MEM24819 - St Petrock's Churchyard, Churchtown, Parracombe (Building)

SS 6747 4495. St Peter's Church [TU]. [1] St. Peter's Church (Mortuary Chapel) was formerly called St. Helen's Church. [2,3] Formerly the parish church, until it was superceded by Christ Church nearer the village centre in 1878. [4] St. Petroc is a Cornish saint better known in the Bodmin and Padstow area. There is a tradition that St. Petroc built a small church of cob and wattle with a straw roof almost 1500 years ago. The structure has undergone many rebuildings. The siting of the 12th Century church and the primary school away from the village centre is probably a reflection of the fact that they each were built to serve a large parish. Their situation was thus considered more convenient than close to the valley bottom.[5,6] St Peter's Church marked the Ordnance Survey 6 inch map. [7] Chanter notes the early dedication to the Celtic saint, St. Petrock. [8] The former Parish Church of St. Petroc is a landmark building with a remarkable history. Some sources suggest it was founded by William of Falaise, a close relative of William the Conqueror. The graveyard was used for burials until 1971. [9] The churchyard has been mapped from data on the 2018 MasterMap. [11] The Historic England Archive holds several photographs of the churchyard. [12-18] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [19]