AN ancient parish church has suffered massive damage after one of four 20ft-high granite pinnacles on the tower exploded into pieces when it took a direct hit from a lightning bolt.

The electrical storm on Monday night left an early estimation of at least £500,000 of damage to the church.

The community in the small village of Pillaton was shocked on Tuesday morning to see the scale of the damage from the lightning strike which had left the 750-year-old St Odulph's Church with gaping holes in the roof – the biggest about 15ft across, and directly above the bell loft roof.

The alarm was first raised by James Cook, a resident at the 13th Century Weary Friar Inn nextdoor to the church. He contacted church keyholder David Shawcross at about 11.45pm to tell him a granite block had smashed through one of the inn's picnic tables outside and there was more stone lying around.

Mr Shawcross, joined by another resident, Chris Smith, went straight to the church and said they were met by a scene of devastation.

'We looked up and saw one of the pinnacles on the tower had gone, and there were large pieces of granite everywhere,' he said. 'We couldn't open the church door and, shining a torch through a small gap, we were able to see it had been blocked by a large piece of granite and a pew. We moved it enough for us to squeeze through. The scene, made worse in torchlight, was one of utter chaos. We were shocked.'

Mr Shawcross said he climbed up into the tower, a journey he makes many times, and was confronted with huge granite pieces laying about the tower roof, which felt unusually soft underfoot and he realised it was dangerous to be there.'

Churchwarden Graham Palmer, who lives in Hatt about three miles away from Pillaton, said he saw an enormous flash of lightning which was followed by a huge clap of thunder. He described the damage as 'heartbreaking' and said a lot of people were very upset.

'It is ironic that only last year we had a new lightning conductor system fitted to one of the tower pinnacles,' he said. 'The lightning struck the opposite pinnacle to the conductor.'

Mr Palmer said the lightning had also caused a power surge across the village taking out computers and phones.

Churchwarden Richard Lowther, who lives in the village, likened the interior of the church to a war zone. A retired commander, he said he had worked in war zones and the havoc wreaked by the exploding pinnacle was similar to scenes he had seen in Iraq.

'Three pews had been smashed to pieces, the children's corner had been obliterated and there was wreckage and granite lying about everywhere,' he said. 'Fortunately none of the stainglass windows was damaged.

'We have had a lucky escape – we cannot even begin to think of the consequences had this happened on a Sunday. It is a miracle that no one has been hurt.'

Church tower captain Richard Warwick said the bells are always hanging upturned just under the tower roof.

'Luckily they weren't damaged, especially as £50,000 was raised in 2009 to have them refurbished,' he said. 'When we took them down we found pieces of splintered wood inside some of them.'

Tony Rowe, who is clerk of works at the church, said the insurance assessors had visited on Wednesday and a plan for the initial progress of stabilisation had been agreed. Stonemasons, contractors, scaffolders and an architect were all in agreement as to the way forward.

'Scaffolding is being built to make more permanent "temporary" roofing over the holes to keep the weather out of the church interior,' he said, 'and some of the largest mobile crane companies in the UK are being contacted to ascertain the best way forward to take down the rocks from the tower.

'The value of the insurance claim will not be clear for a while until the jigsaw of the tower which exploded is re-assembled and then restored. We have taken everything mobile, including soft furnishings and memorials, out of the church.'

The priest in charge, Canon Andrew Wilson, who described the damage as 'terrible and upsetting', has confirmed that the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Tim Thornton, is to visit the church today to see for himself the extent of the damage.

Parishioners will be attending services at St Mellion until their own church is repaired.