St Kew is mentioned earlier in history than any other place in Cornwall since it appears in the 6th century work: "The Life of St Samson". The parish is named after the sister of the Welsh saint who founded a monastery in or near the village.
The 15th century church of St James the Great in St Kew is built on the site of a chapel belonging to a 6th Century Celtic monastery that was destroyed in the Saxon invasion of Cornwall in the 10th Century. Inside the church is a particularly fine roof, and a beautifully restored mediaeval stained glass window depicting the Passion of Christ, amongst other notable stained glass. There is also a stone inscribed with the old Celtic Ogham script (possibly 5th century) with Latin translation, a rare 15th century Lantern cross, and look out for a figure carved on the pulpit, thought to be King Charles hiding in an oak tree. By the entrance to the churchyard is a large specimen of one of Cornwall's iconic Celtic wayside crosses.
The inscribed stone in the church at St Kew was used as a "pillow", placed at the head of a grave. The name of the deceased was written on the stone, in this case "Justus" in Latin on the centre of the stone. The translation in Ogham could easily be mistaken for a few notches from wear and tear along the edge if you haven't come across the language before.
Ogham is an Early Mediaeval alphabet used by the Irish and Brythonic people, and is sometimes called the "Celtic Tree Alphabet" due to a mediaeval tradition of ascribing names of trees to the individual letters. The characters are written with reference to a line, often the edge of a stone, to be inscribed with the letter depicted by different numbers of upward, downward or complete strokes, straight or diagonally, across the line. Around 400 stones, inscribed with Ogham, exist predominantly in Ireland, Wales and Cornwall and date between the 4th and 7th Centuries.
A popular misconception is that a butterfly was originally called "flutterby". In fact, the name stems from the Old English word buttorfleoge which literally means "butterfly". The term "flutterby" is thought to have been coined by Shakespeare.
Plants contain chlorophyll (the green stuff) which is able to use energy from sunlight to break down a water molecule. The breakdown of water is why plants release oxygen. Some photosynthetic bacteria break down hydrogen sulphide instead of water.
The electrons and protons remaining from the water after oxygen has been formed are funnelled away by bio-molecules in the plant. These are used to drive another chemical reaction to convert a bunch of carbon dioxide and water molecules into a simple sugar molecule such as glucose.
Sugar is effectively a store of energy, and the reaction can be run in reverse to generate energy when needed. At night, when there is no sunlight, plants run off their sugar reserves, consume oxygen and emit carbon dioxide - just like we do.
There quite a few different simple sugars - fructose, maltose etc - but they all have the same chemical formula as glucose (they just have their bits arranged in different orders). Simple sugars are polymerised (chained together) into sucrose (glucose attached to fructose) for medium-term storage and also starches (mega-long sugar chains) for longer-term storage in a root or seed. Sugars are also used to create cellulose - the building material used by plants.
Blackberries are high in vitamin C, K and antioxidants. The seeds, despite being a bit crunchy, contain omega-3 and -6 fatty acids and further enhance blackberries' "superfood" status.
Squirrels are rodents, closely related to chipmunks and slightly more distantly to dormice. The word "squirrel" originates from an ancient Greek word meaning "shadow-tailed", referring to the bushy tail of a squirrel. A family group of squirrels is known as a "drey" (also the word for a squirrel nest). A group of unrelated squirrels is known as a "scurry", though squirrels tend not to hang out in groups.
As well as attracting insects, the brightly coloured foxglove flowers serve as a warning for animals that the plants contain toxins. All parts of the plant can cause a range of ill-effects in humans from nausea to heart and kidney problems which can be fatal.
In autumn, honeysuckle produces shiny red berries that resemble redcurrants. They are toxic to humans and to dogs, but not to birds.
St Kew is one of the few villages in the area not named after the children of the Celtic King Brychan.
Brychan was a legendary Celtic king (originally born in Ireland) who ruled over Breconshire in South Wales and was viewed as the father of the Celtic saints.
Most of his children were reported to have evangelised Cornwall and North Devon, with many of the churches dedicated to them. Consequently, many of the place names in North Cornwall (St Teath, St Mabyn, St Endellion, St Minver, St Clether, Egloshayle, Egloskerry, Advent, Morwenstow, Lelant etc) are associated with the names of his children.
Jobs' Cross, on the road to Trewethern, is a restored Celtic stone cross. The stem was found to be in use as a stepping stone across a nearby stream, and the head was reconstructed from local stone.
There are over four hundred complete stone crosses in Cornwall and at least another two hundred fragments.
In the mediaeval period, stone crosses were sometimes placed by the road or path to mark the route to the parish church. Farms and hamlets were usually linked to the church by the most direct and level route. Crosses were also placed along routes of pilgrimage. Both of these have evolved to become some of today's Public Rights of Way.
The vetches are a family of wildflowers that is a sub-group within the pea and bean family. Their pretty purple flowers are quite like mini sweetpea flowers. The leaves are also very distinctive, organised in a neat row either side of the stem. Common vetch is a wildflower but is also sown by farmers in some grazing fields to improve the nutrition for ruminants and to introduce more nitrogen into the soil.
The parish name St Minver (Sen Menvre in Cornish) is named after the saint to whom the church is dedicated. Menfre was one of the 24 children of the 5th Century Celtic king Brychan.
There are quite a few escaped ornamental species now established in the wild in the UK but there are also some native species. Dog rose is the most common of native rose species and even itself encompasses several sub-species which is why flower colours vary from white to pink. It has a rambling growth and can climb up other trees and is quite often found in hedgerows. Flowering is in early summer.
Goosegrass gets its name from its attractiveness to poultry as a nutritious food. It contains tannins which make it too bitter for humans. The plant is in the same family as coffee and the seeds have been dried and roasted to make a (lower caffeine) coffee substitute.
The stream and all the subsequent small streams on the walk are tributaries of the River Amble. The main road through St Endellion - the B3314 - runs along the ridge forming the watershed between the Amble catchment area to the south and the coastal river valleys to the north which create the inlets harbouring fishing villages such as Port Isaac and Port Quin.
In fields with crops where the footpath doesn't run along the edge, if there is a well-trodden path then follow this to avoid trampling any more of the crops. If there appears to be no path through the crops then you do have a right to walk through the crop but stick as close as possible to the line of the path to avoid damaging any more of the crop than strictly necessary. Alternatively, you can follow around the edges of the field to avoid trudging through the crop.
Chickens are descended from junglefowl and those in Britain came originally from India. They evolved the ability to lay large numbers of eggs to take advantage of gluts of food that occur in their native forests. It is thought they were introduced to Britain by Iron Age tribes who bred them for fighting rather than meat and cockfighting remained Britain's national sport until 1835. During the mediaeval period, more placid forms of chicken were bred that were less hazardous to farm but it wasn't until the 17th Century that chickens and eggs were farmed on a mass scale. In Britain, over 10 billion eggs are now consumed every year.
The farmstead of Trevathan dates from mediaeval times. The first record is from 1321 when it was spelt Trevarthian, which is thought to be based on the name of the landowner.
The pheasant is named after the Ancient town of Phasis (now in West Georgia) and the birds were naturalised in the UK by the 10th Century with introductions both from the Romano-British and the Normans. However, by the 17th Century they had become extinct in most of the British Isles.
In the 1830s, the pheasant was rediscovered as a game bird and since then it has been reared extensively for shooting. The pheasant has a life expectancy of less than a year in the wild and it is only common because around 30 million pheasants are released each year on shooting estates.
Winston Graham wrote that he envisioned Nampara in his Poldark novels as one of the manor farms around St Endellion.
The Ramblers Association and National Farmers Union suggest some "dos and don'ts" for walkers which we've collated with some info from the local Countryside Access Team.
Do
Don't
Pineapple weed is related to chamomile and is consequently also known as false chamomile. Unlike chamomile, it doesn't have white flowers - its flowers consisting of little yellow balls are therefore quite distinctive. Even more so is the fruity pineapple-like scent when is trodden on or squeezed.
Pineapple weed was introduced into the UK in the late 19th Century but is now widely naturalised. One reason it has been so successful is that it is able to colonise poor soils on waste ground including cracks between paving and consequently one of its common names is "street weed". In the rural environment it's often encountered near gateways or tracks through fields where the ground has been disturbed by tractors.
The edges of fields are typically less productive areas (e.g. due to the shade from hedges) so for purely economic reasons a margin was sometimes left around the main crop. However, field margins have been found to play such a crucial role for protecting soil and water and enhancing biodiversity on farms that there are now legislative requirements for farmers to maintain uncropped field margins.
More than 150 plants are characteristic of arable land but due to agricultural intensification, these and the insects and birds which depend on them have declined. The field margins are areas where these biologically important weeds can thrive.
When fields are ploughed and tilled, rainwater can wash the loose soil out of the fields. The vegetation on margins acts as a barrier and strains out many of the particles of soil from the rainwater.
When fertilisers are applied to the crops in the field, the margin helps to reduce the amount drifting over the hedges when it is applied. The plants around the margin then act as a sponge, helping to hoover up nutrients that wash off the crop.
The church at St Endellion is 15th Century and named after Endelienta - one of the children of the Welsh king Brychan. It is built in the Perpendicular Gothic style and contains some fine carvings in both stone and wood.
The walk continues through the gate on the right, but before this you may want to follow the lane a little further ahead to visit the church.
To continue the walk, after going through the gate (currently on your right), cross the field to the protruding hedge and keep this on your left to reach a pedestrian gate with metal gateposts in the next corner of the hedge.
Strawberries are members of the rose family. The garden strawberry we know today was bred in France in the 1750s by hybridising one species from North America with another from South America.
Up to the 17th Century, native wild strawberries were cultivated for commercial production. Their tiny fruits are typically less than a centimetre in length. The berries have been eaten by humans since the Stone Age but can be sour unless they are fully ripe. Deer are less fussy and also eat the leaves. They are typically found in areas with mixed sun and shade such as on the edge of woodland.
The building to the left is the Trevathan Farm Shop which also includes a café/restaurant.
Wheat was formed by hybridisations between wild grasses which was then spread through domestication. The cultivation of wheat is thought to have begun nearly 12,000 years ago in southeast Turkey.
Remains of wheat from 8000 years ago have been found in Britain which indicate trade with Europe. Until around 6500 BC, it was possible to walk between Britain and the rest of Europe via an area of low lying land known as Doggerland. As sea levels rose after the last Ice Age, the North Sea flooded this, making Britain an island.
Because each of the hybridisations that formed wheat were rare events, and because there were multiple stages of hybridisation involved, domesticated bread wheat is all from a common ancestry and therefore there is very little genetic variety. This narrow gene pool makes the risk of a catastrophic disease quite high. Since the 20th Century, work has been underway to broaden the wheat gene pool to produce disease-resistant strains through a number of techniques including crossing wheat varieties from different parts of the world, hybridising with wild grasses, and more recently through direct genetic manipulation.
Whereas many plants rely mainly on bitter chemicals to avoid being eaten by herbivores, thistles have gone one step further and evolved spikes. Grazing livestock will understandably avoid them which allows them to accumulate in pastureland and become a nuisance. One thistle plant produces thousands of seeds dispersed by the wind which can remain viable in the soil for up to 10 years.
Scientists have found that adding a cupful of red seaweed per day to a cow's diet reduces the amount of methane that the cow burps out by about 80%. Due to the relatively short lifespan of methane in the atmosphere and the strong greenhouse effect from methane, this has the potential to make a quite quick but significant reduction to the rate of global warming, whilst the more tricky accumulative problem of carbon dioxide is being worked on.
The association of good luck with four-leafed clover was first recorded in Victorian times (1860s-1870s) so may be a relatively recent invention. Perhaps something that occupied children for hours was seen as good luck in Victorian times!
Cow parsnip (also known as "hogweed" - not to be confused with "giant hogweed") is a member of the carrot family. It has more solid leaves than cow parsley or alexanders which it often grows alongside. It also flowers later. The leaves are noticeable from around mid-April. Flowering starts roughly at the start of June and continues through the summer.
Giant hogweed is regarded by some as the most dangerous plant in the UK (although hemlock is also a good contender). If you encounter giant hogweed, avoid touching it and children and dogs should be kept away from it as the sap contains a chemical which is extremely phototoxic. When activated by sunlight, this binds to the DNA in skin cells and kills them. Skin reaction starts as an itchy rash and can develop into third degree burns and scarring. It also makes the affected areas susceptible to severe sunburn for several years.
The plant gets its name as it can grow more than 10 feet tall, topped with white umbrella-shaped flowers. Due to the similar style of flowers, it is also known as giant cow parsley although the giant hogweed leaves are much more solid with a toothed edge, more similar to cow parsnip (normal hogweed). It is typically found near water or on waste ground.
The plant was introduced to Britain by Victorian botanists in the 19th century as an ornamental plant and has escaped from gardens into the wild. It has been spreading across the UK (as one plant produces 50,000 seeds) but is still very rare in Cornwall. A project to eradicate it along the Tamar River system is helping to stop further spread into Cornwall.
If you find giant hogweed in Cornwall (and are sure it's not normal hogweed), take a photo and report it to invasives@cormacltd.co.uk
The farmstead of Trentinney dates from mediaeval times. The name was recorded in 1302 as Treventhenyou, which is very likely to be from the Cornish tre-fentynyow, meaning something along the lines of "springs farm". Over the years, the name has become corrupted to Trentinney.
The tall trees along the track provide some good perches for birds to sing from.
Large amounts of calcium are needed when birds lay eggs to create the eggshells. Female birds store calcium by growing a special type of leg bone which has a high density of calcium. Similar calcium storage leg bones have been found in female dinosaur species only distantly related to birds which indicates this was a general approach used by dinosaurs.
The effect of ivy on buildings is controversial as it depends a lot on the properties of the surface it adheres to. The rootlets wedge into any cracks in the surface and so on surfaces that are fragile, ivy will cause damage. A study for English Heritage found that on hard, firm surfaces, ivy did little damage. The blanket of leaves was also found to have beneficial insulating effects and protect the masonry from water, salt and pollution.
The settlement of Trecugo was recorded in 1302 as Talcogou, which is thought to be from the Cornish words tal, meaning "front" or "end" and koukow (meaning cuckoo, and where the second "k" sound sometimes became mutated to a "g" sound - the word for cuckoo is also written as both cok and kog).
This is a silver path so if you notice it starting to get overgrown, follow the steps below to report it for cutting.
To report an overgrown path, on the directions screen in the app tap on the ☰ menu next to the direction number for the problematic path (or tap on the direction number on the map screen to get the ☰ menu) and select Report Footpath Issue. The app will use the direction number to work out the parish and path number at that location and then create an email to Cornwall Council’s Countryside Team so they can contact the relevant Parish Council. If possible, take photos and attach them to the email as that will help the countryside team to see how bad it is and prioritise it.
Footpaths in Cornwall are graded "gold", "silver" and "bronze" (bronze paths are normally dead-ends that don't link up with other paths).
For parishes that take part in the Local Maintenance Partnership, gold paths are normally cut routinely once or twice each year. Routine cuts on gold paths are typically done in May/June, and any second cuts are usually in July - September.
Paths graded as silver are cut at the discretion of the Parish, so these in particular need to be reported to the Parish Council (via the Countryside Access Team - countryside@cormacltd.co.uk - who have the contact details for each parish council) if they start to become overgrown. Also gold paths which happen to be in parishes who don't participate in the scheme are less likely to get a routine cut, but the Countryside Team can cut these themselves if they get badly overgrown.
Although it's obvious that you should ensure any gates that you open, you also close, what about gates you find that are already open?
If the gate is fully open then leave it alone as it may well be providing livestock access to a water supply, and by closing it you could end up killing them.
If the gate is ajar or swinging loose and not wedged or tied open then it's likely that the gate was left open by accident (possibly by another group of walkers). Properly closing the offending gate behind you will not only bring joy to the landowner but you can feel good about saving lives in a car swerving to avoid a cow in the road.
If you encounter a gate doubly-secured with twine that can be untied or a chain that can be unfastened, it's normally there because naughty animals have managed to undo the gate themselves at some point (e.g. by rubbing against the bolt), so retie/fasten it afterwards.
Although the fronds of bracken die back each year, the black underground roots are perennial and spread extensively, sending up fronds at intervals. The root system of one bracken plant can stretch up to a quarter of a mile across making bracken one of the largest plants in the world.
Sycamore flowers are pollinated by flies such as bluebottles rather than the wind. Within the female flower, two of the carpels (reproductive parts) are fused together. These develop into the pair of fused seeds with their "wings" at an angle. When the seeds fall, this creates the "helicopter" action that allows the seeds to be caught and carried by the wind as they slowly spiral downwards.
Hemlock has a deceptively pleasant sweet smell but don't be tempted to try eating it: this is the most poisonous plant in UK. The plant contains alkaloid compounds which cause muscle paralysis leading to death by respiratory failure. Just a handful of leaves can kill a human and a root contains enough poison to kill a cow. In Ancient Greece it was used to execute prisoners including the philosopher, Socrates.
The word "stile" is based on an Old English word stigel for ladder. This in turn came from an old Germanic word stig meaning "to climb" and the word "stair" also came from this.
Conversely, the word "style" (now used for fashion etc. but originally for literary style or a writing tool i.e. stylus) is from French origins (naturally!). This came from an Old French word stile, derived from the Latin stilus. It's thought the "i" might have been changed to a "y" for snob value to be more like the (unrelated) Greek word stylos (for pillar).
Buzzards can often be seen circling over the valley.
The name buzzard is from mediaeval English buisart which itself came from the Old French word buson. It is based on the Latin word for hawk or falcon buteo hence its scientific name is Buteo buteo.
Research has shown that crows have a much higher density of neurons in their forebrains than primates do (the density of neurons in this region is thought to correlate with intelligence).
The brain of a crow accounts for 2.7 percent of the bird's overall weight whereas an adult human's brain represents 1.9 percent of their body weight. This is even more impressive when considered in context: birds need to be as light as possible in order to fly.
Ravens are considered the most intelligent crow species, outperforming chimpanzees in some tests. Consequently an academic is quoted as saying that crows are "smarter than many undergraduates, but probably not as smart as ravens."
The settlement of Tregellist dates from mediaeval times and was recorded in 1302 as Tregellest, and the "gellest" part is thought to be based on a personal name rather than any words describing the location.
The fields here have traditionally been used for dairy farming.
Since 1984, the European Common Market agricultural policy to restrict milk production has reduced dairy herds and prompted shifts to beef and lamb production, and arable crops such as maize and oilseed rape. Two large buyers of Cornish milk - Rodda's for their clotted cream and Dairy Crest for the production of Davidstow and Cathedral City cheeses - have helped to buffer the Cornish dairy industry from this to some degree. Post-Brexit and also in response to the risk from pandemics, there is speculation that Britain may become more agriculturally self-sufficient which could change the dynamics once again.
This is a silver path (only cut when reported) so if you notice it starting to get overgrown, please report it to the Countryside Access Team (as a footpath issue via the ☰ menu next to the direction number, or tap on the direction number on the map to get the ☰ menu).
There are over 4,000 farms in Cornwall covering over a quarter of a million hectares. Over 70% of Cornwall's land is farmed.
St Kew Inn is thought to date back to the 15th century, built by the skilled masons who constructed the Church of St James the Great, next door. The Inn retains many of its original features including a large open fireplace.
You'll notice that there is lichen growing on many of the headstones in the churchyard. Of the 2,000 British species, over a third have been found in churchyards and more than 600 have been found growing on churchyard stone in lowland England. Almost half the species are rare and some seldom, if ever, occur in other habitats. Many churchyards are found to have well over 100 species.
St Endellion lies on the B3267 just past the turning to Port Isaac. There is a music festival in St Endellion every Easter and summer and the church is a popular venue for classical music concerts.
Dragonflies were some of the first winged insects to evolve, around 300 million years ago in the "age of amphibians" before the dinosaurs. Fossils of early dragonflies have been found with wingspans of up to two feet across.
Dragonflies are named after the way they hunt, as both the larvae and adults are carnivorous predators. Mosquitoes form a large part of their diet both for adults and particularly for the larvae (nymphs). One dragonfly can eat tens of mosquitoes in a day and an average of over 100 per day has been recorded for the nymphs of some species. It is thought that this is an important factor in keeping the mosquito population under control. Dragonfly nymphs have a massive lower jaw to engulf their prey (a bit like an Angler Fish) and are also able to propel themselves by shooting a jet of water out of their anus.
Their two sets of wings beat out of phase, and the frequency, amplitude and the angles of each set of wings can be controlled. This allows dragonflies to hover in a completely stationary position for over a minute, perform extravagant aerobatic manoeuvres and even fly backwards.
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