THIS OBJECT IS PART OF THE PROJECT 'A HISTORY OF CORNWALL IN 100 OBJECTS'.
ST HILARY HERITAGE CENTRE. Folk art panel made by Captain Willie Hopes of St Hilary. Showing Christ as the Good Shepherd, it comes from the time when St Hilary was nationally known for its Bethlehem play, broadcast annually on ´óÏó´«Ã½ radio. Also in the 1920s the church interior was decorated by Newlyn artists who were friends of the artist Annie Walke, the vicar's wife.
After months of wrangling over high church objects in the church, on 10 August 1932, a group of Protestant activists arrived in two private cars and two coaches from Plymouth. Shock headlines appeared in London papers: 'Crowbar raid on a church - the Kensitites at St Hilary -ornaments smashed and carried off - vicar a prisoner.' Captain Hopes was also taken prisoner during the raid. Bernard Walke's Twenty Years at St Hilary gives the vicar's side of this story. It was like the Reformation all over again.
Photo: Bernie Pettersen
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