The Village
St. Keverne is one of the main villages on the Lizard Peninsula and historically the most important within the area known as The Meneage, derived from the Cornish meaning Monk’s Land or monastic. This area covers more than 10,000 acres on the east side of the peninsula.
The village is a friendly community with the village stores, a butcher, Post Office, two pubs and an organic restaurant. Unusually for Cornwall it is built around a central square overlooked by the church.
St. Keverne church dates from the 15th century and is large for a village church with a distinctive octagonal spire. This was apparently added as daymarker to warn sailors of the treacherous Manacles Reef, a square mile of barely submerged rocks just off shore. Over the centuries these have claimed hundreds of ships and many lives. There are 400 victims buried in this churchyard and memorials to ships such as The Primrose, The Bay of Panama and The SS Mohegan.
Two large rebellions had their roots here and were led by men from the village. The first, in 1497, was the Cornish Rebellion led by the blacksmith, Michael Joseph “An Gof”, and the next was the 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion led by a local vicar, Martin Geoffrey. Both men however lost their lives for their causes.
The village has an award winning brass band which plays in the square during the summer, a pig roast in the spring and an ox roast during August.
The Lizard Peninsula
The area is well known for its outstanding beauty and varied scenery from the magnificent coastline, sandy beaches and famous coves, to Goonhilly Downs and the wooded valleys and creeks of the Helford river.
St.Ives, Penzance, Falmouth and the Cathedral City of Truro are all within easy reach; as are St. Michael’s Mount and many other National Trust houses and beautiful gardens (Trebah, Glendurgan,Trelissick etc.).
Cornwall has been designated a European Cultural route of Parks, Gardens and Landscape and the gardens down here have some of the most unique plant collections in the world.
The Tate Gallery at St. Ives, Lands End, the open air Minack Theatre perched on the cliffs at Porthcurno, the Eden Project and the National Maritime Museum all make an enjoyable day out. There are several leisure parks for family outings:- The Seal Sanctuary, Poldark Mine and Paradise Park to name but a few.
