St Dennis, Cornwall
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St Dennis () 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
and village in
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated on the B3279 between
Newquay Newquay ( ; ) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parishes in England, civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with an airport and a spaceport, and a fishing port on t ...
and
St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...
. St Dennis had a population of 2,696 in the 2001
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, increasing to 2,810 at the 2011 census. An electoral ward also exists with a population at the same census of 4,560. A quarter of the male population is employed in the extraction of
china clay Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedron, tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen ...
. The village is famous for its church built on the site of an
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
hillfort. Other major buildings include the Methodist chapel and the Boscawen Hotel.


History

St Dennis originated as several smaller settlements: Hendra, Trelavour and Whitepit. The area's population grew rapidly after
William Cookworthy William Cookworthy (12 April 170517 October 1780) was an English Quaker minister, a successful pharmacist and an innovator in several fields of technology. He was the first person in Britain to discover how to make hard-paste porcelain, like t ...
discovered
China Clay Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedron, tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen ...
in the area.


Geography

The area is characterised by tips and pits of china clay mining but St Dennis village itself is designated an 'island settlement' which prevents encroachment by the china clay industry. Much of the parish is up to 500 feet above sea level, and the countryside is moorland with small fields enclosed by earth-covered granite walls known as 'hedges'. These hedges were constructed centuries ago, when the land was cleared for farming. Part of Trelavour Downs has been designated 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 ...
and a
Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee. It is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...
site. A small shallow pit of 0.3 ha was once worked for
lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...
and is the best known locality for biotite mica in Britain.


Churches and chapels

The church is situated on top of a hill overlooking the village and has views over
Goss Moor Goss Moor (, meaning ''moor of reeds'') is a national nature reserves in England, national nature reserve in Cornwall, England, south-west of Bodmin in the parishes of St Dennis, Cornwall, St Dennis, St Columb Major, Roche, Cornwall, Roche and ...
to the sea at Newquay. It is dedicated to St Denys and stands on the site of an Iron Age fort. The tower is the oldest part of the church, and the newer church was almost destroyed by fire in 1985. Although heartbreaking at the time, it has risen again from the ashes. The new roof timbers were so large that they had to be lifted in by a
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
Sea King helicopter. The village also has a strong history of
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
and at one stage there were three Methodist chapels in the village. Of these three, Carne Hill is the only chapel which is still open to this day. The churchyard cross has a head of horseshoe shape and is ornamented with some unusual incised ornament.


Education and social life

The infant school in St Dennis has been amalgamated with the new primary school, and the old building has been refurbished and is now used as an outreach centre called ClayTAWC. The centre teaches computer studies to adults in the area, and also has many other interesting classes. St Dennis
Band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...
is based in the village, and has a history of competing with some of the world's top bands. The Band recently gained Championship Status in 2017. Last year the band went to Blackpool, retaining their Championship status for another year. Currently they are the WEBF Champions. The village of St Dennis has two public houses, The Commercial Inn and the Boscawen Hotel, and there are also three clubs, the St Dennis Working Men's Club, the St Dennis Band Club, and St Dennis A.F.C.


Technology

The Land Master all-terrain vehicle was developed here in the late 1970s. The ''Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre'' A is an
incinerator Incineration is a list of solid waste treatment technologies, waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-ene ...
built near St Dennis by French company
SITA Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...
. The first planning application was submitted in 2008. The initial planning application was rejected in 2009 following opposition by the Parish Council over worried about the effects of pollution and extra traffic. Following a Public Inquiry 2011 permission was granted and construction began in 2012. A later High Court challenge from the Cornwall Waste Forum delayed construction and the case went to the
Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
at the
Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...
which unanimously rejected the Cornwall Waste Forum's claim in March 2012. A further challenge at the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
also failed. Work restarted in August 2012 which was carried out by
CORMAC Cormac is a masculine given name in the Irish language, Irish and English language, English languages. The name is ancient in the Irish language and is also seen in the rendered Old Norse as ''Kormákr''. Family name#Surname prefixes, Mac is I ...
, a company wholly owned by
Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( ), known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary ...
. SITA claim that the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC) will benefit Cornwall by diverting 90 per cent of the county’s residual waste away from landfill and will generate sixteen megawatts of electricity. The local community has received hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.


Railway lines

The railway station for St Dennis is
St Columb Road St Columb Road () is a small village near Fraddon and Indian Queens in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies half a mile (750m) from the A30 road. St Columb Road railway station is on the branch line from Par to Newquay. When it opened in ...
(over 3 miles away), but there have been mineral railways in the parish, for which ''see article'' St Dennis railway station.


Cornish wrestling

The traditional location for
Cornish wrestling Cornish wrestling () is a form of wrestling that has been established in Cornwall for many centuries and possibly longer. It is similar to the Breton people, Breton Gouren wrestling style. It is colloquially known as "wrasslin’"Phillipps, K C: ...
tournaments was the small field behind the Commercial Inn,Royal Cornwall Gazette, 22 October 1891. currently being used as a dumping ground. Other places used for Cornish wrestling tournaments include: * A field behind the Miners Arms, which was a public house in Hendra.St. Austell Star, 31 July 1891. * Old football ground opposite the current location of the Football club.Cornish Guardian, 3 June 1937. Given how small St Dennis has been, surprisingly many famous Cornish wrestlers came from St Dennis. Successful examples who fought in Cornish wrestling tournaments include: Gilbert Bennetts (heavyweight champion 1921Western Morning News, 23 August 1921.Cornish Post and Mining News, 10 September 1921. and lightweight champion in 1922Western Evening Herald, 9 August 1922.Cornish Guardian, 27 January 1922. and 1923),Cornubian and Redruth Times, 19 July 1923.Cornish Post and Mining News, 21 July 1923. George Bazeley (who beat
Yukio Tani was a pioneering Japanese jujutsu and judo instructor and professional challenge wrestler, notable for being one of the first jujutsu stylists to teach and compete outside of Japan. Biography Tani's early jujutsu training in Japan were heavily ...
"Wrestling: Effect of feats by Cornishmen", Western Morning News, 23 December 1926, p10. and whose grandson (
Richard Bazley Richard Bazley (born 28 November 1962 in Devon, England) is an Emmy-nominated film director and a storyboard artist. Although now a Director of Live Action and animation his background is in animation and his credits include Disney's ''Pocahontas ...
) is looking to make a film about his fight with Tani called "George and the Dragon") and Almond Giles (who became lightweight champion of America, South Africa and England).''How Rand Cornishmen spent Christmas'', Cornishman, 24 January 1907, p4. More recently Toby Garner (featherweight champion 2016 and 2017 and lightweight champion 2017), Violet Margetts (ladies champion 2023) and Simon Margetts (heavyweight champion 2019-2023 and light heavyweight champion 2019-2023).


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Dennis Civil parishes in Cornwall Villages in Cornwall Hill forts in Cornwall