There are some important remains of Norman architecture, notably the west front and part of the nave of St Germans, some portion of Blisland, the south door of Kilkhampton, the westernmost arches of Morwenstow, Tintagel, and some tympana of doorways with rude sculpture. In many of the churches the early fonts remain. Originally baptisms took place in tanks or barrels sunk in the earth; then, when adult baptisms ceased, square or circular troughs were placed on the floor, and later were raised on pedestals; and not infrequently the pedestal is an addition, at a later date, to the basin of the font itself.
Of the Early English period, the remains are scanty. St Anthony in Roseland is the most perfect example in Cornwall.
Tympanum, Egloskerry Church
Of the Middle Pointed, or Decorated period, are Padstow, St Columb Major, Sheviock, Lostwithiel—where the very peculiar spire is singularly beautiful and foreign in character—and portions in Lanteglos by Fowey, and St Ive near Liskcard.
Lanteglos Church
But, as in Devonshire, so in Cornwall, there was an outburst of church building in the Third Pointed or Perpendicular period. Then only—since the early sculptors of the crosses—did architects and carvers attack the granite, and most of the churches were then rebuilt. The finest are St Kewe, Mawgan in Pyder with a beautiful tower, Probus with a richly sculptured tower of the reign of Elizabeth, St Austell—also with a good tower, the carvings in Elvan—St Neot, Stratton, and Buryan. One remarkable feature is in the porches, where tracery of an ogival character is introduced in the arch. The Rev. W. Haslam, in the Transactions of the Exeter Dioc. Arch. Society, says of the Cornish churches that they "are low, and somewhat flat in the pitch of the roof, and without buttresses to break the long plain horizontal lines which are so conspicuous. All these are features of the Perpendicular style, I admit, but not to the extent to which they are carried in Cornwall. Besides this, the general form of a Cornish church is plain; externally, the plan of the larger ones is a parallelogram, divided into three low ridges of roof: there is a porch on the south side; this is the only break in the horizontal line I allude to. The smaller churches have generally but one aisle, and these have a transept also, but sometimes two transepts; but even these do not relieve the plainness of the exterior. This is not the character of one church, or two, or three; but more or less of all. It is their character, and I attribute it to the boisterous nature of the climate in that narrow county, exposed as it is, with very little shelter, to violent storms from the sea on both sides."