Church Of St Winnow

Church of St Winnow

This parish church shows Norman traces in the north walls of the nave, north transept and chancel, with extensive rebuilding in the 13th century. The south aisle, porch and tower date to circa the 15th century. Parts of the north wall of the nave, chancel and north transept were rebuilt in the late 19th century.

The building is constructed in rubblestone with coursed stone to the south aisle, porch and base of the tower. The tower has a moulded granite plinth, while the south aisle and south porch have unmoulded plinths. There is no plinth moulding to the nave, chancel and north transept. The slate roof covers the nave and chancel as one structure with a continuous roof line.

The south aisle comprises a 6-bay arcade of equal length. The east window contains 19th-century decorated tracery under a 2-centred arch. The chancel's north side features a 3-light window with segmental heads under a rectangular hood, which has been reset and partly restored. A further 1-light window with segmental head, rectangular hood and unmoulded drips is also reset, possibly when the wall was rebuilt. The north transept has a 3-light 19th-century east window with cusped heads under a rectangular hood with figure heads in the drips. Its north window contains 3 lights with early Perpendicular tracery under a 2-centred arch with decorated drips. The west wall of the north transept may have been partly rebuilt. A 13th-century 2-light window with cusped heads survives on the left-hand jamb, with what may be a blocked light above. Two late 19th-century decorated 2-light windows adjoin to the west, with a brick and stone chimney between them. Evidence of a relieving arch, similar to that above the 13th-century window, is partly obscured by later fenestration.

The south aisle's east window displays 4 lights with ferrimenta under a 4-centred arch with hood and unmoulded shields in the drips; the tracery has been partly renewed. The south aisle contains 3-light Perpendicular windows under 2-centred arches with hoods and decorated drips, featuring cavetto-moulded jambs and partly renewed tracery. A priests' doorway between the fourth and fifth windows has a 4-centred arch with roll moulding. The west window of the south aisle follows a similar style to the east. The tower comprises 3 stages with a setback and stepped buttresses, except on the east side, with an embattlemented top. The west door arch has been replaced with a finer granite 2-centred arch with hood mould and cavetto-moulded jambs with pyramid stops, possibly dating to the 19th century. Above this is a 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular window with deep cavetto mould. On the tower's east side, a 2-light window with pointed heads under a 2-centred arch may be a reset 13th-century opening. The belfry openings on all four faces comprise 2-light windows with transom, cusped heads and louvres under 2-centred arches. The south porch has a 2-centred arched entrance with roll mould similar to the south priests' door. Above it is an empty deep niche within a rectangular granite surround with cavetto-moulded jambs and roll-moulded frame. A further niche above is set under a basket arch. The south door bears a dated and initialled lock marked 'IS 1815'.

Interior

The interior features a 6-bay arcade to the south aisle with standard type A granite piers (following Pevsner's classification) with decorated engaged octagonal capitals. Waggon roofs with moulded ribs and carved bosses cover the nave, chancel, south aisle and porch. An elaborately carved wall plate decorates the east end of the south aisle, with shields in the arcade plate of the nave. The north transept arch was rebuilt in the 13th century. The tall tower arch is partly blocked.

Bench ends from the 16th and early 17th centuries display fine carving, including a figure of a Cornishman in a kilt and an elaborate ship. The chancel has been reseated. An elaborately carved rood screen dating to circa 1520 continues across the east end of the nave and south aisle. It was restored in 1907 by E M Sedding, who added coving and reconstructed the tracery to the south aisle. The screen comprises an elaborate base with carved foliage, 2-centred arches opening to 4-light Perpendicular tracery, and elaborate coving with figures of the Crucifixion, Virgin and St John above, which were erected in memory of Francis Buller Howell in 1918.

The font is of granite, dating to circa the 15th century, and bears the inscription "Ecce Karissimi de deo. vero baptizabuntur spiritu sancto" around a round bowl. It is supported by 4 engaged shafts on an octagonal base. A 17th-century oak octagonal font cover features an elaborate finial. An oak pulpit dating to circa 1620 is octagonal with elaborately carved panels featuring round arches on decorated pilasters with curved brackets at the corners; it stands on heavy bulbous legs.

A letter from King Charles I to the Cornish is displayed in the west tower arch, painted with wings and the head of an angel on top. A board above the south door is signed and dated by C Tomkins, Vicar, 1775.

The east window of the south aisle contains stained glass of note dating to circa 1500, depicting kneeling figures, rows of standing saints, arms and effigies of the Lords of Ethy Chantry, for whom the south aisle was built as a chantry. It was restored in 1867 in memory of William and Elizabeth Foster of Lanwithan. Ancient glass in the chancel's east window depicts a crucifixion and has been reset. Some early glass is incorporated into later designs in a single-light north window of the chancel. A heraldic shield appears in the top light of the west window in the south aisle. A fine late 19th-century or early 20th-century window to the west of the nave depicts an angel appearing after Christ had risen, executed in memory of Mary Agnes Richardson and Harriet Roger.

Memorials include a slate stone in the porch in memory of Edmund Dyer, dated 1722. In the north wall of the south aisle's east end is a slatestone to William Sawle of Newham, gentleman, who was buried in 1651; it was repaired in 1838 by Sir J S G Sawle. In the north transept is a painting of the interior of the church presented by Reverend Percival Fry, Vicar of the parish from 1835 to 1864. This painting predates the restoration and illustrates the screen without coving and tracery in the south aisle and with box pews at the east end of the south aisle. The wood bell frame dates to 1899 and was made by Stokes.