St Olaf King and Martyr, Poughill

St Olaf’s is the Grade I parish church of Poughill, near Bude in Cornwall, dedicated to Olaf II of Norway and in the Diocese of Truro.

Overview

The listing covers a medieval parish church whose visible fabric is largely fourteenth- and fifteenth-century, with a thirteenth-century piscina and aumbry in the south chancel and a thirteenth-century granite font. Foundations of a Norman church were uncovered at the 1928 restoration; nothing of that phase survives above ground. The north arcade and the south-east arch of the nave are fourteenth-century Caen stone; the south arcade is fifteenth-century granite. The porch and west tower are fifteenth-century. Historic England listed the church at Grade I on 5 March 1952 (list entry 1328522).

Wall paintings of St Christopher, dated about 1470, were found under whitewash in 1894. Parish accounts record the figures being washed out in 1550, in Edward VI’s reign. Early sixteenth-century bench ends are related to those at Kilkhampton and Launcells. Wagon roofs of the fifteenth century survive over nave, aisles and chancel.

The parish is Poughill, in the Stratton deanery of the Diocese of Truro.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1328522
• Wikipedia