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Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 234, 3 October 1932, Page 3

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IMAGES CARRIED OFF. CROWBAR RAID ON CHURCH. VICAR LOCKED UP BY CROWD. A vicar locked in his church; the verger rushed by a crowd; crowbars, hammers and chisels used to smash and remove church ornaments; the church bell rung for assistance. These were among the extraordinary incidents which occurred at the Church of St. Hilary, Marazion, Cornwall, when members of tlio Protestant Truth Society, led by Mr. J. A. Kensit, removed ornaments from the church and carried them off in motor lorries. Police were present while the ornaments were being removed, and a woman parishioner threw a piece of turf at Mr. Kensit. The incidents were a sequel to a Consistory Court order obtained by parishioners last March for the removal of certain ornaments from the church, where the Rev. Bernard Walke is vicar, and which is known throughout Britain as the scene of the Nativity play "Bethlehem," broadcast by the 8.8.C. for the past five years. " Overpowered." Mr. Kensit and his party arrived at the church in two motor cars, followed by two motor coaches containing men and women. The events which followed were graphically described 'by Mr. H. K. Hopes, a churchwarden, who said: "The church had been locked, but I had to let in a man because he was in clerical attire. As I was showing him round the church I heard a knock at the door and left him. "When I opened the door a crowd of people rushed at me and overpowered me. I cried out to the clergyman and his friends for assistance, 'but they said they were with the people who were trying to get in. The crowd entered the church and smashed up the ornaments with crowbars, chisels, and hammers. It was nearly half an hour before the vicar and a bell ringer came." Mr. Norman Peters, the bellringer, said when the people in the church heard him ringing the bell to call assistance they also overpowered him. Mr. Kensit stated that the Protestant Truth Society was responsible for the removals. "We had given Mr. Walke a good deal of grace according to the petition, and we hoped that he would remove the articles, but he refused to do so. We gathered our forces at Plymouth to visit the church, and we were assisted by a few local people.

"Five of our people entered the church i as visitors and allowed another party to-enter before the verger could prevent them. The vicar entered soon after, and we would not allow him to get out. We then had a service at which I said we were there to vindicate the law and do what was done in England in Reformation days." After the service there was a heated interchange between Mr. Walke and Mr. Kensit. Vicar's Grief. Mr. Walke was greatly affected by the incidents. As he looked at the damaged reredos, designed by Mr. Ernest Procter, he said: "It was done wilfully and wantonly. They have taken two ta'bernacles and they had a faculty for removing only one. The Venetian bracket supporting the substitute of the image of St. Joseph has been taken and they had no power to do that either. "The fifteenth century font which stood by the church door has been smashed in three pieces, and they have taken away the old cross. The plinth at the foot of the memorial to Canon Rogers has also been broken up. The font and the reredos were very fine pieces of art. They also tried to bargain with me to get the key of the Monstrance in which I keep the Holy Wafers." Miss A. M. King, who took a leading part in the controversy and was in the party which visited the church, stated that the articles which the Consistory Court ordered to be removed had been deposited in her home. "I shall keep them until I am told by my legal advisers what I am to do," she said. Chancellor's View. Sir Philip Wilbraham, Chancellor of the Diocese of Truro, who ordered the removal of the articles, said that he issued to three petitioners a faculty entitling them to remove the ornaments. "If they acted strictly in accordance with the faculty," he said, "they were perfectly within their rights. I was afraid, 'however, that there would be trouble in the parish."