The Church
St Sampson's is part of the Callington Cluster of churches, which comprises St Mary's, Callington; St Melors & St Paul's, Linkinhorne; Stoke Climsland and St Sampson's, South Hill.
The church was dedicated to St Sampson by Bishop Grandisson, bishop of Exeter, on 4th November 1333. The church itself is solidly built of stone and has a north transept dedicated to the Manaton family.
Like most church it was restored in Victorian times in 1859. It is believed there must have been a leper colony in the area as there is a hagioscope (hole cut in the wall) to allow a view of the chancel and a separate access door which was only recently blocked up.
The embattled tower is at the west end and has five bells, but they have not been rung for over 70 years due to the tower not being considered safe. However the money has eventually been raised and the tower has now been made safe.
The church consists of a chancel, nave, south aisle, and north transept (called also the Manaton aisle or chantry). The chancel was tastefully restored in 1859. The arcade has four four-centred arches, supported on monolith granite pillars. The entrances are a south porch and a priest's door.
The tower has three stages, is buttressed at the angles, and finished with battlements and low pinnacles. Below the parapet are figures of the twelve apostles. The belfry contains five bells.
The parish of Callington has always been associated with South Hill. St Sampson's church at South Hill was dedicated in 1333 which makes it 105 years older than St Mary's of Callington, even to this day St Sampsons is considered the mother church. St Sampson was born around 500 AD and is believed to have set up a monastery at either South Hill or Golant.
Proof of the existence of early Christianity at South Hill came with the finding of a Romano-British granite pillar about 8ft high with an inscribed cross and inscription on it. It was found in the rectory grounds in 1891 and was re-erected in the churchyard. The vicarage was demolished early in the last century and South Hill is now, no more than a church, a farm and a handful of houses.
The church has been a Grade I listed building since 1964.
The Cache
Parking for 2 cars on the roadside outside the church gate at N 50 31.761 W 004 21.563
The headline coordinates take you to the entrance porch of the church.
Just before you reach the entrance there is an old slate gravestone on your left. From this gravestone you need to obtain the following information:
Nicolas Rogers Foott eldest son of
William and Honor Foott of North hill
Died Jan AB st BCDE aged DF years
The cache can be found at N 50 31.D(B+C)C W 004 21.(F-B)(A-A)(E+B+E)
The cache is a short walk away across the graveyard and through the gate in the north corner.
The cache is a plastic tube approx 7 cms long by 3 cms in diameter inside a camo bag.
You may require tweezers to extract the log. Please Bring Your Own Pen (BYOP)
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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