Cury
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The cross in the churchyard |
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Cury shown within Cornwall | |
Population | 388 (Civil Parish, 2001) 431 (2011 Census) |
OS grid reference | SW678213 |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Helston |
Postcode district | TR12 |
Dialling code | 01326 |
Police | Devon and Cornwall |
Fire | Cornwall |
Ambulance | South Western |
EU Parliament | South West England |
UK Parliament | |
Cury (Cornish: Egloskuri) is a civil parish and village in southwest Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately four miles (6 km) south of Helston on The Lizard peninsula. The parish is named for St Corentin and is recorded in the Domesday Book as Chori.
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 (AONB). Almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a National Park.
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.
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" ("I met a clergymanly man, Prostrated in the Strand, He sucked a brace of oranges, One orange in each hand" is the first verse). 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. Though disciplined by successive bishops of Truro (Charles Stubbs and Winfrid Burrows) 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. 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 ... [with] a nature too shy and at the same time too intolerant of the commonplace to meet with the world's approval."