St. Issey
Issey
I visited St.Issey church on a warm and sunny July Saturday, a day when I also managed to visit the churches at St. Merryn and St. Ervan and the remarkable garden of self-proclaimed bard, Ed Prynn, who has erected Prynnhenge in the small garden of his bungalow not far from St. Issey. St. Issey is a fairly large village by Cornish standards with a population of around 1000. Its name, a reference to St. Isa or Idi, one of the many evangelising daughters of Welsh King Brychan, was originally Egloscrug, the church on the barrow. Behind the church, the attractive school building has a camel weathervane. Opposite the church is the Ring o'Bells Inn. When I was in St. Issey in July 2016 I was delighted to spot a short parade of steam powered vehicles on their way to the Padstow Festival. St..Issey church was largely rebult in 1891; happily, many good internal features were retained. The aisle arches are unusual, colourfully inscribed with biblical sayings. The font carries lightly carved decoration. The fine reredos is 14th century and of the local blue Cataclews stone; Pevsner suggests that it was originally part of a tomb chest. The Ring O'Bells dates from the 17th century and retains original features. The owner has a smallholding nearby, where he rears livestock and grows produce to serve in his restaurant.
The school and church in St. Issey
On A389 Wadebridge - Padstow. Church car park.
St. Ives, St.
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St. Just-in-Penwith Church
Penwith Church
St. Just-in-Roseland Church
I must confess a special interest in the church at St. Just-in-Roseland. For twenty years my father's cousin Bertie was rector of the parish of St. Just with St. Mawes. As children we enjoyed family summer holidays staying with Bertie and Marjorie at the rectory, just across the road from the church (it's now the Old Rectory and a private home). Jane knows it well too, having lived just a few miles away at Gerrans. The church has a long history, reputed to have been founded by St. Anthony in the 6th century on a spot said to have been visited by tin merchant Joseph of Arimathea and his nephew Jesus! Remarkably, although the Celtic Church submitted to the rule of Rome in 664 AD, St. Just remained Celtic until the middle of the 10th century. The church is attractive from the outside but is disappointing inside, having been over-restored in the 19th century. The real attraction is the location, deep in a wooded valley with the waters of a little creek lapping the churchyard walls below the lower lych gate - unusually there are two lych gates - and the sub-tropical garden planted in the sloping churchyard by an enterprising Victorian rector. The churchyard is sufficiently steep that from the upper lych gate you are looking over the church tower. The church is easy to find; a sign on the road to St. Mawes points to St. Just Church and Bar - perhaps an illustration of the saying about thirsting after righteousness?
St. Keverne
Keverne