St. Benet's Abbey

Benet's Abbey - St. Benet's Web Site

I was unsure how to classify St. Benet's but, since it does B&B, I felt that "house open to the public" was best. However, hedging my bets, I have also included it on my "Holy Sites & Churches" page. I have passed St. Benet's a thousand times on the way to Bugle, St. Austell and the south coast. Recently I read that there is a Cornish Cross in the front garden so, on my way back from a visit the St. Pauls Church in Charlestown, I called in at St. Benet's, just off the road near Lanivet. It is now a Bed & Breakfast (see above for link to St. Benet's web site), with nine en-suite rooms, run by J.J. and his wife. St. Benet's has had a mixed history. It was founded as a chapel in 1411, at that time used as a retreat for lepers - a lazar house - but dissolved by Henry VIII in 1549. What you see here is relatively minor remains comprising gatehouse and domestic range. The detached and degraded tower behind is all that remains of the chapel; between it and the back of the house are the remains of a well. It was owned in the 16th century by the Courtneys of Tremere, related to the Earls of Devon; their monuments are in Lanivet Church. After it was purchased in 1855 by the rector, Rev. W. Phillips Flamank, St. Benet's had a considerable makeover so that it now appears to be a sort of Regency Gothick. As you face the house, the left hand end was the gatehouse of the original establishment and retains its octagonal stair turret. What is now a three light window was once the carriage archway. Above is an oriel window with what appear to be atatue niches to each side. In the garden to the front of the house is what I had gone there to see, a small round-headed Cornish Cross, believed to be of the 13th century or earlier, which has been attached to a more modern shaft.

Chapel Tower

St. Benet's

Cornish Cross