St Torney
Unknown item – Photographs (PWDRO 116/109 & 116/117)
Three unannotated photographs were identified as being of the same church interior. One in PWDRO 116/109 includes the eastern end of the south aisle in which there is a distinctive seventeenth-century monument with two standing and two kneeling figures. In PWDRO 116/117 is another view showing, in the background, the monument mentioned above. In the foreground is part of a box pew with inlay work of coats of arms and the date 1724. Another photograph in PWDRO 116/109 looking towards the west appears to be the same church, as the ceiling lamp is identical to ones in the previous photographs and the roof and bench ends are similar. The church was finally identified through a photograph of the monument in Beacham & Pevsner (2014). It is to Henry Spoure (died 1688) and is described as ‘one of the most endearing monuments in Cornwall’ (Ibid. p. 386).
There is nothing in these photographs to indicate which of the various carved pieces of furniture is being depicted as the subject. The only significant new work in the timeframe of Pinwill woodcarving is the reseating with oak benches in 1897. These have finely carved ends with sixteenth-century designs but were ‘reportedly made by J. Northcott of Ashwater’ (Davis, 2013 p. 6). It therefore remains a mystery as to why the photographs of St Torney church are in the Pinwill archive.
Sources
Beacham, P. & Pevsner, N. (2014) The Buildings of England. Cornwall. Yale University Press, London.
Davis, B. H. (2013) North Hill Parish Church. A Guide to the Church.
PWDRO 116/109 Photographs. Various. Church Interiors.
PWDRO 116/117 Photographs. Various. Small Items of Church Furnishings.