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St Keverne |
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St Keverne is one of the largest parishes in this part of Cornwall and it contains a number of very fine, Eastward facing coves, many of which have escaped holiday development and retain a magnificent splendour. The village itself has more the air of a small town, with its square, chapels and inn dominated by the church with its attractive spire - rebuilt after a disastrous storm in 1770, when it was struck by lightning and ‘nearly the whole congregation fell to the ground stunned’. It is a very necessary seamark: the deadly Manacles Reef to the east of the parish gets it name from the old Cornish ‘Maen Eglos’ or ‘Church rocks’.
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Click on thumbnails to see larger pictures
Thomas Flamank & Michael Joseph were both hanged at Tyburn and are regarded by many as the first Cornish patriots.
St. Keverne Little is known about this Saint other than myths connected with St. Just. About 190 Celtic Saints were commemorated in the Middle Ages in Cornwall and Devon; they flourished between the 5th and 9th centuries, but their identities are hard to establish.
The pulpit on its carved pillar, is Jacobean.
Some of the splendidly carved bench ends
A wonderful view of the sea from the Churchyard with the Mohegan Memorial in the foreground
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There has been some witness to the Christian faith in this place since around 600 A.D. when a Celtic monk, either St Piran or St Kieran, built the first small wooden church - and it is probable that this was previously a centre for pre-Christian worship: the early missionaries tried to set up their holy places on the site of, or near to places used in pagan culture, to ‘christianise’ them. The first church has long disappeared, as did its Saxon successor; of the Norman cruciform church little remains, and most of what is to be seen today dates from the 15th Century, though it is likely that some of the piers (pillars) have been re-used from the 13th Century church. The first thing to catch the eye at the approach to the lych gate with its stone coffin rest, is the cannon , or properly Carronade which came from the wreck of the Primrose, which foundered in 1809, bringing home troops from Corunna in the Napoleonic Wars. 104 men from Primrose and her sister ship are buried in the churchyard. Nearby, on the wall is the memorial in Cornish and English to Michael Joseph the Smith and Thomas Flamank who in June 1497 marched on London with a Cornish army to protest against the collection of taxes for an expedition to Scotland.
Notice the shields of the great local families on the two staged western tower. In the handsome porch, swallows build their nests in the roof beams, and there is a jagged hole to the right of the door where the Holy Water Stroup once stood. Above the doorway notice the figure of the Saint - most such niches are now vacant, their figures removed when such carving was considered idolatrous. St Keverne’s interior (through its draught proofed inner doorway) is wonderfully spacious and filled with colours very unusual in Cornwall. This is largely contributed by the 13th Century pillars which are of grey, green and rose-coloured stone: there is nothing local like it, and the stone may have come from Brittany. The exception is the one granite pillar in front of the main door. The church is 110 feet long, with spacious north and south aisles which, unusually, flank the tower, which opens into them.
On the left of the door is the list of rectors, vicars and assistant clergy going back to 1201. Notice the patrons including Beaulieu Abbey from 1235, followed by the Crown, then local families. On the North wall is a much faded wall painting or Fresco, of St Christopher, with a drawing, done in 1905, showing how much it had deteriorated during that century. To the left is a small lancet window of Norman origin with late Victorian glass showing Christ the Good Shepherd. Below the window is the rounded head of the old Norman doorway.
The sets of 3 Rood Screen Stairs is one of the great mysteries of all Cornish Churches. Normally the Rood Screen would run across between the Nave the Chancel, but there must be a different explanation here. Perhaps the first set went to the North Aisle roof and may have been the first stage up a central tower. The second doorway would then mark where the Rood Screen originally was. The third set would then show where the Screen was moved to around 1500. (The present Screen is from the Victorian restoration). Outside , the Roof Stairwell Turret can be seen. A brass plate on the North Wall commemorates one of the victims of the sinking of the Titanic. Above the Chancel steps is the 1914-18 War Memorial Cross, the base of which has part of a beam dated 1457, the oldest wood in the building. High above, bats roost - there is evidence around the choir stalls! Bats are a welcome and protected species in many Cornish churches. The East Window is a memorial to the 108 passengers and crew of the S.S. Mohegen who perished on The Manacles in October 1898. The centre light shows Jesus saving St Peter on the Sea of Galilee; the left light shows St Christopher carrying the child Jesus. Look also for the figure representing St Keverne. The South Aisle contains much of interest. Several of the original roof timbers, with their bosses and wall plates, are evident here and at the Chancel end of the North Aisle. Most of the older timbers were removed and replaced in 1893.
The 15th Century font with angels holding shields was moved to its present position in 1972. The Lectern is an outstanding and unusual example of craftsmanship. St Keverne is a fine example of a church much touched by history and human tragedy, a place where the good News of Christ continues to be proclaimed now as it has been for well over a thousand years.
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