A Welsh monk, possibly abbot of a settlement in Pembrokeshire. Mawgan
crossed the Channel with Brioc. In Cornwall he is associated with
Mawgan-in-Meneage, four miles south-east of Helston; and in the north
of the County, near Newquay, the
Vale of Mawgan bears his name. In that latter place is the Church of
Mawgan-in-Pydar. The oldest part of the present building is its
13th.century tower, but the church is said to stand on the site of a
Celtic Monastery. (Toulson)
The Five parishes of St Anthony, Manaccan, St Martin, St Mawgan and
Keverne form that part of the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall known as the
Meneage, "The Land of Monks".
The registers of the see of Exeter reveal that there were possibly nine
chapels here in the middle ages, including ones dedicated to St Mary
Magdalene and St Margaret.
700 AD -Probably the first church on the site - note the neighbouring
Monastic Manor lands of Gwarthandrea. St Maugan was a Abbot-Bishop from
Pembrokeshire who travelled from Mawgan Porth near Newquay to Mawgan
Creek in Meneage (the land of Monks), en route to Brittany , especially
the St Malo area. His inscription appears on one of the large sanctuary
candlesticks, and his carved figure holding a crozier is on the outside
keystone of the west tower window.
800 AD - St Mawgan's Cross in the village green, 6'9''high, and once
had the inscription "Cnegumi Fili Genaius".