St Keyne, Cornwall
Historical Description
Keyne, St, or St Kean, a village and a parish in Cornwall. The village stands on the river Looe, 2 miles S of Liskeard station on the G.W.R., and has a post office (R.S.O.); money order and telegraph office, Liskeard. Acreage of parish, 842; population, 159. The village was anciently called Lametton, took its present name from St Kayne or Keyna, daughter of Brychan, Prince of Brecknock, and has a well of ancient superstitious repute, dedicated to that saint, and celebrated in a ballad of Southey: -" A well there is in the west country, and a clearer one never was seen; There is not a wife in the west country but has heard of the well of St Keyne. An oak and elm tree stand beside, and behind does an ash tree grow, And a willow from the bank above droops to the water below. St Keyne,' said the Comishman,' many a time drank of this silver well, And before the angel summoned her she laid on the water a spell: If the husband at this gifted well shall drink before his wife, A happy man henceforth is he, for he shall be master for life. But if the wife shall driuk of it first. God help the husband then!'"
A few years ago some of the water was sent in bottles as a curiosity to a bazaar at Mount Edgecumbe. The manor belonged to the Tresilians, the Coplestones, and others, and passed to the Rashleighs. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Truro; value,, £115 with residence. The church is situated on the summit of a hill. It was restored in 1877.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Cornwall | |
Hundred | West | |
Poor Law union | Liskeard |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for St Keyne from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Keyne, St.)
Maps
Online maps of St Keyne are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cornwall papers online:
- Royal Cornwall Gazette
- Cornishman
- West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser
- Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser
Visitations Heraldic
We have a copy of The Visitations of Cornwall, by Lieut.-Col. J.L. Vivian online.