St Pancras Church, Pancrasweek - geograph

Pancrasweek is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

and hamlet in the far west of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England forming part of the

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

Torridge Torridge may refer to: * Torridge District, a local government district in the county of Devon, England * River Torridge, is a river in Devon in England * Torridge Lass Suffix beginning with F ''Empire Fabian'' ''Empire Fabian'' was an E ...

and lying about three miles north west of the town of

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Torridge District, Torridge district of Devon, England, some west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the paris ...

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mapping It is bordered clockwise from the north by the Devon parishes of

Bradworthy Bradworthy is a village and civil parish in Devon, England. The village is close to the site of the first wind turbines in Devon, erected in 2005. Bradworthy has the largest village square in England. The civil parish is bordered by the Devon pa ...

Holsworthy Hamlets Holsworthy Hamlets is a civil parish in the northwest of Devon, England. It forms part of the local government district of Torridge and came into being on 1 April 1900 when the ecclesiastical parish of Holsworthy was split into two. The parish ...

, a small part of

Pyworthy Pyworthy is a village and civil parish in the far west of Devon, England. It forms part of the local government district of Torridge. The parish lies to the west of the town of Holsworthy. It is surrounded clockwise from the north-west by the pa ...

, and

Bridgerule Bridgerule ( kw, Ponsrowald) is a village and civil parish in Devon, England, a mile from the border with Cornwall. The parish is divided by the River Tamar, which no longer forms the border between Devon and Cornwall there. The river often floo ...

. The parish consists of small scattered settlements with a population of 217 in 2001, down from 277 in 1901. It is bounded to the west by the

River Tamar The Tamar (; kw, Dowr Tamar) is a river in south west England, that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). A part of the Tamar Valley is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities. T ...

(in its upper course) which for much of its length delineates

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

's border with Devon; a small part of the parish of Pancrasweek (including the farms/hamlets of Hudson and Dexbeer) however extends across the river onto the west side. The parish church, dedicated to Saint Pancras, stands alone on a hill in the south of the parish. Hoskins' ''Devon'' dates it to the 15th century with traces of Norman work in the walls of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, and says that its tower has fine

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...

ted pinnacles of the West Devon type.

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

states that the church was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...

between 1894 and 1910 and that it has richly carved

wagon roof A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

s. At the hamlet of Lana about a mile north of the church is a Wesleyan chapel built in 1838, said by Pevsner to be the most attractive in Devon. Part of the

Lower Tamar Lake Lower Tamar Lake is located on the Devon-Cornwall border, in England, near Thurdon.Ordnance Survey mapping It was constructed in the 1820s to supply water to the Bude Canal. It is now a nature reserve. It is also a popular fishing lake. The re ...

lies within the parish. This artificial lake was constructed in the 1820s to supply water to the

Bude Canal The Bude Canal was a canal built to serve the hilly hinterland in the Cornwall and Devon border territory in the United Kingdom, chiefly to bring lime-bearing sand for agricultural fertiliser. The Bude Canal system was one of the most unusual ...

, but it is now a haven for wildlife and is popular for

coarse fishing In Britain and Ireland, coarse fishing (, ) refers to angling for rough fish, which are fish species traditionally considered undesirable as a food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids — most particularly salmon, trout and cha ...

References

Hamlets in Devon Torridge District {{Devon-geo-stub