Old Kea

Old Kea church tower peeping through the trees

This week is our off watch between summer sailings, so inevitably it is raining and about to blow a howly. Still, it gives us an excuse to hunker down and chill for a day, in between peering out to make sure the anchor is holding.

We are hiding up the Truro River, anchored just off Church Creek, a really pretty spot.  The settlement above the creek is called Old Kea. There is a semi derelict church tower here, the remains of a 15th C church of St Kea. According to legend he was an Irish saint who in the 5th C sailed across the Irish Sea on a slab of granite (I know!) and landed on the mud in the creek.  He decided that God had ordained that he establish a monastery on the spot to convert the locals and so the ecclesiastical story of Parish of Kea began.

In truth, over the following centuries the place doesn’t really live up to it’s foundation myth. There are the inevitable tales of hauntings and nefarious goings on connected to the ruin, a rather depressing story of a poorly designed replacement church by the famous architect Wyatt, which had to be pulled down soon after its consecration and a contemporary community garden.

Since there is no landing place in the muddy creek we haven’t actually ventured ashore here, the nearest landing place and watering hole being the Heron in Malpas. Once a local creek sailor’s haunt it has had the inevitable foodie makeover and now caters for a more well heeled clientele.

The weather is looking much better next week, which is lucky as we have a summer sailing from Falmouth to Topsham via as many rivers as we can get up in the time!  There are still some places on this and other sailings so if you haven’t yet committed to a summer break why not check out our Summer Sailings on our web site.