BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OP CORNWALL. 21 7 



Fully half of tlie ancient cLurclies of the county are partly built 

 of stone which does not occur in their immediate locality. In 

 fact there are very few, except in the far west, in which one 

 may not find either Pentewan, Catacleuse, Polyphant, or St. 

 Stephen's stone — of which more anon, — whilst for several 

 the famous oolite quarries at Caen even were laid under contri- 

 bution. I am inclined to think, however, that there has not been 

 quite so much use made of Caen stone in Cornwall as is 

 commonly imagined. One of the best known local building 

 stones of Devon, that raised at Beer, and largely employed in the 

 building of Exeter cathedral, so closely resembles Caen as to 

 deceive a casual observer ; and, since it was used so near the 

 borders of Cornwall as the church of St. Andrew, Plymouth, it 

 appears probable that it should have been carried west of the 

 Tamar, as was the Eoborough elvan. At the same time there 

 is this curious fact — which shows, with the exception of the 

 importation of Caen and the partial use of Beer and Eoborough 

 stone, how self-dependent in these matters old Cornwall was — that 

 there are very few examples in the county of that pet ornamental 

 stone of the mediaeval architects and sculptors, Pui-beck marble. 



Polyphant stone was chiefly in request in the east of the 

 county; and Catacleuse and Pentewan in its central districts. 

 We have unmistakeable evidence of the employment of all three 

 as early as the 12th century. There are yet extant Norman fonts 

 in both Catacleuse and Pentewan. So too with the Polyphant ; 

 for the doorway of the "White Hart, at Launceston, which once 

 belonged to the Priory there, is in that stone. Throughout the 

 13th and 14th centuries, of the three the Pentewan was most 

 largely in request. Catacleuse, however, was used for the finest 

 work ; and the noble tomb of Prior Yivian, in Bodmin chiu'ch, 

 is one of the best illustrations of its capabilities. During the 

 Decorated period, while Pentewan and Polyphant stone were 

 chiefly in request for ordinary dressings, Catacleuse was largely 

 employed for window tracery, and proved admirably adapted for 

 the purpose. 



The fifteenth century swept away wholly, or in great part, 

 most of the churches of Cornwall ; and with the PerjDendicular 

 period granite, which had been somewhat in the background, 

 came into common use again. We know now that it is capable 

 of the highest finish ; but in those days it adapted itself more 



