St Levan Church (A Slight Return) .. Cornwall pt 7

An afternoon walk to The Church of St Levan allowed us time to take in the carvings which adorn the church pew ends. The majority of pew ends date from the early 16th Century through until the modern era - with two probable exceptions which may date back to the 14th Century (Hoyle, S. 2007).

I have captured only a handful of these carvings .. and look forward to future visits to explore them further - along with the Rood Screen!

St Levan's fishes

In Hoyle's work the carving of St Levan's fishes, is considered "..the most precious pew-end in the church because it is the only surviving pre-Reformation reference to Selevan." Selevan - St Levan - after whom the church and nearby holy well are named. Hoyle goes on to recount the story of Selevan - catching two fish, throwing them both back dissatisfied - only to re-catch them. Taking them home, he finds his sister and her children visiting. Cooking the fish for supper turns to disaster as the children eat so greedily that they choke on the fish and die.

The Jolly Fool

The Grim Fool

The Santiago Pilgrim

Hoyle tells us that this pilgrim has been to Santiago de Compostela a popular site of pilgrimage since the 1100's - as indicated by the scallop shell which adorns his hat.

Bibliography

Hoyle, S. (2007) The Church of St Levan A Guide & History Hypatia Publications, Penzance

St Senara's Church,The Zennor Mermaid and Crosses .. Cornwall pt 5

When we arrived in Treen on Saturday afternoon, we carefully parked the car close to the garden wall ensuring that there was not an enticing gap left between it and the wall. The gap needed to be suitably small to deter any passing cow - on its way to the local milking-shed - from squeezing between the car and the wall, damaging the vehicle or worse itself.

Cottage and Car, Treen

We had envisaged a week of mainly walking, and the cottage's location gave easy access to the local network of footpaths incl. the coastal path for the majority of our explorations.

As such it wasn't until the Thursday that we finally ventured out under petrol power and in doing so - headed across the headland to Zennor.

St Senara's Church and Graveyard Cross

The Zennor Parish Council has an excellent website which describes all things local and of interest to both tourists and those chasing nearby stones and legends: Zennor Parish Council

St Senara's Church at Zennor stands within a pre-Christian footprint - it's circular graveyard over lies Iron Age boundaries, which in turn straddle even more ancient boundaries dating back to the Neolithic (ibid). The current Norman church is thought to probably stand on the site of a 6th Century chapel (MacNeil Cooke, 1996; Cornwall Guide 2018) .. the founding of Christianity in Cornwall being eloquently styled on the Zennor Parish Council website as: "Christianity came to Zennor when the Age of Saints followed the fall of the Roman Empire."

In the Churchyard stand at least three ancient Crosses, the first of which greets the visitor as they step through the main entrance to the church, the other two adorn the grave of the Cornish Antiquarian, William Borlase. There are also other interesting Celtic style crosses within it's confines.

Cross

Crosses - William Borlase's Grave

The Church is famous for it's association with the story of the Mermaid of Zennor, and the chair within comprising of two carved wooden medieval pew ends - one of which contains the image of the Zennor Mermaid herself.

The Mermaid of Zennor

The second wooden pew end appears to the untrained eye to be decorative rather than symbolic in meaning. I suspect it gets far less attention than it's more glamorous counterpart? I have included it below for the purpose of completion.


For a fuller description of the legend of the Mermaid of Zennor I will return again to the excellent Zennor Parish Council website: The Mermaid of Zennor

It was probably the local Church guidebook that drew our attention to the lone stone craving of a head which adorns the external south eastern corner of the Chapel entrance. If I remember correctly it is the only carving on the whole of the outside of the building? I can find no reference to it otherwise - and simply wish that I had purchased a copy of the guidebook - it would have been more than useful in the writing of this Blog entry!

Bibliography

MacNeil Cooke, I. (1996) 2nd Edition Mermaid to Merrymaid Journey to the Stones Cornwall Litho Redruth

Cornwall Guide (2018) ONLINE Zennor Available at: https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/Zennor Retrieved 7th Jan 2018

St Nonna of Altarnun - The Cathedral of the Moor

This quite stunning and tranquil church standing in Altarnun (a later corruption of Altarnon), is aptly called "the Cathedral of the Moors" - as with Cathedral splendour it holds forth, having a tower rising 109ft - and an achingly beautiful interior constructed partly of moor stone with wagon roofs above its aisles and porches.

Named for St Nonna - the 6th Century Celtic missionary - and the mother of St David; the church was founded in the 6th Century. It was rebuilt twice, firstly by the Normans in the 12th Century, and then again in the 15th Century. A lightening strike in the 18th Century required the tower and west wall to be restored.

Nothing remains of the first church except perhaps the Celtic cross sentinel at the entrance to the churchyard. Very little remains of the Norman building either, apart from some stonework incorporated in the base of a pillar, and the striking painted square Norman font, carved with faces at each of its corners, and serpents and a radial pattern along its sides. The wooden wagon roofs were installed during the 15th Century rebuild.

The church has only a single stained glass window, a depiction of St Nonna herself, which adorns the top section of the central window behind the alter. This window faces east, as would the priest when facing the altar.

This humble decoration is accompanied more showily by the intricately carved wooden bench ends - carved by Robart Daye between 1510 and 1530 - whose signature and perhaps self portrait(?) is carved into the bench end closest to the Norman font - regretfully I have lost this image! The carvings themselves contain images of both Christian, pagan, heraldic and local interest. A modern carving of the church dating from Ca. 1970's by Mr Doug Edwards - can be found carved on the back of a bench towards the altar.

Sadly, in complete contrast to the quiet beauty and sublime detail of the "Cathedral" itself, is the Holy Well of St Nonna - situated just to the north of the church and below the vicarage. A Holy Well once reputed to cure the ailments of those suffering from mental illness.

However, we were very disappointed to find this well suffering from its own ill state of health and condition. The part broken iron-wrought gate at its entrance ironically forewarning a Holy Hell(?). The steps leading down to the holy water vegetated and neglected, the water itself a mired puddle with an overgrown recess (perhaps to hold an icon? the source of its spring?) - badly in need of loving care and restoration.

Bibliography

"St Nonna of Alternon"; date unknown; author unknown: a contemporary church guide, based partly on a previous guide by Rev. William Arnold Kneebone (Parish Vicar 1936 - 1967.)

This guide is available at St Nonna of Altarnun.

"The Medieval Bench Ends at St Nonna's Altarnun - A Pictorial Guide"; date unknown; Brian Stalley and John Woods, Photographs by Mr A.P. Thompson. Alternun Parish Church; Published by Tre Pol Pen.

This guide is available at St Nonna of Altarnun

"Altarnun" [Online]; Cornwall Guide; 2014 available at www.cornwalls.co.uk/Altarnun/