St Bartholomew's, Warleggan

Situated in the region between St Neots and Cardynham (two very pleasant churches) the small church of St Bartholomew's at Warleggan has had perhaps one of the most famous histories in the whole of the county of Cornwall. The Vicar of Warleggan made something of a name for himself; The Revd F W Densham became the Incumbent of the parish in 1931 at the age of 61, and died in office in 1953 at the age of around 82.

He was a man who would stand no nonsense! In his church he was autocratic, and what he said went. There had been a very good 'high church' tradition under the previous incumbent, and he took it upon himself to restore a more 'low church' kind of practice.  He had a great aversion to gambling, and considered raffles to be one of the greatest vices of the village! As time went on, he and his PCC very quickly fell out, and after both parties had appealed to the Bishop of Truro, nothing was done, and he just stayed and did his own thing. It was not long before his church had no congregation at all; at times he would fill the empty seats with cardboard cut-outs with the names of past vicars on them. To boot he was a vegetarian; in an age when that was not only unusual, but actually looked upon with a certain amount of suspicion. His vicarage was guarded by a number of Alsatian dogs running wild in the front garden, and no one went near. His supply of oats (which was his staple) would be left at the vicarage gate.

During his time the registers bore some interesting comments, and at times children would come and peer through the door to see the vicar conducting services with the church entirely void of people, except for a few children who had come along to peep thorough the door!  He did of course conduct all the funerals for people in the village, and he maintained that 'they all come to me in the end!'
During his time at Warleggan the church and indeed the Reverend Densham became particularly isolated - in a village which is in fact particularly remote in any case. After his death his brother donated a sum of money, 'the Densham fund' which the Bishop of Truro used to help clergy in remote rural parishes to afford cars.
The church is small and actually rather pleasant. Services take place according to the book of Common Prayer, and the church is very well cared for and loved by the people there. It is not particularly easy to find, and is very remote, but well worth a pleasant drive round narrow country lanes to find it!