97 



ST. PETEOC'S CHURCH, PADSTOW. 



(Notes of an Address delivered in Padstow Church, August 20. 1891, to the Members of 

 the Royal Institution of Cornwall, by the Right Reverend Edwaed Teollopb, 

 D.D., F.S.A., Lord Bishop, Suffragan, of Nottingham,) 



In Cornwall, four Churclies dedicated to St. Petroo still 

 remain, viz. : those of Padstow, Bodmin, Little Petherick, and 

 Trevalga ; and there are many others named after him in Devon 

 and in Wales. He is said to have proceeded from Wales or 

 from Cornwall to Ireland, and thence returned south (on a mill- 

 stone across the sea) to Padstow (Petroc's-stow) in Cornwall, 

 eventually settling, with three Welsh disciples, in Bodmin (also 

 called Petroc's-stow,) where his relics* were long enshrined in 

 his conventional church (since destroyed), the patron saints of 

 which were St. Mary (the Blessed Virgin) and St. Petroc. 



The site of Padstow Church marks that of a sacred edifice 

 of extreme antiquity, and the Chapel of St. Sampson was not 

 far from it. There are ancient crosses around. A very large 

 base, from which rises part of a massive cross-shaft, is in the 

 church-yard ; another cross is in the Vicarage Garden ; and a 

 third is in the grounds of Prideaux Place.f 



The Tower of the church does not appear to be Norman. 

 It is Early English in style, with 14th century additions, and 

 contains 6 bells which, according to the churchwardens' book, 

 were rung in honour of Charles, Prince of Wales, afterwards 

 King Charles II, when he entered Padstow (as the guest of 

 John, son of Sir Nicholas Prideaux, then owner of Prideaux 

 Place), on his way from Launceston to Pendennis Castle, after 

 the disastrous battle of Naseby, fought June 14th, 1645. The 



* A reliquary, which probably at one time contained them, still exists at 

 Bodmin. 



f All these Crosses have been accurately figured and described in the 

 Journal of the British Archseol : Association (vol. 47, part 4, 1891) ; and in " The 

 Builder," (June 6, 1891, vol. Ix, p. 449), by Mr. Arthur G. Langdon, Architect, 

 I7, Craven-street, Strand, London. 



