ANNUAL EXCURSION. 213 



The name of Gereniiius is preserved in St. Gerrans Church. 



r)n arriving- at St. Gerrans Church, the party were shown 

 over the interior by the rector (the rev. H. J. Martin). The 

 church, that was ahnost wh(jlly rebuilt in 1848, is dedicated 

 to St. Geraint, Gerendus, or Gerennius, a saint of whom as little 

 is known as of S. Filius. The local press in their reports of the 

 excursion called him "the canonised king." He may have been 

 a king, but we are unaware that he was ever canonised. In 

 1334 it was a chapel dependent on St. Anthony, and was con- 

 lirmed to the priory of St Peter and St. Paul at Plympton by 

 John de Grandisson, bishop of Exeter. It was, however, 

 parochial and not a mere chapel of ease, and is referred to in 

 records as a rectory as early as 1260. In 1202 Bp. Marshall had 

 allotted a moiety of the tithes to the convent of Plympton, but 

 reserved the patronage to the bishop of Exeter. The building com- 

 prises a chancel, nave, south aisle, north transept, and vestry. The 

 chancel is separated from the other parts of the church by a 

 good modern screen of oak. In the aisle is the handsome marble 

 monument of Edward Hobbs (ob. 1718) and his wife. The arcade 

 has seven four-centred arches of granite, supjiorted on monolith 

 pillars of the same material. The roofs are of open woodwork. 

 In the north wall of the transept is an arched recess, in which is 

 deposited a well-preserved priest's tomb, removed hither from 

 the chancel. There is a south porch, in which are the remains of 

 a stoup, a north door, and a vestry or priest's door blocked. 

 The tower, which is of two stages, is butti'essed at the 

 angles and battlemented. It is surmounted with a spire, 

 on one panel of which is carved the date "January 

 25th, 1636." The church was practically rebuilt in 1849- 

 50, and the spire restored in 1890. The rector kindly 

 showed the parish register, dating from 1538. One entry refers 

 to the Act of Parliament, passed 24th August, 1653, dis- 

 allowing marriages solemnised by a minister, and sub- 

 stituting the justice of the peace. As a result, no marriages 

 were solemnised in the parish for three years. Then 

 the law was repealed, and the then incumbent of the parish 

 records how he solemnised the ceremonies which had been delayed 

 for tlu'ee years. Eeferencos to these events are not infrequent in 

 registers. The present rector remarked that the church was the 



