curtain pole and new carpet.
A service of celebration and rededication of the bells was held at the church on Sunday 14th July led by Bishop Hugh Nelson and attended by representatives from across the village and Cornish bell ringing community. The focus of this service was the way the local community has come together to support the project. Bishop Hugh spoke passionately about this aspect but also about how bells impact on our lives – to call to prayer, to celebrate family and community events and to warn and protect.
The local bell ringing community have been generous in their support of St Dennis and will be supporting us as we go forward.
Pictures here courtesy of Derek Williams who photographed the whole process. These photos will be kept for the St Denys archives.
St Mary’s Aisle Reopens
St Mary’s Aisle is the last remaining remnant of the Parish Church of St Mary, Truro, much of which was demolished to make way for the new cathedral in 1880. There has been prayer and worship on this site since at least 1259, the date it was consecrated by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter. The first Rector was installed in 1265, John de Belsal. click here to find out more
Community Fundraising
2026
Kerrier
Mawgan, Manaccan, St Martin and St Antony – Explore Meneage Churches £348
West Wivelshire
Menheniot – donation £150
Trigg Minor and Bodmin
St Petroc’s – Annual Meeting Tea £95.00
Penwith
Church of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady – Friends’ Outing tea £60.00
2025
Powder
Truro Cathedral – CHCT 70th Anniversary Evensong £157.50
Penwith
St Buryan – Talk with tea £238.50
East Wivelshire
Maker with Rame – sponsored Bicycle Ride – £180
Cornerstone Methodist Church – Coffee Morning £110
St Austell
St Ewe – Talk with tea £122.50
Trigg Minor and Bodmin
St Endellion – Friends’ Outing Tea £70.00
Exploring Meneage’s Medieval Churches
On Easter Monday the four Medieval churches of the Meneage were open for exploration. These churches are all listed buildings (Mawgan {pictured}, Manaccan and St. Anthony Grade 1 and St. Martin Grade 2) and can all trace their origins back to the 12th century although the current buildings are largely 15th and 16th century. Last October Dr. Joanna Mattingly, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and member of the Diocesan Advisory Committee, came out to look at the churches and advise on their architecture and since then the congregations have been researching the histories of the churches to put together the tour.
It is not only the craftsmanship of the actual buildings and the beauty of the windows, statuary, memorials and so on, but the history of the people and events they have witnessed that make them such important and fascinating places and, of course, for most of the last eight centuries they have played a central part in village life.
To highlight just a few key events; In the 12th century St. Martin applied to the Pope to have its own graveyard as it was difficult to carry coffins across the creeks and bridges and up and down the steep hills for burial at Mawgan, the “mother” church. Mawgan has a sanctuary roof carved by the Pinwill sisters in the late 19th century. Titanium – originally known as Manaccanite – was discovered in 1791 by clergyman William Gregor in a stream at Manaccan and St. Anthony witnessed the last battle of the English Civil War.
In addition to the history, artist Zoe Freeman had lent a beautiful painting for display in St. Martin, the many literary links that the area has were celebrated and books by some of the local authors were for sale. The bells were rung at Manaccan, St. Anthony and Mawgan, there was music at St. Martin and Manaccan (as well as the display commemorating the 130 year history of Manaccan School) and Sue Garland spent some time in the afternoon sketching for her new book about churches. Inevitably there were plenty of refreshments available at each church. And if that wasn’t enough, the sun shone!
Lindsay Hockley Mawgan Churchwarden
[Ed: CHCT are extremely grateful for the donation of £348 from the four churches]
Bravo Maker with Rame!
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.
Next CHCT Event
Garden Open 4.30pm &
Jazz at Garlenick 6pm 14th July
Kernow Chamber Players will perform a programme of two hugely charismatic jazz suites by the French composer, Claude Bolling: Suite 2 for flute and jazz piano trio and Toot Suite for trumpet and jazz piano trio.
Tickets £25 Adults /£6 Children includes pre-concert Pimms or soft drink
Buy here. Sponsored by Raymond James Truro
See Events Diary for the full list of events for 2026
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
This year CHCT is organising a joint fundraiser for all, Ride, Stride & Sail over the weekend 12/13th September. See here for details.
If your church is holding any event with proceeds split in aid of CHCT at any time let us know and we’ll advertise it here. Thank you.