Church Of St Wenna

Church of St Wenna

This is a parish church of 15th-century origins, with later 15th-century additions. The building was substantially rebuilt in 1825 (with work to the tower and porch dated in the porch) and restored in 1868, as recorded by an Incorporated Church Building Society board in the vestry. It is constructed of granite rubble with granite dressings, and the west tower is faced in granite ashlar. The roof is of slate with crested ridge tiles and gable ends finished with scalloped slate bargeboards.

The plan consists of a nave and chancel in one, dating from the 15th century, with later 15th-century north and south aisles. A south porch is set in the angle between the south aisle and the nave, probably rebuilt in the early 19th century. A north vestry of 19th-century date has been added.

The nave is largely concealed by the aisles. The chancel has a three-light east window of 19th-century date in Perpendicular style, with a four-centred arch and hood mould. The north aisle comprises two bays, with two three-light windows to the north of 19th-century date featuring cusped lights, four-centred arches and hood moulds. An east window, probably of the early 17th century, has three lights with four-centred arches and roll mouldings, with the central light taller than the others. A slate tablet attached to the east wall commemorates James Retalick, dated 1753.

The south aisle is also of two bays, with two windows to the south and one to the east, all similar to those on the north aisle. The gabled south porch has a four-centred arched moulded doorway, with 19th-century cast iron gates featuring a circle design to the mid-panel. The porch interior has a granite floor and one bench, with a 19th-century common rafter roof. The inner four-centred arched doorway has roll mouldings and recessed carved spandrels, with a 19th-century door fitted with strap hinges.

The west tower rises in two stages on a tall moulded plinth decorated with a frieze of quatrefoils and chevron work. It has set-back buttresses with demi-shafts topped with crocketed finials, a moulded string course and an embattled parapet. The west doorway has a four-centred arch with moulded surround, recessed spandrels and a square hood mould; the 19th-century door is fitted with strap hinges. A 15th-century west window has four narrow lights with Y-tracery, four-centred arch and hood mould. At the second stage, east and west openings have three-light bell-openings with the central light taller, four-centred arches with hood moulds and louvres. A slate sundial dated 1860 is located to the south of the first stage.

The north vestry is gabled, with a two-centred arched chamfered north doorway and a 19th-century door with strap hinges. It has a two-light west window with cusped lights.

Interior

The interior has a tiled floor and plastered walls. The nave and chancel are roofed with 19th-century arched-brace roof with one tier of windbraces, while the aisles have 19th-century common rafter roofs. A tall four-centred tower arch separates the nave from the tower, with piers featuring ring-moulded capitals. Three-bay arcades to the north and south, possibly dating from the 1825 rebuilding, have piers with four outer shafts and four thinner inner shafts. The capitals are carved with leaves and flowers, and the arches are four-centred and moulded.

The church contains a 12th-century font in the nave, circular in bowl with chevron carving and four masks at the corners over outer shafts, supported on a central circular stem. Nineteenth-century benches furnish the nave and aisles, and a pair of 19th-century Gothic sanctuary chairs occupy the chancel. A polychromatic tiled reredos in the chancel, designed by Powell and Sons around 1873, is a notable feature.

Monuments and memorials include a polychromatic tiled memorial with brass tablet to Thomas Hawkey, dated 1850, in the north aisle. The nave contains slate ledger stones to John Liddicoat (1826), Mary Liddicoat (1824), Phillippa Phillipps (1804), Martha Merifield (1845) and William and Ann Varcoe (both 1825). The east window of the chancel displays painted grisaille glass of 1873, also by Powell and Sons.