St Hilary Church, Cornwall
Encyclopedia
The Church of St Hilary is an Early English–style church in the village of St Hilary, Cornwall
, United Kingdom
. It features a 13th-century tower; following a fire in 1853, the remainder of the church was rebuilt two years later by William White
. The church is dedicated to Saint Hilary of Poitiers and is a Grade I listed building. The architecture is described in Pevsner's
Buildings of England: Cornwall.
and Roman
crosses.
After being recently struck by lightning, the church is holding a fund-raising appeal to restore the bells and spire.
St Hilary, Cornwall
St Hilary is a civil parish and village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles east of Penzance and four miles south of Hayle.Chynoweth is an area immediately north of St Hilary....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It features a 13th-century tower; following a fire in 1853, the remainder of the church was rebuilt two years later by William White
William White (architect)
William White, F.S.A. was an English architect, famous for his part in 19th century Gothic Revival architecture and church restorations...
. The church is dedicated to Saint Hilary of Poitiers and is a Grade I listed building. The architecture is described in Pevsner's
Pevsner Architectural Guides
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. Begun in the 1940s by art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the Buildings of England series were published between 1951 and 1975. The series was then extended to Scotland and...
Buildings of England: Cornwall.
Antiquities
A Roman milestone was found in the foundations of the church in 1854, and it is now fixed in the south aisle. The inscription, Imp Caes Flav Val Constantino Pio nob Caes divi Constanti Pii F[el] Aug[usti] filio, refers to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (Collingwood (1965) RIB no. 2233). The churchyard contains both BritishBritons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
and Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
crosses.
Twentieth century and after
The parish became notorious in the 1930s after extreme Protestant agitators broke into the church on August 8, 1932, and removed or destroyed many of the fittings and furnishings that had been installed by the much-loved Father Bernard Walke (vicar of St. Hilary from 1912 to 1936). The damage was caused by an ad hoc group of Protestants from Plymouth and eleswhere. More recently, some of these have been restored, and the devotional Anglo-Catholic atmosphere has been reinstated.After being recently struck by lightning, the church is holding a fund-raising appeal to restore the bells and spire.