England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Manaccan St Mannacus

The Parish

The Church

St Manaccus' church sits at the heart of the small village in a raised circular churchyard, a feature known in Wales as a "llan" and an indicator of an early Christian site. There is certainly much of this church dating back to the earliest times with the earliest fabric placed into the 12th century Norman Romanesque period by Pevsner. The church was first constructed as a cruciform church with transepts and a central crossing, the 12th century walls of the nave, chancel & southern transept all remain from that early church despite the later medieval conversion to a more typical late-medieval layout. Also from the 12th century and remaining largely authentic is the southern door. Like most churches remodelling began soon after initial construction, there are 13th century lancets windows of the Early English Gothic period in both the chancel and the southern transept. It is not known if the original church had a central crossing tower, the tower we see today at the western placement dates to the 14th century in Perpendicular styling and is capped by 15th century pinnacles & battlements. The same period also saw the addition of a northern aisle of 6-bays and built in typical Cornish granite. Like most churches there was a Victorian restoration in 1888 which was a thorough affair without removing any of the early details. The main entrance to the churchyard is from the south where there is a little parking room between church and school. Sadly for the photographer this is probably the hardest church in its county to find adequate sight-lines, the church being encircles in thick tree cover which rather gives more than a few yards of space around the building.