St Pinnock is set in a fold in the landscape, accompanied by an Old School House and a couple of other buildings: a typical church town. It is built of a dark grey-brown stone and boasts a C15 three-stage tower.

It sits in a relatively small churchyard, well below ‘ground level’: a testament to the number of former parishioners that surround it.

We were only able to visit the exterior as the church was locked and had no indication of where a key might be found, so it has joined the Hall of Shame.

Did we miss much? Our sources suggest that the church was heavily restored in a Victorian style between 1876 and 1882 (by Hine and Odgers) but manages to retain a number of earlier features:

• A nave, north aisle and south transept
• A fine and unusual Norman font
• A C15 piscina
• Some fine wooden bosses in the wagon roof
• A fine slate memorial to Ames Copplestone and Jane Ganbe who both died in 1629