St Neot ( ) ( kw, Loveni) 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 village in

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 ...

, England, United Kingdom. The parish population at the 2011 census was 947. It is between the towns of

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordere ...

and

Liskeard Liskeard ( ; kw, Lyskerrys) is a small ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, South West England. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) eas ...

. The parish is named after the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

Saint Neot Neot (died 31 July 877) was an English monk. Born in the first half of the ninth century, he lived as a monk at Glastonbury Abbey. He preferred to perform his religious devotions privately, and he later went to live an isolated life in Cornwall ...

(who also gives his name to

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

in Cambridgeshire, to where his alleged bones were taken in the early Middle Ages), and means "pleasant (or beautiful) pasture (or habitation)" in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. On the northern side the parish includes part of

Bodmin Moor Bodmin Moor ( kw, Goon Brenn) is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough Tor, a s ...

and hamlets in the parish include Draynes, Ley and Pantersbridge.

History and antiquities

Ancient crosses in St Neot churchyard - geograph

Arthur Langdon (1896) records eight Cornish crosses and two cross bases in the parish. Four-hole Cross is located by the main Launceston to Bodmin road close to the milestone showing eight miles to Bodmin. The shaft is ornamented on all four sides. The other crosses are three in the vicarage garden, another in the village, another in the churchyard (its shaft is ornamented on all four sides with interlaced carving), and others at Hilltown and Newtown. The manor of St Neot was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

(1086) when it was held by Odo from

Robert, Count of Mortain Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastin ...

; it had been held by Godric the priest before 1066. The Count had taken this land away from the clergy of St Neot. There was one hide of land which never paid tax and land for 5 ploughs. There were 1 plough, 3 serfs, 3 villeins, 6 smallholders, 2 cattle, 2 pigs and 30 sheep. The value of the manor was 5 shillings though it had formerly been worth £1 sterling. The priests of St Neot had only one acre of their former land. There were 4 smallholders, 1 ox, 10 goats and 20 sheep. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

St Neot was staunchly

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

. To commemorate this, each year on

Oak Apple Day Restoration Day, more commonly known as Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, was an English, Welsh and Irish public holiday, observed annually on 29 May, to commemorate the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in May 1660. In some parts of England the ...

(29 May), an oak branch is mounted on the top of the church tower to symbolise the historical allegiance.

John Anstis John Anstis (29 August 1669 – 4 March 1744) was an English officer of arms, antiquarian and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1702 and 1722. He rose to the highest heraldic office in England and became Garter King of Arms in 1 ...

, born and buried at St Neot, was an English officer of arms and antiquarian who rose to the highest heraldic office in England and became

Garter King of Arms The Garter Principal King of Arms (also Garter King of Arms or simply Garter) is the senior King of Arms, and the senior Officer of Arms of the College of Arms, the heraldic authority with jurisdiction over England, Wales and Northern Ireland. ...

in 1718.

Henry Dangar Henry Dangar (1796 - 1861) was a surveyor and explorer of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He became a successful pastoralist and businessman, and also served as a magistrate and politician. He was born on 18 November 179 ...

(1796–1861) was a native of St Neot who became a surveyor and explorer of Australia.

Parish Church of St Neot

The original dedication may have been to 'St Anietus', with whom the Saxon Neot has been confused. In the 11th century a small monastery existed here; the early medieval church building (of which the tower remains) must have been smaller than the one in existence today. Rebuilding in granite was undertaken in the 15th century and the fine stained-glass windows are from about 1500. The stained glass is partly original and partly from a restoration done by John Hedgeland, c. 1830. There are 16 windows of 15th- or 16th-century workmanship unless indicated: 1: the Creation window; 2: the Noah window; 3: the Borlase window; 4: the Martyn window; 5: the Motton window; 6: the Callawy window; 7: the Tubbe and Callawy window; 8: an armorial window (Hedgeland); 9: the St George window (15th century); 10: the St Neot window (12 episodes from the legend); 11: the Young Women's window (four saints with the 20 donors below); 12: the Wives' window (Christ and three saints with the 20 donors below); 13: the Harris window; 14: the Redemption window (Hedgeland); 15: the Acts window (Hedgeland); 16: the chancel window depicts the Last Supper (Hedgeland; copied from the earliest representation in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

).''Guide to South Cornwall''. London, Ward, Lock, . 1955 pp. 155–56 Nearby is the holy well of St Neot. Legend tells that the well contained three fish, and an angel told St Neot that as long as he ate no more than one fish a day, their number would never decrease. At a time St Neot fell ill, and his servant went and cooked two of the fish; upon finding this, St Neot prayed for forgiveness and ordered that the fish be returned to the well. As they entered the water, both were miraculously returned to life. ;Gallery File:St. Neot church.jpg, The Church of St Neot, famous for its late medieval

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

File:St Neot Cornwall 015.JPG, A stained glass window depicting St Neot (detail) File:The London Inn St. Neot Cornwall - geograph.org.uk - 101055.jpg, The London Inn

Other notable buildings

Two 15th-century bridges are at Pantersbridge and Treverbyn (crossing the Warleggan and Fowey rivers). Lewarne is a neo-Tudor country house built for the Grylls family in 1869.

Treverbyn Vean Treverbyn Vean is a 19th-century mansion in St Neot, Cornwall. Its exterior was designed by George Gilbert Scott and its interior by William Burges, two of the major architects of the Gothic Revival. The house is a Grade II* listed building. It r ...

is a Victorian mansion designed for Colonel Charles Sommers Cocks by two of the greatest Victorian architects,

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

and

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...

. A. G. Langdon (1896) records six stone crosses in the parish, of which three are at the vicarage.

Transport and Village Award

No railway was ever built to the village, despite pressure from local people and mine owners in the 1860s and 1870s. Instead,

Doublebois railway station There are seventeen disused railway stations on the Cornish Main Line between Plymouth in Devon and Penzance in Cornwall, England. The remains of nine of these can be seen from passing trains. While a number of these were closed following the s ...

was opened on 1 June 1860 about two miles south of St Neot on the

Cornwall Railway The Cornwall Railway was a broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventu ...

main line. In 2004 and 2006, the village of St Neot won the National

Calor Village of the Year The Calor Village of the Year comprised 4 annual competitions organised by gas provider Calor to identify the villages that best met the following criteria: "a well-balanced, pro-active, caring community which has made the best of local opportun ...

award. St Neot also won the Calor Gas Village of the Decade award, which celebrated 10 years of the competition The nearby

Carnglaze Caverns Carnglaze Caverns consists of three man-made caverns formed as part of a slate industry, slate quarry in the Loveny Valley, near the village of St Neot, Cornwall, St Neot, Liskeard, Cornwall, England, UK. The first of the caverns, the Rum Store ...

, a former slate quarry, forms an unusual music venue.

Twinning

* Malgeneg, Brittany, France

References

External links

St Neot Village website

Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for St Neot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Neot Civil parishes in Cornwall Villages in Cornwall Manors in Cornwall Bodmin Moor