Towednack

Towednack
Cornish: Tewydnek

Towednack Church
Towednack
 Towednack shown within Cornwall
Population 394 (2011 census)
OS grid referenceSW486384
Unitary authorityCornwall
Ceremonial countyCornwall
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town St Ives
Postcode district TR26 3__
Dialling code 01736
Police Devon and Cornwall
Fire Cornwall
Ambulance South Western
EU Parliament South West England
UK ParliamentSt Ives
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall

Coordinates: 50°11′28″N 5°31′12″W / 50.191°N 5.520°W / 50.191; -5.520

Towednack (Cornish: Tewydnek)[1][2] is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The 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. The village is about two miles (3 km) from St Ives and six miles (10 km) from Penzance.[3]

Towednack lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a National Park.

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.[4] 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 Landevennec, Brittany: 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.[5] Over the porch is a typical sundial of a wide class of Cornish church dials from 1720. The inscription reads ″Bright Sol and Luna Time and Tide doth hold. Chronodix Humbrale″.[6]

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.[7]

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:

Local government

For the purposes of local government Towednack is a civil parish electing a parish council every four years. The principal local authority in this area is Cornwall Council.

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.[9] In 2007 there have been calls in the local Cornish press for the gold hoard to be returned to Cornwall from the British Museum.

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.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel. Cornish Language Partnership.
  2. ↑ Weatherhill, Craig (2009) A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-names. Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype; p. 67
  3. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End ISBN 978-0-319-23148-7
  4. ↑ Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall; 2nd ed. Penguin Books; p. 222
  5. ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 206
  6. ↑ Thomas, Charles (1974). Christian Sites in West Penwith Excursion Guide Thursday, June 27, 1974. Penwith Books. pp. 15–6. ISBN 0 903686 04 X.
  7. 1 2 Hollow, C. Norman (1977). "Towednack History". West Penwith Resources. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Anon. (1883) "An Account of the Annual Excursion, 22 Sep 1882". Transactions of the Natural History and Antiquarian Society of Penzance; p. 202.
  9. ↑ Towednack Gold Hoard
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