Church Visits Page 3

More about the Parish Church of St Hilary... St Hilary parish church in the village of the same name in Cornwall.

This is St Hilary as it was during the Incumbency of Fr Bernard Walke, who was famous for his Mystery Plays which were broadcast on the radio.  During the time of Fr Walke, the church was beautified, and became a great centre for Anglo Catholic worship, as can be seen from the small picture below.

To understand what happened at St Hilary during this time, we need to be aware of how the Church of England was during that time.  The only service book available had been the Prayer Book of 1662, although the Proposed Prayer Book of 1928 was not formalised, it was used in many places where the emphasis was on a Catholic form of Anglican worship.  Churches which aligned themselves in nearer fashion to the church of Rome at that time tended to use the English Missal, which was basically the old Roman Rite (as it was in Latin at that time) but just in English. Some Anglican churches did in fact also conduct their services in Latin.

It is also worth bearing in mind that those 'Catholic privileges' which most Anglican churches now enjoy, were very much the exception back in the 1930s.  The use of sacred vestments was the exception rather than the norm, the use of incense was very rare except in some places, the use of six candles, the mixing of the chalice, the veneration of the Cross on Good Friday, all these things which we now take so very much for granted, were matters of enormous controversy in the 1930s.  This, I hope serves as a kind of preface to the events at St Hilary, which even today, are considered quite shocking - which of course they should!

St Hilary Churchtown is the part of St Hilary village where the church is situated, a little off the beaten track.  St Hilary is in fact a very small village just up from Penzance, in the area of Marazion and St Michaels Mount - very picturesque, as I remember from my visits to St Hilary when i would take my bike on the train to Penzance and cycle up on a Saturday morning back in the late 1980s - more of which a little later.

A picture of Fr Walke displayed in the Church

Fr Bernard Walke was Vicar of St Hilary from 1912, and believed that the Christian faith was best taught and practiced in the Catholic or High Church tradition.  In his rural community, he built St Hilary up as a centre for Anglo Catholic worship in it most rich and wonderful sense.  Talented local artists and sculptors were engaged to help beautify the church with work to aid the teaching of the faith in its Catholic understanding. 

Naturally, St Hilary became very well known, and alas became a focus of attention from a well known protestant organisation who targeted St Hilary for what it considered its 'Popish Practices'. 

This organisation brought groups to the church to disrupt Divine Worship, but of course Fr Walke and his people carried on and took little notice - at least this is the impression I have received from the modicum of research I have done.  Seeing that they were getting nowhere, the organisation managed to find a parishioner unconnected with the church, who was duly 'aggrieved' enough to make a complaint to a Consistory Court for a faculty to remove 'all stone altars, images and other ornaments of the church'.  The Consistory Court did in fact judge in favour of the removals.  Naturally, Fr Walk and the Churchwardens ignored this, and carried on with the rich worshipping life of the church as they had been doing since 1912 or so!

In the above picture, we see St Hilary church as it was in 1932 - just before its shameful desecration. In August 1932, a coach load of hired labourers with axes and hammers wrought rampage in the church, smashing the stone altars, destroying and removing the statues and works of art.  Fr Walke was, of course powerless to prevent the mob from ransacking the church, although he did mange to persuade them to let him make his way through the church to remove the Blessed Sacrament to the safety of the Vicarage.  Fr Walke has written at length about his time at St Hilary - a fascinating document in fact which clearly illustrates that his pastoral care and love of his people was second to none, and also that the people did have a genuine affection for him.  The fact that one person in the village managed to destroy such a rich and wonderful church and its worshipping life, is in fact only the tip of the iceberg of the events.  But Fr Walke has written about how he felt about seeing the hammers and axes destroying the church which he so clearly loved - yet I can't help feeling that even his words on the printed page will never really convey to us just how he would have felt about what happened. 

St Hilary was at a low ebb for many years after the events of 1932 - the atmosphere in the church is said to have been noticeably unpleasant, and perhaps even oppressive.  The people of the church had a challenge in restoring the church to its former glory.  In 1973 the Friends of St Hilary  were formed and the mammoth operation of repairing the church began.

During the 1980s, when I knew the Church, the Rector was Fr Desmond Curson - a very great priest and a very good friend of mine also.  He was a large character - both in build and in personality!  Very much a man who didn't suffer fools, and a priest said to me when I met Fr Curson for the first time, 'he'll soon lick you into shape'!  Fr Curson had during his ministry worked in London, and had (twice I think) been the chaplain to a borstal.  Fr Curson was known for his wonderful pastoral heart, and his ability to minister to the needs of his people - in fact he once took me round the villages of St Hilary and Peranuthnoe in his car and could name pretty much all the people who lived in all the houses in the village, whether they attended church or not. 

Fr Curson was also known for his traditional Anglo Catholic worship, which really brought back to St Hilary the style of worship it had enjoyed under Fr Walke.  Although interestingly enough incense was hardly ever used on a Sunday morning - that I seem to understand, was a remnant of the past history which was never really altered.  Given this, Fr Curson used to celebrate a Solemn Eucharist with incense on a Saturday morning, and from time to time I would make the trip from Camborne where I lived to the small village of St Hilary.  Very often after the service, I would be welcomed back to the Rectory where Mrs Curson (a lady slight of build, practically blind, and a real gem) would supply tea and biscuits as Fr Curson and I would chat, and more often than not take a look through the Crockford Directory to see who was where, and what different people had been up to! He often had a design that he was working on for a set of vestments he was having made as well! 

I shall always be grateful to have known St Hilary during the time of Fr Curson, and indeed I shall always be indebted to Fr Curson for his example to me in my own vocation and ministry.  Fr Curson was a strong character, and perhaps might not have been everyone's cup of tea - but i think for all of us who knew him we are much the richer for it.  One wonders how richer still, the people who would have known Fr Walke at St Hilary. 

St Hilary is now an exceptionally beautiful church, and is a credit to its people and the priests who have served here since the early 1970s.  For any visitor to Cornwall, a visit to St Hilary to look around and see this wonderful church is simply a must.  I hope the visitor to our website enjoys the following pictures which are not only beautiful, but also give us an indication of what can be achieved even in the depths of disaster and tragedy, if we don't let negativity and bullying take hold!

St Hilary - view of the church from the back of the church on the lady chapel side

High Altar.

 
Altar of the Blessed Sacrament.

 
 
Art work on the choir stalls.

   
The lady Chapel Altar with a stone Reredos.

   
The crucifix over the chancel arch,  this has the date of 1926 at the foot, and is clearly therefore the same rood that was there in the time of Fr Walke. The statue of St Mary & the Pulpit.