Lanivet offers two main themes for a stay: cultural history and walking. Its historical highlights range from a parish church and churchyard crosses to early archaeological traces; for walks, there are the Saints’ Way and nearby Helman Tor. If you’re looking for accommodation, you can first decide which theme you’d like to shape your stay.
Church and Churchyard Crosses
The Church of St Nivet is a parish church dating from around the early 15th century; later additions were also made during the 15th century. Two windows in the north aisle preserve fragments of 15th-century stained glass in their tracery. This brings together architectural history and a specific decorative detail in the same church. The churchyard crosses offer a different perspective: the western Lanivet churchyard cross is a complete, four-holed wheel-headed cross and remains in its original location. A figure of a man with a “tail” is carved into the northern Lanivet churchyard cross; the cross is dated to the 10th century.
St Benet’s Abbey and Its Structures
St Benet’s Abbey was founded in 1411 as a leper hospital or hospice. To the west stands a tower, probably originally the west tower of a 15th-century chapel. Two storeys remain; the tower probably originally had three. East of the Abbey stands a medieval granite pinnacle or granite cross, probably dating from the 15th century. A small wheel-headed cross tops the feature; four depressions on the front and back form a primitive cross of St Andrew. Different historical features stand side by side here: the Abbey’s foundation and original purpose, as well as a tower and a stone feature whose architectural forms are identified with appropriate caution.
Walking Trails and Landscape
The Saints’ Way is an approximately 30-mile coast-to-coast walking route from Padstow to Fowey. It passes through valleys, forests, grazing land, heathland and villages; near Lanivet, it passes Reperry Cross. As a different option, the Helman Tor nature reserve, also near Lanivet, has an eight-mile wilderness walking trail with information boards. You can therefore choose between a longer coast-to-coast route and a shorter walking trail in a nature reserve. What matters to you may be whether you prefer the changing landscapes of the Saints’ Way or the wilderness trail with its information boards. Access to Helman Tor is via the A30/A391 roundabout, the A30 bridge and the access road towards Lanivet.
Roman and Early Christian Traces
Nanstallon Roman Fort survives as a rectangular earthwork beside a natural ford over the River Camel and is relatively well preserved. It is extremely rare in Cornwall, where very few clearly Roman sites are known. Another early find is in Lanivet church: a fragment of a stone shaft, probably dating from around the 6th century, bearing the inscription “ANNICU FIL”. Together, these clues show how varied Lanivet’s cultural and historical themes are, from medieval buildings and crosses to archaeological traces from much earlier centuries.
When looking for a hotel in Lanivet, you can decide in advance what you want to focus on, then check which specific location suits your plans.
Discover more destinations: Coverack, Cawsand, Gunnislake, Praze-an-Beeble, Boswinger, Stithians, Grampound, Sancreed
Back to the main travel guide: Cornwall.
