St Hilary is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and village in west

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles (8 km) east of

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

and four miles (6.5 km) south of

Hayle Hayle (, "estuary") is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately northeast of ...

. Chynoweth is an area immediately north of St Hilary churchtown. The land of the parish is high enough to provide views of bays on both coasts, St Ives Bay five miles north and Mount's Bay two miles south. Mee, Arthur (1937) ''Cornwall''. (The King's England.) London: Hodder & Stoughton; p. 221 For the purposes of local government St Hilary has a parish council and elects councillors every four years. The principal local authority in the area is

Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( ), known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary ...

. During the height of mining activity the population was three times that in the 1930s.

Geology

The area has many former mines: especially notable was a mine called Wheal Fortune which extended into the parish of

Ludgvan Ludgvan ( ; ) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, UK, northeast of Penzance. Ludgvan village is split between Churchtown, on the hill, and Lower Quarter to the east, adjoining Crowlas. For the purposes ...

. Penberthy Croft Mine, to the north of the parish, was designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

in 1993 and is noted as the most important site in Britain for secondary ore minerals of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

, and

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

. Wheal Jewell, a mine between Marazion and Goldsithney, put its 40-inch cylinder pumping-engine up for auction on 21 July 1884, along with other plant and tools. An earthquake occurred in St Hilary in 1796.

Notable buildings

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

is dedicated to Saint Hilary of Poitiers and is in the Early English style but had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1853. It has a 13th-century tower 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 ...

. Ennys Manor farm on Trewhella Lane dates from 1688, and was the home of the Millet family until the 19th century and then passed by marriage to the Grylls family. A

children's home Residential child care communities or children's homes are a type of residential care, which refers to long-term care given to children who cannot stay in their birth family home. There are two different approaches towards residential care: The fam ...

existed in St Hilary in the 1920s and 1930s, accommodated in a former pub, the Jolly Tinners.

Notable residents

Stream valley at Wheal Fortune - geograph

Notable people from the parish include three former Vicars, the writer Denys Val Baker, and the artist Anne (Annie) Walke (wife of Bernard Walke). Malachy Hitchins was an astronomer and Vicar of St Hilary. Thomas Pascoe was Vicar of St Hilary for 56 years in the 19th century. Bernard Walke was Vicar of St Hilary, from 1913 to 1936. Father Walke was the author of four religious plays and of an autobiography, ''Twenty Years at St Hilary'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1935; reissued by Mott, London, 1982 with an introduction by Frank Baker and ). The youngest son of Malachy Hitchins, Fortescue Hitchins (1784–1814), was born at St Hilary. He became a solicitor at St Ives, Cornwall, and was the author of "The Tears of Cornubia" and other poems. He compiled material for a history of Cornwall, which after his death was edited by Samuel Drew, and published in 1824.

Legend

The ghost of Rev. John Penneck, Chancellor of Exeter, (died 1724) is said to raise great storms here.Anthony D. Hippisley Coxe, Haunted Britain, pg. 22, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York 1973

References

External links