Sancreed

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Sancreed
Cornish: Eglossankres
Cornwall
Sancreed church and war memorial cornwall.jpg
Sancreed parish church
Location
Grid reference: SW418293
Location: 50°6’32"N, 5°36’36"W
Data
Population: 625  (2011)
Post town: Truro
Postcode: TR19
Dialling code: 01736
Local Government
Council: Cornwall
Parliamentary
constituency:
St Ives

Sancreed is a village in Cornwall, in the west of the county, some three miles from Penzance.

The Pariah of Sancreed encompasses many hamlets of the areaof Bejouans, Bosvennen, Botreah, Drift, Sancreed, Trenuggo, and Tregonnebris; in all 4,608 acres.

Nearby is Carn Euny, a prehistoric settlement on the moor.

The parish church is dedicated to St Sancredus. It is all built of granite hewn from the local Penwith moorlands. It has an unbuttressed west tower of two stages, a north transept, and a 15th-century south aisle of five bays. Features of interest include the font which is of the St Ives type and the rood screen which has curious carvings at the base.[1]

History

Like many Cornish communities Sancreed traces its origins to its legendary foundation by an itinerant saint of the Dar Ages, in this case St Credan or Sancredus, a follower of St Petroc.

The church itself is pre-dated by the holy well and baptistery of Sancreed, located a few hundred yards west of the church: the site was rediscovered by the vicar of Sancreed in the late 19th century. The wells and baptistery are of a similar age in both respects to those at Madron. The well is also known as St Uny's well. Next to the baptistery ruin there is a modern Celtic cross (erected in 1910) which is a copy of a mediæval cross in Illogan churchyard.

Langdon (1896) recorded the existence of eight stone crosses in the parish, including four in the churchyard. The two crosses in the churchyard are Hiberno-Saxon and both have the same unusual shape of the heads, with a crucifixus on one side.[1]

Stone cross at Sancreed Chapel and Well

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Sancreed)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Cornwall, 1951; 1970 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09589-0