Betjeman’s Best British Churches. Richard Surman

them. Originally 12th-century cruciform, the fabric was enlarged and refashioned in the 15th century. Set in a secluded nook not far from the Polyphant quarry, the church exhibits the standard Cornish arrangement at its best: four centered arches of arcade with a wagon roof. The pulpit has earlier 15th-century carved panels, and the bench-ends are mutilated. There are extensive if fragmented remains of 15th-century painted glass. In spring the surrounding churchyard is a mass of wild daffodils.

      LANLIVERY † St Brevita

      2m/3km W. of Lostwithiel

      OS SX079590 GPS 50.3999, 4.7031W

      Standing high with a lofty granite tower overlooking the Fowey Valley as it widens towards the estuary, and in spite of considerable renewal, this is one of the great churches of Cornwall. As usual, a cruciform fabric was refashioned in the 15th century, when an aisle replaced the S. transept. The masonry is granite ashlar masonry, there is an unspoilt wagon roof in the S. aisle, and a ringers’ rhyme board in the tower.

      LANTEGLOS-BY-FOWEY † St Wyllow

      1m/2km E. of Fowey

      OS SX144515 GPS 50.3344N, 4.6083W

      St Wyllow is difficult of access, both by the ferry across the Fowey River and the narrow, winding and precipitous lanes from Lostwithiel. It is a 14th-century church, refashioned in the 15th century. The font is 13th century, and there are early 16th-century bench-ends, and a 15th-century altar tomb with brass. The church is remarkable for the very effective arrangement at the W. end where the N. and S. aisles are prolonged to embrace the tower, to which they give arched access. Edmund Sedding gave a graphic description of the condition of the church before he undertook its restoration in 1909, and it remains an outstanding example of careful and conservative repair – the dilapidated roof with decay arrested, the leaning walls stabilized in the act. The panelling from family pews, removed from the E. end of the church and erected at the W., is interesting and unusual.

      LAUNCELLS † St Swithin

      2m/3km E. of Bude

      OS SS243057 GPS 50.8243N, 4.4947W

      In a wooded valley, this is the only Cornish church wholly undisturbed by Victorian ‘restoration’. Outside it is like other churches in the district, but the interior comes as a welcome surprise; old plaster on the walls, ancient roofs intact; the finest bench-ends in Cornwall; box pews, pulpit in Strawberry Hill Gothic, three-sided altar rails, reredos and organ case; granite and Polyphant arcades; Norman font with 17th-century cover.

      LAUNCESTON † St Mary Magdalene

      20m/32km N.W. of Plymouth

      OS SX332846 GPS 50.6378N, 4.3601W

      The church was erected by Sir Henry Trecarrel in the early 16th century; the tower is older. It is chiefly remarkable for a profusion of carved ornament on its exterior – painstaking work in inappropriate material, because granite, with its coarse and conglomerate structure, does not allow precision in delineation. A recumbent figure of St Mary Magdalene in a niche under the E. window may be seen to be covered with pebbles thrown up by the local people. The vicar says that the old custom is to stand with your back to the figure and try to throw a stone so that it will land on the back of the recumbent figure. This is supposed to bring you good luck for the rest of the week. The scraped interior has an early 16th-century pulpit, easily the best in Cornwall; elsewhere are 17th- and 18th-century monuments, carved with Royal Arms, and the organ case is early 18th-century.

      LINKINHORNE † St Melor

      8m/13km S. of Launceston

      OS SX319735 GPS 50.5376N, 4.3728W

      The noble 16th-century granite tower of this spacious church, set in a remote village, is one of the highest in Cornwall. Inside the church are wagon roofs (that of the nave with some original colour), a large wall-painting of the Works of Mercy, mural monuments of 1688 and 1735, and memorial slate slabs of local type. A holy well in late medieval granite structure can be found in a nearby field to the southwest of the church.

      LAUNCESTON: ST MARY MAGDALENE – rugged Cornish granite, carved in a rustic, no-nonsense style

      LOSTWITHIEL † St Bartholomew

      5m/8km S.E. of Bodmin

      OS SX104597 GPS 50.4074N, 4.6691W

      Both the tower and the body of the church are different in character from the usual Cornish type. The tower and lantern spire – of Breton influence – make a most satisfying composition when viewed from the S.W. There are short, stout buttresses to the lowest stage; narrow lancets in the next; little louvred openings just below the transition by bold set-offs from the square to the octagon; and, at the junction of tower and spire, eight traceried, gabled, unglazed window-like features, which successfully carry the vertical lines of the tower into the pyramid of the spire. Inside the church, the arcade on piers without capitals lacks emphasis, and the little irregularly spaced clerestory windows are insignificant. But the great five-light E. window is fine. (Some historians consider the church French, both in style and in stone employed.) The c. 13th-century Pentewan font is outstanding.

      LAUNCELLS: ST SWITHUN – thankfully overlooked by the restoring eye of Victorians

      MADRON † St Maddern

      2m/3km N.W. of Penzance

      OS SW453318 GPs 50.1316N, 5.5647W

      The mother church of Penzance looks at its best in hydrangea time, when it stands amid a blaze of colour looking towards St Michael’s Mount. Though now mainly late medieval, its core is far older; on the whole it has fared better than many of its neighbours, and the interior is quite atmospheric. Wagon roofs; a rood screen richly carved with 16th-century base and modern upper part; carved bench-ends; a coloured alabaster panel from a reredos; early 17th-century brass and 18th-century altar rails.

      MAWGAN-IN-MENEAGE † St Mawgan

      3m/4km S.E. of Helston

      OS SW709250 GPS 50.0817N, 5.2029W

      A glorious situation above colour-washed cottages on the slope of a beech-covered vale; the church is of granite, 13th–15th-century with a three-stage tower topped with fine finials; a good wagon roof covers the nave. The recumbent crusader effigy in the S. transept is a member of the Carminow family. Also in the S. transept is a hagioscope. Other monuments include those to the Vyvyan family.

      MAWGAN-IN-PYDAR

       † St Mawgan and St Nicholas

      4m/7km N.E. of Newquay

      OS SW872659 GPS 50.4547N, 4.9987W

      This mainly Perpendicular church stands in a picture book setting on a slope running down to the River Menalhyl. The embattled tower with stair turret stands to the S., adjoining a broad S. aisle that runs the full length of the church. The carved screen separating the S. aisle and nave from the chancel bears the Arms of Arundel quartering those of Carminow. Set in the chancel floor is a brass effigy of a vested priest, and at the E. end of the S. aisle are brasses depicting George Arundel and his wife Elizabeth. In the churchyard, mounted on a stout base, stands a lantern cross, whose square head contains bold carvings of the Annunciation and the Crucifixion. Behind is a memorial in the shape of a boat’s stern to 11 seamen “who were drifted ashore in a boat frozen to death, at Beacon Cove”. Butterfield restored the church well in 1861–2.

      MORWENSTOW

       † St Morwenna and St John the Baptist