Churches of the British Isles

The chapel (remnants seen here in the foreground) may have remained in sporadic use until about 1120 as the saint's name was still being cited. Finds are reported to have included the body of an older, 'toothless woman' whose head was positioned under the altar, proposed as being St Theona herself. Chapels such as this tended to be simple rectangular constructions which were put up when the last remnants of Dumnonia was still fighting off the West Saxons.

The ruins of St Helen's Old Chapel lie at the south-eastern tip of the island of St Helena's, overlooking West Gap Rock and immediately south of St Elidius' Chapel (below). Little remains today, but Borlase's 1756 drawing of the arches between the south and north aisles in the chapel is shown here. The building walls were almost entirely undressed granite with dressed masonry (granite and imported freestone), used only for architectural detail in the twelfth century church.

The chapel was built at the start of the 1000s. Tavistock Abbey took over Scilly's ecclesiastical administration, extending the chapel at its east end, adding a north aisle and three rectangular rooms, refurbishing the circular living cell, and remodelling the walled enclosure. It was in disrepair by the 1400s and was probably a ruin by the Reformation. Borlase in 1752 saw it still standing to roof height, but the walls were tumbled and low when excavated in the 1950s.

The Chapel of St Elidius (or Elide) on St Helena's is at the south-eastern tip. The early medieval religious complex here was begun in the 700s. It consisted of a chapel, circular living cell, and five graves. St Elidius was its founder, and may have lived in the cell, eventually to be buried in one of the graves. A rectangular church was constructed in the eleventh century as the smaller of today's ruins, immediately north of the larger St Helen's Chapel (see above).

A spring lies parallel to the chapel in the eastwards direction. Now uninhabited, the island has the earliest known Christian site on the islands. According to archaeological investigations, the St Elidius hermitage consisted of a chapel and living cell (eighth century), a small church of the eleventh or twelfth century with associated graves, and twelfth century living cells. St Elidus himself was reputedly a bishop of the British Church, potentially the son of Elno of Dogfeilion.

One photo on this page kindly contributed by Hornbeam Arts via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, and four photos copyright © David Bagshaw, David Purchase, John Rostron, and Des Blenkinsopp via Geograph, reused under a cc licence. Additional information from Isles of Scilly Historic Environment, Research Framework, Updated Resource Assessment and Research Agenda 2019, Cornwall Archaeological Unit.