Cury


Cury is a civil parish and village in southwest Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately four miles south of Helston on The Lizard peninsula. The parish is named for St Corentin and is recorded in the Domesday Book as Chori.

Demographics and geography

Cury is a rural parish with a population of 388 at the 2001 census. It is bounded to the north by Mawgan-in-Meneage parish, to the west by Gunwalloe parish, and to the south by Mullion parish. Settlements include the church town, Cury; Cross Lanes; White Cross; and Nantithet. Cury lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Church history

The parish church is dedicated to St Corentin. The building is cruciform and of the Norman period, but a north aisle was added in the 15th century. It was probably originally a manorial church of Winnianton, but became a chapelry of Breage in the 13th century.
There is a Cornish cross in the churchyard; it is probably the old churchyard cross but was found in a ditch nearby in 1849 and set up in its present position.

Sandys Wason

From 1905 to 1920 the parishes of Cury and Gunwalloe were served by Father Sandys Wason as perpetual curate. Father Wason was an Anglo-Catholic and unpopular with some parishioners; he wrote poems such as "Town". He is notable for the controversy aroused by his ministry due to his practice of liturgical borrowing from the Roman Catholic Church and other aspects of it. He held open air services by the sea at Gunwalloe Church Cove on All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day. Though disciplined by successive bishops of Truro he persisted in his ways until a group of his opponents ejected him from the parish by force. Thereafter he moved to London and for a while owned a small publishing firm called Cope and Fenwick. His friend, the Rev. Bernard Walke, wrote of him: "I regard him as not only the most original but one of the most rare personalities I have ever known... a nature too shy and at the same time too intolerant of the commonplace to meet with the world's approval."

United Free Methodist chapel

A newly erected chapel was opened in May 1884 by the Rev. E. Boaden of Harrogate, ex-president of the denominaton and a native of Cury.

Bochym

Stephen and Richard Davey were "adventurers" in the development of Cornish mines, during the boom period. They acquired an ancient manor house and estate at Bochym in Cury. Richard Davey's nephew, Joshua Sydney Davey, son of Stephen inherited his estate at Bochym.