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Parish Church of:
Germans, St
The church of St. Germanus was originally attached to a monastery of Austin Canons, founded here by Bishop Leofric in 1050, and in 931 was the seat of the see of Cornwall, united to that of Crediton on the death of Byrhtwold, 13th Bishop of Cornwall, about 1030; the see of Petrocstowe, or Bodmin, was removed here in 981; the church is a structure of local stone and granite, in the Norman, Early English and later styles, and consists of chancel, nave, south aisle, north transept, Moyle chapel, south and west porches and two western towers, one of which, the south-western tower contains a clock and 6 bells, all cast in 1775; and there was once a peal in the north tower also; the west front, which is Norman, consists of a gable pierced with three round-headed windows, below which is projecting a gabled porch with a deeply recessed Norman doorway: the north tower is Norman in its two lower stages, with plain round headed windows of one light in each; the upper storey
is octagonal, with pointed Early English windows in each face and an embattled parapet; the south tower is Norman in its lower stage only; it was also at one time octagonal, but is now square with a battlement parapet of Perpendicular date; both towers have newel stairs in the thickness of the walls; the nave, 102 feet in length, is of six bays; its retains two Norman pillars on the south side, but its eastern portion is Perpendicular; the south aisle, rebuilt in 1261, is Early Decorated and Late Perpendicular and contains canopied sedilia, a Decorated drain, a granite stoup and an ancient miserere chair, the moveable seat of which is rudely carved with figures of a hunter carrying game, and attendant dogs; in this aisle is also the costly and elaborate monument with effigies of Edward Elliot esq. of Port Eliot, 1722, and his two wives, by Rysbrack; one of the windows has the arms of Scawen and Spry, and there are memorial windows to Louisa and Elizabeth, daughters
of Charles, second Marquess Cornwallis, and to the late Earl St. Germans: two memorials windows have also been placed in the south wall at the cost of Earl St. Germans, one in 1873 to Lady Caroline Eliot, and the other in 1877 to Harriet, widow of John, first earl of St. Germans: the narrow north aisle was taken down towards the end of the last century: the south porch has tow entrance arches, a stone roof and battlemented parapet: on the north side is a memorial window to the Rev. Tobias Furneaux M.A. 47 years incumbent of this parish, erected by his children in 1876: there are various memorials to the families of Moyle of Bake, baronets, 1661-1762; Glanvill, 1599-1847; Boger, 1755-92; and Elliot, Earl St. Germans, 1761-1864, with others; a cenotaph was erected in 1854 by the tenants of the St. Germans estate, which bears the following inscription, "to the memory of the Hon. Granville Charles Cornwallis Elliot, second son of the Right Hon. Earl of St. Germans and
Jemima his wife, Lieutenant and Captain of the Coldstream Regiment of the Foot Guards, who fell while acting as Adjutant in the battle of Inkerman, November 5th, 1854"; the ancient font, which was broken up in 1793 and its fragments thrown in the north tower, was restored by the Rev. T. Furneaux, vicar, in 1840; the priory on its suppression was valued at £227, and was granted to the Champernownes in 1541, by whom in 1565 it was alienated to John Eliot esq: the church was restored in 1889 at a cost of £2,000, and it is now (1893) about to be new roofed at an estimated cost of £1,700: there are 500 sittings: in 1785, that portion of the churchyard lying within the grounds of Port Eliot was leveled and a new cemetery laid out on the opposite side of the road in which is the vault of the Eliots. The register dates from the year 1590.
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