St Cleer

St Cleer parish church, at an elevation of approximately 690 feet (210 metres), is dedicated to Saint Clarus. Its three-stage tower is 97 feet (30 metres) high and contains a ring of six bells.{{cite web |url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/StCleer/ |title=St Cleer |accessdate=13 August 2016}} First built in 800 but rebuilt in the 13th century, the tower suffered damage and was repaired in the 15th century. The church is a Grade I listed building, having been so designated on 21 August 1964.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} It is of Norman origin, with early fifteenth century additions, further substantial additions in the late fifteenth century and late nineteenth century restorations. It is constructed of granite rubble. The roofs are slated with ridge tiles, and crested ridge tiles over the nave and chancel.{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-62217-church-of-st-clarus-st-cleer-#.V6990zXGD6g |title=Church of St Clarus, St Cleer |publisher=British Listed Buildings |accessdate=13 August 2016}}

St Clarus was an Englishman who went to Cornwall to preach to the inhabitants in the 8th century. He founded the church of St Cleer and lived a saintly life nearby. However, he rejected the advances of a local chieftainess who had fallen in love with him and when she continued to pester him he fled to France where he lived in an isolated hermitage. The enraged woman had him pursued and then murdered. The place he had lived was afterwards named Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. The saint's feast day is 4 November.{{cite book |title=The Cornish Saints |last=Ellis |first=P. B. |year=1992 |publisher=Tor Mark Press |isbn= 0-85025-337-3|page=7 }}

File:Long Tom - geograph.org.uk - 816.jpg

Trethevy Quoit is a megalithic chamber tomb, and the Doniert Stone an inscribed stone of the Brittonic Anglo-Saxon period. Near the churchyard is St Cleer's holy well with a small building covering it, built of granite in the 15th century, to allow for a bowssening pool for total immersion.{{cite book|author=David Clegg|title=Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly: the complete guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvTT0gN_3doC&pg=PA39 |year=2005 |publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-904744-99-3 |page=39}}

Arthur Langdon (1896) recorded five Cornish crosses in the parish; one called Long Tom is at St Cleer Common, another is at St Cleer's Well and a cross at Trevorgy is missing. There are also two stones at Redgate of which one is the Doniert Stone and the other is known at the Other Half Stone.Langdon, A. G. (1896) Old Cornish Crosses. Truro: Joseph Pollard; pp. 301-02, 208-09, 228 & 377-79

Another cross was discovered at East Fursnewth Farm in 1930 and afterwards removed and erected at Pendean House, Liskeard.Langdon, A. G. (2005) Stone Crosses in East Cornwall; 2nd ed. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies; p. 47

Cornish wrestling tournaments, for prizes, were held in St Cleer in the 1800s.Tripp, Michael: PERSISTENCE OF DIFFERENCE: A HISTORY OF CORNISH WRESTLING, University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2009, Vol I p2-217.

{{Reflist}}

{{Portal|Cornwall}}

{{Commons category-inline|St Cleer}}

{{Cornwall|state=collapsed}}

{{South East Cornwall CP navigation box}}

{{authority control}}

{{Coord|50|29|12|N|4|28|20|W|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Cleer}}

Category:Villages in Cornwall

Category:Civil parishes in Cornwall

Category:Holy wells in Cornwall

Category:Bodmin Moor