St Mawgan

St Mawgan village is two 2 miles up the vale from the beaches of Mawgan Porth. It is a particularly attractive village and provides a real oasis of calm. There is a granite and slate manor house, once the home of Richard of Arundell, Marshall of England some 700 years ago. The restored 13th century St Mawgan and St Nicholas Parish Church has one of the finest collections of monumental brasses in the country and most are of the Arundell family, whose 13th century former manor house, Lanherne, was taken over by a closed Carmelite order of nuns in 1794 who had fled the French Revolution. There is also a fine pulpit dating from 1553 and a 15th century rood screen. Outside, in the churchyard, stands a beautifully carved lantern cross dating to around 1420, w. While here too can be seen an extraordinary timber memorial in the shape of the stern of a boat that is dedicated to ten unfortunate souls who froze to death in their lifeboat after being shipwrecked off the coast in 1846.

East meets west at the authentic Japanese Garden and Bonsai Nursery, in the centre of the village. Diminutive it may be in size, but its paths lead through a myriad of Japanese maples, azaleas and rhododendrons, and other features include a koi pond, bamboo grove and a teahouse from where you can recline on the balcony and take in the stunning overview.

The village inn, The Falcon, is reputed to have been named during the Reformation when it was the practice to release a bird into the air to signal that a secret Catholic mass was about to take place.

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