The Patron Saint is St Gothian. The present form of his name appears first in the16th century (Gwythen 1567, Gwythian 1601). Gothian was traditionally an Irish missionary martyred in the area; though no written reference to this can be found before the last century, this tradition is probably very ancient. In local legends, some of which are recorded as far back as the 16th and even the 13th centuries, a band of Irish men and women were sent to minister to the Cornish, under the leadership of Finger or Gwinear, who is commemorated in the neighbouring parish. They landed in Hayle, and the same afternoon went on to a place called, Conetconia. The following day, when going inland up the Roseworthy Valley, these missionaries were set upon by the soldiers of Teudar, and many of the were martyred. Teudar, a local tyrant who figures widely in Cornish medieval legends, is said to have dwelt in a castle or fortified earthwork at Riviere, near Phillack. Gwinear and certain others, like Breaca and Crewenna, whose names survive as those of parishes in the immediate area, continued to work in the district. The un-named first martyrs presumably included Gothian, and the Irish virgin Derwe whose chapel stood at Menadarva (Merther-derwa) a mile and a half away.
Archaeological work in Cornwall not only shows that these traditions may have a factual basis, but also suggests a date. Excavations of living sites have revealed the arrival of the elements along the north coast of West Cornwall, the best estimate of date being some time between 550 and 600 AD. Their most characteristic product is a new type of hand-made pottery, known as "grass-marked" from the impressions on the undersides of the cooking pots and platters. These indicated where such pots stood on chopped dried grass to dry before firing, and very similar pottery occurs at this period only in north-eastern Ireland The new arrivals are therefore thought to be Irish, even if some of them really come from substantial Irish colonies established in South Wales shortly before 400 AD, and they are likely to have been Christians. The cruel king Teudar, was probably a christian himself-his name is a form of Theodore (gift of god) and there is quite good evidence that Christianity was practised in west Cornwall in the 5th & 6th centuries. Before the Irish saints arrived. Teudar may have been influanced only by the very fact that they were Irish were the great sea-raiding enimies of western Britain in the late Roman and post-Roman periods.
Conerton.
Until the Middle Ages, the name "Gothian or Gwithian" reffered only to the local saint. The original parish church, the village around it, and possibly the first mediaeval parish, were all known as Conerton. (Conarton, Connerton) This was in addition the name of a very extensive manor, covering several parishes, but apparently centered on what is now Gwithian; and it was also used as the name of the most westerly of Cornwall’s nine ancient Hundreds or sub-divisions, the hundred today known as Penwith.
The most remarkable surviving monument of Conerton is the embanked circular enclosure, exactly half-an-acre in area, known as "the withy garden". It stands, surrounded by trees and marsh, south east of the parish church, near the edge of the Green. In 1840 it was called "The Round" this former Hundred pound of Conerton (later Penwith) Hundred, in which stray cattle found in the manor were impounded, and released only on the payment of a fine. It was in use until the 18th century, and may have been constructed some centuries before then.
St Gothian’s Chapel.
This little building with its surrounding graveyard, now both hidden below the sands, served as the church and cemetery for Conerton until the present Parish Church was founded in the 13th century. It had been buried under the sand until it was rediscovered in 1827. Richard Hockin, then farming the Churchtown Farm, had set his men to dig a pond, which was fed, by a stream running across the Green towards Red River bridge. In so doing, they encountered the eastern end of the chapel below the turf, found various skeletons and other remains, and finally met the water-table at a depth of fifteen feet. The chapel itself was dug out, and Hockin , a practical Methodist, set about re-roofing it and converting it into a cowshed. It is a pity that local opinion did not prevent this abuse. The wall of the chapel were seven or eight feet high at the western (seaward) end, and the rather lower at the other end; but the masonry altar was still more or less intact. St Gothian’s chapel reats on sand, and some six feet below the chapel’s wall footings, Hockin had dug through another and earlier buried land surface, on which another wall of crude construction, about three feet in height stood. A further three feet down, skeletons were found still buried in the sand, after that the water table was reached preventing further digging.
An increasing knowledge of the archaeology of early Christianity in Britain allows us to interpret the above with some confidence. The first tiny oratory commemorating the martyrdom of St Gothian may, following Irish custom at the period, have been made of wood. If so, only the most careful excavation could recover traces of it, but the lowest skeletons might be burials of the local Christians around the oratory. When a century later, the first stone chapel was constructed it would tend to be larger than its timber predecessor is and thus to overlie some of the earlier burials around the latter. An influx of blown sand, known independently from other excavated sites in the area to have taken place at this time, would eventually necessitate the construction of another chapel at a rather higher level.
A reference in 1147 to ecclesia de Connarton is too early to mean the present parish church, and must indicate the older chapel. It is of interest, since it implies the St Gothian’s chapel was at this late stage a full ecclesia, a church with right of burial around it.
The Parish Church.
The church is dedicated to God, in honour of St Gothian, bishop and prtr-martyr, whose feast falls on the Sunday nearest November 1st.
The Norman cruciform church.
In the 13th century, the manor of Conerton and the rights of the Hundred of Conerton were in the hands of a family called Pincerna. Sir John de Pincerna, sheriff of Cornwall from about 1209 to 1214, also known as Sir John de Konerton, is possible candidate as founder. The first church was doubtless to replace the older chapel, and was built in a spot less exposed to the blowing sands.
From foundations encountered in 1865, it appears that it was cruciform with a nave and chancel, north and south transepts, and probably a west door. Unusual features included a chancel arch, rare in Cornish Churches, with similar arches spanning the junctions of transepts and nave. These arches were built in sandstone or sandrock, a soft and easily worked material obtainable from the cliff at Godrevy, and used in the parish as building stone until the 19th Century. The bowl of the font, despite its heavy re-tooling in 1865, could date from the early 13th century, and the churchyard cross certainly does.
The Fifteenth Century.
Gwithian church was greatly enlarged in this century, in common with most other churches in Cornwall. The tower constitutes the major surviving addition. A fine, typically Cornish, construction of three stages, it illustrates well the skilled use of the local granite which Norman builders so seldom employed. The delicately panelled pinnacles, and the angels (instead of the usual gargoyals) at the upper angles, recall the very similar work on the tower of Germoe Church, perhaps these were by the same masons.
Together with the tower, a south aisle was added, running from the base of the tower to the junction of the nave and chancel. This incorporated the 13th century south transept, and the removal of the appropriate transept arch with the bounding-in to the southeast angle of the crossing appears to have coursed considerable damage to the chancel arch. The south aisle was divided from the nave by an and arcade, involving six piers and five arches. The tower arch replacing the western end of the Norman Church would have blocked off the original west door, and a southern porch was added against the south aisle. An opposite doorway was inserted, or re-built, in the north wall of the nave.
The Eighteenth Century.
In 1613, a "Rate for the reparacion of the parishe Church of Gwithian" was made by the principle inhabitants, most of whom were called Cock or Hockin, but no major rebuilding took place until the second half of the following century.
The tower was internally modified at this stage. The original arrangements can be followed by beam-sockets visible in the walls, and these indicated four chambers (ground with three above it). The bells, aquired or re-cast, bear the date "1753" and the pottery ridge-tiles on the tower roof include two which should be dated to this period. In 1782, the chancel was re-built, on slightly narrower foundations, skewed a few degrees to the north. Built into the exterior of the north wall of the chancel, carved on what seems to be the key-stone of the arch, is the inscription "WH" (William Hockin, the Rector of Phillick) "1782".
The Restoration
Progressive deterioration of the sandstone and killas (slate) used by the 13th century builders for the walls made an almost complete reconstruction essential. This took place 1865 and 1867, the re-opening falling on Maundy Thursday of the latter year. The architect was Mr Edmund Sedding of Penzance, well known for his scholarly studies of Norman architecture. He removed the entire south aisle, restoring the church to the original plan of nave, chancel, and two transepts. Only the tower and parts of the 1782 chancel walls could be left as they were.
It is a pity that no accurate plan or representation of the (pre 1865) 15th century church survived. A very good idea of its appearance can be obtained from a visit to Towednack Church (between St Ives and Zennor), another example of a Norman cruciform with added tower and south aisle which however has escaped subsequent re-building. Sedding in restoring the church copied the at that time surviving north transept arch, repeated it in his re-built south transept, and used it as the basis of the re-built chancel arch. Whether the credence niche in the north wall of the chancel, and the sedilia and adjoining piscina in the south wall, re-present copies of the 13th century additions, or restorations of 1782, is simply unknown. But the aumbry or niche in the east wall of the north transept is a copy.
The tower entrance had apparently been blocked up, and we must thank Sedding for exposing the fine original tower arch. The north doorway is a reconstruction, but the inner south door-way ( inside the present porch) seems to be the 15th century south doorway, slightly re-tooled. The base (and the four serpantine shafts) of the font are additions of 1865. The carved oak strips seen on the principal beams in the centre of the chancel roof come from Phillack church itself rebuilt in 1857.
Nearly the whole cost of the work was borne by Frederick Hockin, Rector of Phillack, who also undertook the building of the adjoining Church Hall (originally intended as a Sunday School).
Note.
The Cross-the granite cross which stands in the middle of the churchyard is, like so many of the Celtic Crosses of Cornwall of post-Norman date. Its position strongly suggests that it was used as a churchyard cross, marking the consecrated burial ground in the 13th century; at present it stands some
4 ft 6 inches above ground, but it is likely to be at least a foot longer. Both faces bear equal-limbed crosses in low relief within beaded circular borders, and there are vestigial projections, like roll-mouldings, on the sides of the neck.
Coffin Rest-The (re-tooled) granite coffin-rest; which now lies on a masonry base just inside the lych-gate. Which we are not sure if it really belongs to this church and parish, is a 13th century tomb slab, that would have been let into the floor of the Norman Church over the grave of a priest or of someone of importance. A very similar slab, fixed to the wall of the new vestry can be seen at Phillack Church.
The Lych-gate-This was constructed in 1865-7 by Edmund Sedding, and is chiefly notable because two complete arches and principles from the 15th century arcade have been built into it.