Bodmin Parish Church

St Petroc's Church, Bodmin
St Petroc's Church, Bodmin, from the southwest
50°28′17″N 4°43′00″W / 50.4714°N 4.7168°W / 50.4714; -4.7168Coordinates: 50°28′17″N 4°43′00″W / 50.4714°N 4.7168°W / 50.4714; -4.7168
Denomination	Church of England
Previous denomination	Roman Catholic
Churchmanship	High
History
Dedication	St Petroc
Administration
Parish	Bodmin
Deanery	Trigg Minor
Archdeaconry	Bodmin
Diocese	Truro
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Rector	The Revd Canon Graham Minors, team rector

St Petroc's Church, Bodmin, also known as Bodmin Parish Church, is an Anglican parish church in the town of Bodmin, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.

The existing church building is dated 1469-72 and was until the building of Truro Cathedral the largest church in Cornwall. The tower which remains from the original Norman church and stands on the north side of the church (the upper part is 15th century) was until the loss of its spire in 1699 150 ft high. The building underwent two Victorian restorations and another in 1930. It is now listed Grade I. Part of the church is the Regimental Chapel of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry dedicated in 1933.

The parish of Bodmin is now grouped with Lanivet and Lanhydrock parishes. There is a chapel at Nanstallon.

There are a number of interesting monuments, most notably that of Prior Vivian which was formerly in the Priory Church (Thomas Vivian's effigy lying on a chest: black Catacleuse stone and grey marble). Thomas Vyvyan (or Vivian), the penultimate prior of Bodmin Priory, was consecrated bishop of the titular see of Megara in Greece in 1517. As a bishop he could relieve Bishop Oldham of Exeter by acting as his suffragan in the archdeaconry of Cornwall. At Rialton, chief manor of the priory, Prior Vyvyan, a Cornishman, had already built c. 1510 a good residence for himself; parts of this structure are still extant. His tomb was not destroyed at the Reformation but relocated in the parish church.

The font of a type common in Cornwall is of the 12th century: large and finely carved. The type may also be found at Altarnun and elsewhere but Bodmin's font is the largest and most highly ornamented of any of this type.

In 1491 Matthy More undertook the reseating of the church and the building of the rood screen and pulpit. His work took four years and he was paid "about £400 in our money" (estimated in 1937). Parts of his work survive in the bench-ends and panels of the screen which have been re-used in the Corporation seats, wall panelling, reredos, pulpit and modern screen.

Unusually, the three, late 15th century misericords have at some point been taken from their original stalls (which may not even have been in St Petroc's) and fitted into the lectern. Although dating evidence is scanty, it is believed that the transfer happened sometime in the 18th century.