Address:
Trewartha Terrace
Penzance
TR18 2HE
St John’s Church update April 7th
After a review and taking considered advice the St Johns PCC Penzance made the sad but necessary decision to close the main area of St John’s Church just before Christmas to those wishing to worship, use for meetings or use the play equipment. This was not an easy decision but with all the changes to various fire and safety regulations we felt it was the correct thing to do as custodians of the building.
Since then, we have engaged a number of external experts and specialists to review, consider and come up with solutions and options and levels of investment to allow us to open the building in a way that minimises health, safety and fire risks. It has not unfortunately been a quick process given the number of people involved and the need to meet the relevant regulations that are in place.
We have now completed that work and we can re-open St Johns to our congregation and for those that wish to worship.
We also have now a complete understanding of the amount we would need to invest and the remedial work needed to bring the church environment to a point where it could be open for use as a soft play space for families
This is far more than we have. We intend to look to fund raising grants.
Our intention is to hopefully raise the money needed to get the venue up to the standard needed to reopen the play area
We will do this via our webpages and our Facebook page : Penlee Cluster of Churches
We will continue to keep you all informed and let you all know when the fundraising page goes live
We do understand that it is an important place for those that live and work in and around Penzance and West Penwith and we are still working through the best next steps. However we are committed to enabling St John’s church to re-open once the remedial work is in place and be thriving space for families to play safely.
This very beautiful, Victorian-built church is one of the best examples of Piers St Aubyn’s designs and was built so that the people of East Penzance could have a church of its own.
Today our church hosts the Penzance civic service which starts the Galowan Festival …the Feast of John the Baptist.
St. John’s church is now home to a large Playzone structure. So this church serves the families in the community and is open seven days a week.
You will find us a friendly group of people.
A Brief History
In the second half of the 19th century Penzance was expanding in an easterly direction and the Anglican church began to realise that a parish church was needed in this location for the spiritual life of the community. The Vicar of St Mary’s at the time, Philip Hedgeland seems to have been the driving force behind the project to have St John’s built and the present site in Trewartha Terrace was chosen following a gift of the land. The church was designed by the architect J P St Aubyn & built in 1880/81. It is still regarded as one of the best examples of the architect’s work. It was consecrated by the Bishop Benson of Truro on 4 October 1881. There was never sufficient funds to build a church spire and to this day St John’s has not been the easiest place to find.
St John’s Vicarage, next to the church was built in 1899 and only sold in the mid 1990s. In 1908 St John’s Church House, or the parish rooms, was built, mainly for church and other social events in the parish but over the years hosted a whole variety of events. It was finally sold in 2001 as a Community Room had been created downstairs at the church. At one time St John’s was renowned for its wonderful choir and still has an impressive organ. St John’s Church Day School, just beyond Church House, was built around 1895 and existed as an infants & junior school until its closure in 1961. The School buildings were finally converted into flats around 2008. St John’s Church was therefore very much at the centre of the community for its first 80 years.
The church building itself is deceptive. It appears rather drab externally but visitors are surprised by its internal space and its impressive layout. Originally designed to seat 600, over the years some of the pews have been removed to make it a more user-friendly space for today’s activities.
Notable features in the church are the painted screen behind the altar, which was designed by G H Fellowes Prynne, and installed in 1902. It features many characters from the Bible. The other notable feature of St John’s are the many beautiful stained glass windows, which range from the Victorian & Edwardian periods to the most recently installed in the 1970s. The main east window is a memorial to Queen Victoria, being designed by Clayton & Bell, and shows the ascension of Christ in glory.
The south transept window is a memorial to a Mrs Lane, from the 1950s. More modern windows from the 1970s are in the north aisle and are illustrations of St Francis & St Giles as well as the Mothers’ Union centenary window.
Since 1996 the church has hosted a service at the start of the Golowan Arts Festival, which is held each June, around the time of the Feast of John the Baptist.