St Columb Minor

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St Columb Minor
Church and pub, St. Columb Minor village centre - geograph.org.uk - 492819.jpg
The pub & church tower from the south
OS grid referenceSW838621
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNewquay
Postcode district
Dialling code01637
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
WebsiteSt Columb Minor website
List of places
UK
England
Cornwall

St Columb Minor (Cornish: Colom) is a village on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. St. Columb alone by default refers to the nearby St. Columb Major.

At one time St Columb Minor used to be the main settlement in the area, but it has now been encroached upon by its larger neighbour Newquay. The National School in the Square was built in 1842. It is on the site of the Parsonage and is now used as a Men's Institute. While still an ecclesiastical parish St Columb Minor is no longer a civil parish, forming part of Newquay CP.

Parish Church[]

Main article: St Columb Minor Church

The current church dates from the 15th Century.

Steps up to churchyard, St Columb Minor

The site of the Parish Church is probably a very ancient pagan site. Here, long before the St.Columba legend, came the first Celtic missionaries who exorcised evil spirits and they probably erected the first Christian Church which would have been a rough wooden building.[1] The Church was replaced more than once, until in about 1100 A.D. a Norman Church was built. It's outline has been traced from the present chancel step to about the position of the font at the West end of the Church, with North and South walls exactly were the nave arches stand today. Part of the original Norman foundations can be seen at the base of the pillars.[1]

In about the middle of the 12th century, another church was erected in place of the Norman one. This had aisles which terminated at the chancel. Nothing is known about the building of this church, except in 1283 is was referred to as a chapelry to the College of Crantock. By 1417 it had been reported that the chancel was in a ruinous state and the whole church needed rebuilding. About 1430, the Nave arcades were reconstructed.[1]

The present church consists of a chancel, nave, and north and south aisles. The arcades are of six arches each, the chancel arches being obtuse, and the nave arches are pointed. The tower arch is plain; there is a north door, a south porch (within it is the date 1669), and a priest's door. The Tower, which is the second highest in Cornwall, is 115 feet in height and was built in the 15th Century; originally it could have been seen from every point in the parish. It is battlemented and finished with pinnacles.

The church tower is the 2nd highest in Cornwall.

The church has undergone two major restorations: one in 1795 and again in 1884.[1]

Double Stiles Cross

History[]

The Village of St Columb Minor dates back to when the first church was built many centuries before 1100 A.D.

In Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times Rialton was the head manor of the Hundred of Pydar and belonged to the monks of St Petroc at Bodmin. The monastery remained in possession after the Norman Conquest and a manor house was built here by Prior Vivian (Thomas Vivian, titular Bishop of Megara) c. 1510. The manor passed to the Duchy of Cornwall in 1538 but some of the manor house remains.[2]

St Columb Minor was the market town when Newquay was just a small fishing village with a cluster of some houses and cottages. The population of St Columb Minor in 1841 was 1,681 and only 489 of the people lived in Newquay. Newquay remained in the parish of St Columb Minor until 1918.

The western end of the church and yard is in view of the Trevelgue clifftop twin tumuli, known locally as The Barrows. It is sheltered from the strong winds of the Atlantic and looks down the Rialton Valley and across to Castle-an-Dinas on the summit of Castle Downs. Local legend has it that the Celtic missionaries, centuries before the Columba legend arose, drove away the evil spirits and replaced pagan magic by Christian worship, and erected a wooden sanctuary. The church-town lay to the west and south while the shelving ground to the north and east prevented building. Hence, as in the case of so many villages, development in the 20th century extended further from the parish church, in this case towards Porth Bean and Henver Roads, leading into Newquay.

The oldest Cottages in the village are on Church Street. Honey-suckle cottage was a farmhouse in the early 17th century and the ships timbers from Porth were used in its construction.

As of 1896 there were a Cornish cross and four cross bases in the parish: the cross is at Cross Close and is unusual in being almost circular in section. The housing estate that was constructed in the 1950's now surround the cross. The Doublestiles Cross marks the ancient path to the village. Henver Road meaning 'the old road' that the cross was nearby is the main road into Newquay for a few hundred years. [3][4]

In 1960, the civil parish of St Columb was subsumed by Newquay of which St Columb Minor is now a suburb. Villages in this parish were: Trencreek, Chapel, Porth, Trenance and the Churchtown.[5]

Among many other small shops in the village, The Co-op (Newquay & District Cooperative Society) established in St Columb Minor in c.1933. As the village and the surrounding area grew further, the Coop decided to constructed a new larger building and moved to its current location on 8 church street by the late 1930's. Over the years it was known as The Newquay & District Cooperative Society, The Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) & the Co-operative.

The Farmers Arms[]

The public house, the Farmers Arms, was originally built of cobb with a Thatched roof. In October 1913 the roof caught fire the cause of which was a firework being thrown into the roof by a young boy. Two fire brigades arrived, one from Newquay, who arrived first wearing brand new uniforms and one brigade from St Columb Major, both brigades work together but sadly the fire destroyed the inn. Once the fire was out a 'water fight' between the two fire brigades began. The fight was over the use of the single hydrant which stood near the inn. The hydrant had two hose connectors and the Newquay brigade, who had arrived on the scene forty minutes before St Columb Major had attached their hoses to both connectors. St Columb Major fire brigade, who considered themselves the superior force, were extremely angry that they had to use water from the local pond to help put the fire out turned their hoses on 'rival' brigade.

The Inn was rebuilt in 1914.

Education[]

Former[]

The National School in the Square was built in 1842. It is on the site of the Parsonage and is now used as a Men's Institute.

St Columb Minor Fairpark Boarding School (later known as the red school) was originally designed by Silvanus Trevail and formally opened in June 1877. The School eventually closed in 1982 and today it has been converted into light industrial units.

Current[]

St Columb Minor is served, at primary level, by St Columb Minor Academy since 1959 - part of Kernow Learning Multi-Academy Trust.

Treviglas Academy (Treviglas College) is a secondary school serving Newquay, St Columb Minor and the surrounding area since 1960. The school part of The Roseland Multi Academy Trust

Notable people[]

See also[]

  • St. Columb Road

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d GENUKI. "Genuki: St Columb Minor, Cornwall". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  2. ^ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 76-77
  3. ^ Langdon, A. G. (1896) Old Cornish Crosses. Truro: Joseph Pollard; pp. 39-40
  4. ^ Langdon, A. G. (2002) Stone Crosses in Mid Cornwall; 2nd ed. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies; pp. 28-29
  5. ^ GENUKI. "Genuki: St Columb Minor, Cornwall". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  • The St Columb Minor Parish and Church History and Calendar, blotter of 1939-40

External links[]

Coordinates: 50°25′N 5°3′W / 50.417°N 5.050°W / 50.417; -5.050

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