St Germans Priory is a large Norman church in the village of St Germans in south-east

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 Atlan ...

, England, UK.

History

According to a credible tradition the church here was founded by St Germanus himself ca. 430 AD. The first written record however is of Conan being made Bishop in the Church of St Germans as a result of King Athelstan's settlement with Cornwall. The fixing of the see here shows that the Celtic monastery was already of great importance. Possession of two holdings of land in the parishes of

Landrake Landrake ( kw, Lannergh) is a village in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three miles (5 km) west of Saltash in the civil parish of Landrake with St Erney (where the population of the 2011 census was ...

("Landerhtun") and Landulph ("Tinieltun" i.e. Tinnel) was confirmed by King Canute in 1018; they had been granted by King Edmund. Both holdings remained in the monastery's possession until 1538. In 1042 the see was moved to Crediton and the lands of the monastery were divided into two parts, one for the monastery and one (named Cuddenbeak) for the Bishop of Crediton. After the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

a college of secular canons was established which is said to have been reconstituted in the time of Bishop Bartholomew (1161–1184) as a college of regular canons. The present church replaces an Anglo-Saxon building which was the cathedral of the Bishops of Cornwall. The church is dedicated to St Germanus and soon after construction it became the cathedral for

in 926 AD, when

King Athelstan King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

appointed Conan as the bishop of Cornwall. The bishopric was to be short-lived, however, as it was transferred to Crediton in 1042 AD. A

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

grew alongside the church, and was reorganized by the Bishop of Exeter between 1161 and 1184 as an Augustinian

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

. The priory church was rebuilt on a grand scale, with two western towers and a nave of 102 ft. The church was once called the Cathedral of Cornwall because it is where the bishop of the duchy would be. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries under

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagr ...

the priory was abolished and its buildings became a

private house A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

, home to the

Eliot family Eliot family may refer to: * Eliot family (America) * Eliot family (South England) **Earl of St Germans, subsidiary title Baron Eliot See also *Elliot Elliot (also spelled Eliot, Elliotte, Elliott, Eliott and Elyot) is a personal name which c ...

, in whose hands the house remains. A number of the Eliot family are interred in the church. St Germans parish was once the largest in

. St Germans Priory is now managed by the Church of England and th
St Germans Priory Trust.

Architecture

Some of the original Norman features remain, including the large arched western doorway which is particularly ornate and is carved from

elvan Elvan is a name used in Cornwall and Devon for the native varieties of quartz-porphyry. They are dispersed irregularly in the Devonian series of rocks and some of them make very fine building stones (e.g. Pentewan stone, Polyphant stone and Cat ...

quarried at

. There is a mortuary chapel for the Moyle family of Bake. At Dupath Well the wellhouse is said to have been built in 1510 by the monks of St Germans. There is a peal of eight bells.Dove, R. H. (1982) ''A Bellringer's Guide to the Church Bells of Britain''; 6th ed. Aldershot: Viggers; p. 93 The church has a two manual pipe organ on the left side of the church. The church also has two towers.

Other burials

* John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Germans * Henry Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans * John Eliot (died 1685) * Edward James Eliot * John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Germans *

Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot ( London, 8 July 1727 – 17 February 1804, Port Eliot, Cornwall) was an English official and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1748 to 1784, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Elio ...

History

Architecture

Other burials

See also

References

Further reading