AN East Cornwall couple will make history next month as they will be the first people ever to marry in the church in Harrowbarrow in all its 150 years.

Sam de la Haye and Tristan Mallett, residents in the village, will marry in All Saints Church on September 4, thanks to its new priest, the Rev Chris Painter, getting the building licensed for weddings.

Sam and Tristan were disappointed to discover that they could not get married in their local church. They talked to Mr Painter, priest in charge of Calstock, St Dominick, Landulph and St Mellion with Pillaton, who arranged for the building to be licensed.

Mr Painter said: ‘It was so sad that this lovely couple couldn’t marry in their local church. The church community is very active in the villages, there is a service every week, a monthly café, baptisms, funerals and other events. Everything except weddings. Now we can marry people there too, so the church is able to care for the Harrowbarrow and Metherell communities fully.’

Sam said: ‘We’re really excited that we can have our dream wedding in our local church. It’s just the right size for us and it’s really light too.’

Sam and Tristan are hoping to use the flexibility of the church’s individual chairs to arrange the seats in a square with them at the centre.

‘We can be surrounded by our family and friends at this special moment, rather than them just standing and watching from behind.’

The church is proving to be a popular place now it has been licensed, with three couples already having booked their weddings there.

The church was built in 1870 as a school and a mission chapel in response to the Education Act of that year that brought in compulsory elementary education and it was dedicated to All Saints by the bishop in 1871. The building was a school during the week and on a Friday afternoon it was prepared for Sunday services.

This arrangement continued for nine years when the school transferred to its own board school premises. Church services continued there but the church was never licensed for weddings — until now.

St Anne’s in Gunnislake is also newly licensed for weddings; its first will be another big moment in its 135-year history.