Church of King Charles the Martyr, Falmouth

About

The Church of King Charles the Martyr is a parish church in the Church of England situated in the centre of Falmouth, Cornwall.

Founding: The foundations of the church were laid by Sir Peter Killigrew on 29 August 1662. Some 18 months later, on 21 February 1664, John Bedford, the Rector of Gerrans in the Roseland, preached the first sermon at the church and on 22 August 1665 it was consecrated. John Bedford's son, Francis Bedford was then appointed the first rector by Seth Ward, Bishop of Exeter. The Church was dedicated to King Charles the Martyr, a title of King Charles I commemorating his execution on 30 January 1649 after the English Civil War. At the end of the war his heir, later Charles II, fled into exile via Pendennis Castle, a mile or so from where the church now stands, and planned to build "a chapel for public worship... and when the wars ceased, to send an able and conscientious chaplain to preach God's word therein". Following the Restoration of the Monarchy however, it was Sir Peter Killigrew, of the nearby Arwenack Manor, who, having a long-standing ambition to found a town and a church on the Haven, sent an emissary to the King in London in 1660...