Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A parish church of major architectural importance, with a 13th-century tower, early 14th-century nave and chancel, and significant later additions. Between 1350 and 1370, the north and south transepts were built by Lady Emmeline Dawney and Sir Edward Courtney. In the late 15th century, the north transept was replaced by a north aisle with north porch. The chancel was restored in 1850, and the nave and rest of the church in 1871, by the architect G.E. Street.

The building is constructed of slatestone rubble, with larger blocks used in the north aisle and north porch. Stone dressings are in metamorphic stone from the 13th and 14th centuries, granite from the 15th-century north aisle and porch, and limestone from the 19th-century restoration. The roofs are of 19th-century slate with crested ridge tiles and raised coped verges in limestone. The plan comprises a west tower, nave and chancel in one, south porch, and south transept, with a north aisle and north porch.

The tower is unbuttressed and in two stages, with an octagonal broach spire. The west face has a granite lancet set low and a small limestone carved head above. The second stage is stepped back with a lancet in metamorphic stone with bell louvres and relieving arches. The octagonal broach spire is in rubble with broaches set back at corners over a cornice, and small lucarnes in metamorphic stone at four alternate sides. The top of the spire was rebuilt around the early 19th century in granite ashlar, with a finial and weathervane.

The nave has a rubble weathered buttress to the south-west and two-light windows to each side of the porch in 19th-century limestone with Y tracery and upper quatrefoils, with relieving arches in metamorphic stone. The steep gabled south porch has weathered angle buttresses in rubble and a tall four-centred arched rubble doorway. A slate sundial with gnomon, dated 1780, is positioned above the doorway, with raised coped verges and a cross finial. The single bay gabled south transept has similar rubble angle buttresses, raised coped verges, and a cross finial. A 19th-century south window of four lights has cusped lights and upper tracery with a hood mould and relieving arch. Three-light windows to the east and west have cusped lights and three upper quatrefoils with relieving arches; the east window retains some stonework from the original 14th-century window.

The two-bay chancel stands on a plinth to the east and has weathered rubble buttresses and angle buttresses with metamorphic stone weatherings. A large 19th-century five-light east window has a hood mould and relieving arch. Two similar two-light windows to the south flank it, also with hood moulds and relieving arches. The verges are raised and coped with a cross finial.

The north aisle comprises six bays. The east window is in granite with four lights, hollow-chamfered mullions and surround, cusped lights with upper Y tracery, and a four-centred arch with hood mould and stops. Granite kneelers run along the raised coped verges, which are topped with a cross finial. The north side has three-light granite windows, all with cusped lights and upper tracery, four-centred arches, and hood moulds with stops. Between four of these windows sits a rood stair with a small lancet and a roof pitch extended from the main roof pitch. A 19th-century four-light west window in limestone has a hood mould over a four-centred arch. The second bay from the west contains a gabled north porch of the late 15th century, with raised coped verges and a cross finial. The entrance has a two-centred arched granite doorway with roll-moulding and recessed spandrels, beneath a flat head. The interior of the porch retains its original roof of arched braces with purlins and a collar purlin, moulded with moulded bosses and wall-plate. An inner doorway in granite is hollow-chamfered with a four-centred arch and carved leaves in the spandrels, with a wave-moulded surround. Above is a plain 19th-century door and an image shelf. A wrought iron gate spans the outer doorway.

Inner doors and features include a narrow pointed rubble arch with impost mouldings, deep splayed reveal, and rere arch to the west lancet in the tower. The nave and chancel have a 19th-century wagon roof with three bays in the chancel featuring brattished collars and plain king posts. In the nave, the south windows have rere-arches. A holy water stoup stands by the south door. A tall, wide four-centred arch in limestone with wave-moulded shafts and caps opens to the south transept.

A six-bay granite arcade separates the nave and chancel from the north aisle, with four-centred arches bearing wave and hollow mouldings. Cornish standard piers with geometric mouldings to the abaci support the arcade. The chancel contains three 19th-century sedilia to the south and an ogee-headed cusped piscina. The east window has nook shafts; at the base of the left shaft is an image niche with a nodding ogee head, cusped and moulded. An aumbry to the north has a foliage-carved corbel. A south squint opens to the transept.

The transept roof is 19th-century, comprising arched braces and collars. An ogee-headed cusped piscina occupies the east wall. Along the south wall are twin funeral recesses with plain tomb-chests decorated with quatrefoils. Above the figures are coved areas and blank cusped arches. The monuments are said to represent Lady Emmeline Dawney and Sir Edward Courtenay, dating to around 1375.

The south porch has a plain inner door with reused earlier handles and a wave-moulded limestone surround, under a 19th-century arched-brace roof.

The north aisle has a 14-bay wagon roof of the 15th century with moulded ribs, two rows of purlins, and a ridge purlin, adorned with carved bosses and wall-plate. Sockets for a draw-bar run across the north door. The rood stair features a four-centred arched lower door in a stepped surround, with a stone newel stair rising to an upper door with four-centred arch, hollow-chamfered with run-out stops. Beneath a window by the rood stair is a tomb recess containing an effigy of Sir Hugh Courtenay, dated around 1375, on a tomb-chest with quatrefoil decoration. The east end of the aisle serves as a vestry or organ chamber, with an east window featuring nook shafts with carved capitals.

The interior fittings include carved wooden pews in the nave, aisle, and transept, with bench ends in late 15th-century Renaissance style and some from the 19th-century restoration. A late 19th-century carved wooden pulpit stands in the nave. A circular stone bowl font occupies the nave. 16th-century stocks are positioned in the north aisle. Two slate hatchments in the north aisle bear the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The chancel floor is laid with 19th-century polychromatic tiles.

Monuments in the north aisle include: a marble tablet on slate ground with round head and urn to John Wallis, 1780; a slate tablet with pilasters and marble cornice by J. Croad to Samuel Deeble, 1759; a marble tablet with pedimental top and acroterial ornaments to George Duckworth, 1811; a marble tablet on slate ground with pediment, open book and putto below, by J. Bacon of London, to Penelope Fanshawe, 1814; a slate tablet with border and names in gold to Jane Littleton, 1773; and a marble tablet on slate ground with rounded pediment, apron, and urn to William Dunrich, 1794.

Medieval glass survives in fragments: the east window of the north aisle contains a fragment showing the head of the Virgin; the south window of the chancel has a fragment with the Courtenay coat-of-arms. The rood stair lancet has lattice glazing probably of the late 15th century. The chancel east window contains stained glass by Wailes, designed by Street.

The inner door of the south porch dates to 1723. The south porch sundial is dated 1780, and rainwater heads are dated 1902.