Western Cornwall travelling along the A39 shortly after leaving Bude on a hill top this church can be seen. This seems the final frontier between the two races of Saxon and Celt, for farm names within the parish are mostly Saxon , such as Woodknowle, Rattenbury, Creathorne; while only a mile or two to the south the Celtic prefix by Tre, Pol, and Pen, begin. If, as it seems likely, the river was the actual frontier, it is significant that the farm on the high ground west of the village, looking over the river bears the Saxon name Whalesborough, "the fortress of the Welsh" i.e. the Celtic Cornish. this must of been the name given by the invaders to the stronghold which barred further advance. It is to this period the legends of King Arther belong, "Myghtern Arth" being Cornish for High King I leave you to imagine your own conclusions regarding the legends. However the High King would at the time been the tribal leader of the Celts against the Saxon invasion.
The Celtic Saint Marwenne around the end of the fifth century founded a hermitage and gave her name to the village.
It is probable that the Normans built a cruciform church with chancel, nave, and two transepts. Nothing of this church now remains, though it is likely that the south and east walls of the chancel, south wall of the transept, and nave of the present church stand on the original Norman foundations.
The oldest part of the present fabric dates from the fourteenth century, including the chancel, transept and the lower stage of the tower.
The north aisle and porch were added in the fifteenth century, Mediaeval churches have large porches because pre-reformation days the first part of the Marriage Service, which now takes place at the chancel steps, was held in the porch. The holy water stoup in the wall of the porch, is to make the sign of the cross upon the forehead and breast, before entering church, is to symbolise that purity of mind and heart with which to approach the worship of God, and is the Christian counterpart to the washing of hands and feet practised by the Jews upon entering the Temple at Jerusalem. Early Christian churches in the East had stone cisterns at their doors for ceremonial ablutions, a feature copied by the Arabs in their mosques.
The magnificent old oak door, with its beautiful wrought iron work and "sanctuary knocker" (now protected under glass) is probably the original fifteenth century door.
The fifteenth century also saw the two upper stages of the tower completed.
1403-Edmund Stafford Bishop of Exeter, commissioned Philip, Abbott of Hartland, to investigate the case of Cecilia Moys, who wished to live the life of an anchoress in the churchyard of Marhamchurch. the episcopal licence was granted, and the appropriate rites, which included the Office of the Dead, Cecilia was enclosed in her cell which was built against the north wall of the sanctuary, in the angle formed by the wall of the chancel and the then existing north transept, where the present Lady Chapel now stands at the east end of the north aisle. In the course of time , probably in the sixteenth century, the cell disappeared, though some people think that the old stones on the sill of one of the windows are relics of it; but Ceclia's window, through which she was able to hear Mass and to receive her Communion, was preserved and built into the west wall of the north aisle, where it can still be seen.
The roofs of the nave , chancel, and north aisle are typical examples of the "wagon vault" roof, though unfortunately the plaster panels of the roofs, visible in old photographs of the church, were removed in the restoration of the church in the 19th century.
Note.
One of the treasures of Marhamchurch, the cresset stone, set on a modern base beside the tower arch. This ancient block of stone contains four holes in which burned wicks of floating oil or tallow, a primitive lamp which probably once burned before some shrine in the church, or may or provided light and warmth for the Rector as he said office.
The pillars of the arcade dividing the nave from the north aisle. Each pillar is a monolith, carved from a single block of granite. This feature is found in some other Cornish churches.
Ancient pisinas, i.e drains set in recesses in the walls, used for cleansing the chalice and paten after Mass, remain in the south walls of the sanctuary, the lady chapel and the south transept; in the north wall is an aumbry to contain the blessed sacrament, reserved here for communion of sick parishioners in their homes.
The beautiful early Jacobean pulpit with its sounding board, and the chair of the same period in the sanctuary. The rood screen which formerly separated the nave from the chancel has disappeared. Local tradition declares the ancient pews with their carved bench ends were stolen one night by the men of a neighbouring parish.
On the wall of the nave will be seen a plaster cast of the royal arms of Charles 11, given to so many of Cornish parishes at the restoration to commemorate the loyalty of Cornwall to Church and King in the great rebellion. Traces of the original colour still remain.
Set in the floor at the head of the nave, on the north side, and in various places on the walls of the church, will be seen curiously carved grave slabs, mostly of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.