Welcome
Since 1969 the aims of the Cornish Buildings Group have been to stimulate interest, appreciation and knowledge of good building in Cornwall, and to encourage the erection, protection, repair and recording of such buildings.
Like any amenities group, we depend on numbers, strength and support of our membership, who provide the force and knowledge that have made us effective for over fifty years.
We encourage the protection and repair of historic buildings whether these are listed buildings or simply good examples of traditional building. We aim to encourage good architecture and to raise the general standard of building throughout the county. We hope that our generation may leave behind it buildings which will be looked back on with that same pleasure and enjoyment that we experience when we look at the architecture of past ages.
NEWS
THE CORNISH BUILDINGS GROUP STRONGLY OPPOSES THE PROPOSED DEMOLITION OF ST PAUL’S CHURCH, TRURO
The Diocese of Truro proposes demolition of the Grade II-listed St Paul’s Church, Tregolls Road, Truro after years of neglect which have left the historic Cornish church in a state of considerable decay.
The Cornish Buildings Group strongly opposes demolition for the following reasons:
St Paul’s church is an important historic building built between 1868 and 1910 to designs by nationally renowned architects John Dando Sedding and Edmund H. Sedding. It is not any old nineteenth-century church and is too important to fall prey to the wrecker’s ball. Truro has few historic buildings designed by nationally renowned architects and can ill afford to lose this one.
The Diocese of Truro ‘Creation Care’ vison proclaims that it will achieve net zero by 2030. It is now accepted by sustainability experts that demolishing buildings and replacing them with new buildings is a carbon disaster. The proposals for St Paul’s make a nonsense of the Diocese’s cutting carbon emissions ambitions.
The Diocese says that there are no alternatives to demolition and yet Cornwall Live reports that a developer has offered a practical and feasible solution and has been ignored. Has the Diocese really explored all avenues?
St Paul’s tower and east end is an important landmark on the Tregolls Road, one of the principal approaches into the city. Demolish it and the visitor to Truro from the East’s first impression will be an indifferent office block and a petrol station – welcome to Cornwall’s cultural capital! If you care about St Paul’s and Truro, join us in our campaign against the church’s demolition and take the actions suggested below.
>> Our petition to save St Paul's from the wrecker's ball is still live. Please sign it if you have not done so already, and encourage others to. We are very close to 3,000 signatures and it would be a real accomplishment to exceed this.
>> There is a public consultation meeting at the Old Cathedral School, behind Truro Cathedral, this Thursday 7 November, between 3.30pm and 7pm. If you are able, please attend, ask questions and voice your opposition to anybody who will listen.
>> Use social media to voice your opposition.
>> Write to the papers.
>> Nominate St Paul's for the Victorian Society's Top 10 Endangered Buildings.
>> Listen to CBG Chair, Patrick Newberry, on last Sunday’s Radio Cornwall early-morning programme (listen in full from 1hr 7mins in).
>> Read our Buildings at Risk blog from 2020 on the church.
CORNISH BUILDINGS GROUP AWARD WINNERS 2024
Morlanow, Falmouth
(Alex Cox & Nina Jones – for themselves)
The Old Library, Bodmin
NEW BOOKS!
'The Cornish Buildings Group: First 50 years'
Dedicated to the four Council members we have sadly lost since 2019 - Hugh, Jenny, Nick and John - this book tells the full story of the CBG's battle to encourage good design and preserve Cornwall's rich built heritage over the years 1969 to 2019.
Our members will have received a complimentary copy of our new publication, celebrating the first 50 years of the CBG.
To buy a copy for £15 including P&P please email us.
'The Distinctiveness of Cornish Buildings'
Conference Papers Marking the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Cornish Buildings Group Presented at St Austell in 2019
The 15 papers in this richly-illustrated volume were presented at a conference marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Cornish Buildings Group, held at St Austell in 2019. They cover a broad range of subjects including the uniqueness of Cornwall’s building materials, the domestic and ecclesiastical architecture, the advent of new schools after the Education Act of 1870, the new cathedral at Truro in 1876, the contribution of several architects of distinction to the county’s buildings, and the challenges of meaningful conservation today. Archaeology is also featured, with a major essay on the recent excavations at Tintagel, and there is a comprehensive index.
For details of the contents and how to buy a copy, please follow this link to our Buildings at Risk blog.
BUILDINGS AT RISK PROJECT 2020-2023
Between 2020 and 2023, the Cornish Buildings Group led a three-year Historic England / Cornwall Heritage Trust grant-funded project to identify and campaign for Cornish buildings at risk. The Group has maintained a register for buildings at risk since 2014, but this has been done with volunteer support only. The funding supported a case officer who dedicated time to champion buildings at risk in the county, the aim of the project being to identify and monitor buildings at risk and seek solutions for neglected, redundant or derelict listed buildings.
All project news was communicated through a BLOG which will remain live now that the funded project has ended, as a record of its outcomes.
The CBG will continue to monitor and campaign for Buildings at Risk, building on the good work enabled by the project. This will reported on through the Buildings at Risk section on this website (currently being revised).
