Stained Glass windows in St Catherine's Church, Temple, Cornwall - Stained Glass Windows on Waymarking.com

St. Catherine's Church is located near the tiny hamlet of Temple, on Bodmin Moor, and stands on the site of what was the earlier Templar chapel. It formed part of the medieval Preceptory of Trebeigh and was a lonely, remote church on desolate Bodmin Moor, far away from other Templar Preceptories.
It is not known exactly in what year the 12th c. church, dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, was built. It stands today on the site of the earlier Templar chapel; and after 1312, the Templars were no longer on the property, as it was turned over to the Hospitallers.
Later, particularily in the 16th c., this church became famous as a place where marriages could be performed without banns or license, e.g., similar to Gretna Green today. Many runaway couples must have eloped across the moor before an act was passed in 1753 declaring such marriages to be illegal . After this point, the Temple church lost its congregation and fell into serious disrepair; no services were held for nearly a century. The roof finally caved in, killing a tramp who was sheltering inside.
The church remained under the care of vicars of the neighbouring parishes- Warleggan, St. Neot and Helland- and then in 1850 the Revd. Edward Steele of St. Neot held a service in the ruins, and started a fund for its restoration. The new plans followed as closely as possible those of the original Templar church that formerly stood there. The ancient tower arch was kept and wherever possible, relics and other stones were used. The base of the old Norman font is preserved in the inner doorway, and various stones bearing the engraved crosses of the Templars and the Hospitallers can be discovered in the fabric of the building.
The rebuilt church was opened and consecrated on 30th May 1883 by the Bishop of Truro, Dr. Benson, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Type of building where window is located: Church Address: St Catherine's Church Temple Bodmin, Cornwall United Kingdom PL30 4HW Days of Operation: Open every day Hours of Operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM Admission Charge: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/27/2022 Gribbin visited it 03/24/2012 SMacB visited it 10/06/2008 Sir Lose-a-lot visited it

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