Church Of St Pancras

The Church of St Pancras began as a manorial chapel, possibly on an earlier site, with the earliest parts of the chancel dating back to 1482. The building was extensively extended and rebuilt in the 1820s, reusing the original stone, and further altered in 1870. A parish was created in 1898, and the west end suffered damage in 1939. In 1974, the choir stalls and pulpit were removed.

The church is constructed from slatestone rubble with freestone dressings, and has dry slate roofs laid in diminishing courses. A weathered buttressed bellcote sits atop the coped gable of the west end, and a rubble lateral stack is located at the angle between the west end and the north transept. The architectural style is Gothic.

The plan is cruciform, with a northeast chapel and a north porch at the west end. The chancel was extended eastwards in 1820, leaving only sections of the original north and south chancel walls.

The exterior features 3-light traceried windows with hoodmoulds and relieving arches to the east of the chancel and to the north and south of the transepts. Similar 2-light windows are present on the side walls of the transepts, and on the west wall of the south transept; these are likely from 1870 but designed in the style of the 1820 windows. The windows have leaded glazing. A 4-centred arched doorway is located on the south side of the west end, with two trefoils above it, and a doorway for gallery access is placed high on the left. The north porch, likely dating to 1870, has a 4-centred arched doorway with a hoodmould and a trefoil vent to the gable. Flat-roofed bays are set back on either side of the porch, containing blind trefoil-headed windows. A piece of marble from St Paul’s Cathedral has been incorporated into the south wall of the chancel.

Inside, the walls are plastered and the ceilings are painted moulded barrel vaults, except for the ribbed vault in the chancel extension. A gallery is located at the west end. Notable fittings include a 15th-century (1482) octagonal, painted stone font with shields and cinquefoil-arched panels, brought from the Church of St Budeaux in 1820. A painted creed is displayed on the north wall of the chancel, and a tablet of charities, reused from the old chapel, is positioned near the north doorway.

Several 19th-century wall monuments are present, some of which were relocated from the earlier chapel. These include a marble monument with a pediment dedicated to Thomas Were, who died in 1736 aged 59, and a marble and slate monument to Ann Trelawny (1696-17...).