St Winnow, sitting on an ancient riverside Celtic site on the upper reaches of the River Fowey, is renowned as a place of peace, pilgrimage and spiritual refreshment.
Lostwithiel, Cornwall
St Winnow is situated in a beautiful riverside setting in a small farm hamlet at the far south western corner of the parish on the likely site of the 7th century oratory associated with St Winnoc.
It is of modest size (seating capacity 160) mostly constructed in the 15th century on the site of a pre-conquest Celtic foundation.
The exterior is constructed of mainly local stone, the interior has moorland granite pillars and is typical Cornish perpendicular with nave and side aisle. There are traces of the earlier 12th century stone building in the lower courses of the north wall and transept.
Winnow boasts thirty three Elizabethan and Tudor finely carved pew bench ends, ranging in age from around 1485 to 1630 and being among the finest in Cornwall. Among them is an example of an early trading vessel of considerable interest to maritime historians.
The churchyard is managed as a national initiative to promote biodiversity as a living churchyard.
St Winnow has been used in historic filming, such as Poldark in the 1970's. In 2016, St Winnow was also used for filming some elements for Sky TV drama 'Delicious' with Dawn French, Emilia Fox and Iain Glen.
Golant, Cornwall
A hermit’s hut, chapel or church has stood on this site for at least 1500 years, and St Sampson’s lies on the ancient Saints Way along which many of the Celtic Saints came from Padstow to Fowey, thus avoiding a perilous sea route around Land’s End.
Lostwithiel, Cornwall
A 12th Century church situated in the very centre of the Lostwithiel, one of Cornwall's ancient statuary towns.
Lostwithiel, Cornwall
In rolling countryside, two miles away from St Winnow, lies St Nectan’s chapel, being a chapel of ease which has been part of the parish since the 13th century.
