St Mary's Church, Penzance

St Mary’s Church, Penzance is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Penzance, Cornwall.[1]

St Mary’s Church, Penzance
St Mary’s Church, Penzance
LocationPenzance
CountryEngland
DenominationChurch of England
ChurchmanshipBroad Church
History
DedicationSt Mary
Consecrated6 September 1836
Architecture
Heritage designationGrade II* listed[1]
Architect(s)Charles Hutchens
Groundbreaking1832
Completed15 November 1835
Administration
ParishPenzance
DeaneryPenwith
ArchdeaconryCornwall
DioceseDiocese of Truro
ProvinceProvince of Canterbury

History

The site as a place of worship dates from at least the fourteenth century, but was a chapel to the parish of Madron and first licensed in 1321. The chapel was spared during the Spanish raid in August 1595 because Mass had been celebrated, previously.[2] Despite enlargements in 1662 to 1672, and 1782 it was severely overcrowded by 1824. At that time it served a population of circa 7000 and was still a chapel of ease to Madron, two miles inland.[2] The Reverend Thomas Vyvyan made arrangements to replace it with a new church designed by Charles Hutchens. The Clerk of Works was John Pope Vibert. The rebuilt church was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter, Henry Phillpotts, on 6 September 1836.[3] A separate parish of Penzance was created in 1871.[1] The churchyard was extended on the southern side in 1883.[4]

Arson destroyed the interior of the church in April 1985 and two further arson attempts occurred in November 2018.[1][5]

Bells

The first bell in the present church was inscribed ″PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD, 1713 JP″ and was moved to St John's Hall in 1865 for use as a fire-bell. Eight new bells were installed that year at a cost of £950. Their size (diameter at mouth), weight and inscriptions are,

  1. 30 inches (760 mm); 6cwt 3qrs 4lbs; ″PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD A.D. 1865; TAYLOR AND CO., FOUNDERS″,
  2. 30 inches (760 mm); 7cwt 0qrs 10lbs; ″TAYLOR AND CO., FOUNDERS, LOUGHBOROUGH A.D. 1835″,
  3. 34 inches (860 mm); 8cwt 0qrs 10lbs; ″THE GIFT OF PHILIP HEDGELAND M.A., JAMES ALDRINGE DEVENISH, ASSISTANT CURATE, WALTER EDMUNDS, JUN., CHAPELWARDEN, SAMUEL YORK, SIDESMAN A.D. 1865, TAYLOR AND CO., FOUNDERS, LOUGHBOROUGH″,
  4. 30 inches (760 mm); 8cwt 2qrs 10lbs; ″TAYLOR AND CO., FOUNDERS, LOUGHBOROUGH A.D., 1865″,
  5. 38.5 inches (980 mm); 10cwt 1qrs 22lbs; ″THE GIFT OF CAROLINE AND ELIZABETH CATHERINE THOMAS CARNE A.D.1865″,
  6. 40 inches (1,000 mm); 11cwt 1qrs 3lbs; ″TAYLOR AND CO., A.D. 1865″,
  7. 44 inches (1,100 mm); 14cwt 2qrs 17lbs; ″THE GIFT OF THE CORPORATION. FRANCIS BOASE, MAYOR, A.D., 1865, J. TAYLOR AND CO., FOUNDERS, LOUGHBOROUGH, LATE OF OXFORD AND BUCKLAND BREWER, DEVON".
  8. 50 inches (1,300 mm); 20cwt 2qrs 6lbs; ″BOLITHO 1865. J TAYLOR AND CO., FOUNDERS, LOUGHBOROUGH, LEICESTERSHIRE″.[6]

A carillon, costing about £300 and paid for by public subscription, was installed as a memorial to the town clerk and ornithologist, Edward Hearle Rodd. The first to be erected in Cornwall, it was completed by Gillett, Bland & Co on 10 November 1880 and first played at 8.00 pm on Sunday, 28 November 1880. The carillon played fourteen tunes and a tune was played for two weeks, every four hours at 8 am, noon, 4 and 8 pm, midnight and 4 am. The carillon had two barrels and two hammers for each of the bells. The hammers did not interfere with the normal ringing of the eight bells by bell-ringers.[6][7]

Organ

The organ contains casework dating from 1676 originally located in St Mary’s Church, Oxford. The organ is by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd and was moved here from Oxford in 1949. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[8]

References
  1. Historic England. "Church of St Mary, Chapel Street  (Grade II*) (1220507)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  2. Historic England. "Monument No 1572493 (1572493)". PastScape. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  3. "The Lord Bishop of Exeter". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. Plymouth. 10 September 1836. Retrieved 27 September 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "Penzance". The Cornishman (246). 29 March 1883. p. 4.
  5. Becquart, Charlotte (29 November 2018). "Arson probe starts after fire at church". The Cornishman. pp. 1 & 6.
  6. "The Rodd Carillon". The Cornishman (123). 18 November 1880. p. 4.
  7. "St Mary's Church Carillon". The Cornishman (125). 2 December 1880. p. 4.
  8. "NPOR D08564". National Pipe Organ Register. British Institute of Organ Studies. Retrieved 27 September 2015.


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