St Mawes is a small village opposite Falmouth, on the Roseland Peninsula on the south coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It lies on the east bank of the Carrick Roads, a large waterway created after the Ice Age from an ancient valley which flooded as the melt waters caused the sea level to rise dramatically. The immense natural harbour created is often claimed to be the third largest in the world. It was once a busy fishing port, but the trade declined during the 20th century and it now serves as a popular tourist location, with many properties in the village functioning as holiday accommodation. The village is in the civil parish of St Just in Roseland. A year-round ferry provides a service to Falmouth, which is less than a mile away by boat, but due to its proximity to the Falestuary it is some away by road. The Place Ferry links the South West Coast Path and operates from Good Friday to the end of October.
History and geography
The village takes its name from the Celtic saint Saint Maudez, who may have come from Ireland but is mainly venerated in Brittany. A name: 'Musidum' in Roman times, has subsequently been applied to St. Mawes, although the source is dubious. St Mawes was once an important town and was made a borough in 1563, returning two members to parliament. It was disfranchised in 1832. The town was described, in 1880, by an anonymous writer,
... as a quiet little fishing village, and consists of a long straggling street, fronting the water; it has, however a good pier, which was erected in 1854; and a sea-wall, with a parapet was built not long ago, along the centre front of the town''.
St Mawes Castle is a well-preserved coastal fortress from the time of Henry VIII, built to counter the invasion threat from the Continent. Charles Henderson, writing in 1925, says of St Mawes, "an ancient fishing town which in late years has assumed the different and more sophisticated character of a watering place". The seal of St Mawes was Az. a bend lozengy Or between a tower in the sinister chief Arg. and a ship with three masts the sail furled in the dexter base of the second, with the legend "Commune Sigillum Burgi de St. Mawes al Mauditt. Just outside the town is a closed British Leyland garage on Polvarth Road which retains the British Leyland logo on a hoarding outside. St Mawes lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The name of the town comes from Saint Maudez, a Breton saint, and there was a chapel here dedicated to him with his holy well nearby. Its existence in 1427 is mentioned in George Oliver's Monasticon and it remained in use until the reign of Elizabeth I when it was abandoned. From that time until ca 1838 there was no chapel for the townspeople until a private chapel built in 1807 by the Marquis of Buckingham was licensed by the Bishop. This was on a different site and was rebuilt in 1881. St Mawes continued however to be in the parish of St Just in Roseland. St Mawes' Church, St Mawes was opened in 1884. There is also a Methodist church. It was built in the first half of the 19th century and is a Grade II listed building.
Demographics
According to 2011 UK census data, 714 people lived in St Mawes. 91% of residents were born in UK and the most common religion stated was Christian.
Cultural associations
The Agatha Christie film Murder Ahoy was filmed here, as was the 1964 film Crooks in Cloisters. As well as this St Mawes is considered to be home to one of the oldest small Cornish bakeries in the county of Cornwall. The St Mawes bakery is estimated to have been founded in 1912 by the Curtis family making it 100 years old in 2012. Although the bakeries premises is probably much older. In the novels by Robert Galbraith, detective Cormoran Strike partly grew up in St Mawes, and strongly associates happy parts of his childhood with the town.
