Menacuddle Holy Well, near St. Austell
As so often with Cornish names, you can take your choice of what this one means. A. L. Rowse, who was born just a couple of miles away, was sure Menacuddle means Rock Well, Craig Wetherhill opts for Hillside Thicket, and Cheryl Straffon goes for St. Guidel's Well. It would be nice to think it was the latter so that it could truly be a holy well. Whatever it means, it seems to be a fact that the well house was built in the 14th or 15th century, was incorporated in a pleasure ground by Charles Rashleigh in 1820 and was restored by Admiral Sir Charles Sawle in 1921 and given to St. Austell as a memorial to his only son, lost in action at Ypres in 1914. It is thought that a chapel (sometimes referred to as a baptistry) stood next to the well house, in which a spring still rises. I made a walk of it, parking at Wheal Martyn and walking a clay trail to the edge of St. Austell. If you are coming by car, you leave St. Austell on B3274 towards Bodmin, pass under the railway viaduct and take the first little turning on the left; beware, it's awkward to get out again. It is a peaceful spot, the well house reached by a small footbridge over the White River (or St. Austell River) which rises in the clay fields and has a lovely soft blue-green colour. A 'Druid's Seat' on the opposite bank was presumably made for Sir Charles Rashleigh.
The Well House across the blue-green White River
On B3274 to Bugle, just north of St.Austell
More in Churches & Holy Sites
Meneage, St. Mawgan's Church
On a sunny Saturday in late February I headed down to the Lizard peninsula to take a close look at two churches, that of St. Mawgan in Mawgan-in-Meneage and that of St. Martin-in-Meneage. The daffodil festival.had been held over for an extra week at St. Mawgan; delightful as it was, I had hoped for a clear un-daffodilled view of the interior of the church, so I shall have to visit again at a later date. At. St. Martin I had a pleasant surprise. I expected that, remotely situated, the church would be locked and I was just planning on exterior photos. However, while I was enjoying my soup and sandwich before leaving, who should arrive but a lady churchwarden so I was able to take my photographs inside as well. St.Mawgan's church is in a fairly isolated position away from the main part of the village. The extensive graveyard, raised as ir is, suggests a lann. The three stage tower is of the 15th century but thwe body of the church is mostly 13th century and conssts ofnave, north aisle and north and south transepts, the latter linked to the chancel by a squint. There are Cornich wagon roofs to the porvh, nave, north transept and north aisle, the latter richly carved. There are two fonts in the south transept, one circular, the other hexagonal. In the south rtansept is a fine recesed tomb with the marble figures of Sir Roger Carminow and his wife. There are several good monuments to members of the Vyell family. In the north aisle the wagon roof the wagon roof is supported by angels and has a variety of carved bosses. The lectern is a delight, of red and green serpentine, found only on The Lizard. Stained glass is late Victorian.
Menheniot, St. Lalluwy's Church
In early March 2019 I headed down east again, this time to visit St. Lalluwy's church in Menheniot village and St. Martin's church in the major town of Liskeard. I only discovered Menheniot [the name means Hyniet's land according to Craig Weatherhill, St. Neot's place according to Julyan Holmes - take your choice] towards the end of April 2016. Jane wanted to see an exhibition of Norman Hartnell's designs and materials, being held in the church. I drove her there and quite liked the look of the village so, a week later, I had an outing to explore the village. However this item is about the church, unusual for Cornwall in that it boasts a spire. The church was restored in 1866 by J P St. Aubyn and further restored by G H Fellowes Prynne in 1922. Perpendicular windows are mostly of the 15th and 16th centuries. There is good stained glass but, to my mind, the outstanding glass is the engraved glass, depicting a Cornish Cross and grains of wheat, by David Pearce, set in the south wall of the south aisle. The pulpit is from 1891 by the noted Harry Hems of Exeter and is of intricately carved dark wood. Set in the floor, at the base of the pulpit, is a beautifully engraved brass inscription of 1386 to Sir Ralph Carmynow and there are several monuments to members of the Trelawney family, below one of which are a pair of handsome chairs. Seating in the quire is a carved delight. A large black marble slab has superb lettering and remembers Augustine Question (that's what it says!). The font is simple, square with a central pillar, four columns supporting it and with a carved Victorian cover.
Merther and Eglosmerther
These tiny hamlets lie to the east of the Tresillian River, not very far from Truro. It is very strange countryside with almost none of the narrow lanes actually going anywhere of any consequence, most simply ending at one of several rivers, Fal, Truro and Tresillian. The names of these two places are a little odd. Merther, in both old Cornish and Welsh, means Martyr, so Eglosmerther is the church (or perhaps burial place) of a martyr. But who was the martyr? Perhaps St. Cohan to whom the ruined church is dedicated From 1620 the manor of Merther has been part of what is now the vast estate of the Boscawens, Lords Falmouth, the Tregothnan Estate. The ruined church at Merther (oddly, there is no church at Eglosmerther, only a Methodist chapel) was dedicated to St Cohan or Coan; it is said that he was martyred but I can find no trace of him. In 1904 a new church was built at Tresillian Bridge and the 12th century Pentewan stone font, the 17th-century polygonal oak pulpit, the bells and the statue of St. Anthony were moved there. St. Cohan's at Merther became a mortuary chapel but fell into disuse and gradually deteriorated; now only the tower and some walls are substantially intact. Apparently the old church bells were melted down in 1970 and made into 2 new bells for St Clement church, just over the Tresillian River. To the east of Merther church, in a field called St Coan (grid reference SW866448), is the site of St Cohan's Chapel and well. The chapel was destroyed in about 1750 and by 1860 the last stones removed. Eglosmerther is a Grade II listed farm building on the site of a former manor house, recorded as being held in 1311 by the Reskymers. It is now a farm, and the farmhouse including the courtyard wall, was a rebuilding in 1806–8 of an earlier house.