Churches of the British Isles

The former Bolingey Wesleyan Methodist Chapel can be found overlooking the village, on the right-hand side of the approach from Perranporth's Liskey Hill. The chapel was built in 1841 as a Wesleyan chapel. At the 1932 union of Methodists it became Bolingey Methodist Church. Post-war attendances dropped though, and in 1979 the chapel was forced to close thanks to a lack of members. The building was later re-used as apartments and holiday lets.

St Piran Church sits at the Cocks Hill junction with the A3075 at Perranzabuloe, to the south of Bolingey. The original St Piran's Church became engulfed by sand at Mount (Perran - see related links) and was taken down and rebuilt on the present site in 1805. This is arguably the most significant church in Cornwall due to its direct connection with St Piran, patron saint of tin miners, who established Christianity in Cornwall. The church contains many features from the old church.

The church is in a simple cruciform format with a squat tower to the west. It is accessed via the south porch. This reveals the south aisle and nave with north and south transepts. The churchyard contains the original stone cross which was fashioned, as legend has it, by St Piran himself to sit on the original fifth century oratory in post-Roman Britain. The graveyard also contains significant graves of those who lost their lives at Penhale Camp in the Second World War.

The approximate site of St Edmund's Chapel, Lambourne, can be found to the south-west of Perranzabuloe, sitting back from the main road close to the Lambourne Farm entrance shown here. It was noted in the 1700s with this dedication, perhaps referring to King Edmund of East Anglia (died 869). Old maps note the site of a manor house at Lambourne but no chapel. There was also a second chapel in the area, at Bethan-Hall (Graves Moor), but this location is lost.

Penhallow Bible Christian Chapel is just visible from the A3075, on the right when heading from Perranzabuloe to Callestick, and before the left-hand turn to Healeys Cider Farm. It is reported to have been built in the mid-1800s. Other sources note Penhallow Primitive Methodist Chapel, with papers of surrender to landlords in 1911. This is likely to be the same building, post-Bible Christian usage. From the 1920s it found other uses, and from 2024 as a residence.

Five photos on this page by Jo Lewis, and one kindly contributed by Roy Reed via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group.