South Petherwin - History

History

The Saint, Patern (or Padarn, Paternus) has had several candidates, which have become mixed and confused over the ages. It is believed that the actual St. Patern to which the Parishes of North and South Petherwin are dedicated, was actually the father of St. Constantine of Cornwall, a Cornish King who gave up his throne to become a monk. St. Patern and St. Constantine have thus always been linked, with dedications always being near one another (a Celtic practice when saints are related or work together) (St. Constantine Church at Milton Abbot being the case in point for South Petherwin).

With the assumption that Dunheved (now known as Launceston) was the seat of the Celtic Kings of the area and that when Constantine became a monk he gave his territory to the Celtic Church, the Parish, along with North Petherwin and Lawhitton (Landwithan), would have been administered by the Celtic Bishop from St German's Priory.

With the West Saxon invasion, the new King created a new diocese in the South West based at Sherborne in 909 AD. The lands which were controlled by the Celtic Bishop, were conceded to the new Bishop's control, to finance his work in Cornwall. It is with the Saxons that both Petherwins began to dominate the region, with the River Kensey being the natural divide. North Petherwin in the North with the new monastery of St. Stephens (a Saxon abbot being appointed to quell the Celts), and South Petherwin to the south of the Kensey: Dunheved was allowed to decline, as a means to crush the Celtic will. The see of the Diocese moved first to Crediton from Sherborne, then on to Exeter in 1050.