North Petherwin
North Petherwin parish church
North Petherwin is located in Cornwall
North Petherwin
North Petherwin
Location within Cornwall
Population655 (Civil Parish, 1991)
OS grid referenceSX282896
Civil parish
  • North Petherwin
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLAUNCESTON
Postcode districtPL15
Dialling code01566
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireCornwall
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

North Petherwin (Cornish: Paderwynn Gledh) is a civil parish and village in the historic county of Devon and the ceremonial county of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated five miles (8 km) northwest of Launceston on a ridge above the River Ottery valley.[1]

North Petherwin is a rural parish within the historic boundaries of Devon, having been transferred to Cornwall by the abolition of Broadwoodwidger Rural District by the Local Government Commission for England in 1966. Historically, the Dukes of Bedford have been major land owners in the parish. As well as the church town, settlements include Hellescott, Brazacott, and Maxworthy. The hamlets of Petherwin Gate and Daws are close to the village.[2]

The Tamar Otter and Wildlife Centre is North Petherwin's main tourist attraction. As well as having European and Asian Short Clawed otters it has a duck pond, a nature trail where owls can be seen, a restaurant area and a gift shop.[3]

Parish church and school

The parish church is dedicated to St Paternus (see also South Petherwin) and is unusually grand for a small village church. It was described in White's Devonshire Directory of 1850 as: ... an ancient structure, with a tower and five bells... (containing)... memorials of the Yeo and other families.[4] The north aisle is Norman and the south Perpendicular and many of the windows, including those of the clerestory, are 13th century in style. There is some old woodwork including a communion rail dated 1685.

The tower now houses six bells, hung for full circle ringing in the English style. They are rung from the ground floor where the ringers are really part of the church as, unusually, the tower has not been screened off. In the North aisle, within the vestry, stands a fine two manual organ. The organ was extensively overhauled at the turn of this century and its thirteen speaking stops provide reliable accompaniment to services and concerts.

The village has a school, North Petherwin Primary School,[5] dating back to 1878. The school is coeducational and has been expanded in recent years.

References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 190 Bude & Clovelly ISBN 978-0-319-23145-6
  2. ↑ Ordnance Survey One-inch Map of England & Wales; Bodmin and Launceston, sheet186. 1946
  3. ↑ Tamar Otter and Wildlife Centre website; accessed April 2010
  4. ↑ GENUKI website; North Petherwin; retrieved April 2010
  5. ↑ North Petherwin school website. Retrieved April 2010

Media related to North Petherwin at Wikimedia Commons

See also

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