England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Lamorran St Morenna Virgin

The Parish

The parish of Lamorran lies in southern Cornwall, as the crow flies it is merely 4 miles southeast of the city of Truro but such is the indentation of the creeks of the Fal Estuary it actually takes double that by road. Also as the crow flies it is just over 2 miles west of the A3078 road which links Probus with St Mawes but once again a lengthier  journey pertains. Lamorran is a hamlet containing the church, the parish bordered by the tidal Fal to its south stretches inland encompassing a few isolated farmsteads and cottages. Much woodland sits within the parish in particular lining the Fal's channel and almost embedding the tiny church. Much of the land was pastoral as the salt-laden air would damage sensitive crops. Today it is mostly yachting types that get to view Lamorran, the intricate channels emptied at low tide make for challenging sailing and copious picnic spots. The Fal is tidal and takes all of Lamorran's water to the English Channel passing the port of Falmouth. Lamorran is sited at between sea level and 95 metres the land deeply incised by the fast flowing feeders of the Fal. Covering just under 1,300 acres Lamorran parish was one of the smaller within its county, that acreage supporting merely 100 parishioners. Lamorran is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Morenna's (also rendered Moran) church is one for the determined church hunter, the best access is from the A3078 via Ruan Lanihorne then following a narrow winding lane around 2 creeks to finally arrive at the church sitting well above head height and clasped within the apex of a hairpin bend, should you get there - well done. Whilst the church was ancient and probably pre-Conquest in its earliest iteration what is here today is largely from the mid-19th century intermingled with preserved 13th century fabric. Documents record its re-dedication in 1261 and the Early English Gothic elements undoubtedly match that date. Typically for such an early church it has a cruciform structure preserved during the rebuild, strangely it has a detached bell tower sitting in the southwestern corner of the churchyard some distance from the main body, that bell tower appears to be late 16th or early 17th century. Restored in 1845 and rebuilt in 1853 there has been much change but even Pevsner comments that it was sensitively done and faithful to the original.Just north of the churchyard a widened verge allow safe parking, not that traffic is normally busy. The church is, however, tree beset, it sits in a woodland with only a few aspects available for the photographer.