North Petherwin ( kw, Paderwynn Gledh) 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 ...

and village in the historic county 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. Devo ...

and the ceremonial county of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated five miles (8 km) northwest of Launceston on a ridge above the

River Ottery The River Ottery ( kw, Otri) is a small river in northeast Cornwall, United Kingdom. The river is about long from its source southeast of Otterham to its confluence with the River Tamar at Nether Bridge, northeast of Launceston. The he ...

valley. North Petherwin is a rural parish within the historic boundaries of Devon, having been transferred to Cornwall in 1966. Historically, the

Dukes of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third s ...

have been major land owners in the parish. As well as the church town, settlements include Hellescott, Brazacott, and

Maxworthy Maxworthy is a Hamlet (place), hamlet north of North Petherwin in east Cornwall, England.''Philip's Street Atlas Cornwall''. London: Philip's, 2003; p. 12 References

Hamlets in Cornwall {{NorthCornwall-geo-stub ...

. The hamlets of Petherwin Gate and Daws are close to the village. The Tamar Otter and Wildlife Centre is North Petherwin's main tourist attraction. As well as having European and Asian Short Clawed

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...

s it has a duck pond, a nature trail where owls can be seen, a restaurant area and a gift shop.

Parish church and school

The parish church is dedicated to St

Paternus Padarn ( la, Paternus, Padarnus; cy, Padarn; br, Padern; ? – 550 AD) was an early 6th century British Christian abbot-bishop who founded St Padarn's Church in Ceredigion, Wales. He appears to be one and the same with the first bishop of Bra ...

(see also

South Petherwin South Petherwin ( kw, Paderwynn Dheghow) is a village and civil parish in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is in the Registration District of Launceston. The civil parish is bounded to the north by the Launceston parishes of St Th ...

) and is unusually grand for a small village church. It was described in ''White's Devonshire Directory'' of 1850 as: ''... an ancient structure, with a tower and five bells... (containing)... memorials of the Yeo and other families.'' The north aisle is Norman and the south Perpendicular and many of the windows, including those of the clerestory, are 13th century in style. There is some old woodwork including a communion rail dated 1685. The tower now houses six bells, hung for full circle ringing in the English style. They are rung from the ground floor where the ringers are really part of the church as, unusually, the tower has not been screened off. In the North aisle, within the vestry, stands a fine two manual organ. The organ was extensively overhauled at the turn of this century and its thirteen speaking stops provide reliable accompaniment to services and concerts. The village has a school, North Petherwin Primary School,North Petherwin school website
Retrieved April 2010 dating back to 1878. The school is

coeducation Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

al and has been expanded in recent years.

References

External links

Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for North Petherwin
{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Civil parishes in Cornwall Holy wells in Cornwall Places formerly in Devon