St Keverne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coordinates: 50°03′00″N 5°05′20″W / 50.050°N 5.089°W / 50.050; -5.089
St Keverne
Cornish: Lannaghevran
St Keverne

 St Keverne shown within Cornwall
Population 2,107 (Civil Parish, 2001)
OS grid reference SW789212
Civil parish St Keverne
Unitary authority Cornwall
Ceremonial county Cornwall
Region South West
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town HELSTON
Postcode district TR12
Dialling code 01326
Police Devon and Cornwall
Fire Cornwall
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK Parliament St Ives
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall
St Keverne in relation to neighbouring parishes

St Keverne (Cornish: Lannaghevran) is a civil parish and village on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.[1]

The Cornish Rebellion of 1497 started in St Keverne. The leader of the rebellion Michael An Gof (the "smith" in Cornish) was a blacksmith from St Keverne and is commemorated by a statue in the village. Before his execution, An Gof said that he should have "a name perpetual and a fame permanent and immortal". In 1997 a 500th anniversary march celebrating the An Gof uprising, (Keskerdh Kernow 500) was held, which retraced the route of the original march from St Keverne, via Guildford to London.

Geography

The parish is a large one. It includes some 10 miles of coast from Nare Point at the mouth of the Helford River to Kennack Sands, and the Manacles offshore. Settlements on the coast include Porthallow, Porthoustock and Coverack. Inland the parish includes the hamlets of Zoar, Laddenvean, Traboe, Trelan and Gwenter. The eastern part of Goonhilly Downs is also in the parish.

St Keverne lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a National Park.

Parish Church of St Akeveranus

St Keverne was in the Middle Ages the site of an important monastery. The church is dedicated to St Akeveranus though for a considerable period this was corrupted to Kieran. The church is very large for a village church and in its present form is 15th century: however parts of the stonework appear to have been reused from a previous church building. The tower is topped by a spire (unusual in Cornwall) and features of interest include the bench ends and a mural painting.[2][3]

A 32-pounder carronade that divers recovered in 1978 from the wreck of HMS Primose stands by the lych-gate to the churchyard. (Primrose was wrecked on The Manacles off The Lizard on 21 January 1809 with the loss of 125 lives and only one survivor, a drummer boy.)

History and Antiquities

St. Keverne has been inhabited for many thousands of years, and there is evidence of human habitation from at least the Mesolithic period, c. 5550 BC. The area is rich in archeological history from a variety of different periods, including flints, pottery, cists, round houses, and cliff castles.

The Mesolithic
In 1967, A Mesolithic site known as Rock Mound was discovered at Poldowrian Site, which is situated near the Lankidden Cliff Castle. The Mesolithic site was dated between 5,550 and 5250 BC, from some hazelnut fragments. Flint tools were first discovered during attempts to plow the land for planting, and overall, nearly 48,000 flint tools were discovered.[4]

Neolithic
During the Neolithic period and beyond, St. Keverne was one of the primary sources of clay for pottery. Gabbroic clay covers an area of approximately 7 square miles of the Lizard Peninsula, mainly in the area of St. Keverne Parish. The clay lies at a depth of 8 - 18 inches below the topsoil. In the late 1960s, Dr. D. Peacock examined numerous potsherds from around Cornwall, and came to the conclusion that they were all made of from the same gabbroic clay from St. Keverne.[5] Most of the paleolithic pottery from around Cornwall has been found to be made of gabbroic clay, such as the sherds at the Neolithic site of Carn Brea at Redruth.

Beaker Pottery
St. Keverne has yielded an exceptional amount of Beaker pottery. The Beaker Mound at Poldowrian has yielded one of the finest caches of Beaker pottery in Cornwall.[6]

Bronze Age

Bronze Age "Dry Tree Menhir," Goonhilly Downs

Goonhilly Downs contains over 65 Bronze Age barrows, as well as the "dry tree" standing stone.[7] A Bronze Age standing stone exists at Tremenheere, which means "Standing Stone Farm" (Tre = place/farm, Menhir = standing stone) and there is another place of the same name in Ludgvan.[8] Other antiquities are a cist called the Three Brothers of Grugith on Crowza Downs and a destroyed fogou at Polkernogo.[9]

Iron Age
St. Keverne has a number of Iron Age sites, with two of the most dramatic being the cliff castles of Chynalls and Lankidden. All that is left in these sites are the faint markings of the ditches and banks that would have protected these castles, but during the Iron Age they would have provided a "prominent focus within a landscape quite densely populated by contemporary settlements or "rounds.""[10] Another notable Iron Age artifact originating in St. Keverne is the elaborately engraved bronze mirror discovered in a cist grave, in 1833. This mirror was accompanied by two brooches, some beads, and two rings.[11]

St Keverne was in Celtic times part of the Meneage which belonged to several small monasteries. The monastery at St Keverne survived the Norman Conquest but was seized soon after by a lay lord. By 1236 the churches and demesnes of Tregonan had come into the possession of the Cistercian abbey at Beaulieu and their title was confirmed by Earl Richard in 1258. This was a valuable possession including as it did the rectorial tithe of a large and prosperous parish, the tithe of fish, and the lands of the churchtown. The right of sactuary held by Beaulieu Abbey was extended to St Keverne. A small cell of monks was maintained at Tregonan; slight remains of the building there existed until the early 20th century.[12] In the parish is Lesneague which can be derived from Cornish lis (court) and manahec (monks' land) which would indicate that it was once the seat of a local chieftain.[13]

Notable residents

  • Michael An Gof (the "smith" in Cornish), blacksmith, leader of the first Cornish rebellion in 1497
  • Charles Incledon, singer

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204 Truro & Falmouth ISBN 978-0-319-23149-4
  2. ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 117-118
  3. ↑ Doble, G. H. (1962) The Saints of Cornwall: part 2. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 54-58
  4. ↑ "St. Kevern Local Archaeology Society". 
  5. ↑ "gabbroic clay". St. Keverne Local History Society. Retrieved 2013-02-01. 
  6. ↑ "Archaeology in The Parish". St. Kevern Local Archaeology Society. Retrieved 2013-02-01. 
  7. ↑ "Dry Tree Standing Stone". Retrieved 2013-02-01. 
  8. ↑ "Tremenheere". Cornwall's archaeological heritage. Retrieved 2013-02-01. 
  9. ↑ Hencken, H. O'N. (1932) The Archaeology of Cornwall and Scilly. London: Methuen; p. 300.
  10. ↑ "Chynalls". Retrieved 2013-02-01. 
  11. ↑ "Decorated bronze mirror". Retrieved 2013-02-01. 
  12. ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 117-18
  13. ↑ Henderson, C. (1933) "Helston", in his: Essays in Cornish History. Oxford; Clarendon Press; p. 68

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Keverne.
Civil parishes of St Ives constituency
Cornwall Portal
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.