St Mewan () 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and village in south

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, United Kingdom. The village is approximately west of

St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...

. It is a small settlement, comprising the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

, a school and nearby farms. St Mewan parish also includes the settlements of Hewas Water, Sticker, Trelowth, Trewoon, and most of Polgooth. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 3,315. For elections to

Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( ), known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary ...

, St Mewan is in the St Mewan and Grampound electoral ward. It was in the St Mewan electoral ward (which also included neighbouring villages) from 2005 to 2021.

Parish church

The church is dedicated to Saint Mewan, a sixth-century Celtic saint who was born in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, visited Cornwall, and is mostly venerated in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. The current building dates from the 13th century and is mentioned in a bishops' inquisition of 1294 as the 'Ecclesia de St Mewany'. It was, however, substantially rebuilt in 1854 by

George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccl ...

and enlarged in 1890. The church tower is of only two stages and is built of granite blocks. Local legend suggests that the original builders were prevented from raising it higher by the devil, who threw down their stones each night.

Education

St Mewan Community Primary School was founded (as St Mewan Board School) in the nineteenth century, the main building being designed by Silvanus Trevail in 1874. The schoolmaster's house had previously been the St Mewan Inn. , the school had around 400 pupils.

St Mewan Beacon

This natural landmark lies some distance from the village, to the north-west of Trewoon. It is a tor exposure of quartz-topaz-tourmaline rocks that has been designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) for its geological characteristics. St Mewan Beacon was studied by Cornish mining engineer and mineralogist Joseph Henry Collins who published an account of it in 1914.

References

External links

Genuki page on St Mewan

Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for St Mewan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mewan Civil parishes in Cornwall Villages in Cornwall