Church Of St Materiana

Church of St Materiana, Tintagel

The parish church of St Materiana dates from the 11th century, with the north doorway constructed around 1080 and the south doorway around 1130, both identified by Sedding. The church appears to have originally been of cruciform plan. Two Norman windows survive on the north side and two on the south. A Norman font remains in use.

The south transept was lengthened in the late 12th century, with the transepts originally being of equal length. Remains of impost mouldings suggest that a crossing tower had been originally planned, though whether it was built is uncertain. The present west tower dates to the late 14th or early 15th century. A north porch was added around the 14th century. A small chapel was added on the north side of the chancel, possibly in the 14th century. The south porch, possibly of the 14th century, was rebuilt around the 18th century. The rood screen was erected around 1500.

In the later 19th century, an organ chamber was built between the north transept and the north chancel chapel, part of the chancel wall was removed, an arch was erected to carry the chancel roof, and an earlier window was reset in the newly erected north wall. The church was substantially restored in 1870 by J.P. St Aubyn, when it lost its roof and pews.

The building is constructed of stone rubble including greenstone, slate, hornblende and felspar, with ashlar stone in the tower. The roof features scantle slate to the nave, lower rag slate to the tower, and slate with gable ends to the north and south transepts.

The west tower is of three stages with a battlemented parapet and a stair in projection on the north side. The west door has a two-centred arch with chamfer and diagonal stops and a hoodmould, with a 19th-century door. The west window is of three lights with cusped heads; the belfry openings are of two lights with cusped heads.

The north porch, dating to around the 14th century, has an outer door with a very hollow chamfer to the almost round-headed arch, which has a double roll mould with cavello between and large pyramid stops. The inner north door arch (not accessible at survey in 1986) has a Norman label and impost mouldings with a plain tympanum. Medieval hinges, which Sedding suggests are the only surviving example of Norman ironwork in Britain, have been reset and reused on the 20th-century door.

The north wall of the nave contains a Norman window of a single lancet with deep splay and a two-light window. The north transept has a 19th-century two-light west window, a two-light window with cusped heads on the north, and a three-light lancet window in the east wall.

The chancel has a three-light east window renewed in the 19th century. The south wall contains two windows, probably of 19th-century date, and a partly blocked Norman window which was altered when a canopied recess of around the 14th century was inserted. The south transept shows evidence of part rebuilding below the eaves, with a decorated two-light window of around the 14th century with cusped head and two two-light windows with cusped heads in the east wall.

The south wall of the nave has a three-light window with a four-centred arch and a single lancet window with deeply splayed reveals to the west of the south porch. The south porch has been rebuilt, possibly in the 18th century, with a stilted arch. The right-hand jamb carries what appears to be a possibly scratched date of 179. The south door has an arch of around the early 12th century with one shaft circular and the other octagonal with differing capitals; the door and roof are of 19th-century date.

The interior features a roof replaced during the 1870 restoration; an arch-braced roof with two tiers of wind braces to the nave and lower chancel roofs and one tier of wind braces in the roofs of the north and south transepts. A two-centred tower arch and a four-centred chancel arch, possibly rebuilt in the 19th century, survive with earlier chevron moulding to the crossing tower. Partly replaced impost moulding to the crossing tower remains.

The rood screen, dating to around 1500, displays Perpendicular tracery. A canopied recess of around the 14th century is situated on the south side of the chancel. The Norman font features four carved heads at the corners, a stout central shaft, and four octagonal shafts. A font at the west end of the nave, known as St Julitta's font, may be a Norman font bowl brought from St Julitta's chapel at Tintagel Castle.

The reredos incorporates reused carved bench ends of around the 15th century from the nave and from the parish church of St Teath. A stone bench runs around the west and south walls of the south transept. A pre-Reformation stone altar survives in the north chancel chapel.

A memorial brass of Joanna Kelly, dated around 1430 and originally set in the floor at the east end of the chancel, is now set in the west wall of the south transept. A Roman stone inscribed IMP C G VAL LIC LICIN, previously used as a coffin rest at the lower church stile (the lychgate to the south of the church) until 1888, is located at the west end of the south transept.