The Church of St Peter - Mevagissey
The first recorded mention of Mevagissey dates from 1313 (when it was known as Porthhilly), although there is evidence of settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.
The old name of the parish was Lamorrick and it was part of the episcopal manor of Tregear. The church was dedicated to Saints Meva and Ida in 1259 by Bishop Bronescombe and in 1329 Sir Otho Bodrugan appropriated it to Glasney College (Penryn). The Norman church was cruciform and some Norman work remains but the church was more or less rebuilt in the 15th century. In the Commonwealth period the tower became ruinous and the bells were taken down and sold to a Quaker of St Austell. According to tradition there has been a church on the same site since about 500 AD. Meva may well be the same as St Mewan and Issey is also the patron saint of St Issey. Towards the end of the 17th century, Porthhilly merged with the hamlet of Lamoreck (or Lamorrick) to make the new village. It was named after two Irish saints, St Meva and St Issey (or Ida, the "g" comes from hag, the Cornish word for "and"). At this time the main sources of income for the village were pilchard fishing and smuggling and the village had at least ten inns, of which two still remain.
Andrew Pears, the founder of Pears' Soap was born in the village in 1768 and set up a barber's shop here until he moved to London in 1789.
Mevagissey had a power station built in 1895, powered by pilchard oil, which provided electricity for the lighthouse and surrounding streets. Local sources claim that it was the first town in the country to have electric street lighting.
Within the Church which is now dedicated to St Peter, there is Norman font with a circular bowl with a herringbone pattern on the chamfered upper rim, large and small chip-carved rosettes, then chevrons. There is also, north of the altar, an ambitious and showy standing monument to Otwell Hill, d. 1617: this comprises a stiffly reclining husband, his wife in similar pose on a lower shelf, both with elbows resting on red marble cushions;
The Cache
The cache is a camouflaged plastic tube about 8cms long and 3 cms in diameter on a public footpath overlooking the church.
Parking is available in a number of car parks in Mevagissey – the coordinates for the main car park are provided as a waypoint for this cache. Parking in Mevagissey is not cheap!!
The best way to get to the church and the cache is to walk out of the main car park at the vehicle exit point (opposite the fire station) and walk up the pavement about 120 metres until the path turns right and leads you to a narrow road (Church Lane). Turn right along the road and the church is ahead of you after about 70 metres.
At the time of placing the cache, there was scaffolding on the Church Tower and notices asking people not to enter the church grounds whilst work was taking place. Unfortunately the Church appears to be locked most of the time except in the summer months.
The cache does not require you to enter the church grounds and if you are in a vehicle with a driver, and can work out how to access Church Lane from Valley Road, the cache could be done as a quick cache and dash from Vicarage Hill.
Please be aware that the steps near the cache hide can be slippery especially with wet leaves on them
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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