Luxulyan
| Luxulyan Cornish: Logsulyan | |
| Cornwall | |
|---|---|
 Luxulyan | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX051581 |
| Location: | 50°23’24"N, 4°44’38"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,490 (2011) |
| Post town: | Bodmin |
| Postcode: | PL30 |
| Dialling code: | 01726 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cornwall |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South East Cornwall |
Luxulyan, also spelt Luxullian or Luxulian, is a village in mid-Cornwall, four miles northeast of St Austell and six miles south of Bodmin.
The recorded population of the parish was 1,490 at the 2011 census.
Geography and geology
Luxulyan parish lies in an area of china clay quarries on the St Austell outcropping of the Cornubian granite batholith and numerous small granite domes are dotted around the parish.
Luxulyan Quarry is designated a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest': it is found to the north of the village, and here are exposed examples of this granite.[1] Luxulyanite, a rare type of Cornish granite is named after the village: it is found in the area and this rock was used for the Duke of Wellington's sarcophagus in St Paul's Cathedral.[2]
Luxulyan is best known for Luxulyan Valley, a steep sided and thickly wooded stretch of the valley of the River Par that contains a major concentration of early 19th century industrial remains, including a combined Aqueduct and Viaduct. The valley was included within the designated Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site in 2006.
One of the southern branches of the Saints' Way cross-Cornwall footpath runs through the parish.
Other villages in Luxulyan parish include the Churchtown, Bridges, Treskilling, Rosemelling, Higher Manedue, and Bedwith.
The Atlantic Coast Line, the railway line from Par to Newquay, runs up the Luxulyan Valley and there is a station at Luxulyan. A bus service connects the village with St Austell and Lostwithiel.
History
St Sulien, or Sulian, was abbot here during the sixth century. The church in the village may have been dedicated to him originally, but it is now dedicated to Saints Ciricius (Cyr, Cyriacus, Quiricus) and Julitta.
There are roads in Luxulyan named after all three saints. Sulien is a Welsh variant of the given name "Julian," but has also been interpreted as being derived from the Welsh sul, meaning "sun" + geni, meaning "born," Sulien being the name of a Celtic solar deity.[3]
In the early 1980s Luxulyan was the site of a six-month occupation of farmland by much of the village population, with many groups and individuals from across Cornwall helping, to prevent test drilling by the Central Electricity Generating Board investigating the area as a potential nuclear power station site.[4]
Luxulyan has benefited from increased tourism since the nearby Eden Project opened.
Parish church
The parish church, originally Norman, was entirely rebuilt in granite in the 15th century. It is dedicated to St Ciricius and St Julitta. The tower is without buttreses or pinnacles and the south porch has battlements and a handsome tunnel-vault. It still has the Norman font (very similar to that at St Austell) and the east window is a monument to Silvanus Trevail, d. 1903.
Near the church is a holy well (also 15th century).[5][6]
The Blackmoor Stannary, centred at nearby Hensbarrow Beacon, kept its records stored in the church.
About the village
Methrose is a farmhouse probably of the early 16th century ("one of the best farmhouses in Cornwall" according to Pevsner); it is built of granite and stands on the right of a courtyard. The service end is of two storeys and the later parlour wing was attributed by Charles Henderson to Nicholas Kendall (some time between 1622 and 1649).[7]
The remains of an Iron Age hillfort known as Prideaux Castle are located in the southern portion of the parish near the border with St Blazey.
Treasure trove ruling
In 1864, Luxulyan was the cause of a major test case on the privileges of the Duchy of Cornwall.
In that year a hoard of silver and gold coins, from the reigns of Queen Elizabeth, King James and King Charles I were found in the parish churchyard. The Duchy of Cornwall had asserted its right to them as treasure trove, but the Treasury Solicitor claimed them for the Crown. The Treasury Solicitor asked for copy documents under which "the claim of the Duchy was founded," and accordingly the Duchy sent copies of the Charters of its creation. They wrote too stating that, as the Coroner is the officer responsible for treasure trove, and the Duke has the right of appointing the Coroner within Cornwall, the treasure trove belonged to the Duchy. It also argued that the 3rd Duchy Charter "expressly prohibits any such Minister of the Crown acting within Cornwall".
In response, the government's Attorney General advised that the Treasury back down, as the Crown could not hold an Inquest of Treasure within the Duchy of Cornwall and that they could not execute any writs because of the exclusion of all Ministers of the Crown from entering any lands of the Duchy.[8]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Luxulyan) |
References
- ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Luxulyan Quarry
- ↑ Information on Luxulyan from GENUKI
- ↑ Doble, G. H. (1970) The Saints of Cornwall: part 5. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 104–126
- ↑ "Luxulyan Valley – An Historical View". Friends of Luxulyan Valley. http://www.luxulyanvalley.co.uk/history/. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 150
- ↑ Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall; 2nd ed. revised by E. Radcliffe. Penguin; p. 109
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Cornwall, 1951; 1970 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09589-0
- ↑ Kirkhope, John, The Duchy of Cornwall and the Crown: Disputes and Accommodation