Church Of St Sampson

Church of St Sampson

This is the parish church and mother church of Callington, dedicated in 1333. The building comprises a nave, chancel, north transept and the first two stages of a west tower, all dating to around the 1330s. A four-bay south aisle and the upper stage of the tower were added in the 15th century, with a south porch added in the late 15th century. The building was restored in 1871.

The main walls are of stone rubble with moulded plinths. The nave, chancel, north transept and west tower have corner buttresses and supporting buttresses to the chancel and nave. The south porch is constructed of large blocks of granite ashlar, as is the upper stage of the tower. The roof is of slate with a slightly higher ridge over the chancel. The nave roof has been altered, with evidence of a formerly higher roof marked on the east side of the tower.

The west tower rises in three stages with angle buttresses to the first stage, moulded plinths and string courses, and a battlemented parapet with pinnacles. The west doorway has a moulded two-centred arch with triple cavetto mould and fillets between. The door itself is from around the 17th century, vertically planked and studded with strap hinges. The west window, which has been restored, contains two lights with renewed cusped heads and a quatrefoil above, with two single light openings with cusped heads above. Slate panels with cross-shaped ventilation holes are present. The belfry openings are two-lights with Perpendicular tracery, the west light slightly off centre, with slate panels below. A frieze beneath the parapet contains a band of Apostles in relief with possibly angels on the corners. A weather vane sits on the south-east pinnacle. A corrugated asbestos lean-to has been added to the north side of the tower.

On the north side of the nave to the west of the transept are two two-centred openings with 19th-century Decorated tracery of two lights with cusped heads, trefoils above and a quatrefoil in the centre, with hoodmoulds. To the east is a two-light window with restored 19th-century geometric tracery beneath a two-centred arch that projects into the west wall of the north transept. The north window of the north transept is set within a slightly blocked opening with a pointed relieving arch and contains circa 15th-century Perpendicular tracery beneath a four-centred arch with a roll mould and hoodmould. An opening on the east of the north transept is blocked.

The chancel has a straight joint on its north wall to the east of the north transept above the plinth. Two two-centred arched openings with restored simple tracery and hoodmoulds are present. The east window contains three lights with restored Decorated tracery of freestone with cusped heads and soufflets, with a four-petal star above. The south window of the chancel is a restored two-light Decorated window. The east window of the south aisle is a Perpendicular four-light window beneath a four-centred arch. The south aisle contains three Perpendicular three-light windows from around the 15th century with granite tracery beneath four-centred arches with hoodmoulds, with a similar three-light window to the west of the porch.

The south porch features a three-centred granite arch with moulded jambs comprising a double roll mould, a moulded hood and labels. A sundial, dated 184-, sits above. The south doorway has a two-centred moulded arch.

The roof structures include unstained king post trusses with arch braces to the nave and north transept. The chancel retains an original waggon roof with a central moulded longitudinal rib and three painted shields. The south aisle has an original stained waggon roof with moulded ribs, recently painted shields and carved bosses. The four-bay south aisle features tall moulded type A piers (after Pevsner) with moulded bases and caps and four-centred moulded arches. The westernmost engaged pier is cruder with a tall moulded base. The tower arch is a four-centred arch with mouldings to the arch dying out to the jambs, comparable with St Ive Parish Church. A squint connects the north transept (known as Manaton Chapel) and the chancel.

The interior contains 19th-century furnishings. A Norman font is inscribed with a Chi Rho sign, featuring a round bowl decorated with a tree of life and two long animals in profile, with four figure heads at the corners. The round shaft has four columns continuing from the figure heads, with a later base added. A piscina at the east end of the north transept has a cusped head but is badly eroded. A Decorated piscina from around the 1330s is located in the south-east corner of the chancel with an ogee cusped arch. The south window of the chancel projects into earlier simple sedilia. Two Decorated tomb recesses from around the 1330s are on the north side of the chancel with ogeed arches with cusping and bulbous finials; the western recess is pierced by a squint from the north transept. A carved table from around the 17th century stands at the west end of the church.

Monuments include a monument to John Manaton and his wife dated 1507 in the Manaton chapel in the north transept. In the east wall is a monument to Michael Hill, son of Michael Hill of Trenethick and Frances, daughter of Samuel Manaton of Manaton, dated 1663, featuring a figure in relief half kneeling at a library table with his head resting on his hand and his elbow on a skull, set within an aedicular frame with moulded cornice and marble columns, with remains of ancient colour and an inscription below. A classical monument to Grace Parson, died 1778, is on the north wall of the nave. Stencilled text appears around the east window, and stencilled patterns on the organ. Two reset headstones are on the east wall of the porch, to Sampson Lucas, died 1730, and to Joseph Lucas, died 1729, the latter engraved and signed by William Lucas.

Four bells are present in the tower: 1/5, 2/5, 3/5 and 4/5, all cast in 1698 by J. Pennington.