St Hilary Church, Cornwall

St Hilary Church stands in the quiet village of St Hilary in Cornwall. Built in the Early English style, the church has a 13th-century tower that survived the centuries. After a fire in 1853, William White rebuilt the rest of the church two years later. It is dedicated to Saint Hilary of Poitiers and is a Grade I listed building. Pevsner’s *Buildings of England: Cornwall* describes its architecture in detail. The church holds important antiquities. A Roman milestone from the 4th century was found in the foundations in 1854 and is now fixed in the south aisle. The inscription names the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. The churchyard contains British and Roman crosses, including a Cornish cross with a Latin cross on both sides. Another cross stands on Trewhela Lane. Inside, the church is decorated with works by artists from the Newlyn School. Annie Walke and her husband, the vicar Bernard Walke, commissioned paintings of Cornish saints. Ernest Procter created a reredos for the Altar of the Dead, while Roger Fry designed another reredos. The St Hilary Heritage Centre, beneath the school room, displays local history from Roman times to the present. Exhibits cover mining, emigration, the Cornish language and the church’s links with St Michael’s Mount.