Consecrated 6 September 1836 Dedication Mary Deanery Penwith | Churchmanship Broad Church Heritage designation Grade II* listed Opened 15 November 1835 | |
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Similar St Maddern's Church, St Pol de Léon's Church - P, Penlee House, St Mary's Lifeboat Station, Mount's Bay | ||
St Mary’s Church, Penzance is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Penzance, Cornwall.
Contents
History
The site as a place of worship dates from at least least the fourteenth century, but was a chapel to the parish of Madron and first licenced in 1321. The chapel was spared during the Spanish raid in August 1595 because Mass had been celebrated, previously. Despite enlargements in 1662 to 1672, and 1782 it was severely overcrowded by 1824. At that time it served a population of circa 7000 and was still a chapel of ease to Madron, two miles inland. The Reverend Thomas Vyvyan made arrangements to replace it with a new church designed by Charles Hutchens. The Clerk of Works was John Pope Vibert. The rebuilt church was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter, Henry Phillpotts, on 6 September 1836. A separate parish of Penzance was created in 1871.
Arson destroyed the interior of the church in 1985.
Organ
The organ contains casework dating from 1676 originally located in St Mary’s Church, Oxford. The organ is by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd and was moved here from Oxford in 1949. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.