Church of St Torney

Church of St Torney

Parish church dedicated to St Torney. The building comprises a nave and chancel with four-bay north and south aisles, a south porch with chamber above, a west tower, and a vestry. The chancel has early 14th-century origins, possibly earlier, while the nave, aisles, south porch and west tower date probably to the late 15th or early 16th century. The church was restored in 1868. It is constructed of stone rubble in the chancel, with ashlar granite to the north aisle and fine regular granite ashlar blocks to the south aisle and south porch.

The exterior is impressive with fine quality detailing. The south aisle, south porch and west tower may have been built by the same masons responsible for the Church of St Anietus at St Neot. The west tower has three stages with set-back corner buttresses, battlemented parapets and crocketted finials. The west door features a two-centred hollow chamfered arch with carved spandrels. Above it is a three-light west window with intersecting tracery, probably of the late 18th century but with an unusual band of carved roundels near the sill. The belfry lights are Perpendicular. Much tracery in the north and south aisles has been partly replaced in the 18th and 19th centuries. The south aisle has buttresses with set-offs terminating in crocketted finials. The interior of the impressive two-storey porch has a granite vaulted roof above the ground floor. A sundial dated 1753 is present.

The interior has had plaster removed from the walls. A tall, lofty four-centred tower arch features type A (Pevsner) moulded engaged piers. The nave and north and south aisles have high-quality late 15th-century waggon roofs, well carved and detailed. The chancel roof was restored in 1868 when it was decorated and painted. The four-bay north and south aisles are tall and lofty, with type A (Pevsner) moulded piers, moulded arches and carved and moulded capitals. The pews were replaced in 1896 using a 16th-century pattern, with well-carved and detailed bench ends. A 19th-century pulpit and lectern are present. A painted Royal Coat of Arms of Charles I is displayed.

The chancel contains a Norman font with a simple round bowl and shaft on a granite base. The chancel was extensively restored in 1868, when much fine-quality 14th-century work was discovered. Two 14th-century ogee niches flank the east window, along with a piscina and credence. The south wall has a sedilia, much restored, with pillars of polished serpentine. A tomb or Easter Sepulchre in the north wall features an elaborate 14th-century ogee arch. A squint connects the Trebartha pew to the chancel. Entrances to rood loft stairs are present.

The Trebartha pew at the east end of the south aisle has marquetry panels dated 1724, reset in later panelling. Fine memorials include a coloured slate ledger stone to Richard Spoure (1653) and an elaborate aedicular monument to Henry Spoure (1668). A mausoleum of the Rodd family lies beneath the east end of the north aisle. At the west end of the north aisle is a fine slate table tomb of Thomas Vincent of Battens and Jane his wife (1606).