Background

The land for the Hollabury Mission Hall, Poughill (pronounced Pofil), was purchased on 10th November 1908 with money (£120) provided by Maria Somes, from the Bude Land and Building Company Limited, and conveyed to Revd T.W. Lemon, the then incumbent of the Living of  Poughill (St Olaf’s).  In a Declaration of Trust, also dated 10th November 1908, as to the plot of land conveyed, the Revd T. W. Lemon declares that he holds the land as nominee of, and as trustee for all the parties named in an Indenture of Trust of 28th October 1902.   The 1908 declaration as to the plot of land conveyed, states that the land had been purchased  “for the purpose of a site for the erection of a Mission Hall or Mission Church or Schools for the maintenance in perpetuity of Protestant and Evangelical Principles”.

The Indenture of Trust dated 28th October 1902, referred to in the 1908 Declaration as to the plot of land, had conveyed the Advowson (right of presentation to benefice) of Poughill in the Diocese of Truro from Maria Somes (who had been granted it by the Lord High Chancellor in May 1901) to a group of Trustees, which included M. Somes, the Rev T.W. Lemon, four other clergy, a squire and a solicitor.

A Conveyance of 25th November 1922 between the Executors of the late Rev T.W. Lemon and the Trustees of the Living of Poughill passed the land and buildings thereon (a Mission Hall had by then been erected), “to the use of the Trustees, their heirs and assigns upon the same trusts as those upon which the said Thomas William Lemon held the same.”

Church Association Trust had become a trustee of the Living of Poughill in place of Rev T. W. Lemon, who had died in December 1919, by a Deed of Appointment of New Trustees, dated 9th July 1920.

Church Association Trust was renamed Church Society Trust in 1950.  The number of trustees of the Poughill advowson and thus of the Hollabury Mission Hall has declined over the years.  (Church Society Trust is the registered patron of Poughill)

Present

By virtue of the historical trusts, Church Society continues to act as trustee for the hall and the site. However a revised Charity Commission scheme took effect from 27 October 2009, to return to a position closer to historical precedent whereby five individuals are nominated as trustees by Church Society, two of which are on the recommendation of St Olaf’s PCC. Church Society acts as the holding trustee of the property.

The Hollabury Mission Hall is used for some meetings, as an ‘other’ congregation of St Olaf’s, Poughill and the ground around the Mission Hall is worked on by members of the local community.

Link: www.stolafschurchpoughill.org.uk

Documents

1896 Abstract of the Title of the Bude Land & Building Co. Ltd (to Hollaberry)

(1902 Indenture and Declaration of Trust, Advowson of Poughill)

1908 Conveyance of Land by Bude Land & Building Co. Ltd to Rev T.W. Lemon

1908 Declaration of Trust

1922 Conveyance by the Executors of Rev T.W. Lemon to the Trustees of the Advowson of the Living of Poughill