Church Of Saint Maugan

Church of Saint Maugan

Parish church with substantial 13th-century elements including the font, south wall, parts of the porch and transept, remodelled in the 15th and 16th centuries. The 15th-century arcade, north aisle and waggon roofs date from this period, along with the west tower which may incorporate a late 14th-century doorway. The building underwent fairly restrained restoration by Sedding in 1894.

The church is constructed of shale rubble walls with mostly granite dressings, with a granite ashlar west tower. The roofs are of Delabole slate with coped gable ends and cavetto moulded wallplate cornices under the eaves. The plan was probably cruciform in the 13th and 14th centuries with a south porch. A west tower, north aisle and north transept were added in the 15th century, and possibly the south transept was widened. Some alterations to the south wall date from the 16th century, and 19th-century restoration probably included straightening the roof, wall plates and relaying or renewing gable copings.

The embattled 15th-century west tower rises in three stages with crocketted pinnacles over each corner and a moulded plinth. The doorway, pointed and of elvan stone, dates to circa late 14th to early 15th century with trailing carving to its moulding. Above it sits a three-light 15th-century Perpendicular window. Carved label stops and keystones to relieving arches, some dated to around the 13th century, are incorporated into the tower, including a carved figure of Saint Maugan over a window and the Ferrers arms on the right impost. Strings divide the stages; the second stage is blind, and the upper stage contains three-light 15th-century Perpendicular windows. Relieving arches and hoodmoulds crown the tower openings.

The north aisle features a tall four-light 15th-century Perpendicular window to the west gable and a five-light Perpendicular window with fine carved enrichment to cavetto moulded jambs and arch to the east gable. The north wall has two windows to the left of the north transept and four windows to the right, each a 15th-century Perpendicular design with three trefoil-headed lights under a four-centred outer arch. A circular rood stair projection occupies the angle to the left of the transept. The north transept contains a 13-light Y-tracery north window and a circa 16th-century basket arch doorway in the right-hand angle with the aisle.

The chancel east gable displays a late Decorated style three-light window with reticulated tracery, probably of the late 19th century, set within original 13th-century walling with a relieving arch of a narrower original window above. The south wall is substantially of 13th-century date with a three-light tracered window to the left, probably inserted in the 15th century, and a flat-headed window with hood mould and central mullion above a circa 16th-century basket-arched doorway to the chancel wall right of the south transept. To the left and right of the 16th-century doorway are two original lancets with later trefoil heads. At the far right is a blocked window opening with splayed wall for a squint across the angle between transept and chancel. The south transept was partly rebuilt by Sedding in 1894 with buttresses added to the corners at the south. A window in the south gable, probably also 1894, is in 14th-century style similar to the chancel east window. A two-light 15th-century traceried window opens to the east wall of the south transept. The porch has a chamfered doorway of uncertain date with a pointed arch of voussoirs. A possibly 13th-century stoup sits in the east wall of the porch.

The interior contains 15th-century waggon roofs over the nave and chancel, transepts, and a particularly fine 15th-century roof with carved ribs, purlins and bosses over the north aisle. A 15th-century seven-bay standard A (Pevsner classification) granite arcade with moulded capitals and steep four-centred arches separates the nave and chancel from the north aisle. A 15th-century squint between the south transept and chancel features a granite corbel over an octagonal pier as impost for 19th-century freestone transept arches. The rood stair in the north aisle wall springs from carved corbels. An old stone flagged floor and walls stripped of plaster, probably by Sedding, survive.

Fittings include a 13th-century octagonal goblet-shaped elvan font with two of the original four clasping turned and shaped shafts; a medieval altar slab with five incised crosses beneath the east window of the north transept; a 19th-century octagonal granite pulpit; and pitch pine pews.

Monuments of note comprise 14th-century finely carved freestone effigies of Sir Roger de Carminow (died 1308) and his widow Lady Johanna in an arched niche to the south wall of the south transept. These were removed from the 13th-century Carminow chapel during the reign of James I. The east wall of the north aisle contains a mausoleum to Sir Richard Vivian of Trelowarren, who died in 1655. On the top step riser under the tower arch is inscribed "PAV D. 1737. 11G. ID. CW". A curious chamber is built into the bank of the churchyard by the north aisle doorway.

The church is unusual in Cornwall for retaining some 13th-century features, although the greater proportion of the building dates to the 15th century. Remarkably, most of the original 15th-century roof structures remain intact, as do most of the 15th-century windows. The squint is particularly interesting, incorporating as it does the jamb reveal of an original 13th-century window. The tower is typical of 15th-century Cornish west towers and represents a very complete example.