The dedication to St Cyriacus and St Julitta is unusual. Quite how these two early martyrs came to be venerated in this corner of Cornwall is not clear. No doubt their memory was brought back withe returning crusaders.
It is worth taking time to read their story in the church which differs slightly from that on Wikipedia.
Where the stories concur is that Julitta was relatively unmoved by the murder of her son, assured that he was going to a better place. She then suffered a similar fate. To be martyred is one thing: to rejoice in it was going a bit far.
None of this destroys the delight of this church, however for it is a pleasant building with a battlemented porch.
Inside there is a nave and two full side aisles. The walls are bare of plaster which always gives a rustic feel to a church, especially one, like this, which is relatively tall.
The nave ceiling has been replaced with a C19 construction. The wagon roof has been more sympathetically handled in the south aisle where remnants of carved wood show what it would all once have looked like.
The Norman font is massive and in the Bodmin style with some well-carved heads and swirling animals.
A memorial to Elizabeth Rosevere d1765 assures us:
Pray Friendly Reader stop a while
Of Death be not afraid
Live as I did a Godly Life
Twill keep thee from that dread.
Outside there is a fine gateway with a coffin rest alongside a wheel-headed cross. Another, larger cross stands in the churchyard.
A Cornish Journey 