Church Of St Germanus

Church of St Germanus

Parish church, originally 12th century and consecrated in 1261. The south chapel was added in the late 14th century, the building was extended in the 15th century, the north aisle was rebuilt in 1888, and other alterations were made at that time. Construction is of slatestone rubble with greenstone and sandstone dressings, beneath slate roofs.

The church plan comprises a nave and chancel in one, two west towers with a south west porch set in the angle between them and leading into the south aisle, a north transept, and a vestry. The nave is entered through a gable-fronted porch at the west end, which contains a fine Norman double door; the upper gable end has 3 round-arched lights with nook shafts.

The south west tower rises in 3 stages with string courses and embattled parapets. It is decorated with pilasters at the first and second stages and contains round-arched lancets. The bell-openings at the third stage are 2-light, 4-centred arched openings with cusped lights and wooden louvres. A clock dated 1781 is mounted to both north and south faces. The north west tower also rises in 3 stages, with clasping buttresses at the first and second stages that rise to a broach leading to an octagonal upper stage with embattled parapet. It contains round-headed lancets and an east door in greenstone with a stepped rounded arch and jamb shafts, with a 19th-century door having strap hinges.

The north side of the nave and chancel has an embattled parapet. The nave has two 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery. The vestry has an embattled parapet. The south aisle comprises 4 bays with an embattled parapet and weathered buttresses, containing four 4-light windows all with 4-centred arches, upper tracery, and hood moulds. A Tudor-arched door sits to the east, with two 3-light Perpendicular-style windows at the east end and a further upper 3-light similar window above. The south west porch has a moulded cornice and embattled parapet, with a 4-centred arched south door having a hood mould and a 4-centred arched west doorway with quatrefoils in the spandrels, roll-moulded with a hood mould; mask gargoyles are present. The chancel has a 5-light east window with transom, all lights trefoil-headed with Perpendicular tracery, 4-centred arch, and hood mould.

Interior

The walls are unplastered. The nave and chancel are in one, with a 19th-century wagon roof. A 7-bay south arcade has round piers with fluted abaci and 4-centred arches; three arches to the west are stepped, the others moulded. Similar columns with a stepped arch to the north formerly led to the family pew, now the organ chamber. One clerestorey window with chevron jambs sits above the south arcade. The south aisle has a similar 19th-century roof. An east piscina with ogee hood is present, along with sedilia having a gabled crocketed hood and a tomb recess with ogee hood. A second tomb recess with ogee hood occupies the main south wall of the aisle. A holy water stoup stands by the west door. The south west tower has a round arch to the aisle with round columns with fluted abaci; clustered columns appear to the east and north. A similar stepped arch with clustered columns serves the north west tower.

The font stands in the nave. A misericord is present in the south aisle. Royal Arms dated 1660 are displayed in the south aisle, and Eliot arms in the nave.

Monuments include a Rysbrack monument to Edward Eliot (1772) in the north west tower and a marble sarcophagus to Susan Countess of St Germans (1830) in the same location. In the nave are a slate tablet with an acrostic Latin inscription to Johannes Minister (1631), a marble tablet to Walter Moyle (1701), and a pair of marble monuments with broken pediments and pilasters to John Glanville (1735) and Elizabeth Glanville (1748). In the south aisle are a marble ledger stone to Ann Eliot (1723), a monument by Westmacott to John, first Earl St Germans (1823), and slate ledger stones to Richard Boger (1733) and Sarah Nanjulian (1778).

The chancel east window contains stained glass dedicated in 1896 by E. Burne-Jones.