Veryan, Cornwall – the Village of the Round Houses

HOLIDAYS IN VERYAN

Veryan is a historic and picturesque village on the Roseland Peninsula, a little way inland from Gerrans Bay and Veryan Bay. It is a popular stop for visitors, who come to see the five thatched round houses that mark the entrances to the village.

The village has a particular charm, and the people of Veryan take great pride in it. There is a sports pavilion with tennis, cricket and bowls, a children’s playground and an indoor bowling green, built by the community. The New Inn provides a warm welcome and good food and drink, and the village shop and post office serves Veryan and Portloe.

Veryan is close to some of the best beaches on the south coast: Carne and Pendower on Gerrans Bay, and East and West Portholland on Veryan Bay, with the fishing cove of Portloe and the headland of Nare Head nearby. It makes a great base for a holiday in Cornwall, with easy access to St Mawes and Falmouth (by ferry), Mevagissey and Truro.

The village is in two parts: Veryan Churchtown, gathered around the church, the pond and the New Inn, and Veryan Green, a little to the north, where a pair of round houses guards the entrance to the village. Its name is a worn-down form of St Symphorian, the patron saint of the church, and its Cornish name is Elerghi. Sheltered in a fold of the hills, with palms and flowering shrubs in its gardens, Veryan was described by John Betjeman as “a mild tropic garden”.

Veryan is a lovely starting point for walks. A favourite four-mile circuit heads down through the fields to the Nare Hotel and Carne Beach, with a detour up to Nare Head for some of the finest views on the south coast, then follows the stream inland past Lower Mill to Melinsey Mill and back along the lane to the village.

Melinsey Mill, in the valley below the village, is a restored 16th-century watermill on a site where there has been a mill since the early 13th century; it has been a popular spot for a cream tea, so check its opening times before you go. In Veryan Green there is a small gallery, and the woodland gardens of Caerhays Castle, famous for their magnolias and camellias, are only a few miles away above Porthluney Cove.

The New Inn, a traditional 16th-century Cornish inn in the centre of the village, serves food and real ale and has rooms for bed and breakfast. Down at Carne, the Nare Hotel overlooks the beach and is well known for its afternoon teas. Around the parish there are holiday cottages, farmhouse bed and breakfast and camp sites, many of them within walking distance of the sea.

For somewhere to stay, see Veryan holiday cottages and holidays and short breaks in Veryan.

Best Time to Visit Veryan

Spring is lovely, with the gardens in flower and the lanes full of primroses. Summer is the time for the beaches at Carne and Pendower. Autumn and winter are quiet, ideal for walks to Nare Head.

THE VERYAN ROUND HOUSES

Veryan’s famous round houses stand in pairs and singly at the entrances to the village. There are five in all, probably built between 1815 and 1818 by Hugh Rowe, a builder from Lostwithiel, for the Reverend Jeremiah Trist (1755–1829), the vicar and local landowner – reputedly inspired by a round house at St Winnow, and costing about £42 each. They are round cottages of whitewashed cob and stone, with conical thatched roofs topped by crosses.

Local tradition says Parson Trist built one for each of his five daughters, and that the houses were made round so that there would be no corners in which the Devil could hide – the crosses on the roofs keeping him out of the village. The more likely reason for the round plan is simply that it was economical, and the houses seem to have been lived in by Trist’s tenants and village labourers. Trist had five daughters and two sons. He was vicar of Veryan for over fifty years until his death in 1829, and also built two schools and his house, Parc Behan, and added the church clock tower.

The round houses are listed buildings and are private homes, so please view them from the road.

ST SYMPHORIAN’S CHURCH

The parish church of St Symphorian stands in the heart of the village. Since the 13th century it has been dedicated to Symphorian, a little-known French martyr executed at Autun in about AD 178 – and the village takes its name from him: over the centuries “St Symphorian” was worn down to “St Verian”, as it was written by 1679, and so to Veryan. In 1110 a church here was given to an order of Cluniac monks, who are thought to have brought the French dedication with them.

The present church dates from around 1300 – its first recorded vicar was instituted in 1309 – with 15th-century additions, and it was greatly restored in 1847, when the west front was largely rebuilt. Its plan is most unusual: the nave and chancel share one roof, with a full-length north aisle, and the tower stands on the south side, beyond the south transept, rather than at the western end or over a crossing. The path through the churchyard climbs to the higher, southern part of the graveyard, with fine views of the tower. The church is listed Grade I.

Look out for the carved heads on the porch, thought to be Norman and some 200 years older than the main fabric of the church. Older still are the remains of at least one Celtic cross: a round cross-head set over the south porch, and part of a cross shaft by the war memorial outside the lychgate. Inside are memorials to local families, among them a tablet to John Trevanion, the young son of the Governor of Pendennis Castle, who died in 1712, and in the churchyard is the vault of the Trist family.

The churchyard holds one of Veryan’s most moving memorials. In 1914 the German four-masted barque Hera was wrecked on the Gull Rock off Nare Head, and nineteen of her crew were drowned. They were buried together in a single grave along the churchyard wall – reputedly the longest grave in the country. A guidebook and a short illustrated history of the wreck are usually on sale in the church.

BEACHES NEAR VERYAN

• Carne Beach – gently sloping sand and rock pools below the Nare Hotel, with a National Trust car park and a seasonal refreshment van.
• Pendower Beach – a vast National Trust beach backed by dunes, joined to Carne at low tide.
• East and West Portholland – twin coves on Veryan Bay.
• Portloe – a tiny working fishing cove.

None has a lifeguard. See our guide to beaches on the Roseland Peninsula.

HISTORY OF VERYAN & CARNE BEACON

Veryan’s parish includes Veryan Churchtown, Veryan Green, Portloe and the hamlets of Carne, Camels, Trewartha and Treviskey. Just outside the village, on the highest ground on the Roseland, is Carne Beacon, a huge Bronze Age burial mound. Legend says it is the grave of King Geraint, buried with his golden boat and silver oars after his body was rowed across Gerrans Bay.

During the Second World War an aircraft reporting post was set up on Carne Beacon. In the 19th century the Reverend Jeremiah Trist reshaped the village, building the round houses, the schools and his own house, Parc Behan, above the church.

Parts of the 1992 television drama The Camomile Lawn were filmed at Broom Parc, on the coast near Veryan and Portloe.

WALKS FROM VERYAN

Footpaths lead from Veryan down to Carne and Pendower beaches and the South West Coast Path. From Carne the coast path climbs to Nare Head, a National Trust headland with some of the finest views on the south coast, and continues along the cliffs to Portloe. A circular walk from Veryan to Carne, Nare Head, Portloe and back by the lanes makes a memorable day out.

PLACES NEAR VERYAN

• Portloe – about 2 miles.
• Portholland – about 3 miles.
• Tregony – about 4 miles.
• Gerrans and Portscatho – about 5 miles.
• St Mawes – about 9 miles.
• The Roseland Peninsula – our guide to the whole peninsula.