The church of St Sidinius was actually closed when we first visited but at last we were able to get inside. It is set in the tiny village of Sithney and, consisting of a nave, two aisles and two transepts, seems too large for the local community.

The church is dedicated to St Sidinius, about whom little seems to be known other than Charles Henderson’s remark that he was ‘one of the Irish band’.

Inside, the church is wide, light and airy with a nave, two side aisles and two small transepts, one given over to the vestry. The lack of chancel arch helps to create a unity of space. The side arches of the chancel being the only indicators that the space is in any way different. Above is a partly-painted ceiling.

When we first visited in 2015 the walls were plastered in white. The restoration has left the stonework bare and in places it is quite rough: perhaps too rough. Rough granite is one thing but simple field stone may be a jump too far.

Around the church are a variety of small delights, well identified with a simple trail leaflet:

• The font is a simple Norman affair on a pedestal
• The lovely bits of C15 or C16 stained glass roundels preserved in a window in the baptistery
• The carved Elizabethan bench-end which is also displayed in the baptistery
• A lovely grave slab with incised cross which is used as a memorial
• The unusual ‘letter from Charles I’. Many Cornish churches display one of these but this one if hung from the ceiling so that the reverse can be read. It displays verses from scripture and the arms of the Arundel family

Outside, there is a good sundial (showing the wrong time) and a former wayside cross. The cross-head was found on a farm in 1947, having been hollowed out for use as a feeding trough. It may once have marked the boundary between Sithney and Breage – whose church is visible from Sithney – parishes. A new rough granite pillar was provided and the cross was moved here in 1977. We would prefer not to have the modern inscription.

Two graves stand out: that of John Oliver of Bath, the inventor of Bath Oliver biscuits (for which he deserves a larger monument), and one to a former priest Joseph Albert Griffiths who died in the church during a wedding service in 1967. We hope the poor man got past the key phrase of ‘I pronounce you man and wife …’