St Cleer

With its granite tower the parish church is a prominant local landmark and the village itself is some 700ft above sea level. A moorland village which nearby has an exceptionally fine holy well dedicated to St Clarus. Admired by Sir John Betjeman this fine chapel contains waters which are said to have many healing properties.

St Cleer and the villages around prospered greatly during the middle of the 19th century when Captain Jack Clymo discovered a small vein of copper ore and by 1863 over 4000 men, women and children were employed in the twenty or so mines surrounding Caradon. Many of the derelect engine houses with their characteristic chimneys litter the moor and can be seen today.

The area is also exceptionally rich in archaeology from a much earlier time. Trethevy Quoit is a very well preseved bronze age burial chamber dating from about 2000 -1500 BC. Also within the parish stands a beautifully decorated cross shaft - King Doniert's Stone - with a nearby granite bearing the inscription "Doniert: Rogavit pro Anima". Doniert is 'Dungarth' a Cornish king who drowned in the Fowey in the year 878.

Local History
The South Caradon Mine Home Page The Home page for the disused South Caradon Mine, an important industial history site. Contains photographs of the engine house remains