St Michael, Caerhays

St Michael’s is a Grade I parish church in St Michael Caerhays, Cornwall, a former cruciform church of twelfth-century origin beside Caerhays Castle, in the Diocese of Truro.

Overview

Historic England records a parish church of twelfth-century origin, rededicated in 1259, with fourteenth- and late fifteenth- to early sixteenth-century additions, restored in 1864 for J. M. Williams of Caerhays Castle (the date appears in the south-aisle east window). The fabric is slatestone rubble with granite dressings and quoins, under slate roofs with crested ridge tiles. The original plan was cruciform, nave and chancel in one, with north and south transepts; the north transept survives. A blocked twelfth-century north doorway has a tympanum carved with a mutilated Agnus Dei. The west tower is fourteenth-century, altered in the fifteenth, with an embattled ashlar parapet. A late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century south aisle and porch were added; a nineteenth-century north vestry opens from the chancel.

Fittings include a twelfth-century Pentewan-stone font with a carved circular bowl. Monuments in the south aisle include a Coade-stone monument to Charlotte Trevanion (1810), a large marble monument to William Trevanion (1767, erected 1769), and a life-size statue of George Byron Bettesworth (1785–1808). The parish website notes a covered double lychgate with stone seats.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1327073
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Michael, Caerhays
• St Goran and St Michael