408 
JOUKNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
with it. Suffice it to say, that its traditions are firmly engraven 
on the native mind, and that the ghost of the infamous Jeffreys, 
who presided within its ancient precincts, is still occasionally seen 
by a few of the old inhabitants, whose interesting credulity has 
not been altogether stamped out by the Devon and Cornwall Rail- 
way Company. 
Lidford Church is dedicated to St. Petrock. We find the name 
of that saint also at Dartmouth. South Brent Church is dedicated 
to St. Patrick. We may conjecture, therefore, that the British 
Church founded in Cornwall by the Irish missionaries extended to 
Dartmoor and its borders, and that on the sites probably of the 
present parish churches there were little Celtic churches as early 
as the sixth or seventh century, similar to the building on the sands 
at Perranzabuloe. 
It is not impossible that fragments of masonry of these buildings 
may still exist in the foundations or other parts of the Norman 
structures which succeeded them. Both British and Norman masons, 
however, in these outlying districts, frequently used small rubble 
stone in their plain masonry, and it would be difficult to distinguish 
between their work, in the absence of moulded or sculptured orna- 
ment, such as was found in the doorway of the little chapel of St. 
Perran. 
The present Church of St. Petrock, at Lidford, is a Perpendicular 
structure (chiefly, though not entirely) of the fifteenth century, and 
consists of nave, chancel, south aisle, with porch and west tower. 
The roofs are open, with bosses on the longitudinal and curved 
ribs, and some angels on the wall plates. The timbers here 
(although until of late years they appear to have been ceiled up) 
are in an excellent condition, and though little more has been done 
than the removal of the plaster and the scraping of the wood, the 
result is not unsatisfactory. The restoration of an old church 
should be conducted on the most conservative principles. What 
is required is, not to amend or alter, but to conserve and bring 
to light the missing links of the fabric's architectural history. 
There are other fields for architectural invention. You may 
build, if you will, new churches on new principles more con- 
formable with real or supposed modern requirements ; but to adopt 
such principles in dealing with an old church would be to exceed 
your duty, which is humbly and religiously to restore the fabric as 
well as possible to its original form and condition, remembering 
