Breage Parish Church

Breage Parish Church is the Anglican parish church of the parish of Breage, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is dedicated to Saint Breage or Breaca, said to have been an Irish nun who came to Cornwall in the 5th century.

Contents

Description

The church was built of granite in the 15th century: it has two aisles separated from the nave by granite arcades of standard design. On the north wall are five medieval wall paintings: four saints are portrayed, Ambrose, Christopher, Corentine and Hilary (there are fragmentary ones also), and the Warning to the Sabbath-Breakers. A Roman milestone of the 3rd century is preserved in the church and in the churchyard there is an unusual Hiberno-Saxon cross head [1]. The inscription on the milestone is: IMP [C] DO NO MARC CASSI: this incomplete text refers to the Emperor (Marcus Cassianus) Postumus, 258-68 AD (Collingwood, RIB no. 2232).[2]

History

In the 12th century the Earl of Gloucester (Lord of the manor of Binnerton) gave the church to the abbey of Tewkesbury but in this he exceeded his legal power and after eighty-six years the Earl of Cornwall intervened and bestowed it on the abbey of Hailes. The parish of Breage had until the 19th century the unusual feature of dependent parochial chapels at Germoe, Cury and Gunwalloe, the last two being added to it in 1246 by the Earl.[3]

Gallery

References

  1. ^ Pevsner, N. Buildings of England: Cornwall (1951; 1970) (rev. Enid Radcliffe) Penguin Books (reissued by Yale U. P.) ISBN 0-300-09589-9; p. 46
  2. ^ Collingwood, R. G.; Wright, R. P. (1965). The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. I: Inscriptions on stone. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
  3. ^ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 63-64
Cornwall Portal
Unitary authorities
Major settlements
Rivers
Topics