Lannstevan: Lann – early church enclosure; Stevan – saint’s name

What3words - ///decorator.hourglass.knees

Yma lies tyller yn Kernow, ‘Lann-’ aga ragelven. Dre hanow sowsnek an tylleryow ma y hyllir konvedhes bos styr a’n ger ‘lann’ ‘le sans’. Ensampel aral yw Lannust, hanow kernewek St Just.

‘Lann Stevan’ yw St Stephen ytho, an pyth yw didheurek drefen bos an eglos Sen Stevan war an nessa vre le may yth esa managhti a vri yn termyn eus passys.

Nans yw mil vledhen yth esa tre aral yn ogas henwys Dunheved le may yth esa kastel bras. Styr a hanow koth Dunheved yw martesen ‘penn an vre’ kyn fo hemma nebes ankler. Tamm ha tamm dres an kansbledhynnyow y teuth ha bos an dhew dyller onan.

Yn kres an dre yma magoryow kastel hwath mes kellys yw hanow Dunheved lemmyn – marnas Pons Dunheved, hag a dreus Dowr Tamer yn ogas war an A30.

--------------

There are many places in Cornwall with the prefix ‘Lan-’. From the English name of these places, one can see that the meaning of the word ‘lann’ is ‘holy place’. Another example is Lannust, the Cornish name of St Just.

‘Lann Stevan’ is therefore St Stephen, which is interesting because St Stephen’s church is on the next hill where there was an important monastery in times gone by.

A thousand years ago, there was another place nearby called Dunheved where there was a big castle. The meaning of the old name Dunheved is probably ‘hill head’ although that is a little uncertain. Bit by bit over the centuries, the two places became one.

In the centre of the town there are still the castle ruins but the name Dunheved is lost now – except for the Dunheved Bridge that crosses the Tamar nearby on the A30.

An Rosweyth is a community organisation which exists to promote the use of the Cornish language

For further information take a look at our website www.speakcornish.com