Church Of St Mary

A parish church of 14th-century origin with significant 15th-century additions and 19th-century restoration. The building comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle, south porch, south transept, west tower, and polygonal north stair tower. The structures display a mix of architectural periods in Perpendicular style.

The main body of the church—nave, chancel and aisle—is built in mixed slate and granite rubble with large granite quoins to the aisle. The tower, rood stair, west end of aisle and porch are constructed of granite ashlar with greenstone dressings to the aisle and metamorphic stone dressings to the porch and tower. The 19th-century south transept is granite ashlar. Roofs are slate with raised coped verges and cresting of 19th-century date; the porch has a cross finial, and the tower has a lead roof.

The two-stage west tower has a 2-centred arched west door with a surround of two roll-mouldings and one hollow in metamorphic stone. The spandrels feature quatrefoils with a hood-mould. The 19th-century door has strap hinges. Above is a 3-light window with a 4-centred head, cusped lights, hood-mould and relieving arch. The second stage to the south has a smaller 2-light window with 20th-century glazing and mullion. The third stage contains two 2-light bell-openings with cusped lights, slate louvres, flat head and hood-mould. The tower has an embattled parapet with obelisk pinnacles and ball finials, a moulded plinth and string courses, and a buttress rising to the first stage on the south side. A polygonal north stair tower has lancets and an embattled parapet, with string courses continued around it.

The 2-bay nave has two 3-light north windows with 4-centred heads, roll-moulded mullions, cusped lights and hood-mould. The right window has mouldings replaced in late 19th or early 20th-century granite and limestone; the left window has a replaced lower section of mullions with wave-moulded architraves. A polygonal rood stair to the left has lancets and moulded plinth matching the tower.

The single-bay chancel has a 3-light north window with flat head, hood-mould, relieving arch and cusped light lancets. A 3-light east window has a 2-centred arched head, hood-mould, relieving arch and cusped lights in slatestone. A weathered buttress stands at the junction with the south aisle. The aisle's 3-light east window is a triple lancet with upper tracery in greenstone, replaced mullions, hood-mould and relieving arch over a 4-centred head.

The south side of the aisle has a 3-light window matching the north side of the chancel, with hood-mould and convex-moulded architrave. Attached to this wall are two slate ledger stones. One commemorates Mary Veare, 1740, with paired inscription panels, an hourglass with wings in the centre, and a skull with crossed bones in the spandrels. The second is to John Hawkins, blacksmith, 1721, and other family members, featuring two panels with a shield of arms and skull with crossed bones to the left and a stylised vase of flowers to the right.

At the west end, the aisle has a plinth slightly lower than the tower, with visible lines of roof alterations in the gable end. A 3-light window in metamorphic stone has a 4-centred arch, cusped lights, upper tracery and hood-mould.

The gabled south porch has a 2-centred arched opening in metamorphic stone with three hollow mouldings and hood-mould. A moulded plinth and low string course are continuous with the west end of the aisle. A slate sundial with gnomon dates to 1702 on the gable end. The porch interior has a scored slate floor with wooden benches to the sides. A depressed arched inner opening has an architrave of two roll and one hollow moulding in metamorphic stone, matching the west tower doorway, with circles carved in the spandrels, flat head and hood-mould. Above is a greenstone image niche with a trefoil head. A moulded wall-plate in greenstone supports a second timber wall-plate above. The porch has a fine 2-bay roof with moulded arched-braces with pendants, collars and moulded collar purlin, one row of moulded purlins and carved bosses. A 19th-century wrought-iron gate hangs in the opening.

A two-storey south transept has a 4-light south window at first-floor level with Y-traceried mullion, buttresses and plinth. A 3-light ground-floor window to the east has cusped ogee heads in a recessed reveal. A tall 2-light window on the south side of the aisle between the transept and porch, contemporary with the transept, is in granite with cusped ogee heads.

The nave interior has a 4-bay 19th-century roof of principal rafters, arched-braces, cambered collars and two tiers of windbraces with wallplate and one row of purlins. A 2-bay arcade continues for a further 2 bays into the chancel and chapel, with three central piers of Pevsner A-type in metamorphic stone and a west pier in similar stone of lighter colour. Two arches in the nave are low 4-centred with roll-mouldings; the taller 2-centred arches in the chancel have two wave mouldings.

In the north wall is a door to the former rood stair with segmental head, and an upper 19th-century rood door with flat head. A 19th-century wooden pulpit on a granite base stands by the lower door. The north windows show 19th-century reconstruction to the left; the right window is only partially replaced, retaining a roll-moulded architrave. A 2-centred tower arch has two chamfered orders with a cornice at the springing.

The chancel has a 3-bay roof as in the nave. The east window has a hollow-chamfered rere-arch. The north window has a roll-moulded surround and mullion. A 15th-century piscina to the right of the altar has a chamfered 4-centred arch and drain. A chamfered triple pier in metamorphic stone at the east end of the arcade dates to the 15th century; other piers are 19th-century.

The south chapel has a 3-bay roof as the nave. Its east window is a 19th-century reconstruction with surround in the style of the chancel east window. The south wall has a reset Norman piscina with a cambered head and cross mouldings to the sides. The south window contains an image niche on the left jamb with a 19th-century Perpendicular style hood. A mid-19th-century carved wooden rood screen spans the chancel and chapel.

The south aisle has a 4-bay roof as the nave. A door opening has a cambered head with a holy water stoup to the east. A Tudor-arched door to the vestry has a 19th-century Perpendicular style stoup to the west. Above is an ogee-headed 3-light window to the upper vestry level with trefoil heads to the lights. The west window has a splayed metamorphic stone reveal with replacement mullions. The vestry contains a straight stair with turned balusters to an upper room.

The tower contains a mid-19th-century bellframe with bells dated 1720, 1809 and one of 19th-century date.

Fittings include an octagonal granite font in the south aisle, possibly of medieval origin and recut in the 19th century, with decorative ironwork cover. Two marble tablets on slate in the south aisle commemorate William Martin, 1837, and John Martin, 1838, both by R. Hingston of Plymouth and Tavistock. A fine set of late 19th-century stained glass is in the style of Kempe.