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The Foundation of The Church.
SS. Nicholas & Faith Church is essentially a mix of Anglo-Saxon and Norman construction erected over a millennia ago. Throughout the centuries, many structural alterations have taken place, but it remains a continuously significant building to the people of Saltash.
There are different versions of the origins of the church, but it is most likely of monastic origin, it was reputed to have been used by the Augustine Monks from St. Germans Priory who used it as an outpost.
Historical records tell us that the borough of Saltash was founded by the de Valletort family, Lords of Trematon Castle, about 1175. Although a settlement at Saltash existed for some time prior to this. For more than 850 years, St. Nicholas Chapel was a “Chapel-of-ease”, subordinate to the mother church of St. Stephen, baptismal rights were granted before the end of the medieval period.
During the 17th, 18th & 19th centuries, Saltash Corporation increasingly took control of the building as a “Corporation Chapel” and therefore appointed Chaplain’s. There were many disputes during this time; In fact, one case even reached the Canterbury Archbishopric’s Court of Arches in 1752. The Chapel had no burial ground, but until 1864 the corporation allowed members of some prominent families to be interred beneath the floor. One such internment is still present in the North Transept Chapel {22}.
In 1881, at the request of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the Bishop of Truro (Rt. Revd. Edward White-Benson); the Privy Council made an order by which the Chapel became a Parish Church.
The boundary of the new parish followed that of the borough boundary of Saltash at that time. Unfortunately, the order did not cover the questions of ownership or control of the building, therefore discord continued for many years until, 1923, when Corporation and Church authorities came to an agreement.
The Order describes the building as “the Church of St. Nicholas & St. Faith”. St. Faith was included because the Revd. Julian Morton, the incumbent at the time, assumed that the Chapel of St. Faith, (licenced in 1435 & 1437), was part of St. Nicholas’s Chapel.