Colan Church also known as St Colan Church is a 13th-century church in
Colan, mid-
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, UK. Dedicated to
St Colanus,
it became a
Grade I 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 ...
in 1967.
The vicars of
St Columb Minor
St Columb Minor ( kw, Sen Kolumm Vyghan) (Latin: ''Columba Minor Sancta'') is a village on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
''St. Columb'' alone by default refers to the nearby St. Columb Major.The village of St Columb Mino ...
have served the church since the middle of the 20th century.
Geography
The church is located between
St Columb Major
St Columb Major is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as ''St Columb'', it is approximately southwest of Wadebridge and east of Newquay
Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay ...
and
Newquay
Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...
, though not on the main road.
It sits on the banks of
Ryalton Stream,
set in remote surroundings, in an area rich in wildlife.
[ St Colan parish is in the rural deanery of Pydar.
]
History
Walter Bronscombe, Bishop of Exeter, is credited with the building the present church in 1250. He later applied to it the instructions he had developed for Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 140 ...
and for the sacristan of Glasney College
Glasney College ( kw, Kolji Glasneth) was founded in 1265 at Penryn, Cornwall, by Bishop Bronescombe and was a centre of ecclesiastical power in medieval Cornwall and probably the best known and most important of Cornwall's religious institut ...
in 1276. The present church was dedicated to St Collen, or St Colanus, a 7th-century Welsh saint, by John Grandisson
The '' John Grandisson Triptych'', displaying on two small escutcheons the arms of Bishop Grandisson. British Museum
John de Grandisson (1292 – 16 July 1369), also spelt Grandison, was Bishop of Exeter, in Devon, England, from 1327 to his deat ...
, Bishop of Exeter, July 14, 1336. According to another inference, the first church on the site was built by St Collen. There are two other churches dedicated to him, St Collen’s at Llangollen
Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...
in North Wales, and another at Langolen
Langolen () is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.
The commune takes its name from Saint Collen, a 7th-century monk who is associated with the town of Llangollen in Wales and also with Cornwall.
Population ...
near Quimper
Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.
Administration
Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department.
Geography
The ...
in Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
, France. St Collen was said to be the abbot of the church but left it to preach more widely elsewhere.[
In 1876, the church was in a dilapidated state. The ribs of the roof sloped towards the tower, which was held together by iron bands. The interior was filled by high pews. The walls were damp-stained.] After the reconstitution of the diocese of Exeter in 1876, the church was transferred to the 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 ...
with the patronage of the Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell. .[ The main tower was rebuilt in 1879. By 1887, the church had been completely restored thanks to the efforts of the vicar and Paget Hoblyn of ]Fir Hill Manor
Fir Hill Manor is a manor house near Colan, mid-Cornwall, England, dating from the 1850s. In 1994, it was the subject of a BBC Bristol documentary, which tells the story of former Newquay policeman Derek Fowkes as he searches for absentee land ...
. In 1967, the Building and Churches Board incorporated the church as a Grade I 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 ...
.
;Vicars
Some of the vicars were: Peter Watts, 1536; Randell, 1662; Budge, 1664; Wood, 1677; Vyvyan, 1712; Newcombe, 1714; J Bagwell, 1715; J Bagwell, 1717; John Colier, 1754; S Gurney, 1762; J Gurney, 1768; John Arthur, 1790; John Creser, 1837.
Architecture
Colan Church is a 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, ...
. Initially it was built to a cruciform plan and expanded during the 15th-century. Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
stone and granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
rubble with granite dressings formed the basic building materials for its construction. The top part of the tower is built in granite ashlar masonry
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 Vitruvi ...
while the lower part is banded with a darker variety of stones. The west tower is on two levels, built over a hollow-chamfered plinth. The slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
roof has ridge tiles at the crest and gable end
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 ...
s, with raised coped verges and cross finial
A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature.
In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...
s. It is wagon-shaped and has carved bosses.
The south wall with 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 ...
stairs is extant.[ The south ]transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
at the lower level 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 ...
forms part of the church room. Between the porch and the nave is a window on the southern wing, which has two openings covered by a "four-centred arch
A four-centered arch is a low, wide type of arch with a pointed apex. Its structure is achieved by drafting two arcs which rise steeply from each springing point on a small radius, and then turning into two arches with a wide radius and much lower ...
and hood mould
In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin ''labia'', lip), drip mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a ''pediment''. This mouldin ...
."[ The chancel also has two windows to the south and three windows facing east. The north aisle is in two parts with a higher roof on the eastern side. The ]Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
window on the east side has two lights. The western part of the church has three-light windows with varied tracery. The west end has a two-light window with cusped lights, square head and hood mould. The south transept has a two-light Perpendicular window. The porch floor is tiled and there are granite benches along the sides. The nave and walls are plastered. The aisle is rebuilt with an archway. The arcade pier is complete on the north side.[
The north door, fitted with strap hinges, has a four-centred arch and wave moulding. On the east side, there is a four-centred arched doorway with hood-mould. It contains a recess (probably a niche which housed an image in the past). A former doorway has been converted into the south window of the nave. There is a wooden gate at the entrance to the porch.][
]
Fittings
The church housed an octagonal stone 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 ...
which had decorations of Gothic tracery
Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...
; all that remains is a fine screen which was part of this font. A chest in the nave has carved panels and a palmette frieze.[ In 1884, in honour of the vicar who served the parish for 34 years, an etched stained-glass painting of the Ascension was installed in the east window. A window in the tower has a stained glass fitted in honour of the Reverend Mathew Nixon Broughman for his service to the parish as Vicar from 1872 to 1881. The ]Four Gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
fitted on the window of the west wall have inscriptions in honour of John James Murley and William Paget. The window bears the Arms of Truro and the Arms of Exeter, representing the corresponding dioceses. The four panels of the window also display: Saint Mary, Patron Saint of Truro Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Truro, Cornwall. It was built between 1880 and 1910 to a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson on the site of the parish church of St Mary. It i ...
; St Colan holding the Church in his hands; and St Peter, Patron Saint of Exeter Cathedral.
There are also two interesting monumental brass
A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the paveme ...
es. That on the north wall is mounted on a slate slab and depicts Francis Bluet with the date 20 May 1572, and Elizabeth Colan his wife, daughter and heiress of Tristram Colan Esq., lord of the Manor of Colan. The brass shows effigies of both, standing on either side of an impaled shield of arms, and figures of their thirteen sons and nine daughters below. He was a younger son of Richard Bluet, of Holcombe Rogus
Holcombe Rogus is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. In 2001 the population of the parish was 503. The northern boundary of the parish forms part of the county boundary with Somerset and clockwise from the east it is bord ...
in Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
.[ The second brass on the south wall of the chancel is that of John Coswarth (or Cosowartha) Receiver General of the ]Duchy of Cornwall
The Duchy of Cornwall ( kw, Duketh Kernow) is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of 'Duke of Cornwall' at ...
in 1575. This brass was originally fixed in the floor. In the Coswarth Brass, there is a bullet hole which has given rise to two legends. According to one, a Cromwell sympathiser of Coswarth fired at the brass. The second tells how a jilted suitor fired at a lady as she married someone other than her choice. The bullet missed her and struck the brass. The bullet hole can still be seen.
Grounds
The grounds include a graveyard. At the southern entrance to the churchyard, there is a lychgate
A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...
. The churchyard is home to the listed Thomas Monument, about south of the tower. Its rectangular slate stone flanked by carved Ionic columns and a round arch bears the inscription "Death spares none", good lettering with verses to Alice Thomas, 1826.[ There is a war memorial at the back yard of the church honouring the men of the parish who laid down their lives for their country during ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and II. Close to this memorial, is a 15th-century Gothic cross. This cross, which was untraced for many years, was found near a hedge in 1908 by Dr W. J. Stephens of the Old Cornwall Society
The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (FOCS) was formed in 1924, on the initiative of Robert Morton Nance, with the objective of collecting and maintaining "all those ancient things that make the spirit of Cornwall — its traditions, its old ...
. Initially, it was claimed by owners of the property where it was found. In 1970, the Newquay Old Cornwall Society intervened and were successful in having the cross installed in the churchyard.[Langdon, A. G. (2002) ''Stone Crosses in Mid Cornwall''; 2nd ed. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies; p. 25] A sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
with a slate gnomon
A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields.
History
A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the ol ...
is dated to 1724.[
]
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colan, Saint Colanus
Churches completed in 1336
14th-century church buildings in England
Church of England church buildings in Cornwall
Grade I listed churches in Cornwall
English Gothic architecture in Cornwall