Church Of King Charles The Martyr The Church Institute

Church of King Charles the Martyr, Falmouth

A parish church built between 1662 and 1665, when it was consecrated by Dr Seth Ward, Lord Bishop of Exeter. The church was commissioned by Sir Peter Killigrew and partly funded by Charles II, to whom it is dedicated (in honour of his father, Charles I), and also funded by James, Duke of York. The chancel and tower date from around 1684, with improvements made in 1706 for Robert Corker. The upper clock stage of the tower and pinnacles were added in 1800. In 1813, a new chancel window was inserted and the original chancel was demolished, with the church lengthened by about one-third at this time. A vestry was added in 1861. The main fabric was restored around 1896 to a modified design by E Sedding. The Church Institute was added to the vestry in 1925 by C Russell Corfield, accessed from Arwenack Street.

The building is constructed of killas rubble with granite dressings, with dry Delabole slate roofs featuring coped gables. The three main parallel roofs have exposed rafter ends.

The plan comprises a nave and chancel, north and south aisles, an extremely small rectangular west tower, north and south porches, a small north vestry transept and south organ transept, with the Church Institute attached to the north-east corner.

The exterior displays Perpendicular Survival style. The two-storey elevations (for a former gallery) feature a four-window range on the north wall, a three-window range on the south wall, and a single-window range at the west end of each aisle. The original four-light windows are set under basket-arched hood-moulds. There are two ashlar buttresses to the north wall. The east end has three large Venetian windows. The north porch has a pointed-arched doorway, while the early 20th-century south porch, built in granite ashlar, has a round-arched doorway. The north transept contains three-light traceried windows. The slender, straight four-stage tower is divided by strings between stages, with small round-arched louvered or gridded openings, small battlements, and steep pyramidal corner pinnacles with ball finials. It has clockfaces on each side. A round-arched west doorway with a spoked fanlight is set above an 18th-century pair of panelled doors with fielded panels and HL hinges. A similar inner north doorway and fanlight has similar but later doors with strap hinges.

The interior contains six bays of Ionic granite and marble columns between the nave and chancel and the aisles. Three of the columns are original granite; one is a 1968 copy; the others date from the 1896 restoration and are of marble. An Ionic entablature serves as wall plates, with three plaster barrel vaults featuring carved ribs separating the bays. The central Venetian window has full Ionic details. A west gallery with fielded oak panelling was installed in 1896. The tower retains some original floor timbers.

The church contains notable furnishings and fittings. The pulpit incorporates 16th and 17th-century English and German carvings acquired by Reverend William Coope. Clergy stalls incorporate some old carved fragments. A rare Queen Anne period Royal Coat of Arms shows the union of Scotland and England. A credence table of 1759 bears the Killigrew Arms, as does a hexagonal marble and oak font of the same date with similar carved detail. A portrait of Charles I, attributed to Lely, was presented in 1913 by the Royalist Society. Late 19th and early 20th-century fittings include pews with square moulded ends; low marble walls surmounted by later wrought-iron screens between the sanctuary and side chapels; a turned granite balustrade forming the base of a later wrought-iron rood screen, the central part of which came from the Church of St Paul, Penzance; Gothic-style altars, including an incomplete memorial triptych above that in the Lady Chapel; and a brass memorial lectern dedicated to former churchwarden Mr J H Hunt.

The stained glass windows include a 1910 chancel (Sanctuary) window by Taylor and Clifden, donated by Mrs S H Hatch in memory of her parents Justin and Emma Smith. The Lady Chapel window is of late 19th-century date but incorporates some 18th-century Italian glass. The Warrior Chapel window is a War Memorial by the Red Cross Society. The vestry contains the coat of arms of Reverend William Coope.

Monuments include a Baroque marble and freestone monument to Thomas Corker (died 1709, aged 31); a pedimented marble monument to John Russell (died 1734); a monument with an urn against an obelisk by Paty of Bristol to Richard Lockyer (died 1789); a similar monument by Isbell of Truro to Captain James Bull; and a monument by Jacob and Thomas Olvers of Falmouth to Reverend Lewis Mathias (died 1837).