Church Of St Just

Church of St Just

This chapel of ease dates to the 15th century. Originally sold by Queen Elizabeth I in 1568, it underwent partial repairs around the mid-18th century and was restored in 1885 for use as a chapel. The building is constructed of slatestone rubble with granite dressings, beneath a slate roof featuring crested ridge tiles, gable ends with raised coped verges, and a cross finial to the east.

The building comprises a nave and chancel in one, with a south doorway into the nave and a west tower. The south side of the nave contains a 2-light window to the left and a 3-light window to the right, both with cusped lights, square heads and hood moulds. The south doorway has a 4-centred arch with roll-mouldings and recessed spandrels carved with leaves, a square hood mould with shield stops, and a 19th-century plank door with strap hinges. Above the doorway is an image niche with a moulded ogee arch and a cill carved with leaves. The north side has two 2-light windows with cusped ogee lights, square heads and hood moulds, rebuilt in the 19th century. The east end of the chancel contains a 3-light Perpendicular window with a 4-centred arch, hood mould, relieving arch and cusped ogee lights.

The west tower stands on a chamfered plinth with a canted stair tower containing lancets to the north, a string course and embattled parapet. The west doorway has a 4-centred arch with roll-mouldings and recessed spandrels carved with shields, a square hood mould with label stops, and a 19th-century door. Above is a 3-light Perpendicular west window with cusped ogee lights, a hollow-moulded surround, 4-centred arch and hood mould, with a cusped lancet and slate louvres above. The south side of the tower contains two lancets with pierced slate ventilators and one cusped lancet to the east. The battlements are raised over the stair tower.

Internally, the walls are of slatestone rubble with Pentewan stone dressings. A 19th-century wagon roof with moulded ribs and carved bosses spans the interior. A tall 3-centred tower arch with shafts to the sides features ring-moulded capitals. A 3-centred arched chamfered doorway to the north leads to the tower stair with a 19th-century door; this opens onto a chamfered doorway at upper level. A late 19th-century wooden screen spans an upper gallery. The nave windows have chamfered rere-arches, with the south window's rere-arch in Pentewan stone, while the east window has a 4-centred arched rere-arch. The chancel contains a 3-centred arched chamfered piscina to the south, an aumbry at upper level to the east, and one at floor level with the interior positioned below floor level. A carved stone image stand is present.

The fittings include late 19th-century benches in the nave and a 19th-century stone font. The altar rail is constructed from carved 15th-century roof timbers said to have come from the Church of St Goran.

After its sale in 1568, the building was used for secular purposes. By 1651, fishermen were using it as a store for their tackle, but by 1745 it was described as a ruin. It was subsequently used as a fish cellar, with an upper floor constructed as a meeting-room for the Independents.