Menheniot (pronounced Men-en-yut; kw, Mahynyet) is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

and village in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, United Kingdom. The village is southeast of

Liskeard Liskeard ( ; kw, Lyskerrys) is a small ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, South West England. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) eas ...

. The meaning of the name is "sanctuary of Neot" (from ''minihi'' and ''Neot''). Menheniot had a population of 1,605 in the 2001 census. This increased slightly to 1,655 at the 2011 census, whereas the ward population at the same census was 3,658. The village has a primary school, a pub, a shop and a post office.

Geography

To the south of the civil parish is Clicker Tor Quarry, a Site of Special Scientific Interest noted for its

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other E ...

interest, containing one of the best examples of

ultramafic rock Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are composed ...

s in

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

. At Coldrenick was a black and white mansion dated 1870 by the architect C. F. Hayward. At Merrymeet is an Anglican mission church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.

Hendra Cross

Parish church

The parish church, located in the village, is dedicated to St Lalluwy. It has a buttressed tower and a spire.GENUKI
Menheniot; retrieved April 2010 The alleged dedications to St Antoninus and St Corentin derive from errors made by John Whitaker and George Oliver. The church is a fine building of the 14th century but has been rendered less interesting by unsympathetic restorations. Accounts of four guilds associated with the church have been preserved: they relate to part of the reigns of

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

and

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

. The date of the parish feast was altered in 1405 from March 8 to October 6. In 1478 the benefice was appropriated to

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

and the cure of souls became a vicarage. Five chapels in the parish are recorded in the Middle Ages but they were abolished at the Reformation. There was also a

lazar house A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Afr ...

at Maudlin near Liskeard which did remain in existence for some time after. As a valuable benefice several of the incumbents have been men of some distinction, including

William Wykeham William of Wykeham (; 1320 or 1324 – 27 September 1404) was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. He founded New College, Oxford, and New College School in 1379, and founded Winchester College in 1382. He was also the clerk of wor ...

in 1365,

Peter Courtenay Peter Courtenay ( – 23 September 1492) was Bishop of Exeter (1478–87) and Bishop of Winchester (1487-92), and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses. Origins Courtenay was the third so ...

, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, in 1477, and John Moreman, 1529-54. Dr Moreman was the author of a commentary on the epistle to the Romans and also the first to teach his people the Lord's prayer, creed and ten commandments in English. George Hall became vicar of Menheniot and in 1641 archdeacon of Cornwall.''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'' He was deprived of his offices under the Commonwealth but became a bishop after the Restoration. Features of interest include the ceiled wagon roofs, the pulpit (1891 by

Harry Hems Harry Hems (12 June 1842 – 5 January 1916) was an English architectural and ecclesiastical sculptor who was particularly inspired by Gothic architecture and a practitioner of Gothic Revival. He founded and ran a large workshop in Exeter, Devon ...

of Exeter), which depicts the polar exploits of Vice-Admiral Trelawney-Jago, and the earliest monumental brass in Cornwall (commemorating Sir Ralph Carmynow, d. 1386). There are a number of interesting monuments to the Trelawnys, including Jonathan Trelawny (d. 1674) and Edward Trelawney, Dean of Exeter (d. 1726). The black marble slab to L. Stephens (d. 1724) and the tablet to Lady Charlotte Carr (by M. Eames of Exeter) are also of interest. Captain John Richards Lapenotière, who lived in the parish until his death in 1834, is buried in the churchyard. He was the first person to bring news of the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

back to London.

Economy and transport

Menheniot lies in a former

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

area and is surrounded by disused shafts and engine houses. Lead seams were discovered in the 1840s and Menheniot became the centre of a mining boom which lasted until the 1870s. During this period the population doubled. Wheal Trelawney was a lead and arsenic mine which was worked from 1840 to 1890 and again in 1900-02. The village has a station, Menheniot railway station, on the

Cornish Main Line The Cornish Main Line ( kw, Penn-hyns-horn Kernow) is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. It directly ...

which is operated by Great Western Railway.British Railway Stations website
; retrieved April 2010

References

External links