Sancreed is a parish rich in history, landscape and community life. Below you will find the amenities cared for by your Parish Council, other much-loved facilities across the parish, and some of Cornwall’s most remarkable heritage sites, all within Sancreed.
The History of Sancreed
Sancreed is a rural civil parish in West Penwith, at the far western tip of Cornwall, about three miles west of Penzance. Made up of scattered farms and hamlets, including Sancreed Churchtown, Newbridge, Drift, Grumbla and Brane, it is the only parish in Penwith without a coastline, and remains a quiet patchwork of farmland, moorland and ancient lanes.
For its size, the parish is extraordinarily rich in ancient history. Standing stones, hillforts and burial mounds are part of the everyday landscape here, and they draw visitors from across the world. The tallest of the standing stones is the Blind Fiddler, rising three and a half metres beside the A30 above Catchall, while a little to the west of Drift stand the pair known as The Sisters, and above Tregerest the Boswens Menhir sits at the heart of a long burial barrow. Crowning the parish is Sancreed Beacon, a prehistoric hilltop cared for by the Cornwall Heritage Trust, where a Bronze Age burial chamber survives on the summit and the outlines of ancient round houses and their small fields can still be traced on its north western slope. Its heathland is grazed the year round by Dartmoor ponies, and the views reach clear across the peninsula to Mount’s Bay.
The parish’s best known treasure is Carn Euny, one of the finest ancient villages in the South West and one of the most visited historic sites in the parish. Excavated in the 1960s, it was lived in for some thousand years before being abandoned around 400 AD, and at its centre lies a remarkable fogou, an underground passage roofed with massive stone slabs, now in the care of English Heritage. Nearby rise the ramparts of Caer Bran, one of the best Iron Age hillforts in Cornwall. At Newbridge a handsome Grade II listed granite bridge, rebuilt in 1843 over a far older crossing, still carries the road across the stream, and at the heart of the parish stands the medieval church of St Creden, known for its fine Celtic wheel headed crosses, with an ancient holy well a short walk to the west.
Sancreed is as alive with wildlife as it is with history. Drift Reservoir, on the parish’s edge, is one of the best places for birdwatching in West Penwith, with a hide looking out over the water where wildfowl, waders and the occasional rare visitor blown in from far away can be watched through the seasons. The churchyard of St Creden shelters roosting bats that flit out at dusk, the heath and hedgerows are bright with gorse, heather and wildflowers, and the quiet lanes and moorland are home to buzzards, owls and a wealth of smaller creatures. For walkers, birdwatchers and nature lovers, there is something to discover here in every season.
Amenities managed by the Parish Council
These are looked after by Sancreed Parish Council for the benefit of the whole community.
Car Parks
Sancreed Parish Council maintains free public parking in the parish. All of our car parks are free to use, open to everyone and available all year round.
- The car parks are provided for the benefit of our community.
- No overnight camping.
- Please leave only footprints.
- Please take your litter and dog waste home, or use the bin provided in the Drift Reservoir car park.
- Our car parks are maintained by volunteers.
Drift Village Car Park
Drift Crossroads, Lower Drift, Penzance TR19 6AA.
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Drift Reservoir Car Park
At the southern end of Drift Reservoir. Lower Drift, Penzance TR19 6AB.
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Recreation Ground & Playground
The Sancreed village playground and recreation park sits on the Glebe land, just below Sancreed Parish Church. It offers a variety of updated play equipment, including swings and climbing frames, together with expansive, safe grassy spaces and picnic areas.
The park is actively maintained and regularly upgraded by the Parish Council for families across the parish to enjoy.
Street Furniture
The Parish Council cares for a number of benches set around the parish, offering a welcome place to rest and take in the surroundings. We also look after three parish notice boards, which keep residents up to date with local news and meetings, together with the parish’s traditional heritage finger posts, a much-loved feature of our lanes.
In addition, the Council provides two dog waste bins, which are emptied by Cornwall Council.
Other amenities in the parish
These are not run by the Parish Council, but are valued parts of parish life.
Sancreed Village Hall
Sancreed Village Hall is situated in the village of Sancreed Churchtown in the parish of Sancreed. The wooden hall was constructed in the 1930’s and the leaning wall on the East side was caused by a Westerly gale that blew through not long after the hall was built. It was the base for the Home Guard during WW11. The watch was stationed on Sancreed Beacon with views of the adjoining three parishes, Madron, St Buryan and St Just and beyond to Mounts Bay and The Lizard.
The hall retains a charm from times past, an uncomplicated building that lends itself to a myriad of events, weddings, fetes, birthday parties, quiz nights, film evenings, theatre and singing. It has excellent acoustics, a very friendly atmosphere and is available to hire, with garden, at very reasonable rates.
To hire the hall contact the BOOKING SECRETARY Kate Goodman telephone 01736 788705 or email:
St Creden Church
Welcome to the parish church of Sancreed: St Creden in the Anglican Diocese of Truro and county of Cornwall. Our small but beautiful church is located in the very centre of Sancreed (Cornish : Eglossankres) in the inland parish in the Hundred of Penwith, about four miles west of Penzance. Bounded by St. Just parish to the west, Madron parish to the northeast and St. Buryan and Paul parishes to the south. the parish forms part of the gloriously wild and ruggedly beautiful area of West Penwith at the most westerly tip of Cornwall. A few hundred metres west of the church there is a holy well and baptistry, which predate the current parish church building.
Mary Williams Memorial Hall
A cosy and versatile hall in Sancreed village.
Red Telephone Box
In the heart of Sancreed village, the parish is fortunate to retain a traditional red telephone box, which remains in place and in full working order.
Working red telephone boxes are now a rare sight, and ours is a much-loved local landmark. The more it is used, the more likely it is to remain a part of village life, so residents and visitors are warmly encouraged to make use of it.
Explore the parish
The parish is rich in ancient history and wild landscape. These are some of the special places to explore within Sancreed, all with free public access.
Sancreed Beacon
Sancreed Beacon is a granite hilltop rising to 172 metres, with spectacular views across Mounts Bay. Its heathland is rich in wildlife and archaeology, including two Bronze Age burial mounds and the remains of a Bronze Age hut, together with traces of 19th-century tin mining.
Managed by Cornwall Heritage Trust since 1985, the moorland is grazed year-round by Dartmoor ponies. Access is free at all times.
Carn Euny Ancient Village
Carn Euny is among the best-preserved ancient villages in South West England, occupied from the Iron Age until late Roman times. Visitors can explore the stone foundations of courtyard houses and the celebrated fogou, a mysterious underground passage unique to far-western Cornwall.
Entry is free and the site is open during daylight hours.
Caer Bran Hillfort
Caer Bran is a remarkable multi-period hilltop site near Brane, where an Iron Age hillfort was raised over an earlier Bronze Age enclosure containing three stone ring cairns. Its earthworks are impressive, with an outer bank up to four metres high fronted by a wide ditch, although the fort was never finished on its western side.
Standing a short walk from Carn Euny, it enjoys wide views across West Penwith. Access is free at all times.
Drift Reservoir
Drift Reservoir, on the edge of the parish, has been the principal source of water for the Penwith area since it was completed in 1961, covering some 65 acres. Its shallow margins and mudflats make it one of the finest birdwatching spots in West Cornwall, drawing wildfowl, waders and some remarkable rare visitors, among them a Dalmatian pelican in 2016 thought to be the first seen in Britain in thousands of years.
A bird hide, run by the Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society, overlooks the water.