Church Cove January 2024: Part 2

 Another day being entertained on the Lizard. And the first day for ages and ages without any rain. A day enjoyed with old (or should I say 'long time') friends, Glynis and Mike.

Something to look at over my bowl of breakfast cereal. Rose, the Lizard Lifeboat Station's Tamar class all-weather lifeboat out on exercise from nearby Kilcobben Cove. Rose which was placed in service on 16th July 2011 was funded by a large anonymous donation from a charitable trust founded by a generous benefactor called Rose.

An immature Stonechat. As the year progresses, it will gain its adult plumage and be much brighter.

Looking towards the lighthouse on Lizard Point.

And a few moments later, a rainbow appears. A little diffuse, but still a rainbow.

Saint Wynwallow/Wynwalloe, Landewednack, just outside of Lizard Village. The most southerly church in mainland Britain, at the very tip of the Lizard peninsula. Established in the 6th Century by Gwenole, a monk from the Landevennac Abbey in Brittany, after which the village is named. Dedicated to St Winwalloe as is the church at Gunwalloe Church Cove. What we see today dates from the 15th Century. The tower is a delight of patchwork, featuring alternate blocks of granite and the local serpentine rock. So, this site has seen many changes over the years, ranging from pre-Christian times when Christianity was not the major religion, to Christian times when it was and now to, arguably, Post-Christian times when, again, Christianity is not the major religion. And that is the big challenge that the Church faces - what role does it have in Post-Christian times? I'm not sure that 'it' knows. And I certainly don't.

Stained glass in Chancel South dating from 1869: Christ raising the dead. It looks a lot brighter in situ and much more modern than the date suggests.

In 1549 the Act of Uniformity introduced the Book of Common Prayer in the English language during services, stirring the Prayer Book Rebellion (a popular revolt in Cornwall and Devon against these changes). With the quick suppression of the uprising, the Cornish language fell into decline. In the latter 1670s, Reverend Francis Robinson preached: "Qy A Wra Aga Clewes Kewsel D’aga Tasow Agan Honen An Gwy Threson Mur A Dhew" (‘We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God’). It would be the final sermon delivered in native Cornish and very fitting that it was about the power of speech.

The font is 15th Century and is inscribed with 'Dn. Rich Bolham me fecit' which translates from Latin as ‘Master Richard Bolham had me made’. Richard Bolham served as rector of St Wynwallow’s from the early 15th Century. The serpentine supports cannot be contemporary with the bowl. And they are not. A little more research says that they date from the 19th Century.

No self-respecting Lizard church would be complete without a substantial piece of serpentine.

The oldest part of church is the twelfth century Norman doorway , decorated with typical Norman zig-zag carving. But it's a little more complicated than that as a 13th Century doorway has been set inside the earlier Norman opening. The perpendicular polished serpentine columns are 19th Century. The Norman tympanum (the semi-circular bit on the top of the door) has a very nicely decorated inner course. Its centre voussoir is missing and it is thought that there once was a figure that projected into the arch. The star is a poor substitute.

The last we came, these headstones were completely covered by the natural skin of lichen. Since then, someone has cleared enough away to enable the inscriptions to be read. 

Every headstone in a graveyard tells a story, mostly only known to family members and then probably only remembered for a generation or two. Not so, those graves maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. There is always something of interest to discover - always tragic because of the context but some have an added dimension, just like this one for Radio Office Robert Frederick Hampshire of the Merchant Navy. He served on the SS Gairsoppa and was just 18 when he died at some point between 16th February and 7th March 1941. What's the story hinted at by his inscription? Here it is:
At 00.08 hours on 17 Feb 1941 the unescorted Gairsoppa (Master Gerald Hyland) was hit on the starboard side just behind the bridge in #2 hold by one G7a torpedo from U-101 about 300 miles southwest of Galway Bay, Ireland. The ship had been in convoy SL-64 which was slowed down by bad weather and running low on coal, she was detached alone to Galway on 15 February. At 18.00 hours on 16 February, the U-boat spotted the ship but had troubles to hit the target due to heavy seas and missed with a spread of two torpedoes at 23.28 hours and one G7e torpedo at 23.32 hours. The Gairsoppa caught fire and settled slowly by the bow after being hit in the third attack, but Mengersen decided to give up further attacks when a coup de grâce missed at 00.20 hours, assuming correctly that the burning freighter will sink anyway in the heavy seas. The survivors managed to abandon ship in three lifeboats before she sank within 20 minutes. However, two of the boats were never seen again and its occupants presumably perished in the cold and bad weather. The boat in charge of the second officer set sail with eight Europeans and 23 Lascars aboard, but after seven days most had died of exposure and only four Europeans and two Lascars were still alive when the boat reached land on 1 March. Sadly, it capsized in the swell and surf of Caerthillian Cove on The Lizard, Cornwall and all occupants drowned except the second officer, who was rescued unconscious by a coastguard. The bodies of two Europeans and the two unidentified Lascars were recovered and buried in the Landewednack Churchyard. The master, 82 crew members and two gunners were lost.
The cargo being carried by the Gairsoppa comprised of 2600 tons of pig iron, 1765 tons of tea, 2369 tons of general cargo and 200 tons of silver ingots and coins. Some 50 tons of the silver bullion has been recovered in an operation claimed to be the heaviest and deepest recovery of precious metals from a shipwreck ever made.

An unknown sailor from the Gairsoppa. His CWGC entry says that he was of Indian nationality.

And back to Winch House for refreshments!

Church Cove as it was somewhere between 1896 and 1920.