Church Of St Elwyn

The Church of St Elwyn is a Grade II* parish church located on Hayle Terrace in Hayle, built between 1886 and 1888 by architect John Sedding, who completed this as his final project. The church is constructed from roughly dressed granite with granite dressings and features dry Delabole slate roofs. Its main roof has a coped gable end, while the chapel at the northeast corner has a polygonal-ended roof, and an octagonal spire crowns the tower. The cast-iron rainwater heads are dated 1887 and 1888.

The church's layout includes a nave and chancel under a single roof, a north tower, shallow north and south aisles, a Lady chapel situated over a schoolroom to the north of the chancel, a vestry, and a pair of south transepts with a south porch. The overall design is predominantly in the Gothic style. The exterior features corner buttresses and buttressed bays, with lancet or shouldered-headed windows. The nave has large pointed-arched three-light window openings, which are mostly blind except for the central lights of four bays. The east gable end of the chancel showcases a large pointed arch that encloses a pair of stepped three-light windows topped by a central rose window. The west gable end features a five-light traceried window with a buttressed central light and colored glass.

The three-stage tower is square with buttressed corners, rising to a machicolated parapet at the eaves level of the nave, and transitions to an octagonal shape above, with an octagonal stair turret at the northwest corner. The upper stages are divided by a string course, and the top stage has two-light windows on alternating sides, culminating in an embattled and machicolated parapet topped by the octagonal spire.

Inside, the church has a lofty nave and chancel separated from the aisles by six-bay arcades of round arches supported by thick round piers, with waggon roofs and a gallery in the tower bay. The interior remains unaltered and includes fittings such as a font in Norman style with corner shafts and a round bowl featuring blind Perpendicular style tracery, an organ, a panelled reredos, and original choir stalls and pews. Notable monuments include a memorial west window dedicated to Frank Harvey (1840-1926), his wife Anne (1844-1932), and William Hosburgh M.A. (1835-1927).