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

Camborne Wesley Methodist Church

It was in1743 that John Wesley first visited Camborne staying with Mr. Harris at Rosewarne. The home of Mr. Harris became the first meeting place of the Methodists in Camborne. Outgrowing Rosewarne, they moved in1802 to use premises in Gas Lane and then in 1806 built their first Chapel. The Donald Thomas Centre today occupies this site, prior to this the building was Camborne Literary Institute. Sir Richard Vyvyan of Trelowarren had made the building of a new chapel possible by giving them the land. In 1814 the numbers attending worship had increased to such an extent that the building of 1806 was no longer large enough and Sir Richard Vyvyan again provided a plot of land on which the present chapel was built at a cost of £2450. The imposing granite front was the gift of the Pendarves family, important land and mine owners in the area. By April 1827 sufficient monies had been raised to commence work and on the 18th April that year the foundation stone was laid and just 15 months later on July 27th the chapel was opened. Over the years there have been numerous changes from the original design to reflect the needs of each generation whilst at the same time retaining the grand design that so inspired previous generations.
In March CHCT granted £10,000 towards repairing the windows. For more information about the church visit chct.info/histories/camborne-wesley-methodist-church/

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 Friends’ Outing
16th May 2pm 
at St Hilary Church TR20 9DQ
Talk by Caroline and Owen Baker “St Hilary’s Rich and Celebrated History and collection of unique artwork”
£10p.p. including Cream Tea

COMING UP
2nd June 2 – 5pm Garden Open Day with Tea, Menabilly, Par
Look out for further details

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
The National Ride and Stride fundraiser is held in September however we understand this doesn’t suit many Cornish parishes. Any event with proceeds split in aid of CHCT at any time is welcome.
Let us know and we’ll advertise it here.

Recent Fundraising

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

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.