St Ciricius and St Julitta, Luxulyan, Cornwall

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Location
Luxulyan St Cyriacus & St Julitta Church, Luxulyan, Bodmin PL30 5EA, United Kingdom (50°23′24″N, 4°44′31″W)
Site Location
Luxulyan
National Grid Reference
SX 05204 58067
Boundaries
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Cornwall now Cornwall
Diocese
medieval Exeter now Truro
Type of building/monument
Report authors
  • Ron Baxter
Photographers
  • Phil Jell
Visit Date
September 2005

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Feature Sets
Description

Luxulyan is a village in mid Cornwall, 6 miles S of Bodmin, and is the site of a granite quarry. It is in the valley of the River Par, designated a World Heritage Site for its important early 19thc. industrial remains. The church stands at the E edge of the village and is of granite ashlar with granite dressings. It consists of a nave and chancel in one with N and S aisles to the nave, a S porch and a W tower with a NE stair turret, and is substantially 15thc. in date, and restored in the late-19thc. The only Romanesque feature is the font, of the Bodmin type but not by that workshop.

History

Luxulyan was not recorded by name in the Domesday Survey, but included two domesday manors, both held by the Count of Mortain as Tenant in Chief in 1086. Bodiggo was held by Richard from the Count, and by Aelfric before the Conquest,; Trevelyan was held by Reginald fom the Count and by Alric in 1066. A church at Luxulyan was mentioned as the chapel of Lanlivery in 1162.

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

A useful panoramic view of the interior of the church is available from Reed Design, here.

The font is an early example of the suspended bowl type, misleadingly called the Bodmin type as is can be dated to the mid-12thc.: at least a generation before the production of the core Bodmin group of fonts. It is very similar to the font at St Austell, and closely related to those at Tregony and Kea. Both Sedding and Beacham date it c.1150. Unlike the Bodmin core group of fonts the corner heads are not winged, and the Tree of Life appears on only one face, surrounded on the other three by dragons, cats and a bird. Sedding interprets the beasts as symbolizing 'the evil spirits which are cast out at the Sacrament of Baptism'.

Bibliography

P. Beacham and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, New Haven and London 2014, 331-32.

Historic England Listed Building: English Heritage Legacy ID: 70934

N. Orme, English Church Dedications: With a Survey of Cornwall and Devon, Exeter 1996, 99.

  1. E. H. Sedding, Norman Architecture in Cornwall. London 1909, 251-53.