A Roman milestone was found in the foundations of the church in 1854, and it is now fixed in the south aisle. The inscription, Imp Caes Flav Val Constantino Pio nob Caes divi Constanti Pii F Aug filio, refers to the Roman emperorConstantine the Great. The churchyard contains both British and Roman crosses. There is a Cornish cross in the churchyard; it has a Latin cross on both sides. There is another cross on Trewhela Lane.
was made Vicar of St Hilary in 1912; he was the priest from 1913 to 1936. Although the medieval St Hilary Church was rebuilt in 1853, it lacked interior decoration. Annie Walke, the vicar's wife, and some of the couple's artist friends from the "Lamorna Group" of the Newlyn School were commissioned to decorate the church with altar pieces, panels and other works. Some of the works depicted the lives of saints from Cornwall. One of Annie's works for the church was a Joan of Arc painting that was placed just inside the south door of the church. Ernest Procter made a work that depicts St Mawes, St Kevin and St Neot for the pulpit and a reredos of the Altar of the Dead. Annie, Dod and Ernest Procter, Gladys Hynes, Alethea and Norman Garstin and Harold Knight all made paintings for the sides of the stalls in the church. Phyllis Yglesias made the north wall's crucifix and nearby is Roger Fry's reredos. 12-year-old Joan Manning Saunders made the painted pictures for a chancel screen.
Damage and restoration
The parish became notorious in the 1930s after extreme Protestant agitators broke into the church on 8 August 1932, and removed or destroyed many of the fittings and furnishings that had been installed by the much-loved Father Bernard Walke. The damage was caused by an ad hoc group of Protestants from Plymouth and elsewhere. More recently, some of these have been restored, and the devotional Anglo-Catholic atmosphere has been reinstated. After being recently struck by lightning, the church is holding a fund-raising appeal to restore the bells and spire.
St Hilary Heritage Centre
The church houses the St Hilary Heritage Centre beneath the school room, with displays about local history dating back to the Roman era. Exhibits include mining, emigration, Newlyn School paintings, Cornish language and the history of the church. The Heritage Centre tells the fascinating story of St Hilary with its historic links to St Michael’s Mount. It has a rich and celebrated history from pre-historic times to the present day. The Church has unique links with West Cornwall’s literary & artistic heritage particularly the Newlyn Artists. The Procters, Harveys, Knights, Garstins and Walkes were all involved in the unique scheme of decoration of the church which has led to its Grade 1 listing. Open from May to end of September on Wed & Fri 11.00 am to 4.00 pm
