Breage

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Former Methodist Chapel in Breage, Cornwall

Breage is a parish and village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is three miles (5 km) west of Helston[1] and has a population of 2,375. Other settlements in the parish include the villages of Ashton, Carleen, Godolphin Cross, and the coastal village of Praa Sands. Breage is named after Saint Breage or Breaca, a missionary from Ireland (to whom the 15th century church is dedicated).

Geography[change | change source]

The geological formation known as the Tregonning-Godolphin Granite underlies the parish and the area was formerly an important source of tin and copper ore. Other than Praa Sands, the villages in the parish were tin and copper mining villages. Most of today's working population are commuters, travelling to nearby towns or to RNAS Culdrose.

Parish Church[change | change source]

The church was built of granite in the 15th century: on the north wall are five medieval wall paintings. A Roman milestone of the 3rd century is preserved in the church and in the churchyard there is an unusual Hiberno-Saxon cross head.[2]

References[change | change source]

  1. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End ISBN 9780319231487
  2. Pevsner, N. Buildings of England: Cornwall (1951; 1970) (rev. Enid Radcliffe) Penguin Books (reissued by Yale U. P.) ISBN 0-300-09589-9; p. 46