Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This is a parish church of Norman origins, built as a cruciform structure with significant modifications and additions spanning from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. The main components include an early Norman west tower rebuilt around the 13th century with later tracery; a nave probably dating from the late 13th century; a south aisle from around the 15th century; a gabled south porch probably from the late 15th century; and a vestry added to the east of the north transept in the mid-19th century. The north transept was restored in the mid-19th century, and the east end of the south aisle was rebuilt, possibly during this same restoration period. The nave and chancel form a single continuous structure under one roof.

The exterior is constructed of rubble stone with slate roofs. The east window features four lights in the Perpendicular style with a hood mould and drips, as does a similar window to the south aisle. The nave's north window contains three lights with cusped heads in a square surround, possibly partly reused and reset in the 19th century, and evidence of an original north door survives. The south aisle has four Perpendicular three-light windows with hood moulds and drips, and a three-light Perpendicular west window with similar detailing.

The gabled south porch is approached through a four-centred arch with roll mould in a square surround. Above the porch is a sundial dated 1660. The south door itself has a four-centred arch with roll mould and chamfered jambs. The north transept has a 19th-century north window with rounded heads to three lights and a square-headed 19th-century door on its east side. The vestry features a 19th-century shouldered arch to its north entrance and a two-light cusped 19th-century window on the east.

The west tower stands on an early stone plinth and is unbuttressed in two stages with battlements and crocketted finials. The west door has a pointed chamfered arch with chamfered jambs, and the west window sits under a hood mould with late reticulated tracery dating from around the mid-14th century. Two-light rectangular bell openings with louvres light the bell chamber.

The interior contains a five-bay arcade to the south aisle with Type A granite piers (as classified by Pevsner) featuring elongated bases and octagonal flat capitals. The porch, nave, south aisle and chancel all have waggon roofs, which were restored and partly replaced in 1926. A round-headed tower arch connects the nave to the tower. Two four-centred arches with heavy moulded piers, dating from around the 16th century with renewed capitals, lead to the north transept; these may have been resited. The nave, south aisle and chancel were reseated in the late 19th century, though earlier seating remains in the north transept.

Several significant furnishings survive. Circa-16th-century oak bench ends, relocated to the east side of the front benches in the nave and south aisle, include a figure of Father Time, two figures of saints, and instruments of the passion. A circa-16th-century rood screen survives in part, with two sections of base containing four panels on the north and six on the south set within a later surround. The panels are divided by twisted engaged columns with castellated capitals and decorated with intertwined renaissance foliage, serpents and heads. The upper part of this screen was relocated to serve as a parclose screen in Boconnoc Church.

The font is Norman, made of pentewan stone, with a renewed granite base. It has a round shaft and cushion head carved with heads at the corners, featuring a tree of life on one face and palmettes on the other three faces. A circa-16th-century timber pulpit on a renewed stone base is hexagonal with carved oak panels featuring rounded arches, intertwined foliage and heraldic arms. An alabaster reredos depicting the Last Supper was presented in 1911. Painted Commandment boards occupy the south wall of the north transept, with boards bearing the Lord's Prayer and Creed on ogee-headed boards on the east and west walls respectively.

The stained glass includes early heraldic glass in the upper lights of the south aisle windows, displaying the arms of the Pitt, Fortescue and Ryder families. The east window dates from 1878 and was created in memory of G M Fortescue. An unusual carved screen at the west end depicts beak-head figures at the base of the muntins and panels containing stiff figures including a woman with a serpent, three faces (one frontal and two in profile), and two figures facing each other. These have been compared by Pevsner to Volkskunst of the 18th century.

Village stocks stand at the west end of the church. The churchyard itself is possibly a Lan, an oval embanked churchyard characteristic of certain Cornish locations.