3. Across the Fields to St Levan Churchtown

Walk up the track past the first house on your left and pass through the old iron gate on the right into the field. You are now on the old ‘coffin path’ along which the dead were carried to the church from the upper village. A little way along this path is a Celtic stone cross known as Rospletha Cross after the farm on which it is sited. It is said that St Levan parish has the second largest number of stone crosses in the country, the largest number being in St Buryan parish. Proceed to the end of the path and the imposing entrance to the churchyard. This takes the form of a huge granite cattle grid, with benches on either side and a central coffin shaped plinth where coffins and pall-bearers rested after the wearying walk across the fields. The Church and Churchyard of St Levan originally formed part of a small hamlet which became known as St Levan Churchtown. It included various houses, a farm and an inn known as the Skaw Inn, which in Cornish means ‘Eldertree’. It is believed that it then formed part of the house now known as Underhill, situated next to the church.