The village of Mawnan Smith takes its name from the blacksmiths smithy which is in the centre of the village where once two ancient trackways met. One led to the church of St Maunanus on the Cliff and the other to the Helford Passage. The smithy is now being restored with the addition of several craft workshops and should be open to the public in the summer of 2007.
The parish church of St Maunanus (St Mawnan), has been in existence in various forms for over 700 years. Situated high above the Helford estuary it is popular with tourists who come to visit the church and admire the views of the river and Falmouth Bay area from the church cemetery. Above the lynchgate is a Cornish inscription Da thym nesse the Dhu (it is good to draw nigh unto the Lord). It shares the parish with St Michaels which was built to meet the needs of the growing village community. The village also has a Wesleyan chapel built in 1815 where it is said that John Wesley once preached and the Roman Catholic church of St Edward The Confessor opened for worship in 1964.
In 1920 the Mawnan Womens Institute was formed with over 130 members. When a village hall was built in 1922 as a memorial to the local men who died in the First World War it was the WI members who helped to raise the money. During the Second World War the hall was used by the local Home Guard, as a servicemens canteen and as a school for pupils from the north London Latimer School who were evacuated to Mawnan Smith.
In 1944 the village was closed to outsiders for several days when American military vehicles passed through to embark at Trebah for the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches. The road through Mawnan which was then a narrow Cornish lane was widened and strengthened to accommodate the heavy lorries, tanks and jeeps.
To-day tourists from all over the world visit Mawnan to sail on the nearby Helford estuary and enjoy the famous gardens at Bosloe, Carwinion, Glendurgan and Trebah. Coastal, creekside and inland walks are available along with several nearby golf courses.
The village is popular with older retired people and has a Church of England Junior and Infants school. It offers a wide variety of clubs, societies and sports activities for every age group and has a number of shops, an Italian restaurant and the thatched-roofed Red Lion Inn which was converted from a home to an inn in 1545.
article courtesy of Donald Pennington
