This medieval church dating from the fourteenth century and founded by the monks of St Michaels Mount, suffered a disastrous fire on Good Friday night 1853 and was burnt to the ground, leaving only the unusual spire standing.

Good Friday in 1853 was a bitterly cold day and according to the newspaper reports was ‘in the grip of frost and snow.’ After the well-attended Good Friday services the verger stoked up the boilers to keep the church warm for the Easter Sunday services.  The church ‘at that time was heated by a stove which was placed at the east end, near the altar and a pipe carried the smoke upwards and out through a hole in the roof of the church, there being no flue of any kind.’

Disaster struck in the later hours and below is a first-hand account of the drama:

CHURCH ABLAZE: What Miner Saw From His Bedroom Window

At three o’clock in the morning, following the service, a miner called Rowe, who lived several hundred yards away from the church saw from the window in his bedroom a light which caused him to investigate.  He was the first to discover that St Hilary Church was ablaze.  Speeding to the churchtown, he roused the Vicar, the Rev Thomas Pascoe, and the people who lived there.  But by that time the flames had a relentless grip on the church and the willing hands of St Hilary people were powerless to save it.

The Vicar, The Rev Thomas Pascoe, observed:

‘A more awfully beautiful sight it would be impossible to imagine than the destruction of this pile, set as it was in the frame-work of snow-clad venerable trees.  Its own spire from base to summit, vied with the same pure substance, glittered like silver in a brilliant cloudless morn  …. It was the saddest and sublimest sight I ever saw.'

He goes on the describe many of the historic furnishings and objects that were destroyed:

‘We have lost many beautiful remains of a past age.  The carvings which the axe of the Puritans had only partially mutilated, are alas! Totally destroyed; not a vestige being left of the open seatings in the reign of the seventh Henry, enriched as many of them were with heraldic and other devices, as well as with the roses of the rival houses of York and Lancaster.  The humiliation, passion and crucifixion of our blessed Lord were told in a series of carvings, beginning with those of the basin, ewer and towel.’

Also destroyed was ‘a singing gallery with an excellent piano, where his wife had for several years conducted her own little choir trained by herself to a state of efficiency rarely to be met with in country churches.’

A pew called the Treveneague pew with the two headed eagle of the Godolphin arms engraved upon it, plus other memorials that were destroyed, show the close connection with the prestigious and wealthy Godolphin and Gavrigan families.   

At the top of the east aisle was a marble memorial to Katherine St Aubyn dated 1662:

Here lyeth Katheren the wife of John Seyntaubyn of Clowance esq, who was the daughter and Heiress unto Francis Godolphin.

Although damaged in the fire, this memorial was taken to Crowan Church. When Crowan church was restored by St Aubyn the memorial was moved to Clowance, where sadly no trace of it can currently be found.

Another Godolphin memorial was on the wall. Made of slate and dedicated to Jane, daughter of Walter Gavrigan, and wife of William Godolphin of Treveneague, it bore the arms of Godolphin and Gavrigan impaled and is dated 11 July 1589. It is likely she had only been married two years, and a long eulogy in Latin praised her qualities.  Sadly, it was totally destroyed.

The tomb of the eighteenth century astronomer vicar, The Rev Malachy Hitchins - interred  together with his wife in one grave - is in the north aisle near the west window. The present vestry is probably over the grave.  

Gentleman’s Magazine new series vol 40, p 136
 

As can be seen from J T Blight’s engraving the fourteenth century spire survived intact.  This spire is unusual, almost certainly of French design which emphasises the links with Mont St Michel and the fact that St Hilary is a saint from Poitiers in Brittany.  It is said that the faces carved on the spire may represent some of the abbots of the Mount.

When the ruins of the church were cleared for re-building, two large and important inscribed stones which had been incorporated into the building were discovered.  The earliest of these is Roman, possibly a milestone, and now known as the ‘Constantine Stone.’  Its detailed inscription means that it can be dated within a couple of years.  Translated from the Latin it reads:

To the Commander, the pious Flavis Julius Constantine Caesar, the son of the pious Constantine Augustine.

The text can be accurately dated, as Constantine only held the title of Caesar between 306 and 308 CE before being made Emperor.  He was the first Emperor to recognise Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire and introduced the Chi Rho Christian symbol to be used on the labarum (military standards). 

The second stone is more of a mystery and research continues.  Known as the ‘Noti Noti Stone,’ it is thought to be a sixth century commemoration of a man who was much loved.  Current research by Professor Michelle Brown on the Vellanoweth Stone from Ludgvan, which has similar markings, may shed more light on its meaning.

J T Blight made an engraving of the two stones and recorded where in the ruins they were found. The Constantine stone was found ‘built into the wall with the inscription downwards, filled with mortar, and a portion of one side had been chipped off to make it even with the wall, and thus part of the inscription was destroyed…’  The Noti Noti stone was found at the north-west angle of the chancel, two feet below the level of the floor.  From its position, it is probable that it was used as a foundation stone;…’  perhaps for an earlier structure?

J T Blight: Ancient Crosses and Other Antiquities in West Cornwall 1856, p 152

                
Photo 1&2 © magicgraham -  reproduced with permission
Photo 3 ©Tom Goskar – reproduced with permission

The Annual Church meeting was held immediately on Easter Monday 1853, and resolved that the disaster should be widely publicised and the church rebuilt.   A committee was nominated to assist and the Vicar started an appeal to raise the funds required.  Estimated re-building costs were £3,000.   A fundraising sheet was produced and printed by Mr F T Vibert of Penzance, and the Vicar opened the fundraising with a subscription of £500.   

One of the leading church architects of the time, William White FSA, FRIBA, was appointed for the rebuilding.  A high Victorian Gothic Revival architect, White had worked under George Gilbert Scott and knew both George Street and George Bodley.  In 1847 he had set up his own practice in Truro.  

White retained and restored as much as possible of what was left of the original building.  As mentioned above, he kept the spire with its sculptured heads, the lovely arch in the west end, the ancient north doorway with its corbel heads and the eighteen century porch with its sundial.  The original font (now serving as a water stoup by the south door) was also rescued.

There was tremendous support for this appeal and by November 23rd of the same year a service for the Laying of the First Stone was held.

Remarkably the rebuilding was completed in two years and on Thursday September 27th 1855 St Hilary Church was re-consecrated by The Very Revd Henry Phillpots, Lord Bishop of Exeter.  (Truro Diocese not created until 1876).

 A contemporary description of the church states:   ‘The arches which divide the aisles from the nave have a light and pretty appearance.  The seats are open benches of oak with quatrefoils at the ends and will accommodate 400 persons (note:  rebuilding was at the height of the mining activity in the parish).  The roof is open-timbered, framed and worked, with perforations in the chancel and nave for ventilation.  There are four lantern lights at the top of the nave ..’

Although at the time the loss of the medieval church was keenly felt, Polsue, in his Parochial History of Cornwall, with typical Victorian judgement, states:

‘This conflagration was doubtless greatly deplored at the time, yet there is now no cause to regret it.  The old church had become very dilapidated, and almost past restoration ….is now replaced by a magnificent building of the Middle-pointed Gothic style.’

In normal times the church is open during the day.   There is a small Heritage Centre next to the church which has information about the history of St Hilary, the surrounding area and details of the Newlyn School artists of the 1920s who decorated the church at the invitation of the Rev Bernard Walke in the inter-war years.  Details of opening may be found here.

Bibliography

The West Briton September 27th 1955

Joseph Polsue:  A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall Vol II:  William Lake 1868

J T Blight: Ancient Crosses and Other Antiquities in West Cornwall 1856

C S Gilbert:  Historical and Topographical Survey of the County of Cornwall 1817

Hitchins and Drew:  The History of Cornwall 1824

M J Leach:  Ludgvan: Aspects of a Cornish Village, 2021

Letter and article to the Cornwall Gazette by C W Floyd,  A Spectator, Belvedere, St Hilary 1853 

Various articles and papers connected with the church are deposited at the St Hilary Heritage Centre. 

Special thanks to Tom Goskar for kind permission to use his enhanced photograph of the Noti Noti Stone