Listing Text

SW 52 NE,
6/216

GERMOE CHURCHTOWN, Germoe

St Germoe's Chair

GV

I

Detached sedilia building. Probably circa early C13. Dressed granite front and
architectural features, otherwise granite rubble. Scantle slate roof with gable
ends.
Plan: single-cell parallelogram plan with 2-bay open arcade to the front gable end
and a stone bench against the inside of the rear wall with 3 niches to the back
formed by a blind 3-bay arcade, the central niche is slightly hollowed. The left-hand side wall is built into the bank and adjoins the churchyard walls q.v. It is
possible that the whole structure is a later medieval construction using earlier
elements.
2-bay gable ended front: open pointed arched arcade carried on round Romanesque
imposts and round central column; the responds are engaged half columns; moulded
bases and capitals with annulet rings; straight chamfered arches. At the apex of the
gable is a probably C12 carved head.
Interior has a moulded granite bench along the rear wall and above the bench is a 3-
bay blind arcade with roll moulded pointed arches springing from two tapered round
columns and from the side walls as responds. The columns have tapered-in bases with
roll mouldings and the capitals are tapered out with annulet ring mouldings. Above
the slightly taller and wider middle arch is a probably C13 carved crowned head.

St Germoe's chair is a remarkable and unique building whether it is mostly original
or a later imaginative use of C12 and C13 architectural features.

Listing NGR: SW5856729424