St Mary's Church, Penzance is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Penzance, Cornwall.
The site as a place of worship dates from at least the fourteenth century, but was a chapel to the parish of Madron and first licensed in 1321. The chapel was spared during the Spanish raid in August 1595 because Mass had been celebrated, previously. Despite enlargements in 1662 to 1672, and 1782 it was severely overcrowded by 1824. At that time it served a population of circa 7000 and was still a chapel of ease to Madron, two miles inland.
The Reverend Thomas Vyvyan made arrangements to replace it with a new church designed by Charles Hutchens. The Clerk of Works was John Pope Vibert. ã16,000 was raised, mainly from the church's own communion for the new building. A further ã800 was raised for the organ, ã800 for the bells and ã300 for the carillon. The rebuilt church was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter, Henry Phillpotts, on 6 September 1836. A separate parish of Penzance was created in 1871. The churchyard was extended on the southern side in 1883.
A gift of seventeen aloes by Mr Dorrien-Smith of Tresco, Isles of Scilly were planted in the churchyard in 1886.
Arson destroyed the interior of the church in April 1985 and two further arson attempts occurred in November 2018.
One of the bells from the previous church was installed in the temporary belfry of St John's Church in 1885. It cost ã12 18s 9d when first installed in the steeple of St Mary's in 1667.
The first bell in the present church was inscribed â³PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD, 1713 JPâ³ and was moved to St John's Hall in 1865 for use as a fire-bell. Eight new bells were installed that year at a cost of ã950. Their size (diameter at mouth), weight and inscriptions are,
A carillon, costing about ã300 and paid for by public subscription, was installed as a memorial to the town clerk and ornithologist, Edward Hearle Rodd. The first to be erected in Cornwall, it was completed by Gillett, Bland & Co on 10 November 1880 and first played at 8.00 pm on Sunday, 28 November 1880. The carillon played fourteen tunes and a tune was played for two weeks, every four hours at 8 am, noon, 4 and 8 pm, midnight and 4 am. The carillon had two barrels and two hammers for each of the bells. The hammers did not interfere with the normal ringing of the eight bells by bell-ringers.
The organ contains casework dating from 1676 originally located in St Mary's Church, Oxford. The organ is by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd and was moved here from Oxford in 1949. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.