Our Church

The building which stands today is a mixture of Norman, mediaeval and nineteenth-century work. It contains several interesting memorials and carvings.
The plan of the building is unusual being one of only four Cornish churches with a south tower. The nave is longer than the average and slopes up towards the sanctuary at the east end. This feature is found in the churches of northern France and may reflect the early involvement of the monks of Montacute. Why not take a virtual tour around our church and the surrounding area including the churchyard?

Veryan was fortunate in having three generations of the Trist family as successive vicars. John Trist became vicar in 1773. He was succeeded by his son Jeremiah who held the living for over fifty years and made an indelible mark on church and parish, establishing schools, building the five roundhouses for his tenants and embellishing the church with the present tower clock (1800), placing two stone tablets of texts in the porch (1803) and removing the old singing gallery from the west end (1809).

In 1830 Jeremiah was succeeded by his son, Samuel (the builder of Trist House). Samuel rescued a large quantity of mediaeval carved stonework from the derelict chapel of St Nun at Grampound. It is likely that some of the early features in the parish church came from this source and were added during the major rebuilding of the church between 1847 and 1850.

You may also be interested in the book about the Trist family.