Torquil and Ruth McNeilage, of McNeilage Consevation, have done a wonderful job restoring the monument to young Michael Hill and it is now back in its place in the Manaton Chapel at St Sampson's.

Michael Hill was the eldest son of Frances (nee Manaton 1616-c.1699), of South Hill, and her husband Michael Hill of Wendron near Helston. Michael died aged about eight in 1663. We have been unable to trace his burial in Cornwall parish records, so we were not sure whether he was buried in his father’s parish of Wendron or here in his mother’s church at South Hill. Following conservation of the monument to young Michael the mystery has been solved.  The previously barely legible lettering of the inscription has been carefully repainted and now clearly reads "Nere unto this place lieth the body of Michael Hill .... who departed this life the 17th June 1633". - Confirmation that young Michael was laid to rest here among his forbears, in the Manaton Chapel of St Sampson's church.  Two of Frances Hill's Manaton sisters never married and probably remained living in the family home at South Hill. Perhaps it was these two sorrowing aunts who erected the memorial to their young nephew, in the family chapel where they would have worshipped every Sunday.

The monument centres on a relief portrait of the young deceased Michael, with his books on a writing table and striking a thoughtful pose. It was described by Torquil McNeilage, in his conservation report,  as "both individual and finely wrought. The figure of the deceased Michael Hill has a rare intimacy and character in his melancholic pose, surrounded by his books, whilst the inscription is simultaneously charming and heartfelt.”  The monument would have been coloured originally and the columns painted to resemble veined alabaster or marble.  Torquil and Ruth discovered that much of the colouring had survived, albeit in a fragmentary state, under the grime of centuries and after thorough cleaning some of the original colour and marbling can at last be seen again.

As part of the work to restore the Manaton chapel and turn it into a warm dry meeting space, we intend to install suitable lighting so that Michael Hill's charming monument can be fully appreciated by everyone.

Please click the link above to download a copy of the Conservation Report. 

Many thanks to Torquil and Ruth McNeilage for all their work.