St Hilary Church stands on a hilltop between St Ives Bay and Mount’s Bay in a peaceful Cornish hamlet that has been a place of settlement and worship for thousands of years. The site shows traces of a prehistoric fort and later a Roman outpost, and the path to the church is lined with ancient stones — a Roman marker to Constantine, an early Christian standing stone, and two Celtic crosses.

 

The church’s story is closely linked to St Michael’s Mount. In the 11th century, William the Conqueror’s brother Robert de Mortain gave this land to the Norman monks of Mont St Michel, who dedicated the church to St Hilary of Poitiers. The 14th-century French-style spire still recalls that origin and for centuries served as a shipping mark for sailors along the Cornish coast.

​

Inside the peaceful, tree-lined churchyard lie the graves of prominent local families, scientists, and clergy. Among them is Malachy Hitchins, astronomer and assistant to the Astronomer Royal, who from St Hilary helped compile the Nautical Almanac and employed villagers as some of Britain’s first “human computers.”

​

The church is perhaps best known for the ministry of Father Bernard Walke (1913–1936) and his wife, artist Annie Walke. Together with artists from the Newlyn School and Bloomsbury Group — including Ernest and Dod Procter, Roger Fry, Dame Laura Knight, and Harold and Gertrude Harvey — they transformed St Hilary into a remarkable “artists’ church.” Their paintings of Cornish saints and the striking Christus Mundi above the chancel make the church a unique fusion of faith and art. A Bishop of Truro once called it “the nearest the Diocese has to an art gallery.”

​

In 1926, Fr Bernard’s community play made broadcasting history when the BBC aired Bethlehem live from St Hilary — the first ever BBC outside broadcast. The fame that followed also brought controversy: in 1932 the Protestant Truth Society raided the church and damaged several artworks, but the parish’s spirit endured, and the building was lovingly restored.

​

The present church, designed by William White after a fire in 1853, combines elegant Gothic architecture with Cornish granite craftsmanship. Visitors can still see the medieval spire, carved abbots’ heads, the 1777 sundial by Henry Bone, granite reredoses, the Norman font, and an exceptional collection of 17th-century silver and vestments — including a cope now displayed at Penlee House Museum.

​

Next to the church, the restored Old Church House hosts a Heritage Centre with displays on the church’s history, art, and local genealogy. It is open on Wednesday afternoons in summer and by appointment, with guided tours available for groups throughout the year.

​

“St Hilary is the nearest the Diocese has to an art gallery.” – A former Bishop of Truro