|
St
Kew Highway, is located at the southern end of the Allen Valley,
approximately 5 miles from
Wadebridge and 8 miles from
Camelford. St Kew Highway is only a short distance from the
breathtaking coastline of North Cornwall, and offers the traveller a
welcome respite on the journey north or south. St Kew Highway is home
to the Donkey Sanctuary and also the location of a fine
Golf course. You will also find a service station, public toilets,
doctors surgery, various food outlets and a public house here at St
Kew Highway.
Close by can be found more quaint villages and hamlets, hidden away down
these little country lanes that look has though they lead to nowhere. Most
of the villages and hamlets have watering holes and
accommodation that the traveller overlooks has they speed further
south.

Just off the A39 at St Kew Highway you
will locate the village of St Kew. St Kew is one
of these quaint villages that is ever so slightly off the beaten
track. The first thing you notice as you drop
down into St Kew through the leafy lanes is the magnificent tower of
the Church of St James
the Great. The present building was erected on the
site of an earlier Church. The Church is mainly 15th century , but to
the east end of the chancellery there is a suture in the wall that
shows the existence of an earlier building on to which the main body
of the Church has been built.

The internal roof structure is panelled
in a latticework of dark wood that is interlaced with a finely carved
supporting structure of beams and cross members that swoop down to
rest on ornately carved pillars, that lend to an almost cathedral like
feel. Outside of the Church stands a memorial stone in memory of the men
of St Kew, who lost their lives in the Great War of 1914-1919.

In ancient times this was the site of a
Celtic monastery. The monastery was known as Lanow. This Celtic monastery was de-spoiled by
King Edgar in circa 958-975 AD during the Saxon invasion of Cornwall.

Amenities at St Kew include a Public House, a public 'Red Box'
telephone and ample car-parking below the Church.
|