Pillaton, St. Odulph's Church

At the very beginning of March 2019 I headed down east, beyond Liskeard to visit a couple of fairly remote churches in Pillaton and Quethiock. St. Odulph is an unfamiliar name but odolphie.com suggests It is probably fair to assume that the name derives from St Odulph also Odolphus. He was an Augustinian canon born in Oirschot, North Brabant, in what is now the Netherlands, became a missionary and followed St Boniface in bringing Christianity to the Frisians. He died in 855AD and his saint’s day is June 2nd. Pillaton is most easily approached from the A338 near St. Mellion. The church stands next to a pub, the delightfully named Weary Friar. St. Odulph's consists of tower, porch, nave, north aisle, chancel and south transept. The first thing you notice, even before entering the church, is the fine wagon roof of the porch. The doorway to the body of the church is probably Tudor; beside it stands a small slate cross. Inside, the most noticeable feature is in the south transept, where rood stair openings remain in place. Wagon roofs in the north aisle and south transept are of the 15th century; nave and chancel roofs are replacements from 1878. Unusually there are two boards carrying the Royal Arms, one dated 1663 of Charles II, the other dated 1729 of George III. Oddly there are monuments to the Tillies of Pentillie, though that is some miles away, on the banks of the River Tamar. Stained glass is mostly late 19th century. An octagonal pulpit stands on an octagonal shaft. a hexagonal pulpit stands on a light granite base; the adjacent eagle lectern is of a similar medium oak. The chancel is worth lingering over; its wagon roof has a variety of carved and gilded bosses and its floor has good tiling. I enjoyed coffee in the Weary Friar.

Pillaton Chancel Ceiling

Pillaton Church of St. Odolph

The Weary Friar Inn