This is Phase One of an ongoing restoration project costing £300,000.
The Friends is established to help conserve, restore, preserve, repair, maintain, beautify and improve the fabric of the Parish Churches of St Ruan and St Grade in the Diocese of Truro (hereinafter called ‘the Churches’) to include the monuments, furnishings and fittings, fixtures, stained glass, furniture, ornaments and chattels in the Churches and Churchyards belonging to the Churches.
“The preservation of historic buildings is one-way street. There is no chance to renovate or to save a historic site once it’s gone and we can never be certain what will be valued in the future. This reality brings to light the importance of locating and saving buildings of historic significance because once a piece of history is destroyed, it is lost forever.”
Steven Piccione commenting on Jack Neely’s article, “Nine Practical Reasons to Save Old Buildings.”
The future of two of the finest buildings in the community could be saved for posterity. As Friends we are concerned with the restoration, preservation, repair and maintenance of our church buildings. We are not contributing to the day to day expenses and running costs of the church and you do not need to be a churchgoer to want to see these buildings protected. We all enjoy the opportunity at special times in our lives to worship, be married, be christened, be remembered or just rest a while and ponder in a local church.
“Even in a rural setting like Ruan Minor, with so many special places, church buildings are different. There are other community buildings – places where the community can gather and where community memory is anchored – but none like the church buildings. When people come into one of the church buildings, the enter a different space; ‘other’ space.
Perhaps this is because of their age, often they are amongst the oldest in the parish. (I remember an American friend inviting his mother over to the church where he was Vicar, and she was unable to comprehend a building that was 700 years old). Perhaps it is because of their history; generations of marriages, births and deaths have been marked in these buildings, community has been made here. Or perhaps it is because people have gathered here to worship God – a continuous strand of openness to God in prayer and worship for generations.
Whatever it is, many experience these buildings as different places (where you can find space to discover a different perspective on life), or thin places (where God seems close enough to touch).
For all these reasons and more, I believe that we need to cherish and maintain these buildings well as stewards who will pass them on to another generation.”
Located in Ruan Minor the church of St Ruan, dedicated to its patron saint Rumon, dates back to the thirteenth century.
Located at Grade, originally dedicated to Saint Grada but also known historically as ‘Church of the Holy Cross’, also dates from the early English period.
