THE SAINT

The Parish, Church and village of St. Erth receive their name from an Irishman who lived from 424 to 514 A.D. He was Ercus, or Erc, son of Deagh, who had been baptised by the aged St. Patrick and then consecrated Bishop of Slane, in Ireland. He was the brother of St. Ia and St. Uny,who came with him across the Channel to found their respective churches,Ia to St. Ives, Uny to Lelant and Ercus to St. Erth.

 At that time ships sailed inland as far as where the medieval bridge now spans the Hayle River, and it was about here that Ercus must have landed. There had been missionaries before him, and the place was known as Lanuthnoe, after Uthinock, another Celt who had founded a "lan", or monastic cell, hereabouts. Tradition has it that a Church was built and that Ercus consecrated it in the usual manner of a 40 days' period of  prayer, fasting and preaching, after which it was given the Bishop's name.

Certain it is that the place has been called "St. Erth" (variously spelt) ever since.

THE CHURCH

Nothing is known of the first Church of St. Erth, or of others which may have succeeded it until the present Church was originally built in the 14th or 15th centuries. The present Nave has some early Perpendicular work, with the Chancel a little earlier in the Transitional period. The Tower, which is without buttresses, is 14th century. There are six bells, the tenor bell having been re-cast by Harvey & Co., Ltd., Hayle, in January, 1901.

 The difficulty of dating the Church with accuracy arises from the extensive restoration and re-building carried out. Vicar Collins, in 1747, showing great zeal1 in his removals and repairs, and even more extensive re-building was instigated by Vicar Mills in 1873. How great this was can be judged by a Press report of the re-opening of the Church in 1874 stating: "The work taken in hand was so extensive a character that of  the old building all that now remained are the tower and pillars, the latter having had to be extensively restored. The walls are built of polyphant stone, the old high pews, which were described as modern cattle pens, are succeeded by open benches of varnished pitch pine, the chancel roof has been beautifully decorated, and the chancel paved with encaustic tiles.

The old windows have been worked in with the exception of that of the East end, which is entirely new." It may well be this account is a little exaggerated. It is recorded elsewhere that it had been decided to rebuild the east and south walls, and the other walls may have been less drastically dealt with. The Chancel was extended a few feet eastward, and as well as the new window already mentioned, a new doorway was built in the porch using the same dark stone. The floor level was raised considerably, and the bases of the pillars are now mostly buried. Much of the old timbering can be seen in the roofs of the aisles,, some of it still with traces of the bright colours which covered the original beams. 

It is unusual to have dormer windows in a church. St. Erth has two, which were inserted early in the 20th century, each with a pair of angels carved at its corners.

FURNITURE AND MEMORIALS

The ALTAR REREDOS of richly-carved oak depicts the Crucifixion in the central panel, with disciples and soldiers on either side. It was given in 1903 in memory of Nicholas and Julieine Harvey.

The FONT includes the only Norman stonework in the Church. This is its bowl, which was discovered upside down in the south Aisle floor during the 1873 rebuilding. It was restored to its proper use, mounted on a modern base.

 The LECTERN, the work of Herbert Read in carved oak, is the Church's latest acquisition, having been given in 1971 in memory of  Frances Bertha Harris.

The PEW ENDS, dating from 1873/4, closely resemble the 13th century design of some of the earliest pews to be found in this country. 

 The ORGAN has two manuals as well as pedals, and was built by W. Sweetland, of Bath in 1881.

On the wall of the NORTH AISLE are two interesting paintings on wood. One shows the Arms of King George I, with the arms of Hanover incorporated in the fourth quarter. The other is a copy of the letter King Charles I issued in 1643, thanking the loyal people of Cornwall for their support in the Royalist cause.

The SOUTH AISLE has a stone mural in memory of Davies Gilbert, of Tredrea, a son of Edward Giddy, a one- time Assistant Curate of St.Erth. Davies assumed his wife's maiden name of Gilbert. For 30 years he was a Cornish Member of Parliament, which was but one of the activities of his life (1767-1839). He was a President of the Royal Society, and was known as "the Cornish Philosopher", his chief claim to fame being as a scientist. He "discovered" Sir Humphry Davy and collaborated with the inventor Richard Trevithick. The latter had been married in 1797 at St. Erth Church to Jane Harvey, the daughter of John Harvey, of the Hayle Foundry.

THE LADY CHAPEL

In 1912, the eastern part of the South Aisle was reconstructed and furnished as the Lady Chapel by Mrs. J. S. Hawkins, widow of Christopher Henry Thomas Hawkins, the last of the Hawkins family, of Trewithern and Trewinnard. It is' generally known as the Trewinnard Chapel. The magnificent screen in the traditional pattern has beautiful carving, which includes illustrations' of the four Evangelists. The front panels of the oak pews depict the landing of Bishop Ercus at Lanuthnoe on the south side, and the Annunciation on the other side. The interesting bench-ends include one of Bishop Stubbs, the Bishop of Truro at the time.

Altar, reredos and roof are all brightly decorated with painted carvings of many interesting subjects. The reredos, unusually, has the Adoration of the Magi as its central subject flanked by four Cornish Saints: Petroc, Erth, Piran and Conan. The tapestry incorporated in the wall decoration came from Trewinnard. The window in the South wall dated 1912 commemorates the Hawkins family, and mentions the last to live at Trewinnard, Sir Christopher Hawkins, who died in 1829. The centre light of the window shows St. Erth, and on one side is St. Conan, an early Cornish Bishop, probably of St. Germans, about 930 A.D. On the other side is Edward White Benson, the first Bishop of Truro, the  Cornish bishopric reconstructed in 1877. He was later Archbishop of Canterbury, and is shown holding a model of the Cathedral which he started to build at Truro.

THE CHURCHYARD