Church Of St Colanus

Church of St Colanus

Parish church dating to the 13th century, with additions made in the 14th and 15th centuries. The tower was rebuilt in 1879 with a board from the Incorporated Society for Building Churches dated 1881. The building is constructed of slatestone and granite rubble with granite dressings, except the tower which is built in granite ashlar with the lower stage banded in darker stone. Slate roofs are fitted with crested ridge tiles and gable ends have raised coped verges with cross finials.

The plan comprises a nave and chancel in one, with a lower roof level to the chancel and south transept dating to the 13th century. A north aisle was added in the 15th century, along with a south porch and west tower.

The nave has one window to the south between the porch and transept—a 19th-century Perpendicular window of 2 lights with 4-centred arch and hood mould. The chancel has a similar 2-light window to the south and a similar 3-light east window. The north aisle is in two builds, with the east range at a higher roof level. The east range contains an early 15th-century 2-light window with cusped lights and an upper quatrefoil, with 4-centred arch and hood mould, alongside a buttress to the right. The east end has a 2-light 15th-century Perpendicular window. The west range features two 19th-century 3-light windows with square heads and hood moulds with varied tracery, a north door with 4-centred arch and wave moulding and a 19th-century door with strap hinges. The west end has a 15th-century 2-light window with cusped lights, square head and hood mould. The south transept has a south gable end with a 19th-century 2-light Perpendicular window, and to the east a 19th-century 4-centred arched doorway with hood mould.

The south porch is gabled, featuring a wide 4-centred roll-moulded doorway with a 19th-century wooden gate. A slate sundial with gnomon dated 1724 is positioned over the doorway. The interior of the porch has a tiled floor and granite benches to the sides, with a 19th-century arched-brace roof with carved bosses. The inner 4-centred arched doorway has hollow-moulding with a 19th-century door with strap hinges; above it is a recess, possibly for a former image niche.

The west tower is constructed in two stages on a hollow-chamfered plinth with moulded string courses and an embattled parapet with pinnacles. A 4-centred arched west doorway is fitted with a 19th-century door with good ironwork, above which is a 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular window. The second stage contains 3-light bell-openings with cusped lights, square head and hood mould, with slate louvres and a relieving arch. The north side has lancets for stairs and a single lancet with hood mould carried over the string course.

Interior

The interior has a 19th-century tiled floor and plastered walls. The nave features a wagon roof with 15th-century carved wall-plate, ribs and bosses, left unceiled. The chancel is ceiled with an early 19th-century wagon roof with carved bosses. In the north aisle, the east end has a boarded wagon roof, while the west end has a 19th-century wagon roof resting on stone corbels above the arcade. The south transept has a 19th-century arched-brace roof. The tower roof was rebuilt in the 19th century with imposts and 4-centred arch.

The nave has a 3-bay north arcade with Pevsner A-type piers with plain hollow-moulded capitals and 4-centred chamfered arches. A similar arch rises from a stone corbel over the arcade to the chancel. A semi-circular recess is positioned over the south porch doorway. The arch to the south transept is 4-centred with convex mouldings and a plain pillar at the west side, with a 19th-century wooden screen across. The south window of the nave was formerly a doorway. The south transept has a small 3-centred arched hollow-chamfered doorway in the east wall leading to the outer 19th-century doorway; no sign of a rood stair remains. A piscina is positioned in the east wall and a cupboard with 19th-century doors, possibly originally a window.

The chancel retains the base and lower part of a 15th-century carved wooden rood screen with cusped heads to panels and a beaded moulding, with quatrefoil panels along the base. A 19th-century aumbry is present. A 2-bay north arcade from the chancel to the north aisle has Pevsner A-type piers and convex moulded capitals with 4-centred moulded arches. The north aisle has a 4-centred arch between the east and west ranges with similar piers. The aisle appears to have been rebuilt with this archway inserted, the arcade pier being complete on the north side.

Fittings and Monuments

An octagonal stone font in the nave stands on an octagonal stem with carved panels containing quatrefoils. 19th-century wooden benches furnish the nave and aisle, with a 19th-century wooden pulpit in the nave. A 19th-century Gothic panelled reredos is present. A 17th-century chest in the nave has carved panels and palmette frieze.

Monuments include a slate monument with low relief carved flowers and foliage to William Glannel, 1726, in the nave. The chancel contains a brass to John Cosowarth and his wife with 8 children, 1575, and an oval stone tablet to John Gurney, 1790. The north aisle features a slate monument with inset brass showing figures of a man and woman with children and shields of arms, to Francis Bluet, 1572, and his 22 children.

Stained glass of 1887 and 1884 by Gibbs and Howard is present.