St Keyne () is a village in the

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 ...

of St Keyne and Trewidland, in east

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 parish lies between the parishes of

Liskeard Liskeard ( ; ) is an ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) east of Bodmin. Th ...

and Duloe. The parish population at the 2011 census was 492. The village is served by railway station.

Notable buildings

The church is dedicated to Saint Keyne, said to be one of the daughters of the legendary Welsh King

Brychan Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Name variations Brychan had Irish ancestry and came from Ireland to Wales, therefore his original name ...

. The church is of little architectural interest. The

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

north aisle has probably been added to a church originally cruciform in plan (its windows however are Decorated, no doubt reused). The west tower is of three storeys and without buttresses. St Keyne Holy Well - geograph

St Keyne's well is a

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...

dedicated to Saint Keyne, located about southeast of the village. A small housing was built over the well in the 16th century, this was rebuilt in the 1930s. The ballad ''The Well of St Keyne'' was written by the poet

Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...

(1774–1843). In

Victorian times In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

St Keyne's well had the reputation of conferring supremacy to the marriage partner who first tasted it. ("''The quality, that man and wife / Whose chance, or choice, attaines / First of this sacred stream to drinke / Thereby the mastery gains.''") Lametton Mill, designed as a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 1985, dates from the 17th century. The property sold in March 2018 for £235,000. In 2022 it was the subject of a restoration featured in Channel 4's ''

Grand Designs ''Grand Designs'' is a British television series that has broadcast on Channel 4 since 29 April 1999 and is presented by Kevin McCloud. Format Episodes generally follow a regular format, with small variations depending on the progress of t ...

''.

Civil parish

In 2020 Cornwall Council announced that from 1 April 2021 the part of

Dobwalls and Trewidland Dobwalls and Trewidland () was a civil parish in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom between 1974 and 2021. The parish was bounded to the north by St Neot and St Cleer parishes, to the east by Liskeard and Menheniot parishes, to the s ...

parish surrounding the village of

Trewidland Trewidland () is a hamlet in the civil parish of St Keyne and Trewidland, in east Cornwall, England. It is about northeast of Duloe. It is situated in the Looe Valley, part of the Cornwall National Landscape. The village shop and post office ...

would be moved to the parish of St Keyne, to form the new parish of St Keyne and Trewidland, increasing the area of the parish including St Keyne by more than a factor of three.

References

External links

Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for St Keyne

St Keyne Parish Council
Villages in Cornwall Holy wells in Cornwall {{Caradon-geo-stub