St Stephen-in-Brannel

St Stephen-in-Brannel (known locally as St Stephen's or St Stephen) is a civil parish and village in mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. St Stephen village is four miles (6.5 km) west of St Austell on the southern edge of Cornwall's china clay district. The parish also contains the villages of Foxhole, Nanpean, Treviscoe and Whitemoor, and the hamlets of Carpalla, Coombe, Currian Vale, High Street, Hornick, Lanjeth, Stepaside and Terras. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 7,119. An electoral ward also exists simply bearing the name St. Stephen. The population at the same census was 4,772 only. History In medieval times the parish lay within the royal manor of Brannel. St Dennis and St Michael Caerhays were daughter churches. From the 16th century the rectors resided at the latter so that it came to be regarded as the mother church. The manor of Brannel was recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) when it was held by Robert, Count of Mortain and there were one and a half hides of land. There was land for 20 ploughs; the lord had half a hide of land with 3 ploughs and 10 serfs; 12 villeins and 18 smallholders had the rest of the land with 6 ploughs. There were 40 acres of woodland and 8 square leagues of pasture. The livestock was 2 cattle, 20 unbroken mares and 150 sheep. The value of the manor was £12-18s–4d though it had formerly been worth 12 silver marks (i.e. £8 sterling). The church was dedicated to St Stephen by Walter Bronescombe, bishop of Exeter on 20 August 1261. The church has a nave and two aisles; the font is Norman. The exterior stonework is all of granite. The tower is built of granite blocks and contains a peal of 8 bells re-cast from the old bells by Taylor's of Loughborough in 1908. The previous ring consisted of 6 bells, first cast by Rudhall of Gloucester in 1730, probably by Abraham Rudhall II. Taylor's preserved the inscriptions from the old bells. The architect George Fellowes Prynne carried out a restoration of the church between 1893 and 1894. This included the painting of the church's high altar panels by the well-known late Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne, brother of the architect. Treneague Cross consists of an ancient cross head mounted on a modern shaft. The cross head was found at Treneague at the end of the 19th century and afterwards attached to a new shaft and set up in the churchyard. Treneague was the site of a chapel which was licensed in 1381.