The Church of St Hilary is an
Early English–style church in the village of
St Hilary, Cornwall
St Hilary is a civil parish and village in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles (8 km) east of Penzance and four miles (6.5 km) south of Hayle.
Chynoweth is an area immediately north of St Hil ...
, England. 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
Hilary of Poitiers (; ) was Bishop of Poitiers and a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" () and the "Athanasius of the West". His name comes from the Latin word for happy or cheerful. In addition to hi ...
and is a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. The architecture is described in
Pevsner's ''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
lAug
stifilio'', refers to the Roman emperor
Constantine the Great
Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
(Collingwood (1965) RIB no. 2233). The churchyard contains both
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
crosses.
There is a Cornish cross in the churchyard; it has a Latin cross on both sides. There is another cross on Trewhela Lane.
20th century and after
Newlyn School artists' works
Bernard "Ber" Walke was made Vicar of St Hilary in 1912; he was the priest from 1913 to 1936.
[''Anne Walke''.]
Penlee House Museum and Gallery. Retrieved 1 October 2012.[Claughton Pellew; Anne Stevens; Ashmolean Museum. ]
Claughton Pellew: wood engravings : Ashmolean Museum, Eldon Gallery, 16 September-22 November 1987
'. Ashmolean Museum; September 1987. p. 14. Although the medieval St Hilary Church was rebuilt in 1853, it lacked interior decoration.
["Reverend Bernard Walke and His Mother."]
''BBC.'' Your Paintings. Retrieved 2 October 2012. Annie Walke
Annie Walke or Anne Fearon Walke (1877 in Banstead, Surrey – 1965 in Penzance) was an English artist.[Lamorna
Lamorna () is a village, valley and cove in west Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the Penwith peninsula approximately south of Penzance. Lamorna became popular with the artists of the Newlyn School, including Alfred Munnings, Laura Knight a ...]
Group" of the
Newlyn School
The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was remini ...
were commissioned to decorate the church with
altarpiece
An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...
s, panels and other works.
[ Some of the works depicted the lives of saints from Cornwall.][
One of Annie's works for the church was a ]Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
painting that was placed just inside the south door of the church. Ernest Procter made a work that depicts St Mawes
St Mawes () is a village on the end of the Roseland Peninsula, in the eastern side of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth harbour, on the south coast of Cornwall, England. The village, formerly two separate hamlets, lies on the east bank of the Carri ...
, St Kevin
Kevin (; , ; Latinized ; 498 (reputedly)–3 June 618) is an Irish saint, known as the founder and first abbot of Glendalough in County Wicklow, Ireland. His feast day is 3 June.
Early life
Kevin's life is not well documented because no conte ...
and St Neot for the pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
and a reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...
of the Altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
of the Dead. Annie, Dod and Ernest Procter, Gladys Hynes, Alethea
Alethea is an English-language female first name derived from the Ancient Greek feminine noun . Aletheia was the personification of truth in Greek philosophy. Alethea was not in use as a name prior to the 1500s, and likely originated when English ...
and Norman Garstin and Harold Knight all made paintings for the sides of the stalls in the church. Phyllis ("Pog") Yglesias made the north wall's crucifix and nearby is Roger Fry's reredos. 12-year-old Joan Manning Saunders made the painted pictures for a chancel screen.
Damage and restoration
The parish became notorious in the 1930s after extreme Protestant agitators broke into the church on 8 August 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 elsewhere. More recently, some of these have been restored, and the devotional Anglo-Catholic atmosphere has been reinstated.
The church continues to fundraise to maintain the fabric and is hoping to be able to restore the bells which are currently awaiting repair.
St Hilary Heritage Centre
The church houses the St Hilary Heritage Centre beneath the school room, with displays about local history dating back to the Roman era. Exhibits include mining, emigration, Newlyn School
The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was remini ...
paintings, Cornish language and the history of the church.
References
External links
St. Hilary Church
- official site
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Hilary
St Hilary
Grade I listed churches in Cornwall
Local museums in Cornwall
St Hilary