Church of St Cubert

The parish is named for St Cubert, a 7th-century Welsh missionary traditionally said to have preached in the area with St Carantoc. According to later tradition, Cubert founded a church at the highest point of the parish before returning to Wales, where he became abbot of a monastery and died in 775. A holy well associated with the saint gave its name to the nearby village of Holywell. The present 13th-century church stands on the site of an earlier Norman building, which itself replaced a pre-Conquest timber church. Around 1300, a west tower was added, and in the mid-15th century the church was enlarged by the addition of a south aisle, south transept, and porch. A carved stone, variously…

The church is built of slatestone rubble with granite dressings. The plan comprises a nave and south aisle of similar length, with north and south transepts. The three-stage west tower, also of slatestone, stands on a chamfered plinth with buttresses and string courses. The present spire, rebuilt in the mid-19th century, has a distinctive “drop-shoulder” profile, a form of broached spire more commonly associated with southeastern England. The roofs are slate, and the south transept features handmade crested ridge tiles. The nave is externally visible only on its north side, where there is a moulded two-centred doorway. An irregular joint in the north wall shows where the chancel was later…