# St Germans Priory

50°23′49″N 4°18′32″W﻿ / ﻿50.397°N 4.309°W﻿ / 50.397; -4.309
St Germans Priory is a large Norman church in the village of St Germans in south-east Cornwall, England, UK.

## History

According to tradition the church here was founded by St Germanus himself c. 430 AD. The first written record however is of Conan being made Bishop in the Church of St Germans as a result of King Athelstan's settlement with Cornwall. The fixing of the see here shows that the Celtic monastery was already of great importance. Possession of two holdings of land in the parishes of Landrake ("Landerhtun") and Landulph ("Tinieltun" i.e. Tinnel) was confirmed by King Canute in 1018; they had been granted by King Edmund. Both holdings remained in the monastery's possession until 1538. In 1042 the see was moved to Crediton and the lands of the monastery were divided into two parts, one for the monastery and one (named Cuddenbeak) for the Bishop of Crediton. After the Norman Conquest a college of secular canons was established which is said to have been reconstituted in the time of Bishop Bartholomew (1161–1184) as a college of regular canons.
The present church replaces an Anglo-Saxon building which was the cathedral of the Bishops of Cornwall. The church is dedicated to St Germanus and soon after construction it became the cathedral for Cornwall in 926 AD, when King Athelstan appointed Conan as the bishop of Cornwall. The bishopric was to be short-lived, however, as it was transferred to Crediton in 1042 AD. A monastery grew alongside the church, and was reorganized by the Bishop of Exeter between 1161 and 1184 as an Augustinian priory. The priory church was rebuilt on a grand scale, with two western towers and a nave of 102 ft. The church was once called the Cathedral of Cornwall because it is where the bishop of the duchy would be.
At the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII the priory was abolished and its buildings became a private house, home to the Eliot family, in whose hands the house remains. A number of the Eliot family are interred in the church.
St Germans parish was once the largest in Cornwall. St Germans Priory is now managed by the Church of England and the St Germans Priory Trust.

## Architecture

Some of the original Norman features remain, including the large arched western doorway which is particularly ornate and is carved from elvan quarried at Landrake.
There is a mortuary chapel for the Moyle family of Bake.
At Dupath Well the wellhouse is said to have been built in 1510 by the monks of St Germans.
There is a peal of eight bells.
A magnificent though incongruous Baroque monument in black and white marble is situated in space below north tower. It is dedicated to Edward Elliot (1682-1722), Tory Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of St Germans between 1705 and 1710. It is an early work in England by noted Flemish sculptor John Michael Rysbrack, commissioned in 1723.
Large five-light Perpendicular east window was glazed in 1896 by Morris and Co., to designs of Edward Burne-Jones. The donor was Alfred Burton. It two tiers of five figures show Christ to upper centre flanked by a centurion and St Mary, Sister of Lazarus to left and St Mary Virgin and St Paul to right. Below is St Stephen to centre, flanked by the Four Evangelists, saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In tracery lights above is a choir of angels.
South wall has two additional three-light windows filled with glass designed by Burne-Jones and manufactured by Morris & Co. Installed in 1902, they show allegorical representations of the Virtues and are designs from earlier in Burne-Jones' career.
The church has a two manual pipe organ on the left side of the church. The church also has two towers.

## Other burials

* John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Germans
* Henry Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans
* John Eliot (died 1685)
* Edward James Eliot
* John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Germans
* Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot