Towednack
| Towednack Cornish: Tewydnek | |
| Cornwall | |
|---|---|
 Towednack Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SW486384 |
| Location: | 50°11’28"N, 5°31’12"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 394 (2011) |
| Post town: | St Ives |
| Postcode: | TR26 |
| Dialling code: | 01736 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cornwall |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
St Ives |
Towednack is a village in western Cornwall, about two miles from St Ives and six miles from Penzance. The wider parish is bounded by those of Zennor in the west, Gulval in the south, Ludgvan in the east, and St Ives and the Atlantic Ocean in the north.
Towednack is within the 'Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty', as is almost a third of the county.
Parish church
The church is dedicated to St Tewennocus and did not become parochial until 1902. It was built in the 13th century and has a plain tower. A south aisle was added in the 15th century. The font is of granite, 1720, and stands on a base which is an inverted Norman font.[1] Towednack church is claimed to be the last church in which services were conducted in the Cornish language (in 1678), though the claim is also made for Ludgvan. The parish saint disguised under the name 'Tewennocus' is almost certainly St Winwalo (pet-form: Winnoc), also commemorated at Gunwalloe and Landewednack, as well as Landévennec: the place-name being derived from Old Cornish "te-Winnoc" (thy St Winnoc [Winwalo]), now represented as Late Cornish Te Wydnek. Until 1902 Towednack was a chapelry of Lelant; right of sepulture was only obtained in 1532. The early incised cross on a stone in the porch and the altar slab suggest that the subordination to Lelant only began after the Norman Conquest.[2]
The Gorsedh Kernow was held in the parish in 1933, and the church was the first to hold a service, in Cornish, in modern times.[3]
Folklore
A story told by the Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, to a group of antiquarians from the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, was the legend of the tower:
- ... the tower was never completed as during the night the 'Evil One' would knock down what the men had built the previous day. This went on for some time until the men gave up and the tower remains as it is today (1882). Similar legends also refer to nearby Lelant church and Brent Tor on Dartmoor.[4]
Towednack gold hoard
In December 1931 a hoard of gold ornaments was found in the parish. A sunken lane, known locally as Badger’s Lane, leads down from Lady Downs onto the road to Amalveor. Here at SW4794 3759, concealed in an ancient stone hedge, was found a collection of beautiful gold objects, including two twisted neckrings, four armrings and two lengths of unfinished gold rod. One necklet consists of a single twisted strand of gold, and the other consists of three strands loosely twisted together. The gold is very fine, and probably came from Ireland. These ornaments date from the late Bronze Age and they now reside in the British Museum. A replica of the hoard can be seen at the Penlee House Museum in Penzance.[5]
On television
In 1975 the church was the scene for the marriage and burial services in Poldark, a BBC series based on the novels of Winston Graham.[3]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Towednack) |
- Towednack - West Penwith
References
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Cornwall, 1951; 1970 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09589-0page 222
- ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 206
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hollow, C. Norman (1977). "Towednack History". http://west-penwith.org.uk/towhist.htm. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ↑ Anon. (1883) "An Account of the Annual Excursion, 22 Sep 1882". Transactions of the Natural History and Antiquarian Society of Penzance; p. 202.
- ↑ Towednack Gold Hoard