Mawnan

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Mawnan
Cornwall

Mawnan parish church
Location
Grid reference: SW785273
Location: 50°6’17"N, 5°5’55"W
Data
Postcode: TR11
Local Government
Council: Cornwall

Mawnan, also known as Mawnan Church, is a village in southern Cornwall, at the end of the land looking out on the English Channel, hemmed in with the estuary of the Helford River to the south and the cliffs of Rosemullion Head and Falmouth Bay to the north. It is to be found about three miles south of Falmouth.

The village has a church, St Mawnan, which was the original church of the wider parish. In the modern age it was joined though by St Michael's Church in nearby Mawnan Smith, since that village, once a dependent hamlet, has become the parish's biggest village.

The parish population, including Mawnan Smith, was recorded as 1,476 at the 2011 census.

Geography

The parish is entirely rural and, as well as Mawnan itself and Mawnan Smith, it includes the hamlets of Carlidnack, Bareppa, Penwarne, Helford Passage, Maenporth and Durgan. The parish also contains several Victorian gardens, now open to the public: Glendurgan Garden, Trebah, Carwinion,[1] and Penjerrick.

The coastline and cliffs south-east of the church town from Toll Point to Rosemullion Head forms the Rosemullion Site of Special Scientific Interest, noted for its geological and biological interest. Marine species found here include Mytilus mussels, various seaweeds and sea sponges, such as Botryllus schlosseri.[2]

Mawnan is within the 'Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty', as is almost a third of the county.

Name

It is suggested that Mawnan takes its name from a 6th-century Saint Maunanus, who was probably a Breton monk who landed here about AD 520.[3]

Churches

  • Churches:
    • The Church of St Mawnan and St Stephen, in Mawnan Church (13th century);
    • The Church of St Michael, in Mawnan Smith (19th century).
  • Methodist: chapel in Mawnan Smith.
  • Roman Catholic: St Edward the Confessor (1965).

The land for St Michael's Church was given by the Rogers family of Carwinion and the building was completed in 1874.

Notable houses and gardens

Notable country houses in the parish include Bosloe, Bosveal, Carwinion, Penwarne, Nansidwell (c. 1905 by Leonard Stokes), Heyle and Bareppa. At Glendurgan and Trebah are fine 19th century developed by the Fox family of Falmouth.[4]

Outside links

References

  1. Carwinion
  2. SSSI listing and designation for Rosemullion
  3. Church of England website: Notes on St Mawnan Church
  4. Peter Beacham; Nikolaus Pevsner (2014). Cornwall. Yale University Press. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-300-12668-6