St Menefreda stands in an affluent churchtown on the edge of the main village, overlooking a wide green valley and adjacent to a large vicarage. It is unusual in that it has a broached spire, rebuilt in 1870-75 in a restoration by JP St Aubyn.

Like neighbouring St Endellion, the first impression of the interior is of lightness, thanks to the predominantly clear south windows, and the widths of the nave and south aisle, but the north aisle stand out as very different. The aisle is much narrower than the south one and the arcade is altogether more robust, being C13 in origin.

Unlike St Endellion, however, the chancel is dark with few windows and these filled with late Victorian glass. The east end has a traditional Victorian reredos and wood panelling which adds to the sense of gloom. It also betrays the high church instincts of St Aubyn: three steps up to the choir and another three to the sanctuary.

Thankfully, there is plenty to amuse in the rest of the church, not least a variety of C16 bench ends with grotesques, faces and the like.

One bench end features a bird who was clearly suffering from an over-long or confusing sermon, bending almost double to rest his head.

There is a good collection of monuments too. A brass to Roger Opy d1517 and some large slate slabs in the north aisle and and elegantly carved ledger stones throughout. In the churchyard outside is a small Latin cross.

St Minver did not lift our hearts, largely thanks to St Aubyn’s work: the stained glass, the functional chancel and the dull Victorian floor tiles, but it appears well cared for and stands in a good location.