Details
PILLATON
SX 36 SE
5/192 Church of St Odulphus
23.1.68
GV I
Parish church. Probably C14, with additions of circa mid C15 and later C15; C19
restoration. Slatestone rubble with granite dressings. Tower, south porch and south
transept in granite ashlar. Slate roof with crested ridge tiles; porch and south
transept have raised coped verges, with cross finial to transept.
Plan: Nave and chancel in one; probably in circa early C15, the north aisle was
added. Later in the C15, the south transept, with rood stair, south porch and west
tower.
Exterior: Nave has the south porch to west and the transept to east; between these, a
window of 3 cusped lights, with recessed surround; this part of the wall was rebuilt
at the time the transept and porch were added, with high chamfered plinth continuous
with the transept plinth.
Chancel has rubble plinth, C15 east window of 3 cusped lights with the central light
taller, 4-centred arch and hood mould, cross finial above. South window of 2 cusped
lights with square head and hood mould. Attached to east wall a slate tablet to
Robert Smith, 1815; stone gutter in the valley to the north aisle.
North aisle 3-light east window as at the east end of the chancel. 4 bays to north,
each with a 3-light window, with cusped lights, square head and recessed hollow-
chamfered surround. The west end has window as to east.
South transept on high chamfered plinth. 3-light south window with 4-centred arch,
cusped lights and upper tracery, hood mould. 3-light east window, cusped lights,
square head with recessed hollow-moulded surround. Polygonal ashlar rood stair
attached to east with lancet and pitched roof.
Gabled south porch on hollow-moulded plinth with hollow-moulded string course. 4-
centred arched wave-moulded outer doorway with hood mould. Interior of porch has C19
tiled floor, plastered walls, slate benches to sides; late C15 wagon roof, with
moulded ribs and carved bosses, wall-plate carved with pomegranates and flowers.
Inner 4-centred arched doorway with roll-mouldings and recessed spandrels; plain C19
door.
West tower in 3 stages, on high plinth with upper and lower hollow moulding, plain
string courses, set-back buttresses, embattled parapet with pinnacles. The west
doorway has 4-centred arch, roll-moulded, with recessed spandrels and square hood
mould; plain C20 door. West window with 4-centred arch, wave-moulded surround and
hood mould, tracery rebuilt in C19. 3rd stage all sides a 3-light bell-opening, with
3-centred arched lights, upper tracery and wooden louvres, recessed surrounds.
Interior: Plastered walls and C19 tiled floor. Nave and chancel has C19 roof. North
aisle has ceiled C15 wagon roof with moulded ribs, carved bosses and wall-plate.
South transept also has C15 wagon roof with moulded ribs and carved wall-plate set on
moulded granite wall-plate. Tall 4-centred moulded tower arch, with Pevsner A-type
piers with carved captials, C19 wooden screen across. 6-bay north arcade, with 4-
centred hollow-chamfered arches, slender piers with 4 shafts and roll-moulding
between shafts, octagonal chamfered bases with ring mouldings to capitals. Nave has
corbel for image stand at east end. Unusually wide south squint to transept, with
chamfered arch, giving access to the rood stair, which has a 4-centred arched
chamfered doorway, stone newel stair and upper skew doorway. North aisle has round-
arched niche at east end. Tall 4-centred arch to the trasept, with Pevsner A-type
piers; chamfered piscina to south side.
Fittings: C19 pews and pulpit, and screen between the chancel and the north aisle.
Octagonal stone font in nave, probably C19. Royal Arms of George II, dated 1729, oil
on board in moulded frame, in nave. Royal Arms of Charles II, dated 1663, oil on
board in moulded frame, in north aisle. C17 stocks in porch.
Monuments in chancel: marble tablet on slate ground with urn, to Jane Francis, 1819;
scrolled marble tablet on slate ground, to Reverend Henry Woollcombe, 1816. In north
aisle, a marble tablet on slate ground, to Nicholas Rawle Herring, 1836. In south
transept, marble tablet with pilasters, apron and cornice, to James Tillie, 1746;
slate tablet with stone pilasters, cornice, flaming urn, apron with carved stone
putto with wings and flowers, to Robert Tillie, 1742; fine classical monument, with
pilasters, frieze and entablature, apron with bucranium, to James Tillie, 1772.
Sources: Radcliffe, E.: Buildings of England: Cornwall 1970.
Listing NGR: SX3670364311
