A HISTORIC Quaker Meeting House near Truro is one of several Cornish sites to be added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register 2024 in the South West.

The Grade I Listed Friends’ Meeting House at Come-to-Good, near Feock, has been home to Cornwall’s Quaker community for almost 350 years.

After the Religious Society of Friends founder George Fox arrived in Cornwall at a time when Quakers were facing persecution, a group started meeting regularly from 1680, completing the place of worship in 1710.  

It is currently undergoing roof repairs, using traditional thatching skills and materials, to prevent water leaking in and damaging the cob structure - a blend of earth and straw.

Meeting house clerk Miranda Bird said: “An active and growing community worships at Come-to-Good, and the building brings its own special quality to our spiritual lives. We’re so grateful for Historic England’s support, including a substantial grant and expertise, in preserving our Meeting House for future generations.” 

It’s joined on the At Risk register by Helston’s neoclassical Guildhall, which dates back to 1839 but contains parts of the earlier Guildhall and Market House dating back to 1576. It is home to Helston Town Council and is adorned with flowers and greenery as the starting point for one of the famous Flora Day dances. 

The Guildhall Restoration and Reimagining project aims to restore the Grade II* Listed Building - including improving the roof drainage, which is causing rainfall to flood the historic plasterwork in the chamber below, and installing solar panels to the southern roof slope.

Sites removed from the register include Caer Bran in West Penwith, which contains the archaeological remains of an early Bronze Age hilltop enclosure with ring cairns, and an Iron Age hillfort. The site was purchased by Cornwall Heritage Trust in 2022, and work was carried out including vegetation management, ecological surveys, fencing and interpretation funded by a £20,000 grant from Historic England.

Cornwall Heritage Trust CEO Cathy Woolcock said: “So many of Cornwall’s historic places desperately need protecting, and Caer Bran’s story is testament to what can happen when they receive the care and land management expertise they need. A site whose archaeology was under serious threat of damage by bracken roots is now a rich and diverse heathland habitat, freely accessible to everyone.”

On Bodmin Moor, Emblance Downs Stone Circles, near King Arthur's Hall, is among seven Scheduled Monuments saved this year as part of Cornwall National Landscape’s Monumental Improvement project. 

Indicative of prehistoric ritual activity, the two circles are close together and protected as a single monument. Over time, livestock have rubbed against the stones, eroding the ground around their bases and causing destabilisation.

In 2023, archaeologists repaired three standing stones, filled in the hollows around two more and re-erected another to restored the structural integrity of the circles.