Church Of St Olaf

A parish church of outstanding architectural importance, St Olaf comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, and north and south aisles arranged in four bays, with a north-east vestry. The building spans several centuries of development, with a 13th-century font, 14th-century north aisle and probable chancel origins, 14th and 15th-century south aisle, 15th-century south porch and west tower, and a 19th-century vestry. Early 12th-century foundations were discovered during 19th-century restoration works.

Construction and Materials

The north aisle is built in stone rubble, while the chancel, south aisle, and west tower employ dressed stone brought to course. Granite and greenstone provide the principal dressings, with Caen stone used in the north aisle and parts of the south aisle. All roofs are slate-covered. The varied stonework suggests the north aisle was constructed in two distinct phases or underwent significant repair.

Exterior

The church is largely Perpendicular in character, with a Decorated north aisle. The chancel features a 4-light 19th-century Perpendicular east window, while the south aisle contains three 3-light granite Perpendicular windows under hoodmoulds, with similar windows to the east and west ends. The north aisle has a 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular east window under a hoodmould, with one label stop possibly of 15th-century date, and three aisle windows of the same 3-light granite Perpendicular design beneath hoodmoulds. A chamfered arched polyphant north doorway and a 2-light 14th-century Decorated greenstone window at the west end of the north aisle add variety to this elevation. The north-east vestry, with its gable to the north, features a brick chimney.

The three-stage battlemented west tower rises with a north-east stair turret, set-back buttresses, and tall crocketted corner pinnacles of local design, now with 19th-century finials. Moulded granite strings mark the stages. The west wall of the tower, between plinth and moulded string, displays carved quatrefoils (a feature shared with Jacobstow and Week St Mary). The moulded arched granite west door stands beneath a square hoodmould and bears carving in the spandrels. A 3-light Perpendicular granite west window lights the interior, and a rectangular opening marks the bell-ringers' stage on the south side. Twin 2-light granite belfry openings sit beneath blind quatrefoils.

The south porch displays granite coping and kneelers to its gable, with a moulded arched granite doorway under a square hoodmould, carving again enriching the spandrels. Stone benches with granite tops provide interior seating. The porch is roofed with an unceiled 15th-century waggon roof featuring carved ribs, bosses, and wallplate. A holy water stoup and moulded granite arched inner doorway beneath a square hoodmould (with spandrel carving) precede a trefoil-headed Caen stone nodding ogee riche above the inner door, its jambs chamfered in polyphant.

Interior

A fine probably 16th-century studded door with loop drop latch, strap hinges bearing simple scrollwork decoration, and a massive wooden lock case marks entry.

The four-bay north arcade, constructed in Caen stone, features piers of four engaged shafts with smaller shafts and keel mouldings between. Capitals are carved with trefoils in roundels. Arches are deeply moulded, with the chancel bay arch slightly lower than the rest. The east bay of the south arcade possesses a similar pier and respond but with different capitals and moulded arches featuring carving of trefoil-headed blind arcading. The first bay westward from the eastern bay displays a taller granite arch with a conventional Perpendicular granite west pier, the height adjustment made by an engaged demi-pier supported on the capital of the earlier Caen stone pier. The next pier to the west is also of conventional Perpendicular granite design. The respond against the west wall is Caen stone but follows the same conventional Perpendicular design. A double-chamfered tower arch springs from moulded capitals on short engaged shafts.

No chancel arch marks the nave-to-chancel transition; instead, a fine 15th-century ceilure divides the spaces, three of its four panels retaining decorative carving with medieval paint possibly surviving on the ribs. The chancel roof is a 15th-century unceiled waggon with bosses and carved wallplates. Aisle and nave roofs are 15th-century ceiled waggons with bosses, carved ribs, and wallplates.

A square 13th-century granite font, similar to that at Poundstock, stands on a replaced base with corner shafts and displays two orders of pointed arched blind arcading. A late 19th-century five-sided drum pulpit with pierced tracery panels and a stem with curved braces provides the preaching place. The communion table, of late 16th-century origins, was enlarged in 1941 and retains turned legs. A 14th-century piscina occupies the chancel.

Early 16th-century bench ends, likely from the same workshop as those at Kilkhampton and Launcells, exhibit unusually designed border carving, blind tracery, and carvings of monograms, grotesques, and armorial bearings including the Grenville Arms and the Instruments of the Passion. Some bench ends preserve their contemporary benches with moulded rails.

A large Royal Arms of Charles II in plaster adorns the north wall. Two large wallpaintings, probably of late 15th-century origin but entirely repainted by Frank Salisbury, occupy the north and south walls; both depict St Christopher. A 19th-century reredos, commandment boards, floor tiling, and altar rail are present. A 17th or 18th-century wooden gate from a former lych gate, now housed in the west tower, displays grillage patterning with chamfered rails and scrolled stiles topped with later iron barbed capping.