Port Eliot in St Germans, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, is the seat of the Eliot family

Earl of St Germans

Earl of St Germans, in the County of Cornwall, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for John Eliot, 2nd Baron Eliot, with remainder to his younger brother the Hon. William Eliot and the heirs male of his body. He had earlier represented Liskeard in Parliament...

, whose current head is Peregrine Eliot, 10th Earl of St Germans

Peregrine Eliot, 10th Earl of St Germans

Peregrine Nicholas Eliot, 10th Earl of St Germans was born on 2 January 1941 to Nicholas Richard Michael Eliot, 9th Earl of St Germans and his wife Helen Mary née Villers ....

. Port Eliot comprises a house with its own church which is the parish church of St Germans. An earlier church building was the cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 for the whole of Cornwall. The house is within an estate of 6000 acres (2,428.1 ha)s which extends into the neighbouring villages of Tideford

Tideford

Tideford is a small village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is twinned with Plouguerneau in Brittany, France.Its name derives from its location on the River Tiddy, literally meaning "Ford on the River Tiddy". Tideford is not listed in the Domesday Book but the earliest settlement is...

, Trerulefoot

Trerulefoot

Trerulefoot is a village in southeast Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is located on the A38 trunk road approximately half-way between the towns of Saltash and Liskeard. Trerulefoot has a farm shop, two cafés and a petrol filling station....

 and Polbathic

Polbathic

Polbathic is a village within the parish of St Germans in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.The Polbathic Community Hall houses a snooker club and is the rehearsal venue for the famous Polbathic Players who perform their own scripted pantomime each year on the Thursday, Friday and...

 and is listed Grade I.

History

Originally built as a priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

 with adjoining St Germans Priory Church parts of the house date back to the twelfth century. It was substantially altered and remodelled in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by noted architects including Sir John Soane

John Soane

Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...

.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Eliot family invested heavily in the estate, building numerous farmhouses, fisherman's cottages and other dwellings across the land. Many of these remain part of the estate to this day and are rented out to local residents and friends of the family. Some properties, mainly lying remote from the estate, have been sold in recent years.

Elephant Fayre

In 1980 a small festival which had outgrown its site at Polgooth

Polgooth

Polgooth is a former mining village in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It lies mainly in the parish of St Mewan and partly in the parish of St Ewe...

 in mid-Cornwall approached the Port Eliot estate and asked if it could be held in the idyllic grounds. The estate office agreed a price, and there began the Elephant Fayre, one of the most eclectic festivals of the 1980s. The festival ran from 1981–1986, beginning with some 1,500 visitors over four days, and featured a mix of music, theatre and visual arts. Over the years the festival grew, attracting crowds of up to 30,000 and bands such as The Cure

The Cure

The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...

, The Fall and Siouxie and the Banshees. The burning down of the oldest tree in the park, looting of the village surgery and the robbing of stall-holders in 1985 prompted Lord Eliot and fellow organisers to make the 1986 festival the last.

Public access

In March 2008 the house and grounds opened to the public for the first time, for one hundred days, and attracted 12,000 visitors. The house and grounds are now open the public for about three months each spring.

External links

• Port Eliot Official Website
• Port Eliot Festival
• Port Eliot LitFest Archive
• BBC News on the Elephant Fayre

50°23′50"N 4°18′33"W