St Mawes
| St Mawes Cornish: Lannvowesedh | |
| Cornwall | |
|---|---|
 St. Mawes Castle with Pendennis Castle behind | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SW845330 |
| Location: | 50°9’29"N, 5°1’5"W |
| Data | |
| Postcode: | TR2 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cornwall |
St Mawes is a small town on the Roseland Peninsula on the south coast of Cornwall. St Mawes is on the east bank of the Carrick Roads, the great, craggy-edged roadstead and natural harbour into which many of the rivers of mid-Cornwall discharge, facing Falmouth on the opposite shore.
At St Mawes is the St Mawes Sailing Club. There is an excellent year-round ferry service to Falmouth, which is less than a mile away by boat, but due to the interposition of the Carrick Roads and the River Fal, Falmouth is some 30 miles away by road. The Place Ferry links the South West Coast Path and operates from Good Friday to the end of October.[1] St Mawes was once a busy fishing port, but the trade declined during the 20th century.
The town of St Mawes is a popular tourist location and many properties in the town are holiday accommodation or "second homes".
History and geography
The Carrick Roads are a large waterway said to have been created after the Ice Age from an ancient valley which flooded as the melt waters caused the sea level to rise dramatically. The result is an immense natural harbour, often claimed to be the third largest in the world.
The town takes its name from an early local saint, St Maudez or Mawe, who may have come from Ireland but is mainly venerated in Brittany.[2][3]
St Mawes lies within the "Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" as indeed does almost a third of Cornwall.
St Mawes Castle is a well-preserved coastal fortress from the time of King Henry VIII, built to counter the invasion threat from Europe. Charles Henderson, writing in 1925, says of St Mawes, "an ancient fishing town which in late years has assumed the different and more sophisticated character of a watering place".
The seal of St Mawes was Azure a bend lozengy Or between a tower in the sinister chief Argent and a ship with three masts the sail furled in the dexter base of the second, with the legend "Commune Sigillum Burgi de St. Mawes al Mauditt.[4]
Just outside the town is a closed British Leyland garage on Polvarth Road which retains the British Leyland logo on a hoarding outside.
Royal visits
There have been frequent private visits to St Mawes by members of the Royal Family including HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, HRH Princess Margaret and more recently the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall who ended their stay in July 2008 by naming the new St Mawes ferry The Duchess of Cornwall. Her Majesty The Queen visited St Mawes in 1977 during her Silver Jubilee Tour.[5] In June 2002 for The Queen's Golden Jubilee and, with a brand new cast in June 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee, The Queen's Coronation was re-enacted in great detail by the young people of the village in a ceremony entitled "The Children's Coronation".
Church history
The name of the town comes from Saint Maudez, a Breton saint, and there was a chapel here dedicated to him with his holy well nearby. Its existence in 1427 is mentioned in George Oliver's Monasticon and it remained in use until the reign of Elizabeth I when it was abandoned. From that time until about 1838 there was no chapel for the townspeople until a private chapel built in 1807 by the Marquis of Buckingham was licensed by the Bishop. This was on a different site and was rebuilt in 1881. St Mawes continued however to be in the parish of St Just in Roseland.[6]
Cultural associations
On film:
- Murder Ahoy (Agatha Christie adaptation)
- Crooks in Cloisters' (1964).[7]
- Hornblower the television sries had an episode filmed here.
In March 2012 a new limited edition of Monopoly was published, with ferries replacing railway stations and a variety of property for sale from the butcher, the harbour office, the sailing club and several hotels and guest houses, to three beaches, much admired Lamorran Gardens and historic St Mawes Castle.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St Mawes) |
References
- ↑ King Harry Ferry
- ↑ Into Cornwall, St Mawes, Information about St Mawes
- ↑ Doble, G. H. (1964) The Saints of Cornwall: part 3. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 57-73
- ↑ Pascoe, W. H. (1979). A Cornish Armory. Padstow, Cornwall: Lodenek Press. p. 134. ISBN 0-902899-76-7.
- ↑ "Protected Jubilee tree is left dying after act of vandalism". Thisiscornwall. http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Protected-Jubilee-tree-left-dying-act-vandalism/story-11416450-detail/story.html. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
- ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 115-16
- ↑ [1] Filming locations for Crooks in Cloisters
Books
- Maurice Carbonnell, Saint Maudez - Saint Mandé, un maître du monachisme breton, 2009 : ISBN 2-914996-06-3