Church Of Saint Credan

The Church of Saint Credan is a parish church with elements dating back to the Norman period, though largely rebuilt in the 15th century and extensively restored between 1881 and 1891 by J.D. Sedding. It incorporates a Norman font and a reset Norman doorway in the north wall.

The church is constructed primarily of granite ashlar for the tower and dressed granite and rubble for the rest, with dry Delabole slate roofs and granite coped gable ends. A granite ashlar chimney is situated over the right-hand wall of the north transept. The original layout was likely cruciform, but the building has been extended and altered over time. It comprises a nave and chancel under a single roof, a north transept, a late 14th or early 15th century west tower with an external stair turret against the north wall, a 15th-century south aisle (probably largely rebuilt between 1881 and 1891), a 15th-century south porch, and a projecting rood stair. While the tower retains medieval doorways and original windows, the chancel features a 15th-century five-light east window. Most other windows are 19th-century replacements replicating 15th-century designs, incorporating some original 15th-century masonry. The roof was re-laid in the 19th century, reusing fragments of the earlier 15th-century roofs.

The largely unaltered west tower is single-stage and unbuttressed, featuring embattled parapets and corner pinnacles. The west doorway is pointed, hollow-chamfered and arched, with two-light Perpendicular windows with traceried heads. The north doorway is roll-moulded and has a monolithic tympanum set back within a rubble arch. The 15th-century south porch doorway is hollow-chamfered, with a sundial inscribed "A C fecit 1752". A 15th-century four-centred arched inner doorway and a blocked ogee-arched-headed priest’s doorway are also present on the south wall.

Internally, the walls are plastered. A pointed tower arch, with moulded imposts, spans to the nave and chancel. A five-bay arcade separates the nave and chancel from the south aisle, with roll-moulded piers, and a two-bay arcade connects the nave and north transept. An arched doorway provides access to the rood stair. A holy water stoup is located in the porch. The roofs are predominantly waggon shape, dating from the 19th century, with reused 15th-century roof timbers in the south aisle and a virtually complete 15th-century waggon roof with 19th-century carved bosses in the porch. The Norman font is adorned with four angels holding shields. A carved panelled base, from the former rood screen, remains along with some original paint. Other fittings are largely in the Perpendicular style and date from the 19th century. There are two wall monuments: one to John Scobell of Poltair, died 1825, featuring a Tuscan aedicule with a segmentally arched pediment, and another to William Alexander Stanhope Forbes, 1893-1916, a student of architecture who died in the Somme battlefield. The latter monument includes a bronze half-length portrait in relief by Stanhope A Forbes (Newlyn School of painters).