Church Of Saint Sithney

Church of Saint Sithney

Parish church with a Norman font and predominantly 15th-century structure, the tower dating from the late 15th or early 16th century. The building comprises a nave and chancel under a single roof, a west tower, north and south transepts, and a south porch. The east end of the chancel likely preserves elements from the pre-15th-century church. The building was substantially reroofed and replastered around the late 19th century, at which time the original 15th-century roofs and most original fittings were removed.

The tower is constructed of granite ashlar and rises in three diminishing stages with a plinth and string courses dividing the stages. It is crowned by an embattled parapet with slender corner pinnacles, one of which bears a carved statue of Saint Sithney on its south-east face. The west doorway features a chamfered four-centred arch with a square hoodmould, topped by a three-light Perpendicular window. The second stage is blind. The upper stage displays two three-light traceried Perpendicular windows with slate-louvred lights, one to each side.

The remainder of the building uses granite rubble walls with dressed granite for doorways, windows, and other architectural details. The roof structure comprises three parallel roofs with the nave roof being the taller; the north and south transept roofs and porch roof all terminate in granite coped gable ends. The nave and south aisle roofs are covered in concrete tiles, while the remaining roofs use Delabole slate.

The north aisle contains 15th-century Perpendicular windows and a doorway. The west window is three lights with tracery and retains its original coped gable. The four north wall windows each have three trefoil-headed lights under a basket arch, with two to the left of the north transept and two flanking a blocked north doorway to the right. The north doorway is moulded with a steep four-centred arch and square hoodmould, with weathering marks indicating a former gable-ended porch. Ashlar masonry is visible between the windows to the left of the transept. The east gable of the aisle and north gable of the shallow north transept share similar details, both with original 15th-century copings and five-light traceried windows where the trefoil-headed lights and tracery feature bulbous cusps; the aisle window has a hoodmould.

The chancel's east gable projects slightly and stands on a probably pre-15th-century plinth. It displays a 19th-century five-light traceried window in Perpendicular style with a hoodmould and 19th-century gable coping.

The south aisle preserves all its original 15th-century three-light Perpendicular windows. The gable end windows are traceried with original 15th-century gable copings, including a moulded kneeler stone at the east gable. The south wall windows resemble those on the north wall except for a two-light window at the far right. Two windows flank the south porch and two stand to the right of the south transept. A blocked priests' doorway is traceable between the two right-hand windows.

The south transept features a south gable partly constructed of ashlar, containing a four-light 15th-century traceried Perpendicular window beneath which is a slate commemorating Edward Coode of Treesa, died 1662 aged 63. Above the window is a sundial restored in 1897 in memory of Richard Reed Russel, churchwarden 1854–1864 and 1872–1882, with an original but probably rebuilt 15th-century gable coping above. The east wall contains a two-light 15th-century Perpendicular window with quatrefoil tracery. The west wall is rubble and blind.

The south porch remains virtually unaltered since the 15th century. Its granite ashlar front displays an original moulded gable coping with moulded kneelers. Inside is a fine basket-arched doorway with octagonal panelled jambs, stone benches on either side, and a moulded waggon roof with a carved boss. Two Norman fragments carved with chevrons are located in the south-east corner. The inner south doorway is moulded with a four-centred arch and carved spandrels.

The interior contains 15th-century six-bay standard A arcades flanking the nave and chancel. The south arcade features basket arches over moulded capitals; the north arcade has centred arches over moulded and carved capitals. A 15th-century four-centred arch spans above standard A responds to the north aisle, which is slightly built to the right (east) to accommodate a 15th-century rood stair. The south aisle is similarly spanned by a 15th-century basket arch over standard A responds. A 15th-century tower arch is also present. A roll-moulded arched piscina in the south wall of the chancel may be in situ from the pre-15th-century church.

The tower contains a 19th-century ceiling with chamfered and stopped wooden beams and a newel stair in the north-east corner. A vestry in the tower houses some resited old glass. The east window of the north aisle features a moulded and carved granite rear arch with panelled intrados decorated with quatrefoils and Tudor roses. The roofs of the nave, chancel, and aisles are 19th-century: waggon roofs cover the nave and chancel and north aisle, while the south aisle roof features cusped bracing.

The fittings include a Norman font with a slightly irregular rounded granite bowl carved with a chevron pattern and cable moulding, supported on a turned freestone shaft with a moulded base, all standing on a probably 19th-century granite plinth. This font stands beside the south doorway. A single carved bench end from the 15th or 16th century is also present. Four panels hang beneath the north aisle roof, painted with texts on one side and a letter from Charles I on the other. Most other fittings are 19th-century. The pulpit, dated to 1921, was given as a memorial to those who died in the 1914–1918 war.

Monuments include wall monuments in the south transept: a marble medallion to Richard Hoblyn Esq. and Anne (Carew) his wife, both died in 1691; another medallion inscribed to John Arundel, died 1671, featuring a coat of arms with five doves and a new moon; and a tapered marble monument with a pedimented head to Christopher Wallis Esq. of Trevarno, died 1826 aged 82, his wife Philippa, and others. Inside the north doorway is the granite lid of a coffin carved with a flared Latin cross, said to belong to one of the priors of St John's hospital of Sithney parish.

The plan of this church is almost identical to that of the Church of Saint Breaca, also mostly 15th-century. At Sithney, granite ashlar is used more sparingly, though the original 15th-century architectural features are very fine and mostly survive.