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Kenwyn

Coordinates:50°16′N5°04′W/ 50.267°N 5.067°W/50.267; -5.067
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withKenwyn, Cape Town.

The River Kenwyn, which converges with the Allen and becomes the River Truro

Kenwyn(Cornish:Keynwynn) is a settlement andcivil parishinCornwall,England, United Kingdom. The settlement is a suburb of the city ofTruroand lies 0.5 mi (1 km) north of the city centre,[1]within Truro parish, whereas Kenwyn parish covers an area west and north-west of the city.[2]Kenwyn gives its name to one of three rivers that flow through the city.

The civil parish includes the villages ofThreemilestoneandShortlanesend,and several hamlets includingAllet,GreenbottomandIdless.The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 5,800.[3]

History and toponymy

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It is likely that the church of Kenwyn was the mother church of Truro. The original dedication is possiblySt Keyne;Keynwen is the earliest form of the name, which would be 'Keyn' and -wen' (white/blessed). By the 15th century, it was assumed to be St. Kenwyn, though no medieval records record it with the prefix 'Saint'. Subsequently, the dedication was attributed to St.Cuby.[4]

Themanorof Kenwyn was held in the 12th century byRichard de Luci,after it had been confiscated by the King. Apparently, the borough ofTrurowas established by the lord in part of the manor and this was the beginning of Truro as a town, then called Triuereu.[5]In theDomesday Bookthe manor of Kenwyn appears as Tregavran (in later usage Trehaverne). It was in the possession of the families of Lantyan, Beville, Grenville, and Enys, for many centuries.[6]

The earliest form of the name is Keynwen (1259),[7]which comes from the Cornish wordskeyn"ridge" andgwynn"white". The modern Cornish form is spelledKeynwynn.[8]

Arthur Langdon (1896) describes a Cornish cross in the manor house grounds atEastbourne,Sussex, which was originally at Kenwyn.Davies Gilbert,a former resident of the manor house, removed it from a roadside gate west of Truro where it was in use as a gatepost and had it transported to Eastbourne in 1817. The shaft is ornamented on all four sides.[9]

Notable buildings

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Kenwyn Parish Church

Kenwyn parish church dates to the 14th or 15th century, with the south aisle and tower dating to the 15th century.Restorationsfrom 1820 to 1862 have reduced the interior to its present state. There is a peal of eight bells.[10]The churchyard provides a fine view over the city ofTruroand above the lychgate is an upper chamber (probably a schoolroom). On 24 March 2007, during a service at the church to mark the 200th anniversary of theparliamentary abolition of the slave tradethroughout theBritish Empire,the life ofJoseph Antonio Emidywas featured and some typical pieces of music from his time were played in tribute.

Lis Escop (the Kenwyn vicarage of 1780) became after the establishment of theDiocese of Trurothe bishop's palace.[11]For some years it housed part ofTruro Cathedral School,which closed in 1981. It then housed the Community of the Epiphany (Anglican nuns) and is now, as Epiphany House, a Christian retreat and conference centre.

The Kenwyn building at Truro College is named after the River Kenwyn.

Cornish wrestling

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Cornish wrestlingtournaments, for prizes including gold laced hats, were held in Kenwyn in the 1800s.[12][13]

Notable residents

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Looking up the Allen valley from Kenwyn cemetery

References

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  1. ^Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204Truro & FalmouthISBN978-0-319-23149-4
  2. ^"Election Maps: Great Britain".Ordnance Survey.Retrieved23 June2022.
  3. ^"Civil Parish population 2011".Neighbourhood Statistics.Office for National Statistics.Retrieved16 March2017.
  4. ^Cornish Church Guide(1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 117
  5. ^Halliday, F. E. (1959)A History of Cornwall.London: Duckworth; p. 112
  6. ^Henderson, C. (1935) Records of the Borough of Truro before 1300, inEssays in Cornish History,edited byA. L. Rowseand M. I. Henderson. Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 1-18
  7. ^Ekwall, Eilert (1940).The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names(2nd ed.). Oxford [Eng.]: Clarendon Press. p. 260.ISBN0-19-869103-3.
  8. ^Akademi Kernewek Place Names Database, accessed 2020-08-15
  9. ^Langdon, A. G. (1896)Old Cornish Crosses.Truro: Joseph Pollard; pp. 303-07
  10. ^"Truro, Cornwall, S Keyne, Kenwyn".Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers.Retrieved23 June2022.
  11. ^Pevsner, N. (1970)Cornwall,2nd ed. Penguin Books; p. 84-85
  12. ^Royal Cornwall Gazette, 7 May 1831.
  13. ^Cornishman, 13 October 1892.
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Media related toKenwynat Wikimedia Commons


50°16′N5°04′W/ 50.267°N 5.067°W/50.267; -5.067

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