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Grade |
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Having visited the Ruan Minor site take a few minutes to visit the site of the sister church of St Grade. This is in a very exposed situation on the plateau of the Lizard, with no houses or hamlet near at hand. |
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The Lectern is a striking example of the use of polished serpentine.
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St Grade is in a very isolated position so bare and prominent as to be visible for miles around. .The only thing remaining of the original church is the western tower in two stages, made out of serpentine blocks, and topped with 4 interesting pinnacles. The rest of the present church dates from a complete rebuilding in 1862 - so that in effect what is now seen is a small, and very typical, Victorian ‘utility’ church on a site which has been hallowed by many centuries of worship. The dedication at St Grade is to Holy Cross and St Grade. This is the only coastal place in Cornwall where Holy Cross is found as a dedication. A 16th Century legend tells how a certain Sir Roger Whallysborough of Cornwall made a 12th century pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where he stole a piece of the True Cross on which Christ was crucified. On his return his ship was wrecked off this coast. Fearing for his life he had promised that he would give a piece of the relic to the church where he came to land, if he was saved. This he did, and this became known as Cross Parish. In a list of church goods dated 1553 mention is made of ‘The Holy Cross in a silver box’. The parish was called St Cross in 1261, but by 1310 it was known as St Grada, Virgin, about whom little else is known. The interior is typically Victorian, a strange green light is filtered by the ferns growing in the tower masonry.
The font is 13th Century with thick short corner shafts and stars and rosettes in circles. There are a number of Victorian memorials; an interesting use of brick in the sedilia, or seats, on the south side of the chancel, and 2 superb examples of Victorian craftsmanship in the Pulpit and Lectern of polished serpentine. It is easy to imagine how pleased the first congregations in the rebuilt church must have been with these samples of a most ‘fashionable’ craft - in its way just as typical of its time as 15th century bench ends, or elaborate 16th century wooden, painted and gilded screens.
From its elevated position Grade Church looks both into the past and into the future: into the past by celebrating Choral Evensong from the Book of Common Prayer (1662) once or twice a month, 3pm or 6pm according to the season, and into the future by involving as many young people as possible in the Christingle Service of carols and tableaux, rounded off with drinks and mince pies. |
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