Quiet tucked away village
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The village of St. Mabyn is situated three miles east of Wadebridge midway between the A39 and the B3266. The parish includes a hamlet called Longstone to the east and many small manor houses, including Tregarden, Tredethy, Helligan Barton and Colquite, all built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The area of the parish is 4,101 acres and is traditionally named after Saint Mabyn or Mabena, said to have been one of the 24 children of Brychan, a Welsh saint and King of Brycheiniog in the 5th century.
The population in 2001 was 560 persons, exactly the same as in 1811, having declined from 595 in 1991. The population on the 2011 census was 628. In 2013 the proportion of dwellings that were second homes or holiday accommodation was 10.1%.
The village is centred on the Grade I listed 15th century St. Mabyn Parish Church. Village amenities include a well stocked independent village store and post office, a public house, a village hall, a primary school, St. Mabyn Church of England Primary School, a pre-school, a scout group, a garden club, and a Young Farmers' group. There is a King George's Field in memorial to King George V and a village green. The village is surrounded by high quality, undulating farmland. The Allen valley to the north-west contains a number of Cornish Nature Conservation Sites. Land to the south-east is designated as an open area of local significance. Four trees in the village are subject to preservation orders. The village has no connection to main sewerage and relies on septic tank drainage.
There was post-war development of local authority housing along Chapel Lane and Wadebridge Road. In the 1980's private housing schemes at Mabena Close and Meadow Court were completed and there was further ribbon development growth along Station Road. A residential development Greenwix Parc, comprising thirty five dwellings including twelve affordable units was completed by Midas Homes in 2011.
The major economic activity in the parish is agriculture and the parish has several large farms. Most agriculture centres on dairying, with arable crops such as potato and rape and some raising of sheep. James Mutton of Burlerrow Farm was the first farmer in Cornwall to receive a grant from the England Rural Development Programme this enabled him to process Miscanthus giganteus which is grown on his 750-acre farm and around the village, the crop is converted into livestock bedding. The farm generates its own electricity with an Endurance 50 kW wind turbine. Andrew and Sally Kellow keep a large dairy herd at Treveglos Farm. Tom Bray produces around 26,000 litres of traditional farm cider a year at Haywood Farm, where he has propagated 5,000 apple trees.
The earliest signs of habitation are at the Iron Age hill fort of Kelly Rounds or Castle Killibury. Radiocarbon dating gives a date of occupation between 400 and 100 BC. An archaeological excavation at Chapelfields in 2016 uncovered evidence of two domestic Romano British enclosures, finds included a rare copper alloy brooch, Samian pottery dated AD 150-230 and a slate game piece.
Arthur Langdon in 1896 recorded four Cornish crosses in the parish: one in the churchyard and others at Colquite, Cross Hill and Penwine. St. Mabyn's standing stone was broken up for gateposts in 1850 and the stump re-located to the crossroads at Longstone.
A United Methodist Free Church chapel was built with funding from Richard Hambly Andrew of Tredinnick in 1820 during the incumbency of Leveson-Gower but is now a private house.
The main land owners in 1875, apart from the church, were The Viscount Falmouth, the Trustees of William Molesworth, John Tremayne from Heligan, the heirs of the late John Peter-Hoblyn, Francis John Hext and Mrs. Hooper and Richard Hambly Andrew. There was an annual fair held on 14th February.
In 2012 a St. Mabyn parish councillor became the first in Cornwall to be disqualified from holding public office,and was banned for two years for bullying and showing disrespect to members.
In 2018 with the village shop proposing to close, a community shop opened on the site of the old school dinner hut, previously a petrol station.
Samuel Penhallow (1665-1726), an early American colonist emigrated in 1686 and settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA.
Samuel Lawry (1854-1933), Methodist minister and administrator.
Nicholas Kendall (1800-1878), a member of parliament and High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1847.
Jill Murphy (1949-), children's author.
Tristan Stephenson (1982-), mixologist, drinks industry expert and director of Fluid Movement.
Blisland Camelford St. Kew St. Tudy Wadebridge