The Church of Saint Laudus (variant: Mabe Church) is an active

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Mabe, Cornwall Mabe (variant: ''La Vabe'', kw, Lannvab) is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated one mile (1.6 km) west of Penryn. Mabe parish is bounded by Stithians and Ponsanooth to the north, ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, UK, originally built in the 15th century and dedicated to the sixth-century Saint Laudus of Coutances. It is part of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Diocese of Truro The Diocese of Truro (established 1876) is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury which covers Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and a small part of Devon. The bishop's seat is at Truro Cathedral. Geography and history The di ...

. Struck by lightning in the 19th century, much of it had to be rebuilt, though parts of the original church remain. It has been a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

since 10 July 1957. St Laudus' church is part of the Parish of Mabe with Ponsanooth and both are open, inclusive churches.

Current status

The church remains an active parish church with at least one service each week. It is now part of a larger

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

, sharing a single vicar with St Michael and All Angels,

Ponsanooth Ponsanooth ( kw, Pons an Woodh, meaning "bridge at the stream") is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about four miles southeast of Redruth and two and a half miles northwest of Penryn on the A393 road Redruth ...

. The benefice is part of the

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

of Carnmarth South in the Diocese of Truro.

Early history

Mabe was in early times a chapelry to Mylor and within the episcopal fief and peculiar deanery of Penryn. The old form "Lavabe" suggests that it is derived from "lan" and "Mabe" though old records always show the dedication as being to St Laud. In 1308 or 1309 Bishop Stapeldon consecrated the cemetery and held an ordination at the Chapel of St Laud (''capelle Sancti Laudi'')''Cornish Church Guide'' (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 151 (it had been recorded as ''capella Sancti Laudi'' in 1302 and in 1340 appears as ''capella Sancti Laudy''). The ''parochia Sancti Laudi'' is recorded as early as 1327. However, alternative sources state that the church was dedicated to St Mabe.

Later history

The parish of Mabe was separated from Mylor during the 19th century. Only parts of the church, including the tower and porch, survived a February 1866 lightning strike. Most of the church was rebuilt in 1868, under the direction of Piers St. Aubyn, Henderson, C. (1930) ''Mabe Church and Parish''. Long Compton: The King's Stone Press mainly through the financial contributions of Miss Williams of Falmouth and William Shilson of

Tremough Penryn Campus (formerly Tremough Campus, Cornwall Campus and similar names) is a university campus in Penryn, Cornwall, England, UK. The campus is occupied by two university institutions: Falmouth University and the University of Exeter, with th ...

. The rebuilt north aisle included reused 15th century light windows on the north wall and at each gable end. A

stoup A holy water font or stoup is a vessel containing holy water which is generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is often placed at the base of a crucifix or religious representation. It is used in the Catholic Church, Anglican Churches ...

is located in the porch wall to the right of the doorway. The original octagonal,

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-panelled

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

is now buried under the church floor.

Architecture

The church consists of a chancel, nave, and north and south aisles. While most of the original church was built in the 15th century, including the west tower, the north aisle, the south aisle, and the south porch, parts of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

are from the 13th or 14th century. The church's interior is made of plastered walls, octagonal piers, and arches. Most of the rest of the construction is composed of granite

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

with granite dressings. Mabe Church South door (DSCN0515)

Portrait on right of South Door of Mabe Church (DSCN0517)

The chief entrance is a south-facing porch with an inner and outer arch. The outer arch is ornamented with cable moulding and foliage. On one of the

spandril A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

s of the inner arch, which is made of

Caen stone Caen stone (french: Pierre de Caen) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about ...

, is the

monogram A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...

''i h c'', while on another can be found an encircled

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

. An arched west doorway includes carved moulding and carved heads are used as label stops. A priest's doorway to the right of the stair projection is small and rounded. The

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

s are characterized by granite arches supported on granite pillars. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and chancel are under one roof. The roof is both arch-braced and wind-braced. The Delabole slate roofs have

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

ends. The

rood A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion ...

stair projection leads to the south wall. The tower and the south aisle are granite

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

. The unbuttressed west tower is embattled and includes

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s over the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

. The Perpendicular windows are mostly of the 3-light variety, though there is a 4-light east window. A traceried Perpendicular window is located above a doorway while other traceried windows are located at the church's upper stage. The chancel's east window is adorned with bosses.

Organ

In 1920, a new organ was inaugurated in the church. It is a two-manual instrument with pedals, with 10

stops Stop may refer to: Places *Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...

Bells

In 1870 it was recorded that of the church's four or five bells cast in 1744, only one was still sound. At least four new bells were cast for the church in 1876 by the firm of John Warner & Sons, these survive as the back four of the present ring of six bells, hung for

change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in which the ringers commit to memor ...

. The front two bells were cast by

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...

of Loughborough in 1930.

Churchyard

The church and its churchyard measure 0.164 hectares (1

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

es). The churchyard contains a

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be foun ...

and several

gravestone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

s that are of historical significance. On 24 November 1988, several nearby structures became Grade II listed buildings. These include: the chest tomb and three headstones to the Rail Family located southwest of the church, the chest tomb that adjoins the church's north wall, consisting of a slate lid, that is otherwise buried, the cross located approximately southwest of the church's porch, the

headstone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

located approximately east of the church, the 1774 granite headstone dedicated to "MH" located approximately south of the church, the stone monolith dating probably to pre-

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

and located approximately south of the church's tower, and the Wills granite headstone slab circa 1840, located approximately south of the church.

Gallery

Image:Mabe Churchyard, reworked Celtic cross (DSCN0511).jpg, Reworked Celtic cross near west door Image:Mabe Church menhir (DSCN0513).jpg,

Menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be foun ...

in churchyard Image:Gravestone at Mabe Church (DSCN0520).jpg,

Gravestone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

of John Jennings (died 1878) in churchyard

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabe, Saint Laud Grade II* listed churches in Cornwall 15th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Cornwall Grade II* listed buildings in Cornwall National Heritage List for England Buildings and structures in Cornwall