Strangers are surprised to see a ruined church in the centre of a busy Plymouth roundabout. You watch the traffic through Gothic tracery. The gutted shell of Charles Church was left as a reminder of the blitz. The church was a rarity. Few new English parishes were created in the 17th century, but the Plymouth Corporation petitioned Charles I for one, promising to name it after him. As if to disguise its lack of venerable age, its builders chose to make its church look thoroughly medieval.