Trethevy, St. Piran's Church
This Trethevy, just off the road between Tintagel and Boscastle, should not be confused with Trethevy Quoit at Darite south of Minions on Bodmin Moor. Yet, oddly, only a short distance from this Trethevy, and on the opposite side of the road, is a large flat stone known as KING ARTHURS' QUOIT. I visited this Trethevy early in October 2019, primarily to visit ST. PIRAN'S CHURCH, or Chapel as it should be known as it is a Chapel of Ease to St. Materiana's Church in Tintagel. I suggest, if there is space there, parking in the Rocky Valley Car Park, on the other side of the main road from the lane up to St. Piran's Church. The lane is signed to Rocky Valley and it is only a hundred yards or so up the lane to church and well. There is more than just the church at Trethevy. Diagonally across the lane from the gate to the churchyard is ST. PIRAN'S HOLY WELL, the beehive shaped well house topped by a small iron cross. And, if you turn down the lane at the side of the church, signed as a footpath to Rocky Valley, you will find a ROMAN MILESTONE. This is believed to date from AD 251-3 and bears a rather illegible Latin inscription reading "For the Emperor Caesar, our Lords Gallus and Volusian." A few yards further along the lane is the entrance to St. Piran's House, believed once to have been part of a monastery. The first mention of the church was in 1457 when Parson Gregory received licence from the Bishop to celebrate Mass. A century later, after the Reformation, it was used as a farm building and it was not until 1914 that the owner, Sidney Harris, gifted it to the Church. After restoration, it eventually reverted to use as a Chapel and the first service was held in it on 9th February 1944. Further restoration took place as recently as 2015. Externally, the church is set partly into a small hill and is rectangular under a slate roof. Inside it is quite simple, the nave just a plain rectanguIar space. In the east wall is a small lancet window with a trefoil head. In the north wall an attractive modern stained glass window depicts St. Piran against a background of Rocky Valley. On one wall a plaque commemorates the Reverend Dudbridge Arundel, the vicar responsible for the restoration of the church. Another remembers Sidney Wickett Harris who gifted the building to the Church. The simple altar is made of darkish, slatey local stone. Furnishing is simple with plain wood pews, lacking in carved bench ends.
St. Piran's Holy Well
Trethevy, St. Piran's Church
The Roman Milestone
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More in Churches & Holy Sites
Trevalga, Saint Petroc
I was first in Trevalga when walking the Cornish Coast Path; that particular walk was a round one from Boscastle along the coast to Trevalga, returning inland. I was much taken with the village and by its history but only did a brief walk around on that occasion. However, on a fine Saturday in July 2018 I had been to visit the churches of Minster and Forrabury and, having some time in hand, decided to take a good look at St. Petroc's, Trevalga which I had not previously been inside, despite having visited to photograph the Cornish Cross in the churchyard. The church's origins are probably in Norman times but much of the fabric is of the 13th to 15th century. The chancel and transept still have their original medieval roofs but the nave roof was part of an 1875 restoration by J P St. Aubyn (who else!). The altarpiece is a 16th century carved Flemish triptych; it is flanked by 17th century panelling with re-used medieval bench ends below (Pevsner). Two windows of 1893 are by Clayton and Bell. A small wall monument to Samuel Roscarrock dates from 1640. In the graveyard, a wheel-headed Cornish Cross stands near the porch; not far away a small slate memorial of 2016 commemorates Beth Lugg, Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd.
Treverbyn, St. Peter the Apostle Church
I visited St. Peter's Treverbyn in mid-October 201`9. At first I thought I was out of luck as the church was locked. However, in the village hall over the road I found churchwarden Rod Phillips who kindly opened up the church and gave me a guided tour. Thank you, Rod. There is not much to Treverbyn village which, as near as makes no difference, is part of Stenalees, the southern continuation of Bugle, towards the eastern edge of Cornwall's China Clay Country. However, a little surprisingly, Treverbyn is the main parish of this part of Clay Country and includes Bugle, Stenalees and Penwithick, Trethurgy, Scredds and Carthew within its extended parish boundaries. Treverbyn itself consists of little more than church, old vicarage, new vicarage, school, village hall, a farm and some recreational facilities. Appropriately for a Clay Country church, Clay Country settlements being mostly relatively recent, St. Peter's in Treverbyn dates from 1848 and was the work of prolific Victorian architect G E Street. This was only his second Cornish church, the first being St. Mary's Par at Biscovey. Pevsner rates this as "good early Street with strong design, simple detail and skilled use of local materials." The exterior is modest with steeply pitched slate roofs. Windows in the north and south walls have Decorated tracery to 2-light windows. The east and west ends have larger 4-light windows. The interior is bold, lofty and spacious. The nave is rather barn-like with its arch-braced roof and soaring chancel arch. The sanctuary ceiling is boarded and painted. Careful lighting gives prominence to the altar. Stained glass includes two windows on the south wall of the nave. The 1897 windows of the north wall are all by E R Suffling. There are good contemporary wrought-iron gates to the churchyard. Nearby are a few other buildings by Street; his 1858 former vicarage, described by Pevsner as "solid and workmanlike," has a circular stair turret. The school room and school house are also by Street.
Truro Cathedral
I should be ashamed of myself that, except for my friend Robert's marriage to Hayley, I had never been inside the Cathedral in Truro until I visited in early March 2018. Truro's new cathedral, architect J L Pearson, also responsible for St. John's in Devoran, was begun in 1880 on the site of St. Mary's church. Very sensibly - and sensitively - Pearson did not pull down St. Mary's Church on the site but instead incorporated part of the old church as a south aisle. Nicely, Pearson retained the wagon roof of St. Mary's, complete with modern bosses, a very Cornish feature to keep. The style is an elaborate form of Early English Gothic and the west front, overlooking a cobbled square, is impressive. The exterior of the cathedral is of Cornish Carnsew stone with Bath stone for the detailing. The interior is of St. Stephen granite, again with Bath stone dressing. Pevsner describes Truro Cathedral as Pearson's masterpiece and I certainly would not dispute that. As always in great buildings, whether homes or churches, look up: this cathedral soars. Among the things to look out for are: in the south aisle, the Boer War Memorial, the Newlyn Harbour stained glass, the Wesley Window showing both John and Charles at Gwennap Pit, and a 14th century Pieta of Caen granite. In the south transept the Delabole slate floor commemorates the visit in 1994 of the Queen and the rose window remembers Bishop Benson whose brass is in the chapel next to the Baptistry, where a marble font has an elaborate wooden cover. Above the altar, an ornate triptych was designed by the architect's son, Frank. Behind the High Altar is a superb reredos of Christ first crucified, then glorified. In the North Quire Aisle is a large terracotta frieze of The Way of The Cross. In the North Transept a grand monument commemorates John and Phillipa Robartes. There is superb stained glass in the North Transept Rose Window and in the West Rose Window. In the North Aisle do not miss John Miller's painting Cornubia, Land of The Saints or the superb Eagle Lectern. On leaving, across the square, I was delighted to notice for the first time a Cornish Cross, not a modern one but a genuine early one, albeit it somewhat degraded.