| Forrabury and Minster | |
|---|---|
 The harbour at Boscastle | |
  Forrabury and Minster Location withinCornwall | |
| Population | 838 (2011 census) |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| 50°41′02″N4°41′31″W / 50.684°N 4.692°W /50.684; -4.692 | |
Forrabury and Minster is acivil parish on the north coast ofCornwall, England, United Kingdom.[1] The parish was originally divided between the coastal parish of Forrabury and inland parish of Minster until they were united on the 1st of April 1919.[2][3]
The parish was in the Registration District of Camelford. It is bounded to the north by theAtlantic; to the east by the parishes ofSt Juliot,Lesnewth andDavidstow; to the south byCamelford parish (ecclesiastical parish of Lanteglos by Camelford); and to the west byTrevalga parish. The population of Forrabury and Minster parish in the 2001 census was 888, which decreased slightly to 838 at the 2011 census.[4]
Boscastle is the principal settlement in the parish of Forrabury and Minster. It is 14 miles (23 kilometres) south ofBude and 5 miles (8.0 kilometres) north-east ofTintagel. Forrabury parish church, dedicated to StSymphorian, is in Boscastle atgrid referenceSX 095 908.
However, the mother church of Boscastle is dedicated to St Materiana and nestles among the trees of Minster Wood in the valley of theRiver Valency half-a-mile east of Boscastle atgrid referenceSX 110 904. The original Forrabury / Minster boundary crossed the river so the harbour end of the village was in Forrabury and the upriver area in Minster. The churches were established some time earlier than the settlement at Boscastle (in Norman times when a castle was built there). The Celtic name of Minster was Talkarn but it was renamed Minster inAnglo-Saxon times because of a monastery on the site. Until the Reformation St Materiana's tomb was preserved in the church. (Another spelling of her name sometimes used is 'Mertheriana' but the usual Latin form is Materiana.) In 1187 theadvowson of Forrabury Church was granted to the newly foundedHartland Abbey byWilliam de Botreaux ofBoscastle,[5] who also gave the Abbey the advowsons of other of his manors in Devon. For many years the Anglican parishes of Forrabury and Minster have been in the charge of a Rector who is responsible for a group of adjoining parishes as well as these. Minster Church was damaged by theflood of August 2004 and in the following year archaeological work was done at the church to obtain a clearer idea of the history of the building.[6]
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Minster church was built in Norman times (some late medieval additions andrestoration work carried out in the 19th century): it is listed Grade I.[7] Forrabury church also has some Norman work but the tower was added in 1750. The RevR. S. Hawker wrote a poem on "The Bells of Forrabury": it was based on a local legend arising from the absence of a peal of bells in the tower. At Welltown in Forrabury parish is a manor house dating from about 1640 and at Worthyvale and Redevallen in Minster parish are two manor houses also of the 17th century. Not far from Worthyvale is an inscribed stone (Latini [h]ic iacit filius Macari = Latin son of Macarus lies here). This stone is popularly known as King Arthur's Grave due to the erroneous identification ofSlaughter Bridge with the site of Camlann. At Waterpit Down (on the road towards Launceston in Minster parish) are the remains of a cross probably from the 10th century.[8]Camelford railway station (now occupied by the British Cycling Museum) was built in 1893 and was closed in 1966. (Though named after nearbyCamelford it was in Minster parish.)
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