Maker

Cornwall Information & Accommodation Guide

Maker is the gateway to the Rame Peninsula, a parish with an interesting history.

The parish church of Maker is dedicated to St Julian, whose holy well is sited by the roadside on the lane to Cremyll.

Maker was made a gift to the Priory of Plympton in the 1100s and a vicarage was established here in 1269. The church has a Norman font which is believed to have come from the parish of St Merryn on the north coast near Padstow. The current building dates from the 15th century. The tower was used in the 18th and 19th centuries as a signal station by the Admiralty and one of the signal men was in fact murdered here. A copy of the signals used is on view inside the church.

The name Maker is believed to derive from the Cornish 'magor' meaning old walls.

Many centuries ago, in Saxon times, Maker was the first part of Cornwall to fall under the control of the Saxons, who controlled the Tamar River at this point. Although, in the 10th century, King Athelstan defined the border of Cornwall and Devon as being the River Tamar, it was not until 1844, when an Act of Parliament was passed, that Maker became part of Cornwall, as technically until that time it belonged to Devon as it had been owned by the Bishop of Sherbourne, the King of Wessex and a succession of Devononian landlords.

Location:
IntoCornwall Area Map Looe & South East Cornwall

Road directions to Maker

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