St Ewe

St Ewe (Cornish: Lannewa) is a civil parish and village in mid-Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, which is believed by hagiographers to have been named after the English moniker of Saint Avoye.[1] The village is situated approximately five miles (8 km) southwest of St Austell.[2]

St Ewe

All Saints' Church
St Ewe
Location within Cornwall
Population568 (2011 census)
OS grid referenceSW978461
Civil parish
  • St Ewe
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townST AUSTELL
Postcode districtPL26
Dialling code01726
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
St Ewe Cross

Antiquities

Evidence of early medieval habitation is in the form of a roadside Celtic cross that once stood near Nunnery Hill (Charles Henderson in 1925 refers to it being at Lanhadron). However, the crosshead and shaft were thrown down in 1873 by a farmer looking for buried treasure, and both pieces were afterwards lost. The base has survived in situ with an inscription in insular script, unreadable except for the word crucem; Elisabeth Okasha dates the construction of this monument between the ninth and eleventh centuries.[3]

There is another cross at Corran, about half a mile east of the churchtown.[4] This cross is also known as Beacon Cross since its site is known as the Beacon. There is a cross at Heligan known as Bokiddick Cross; it came from Bokiddick Farm in the parish of Lanivet which was then owned by the Tremaynes who also owned Heligan. The cross in the churchtown stands on a massive base which is the only original part of it. The stones forming the cross came from elsewhere and nothing is known about the design of the original cross.[5]

Churches

The parish church is dedicated to St Ewe, a female saint of whom very little is known.[6] She is believed by hagiographers to be Saint Avoye of Sicily, although traditions about her life vary in content.[1] The church was originally a Norman cruciform building: the tower and spire were added in the 14th century and the south aisle in the 15th. There is a Norman font and a fine 15th-century rood screen.[7] The small manor of Lanewa was for a long time linked to the advowson of the church; it was probably the secular successor to a Celtic monastery.[7]

At Tucoyse was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel, and there were formerly Bible Christian chapels at Polmassick, Paramore, Kestle and Lower Sticker.[8]

Heligan

The Heligan estate is located at the eastern edge of the parish of St Ewe, overlooking the small port of Mevagissey. The long-term home of the Tremayne family, the estate is now best known as the location of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, a recently restored Victorian garden.[9]

Language

St Ewe was surveyed for the Survey of English Dialects.

Notes
  1. Baring-Gould, Sabine (1870). Brittany. Library of Alexandria. p. 37. ISBN 9781465608383.
  2. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204 Truro & Falmouth ISBN 978-0-319-23149-4
  3. See the discussion and bibliography in Elisabeth Okasha, Corpus of early Christian inscribed stones of South-west Britain (Leicester: University Press, 1993), pp. 129-132
  4. Langdon, A. G. (1896) Old Cornish Crosses. Truro: Joseph Pollard; pp. 80-81
  5. Langdon, A. G. (2002) Stone Crosses in Mid Cornwall; 2nd ed. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies; pp. 35-36
  6. Doble, G. H. (1970) The Saints of Cornwall: part 5. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 30-32
  7. Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 94
  8. "St Ewe; church history". GenUKI. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  9. Smit, Tim (1999). The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Victor Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-06765-9.

The St Ewe Parish Website: http://st-ewe-parish.co.uk

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