| Madron Parish | |
|---|---|
  Shown within the UK and Penwith |
|
| OS Grid Reference: | SW409257 |
| Lat/Lon: | 50°08′N 5°33′W / 50.133°N 5.55°W |
| Population: | 1466 (2001 Census)[1] |
| Dwellings: | |
| Settlements | |
| Major Settlement: | Madron |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Population: | |
| Dwellings: | |
| Secondary Settlements: | Tredinnick, Lower Ninnes, New Mill, Newbridge, Tregavarah. |
| Administration | |
| Ward: | Madron and Zennor |
| County: | Cornwall |
| Region: | South West England |
| Post Office and Telephone | |
| Post town: | Truro |
| Postcode: | TR20 8xx |
| Dialling Code: | 01736 |
Madron is a village and civil parish in west Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The village is properly known as Madron Churchtown. The parish encompasses the villages of Tredinnick, Lower Ninnes, New Mill, Newbridge and Tregavarah and is bounded by the parishes of Sancreed and St Just to the west, by Zennor and Morvah to the north, by the sea and the parish of Paul in the south and by the parishes of Gulval and Penzance to the east.
Contents |
History
Evidence of early medieval habitation at Madron is in the form of one or two inscribed stones. One was found in the wall of the village church and has since been removed from it; the inscription consists of a cross and legible text, but its meaning is not clear. The other inscription was reported by R. A. S. Macalister in 1949 as being 'built into the N. wall of the N. aisle, west of the entrance door' of the church, but has not been seen since; Elisabeth Okasha speculates that Macalister may have seen the inscription in another church, and misremembered its location.[2] Langdon (1896) records eight stone crosses in the parish, of which one is in the churchyard and one is at Heamoor.
Unlike its larger neighbour of Penzance, Madron was recorded in the Domesday Book. It was under the jurisdiction of the manor of Alverton, an area that once formed much of what is now the southern part of Penwith. The church itself was once under the control of Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem [3] and was known by the Cornish name of Landithy, a name which is still used in parts of the village today.
Madron well was, until the 18th century, the principal source of water for the nearby community of Penzance and these communities were further linked by the fact that Madron church was the mother church of Penzance.
Landithy Hall, which opened in 1909, contains the Community Rooms and hosts many village events. It is here that Madron Parish Council holds the majority of its meetings, the other venue being Trythall School.
Madron Feast Week is from the first Sunday in Advent. The Western Hunt traditionally meets at Madron on Feast Monday and also on Boxing Day.
The village has a Garden of Remembrance for the dead of World Wars I and II.
Madron Church
Nelson
The news of the death of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 was received first in England by the arrival of HMS Pickle en route to Falmouth under the command of Lieut. John Richards Lapenotiere in Mount's Bay. A fishing vessel from Penzance passed the news to the shore which was formally announced from the balcony of the Assembly Rooms (now the Union Hotel) in Chapel Street, Penzance. Since the mother church of Penzance was at Madron, the mayor of Penzance took up a procession on which made its way to Madron where a memorial service was held and the Nelson banner paraded for the first time. On it was the epitaph “Mourn for the brave, the immortal Nelson’s gone. His last sea fight is fought, his work of Glory done”. Storms in the English Channel meant that Nelson’s body did not arrive by sea in London until January 1806. Regular annual services commemorating the death of Nelson were started on 27 October 1946 when so many people attended that the service was relayed outside. These services continue to this day [4]. The Trafalgar Fields housing development was so named to reinforce the links with Nelson.
Penzance Workhouse
Once situated within the parish of Madron was the Penzance Union Workhouse. The Penzance Poor Law Union was formed on 10 June 1837, the population that fell within the Union at the time of the 1831 census was just under 40,000. The Penzance Union workhouse was built in 1838. Designed by George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt, it was intended to house 400 paupers and cost £6050 to build. It was in use until 1948 when the National Health Service came into being.
Local government
For the purposes of local government Madron elects its own parish council. Under the 1934 restructure of local government the then Penzance Borough Council made representation to include the village of Madron within its boundaries, due to strong local resistance this move was defeated. The nearby settlement of Heamoor (until this date part of the parish) was however included within the revised boundaries of the borough and remains part of the parish of Penzance to this day.
Schools
Madron Daniell's Endowed School was built by George Daniell in 1710 (his family were Lords of the Manor of Alverton in Penzance since the 7th century).[citation needed] It is located next to the parish church with a view over Penzance and Mount's Bay. It is, to a degree, remarkable since it has a cottage for the head master on site. The school was extended from the original two classrooms to its current size in the late 1960s. It has subsequently been renamed St Maddern's Church of England School.
Playing field
The village has a King George V Playing Field, which is home to Madron Football Club. Previously it has been home to both Madron Cricket Club & Penzance & Newlyn Rugby Club 2nd 15.
Famous residents
- Nessie Dunsmuir (1909 - 1999), poet.
- William Sydney Graham (1918 - 1986), poet and husband of Nessie Dunsmuir, a plaque in Fore Street commemorates him.
- Alfred Wallis (1855 – 1942) artist, died in Madron workhouse.
- [DNL Jenkin] David Neil Liddiard Jenkin. [1943 -] Cornish wrestling and judo champion, Great Britain wrestling and English judo representative.
Madron Well and Baptistry
The nearby Madron well is an example of a Cornish Celtic sacred site, which is renowned for its healing properties. A tradition at this site persists to this day whereby people attach pieces of rag (clouties)[5] to the nearby bushes as a symbol of appeasement to the spirits within the well site. Until the 18th century it was the only source of water for Madron and Penzance.
A short distance away is the ruined well-chapel (also known as Madron Baptistry) which has been dated to the 6th century, but is likely to have even earlier foundations. The building measures 7 metres by 5 metres and has no roof, and it is not known if it ever had a roof. Ivy and wild roses creep over the walls and ferns grow from between the granite blocks. Spring water, from the same source as the original well, is fed into a stone basin in the south-western corner. A low altar stone can be seen against the eastern wall, and stone seats line the walls.
Gallery
 The baptistry near Madron Well |
 Basin in the south-west corner of the baptistry |
 Altar at the eastern end of the baptistry |
 A wayside cross, Boswarthen (near Madron Well) |
See also
References
- ^ 2001 UK Census
- ^ See the discussion and bibliography in Elisabeth Okasha, Corpus of early Christian inscribed stones of South-west Britain (Leicester: University Press, 1993), pp. 178-84
- ^ "Madron (H)". West Penwith (organization). http://west-penwith.org.uk/madronh.htm.
- ^ "*session*id*key*=*session*id*val*". Madron (organization). http://www.madron.org/29874.html?.
- ^ "Madron Holy Well". http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/data/media/3/madron-trees.jpg.
- Dundrow, Dundrow and Jenkins (2001) Madron's Story
External links
- Picture Penzance includes pictures of Madron
- Canon Jennings - Some Notes on Madron Registers, 1929
- Madron Community Website
- Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for Madron
- Postcards of Madron
Open source encyclopedia content modification information:
This page was last modified on 16 January 2010 at 16:17.
Authorship and Review
Open source encyclopedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Content is sourced directly from Wikipedia and is authored by an open community of volunteers. It is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Madron", which is available in its original form here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Madron
All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.