Altarnun , is a village and
civil parishIn England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and in some places the lowest tier of local government, below districts and counties. A civil parish can alternatively be known as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council; and in a limited number of...
in
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. The village is on the north-eastern edge of
Bodmin MoorBodmin Moor is a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, UK, in size, dating from the Carboniferous period of geological history.The name "Bodmin Moor" is relatively recent, being an Ordnance Survey invention of 1813...
. The parish includes the village of Fivelanes and hamlets of Treween and Trewint, and had a population of 976 according to the 2001 census. The area of the parish is 15,018 acres, the largest in Cornwall
The moorland area of the parish is large and lies west of the village towards
Rough TorRough Tor, or Roughtor, pronounced Rowter , is a hill and tor on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. Its summit is 1313 ft above mean sea level, making it one of the highest points in Cornwall....
and southwards towards
Dozmary PoolDozmary Pool is a small lake on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, UK situated 16.9 km/10.5mi from the sea. It lies about 15 km northeast of Bodmin and 2 km south of Bolventor: it originated in the post-glacial period. The outflow from the pool is into Colliford Lake...
.
Altarnun , is a village and
civil parishIn England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and in some places the lowest tier of local government, below districts and counties. A civil parish can alternatively be known as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council; and in a limited number of...
in
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. The village is on the north-eastern edge of
Bodmin MoorBodmin Moor is a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, UK, in size, dating from the Carboniferous period of geological history.The name "Bodmin Moor" is relatively recent, being an Ordnance Survey invention of 1813...
. The parish includes the village of Fivelanes and hamlets of Treween and Trewint, and had a population of 976 according to the 2001 census. The area of the parish is 15,018 acres, the largest in Cornwall
The moorland area of the parish is large and lies west of the village towards
Rough TorRough Tor, or Roughtor, pronounced Rowter , is a hill and tor on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. Its summit is 1313 ft above mean sea level, making it one of the highest points in Cornwall....
and southwards towards
Dozmary PoolDozmary Pool is a small lake on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, UK situated 16.9 km/10.5mi from the sea. It lies about 15 km northeast of Bodmin and 2 km south of Bolventor: it originated in the post-glacial period. The outflow from the pool is into Colliford Lake...
. There is a large conifer plantation at Wilsey Down Forest (Halvana Plantation). The village is in the valley of the Penpont Water and the parish is divided by the
A30A30 or A-30 may refer to:* A30 matriline, the name given to the most commonly seen orca matriline in British Columbia, Canada* Austin A30, a 1950s British compact car* Aero A.30, a Czech light bomber developed in the late 1920s...
trunk road which passes through Fivelanes which was once an important stopping place for stage coaches.
Parish Church of St Nonna
Being the largest parish church on
Bodmin MoorBodmin Moor is a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, UK, in size, dating from the Carboniferous period of geological history.The name "Bodmin Moor" is relatively recent, being an Ordnance Survey invention of 1813...
, the church of St Nonna is also known as
The Cathedral of the Moor. It is a fine building largely of the 15th century in Perpendicular style, with a tower 109 ft high. It is notable for the fine Norman font and the amount of old woodwork, including the screen, bench-ends and communion rails (dated 1684 but Jacobean in style). The 79 bench-end carvings were executed by Robert Daye between 1510 and 1530 (Pevsner attributes them to 1524 or later) and portray a range of subjects including a Cornish piper and fiddler (Daye's name is given on one but the date is illegible) also one of the damaged pew ends was repaired to its former glory by the late local master joiner Douglas Edwards in the 1980s. The dedication is to
Saint NonNon was, according to Christian tradition, the mother of Saint David , the patron saint of Wales....
or Nonna, who was the mother of St David.
Langdon (1896) records seven stone crosses in the parish, of which one is in the churchyard.
Wesleyan Methodism in Altarnun
John WesleyJohn Wesley was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, with founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
often visited Trewint (lodging in Digory Isbell's home): this is now a museum of Wesley and Methodism. (The former Wesleyan chapel of Altarnun has the head of Wesley carved over the door by Neville Northey Burnard.)
Language and culture
Altarnun features in the novel
Jamaica InnThe Jamaica Inn is a free house in Bolventor, on the borders of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Built as a coaching house in 1750, it is famous for being the base of smugglers in the past and known as the setting for Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name...
by
Daphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was an English author and playwright. Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1941, Jamaica Inn, and her short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now. The first three were directed by...
. The village was also the birthplace of sculptor
Neville Northey BurnardNeville Northey Burnard was an Cornish sculptor best known for his portrait figures.Burnard was born in the village of Altarnun, on the edge of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, and was the son of George Burnard, a local stonemason. He showed a talent for carving stone at an early age...
(1818-1878). It was surveyed for the
Survey of English DialectsThe Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differences were to disappear...
.
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