---
title: "St Columba, St Columb Major"
description: "Located in St Columb Major, Cornwall. Built C14 origin; C15 additions; mid- to late-C19 restoration. Diocese of Truro. Grade I. Perpendicular style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Cornwall","St Columb Major","Grade I","Perpendicular","Diocese of Truro"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-columb-major-st-columba"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:44:55.732Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T18:59:10.207Z"
location: "St Columb Major, Cornwall"
country: "England"
county: "Cornwall"
town: "St Columb Major"
address: "St Columb Major, Cornwall, TR9 6AE"
postcode: "TR9 6AE"
built: "C14 origin; C15 additions; mid- to late-C19 restoration"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Columba"]
diocese: "Truro"
grade: "I"
style: "Perpendicular"
materials: "Slatestone rubble with granite dressings; slate roofs"
openingHours: "The church is open daily, as a minimum from 10am to 4pm. There are two steps to enter the church. We do have a ramp which can be used by arrangement but it is not in place all the time."
parish: "St Columb Major"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1144068"
gridReference: "SW 912 636"
accessNotes: "Ramp or level access available on request"
---

# St Columba, St Columb Major

St Columba’s is a Grade I parish church on Market Place, St Columb Major, Cornwall, in the Diocese of Truro. It is dedicated to St Columba the Virgin.

## Overview

Historic England records a fourteenth-century origin with fifteenth-century additions and a mid- to late-nineteenth-century restoration. The fabric is slatestone rubble with granite dressings and slate roofs; the first three stages of the west tower are rendered, the fourth stage granite ashlar. The plan is nave and chancel in one, with aisles later extended beside the chancel, north and south transepts, two-storey porches, and a four-stage embattled west tower with crocketed pinnacles. The tower is open at ground floor with a north–south archway. Wagon roofs in the nave, transepts and aisles retain fifteenth-century carved ribs, wall-plates and bosses.

The Cornwall HER notes a major fifteenth-century rebuild, a tower of 1433 standing on open piers, and the destruction of much glass in 1663 when gunpowder stored in the tower exploded. Fittings include a stone font of about 1300 with carved masks, fifteenth-century bench ends reused on nineteenth-century benches, and a letter of thanks from Charles II in the north aisle. William Butterfield drew unexecuted 1860s plans for the church to become the cathedral of a new Cornish diocese; the cathedral was built at Truro instead.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1144068](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1144068)
- [British Listed Buildings: Church of St Columba](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101144068-church-of-st-columba-st-columb-major)
- [Cornwall HER: St Columb Major medieval church](https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=1020&uid=MCO6450)