Welcome to St Anthony-in-Meneage Parish
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Welcome to our tiny parish of St Anthony-in-Meneage with its delightful Church and wonderful coastal scenery. It is bounded on the north by Helford River, on the east by the sea on the south by St Keverne and on the west by Manaccan. The celtic name is “Lanyntenyn” suggesting the dedication to St Anthony. Meneage means “Monkish Land”, given to the land north east of the Lizard peninsula, including the parishes of St Anthony, Manaccan, St Keverne, St Martin and part of Mawgan. There is evidence to show that long before the Norman Conquest the district was possessed by an ill-assorted confederacy of small monasteries founded perhaps from Brittany. Tradition speaks of a cell of monks adjacent to Lantenning but the place was only a grange or farm of the monks of Tywardreath who became impropriators of the Rectory soon after the Conquest. The parish is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.
In 1841 our population was 313, in 1901 it had declined to 173, by 1991 despite all the post war building at Gillan the population was only 195
St Anthony Church is beautifully situated on the Denis promontory and close to the waters of Gillan Creek. The Denis (Cornish : Dinas) was an early fortress. During the English Civil War the Royalists of the neighbourhood under Richard Vyvyan constructed a small fort on the Denis to protect Helford Harbour. It was surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax in March 1646, being the last place in Cornwall that held out, except for St Michael’s Mount and Pendennis Castle.
Our Church is open every day for visitors, with a knowledgeable person close by to answer many of your questions about the building. We have regular Sunday services to which visitors are warmly invited. We have a wonderful peel of bells and are ropes are in Cornish Colours.
PLEASE DO PAY US A VISIT - YOU WILL BE RICHLY REWARDED !
Carne Creek from the Church door.
Click on thumbnail for a larger picture
The Rectory, Pembo, St Martin-in-Meneage, HELSTON, TR12 6BU Tel: +44 (0) 1362 231971
or E-mail Web Warden