St Mellion

St Mellion (Cornish: Sen Melyan) is a village and rural civil parish in east Cornwall, United Kingdom. The parish is three miles (5 km) south of Callington and is in the St Germans Registration District. The population in the 2001 census was 377. To the north, the parish is bordered by Callington and St Dominick parishes, to the east and south by Pillaton parish, and to the west by St Ive parish.

The parish name is taken from St Melaine, a 6th century bishop of Rennes, Brittany. The church of St Melanus stands in the village of St Mellion (the largest settlement in the parish) at OS Grid Ref SX388655. The older part of the church is the south side which was built in the 14th century whereas the north side is of the late 15th century and was built of granite. There is a fine series of monuments to the Corytons: these include a brass to Peter Coryton and his wife and 24 children, 1552[1], and two elaborate sculptural compositions to William Coryton, 1651, and Sir William, 1711 (both in a style characteristic of the early 17th century).[2]

St Mellion is also the location of Pentillie, a 17th century castle and estate which has been the seat of the Coryton family since 1698. They had previously had an estate at West Newton Ferrers, also in St Mellion. The manor of Newton Ferrers (Niuuetona, Niweton, Niwetone) was mentioned in the Domesday Book, 1086.[3] The present house was built about 1686-1695 (these dates being on the gatepiers) for Sir William Coryton. It is a plain granite mansion of two storeys: the centre is of seven bays and there are two projecting wings of two bays each. It is the earliest Cornish mansion in the classical style (i.e. with no Tudor survivals). Two thirds of the house were gutted by fire in 1940; of this some has been rebuilt while the rest remains as a ruin.[4] The St Mellion golf course is also in the parish.

Crocadon Quarry, a small Site of Special Scientific Interest noted for its geological interest, is located 200m east of St Mellion village.[5]

References

  1. ^ Dunkin, E. (1882) Monumental Brasses. London: Spottiswoode
  2. ^ Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall, 2nd ed. Penguin Books; p. 190
  3. ^ GENUKI; St Mellion
  4. ^ Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall; 2nd ed., revised by E. Radcliffe. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 127
  5. ^ "Crocadon Quarry". Natural England. 1998. http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000185.pdf. Retrieved 26 October 2011. 

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St_Mellion St Mellion] at Wikimedia Commons
Cornwall Portal