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INTRODUCTION 5 1 Archceological Journal in 1853, and again in 1 861, on the churches of this county. He wrote with consider- able indignation as to the state in which he found some of the churches. When writing about St. Ruan Major he describes it as " if possible more green and mouldy than any I have ever seen ; the parish, like most of the parishes in this locality, is very poor, the landowners non-resident, the churches decaying, rotting with damp, choked with filth of bats or birds, unfit for decent worship, with unmistakable signs of approaching dissolution." The recollection of facts such as these should temper our indignation with the rash and destruc- tive way in which many a restoration or rebuilding was carried out when true Church devotion began to revive and kindle in the extreme W. At all events, Cornwall is now entirely destitute of any churches in a scandalous condition, which is more than can be said of several other English dioceses. From the Tamar to the Land's End, the churches are now, without exception, decent and comely for worship, whilst several of the more recent restora- tions, such as those of Blisland, St. Crantock, St. Creed, Lanreath, and St. Winnow, show not only a true conception of the dignity and beauty which ought to be associated with the Houses of God, but also a true conservative respect for all the good work of past generations.