The Manor House, St Mawgan (Lanherne) and its history

Image: © D Gore Taken: Unknown

This was the 16th century home of Sir John Arundell and was then the main seat of recusancy in Cornwall. The Arundells, a Catholic family, had been in Cornwall for many years and wielded strong influence there. But with the arrival of Richard Grenville as Sheriff of Cornwall in 1576, a round up of Catholics began which eventually caused the destruction of papacy in the county. The catalyst which started the process was the arrest and execution of a seminary priest, Cuthbert Mayne Image, who had been secretly infiltrated from France and was serving the Catholic community in mid Cornwall. He covered the area from John Arundell’s house at St Mawgan, south to St Columb and Tregony, and west of Bodmin. Francis Tregian who had been host to Cuthbert at Tregony was imprisoned for 26 years. Sir John Arundell too was imprisoned briefly and the influence of his family was lost forever. In 1794 the Arundells gave their Manor House at St Mawgan as a convent for Carmelite nuns. Today an enclosed community of Franciscan Sisters are here guarding Cuthbert's relics. The Pope made Cuthbert a saint in 1970. For the full story of St Cuthbert see: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2_ZstVBZSfIC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA12#v=onepage&q=&f=true

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