Boconnoc Parish Church (Dedication Unknown)

Boconnoc Parish Church (dedication unknown)

This is a parish and manorial church of medieval origin, comprising a nave dating from circa the 14th century with a south aisle and short north chancel aisle (family chapel) added in the late 15th century. A south porch was added circa the 16th century. The south west turret is attributed to George Matthew Fortescue, who died in 1877. The church was substantially restored in 1873 and repaired in 1935 with a grant from the Church Building Society.

The exterior is constructed of moulded granite plinth with roughly coursed stone to the nave and chancel. The south aisle is finished with coursed stone and moulded coping to the parapet, while the north chancel aisle is built of rubble stone and the porch of snecked stone. The roofs are covered in rag slate, with the nave and chancel unified under one continuous roof. The chancel projects beyond the two-bay north chancel aisle, and the six-bay south aisle projects slightly beyond the nave at the west.

The window tracery was considerably restored in 1873. The east window features three lights with 19th-century Perpendicular tracery. Three 3-light windows with 19th-century round heads appear on the north side of the nave, with original mullions, hoods and drips. The north chancel aisle contains two 3-light and one 2-light Perpendicular window, all 19th-century work. The south aisle east window has a 2-light Perpendicular window with 19th-century cushed heads, whilst the hoods and mullions appear original. Three 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular windows light the south side of the south aisle. The west door in the west end of the south aisle has a Tudor arch with roll moulding, with a 19th-century 2-light window featuring intersecting tracery above.

The church features an engaged octagonal turret with splayed arched openings, one of which is an earlier reset window. Above this sits an octagonal bell turret with splayed elliptical arched openings and a battlemented parapet above a string course. The gabled porch has a pointed arched opening, with a sundial inscribed "RC DT TG 1716" set at an angle above it.

Interior

The interior contains a six-bay arcade with type A granite piers (Pevsner classification) with octagonal capitals and moulded bases. An identical two-bay arcade serves the north chancel aisle. The original waggon roof to the nave features a ceiled design with carved arcade plate and bosses. The north chancel aisle retains a waggon roof that has been restored and partly replaced, with some original bosses and carved arcade plate remaining. The south porch has a restored waggon roof. The south aisle is roofed with a 19th-century scissor brace design.

Furnishings and Fittings

Seating is largely replaced from the late 19th century onwards, though some earlier benches with fielded panels survive on the south of the south aisle. Bench ends, possibly of 18th-century date and decorated with carved naturalistic foliage, have been incorporated into the east side of the front benches of the nave and into benches at the east end of the south aisle.

The rood screen, dating to circa the early 16th century and possibly taken from Bradoc Church, has been reused as a parclose screen to the north chancel aisle. It comprises two sets of three panels divided by an arcade pier with Perpendicular tracery on a partly restored base decorated with banded quatrefoils and blind arches.

The font dates to circa the 15th century. It is constructed of stone on a recarved octagonal base, with a square bowl featuring cusped decorative patterns in circles, set on a tall cylindrical shaft with four engaged octagonal capitals to round shafts at each corner.

An octagonal oak pulpit dated 1629 is decorated with cherubs holding musical instruments at each corner, with panels of carved naturalistic foliage slightly cruder than those of the reused bench ends. The original timber base survives.

A reredos was erected in 1888, reusing carved wood from Boconnoc House. The carved oak altar table bears the inscription "Made by me Sir. Raynold Mohun, 1621." An oak seat to the left of the altar table is inscribed "1659 I H." The north chancel aisle contains 14 Chippendale chairs. A large plaster royal arms of Charles II hangs in the church, probably by Michael Chuke of Kilkhampton.

Monuments and Monuments

A monument to Penelope Mohun (died 1637) appears on the north wall of the east end of the south aisle. It depicts a kneeling woman looking towards the altar in an aedicular surround with cherubs in the spandrels and a wreath of foliage behind the figure. The work is executed in painted slate and alabaster. At high level above the arcade on the south of the nave are two fine carved relief monuments. One on the west depicts a woman kneeling facing the altar in a rectangular surround. The one to the east shows figures of Time (with hour glass) and Death (skeleton) standing by a sleeping figure. Several decorative 17th-century slate gravestones have been reset into the floor of the nave and south aisle.