Tags
Breage, Cornwall County Council, Hiberno-Saxon cross, John Miller, mediaeval wall paintings, Nine lessons and carols, Roman milestone, Royal Cornwall Museum Truro, St Breaca, Truro cathedral, Truro Museum
I may have made that word up.
Before going round the Truro museum, in the morning of Wednesday, 8th September, I had had a coffee (ordered by QR code!) in the café next door, and shared a table with a stranger visiting from Leicestershire. (Covid-wise, I managed to sit a good few feet away from her.) She asked me if I had yet visited the Cathedral, and I decided to do so in the afternoon. She in turn thanked me for various ideas she had gleaned from my own visits already done. We both said that there was so much to see in Cornwall that we would have to return to the county.
The rain had fully stopped by the time I left the museum, though the air was still very damp. It was only a short walk to the Cathedral.
I couldn’t take a view of its west front from further back because of this:
It was rather fun to watch. I think they were replacing old benches, and adding to seating capacity in the square.
Inside all was much quieter.
I particularly liked all the verticals of this aspect.
As well as the architecture, there were many objects of interest.
The origin of a 141-year-old tradition:
This is half of a beautiful piece of embroidery, but I could not see what its function was. It was about 2 ft/60 cm high, and presented behind glass at ground level in a side aisle.
This fantastic painting is explained below.
With commentary by the artist:
A backward look as I was about to leave.
After that, there was another church in my sights. One of the booklets I had been studying to prepare the Cornwall trip was an old one by the Archaeological Department of Cornwall County Council, but I had not yet been able to use any of its suggestions. However, the village of Breage could be on my way back to my BnB in Penzance with a little diversion. (Though I do wish I’d not relied on my satnav which, so helpful in finding me a car park in the morning, led me a totally unnecessary merry dance through single track lanes to get there. I should in this case have looked at my maps.)
The 15th century church of St Breaca‘s attractions, from the booklet, were a Roman milepost, which took a while to find, mediaeval wall paintings and a cross.
John Miller, in the commentary to his painting in the cathedral, had referred to Cornwall as the land of the saints. Here is a reference to the local ones. Another panel gave a description of each.
At last I found the Roman (3rd century) milestone, tucked away in a corner.
Discerned by those who could read it was its abbreviated transcription of ‘the Emperor Caesar our lord Marcus Cassianus Latinius Postumus, pious, fortunate, august’.
The church was as wide as it was long,
as can be seen from this model.
There was an impressive list of every incumbent of the parish since 1219, and one before.
The cross, in the churchyard, is described as Hiberno-Saxon.
The next day was meant to be the peak experience, though I was having my doubts as to whether it would happen…
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