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Cornwall Tourism Magazine - St Columb.

 

St Columb, known locally as St Columb, known as 'Synt Colom Veur' or 'Synt Colom gwartha' in Cornish, is a small town located around 7 miles to the southwest of Wadebridge. It is called St Columb to distinguish it from the much smaller village of St Columb Minor which is located on the coast very close to Newquay. The designation of Major indicating both that it is much larger in size and also more inland. St Columb has a very long history of settlement dating back to prehistoric times and more recently the Bronze and Iron Ages as nearby is Castle an Dinas which is an Iron Age hill fort. Most of the land in and surrounding St Columb is used for agriculture and mainly consists of fields and small areas of woodland. There is also some moorland in the northern and eastern areas which are part of the Goss Moor so the area is very popular with walkers. There are also a number of other small villages around St Columb and whilst not a coastal area, it is a popular holiday destination for those who seek a more relaxing type of holiday.

 

 

The History of St Columb - the early days.

 

People have been living in the St Columb area sine prehistoric times,but the major settlement influxes appeared in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Nearby settlements and related ancient monuments that date from these period include Castle an Dinas which is a large Iron Age hill fort complete with huge ditches and earth banks, the Nine Maidens which is believed to have been erected in the late Stone Age and are the largest row of standing stones in Cornwall. The Devil's Quoit ( also known as King Arthur's Stone ) which is alleged to have been dropped by the Devil, however, it is in fact a Neolithic Tomb which would have consisted of three or more upright stones capped off with the large stone which you can see today. In relation to the legend of it being King Arthurs lost stone, the Devils Quoit has four deeply-impressed horseshoe shaped marks and legend has it that the marks were made by KIng Arthur's horse which he rode when he resided at Castle An Dinas and hunted on the moors. There is also an 18th Century folly at Castle an Dinas called Rogers Tower.

 

Castle an Dinas	Rogers Tower at Castle an Dinas	The Nine Maidens	The Devils Quoit

 

The Middle ages and beyond.

 

The church, St Columb's, was built in the 12th Century and in 1333, KIng Edward III granted the right to hold a market to Sir John Arundell in St Columb as a reward for supplying him with troops to fight the Scots in the Battle of Halidon Hill, who under the command of Sir Archibald Douglas were trying to relieve Berwick-on-Tweed in July 1333. In 1549, straight after the Prayer Book Rebellion, which was a revolt that took place in Devon and Cornwall during the nine year old King Edward VI reign, the Mayor of St. Columb, William Mayow was hanged by Provost Marshal Anthony Kingston outside a tavern in St Columb as a punishment leading an uprising in Cornwall.

 

Skirmish in the English Civil War.

 

In 1646 during the English Civil War, Sir Thomas Fairfax's Parliamentarian army were advancing from Bodmin towards the south and on 7th March they halted a few miles away from Bodmin. One of the the King's armies were quartered at St. Columb with a view to intercepting Fairfax's army to do battle so when they realised the Parliamentarians were close, Prince Rupert's, the Kings nephew, sent his regiment out to investigate and a small skirmish developed between Prince Rupert's regiment and a detachment of the Parliamentarians commanded by Colonel Rich. Although vastly outnumbered, by a factor of 3 to 1, Colonel Rich's men stood their ground and defeated the Royalist force who then retreated to lick their wounds and then deserted their command post at St Columb.

 

St Columb's Church and the big bang.

 

There was also another event involving gunpowder in 1676, when most of the church of St Columb was blown up. Three youths who lived in the town accidentally set fire to a store of gunpowder held in the church for defense of the town and the resulting explosion blew the church up, killed the three youths and caused a significant amount of damage to the immediate area around the church including all the houses and monuments around it, one of which was a monument to Sir John Arundell who was the founder of the Chantry. The sound of the explosion was clearly heard in Wadebridge some seven miles away. The church was rebuilt but although the 15th Century bell tower survived the explosion it was struck by lightening in 1690 and severely damaged. The 12th Century church was again restored in 1846 and during the work medieval frescos that had been covered up were discovered along with evidence of the damaged caused by the gunpowder explosion in 1676.

 

 

The area and rivers.

 

St Columb sits on a 300ft high plateau and the northern part of the town, known as Bridge, also descends into the Vale of Lanherne. The older part of the town was originally built on a main road that runs north-east to south-west, but modern development has since extended it in the south and east. A number of small rivers and streams flow through St Columb area and one of the sources of the River Fal, which exists into the sea at Falmouth, some many miles away, starts in the nearby Goss Moor. The River Menalhyl, which in years past, powered a number of mills along its course, flows through the north part of St Columb and has three branches that converge at Gilbert’s Water, just to the east of the town. The longest of these rises next to the Nine Maidens standing stones to the north of the town. The other main river is the unnamed one, often called the River Porth, that flows into Porth Reservoir and then enters the sea at St Columb Porth. This river, according to legend, was created by the blood of the murdered Saint Columba which ran down the side of the valley.

 

The legend of St Columba.

 

In the nearby hamlet of Ruthvoes, there is a holy well dedicated to Saint Columba the Virgin who is a female saint with dedications in Cornwall. She lived in the 6th century and became a Christian when the Holy Ghost appeared to her in the form of a dove, " columba " being the Latin word for dove. The Legend surrounding St Columba is that she was the daughter of King Lodan and Queen Manigild who were both pagans. To escape an arranged marriage to a local pagan prince she left her homelands and set sail for Cornwall, however, she was followed by the prince she was due to marry. After landing at Trevelgue Head, she was chased through the forest which is now Porth Beach, and fled up the valley but was captured at Ruthvoes, two miles south of St Columb. The legend states that the prince then cut off her head and where her blood fell a spring gushed forth and the water from the spring then followed the course of her flight down to the beach. This river is still unnamed river although locally it is known as Porth River and reaches the sea at St Columb Porth. However, as with all legends of this type things are never as straightforward as they seem as it is also thought that her parents, Lodan and Manigild, are corrupted forms of the names King Lot and Morgause of Arthurian legend.

 

 

 

 

Find the towns in Cornwall - by map.

 

Please use the map to locate the town of your choice and click on the appropriate icon and link which will take you to the relevant towns page where you can find out about its history, what to do and see there, local villages, images and other interesting items and facts. Alternatively, you can use the manual selection section below where we have alphabetically listed most of the major towns in Cornwall in their appropriate region. To use it, just click on a Town name button and the link will take you to its relevant page.

 

Using the map.

 

To locate a town, please put your curser on the map face, left click your mouse and then use it to move a scroll around the map. The towns will all have a small white balloon icon so when you wish to view a town page, left click on the towns icon, and then click on the link that will appear with the towns name on it. You will then be taken to the towns relevant page. You will find the map on all town pages so if you want to look up another town, just locate it on the map and click on the appropriate icon as described here.

 

 

Map of Cornwall - Click on the balloon icon link to a town and click on the link when it opens.