Church Of St George

Church of St George at Thrushelton

This is a former chapelry to Marystow parish church, now standing as an independent building. Some of the walling may date from the 13th or 14th century. The chancel arch and two bays of the arcade are 14th century, while the tower dates to the 14th or 15th century. The south chancel chapel arch and one bay of the arcade are 15th century, with some fenestration surviving from the 14th century. The building underwent modest restoration in the 19th century and is largely Perpendicular in character.

The original plan may have consisted of a 13th-century nave and chancel, with the chancel arch rebuilt in the 14th century when the south aisle was added. The south chancel chapel was either remodelled or added in the late 15th century, when the south aisle was re-roofed and the nave and south aisle received new windows. The building is constructed of stone rubble with a slate roof and granite and freestone dressings.

The chancel has masonry of small dimensions with quoins at the north east corner and a straight joint where it meets the south chancel chapel. The east window is a three-light traceried window in the Decorated style, dating to the 19th century with replaced mullions and a hoodmould. The north side of the chancel has no windows. The nave is notably tall for its length, featuring two two-light square-headed windows of the late 15th century with cusped lights and hoodmoulds. A blocked window high up on the west end of the north side may have originally lit a former west gallery.

The south aisle has quoins at its south west corner and a change in plinth on the south side. A three-light reticulated traceried window of the 14th century occupies the west end, with a moulded architrave, hoodmould, and iron stanchions and saddle bars that remain intact. On the south side, the aisle features a three-light square-headed Perpendicular window of the late 15th century with cusped lights, a hoodmould, and carved label stops. To the right of this window are the remains of a polygonal rood loft stair turret. The south chancel chapel sits under a lower roof than the aisle and has a similar three-light square-headed late 15th-century window, along with a south east angle buttress. Its east window is a three-light reticulated granite window with a hoodmould and carved label stops.

The three-stage battlemented west tower has only one string course and a projecting rectangular north east stair turret with a lean-to roof. The tower features quoins and octagonal corner pinnacles with obelisk finials. The west face has a chamfered pointed doorway below a three-light 19th-century freestone Decorated window with a hoodmould. There are four chamfered one-light belfry openings, one on each face, with the south side having an additional similar opening.

The south west porch has a coped gable with a late 15th-century doorway in a moulded square-headed architrave with carved label stops. The interior of the porch retains a ceiled waggon roof, of which only the carved wallplate and outer ribs survive. Stone benches have timber seats. Fixed to the east wall is an 18th-century cartwheel that caused the death of Valentine Spry in 1788. The inner doorway is a chamfered stopped arched stone feature.

The interior has plastered walls. The chancel arch is double-chamfered granite supported on five-sided piers with chamfered capitals, and may have been reconstructed. A tall narrow tower arch has a chamfered inner arch carried on moulded corbels. The arcade consists of three bays: two to the nave and one to the chancel. The two nave bays have double-chamfered arches springing from low octagonal piers. The chancel bay features a shallow-moulded arch carried on responds with hollows and shafts and moulded capitals, with the easternmost respond unfinished. The arch into the south chancel chapel has no respond on the north side, where it is carried on a moulded capital above the stub of a shaft; on the south side the respond has a hollow and shaft moulding with a moulded capital.

The nave roof is a plastered barrel with a moulded plastered wallplate. The south aisle has a good quality ceiled waggon roof of approximately late 15th-century date, featuring a carved wallplate, ribs, and bosses. The south chancel chapel has a roof of similar design but differing in detail. The chancel roof is a ceiled waggon with a brattished carved wallplate, moulded ribs, and carved bosses, with an additional rib creating a ceilure effect immediately to the east of the chancel arch. The doorways to the stair turret are blocked.

The chancel is modestly furnished with a panelled dado, early 19th-century commandment boards, and a timber reredos carved with quatrefoils and a star of David. The font is a plain octagonal piece, possibly 15th-century, on an octagonal stem and base. A five-sided 19th-century drum pulpit on a stem has traceried panels. The timber eagle lectern is probably early 20th-century. Plain 19th-century benches complete the interior furnishings.