Church Of St Mary And St Julian

This parish church dates from around 1500 and may incorporate parts of an earlier nave and chancel structure. A lead rainwater head on the tower is dated 1745, and a sundial on the porch bears the date 1768.

During the 18th century, alterations included the removal of almost all the early granite window tracery, which was replaced with wooden tracery. A major restoration in 1874 saw the replacement of granite windows, removal of galleries (including the Edgcumbe gallery in the nave), conversion of the north transept into a vestry and organ chamber, and construction of an outer south aisle to form the Edgcumbe south chapel. The church was also re-roofed at this time.

The chancel east wall is built of random red sandstone rubble and may belong to the early building. The rest of the church is constructed in coursed red sandstone rubble with granite dressings. The tower features granite ashlar parapet and buttresses. Roofs are 19th-century slate with crested ridge tiles and scalloped slate bargeboards to the gable ends.

The church comprises a west tower, nave and chancel, with north and south aisles extending the full length of the nave and chancel. There is a north transept now used as vestry and organ chamber, a south porch, and the south Edgcumbe chapel at the east end. The architecture is in the Perpendicular style.

Tower

The three-stage tower stands on a moulded plinth with set-back buttresses featuring three engaged pinnacles at the third stage. Moulded string courses mark the first and second stages, raised over the west window, with another string course at the third stage beneath an embattled parapet with coped merlons. Large octagonal pinnacles with cusped panelled sides are surmounted by crocketted spirelets with cross finials.

The west elevation has a four-centred arched roll-moulded doorway with carved leaves in the spandrels, a hood mould with block stops, and a 19th-century door with strap hinges. Above is a three-light 19th-century window with a four-centred arched head, cusped lights and upper tracery, a relieving arch and hood mould with block stops. All 19th-century windows in the church follow this design.

The second stage on the west has a single ogee-headed light with three crocketted pinnacles, possibly originally an image niche. To the north is a two-light 15th-century Perpendicular window with a four-centred arch, cusped lights, relieving arch and hood mould. Lancets at all stages on the north side light the stair. At the third stage are three-light 15th-century bell openings with cusped lights, slate louvres and upper tracery, hood mould and relieving arch. Set under the parapet to the north is an 18th-century lead rainwater head decorated with three cherubs' heads and wings.

Exterior

The nave is enclosed by aisles. The east end of the chancel shows straight joints to left and right where it meets the aisles, and a straight joint to the south chapel also. The chancel and aisles each have three-light 19th-century windows, with those in the north aisle at a lower level. Fixed to the chancel east wall are oval marble tablets to Maria Bint (1787) and Jane Bint (1795).

The five-bay north aisle has three north-facing windows: two west of the transept and one to the east, all 19th-century three-light windows with flat heads and hood moulds. The second bay from the west end has a blocked four-centred arched doorway with convex moulding. The west end of the aisle has a gable stack that formerly heated an 18th-century vestry, and a three-light 19th-century window with a four-centred arched head.

The north transept has a gable-end stack heating the 19th-century vestry, with a fireplace projection at the base, and a three-light 19th-century window with a four-centred arched head. To the east at a lower level is a basket-arched doorway with hood mould.

The south aisle has one south window east of the porch: a 19th-century three-light window with a four-centred arched head. Two granite tablets from the early 19th century are fixed to the wall. The gabled west end has a three-light window that appears to date from around 1500, with ogee heads, upper tracery, a four-centred arch and hood mould.

The gabled south porch has raised coped verges and a cross finial. Its four-centred arched convex-moulded doorway has wrought-iron gates. Above is a slate sundial with gnomon dated 1768, inscribed "SICUT UMBRA". The interior of the porch has a 19th-century arched-brace roof and a holy water stoup set to the right of the door (found in the churchyard in 1923). A similar four-centred arched inner doorway has a 19th-century door with strap hinges and a chamfered ogee image niche above.

The two-bay south chapel has three-light 19th-century windows to the south, with one taller window to the west.

Interior

The tower has a 19th-century framed ceiling divided into nine panels. The northwest door to the stair has a hollow-chamfered four-centred arch with a 19th-century door. A tall four-centred tower arch has Cornish standard piers to left and right. On either side, the nave wall retains remains of a moulded string course, possibly surviving from an earlier nave.

The nave and chancel roof form a continuous wagon roof of 17 bays, with two rows of purlins and a ridge purlin, carved ribs and bosses, and a 19th-century wall-plate. The four east bays in the chancel have an early carved wall-plate with re-carved shield bosses. Round-arched openings at the base of the east wall of the arcades allow passage to the north and south aisles.

Five-bay arcades to north and south have Cornish standard piers and four-centred arches with two-wave mouldings and one chamfered order. The north aisle has a seven-and-a-half-bay 19th-century wagon roof with one row of purlins, ridge purlin and bosses. At the west end is a segmental-headed fireplace lintel. The organ chamber is set into the opening to the north transept, now the vestry.

The south aisle has a nine-and-a-half-bay roof similar to the north aisle, with hollow-chamfered rear arches to the windows. The south wall was opened in 1874 and a three-bay arcade inserted, with four-centred arches and Cornish standard piers of finer moulding, brought from Bere Alston. The south chapel has a four-bay roof of arched braces, one row of purlins and two tiers of windbraces, with a collar and two upper struts.

Fittings and Monuments

The font in the nave was brought from St Merryn. It is Norman, of Bodmin type, with five supports, corner busts and snake convolutions between them. The pews and other furnishings are all late 19th century, including the Edgcumbe screen across the chancel.

In the tower hangs a hatchment recording benefactions to the parish (1986) and a board from the Incorporated Society for Building of Churches recording a grant of £30 in 1873. Also in the tower are three slate ledger stones to William Phisick (1707), Elizabeth Tucker (1722) and Robert Salmon (1682), and a granite ledger stone to Elizabeth Canniford (1809).

The north aisle contains several monuments: a marble tablet with scrolled pedimental top to S.C. Avery (1882) by J. Honey of Plymouth; a marble tablet with foliage border and scrolled top with urn, on an oval slate ground with wreath of bay leaves, by L. Kendall of Exeter, to Edward Hunt (1787); a small oval slate tablet to Grace Ayres (1766); a marble tablet to Reverend Samuel Whiddon, who died while preaching in the church (1866); and a marble monument with curved apron and shield, plain pilasters and cornice to Joseph Hunt, commander of the Unicorn, killed in an engagement with a French frigate aged 28 (1761).

In the south aisle: an oval slate tablet to Judith Rowe (1784); a fine baroque monument with slate inscription panel on a plinth with lower frieze of skull and crossed bones, marble Ionic columns to the sides with original paint remaining, frieze with painted ovals and diamonds, entablature with gilt lion masks, surmounted by a central shield with shields to the sides and verses, to John Ingram (1669); and a fine baroque monument with slate inscription panel and apron carved with skull and batwings, the central panel flanked by draped female figures, round-headed pediment with figure of mother and child in the tympanum, and quatrain "O youth and all prepare to die..." to Phill and Elizabeth Triggs (1664).

The Edgcumbe chapel contains numerous monuments: a marble tablet on plinth with sarcophagus, scrolled segmental-headed pediment with shield and flanking hounds, bust on plinth against triangular coloured marble ground, surmounted by draped urn, to Richard, first Lord Edgcumbe (1758); a pair of white marble tablets with coloured marble surround, plain pilasters, plinth and pediment with board in tympanum, surmounted by coronet with acroteria, to Richard, 2nd Lord Edgcumbe (1761) and George, first Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (1795); a slate tablet with Latin inscription to Sir Richard Edgcumbe (1638); remains of a 17th-century slate ledger stone to Edgcumb; a marble monument with shield on plinth, frieze and pediment with acroteria, to Sophia, Countess of Mount Edgcumbe (1806); a marble tablet in slate surround with Vitruvian scroll to base, to Richard, Earl Mount Edgcumbe (1839); a slate ledger stone set on the wall with central panel containing verse and shield, to Piers Edgcumbe Esquire (1607); a baroque marble monument to William Henry, 4th Earl Mount Edgcumbe (1917); and a pair of oval marble tablets on slate ground to John Boger (1783) and Elizabeth Boger (1804).

The glass throughout is all late 19th century.

Historical Note

In the 18th century, the tower was used as a naval signalling station.