St Levan ( kw, Selevan) 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 authorit ...
in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish is rural with a number of hamlets of varying size with
Porthcurno
Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an e ...
probably being the best known. Hewn out of the cliff at Minack Point and overlooking the sea to the
Logan Rock
The Logan Rock ( kw, Men Omborth, meaning ''balanced stone'') near the village of Treen in Cornwall, England, UK, is an example of a logan or rocking stone. Although it weighs some 80 tons, it was dislodged in 1824 by a group of British seamen, ...
is the open-air
Minack Theatre
The Minack Theatre ( kw, Gwaryjy Minack) is an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea. The theatre is at Porthcurno, from Land's End in Cornwall, England. The season runs each year from May ...
, the inspiration of Rowena Cade in the early 1930s.
St Levan lies within the
Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers in Cornwall, England, UK; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 for ...
(AONB) and the
South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises ...
, which follows the coast of south-west England from
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lor ...
to
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
passes by on the cliffs. There are two
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI), designated for the vegetation and geology, and
Gwennap Head in particular, is favoured by
birdwatchers
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
, many who travel the length and breadth of Britain to watch rare seabirds.
Geography
The parish church is about south west of
Penzance
Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situ ...
.
[Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' ] The parish measures and the population at the 2011 census was 459. The river in the valley at
Nanjizal
Nanjizal ( kw, Porth Nansusel, meaning "cove of the howling valley"), also known as Mill Bay, is a beach and cove in the civil parish of St Levan, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Situated one mile to the south-east of Land's End, Nanjizal has no dire ...
forms the parish boundary with
Sennen
Sennen (''Cornish: Sen Senan'' or ''Sen Senana'') is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of Penzance.Ordnance Survey: Landra ...
and is 3 miles south of the
Land's End
Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...
. From Nanjizal heading south and east, via
Gwennap Head, there is 4 miles of coast to
Penberth Cove and the boundary with
St Buryan
St Buryan ( kw, Pluwveryan) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The village of St Buryan is situated approximately west of Penzance along the B3283 to ...
. The parish encompasses a number of small settlements which include
Bottoms, Penberth,
Polgigga,
Porthcurno
Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an e ...
,
Porthgwarra, Trebehor,
Treen (the chief village) and
Trethewey.
Both Penberth and Porthgwarra in the past had small fishing fleets despite not having a harbour; the boats were hauled up the slipways when not in use. A small fleet continues to fish out of Penberth, for bass (''
Dicentrarchus labrax
The European bass (''Dicentrarchus labrax'') is a primarily ocean-going fish native to the waters off Europe's western and southern and Africa's northern coasts, though it can also be found in shallow coastal waters and river mouths during the su ...
''), crabs and
mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment.
...
(''Scomber scombrus'').
[
]
History
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
flints have been found dating human activity
Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity ( mentally, physically, and socially) of human individuals or groups to respond to internal and external stimuli throughout their life. Kagan, Jerome, Marc H. Bornstein, and Richard M. ...
in the area to 5000 years ago. Fifteen hundred pieces of worked flint and chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...
from the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
were found during the 1914 excavation at Pedn-men-an-mere[ and an ]Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
cliff castle
A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to da ...
at Treryn Dinas may date back 2000 years or more.
Many of the hamlets and farms with Cornish prefixes such at ''Bos'' and ''Tre'' (and possibly ''Ros'') can trace their names back to 600–700 AD while ''Chy'' dates back to the 11th- or 12th-century. The first documentary evidence of a place name is Rospletha, which is mentioned in 1244 and the rest of the other farms are recorded over the next one hundred years.[ Much of the land belonged to the manor of Mayon, Sennen and in the early 17th-century the land was divided between six heiresses, one of whom married John St Aubyn. A later John St Aubyn, became the first ]Baron St Levan
Baron St Levan, of St Michael's Mount in the County of Cornwall, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 4 July 1887 for the former Member of Parliament Sir John St Aubyn, 2nd Baronet, becoming John St Aubyn, 1st Ba ...
of St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount ( kw, Karrek Loos yn Koos, meaning " hoar rock in woodland") is a tidal island in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The island is a civil parish and is linked to the town of Marazion by a causeway of granite s ...
. The St Aubyn's estate purchased the freehold estate of Roskestral in April 1885 for £5,000. As well as the farmhouse and farm buildings there was of land including the ″cliff lands″ around Carn Glaze. Much of Porthgwarra, the land around Gwennap Head, as well as the farms Higher Bosistow, Roskestral, Sawah, Trebehor and Trevean are still part of the St Aubyn Estate.[ Mr T Bedford Bolitho bought the Rospletha estate for £1500 in 1883. The estate was described as ″fertile land″ and there was also a share of cliff.
Above the sandy beach at Porthchapel is a ruined rectangular building with a large flat granite slab and spring known as St Levan's Well. Below, cut into the cliff slope, are two buildings believed to be an early chapel and cell. The remains possibly date to the 7th- or 8th-century. St Levan's Church is situated in a small valley, inland from Porthchapel. It dates mainly from the 15th-century with earlier font, north transept and nave/chancel. Until 1864 the church was a chapelry of the Royal Peculiar of the Deanery of St Buryan. It is now part of the united benefice of St Buryan and St Sennen. There are also two Wesleyan Methodists ]chapels
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...
at Treen (1834) and Trethewey (1868).
There are five Cornish crosses in the parish; one in the churchyard, one on the churchyard wall and the others at Rospletha, Sawah and Trebehor.
The first telegraph cable, (from Carcavelos
Carcavelos () was, until 2013, a civil parish in the Portuguese municipality of Cascais, about west of Lisbon. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Carcavelos e Parede. The parish was known for the Carcavelos wine. With the decline of ...
, near Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
) was laid on Porthcurno beach in 1870. Lisbon had already been linked to Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, making Porthcurno the British terminal of the Empire's telegraph network. A land link was provided to London helping to make Porthcurno a centre of world communications. The Eastern Telegraph Company was formed in 1872, later to become Cable & Wireless. Porthcurno was also a training centre, sending operators all over the world.[
]
Governance
For the purposes of local government St Levan is a civil parish and every four years elects a parish council consisting of ten councillors. The principal local authority is Cornwall Council
Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a tradition ...
. Since local government boundary changes in 2021, the parish falls under the electoral ward of Land's End.
Wildlife and ecology
Much of the coast of St Levan parish is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(SSSI) and noted for the vegetation of waved maritime heath and for the geology. Heaths are widespread worldwide but are fast disappearing and considered a rare habitat in Europe. Rock sea lavender ('' Limonium loganicum'') is an endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
plant that is found only in the parish of St Levan. All the colonies are within protected areas but may be vulnerable from climbers or walkers on the lower slopes where it occurs.
Treen Cliff SSSI extends from Porthcurno
Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an e ...
beach in the west to Penberth Cove in the east. Several rare plant species occur and the site is of particular importance for its maritime heath. Part of the site, Treryn Dinas, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
consisting of a "cliff castle" with four ramparts and ditches, and the Logan Rock
The Logan Rock ( kw, Men Omborth, meaning ''balanced stone'') near the village of Treen in Cornwall, England, UK, is an example of a logan or rocking stone. Although it weighs some 80 tons, it was dislodged in 1824 by a group of British seamen, ...
was part of the tour of the Land's End area for Victorian tourists. The Porthgwarra to Pordenack Point (SSSI) is noted for its vegetation, and for being of considerable ornithological
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
interest; especially for passage migrants. It is renowned for its relative abundance of passing marine bird species with many common species such as northern gannet
The northern gannet (''Morus bassanus'') is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America. It is the largest seabird in t ...
(''Morus bassanus''), Manx shearwater
The Manx shearwater (''Puffinus puffinus'') is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The scientific name of this species records a name shift: Manx shearwaters were called Manks puffins in the 17th century. Puffin is a ...
(''Puffinus puffinus''), common guillemot
The common murre or common guillemot (''Uria aalge'') is a large auk. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to ...
, (''Uria aalge'') and razorbill
The razorbill, razor-billed auk, or lesser auk (''Alca torda'') is a colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus '' Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinis im ...
(''Alca torda''), as well as rarer birds such as Balearic shearwater
The Balearic shearwater (''Puffinus mauretanicus'') is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family ''Procellariidae''. ''Puffinus'' is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin" and its variants, that referred to the cured carcass of ...
(''Puffinus mauretanicus'') and Cory's shearwater
Cory's shearwater (''Calonectris borealis'') is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerl ...
(''Calonectris borealis''). The headland of Tol-pedn (or Gwennap Head) is favoured by birdwatchers
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
and many travel the length and breadth of Britain to track rare seabirds.
Some of the butterflies that can be found on the coast include grayling (''Hipparchia semele
The grayling or rock grayling (''Hipparchia semele'') is a species in the brush-footed butterfly family Nymphalidae. Although found all over Europe, the grayling mostly inhabits coastal areas, with inland populations declining significantly in re ...
''), silver-studded blue ('' Plebejus argus''), small pearl-bordered fritillary ('' Boloria selene'') and wall (''Lasiommata megera
''Lasiommata megera'', the wall or wall brown, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae (subfamily Satyrinae). It is widespread in the Palearctic realm with a large variety of habitats and number of generations a year.
Description
''P. meger ...
''). There is also a day-flying moth, the thrift clearwing ('' Synansphecia muscaeformis''); the adult is a bee mimic and the larva feed on thrift (''Armeria maritima
''Armeria maritima'', the thrift, sea thrift or sea pink, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is a compact evergreen perennial which grows in low clumps and sends up long stems that support globes of bright pink flow ...
'').
Education
St Levan CP School is St Levan's community primary school, located in the hamlet of Bottoms. It is a very small school. Its current head teacher is Susannah Storey.
Notable residents
* Harry Etchel Binns (1869–1945), a member of the Newlyn School
The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was reminis ...
* William Bottrell
William Bottrell (1816–1881) was born at Rafta, St Levan in Cornwall on 7 March 1816. He contributed greatly to the preservation of Cornish mythology. Both he and Thomas Quiller Couch contributed folk stories of West Cornwall for Robert Hunt's ...
(born 1816), writer of three volumes of Cornish folk stories
* Rowena Cade
Rowena Cade (1893–1983) was the creator of the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, Cornwall, UK.
Cade was born in Spondon near Derby on 2 August 1893. (1893–1983), designer of the Minack Theatre
* Thomasine Dennis, the first Cornishwoman to write a novel, ''Sophia St Clare'', published in London, 1806
* John Piper (1903–1992), artist
* Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...
(1872–1970), philosopher
* James Howard Williams
James Howard Williams, also known as Elephant Bill (15 November 1897 – 30 July 1958), was a British soldier and elephant expert in Burma, known for his work with the Fourteenth Army during the Burma Campaign of World War II, and for his 19 ...
(1897–1958), known as Elephant Bill, soldier, elephant expert and author[
]
References
External links
St Levan genealogical site
Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for St Levan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Levan
Civil parishes in Cornwall
Penwith
Villages in Cornwall