Objects of Interest

 The restored lych-gate is a very interesting slate-faced building.  There are only two other similar buildings in Cornwall. Over the  centuries it has had many roles. For many generations it was the  Parish Vestry Room, where rates were made and relief granted to  the poor. Later it became the village school. From 1840 – 1872 the downstairs’ room was a pig sty and now, the upstairs room is  an artist’s studio.

 Set in the churchyard on the south side of the church, and to the  East of the church porch, is a scheduled ancient monument – the  Ignioc Stone.

 This impressive granite pillar bears three sets of inscriptions, all  carved at different times. The earliest was carved between AD  500 – 600 and the latest during the 12^th or 13^th century.

 In the church porch there are a set of stocks. In 1688 these stocks  were in St Austell. That year, Anne Upcott, the daughter of the  Vicar of St Austell and St Clement, was put in the stocks because  she had joined the Quakers – they were very unpopular at the  time. Anne’s father and brother jeered at her. In 1787 the same stocks were put at the end of New Bridge Street in Truro.

The marble monument on the South wall of the aisle is a very  beautifully carved marble memorial to Samuel Thomas (1796.)

 It is two allegorical figures against a pyramid and is signed by  Bacon, 1770. It is described as “one of the finest pieces of marble  sculpture in the West.”

 The East window is of particular interest. Its bright colours with  anchors and ropes, the emblems of the patron saint, are due to  the fact that this is an Enamel painted window and not the usual  stained glass. This was a technique used in the 17^th and  18^th centuries and discarded in the Gothic revival of the  19^th century. It is of interest and value on account of its rarity.

 The 14^th century octangular font has panelled sides with carvings  of quadrafoils and cusped trefoils. It was discovered in a ditch in  1864, (where it had lain for 60 years,) by the then Vicar and  restored to its proper use.

 Up by the altar is a ceremonial Bishop’s chair. It is carved in the  style of the reign of Charles 1. Its back portrays Christ in the  Garden of Gethsemane.

 The pulpit is a very fine piece of green serpentine from the Lizard.

 The beautiful oak lectern has been made by a member of the  current congregation, Terry White. 

 He has made this altar lectern with its carved anchor and also one  to fit the font for use at baptisms. They were dedicated in 2015.

See if you can find the unusual carved pillar Alms box dated 1728  – it is no longer used as an Alms box. There is a similar one in the  Church of St Mylor.