St Keyne

St Keyne (Cornish: Sen Keyn) is a civil parish and village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish lies between the parishes of Liskeard and Duloe.[1] The parish population at the 2011 census was 492.[2]

St Keyne church

The village is served by a railway station known as St Keyne Wishing Well Halt.

Notable buildings

The church is dedicated to Saint Keyne, said to be one of the daughters of the legendary Welsh King Brychan. The church is of little architectural interest. The Perpendicular north aisle has probably been added to a church originally cruciform in plan (its windows however are Decorated, no doubt reused). The west tower is of three storeys and without buttresses.[3]

St Keyne's Well

St Keyne's well is a holy well dedicated to Saint Keyne, located about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) southeast of the village. A small housing was built over the well in the 16th century, this was rebuilt in the 1930s.[4] The ballad The Well of St Keyne was written by the poet Robert Southey (1774–1843).[5] In Victorian times St Keyne's well had the reputation of conferring supremacy to the marriage partner who first tasted it. ("The quality, that man and wife / Whose chance, or choice, attaines / First of this sacred stream to drinke / Thereby the mastery gains.")[6]

References
  1. Ordnance Survey One-inch Map of Great Britain; Bodmin and Launceston, sheet 186. 1961
  2. "parish population census 2011". Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  3. Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall; 2nd ed., revised by E. Radcliffe. Harmondsworth: Penguin; p. 186
  4. "St Keyne's Holy Well". Into Cornwall. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. "The Well of St. Keyne". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  6. "Local News". The Cornishman (86). 4 March 1880. p. 5.



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