Lelant had resisted demands from the inhabitants of St Ives and Towednack for
the right of sepulture but in 1542 the right was granted so the vicars
transferred their residence to St Ives and abandoned the vicarage of Lelant.
There are chapels dedicated to St Nicholas on the headland and St Leonard on
the quay which were used by the fishermen and have been converted for other
uses. The former chapel of St Nicholas was partially demolished by the War
Office in 1904 but rebuilt in 1909, possibly by E. H. Sedding, from the old
materials. It is plain and rectangular and has since been converted into the New
Gallery.
The Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred
Heart and St Ia was built in 1909 to a design by A. J. C. Scoles. There are
also two Methodist chapels, one in Fore Street of 1831, and another of 1845
higher up the valley, and a Congregational chapel of 1800
