St Mary's Church, Penzance
| St Mary’s Church, Penzance | |
|---|---|
St Mary’s Church, Penzance
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| Coordinates: 50°06′59.82″N 5°32′0.33″W / 50.1166167°N 5.5334250°W | |
| Location | Penzance |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Broad Church |
| History | |
| Dedication | St Mary |
| Consecrated | 6 September 1836 |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* listed |
| Architect(s) | Charles Hutchens |
| Groundbreaking | 1832 |
| Completed | 15 November 1835 |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Penzance |
| Deanery | Penwith |
| Archdeaconry | Cornwall |
| Diocese | Diocese of Truro |
| Province | Province of Canterbury |
St Mary’s Church, Penzance is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Penzance, Cornwall.
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. 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. 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. A separate parish of Penzance was created in 1871.
Arson destroyed the interior of the church in 1985.
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,
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 plays 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 has two barrels and two hammers for each of the bells. The hammers do not interfere with the normal ringing of the eight bells by bell-ringers.
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.
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