Church Of St Goran

Church of St Goran

This is a parish church of 12th-century origin, substantially enlarged during the 13th and 14th centuries, with major additions in the 15th century including a late 15th-century tower. The tower was restored in 1876 and underwent further restoration around 1880 by architect Piers St Aubyn.

The church is constructed of slatestone rubble with granite dressings, while the arcade is of white Pentewan stone and the tower is built in granite ashlar. The roofs are slate with crested ridge tiles, and gable ends have raised coped verges with cross finials.

The plan consists of a nave and chancel in one, probably originally cruciform with the north transept remaining. The north side of the nave appears to date from the 13th century, with the north transept largely of the 14th century. The south aisle may have been added in the late 14th century but was largely remodelled in the late 15th century with the addition of a south porch. A 19th-century north vestry is attached to the chancel. The west tower is late 15th century.

On the exterior, only the north side of the nave is visible. It features a blocked 13th-century doorway with a two-centred arch, two chamfered orders, hood mould with mask stops and a mask at the apex. To the west of this doorway is a three-light 15th-century window with a hollow-chamfered four-centred arch and hood mould. To the east is another three-light 15th-century window with cusped lights, a four-centred arch and hood mould.

The chancel east end has a chamfered plinth. The three-light east window dates from the 14th century, with a two-centred arch, chamfered lights and hood mould. Scalloped slates appear at the eaves. The north transept is gabled, sitting on a chamfered plinth at its north gable end. It has a two-light north window with cusped lights, a two-centred arch and hood mould, with a cusped lancet to the west and a plain lancet to the east. The north vestry, beside the transept, has a two-light six-pane 20th-century casement to the east and a boiler room lean-to.

The south aisle has a chamfered rubble plinth at its east end only. The four-light 15th-century east window has cusped lights, a four-centred arch and hood mould in Perpendicular style. The west end has a similar four-light Perpendicular window. The south side comprises seven bays, with the porch in the second bay from the west. All windows on the south side are 19th-century work, three lights with cusped lights, two-centred arches and hood moulds.

Attached to the south aisle is a vault with a granite ashlar front and a segmental arch featuring a ball finial on a shaped stem at centre and each side. The sides have granite coping. A carved inscription reads "Resurgemus 1813 WSG".

The south porch is gabled without a plinth, with an embattled parapet featuring crocketed pinnacles. The outer doorway has polygonal piers with blind cusped panels, carved capitals and a hollow-chamfered segmental arch. A 19th-century wrought iron lamp bracket and cast iron gates are present. The porch interior has a pitched slate floor and granite benches at the sides. The wagon roof dates from the 15th century and features carved ribs, bosses and wall-plates. The inner doorway has an elliptical arch with roll-moulding, recessed spandrels and a square hood mould. Nineteenth-century plank double doors with good ironwork strap hinges are fitted here.

The west tower is in three stages, set on a moulded plinth with set-back weathered buttresses, chamfered string courses and an embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles. The four-centred arched west doorway has roll-mouldings and recessed spandrels, with the hood mould continuous with the plinth. A 19th-century plank double door is fitted. The four-light Perpendicular west window has Y-tracery, a four-centred arch and hood mould. The third stage has three-light bell-openings with four-centred arches, hood moulds and relieving arches, together with pierced slate ventilators and slate louvres. Lancets to the north provide light to the stair.

The interior has plastered walls. The nave, chancel and south aisle have 19th-century arched-brace roofs with two tiers of windbraces. The north transept is ceiled. There is a two-centred tower arch with triple shafts to the sides, with central hollow-moulding and imposts, with a 19th-century screen across it. A two-centred arched north doorway leads to the tower stair. The north transept has a stone rubble two-centred arch with imposts.

The eight-bay south arcade is in white Pentewan stone, with two-centred arches. The piers have a concave-convex-concave moulding with ring-moulded capitals and bases. The westernmost pier is in darker banded stone. The chancel contains a two-centred arched aumbry, while the south aisle has both a two-centred arched aumbry and a piscina.

The church contains several important fittings. A 12th-century stone font in the south aisle has a bowl carved with geometric and floral designs, set on a circular stem with a moulded base and four outer shafts surmounted by masks. Nineteenth-century benches with 15th-century carved bench ends are found in the nave and aisle. A 19th-century carved wooden pulpit stands in the nave, with 19th-century benches in the chancel. A 19th-century lectern is made from 15th-century carved timber. A fine sanctuary chair, probably of the 17th century, is located in the south aisle, with its back carved with a figure and a shaped top featuring a grotesque mask.

Monuments include a brass in the south aisle said to be of the "Lady of Brannel", a kneeling female figure of around 1500, and a marble monument on a slate ground with a draped urn and shield of arms to William Slade Gully, dated 1816. In the nave is a baroque slate monument with a scrolled broken pediment and central shield of arms, with the architrave having an eared segmental top and an inscription panel with strapwork and corbels. It bears a Latin inscription to Richard Edgecombe of Bodrugan, knight, dated 1655. Also in the nave is the head of a coffin-shaped slab in stone with a raised carved foliated cross. In the tower is a slate tablet to Sarah Dalby, dated 1812. The east window of the south aisle contains fragments of medieval glass.