Church Of St Petrock

Church of St Petrock

The parish church of St Petrock is a substantial medieval building, much altered and enlarged over centuries. It began as a cruciform church with a tower at its crossing, dating to around the 12th century. In the early 14th century, the west end was demolished and the present nave was rebuilt, with two transepts added at that time. The north and south aisles date to the early 15th century, probably around 1436 when three altars were dedicated. The church was restored in the late 19th century. The building is constructed of granite rubble with slate roofs. Thin buttresses with set-offs run around the entire church.

The nave and aisles are unified under a single roof. The north aisle contains two restored Perpendicular three-light windows and a restored three-light window with intersecting tracery, alongside three-light straight-headed windows with a blocked 13th-century doorway below. The south aisle has two restored three-light Perpendicular windows, a three-light window with restored intersecting tracery, and a hollow-chamfered two-centred arch south doorway fitted with a nail-studded plank door with wrought iron strap hinges. A south porch, probably 15th century, has a two-centred moulded arch doorway. The chancel features restored Perpendicular windows: three lights to the south and four lights to the east. The north and south transepts have restored four-light Perpendicular windows; the north transept also has a blocked east window. Chapels to the north and south of the chancel, occupying the angles with the transepts, feature moulded battlements and restored four-light Perpendicular windows. The south chapel has a small chamfered depressed arch on its south side and a rood stair turret with battlements in the angle with the south transept.

The west tower, originally positioned at the crossing, is unbuttressed and features three string courses and battlements on a corbel table. It has lancet bell-openings and blocked tower arches on its north and west sides. The blocked arch on the west side has an inserted three-light window with intersecting tracery and restored mullions, with a hollow-chamfered two-centred arch window below it. A vestry now occupies the position of the original south transept.

The interior comprises five bays of north and south arcades, plus one bay towards the chancel chapels. The arcades have double-chamfered arches and tall octagonal granite piers with moulded limestone capitals. The arches to the transepts are stilted on the east side to accommodate the former screen, which has since been removed. A double-chamfered four-centred chancel arch sits high on corbels. The tower arch is a plain two-centred form with imposts; a blocked arch appears on the south side of the tower. The nave, transepts, and chancel are roofed with a late 19th-century inserted waggon roof.

The chancel contains triple sedilia on its south side, featuring cusped ogee arches; two have shields in their spandrels. The piscina has a cusped arch and multifoil bowl. A cusped ogee-arched piscina also appears in the north chapel. The font is a notable survival, late 12th century in red sandstone with a round bowl, cable moulding around the top, and a wide frieze of palmettes and zigzag below. The base of a late medieval wooden screen is now used as an altar rail.

Late 19th-century furnishings include carved choir stalls, a pulpit, and a brass eagle lectern. The church contains several monuments: a slate tablet to Johannis Cary (1729) in the north chapel; three wall monuments from the early to mid-19th century in the chancel; a marble wall monument to Admiral William Cuming (1824) by Kendall of Exeter, depicting a mourning female bent over an urn; and a painted board at the west end of the north aisle commemorating Robert Prowse and his wife (1717) with a Latin inscription.