Churches of the British Isles

All Hallows Church, Higher Kea, is found by heading southwards on Penwethers Lane and turning east (left) at the crossroads to find Kea. The church sits on the right. The first St Kea Church (the 'Old Church' - see below) had to be replaced when it fell into large-scale disrepair. After a fund raising campaign, this new church was built, consecrated in 1894. Said to be one of the most attractive late 1800s churches in Cornwall, it is very un-Cornish in appearance.

Under its steep tiled roof and lead spire, the interior of All Hallows possesses generous and spacious proportions, with a wide nave, narrow north and south aisles with lean-to roofs, and walls which are claimed to possess a 'mellifluous polychromy'. It is strongly influenced by the Arts & Craft movement. The font is Norman and is from the old church (see below), as is the poor box of 1739. Grade 2 listed, today the building is very active in the community.

The lost Calenick Primitive Methodist Chapel once sat in the village of Calenick, which is accessed by taking the Mill Lane right-hand turn off the A39. The little village of Calenick was divided between this parish and Kenwyn. The smelting industry was once popular here, with references to the Primitive Methodist chapel but no evidence to be found on maps from 1880 (which usually means that it had come and gone before the late Victorian maps were created).

Porthkea is due south-south-east of Calenick. The former Porth Kea Wesleyan Methodist Chapel sits in a fork in the minor eastbound lane out of the village. A Wesleyan society was here by 1800 to register a meeting house, probably at the lost Trethowell. In 1816 they moved to land next to Ferdinando Bohennah's house (also lost). This chapel was built on a new site in 1869, with an 1877 schoolroom. It was Porth Kea Methodist Church in 1932, but closed in 1994.

St Kea Old Church on the banks of the Truro is medieval, once part of a small monastery. The tower is all that survives, together with the mission church (see links). The church would have been very similar to other Creekside churches of the 1200s. A contemporary painting shows two aisles and a large south porch with sundial. The parish grew so the church's location proved inconvenient, but it took until 1802 and a degree of disrepair to get it demolished.

Four photos on this page by Jo Lewis, one kindly contributed by the Mapping Methodism project, and one by Tim Green via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group.