St Mewan

St Mewan
St Mewan is located in Cornwall
St Mewan
St Mewan
Location within Cornwall
Population3,315 (2021)
OS grid referenceSW998517
Civil parish
  • St Mewan
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townST. AUSTELL
Postcode districtPL26
Dialling code01726
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall
50°19′52″N 4°48′54″W / 50.331°N 4.815°W / 50.331; -4.815
Converted Methodist chapel at Trelowth

St Mewan (Cornish: Sen Mewen) is a civil parish and village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of St Austell.[1] It is a small settlement, comprising the parish church, rectory, a school and nearby farms.

St Mewan parish also includes the settlements of Hewas Water, Sticker, Trelowth, Trewoon, and most of Polgooth.[2] At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 3,315.[3]

For elections to Cornwall Council, St Mewan is in the St Mewan and Grampound electoral ward. It was in the St Mewan electoral ward (which also included neighbouring villages) from 2005 to 2021.

Parish church

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The church is dedicated to Saint Mewan, a sixth-century Celtic saint who was born in Wales, visited Cornwall, and is mostly venerated in Brittany. The current building dates from the 13th century and is mentioned in a bishops' inquisition of 1294 as the 'Ecclesia de St Mewany'.[4] It was, however, substantially rebuilt in 1854 by George Edmund Street[5] and enlarged in 1890.[6] The church tower is of only two stages and is built of granite blocks. Local legend suggests that the original builders were prevented from raising it higher by the devil, who threw down their stones each night.[7]

Education

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St Mewan Community Primary School was founded (as St Mewan Board School) in the nineteenth century, the main building being designed by Silvanus Trevail in 1874. The schoolmaster's house had previously been the St Mewan Inn.[8] As of 2009, the school had around 400 pupils.[9][needs update]

St Mewan Beacon

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St Mewan Beacon

This natural landmark lies some distance[specify] from the village, to the north-west of Trewoon. It is a tor exposure of quartz-topaz-tourmaline rocks that has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its geological characteristics.[10] St Mewan Beacon was studied by Cornish mining engineer and mineralogist Joseph Henry Collins who published an account of it in 1914.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 Newquay & Bodmin ISBN 978-0-319-22938-5
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Parish Profiles". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Parish of St Mewan". Homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  5. ^ N. Pevsner, Cornwall, 2nd ed. p.191. Penguin Books (1970)
  6. ^ [1] Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ W. Penaluna, An Historical survey of the County of Cornwall vol.2, p.93 (1838)
  8. ^ "Schools designed by Silvanus Trevail". Luxsoft.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  9. ^ [2] [dead link]
  10. ^ "St Mewan Beacon" (PDF). Natural England. 1993. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  11. ^ J. H. Collins & F. Coon, "On the topaz rock of St Mewan Beacon, Cornwall", Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall; Vol. XV, 43-54 (1914)
  12. ^ [3] Archived July 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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