| Germoe | |
| Cornish: Germow | |
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Germoe
Germoe shown within Cornwall |
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| Population | 508 (Civil Parish, 2001) |
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| OS grid reference | SW585294 |
| Parish | Germoe |
| Unitary authority | Cornwall |
| Ceremonial county | Cornwall |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PENZANCE |
| Postcode district | TR20 |
| Dialling code | 01736 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Cornwall |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | St Ives |
| List of places: UK • England • Cornwall | |
Germoe (Cornish: Germow) is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Germoe village, the parish's principal settlement and church town, is situated approximately five miles (8 km) west of Helston and seven miles (11.3 km) east of Penzance. The A394 Penzance to Helston road runs along the southern boundary of the parish[1]. Other settlements in the parish include Balwest, Boscreege and Tresowes Green.
The parish is named after Saint Germoe, one of the companions of Saint Breage. According to legend Germoe was a king in Ireland whose feast day is 6 May.
Historically, the largest landowners in the parish were the Godolphin family (the Dukes of Leeds).[2]
Germoe parish is bounded to the north, east and south by Breage parish and to the west by St Hilary parish[3]. The population was 508 in the 2001 census[2]. The parish is now rural in character but was once associated with mining; to the north it borders the geological formation known as the Tregonning-Godolphin Granite (one of five granite batholiths in Cornwall) and the area was formerly an important source of tin and copper ore (see Geology of Cornwall)[2].
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The parish church in Germoe is mostly of the 14th century and is built on the site of an earlier Norman church. The church has a chancel, nave, north aisle, south transept, and a three-stage battlemented tower of granite ashlar. There is a Godolphin family pew in the north aisle.[2] A small medieval building in the churchyard wall is known as St Germoe's Throne. The Anglican ecclesiastical parish of Germoe is now grouped with Breage. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built at Balwest in 1829 for miners in the north of the parish.
Pengersick Castle is of late medieval date and features one of the few towers of its type preserved in Britain.[4] John Milliton of Pengersick Castle became High Sheriff of Cornwall and Pengersick Castle was also improved around 1530 as a fortified manor house after the wreck of a valuable Portuguese ship.[5] Rumors of ghosts and devil-worship[6] surround the castle.[7] Historical research has proven these stories to be false: no monks were murdered there (although one was assaulted by Henry Pengersick), the supposed plague pits featured in the television programme Most Haunted were located in another part of the castle,[8] and the Black Dog is reported to be a myth created by 19th century smugglers to frighten people away.[8]
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