St Petroc's Building

There were earlier churches on this site. Part of the tower contains masonry of the Norman period.

The present church was built in 1469 - 72. It is the largest parish church in Cornwall and is 151ft long and 65ft wide. Most of the masonry is the original 15th century work. The pillars being typical ‘Cornish Perpendicular’ with small capitals. It is one of the few churches of the period of which building records survive almost complete. The Mayors accounts are preserved at the County Records Office, Truro. It was truly a Town effort, for the local Trade Guilds(numbering about 40) took the lead and most people gave according to their means in money, goods and labour. The total recorded cost was £196 7s 4d (about half a million pounds today). The church ‘furniture’ - pulpit, screens, seats, etc - cost £92 under a seperate contract with one Mathy More in 1491. The timber was bought in wales to be shipped to Wadebridge. Some of his original woodwork is incorporated in the present Screens and Priests’ seats. Most of the original roof was destroyed in 1699 when the spire (150ft high) was struck by lightening but a few beams remain in position in the Lady Chapel. The building was patially restored in the early 19th century when the west wall was rebuilt and a further restoration took place about 1860.