St Mawgan in Pydar
Church Dedication: St Mawgan & St Nicholas
Dating from the 13th Century, our church is the jewel of the beautiful Cornish village of St.Mawgan, with its cricket ground, ancient inn, ford and convent.
You would be very welcome to join us for worship; please see full details of all forthcoming services in our Benefice.
The church, endowed by the Arundells of Lanherne who lived here from the 13th to 18th centuries, dates from the 13th century. The 14th century tower is unusually placed at the south transept: the upper part was added by the Arundells in 1433 at a cost of 10 pounds. The belfry houses a ring of eight bells, the oldest of which was cast between 1378 and 1407.
Within the church are many beautiful items of interest, including the carved pulpit of 1553, 42 bench ends and a rood screen from the 15th century, many fine 16th century Arundell brasses, and an elaborate 15th century Pentewan stone font.
The peaceful sloping churchyard contains many gems - look for the Lantern Cross (ca.1420) and the stern of a rowing boat - a memorial to ten men who drifted ashore, frozen to death in 1846.
The Cornish Celtic Way is a pilgrimage route covering approximately 125 miles through Cornwall, from St. Germans to St. Michael’s Mount. It incorporates over 60 miles of the coastal path as well as two established pilgrimage routes: The Saints’ Way and St. Michael’s Way. The Cornish Celtic Way is divided into 16 walks that can be done as a whole over about 12 days or can be completed in sections over a longer period of time. St Mawgan is on the Cornish Celtic way route.
https://www.cornishcelticway.co.uk/
You can find the wonderful 10th century Lanherne Celtic Cross in the village of St Mawgan close to the church, in the grounds of the convent. There is public access to this cross by a small sign-posted footpath cross the road from the Falcon Inn. (You can see the path from the road outside the Falcon Inn in the photo- bear right when you are in the grounds of the convent: the cross is near the wall that is opposite the door of St Mawgan Church.)The cross was made from a single piece of soft Pentewan Cornish stone, and is one of the most beautiful of the elaborately designed crosses in Cornwall.This cross was brought to this site for safe-keeping in the late 18th / early 19th century from The Holy Well of St Gwinear at Roseworthy, at Gwinear, near Hayle