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
St Petroc Church, Bodmin

St Petroc's Church, Bodmin is the largest parish church in Cornwall at 151ft long and 65ft wide, and is part of the Major Churches Network. Dating primarily from the late 15th century and Grade I listed. Part of the church tower contains masonry of the Norman period. The present church was built in 1469 - 72.

Of particular interest inside the church are the historic DCLI regimental colours and various DCLI memorials; a 12th century ivory casket which once housed the bones of St Petroc; late 9th and early 11th century pages from the Bodmin Gospels; and an impressive Norman font placed prominently at the entrance to the nave.
Outside the church are the St Thomas Beckett Chantry Chapel of the 14th century which is the oldest surviving building in Bodmin; St Gurron Well dated 1545 and the Berry Tower which was built between 1501 and 1514.

In May CHCT granted £4,500 towards glazing and associated stone masonry repairs.

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 18th September
2pm Camborne Wesley Methodist Church TR14 8EG
Speaker: David Thomas
“The Rise and Fall of Zion”
Focussing on a case study of the Camborne-Redruth area David wil draw on his extensive collection of Cornish Methodist images put together over half a century to document a highly significant part of Cornish Church history.
Tea provided by Camborne Wesley Methodist Church for min. £5 donation p.p.
If possible advise Tel 01326 565021 if you want tea to assist caterers
Use nearby public car parks – no onsite parking during the day
For complete list of dates for 2025 see here

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
Maker with Rame Sponsored Bike Ride Friday 12th September
Contact John Evans to take part or sponsor another.
We understand the National Ride and Stride fundraiser doesn’t suit many. 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.

Recent Fundraising

Thanks to all who attended our Garden Open Day at Werrington Park in May and Tom and Fia Williams for generously hosting us we raised £2,500.

Thanks to our sponsors Taylor Money Wealth Management and Jonathan Cunliffe and all who helped on the night our Christmas Drinks Party at Boconnoc on 16th December 2024 raised just shy of £5,000.

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

Thanks to Joanna Mattingly, we have been privileged to be addressed by renowned experts on different stages of church architectural development. We have worked through the Romanesque, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular periods. 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.