Cornwall Historic Churches Trust

St Nun, Pelynt

The present church sits within an oval enclosure which may have started out as an Iron Age settlement site with the old churchyard still surrounded by a road that could once have been the enclosure ditch. It consists of a nave, chancel, north aisle, south transept with vestry aisle attached, and a west tower and south porch. The church contains some good slate monuments dating from the 17th and 18th centuries and also has the crook that was carried in the funeral procession for Bishop Sir Jonathan Trelawny, remembered in the words of the song ‘Trelawny’ adopted as the unofficial anthem of Cornwall, who was baptised and buried within the church.
The west tower, which contains six bells, was probably erected in the 15th century and, before the Reformation, the north transept was replaced by the present north aisle. This aisle now has an arcade of Tuscan columns of late 17th or early 18th century date. Of the monuments, the largest (in the chancel) is in memory of Francis Buller who died in 1615. He and his wife are depicted kneeling with their 4 sons and 8 daughters. Also in the chancel can be seen an interesting plaque to the memory of Edward Trelawny of Bake, who is described as ‘an honest lawyer’. He died in 1630. Next to his memorial can be seen the effigy of William Achym 1589. It is said he died of a stroke, hence his crooked smile. Originally his monument was in the south transept but was moved when the Trelawny family took over that area of the church. Now known as the Trelawny aisle, the south transept contains several monuments to members of the family who are buried in the vault beneath.
In September CHCT made a Small Projects Grant if £1,000 towards repairs to the tower roof. For more information about the church see chct.info/histories/pelynt-st-nun/