Church Of St Hermes

Church of St Hermes

Anglican parish church set within an oval churchyard. The building is of 15th-century origin but was substantially rebuilt in 1819–20 by John Foulston for the Reverend Cornelius Cardew. The structure is constructed of killas rubble with granite quoins and has slate roofs, while the tower is of granite ashlar.

The plan comprises a 19th-century rebuilt nave with an undifferentiated chancel, aisles running the full length of the building, and north and south transept chapels. The 15th-century west tower is the oldest surviving element. A south porch was added in 1867, featuring an early 17th-century granite doorway with moulded imposts and capitals supporting a three-centred moulded arch with blind spandrels infilled with a ball. All windows are 19th-century work in Perpendicular style, displaying three-light forms. Buttresses are crowned by stumpy crocketed pinnacles with cross terminals set on walls behind gutters, with similar spires applied to the transept gables. The west tower contains a moulded 15th-century door and three-light window over it, arranged in three stages. The tower features Perpendicular bell openings and a crenellated parapet, with a stair in the north-west angle.

The interior was rebuilt in the early 19th century and remains unplastered. The wide nave is continuous with the chancel and incorporates a reused 16th-century six-bay granite Cornish arcade, with the roof higher than the earlier nave—the creasing of which remains visible on the tower. The ceiling consists of a panelled segmental barrel vault with reused carved bosses, and similar shallow vaults span the aisles. The tower arch is chamfered, with a chamfered inner arch dying into imposts. Two very large mask corbels are reset above the original roof line. A later 19th-century south door was set where a former window existed. The arches to the transept chapels match the nave arcade. The priest's door on the south side of the chancel is tightly positioned between buttresses.

The font at the west end of the nave is a 13th-century basin mounted on a single column, ornamented with a tendril scroll around the rim and leaf pattern on each side, with a moulded octagonal base of later medieval date. The pulpit is a deeply carved oak memorial of 1903. Carved oak screens occupy the easternmost bays of the arcades. One pew retains 15th- or early 16th-century features, including one carved end and one linenfold end, though it has been altered.

Monuments include a marble slab set flush in a limestone frame in the south aisle, with a Latin inscription to the Reverend Cornelius Cardew, died 1831, and his wives. A white marble tablet on a grey field commemorates Mary Cardew, died 1808, with a cornice, splayed fluted ends, garland, arms, and corbel. In the south transept, a corniced tablet by Stephens of Exeter commemorates Edward Collins of Truthan, died 1831, and a white marble tablet with cornice, crest, arms, and scrolled apron by W. Pearce of Truro commemorates another Edward Collins, died 1833. In the north aisle, a simple corniced marble tablet on grey slate by Pearce commemorates George Simmons of Trevella, died 1854. A commemorative slab in the north transept records the rebuilding of the church in 1820 at a cost of £1,400, with Richard Bevan as builder. The Royal Arms of George IV, dated 1827, are painted on metal sheet showing the Lion and Unicorn partially emerging from an inclined oval shield with garter. A brass commemorates Robert Trencreeke of Trencreeke, dated 1594, shown in civil dress with his wife and family.

The earlier church possessed a large north chapel and apparently had no aisles. The Hermes dedication dates from the 1820 rebuilding. Saint Hermes was martyred in Rome on 28 August 116 or 117.