Hidden amongst trees down a narrow dead-end lane is what remains of St Ruan Major Church. Once a grand building described as “one of the most curious and interesting” of Cornwall’s churches it is now a shadow of its former self. A atmospheric shell, open to the sky.

When I first came across the ruin, as known as St Rumon’s Church, I was understandably curious about what story of this place was.

However, I found it fairly difficult to find any information, so I thought I would put together what I could find out as a little guide for anyone else who visited. (There are also notes on how to access the site below.)

“It is a lonely little place . . . Some of the lofty trees about it bow their heads above the roof, elm, ash and sycamore. Above the trees peep out the pinnacles of the 15th century tower, so covered with ivy when we called that it was hard to see its chequered walls.”

Arthur Mee, The King’s England – Cornwall, 1937

Finding St Rumon

St Rumon, who gives his name to this church and its twin at Ruan Minor, as well as Ruan Lanihorne and St Rumon’s Gardens in Redruth, was a 10th century saint about which very little is known.

Nicholas Roscarrock’s Lives of Saints concludes that Rumon was an Irishman (though some accounts have him born in France) who became a bishop, travelled to Brittany, stopped the local wolves from terrorising the people’s livestock, performed various unspecified miracles and then died in his hermitage.

Other authors seem firm in their belief that Rumon travelled to Cornwall and built himself a hermitage or oratory in woodland, Namean Wood, on the Lizard, close to where Ruan Major is today. Rev. C. A. Johns notes in his book ‘A Week at the Lizard’ written in the 1870s that St Ruan takes its name from the fact that St Rumon lived there:

” . . . having a cell for his habitation and a chapel for his devotions, regardless of the wild beasts around him, seeing them perhaps on his walks, hearing them perhaps in his prayers, yet beholding them probably to flee the face of this strange intruder on their privacies.”

The area around Goonhilly, and the church that Rev. Johns conjures up in his writing, is a desolate, inhospitable place where wild animals prowl the bleak moors. An impression that many visitors have come away with over the centuries, the area was also once known as ‘Dry Tree’ presumably in reference to the standing stone nearby

Traveller, surveyor and poet, John Leland, famously visited Cornwall in the 1530s and described the “wyld moore cawled Gunhilly . . . a mountanous and spatious peece of grounde” where he says the hardiest horses in the kingdom are bred.

The wonderful antiquarian and artist, J. T. Blight, visited Ruan Major in the 1860s. He noted that the saint had once been buried close by, until Ordulph (Ordulf), Duke of Cornwall, had his bones removed to the monastery at Tavistock in AD961.

This idea is confirmed by William of Malmesbury who visited Tavistock in 1120 and saw his “beautifully decorated shrine”. (It is worth noting that an alternative story has the saint buried at Ruan Lanihorne instead . . . )

“So greatly was the Saint esteemed in the vicinity of his abode, that two churches were there consecrated to his name, and are now distinguished by the titles of St Ruan Major and St Ruan Minor.”

Whether St Rumon was really buried here is open to speculation but it is interesting that there is the site of another medieval chapel and enclosure close by on a road known as Friar’s Lane.

St Ruan Major Church

The first church on this site was built in the 13th century, believed to have been dedicated to St Rumonus in 1207. The 45ft high tower made of granite and serpentine blocks was added in the 14th century and the whole building enlarged in the 15th century.

However, it is important to note that the church that we see today is actually much smaller than the one that would have stood here up until the mid-19th century. In 1866 St Ruan Major Church was almost entirely rebuilt.

“An unhappy restoration or rebuilding in 1866 has deprived Cornwall of one of the most curious and interesting of her churches but Ruan Major, desolate and curtailed, is still worth visiting.”

Charles Henderson, The Cornish Church Guide, 1925

The reason given for the work is that the earlier structure had become dilapidated.

The original church was much larger with a chancel, the oldest part of the building, nave and north and south aisles. The floor plan below was drawn by Blight in the 1860s before the “restoration”.

Looking at the walls of the church today you can still see the arches that would have stood between the aisles. From Blight’s description it is clear that a number of interesting features have also been lost including a decorative rood-turret, a staircase, priest’s door, elegant windows and a carved wooden roodscreen.

“Of the roodscreen itself some panels remain close to the chancel and the north aisle. The carving is not very bold but better finished then usual, several of the designs are on medallions. The heads of a male and female are particularly good. On one medallion the carver has represented his tools – a pair of compasses, a mallet and two curiously-formed instruments apparently graving tools, one of which seems well adapted for cutting a sort of triangular notching, frequently found as a border in fifteenth-century work.”

J.T, Blight, Churches of West Cornwall, 1865

Another strange feature that Blight noticed and sketched for us on his visit to the church were two “peculiar” openings formed at the junction of the nave and the side aisles, marked A and B on his plan (above).

No clear explanation for these features is given.

The church was in use for roughly the next one hundred years but a shrinking congregation and the need for further repairs meant that it was finally abandoned in 1963, some 750 years after the first religious building had been raised on the site.

Since then the roof, and many other smaller features, have been removed.

This is still a wonderful place to discover however. You can still see many beautiful architectural features including the chequered stonework of the tower, some floor tiles and the last remaining stained glass window.

Ruins always hold a certain magic and St Ruan Major Church is no different.

Notes on Visiting Ruan Major Church

St Ruan Major Church is at the end of a dead-end, single track lane – there is NO public parking near to the church.

There are a few possibilities however if you are determined to visit.

One is to park at Grade Church (also fairly limited) and walk from there along the footpath that passes St Ruan’s Well and then walk the last bit on the road.

There are also a couple of footpaths leading to the church from Friar’s Lane, if you can find somewhere to leave a car. Another good option is the car park at Cadgwith from which you could walk back up the hill to the St Ruan’s Well footpath.

Predannack Downs and Windmill Farm Nature Reserve are also close by and there is space for visitors to park close to the information centre at Windmill Farm I believe.

I hope that helps! Enjoy!

Further Reading

A Cornish Crusader & a fragment of the True Cross, St Grada Church

Temple Church – Knights Templar & Cornwall’s Gretna Green

The Miracles on St Michael’s Mount

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