Details
LINKINHORNE LINKINHORNE
SX 37 SW
7/38 Church of St Melor
21.8.64
GV I
Parish church. Late C15; restored 1891. Granite ashlar with granite dressings.
Slate roofs.
Plan: Nave and chancel in one. North aisle. West tower. South aisle and south
porch of late C15, built after the rest of the church. West tower in 4 stages, with setback buttresses, string courses and moulded plinth, embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles. West door has 4-centred arch with quatrefoils in spandrels and hood mould, C19 door with strap hinges. Window above of 4-lights, with Perpendicular tracery, 4-centred arch and hood mould. 3rd stage to
west has single cusped light. 4th stage at all sides has 3-light bell openings with cusped lights with pierced slate ventilators, Perpendicular tracery, 4-centred arch and hood mould. On the south side a slate sundial with gnomon, dated 1725 and a single light at 2nd stage. Chancel is at lower roof level than the nave. 5-light east window with Perpendicular tracery, 4-centred arch and hood mould. North aisle on moulded plinth with single buttresses and weathered buttresses. 4- light east window similar to chancel. 5 bays to north, all with 3-light windows, with cusped lights, 4-centred arch and hood mould. Rood stair with lancet between the 2 bays to east. Bay to west has 4-centred arched doorway with quatrefoils in spandrels and hood mould. Similar 3-light window to west end. South porch in the west bay of the south aisle, has a moulded plinth, not continuous with the plinth of the aisle. Set back buttresses. Tall 4-centred arched outer doorway with cable mouldings and hood mould supported by jamb shafts. C19 cast and wrought iron with gates. Interior of the porch has slate floor, wagon roof of C15 with moulded ribs and purlins. Granite bench to right side. Inner 4-centred arched doorway with roll-mouldings and foliate spandrels; relieving arch remaining above from earlier doorway. Plank door with strap hinges, probably of circa C16.
Interior: Plaster removed from walls. Slate floors. Nave has 8-bay wagon roof,
north and south aisles both 9-bay, all of C15 with bosses and carved wall-plates.
Chancel has a similar wagon roof of C19. Tower has framed ceiling with moulded ribs and bosses. 5-bay north and south arcade, with Pevsner A-type piers with carved abaci and 4-centred arches. Similar tower arch. The north aisle has a basket-arched doorway to the rood stair and a stone newel stair remaining. South aisle has cusped piscina in south wall.
Fittings: C19 pews in chancel and C19 wooden pulpit in nave. Font in nave, in
polyphant stone, C13, with square top with narrow pointed blank arcades. Early C18 altar table with baluster legs in south aisle. Stocks in south porch. Wall paintings in the south aisle, the Seven Corporeal Works of Mercy, of late C15
Monuments in nave: slate ledger stone to Frances Hooper, 1704; slate ledger stone to William ..., 1633. In chancel: marble sarcophagus on slate ground, to James Coffin, 1855; marble tablet to Thomas Coffin, 1809; slate tablet with coat of arms, to George Jeffery, 1780. In south aisle: slate ledger stone to John Digory, 1774; slate tablet to John Foott, 1768. In south porch: slate tablet to Philippe Ball, 1778; slate tablet to Mary Dingley, 1816; slate tablet to Edward Broadlake, 1717. In north aisle; slate tablet with putti, to Mary Davey, 1760; slate tablet to James Dingley, 1780; slate tablet to John Dingley, 1772; slate tablet to Thomas Congdon Browda, 1748; slate monument with pilasters and entablature surmounted by rounded pediment with mask and pair of crowned skulls, with Latin inscription to Edward Kneebone, 1685; marble monument with draped urn, to Richard Salteen, 1708.
Glass: All windows lattice glazed. Fragments of C15 glass in 2 windows of the south aisle and 2 windows of the north aisle.
Sources: Radcliffe, E.: Buildings of England: Cornwall 1970.
Listing NGR: SX3195273561
