The Parish: St Wenn (Cornish: Sen Gwenna) is a civil parish and village in Cornwallsituated six miles west of Bodmin and nine miles east of Newquay. The parish population at the 2011 census was 369. St Wenn is a very scenic, rural parish which includes the villages of St. Wenn, Rosenannon, Tregonetha and several smaller hamlets. It has a farming – based community and some tourism – based holiday lettings together with numerous small businesses.
St Wenn has a beautiful Twelfth Century Church dedicated to St Wenna. The church tower was built in three sections but now has only two as the top section was destroyed by lightening in 1663.
St Wenn also has a well used Village hall and a Primary School. The school was threatened with closure back in 1979 as pupil numbers had fallen and it was no longer considered viable, but today it is a vibrant, bustling place of learning and development for many local children, and children from other villages nearby. With this increase in pupil numbers, and cars and coaches needing to drop off and collect children became a problem. The lanes around St Wenn are narrow. This together with a well used village hall and church, not to mention Farmer’s tractors, delivery vans and larger lorries and chaos ensued every morning and afternoon. Finally, in 2023 we arranged for a car park to be built!
Cornish Wrestling: St Wenn was famous from 1903 until 1975 for producing renowned Wrestling champions, notably the Chapman family and others.
The Council: St Wenn Parish Council was formed in 1895, a Precept of £12 was requested at their first meeting held on 8th January in that year. Eight ‘Gentlemen of the Parish’ wishing to be Councillors, were in attendance, some of the names still appear on the ‘Attendance Register’ today. The First Lady: The first female Councillor’s name appeared in the Minutes in 1979.
Utilities: Life moves at a fairly slow pace in St Wenn and the records show that negotiations were ongoing into the late 1960s and early 1970s to bring mains water and electricity to St Wenn.