Details
FALMOUTH
SW8032NE CHURCH STREET
843-1/7/70 (West side)
22/07/49 Church of King Charles the Martyr
(Formerly Listed as:
NEW STREET
Church of King Charles the Martyr)
GV II*
Includes: The Church Institute ARWENACK STREET.
Parish church. 1662-1665, when consecrated by Dr Seth Ward,
Lord Bishop of Exeter; built for Sir Peter Killigrew and
partly funded by Charles II and is dedicated to his father,
Charles I; also funded by James, Duke of York; chancel and
tower c1684, improvements in 1706 for Robert Corker; upper
clock stage of tower and pinnacles 1800; chancel window 1813
at which time the original chancel was demolished and the
church lengthened by about one-third; vestry added in 1861.
The main fabric of the church restored c1896 to a modified
design by E Sedding; Church Institute added to vestry in 1925
by C Russell Corfield.
Killas rubble with granite dressings; dry Delabole slate roofs
with coped gables, the 3 main parallel roofs with exposed
rafter ends.
PLAN: nave/chancel, north and south aisles, extremely small
rectangular-plan west tower, north and south porches, small
north vestry transept and south organ transept plus 1925
institute attached to north-east corner.
EXTERIOR: Perpendicular Survival style. 2-storey elevations
(for former gallery); 4-window range to north wall, 3-window
range to south wall and single-window range to west end of
each aisle. Original 4-light windows under basket-arched
hood-moulds; 2 ashlar buttresses to north wall. East end has
3 large Venetian windows. North porch with pointed-arched
doorway, early C20 granite ashlar south porch with
round-arched doorway. North transept has 3-light traceried
windows. Slender straight 4-stage tower has strings dividing
stages, small round-arched louvered or gridded openings, small
battlements and steep pyramidal corner pinnacles with ball
finials; clockface to each side. Round-arched west doorway
with spoked fanlight over C18 pair of panelled doors with
fielded panels and HL hinges. Similar inner north doorway and
fanlight and similar but later doors with strap hinges.
INTERIOR: 6 bays of Ionic granite and marble columns
(3 granite originals, one a 1968 copy, the others 1896 of
marble) between nave/chancel and aisles; Ionic entablature as
wall plates and 3 plaster barrel vaults with carved ribs
separating bays. Central Venetian window has full Ionic
details. West gallery with fielded oak panelling 1896. Tower
contains some original floor timbers.
FITTINGS: pulpit incorporating C16 and C17 English and German
carvings acquired by the Revd William Coope; clergy stalls
incorporate some old carved fragments; rare Queen Anne period
Royal Coat of Arms showing the union of Scotland and England;
1759 credence table with the Killigrew Arms and hexagonal
marble and oak font with similar carved detail also 1759;
portrait of Charles I attributed to Lely, presented in 1913 by
the Royalist Society. Late C19 and early C20 fittings include:
pews with square moulded ends; low marble walls surmounted by
later wrought-iron screens, between sanctuary and side
chapels; turned granite balustrade as base for later
wrought-iron rood screen, the central part of the base from
Church of St Paul, Penzance; Gothic-style altars, an
incomplete memorial triptych above the one in the Lady Chapel
and there is a brass memorial lectern to former churchwarden,
Mr JH Hunt.
STAINED GLASS WINDOWS: chancel (Sanctuary) window 1910 by
Taylor and Clifden, donated by Mrs SH Hatch in memory of her
parents, Justin and Emma Smith; late C19 Lady Chapel window
incorporating some C18 glass from Italy; the Warrior Chapel
window is a War Memorial by the Red Cross Society and there is
the coat of arms of the Revd William Coope in the vestry (not
inspected).
MONUMENTS: include Baroque marble and freestone monument to
Thomas Corker, d.1709 aged 31; pedimented marble monument to
John Russell, d.1734; monument with urn against obelisk, by
Paty of Bristol, to Richard Lockyer, d.1789 and a similar
monument, by Isbell of Truro, to Captain James Bull, also a
monument by Jacob and Thomas Olvers of Falmouth to the Revd
Lewis Mathias, d.1837.
(Gilson, Peter: Falmouth in Old Photographs: Falmouth: 1990-:
56 AND 57; Guide to Falmouth Parish Church; The Buildings of
England: Pevsner N: Cornwall: London: 1951-1970: 66-69; Kelly:
Kelly's Directory for Cornwall: Falmouth: 1910-: 105).
Listing NGR: SW8097432629
This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 30 October 2017.
