Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Lifton

This is a parish church of mixed periods, retaining a 12th-century font but substantially rebuilt and remodelled from the 14th century onwards. The building is constructed of dressed stone brought to course with ashlar masonry, granite dressings, and a slate roof. It comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle, south chancel chapel, west tower, north porch and north east vestry, all laid out in largely Perpendicular style.

The 12th-century church is represented only by the font. The 14th-century work includes parts of the chancel and chancel chapel arches, whose surviving responds and carved capitals are sufficiently similar to work at Kelly church to suggest they came from the same mason's workshop. During the late 15th century the nave, chancel and chancel chapel were remodelled and the west tower was built. Evidence of an earlier tower on the north side was reportedly discovered during the 1871 restoration. The south aisle and south porch are post-Reformation additions financed by William Harris of Hayne, who purchased the manor in 1555. Documentation from 1836 refers to work on a "transept".

Before the major restoration of 1871, the fabric (with the exception of the tower) was in very poor condition. The 1871 work involved rebuilding the chancel and chancel chapel arches, lowering the nave floor and reseating the church.

The chancel's east wall has a coped gable and a deeply recessed 3-light arched Perpendicular window with Y-tracery, with some stonework replaced. The roof has been widened with evidence of rebuilding in the gable. The south chancel chapel has a coped east gable and a deeply recessed 3-light Perpendicular east window with hoodmould, alongside a square-headed 3-light 16th-century south window with hoodmould, label stops and replaced mullions. An arched granite priest's door on the south side appears to be late 19th or 20th century. The south aisle, of roughly dressed coursed stone with slate lacing, has two 19th-century buttresses with set-offs and four 3-light square-headed 19th-century stone windows and one 3-light square-headed 16th-century granite window, all with hoodmoulds and label stops. The west wall of the aisle has a coped gable and a 3-light Perpendicular arched granite window with hoodmould, label stops and replaced mullions. A 3-light square-headed granite north window to the chancel has hoodmould, label stops and replaced mullions. The rectangular 1871 vestry has a chamfered granite doorway on its east side and a 3-light square-headed window on the north side with hoodmould and label stops, the light heads appearing to be 16th-century work. To the west of the vestry is an arched chamfered pulpit window. Two square-headed granite 3-light Perpendicular windows to the nave have hoodmoulds and label stops, with five mullions replaced.

The large 2-storey 16th-century porch has an embattled parapet and a polygonal corner stair turret on the west side. It features a moulded arched doorway with carved spandrels beneath a square-headed hoodmould with carved label stops. Above the doorway is an ogee-headed statue niche crowned with an engaged finial.

The fine 15th-century 3-stage embattled west tower has ashlar set-back buttresses with set-offs and an internal north-west stair turret with quatrefoil lights. A plinth sits below a moulded string course, with strings marking the stages. Large octagonal corner pinnacles have crocketted finials. The arched moulded west doorway has carved spandrels beneath a square-headed hoodmould with carved label stops. A deeply recessed 4-light Perpendicular west window (mullions replaced) has a hoodmould, label stops and a frieze of blind quatrefoils in roundels above the sill. The south face of the tower has a chamfered 4-centred arched opening at the bellringers' stage. All four faces feature 3-light Perpendicular traceried belfry openings with hoodmoulds and label stops.

The interior contains a 6-bay Perpendicular granite south arcade with 2 bays to the chancel. The piers are monoliths of 4 shafts and 4 hollows with moulded capitals of various designs. The 14th-century moulded freestone chancel arch is carried on a moulded freestone north respond with a carved capital (comparable to Kelly church) and on a large granite corbel to the south. A 19th-century granite arch into the south chancel chapel has a similar arrangement with a 14th-century respond to the south and a 19th-century granite corbel to the north. The heavily moulded tower arch springs high from carved capitals on moulded shafts. Ceiled wagon roofs to the nave and chancel are boarded with ribs bearing fleurons and carved bosses, appearing largely medieval. The south aisle and chancel chapel have 19th-century ceiled wagon roofs.

The chancel features a gabled timber reredos of 1910 with blind tracery and pinnacles, flanked by stone communion panels set in an ambitious architectural stone surround dating to circa 1840, which incorporates pinnacles, crocketted finials and tabernacle work. A trefoil-headed piscina on the south wall may be 14th-century. The chancel has 19th-century tiling.

The outstanding 12th-century font has a square bowl with chamfered corners beneath four carved heads with angular profiles. The sides of the bowl are carved with intersecting round-headed blind arcading, leaves and dog-tooth ornament. The bowl stands on an octagonal plinth and base. A 5-sided timber drum pulpit of 1910 has pierced tracery sides on a stem with struts. Contemporary with the 1871 work are rectangular bench ends and choir stalls with poppy heads. A 1910 timber eagle lectern stands on an elaborate pinnacled base. Two 16th-century panels with arabesque carving, possibly part of a screen, are fixed to the west wall.

A prominent 17th-century monument in coloured marbles to members of the Harris family dominates the north wall of the chancel. Three alabaster three-quarter-size figures kneel on a moulded half-chest set on a plinth. The figures are divided by four Roman Ionic columns supporting an entablature crowned by four obelisks and three tall gabled inscription panels with putti lounging on the pediments. The monument is probably of 1630 and commemorates Sir William (died 1590), Sir Arthur (died 1618) and Lady Florence Harris (died 1631). An inscription records that it was repaired and beautified in 1762 and 1795. A second monument on the south wall of the chancel chapel commemorates John and Margaret Dynham of Wortham, died 1641 and 1649. It features a central cartouche with armorial bearing in relief flanked by Corinthian columns supporting a pediment containing a bearded figure, putti and obelisks, with an inscription panel below. Some original colour survives. A brass plaque to John Harris de Hayne (died 1657) with armorial bearings above an inscription is fixed to the north wall of the chancel chapel. The east window of circa 1905 is probably by Drake of Exeter, whilst the north chancel window is by Beer and Driffield. Royal arms of William IV are displayed on the north wall of the nave.