St Germoe'S Chair

SW 52 NE, 6/216

GERMOE CHURCHTOWN, Germoe

St Germoe's Chair

GV

I

Detached sedilia building. Probably circa early C13. Dressed granite front and architectural features, otherwise granite rubble. Scantle slate roof with gable ends. Plan: single-cell parallelogram plan with 2-bay open arcade to the front gable end and a stone bench against the inside of the rear wall with 3 niches to the back formed by a blind 3-bay arcade, the central niche is slightly hollowed. The left-hand side wall is built into the bank and adjoins the churchyard walls q.v. It is possible that the whole structure is a later medieval construction using earlier elements. 2-bay gable ended front: open pointed arched arcade carried on round Romanesque imposts and round central column; the responds are engaged half columns; moulded bases and capitals with annulet rings; straight chamfered arches. At the apex of the gable is a probably C12 carved head. Interior has a moulded granite bench along the rear wall and above the bench is a 3- bay blind arcade with roll moulded pointed arches springing from two tapered round columns and from the side walls as responds. The columns have tapered-in bases with roll mouldings and the capitals are tapered out with annulet ring mouldings. Above the slightly taller and wider middle arch is a probably C13 carved crowned head.

St Germoe's chair is a remarkable and unique building whether it is mostly original or a later imaginative use of C12 and C13 architectural features.

Listing NGR: SW5856729424