Parish Church Of St Mary

Parish Church of St Mary

This is a parish church of mixed medieval periods, substantially rebuilt and restored during the 19th century. The chancel is partly 14th-century and was restored in 1760. The nave and north aisle date to around the late 15th century. The south porch and vestry were added in 1865, and the west tower was rebuilt in 1885.

The church is largely constructed in dressed stone brought to course, with the vestry and porch in dressed stone. The tower, aisle, and chancel are built in ashlar. Scantle slate roofs cover the vestry and north aisle, while asbestos slate roofs cover the nave, chancel, and porch. A 14th-century build probably accounts for the original nave and chancel, of which one respond survives. The north aisle and north chancel chapel were added around the late 15th century, possibly when the nave was rebuilt. The nave contains 16th-century fenestration.

The chancel is largely Perpendicular in style with ashlar masonry on a chamfered rubble plinth and granite dressings. A plaque in the east gable reads "Done by John Bollon, 1710". On the south side of the chancel are two 4-light arched untraceried granite windows bearing "R E 17 10" on the label stops, marking them as the work of Richard Edgecumbe, rector from 1702 to 1769. The east gable is coped and features a 5-light 19th-century Perpendicular east window under a hoodmould and a 1-light pulpit window under a square-headed hoodmould. A fine 4-light 15th-century Perpendicular chancel east window is deeply recessed in a moulded architrave with hoodmould and label stops, though the mullions have been replaced.

The north aisle is 5 bays in length with buttresses featuring set-offs and angle buttresses at the east and west ends. Its east gable is coped with a different plinth from the chancel. Four 15th-century Perpendicular windows light the aisle, each with hoodmoulds and label stops. The westernmost bay contains an arched moulded doorway under a square hoodmould with carved label stops and carved spandrels. A 3-light Perpendicular west window has a hoodmould and label stops. There are 2 bays to the chancel.

The large 3-stage battlemented west tower, rebuilt in 1885, has set-back buttresses with set-offs and crocketted corner pinnacles on octagonal shafts. The tower has a plinth and moulded strings marking the stages. An internal north-west stair turret serves the tower. An arched moulded granite west doorway features decorative carving below a square-headed hoodmould with trefoils carved in the spandrels. A deeply recessed 3-light west window displays Geometric tracery below a hoodmould. The west face of the tower has a 4-centred arched moulded opening at the bellringers' stage in a moulded rectangular architrave. 2-light arched belfry openings appear on all four faces of the tower. The tower features unusual run-out stops below the battlementing.

The irregular 1865 vestry and porch has an asymmetrical coped gable. The vestry contains a 2-light Decorated 19th-century window and a stone chimney carried on corbels. Two quatrefoil lights pierce the east wall of the porch. An arched moulded outer doorway to the porch sits below a blind trefoil in the gable. The porch roof is a 19th-century collar rafter construction with a granite arched inner doorway.

The interior contains a moulded south respond of the chancel arch probably from the 14th century with a capital including carved heads. The moulded chancel arch is carried on a granite corbel on the spandrel of the north arcade; this arch was presumably rebuilt when the north aisle was added. A similar arch carried on corbels connects the north aisle to the north chancel chapel, which may have originally served as a chantry. The piers of the north arcade are of Pevsner 'A' type, though some variations and replacements to carved capitals are evident. A segmental pointed tower arch is carried on moulded responds with capitals. The 19th-century unceiled waggon roofs feature carved bases. Rectangular 19th-century bench ends are decorated with blind tracery. A rectangular late 19th-century pulpit also displays blind tracery. A plain octagonal font on shaft and base is probably 15th-century in origin, though recut in the 19th century.

The east window of the north aisle contains important late 15th-century glass. This glass was originally in fragmentary condition in the east window until 1879, when it was restored by Baillie and Son of Wardour Street. During restoration, parts of the medieval glass were repainted and 19th-century glass was added. The window was redesigned to display single figures: Edward the Confessor, the Virgin Mary, the Crucifixion, and St John, with angels in the head tracery. The glass was originally donated by Mr Tremayne of Collacombe on the occasion of a Tremayne-Kelly marriage. The west window of the north aisle commemorates Admiral Benedictions Kelly, who died in 1867, and is in the mosaic style, probably by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. The tower window, the easternmost window of the north aisle, and the east window are all by Lavers and Westlake.

Three slate memorials to the Kelly family are fixed to the east wall of the north aisle: one to Oliver Kelly dated 1514, one to Thomas Kelly dated 1605, and one to William Kelly dated 1627. A wall monument to Richard Edgcumbe, who died in 1710, is fixed to the south wall of the chancel. It comprises two columns supporting an entablature with a segmental pediment and an oval inscription table below.