Landrake, St Erney
St Erney, St Terninus
Grid ref SX3759
Landrake, Plymouth, PL12 5ER
St Erney church and St Michael’s Landrake are currently regarded as forming one parish. The 1842 tithe redemption map shows two parishes and marks the boundary between the parishes of St Erney and of Landrake. The old vicarage was located on the boundary between the two. In 1813 the first joint burial register is named St Erney and Landrake although now the name is Landrake with St Erney.
The first mention of St Erney is in 1269. The priest for both the church in St Erney and that in Landrake was supplied by the nearby priory of St Germans. Since then, St Erney and Landrake have always shared a priest although the extent of other links between the two seems to have varied over time. The shape of the churchyard and surrounding field suggests that a St Erney church could have existed from Celtic times.
Terninus is the Latinised form of Terni/Terney. Nothing is known about St Terni although there is a St Ternoc who was Bishop of Illy in Brittany and there were links between Cornwall and Britanny.
The font is early Norman.
The squat tower is buttressed on 3 sides, the most recent buttress having been added just before World War 1. It houses 3 bells, the earliest dating from around 1425. This was made by Robert Norton of Exeter and has an inscription asking for prayers for lost souls. The south wall was rebuilt in the 18th century and the north wall in the 19th century. There were further major repairs in 1872 which cost £400.
There are boards, dating from 1718, with the words of the Lord’s prayer and the creed. They originally cost two pounds ten shillings (£2.50) plus 1/6d (7.5p) for ‘bringing it in’. These were at one time housed under the tower, but are now on the inside of the north wall of the nave. There is an 18th century sanctuary chair in the chancel. There are monuments to the Blake, Geake, Rawe and Steed families and a reredos in memory of Rev John Behenna, vicar from 1893 to 1927.
The carved woodwork is the work of Violet Pinwill and dates from the 1920s/1930’s. It is said to be the most complete example of her work still extant.
There is a holy well nearby at Markwell and there is said to have been a chapel there too.