The Church
The name means a stone wall, a ruin, in Cornish, but another Celtic name is Egloshayle, ‘the church on the estuary’, and the tower is still a landmark commanding the Tamar estuary.
In their western advance across England the Anglo-Saxons halted at the Tamar but in AD 705 King Geraint of Cornwall gave the promontory on the Cornish side of the mouth of the Tamar, roughly from Kingsand to Millbrook, to Sherborne Abbey (which held much western land on behalf of the kings of Wessex) to keep control of the Tamar mouth in Saxon hands. This was royal land when the Normans came and remained in Devon until 1844.
The Normans installed the Valletorts as tenants of most of the land controlling the mouth of the Tamar, including Maker. From them Maker passed by marriage to the Durnfords and then the Edgcumbes.
THE CHURCH is first mentioned in 1121 when it was given to Plympton Priory. On the Dissolution of the monasteries the right of appointing the vicar was taken by the Crown. There were earlier churches built on this remote site, to be near the holy well of a 5th century Cornish saint. A little chapel was built over the well in the 14th century and dedicated to St. Julian, patron saint of ferrymen. The little chapel is still hidden in the woods, close to the road leading up from Cremyll ferry. We do not know who the Celtic saint was, probably a follower of St. Samson, perhaps St. Sulian. At any rate the church is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Julian; possibly a mix of the ferry saint and the Celt.
The present church building is a typical 15th century Cornish church. It was a time of much rebuilding in the county, churches designed for preaching the word (the influence of the Lollards) rather than stressing the liturgy. The aisles are the same length as the nave and there is a massive western tower. The Edgcumbe chapel was added in 1874.
The Cache
The headline coordinates take you to the entrance porch of the church.
On your right as you stand with your back to the porch entrance is a gravestone for Benjamin Bell Mudge
Benjamin Bell Mudge died AB of June CDCD aged AE
Sarah Chubb - his wife - died AC st July CDEC aged FE
The cache can be found on a public footpath at N 50 (D-E)B.FFD W 004 CC.(A-C)FE
If the weather is kind, there are great views from the GZ.
The cache is a small camo'd plastic tube 10 cms long and 3 cms in diameter.
You may need tweezers to extract the log and Bring Your own Pen
****************** ********************
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.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
****************** *******************