The Church
North Hill Church is a large building in the centre of North Hill village or ‘churchtown’ as it used to be known. The church is dedicated to St Torney. The age of the church is believed to be over 600 years. St Torney’s Holy Well is situated on the nearby River Lynher. The first incumbent is recorded in 1269. In 1292 the parish was assessed for tax in the sum of nine marks (£6). The patron at that time was John de Moels or Mules,
Parts of the sanctuary and chancel are 14th century, or even perhaps earlier than this, and the rest was built in the late 15th to 16th century. It has been suggested that St Torney’s and St Anietus in St Neot were built by the same masons using similar plans. The church was restored in 1868.
The chancel is built of stone rubble. There are two 14th century ogee niches on either side of the east window, a piscina and credence, a sedilia in the south wall, which, though much restored has pillars of polished serpentine and a tomb or Easter Sepulchre in the north wall with an elaborate 14th century ogee arch.
Ashlar granite has been used in the north aisle and fine regular granite ashlar blocks can be found in the south aisle, south porch (with chamber above) and the west tower. The nave comprises four bay arcades with slim monolith granite pillars of standard Cornish design carrying wide arches and original wagon roofs. There is an undecorated Norman font made of freestone standing on a granite base. The west tower and south aisle are of regular granite blocks and probably worked by the same masons that worked at St Neot Church. The tower has three stages, is buttressed on the square, and is finished with battlements and crocketted pinnacles. The tower’s 3-light west window has intersecting tracery which is probably late 18th century but with an unusual band of carved roundels near the sill. The belfry contains six bells. There is a sundial on the wall of the south porch dated 1753.
There are four significant 17th century monuments in the church. Three are dedicated to members of the Spoure family and one to Thomas Vincent. On the south wall is a slate tombcover with a skull to Henry Spoure who died in 1603. Nearby is the 1683 memorial to his descendant Henry Spoure who died in 1688, aged 10, and next to this is a coloured slate commemorating Richard Spoure who died as an infant in 1623. In the north west corner is an elaborately carved slate tomb, dated 1606, in memory of Thomas Vincent (of Battens) and his wife, Jane. Jane died in 1601 and hers is the earliest death commemorated in the church.
The Cache
The headline coordinates will take you to the entrance porch on the south side of the church.
Opposite the entrance is a memorial plaque at ground level in memory of Stan & Val Sandercock.
From this plaque you require the following information:
Valerie June nee Warne, AB-C-DEFG - AG-DD-ABDB
Stanley John: A-H-DEGJ - AF-DD-ABDB
The cache can be found at N 50 34.DB(C+D) W 004 26.ABF
The cache is a modest walk or a short drive away; there is room to park at the GZ whilst you retrieve the cache.
The cache is a small plastic tube 10 cms long by 3 cms diameter wrapped in camo tape.
You may require tweezers to extract the log - please Bring Your Own Pen (BYOP)
****************** ********************
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.
****************** *******************