Church of St Morwenna and St John The Baptist, Morwenstow - External Features

External Features

Associated with the church are a number of structures listed Grade II. In the churchyard are a number of headstones and tomb chests. Also in the churchyard is a granite Celtic cross which is said to have been moved from a nearby moor by Parson Hawker to commemorate the death of his first wife, Charlotte. Her initials C. E. H. are carved on the shaft. Elsewhere in the churchyard is a carved and painted wooden figurehead depicting the figure of Caledonia holding a drawn sword and shield. It is the figurehead of The Caledonia, a Scottish brig which was shipwrecked off Morwenstow in 1843 and is erected to the memory of its captain and crew who are buried nearby. At the entry to the churchyard are an adjoining stile, a lychgate and a former mortuary. The stile dates from the 19th century. It is constructed in freestone ashlar and slate and was probably designed by Parson Hawker. The lychgate, which is wooden with a slate roof, was built in 1641 and extensively repaired in 1738. The former mortuary, which is now used as a store, is a stone building which was used for laying out the corpses of drowned sailors. In a corner of the vicarage garden about 125 metres from the church is the holy well of St John over which is a medieval well house; its water has been used for baptisms for hundreds of years. This is a rectangular stone building with a timber door and a steeply gabled stone roof with a flat ridge. Further from the church, to its west, and 14 metres down the cliff face is the holy well of St Morwenna. Its well house also originates from the medieval period and it consists of a dressed stone-gabled structure built into the side of the cliff. Nearby on the coast path is Hawker's Hut, constructed by Parson Hawker from driftwood. It is owned and managed by the National Trust.