St. Keverne

Keverne

When I walked from St. Keverne village to Porthoustock and Porthallow in November 2005, I made a point of being back in time to have a good look at this fascinating church. The first thing to strike you is that it is probably built on an older pagan site, raised as it is on a platform higher than the surrounding village. Steps lead you up through a massive lych gate, still complete with its coffin rest. The big perpendicular windows suggest the 15th century but inside tells a different story. Here is a round headed arch to the north door and a lancet window to its left, both of the 11th or 12th century. Between the two is a medieval wall painting of St. Christopher, patron saint of travellers. Furnishing is a mixed bag. Many early bench-ends were retained when the church was refurbished in the 1930s; mostly they represent the Passion but some commemorate local families. The small but handsome carved pulpit is Jacobean. Memorials include a brass plate remembering a Titanic victim and another the Primrose, wrecked on the nearby Manacles rocks in 1809. The east window commemorates the hundred or more who lost their lives on the Manacles in the Mohegan in 1898. Half are buried in a mass grave outside the north door. My information is from the excellent guide leaflet.

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Reached by B3293, off A3083 Helston to Lizard Town

St. Keverne church - gothic windows, spire, palms

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