top image: North Hill church
This beautiful parish of North Hill in Cornwall is on the eastern side of Bodmin Moor with rugged hills of Twelve Men's Moor on the horizon, wooded slopes and farmland of the Lynher Valley.
Cascading streams timble from the uplands - the Withey Brook leaves the moor here, falling in cascades through Castick Woods to join the River Lynher at Trebartha. In the valley lush meadows and ancient trees line the river banks.
Hawk's Tor on Bodmin Moor
This inspiring landscape shows us evidence of generations of human activity, from the Bronze Age communities to present day farming and woodland management.
The hills of Bodmin Moor reveal the undisturbed remains of ancient villages, and the ruins of abandoned farmsteads.
In the valley on the fertile soils farms produce traditional beef and dairy cattle, sheep, potatoes, maize and cereal crops.
Some of our local farms offer peaceful rural bed and breakfast and also converted barns for self-catering holiday accommodation.
Sharp Tor
Part of the parish on the Bodmin Moor side of the river falls within Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - but how can a line be drawn in such a lovely area! There are delightful walks in this area.
villages
North Hill
In North Hill village is the parish church of St Torney which dates from around 1289, a large church which has many splendid family monuments, a Norman font and a tower built from regular granite blocks which houses six bells.
North Hill village hall was built just after the second world war as a 'Victory Hall' and is the venue for activities from art classes to table tennis.
See the village hall website www.nhvh.co.uk
The present day public house, the Racehorse Inn, was originally the village school which was closed in 1961. In earlier centuries was the Ring O'Bells
and the Rodd Arms.
North Hill church
Coads Green
In the village of Coads Green is the thriving primary school. The school building was originally the Methodist Chapel until a new chapel was built on adjacent land. We are hoping that a new school will be built in the near future. Coads Green Village Hall just across the road is a centre for a host of social activities, including the village pantomime each January.
Smaller settlements in the parish are the hamlets of Bathpool, Congdon's Shop, Illand and Newtown.
place names
The name North Hill was possibly derived from the Cornish 'hulle' or 'hindle', meaning clearing (in a wood), with the 'North' prefix added to distinguish the village from South Hill much later. Around the parish the place names of farms and hamlets reflect the Cornish language; we find 'tre', meaning a farm or settlement (Trebartha, Tremollett, Trewortha), 'pen', meaning head (Penhole) and 'lan or land', meaning a holy enclosure (Landreyne).
Landreyne, Penhole, Illand, Tolcarne, Trebartha, Trefrize and Treveniel were early manors that were recorded in the statistical survey of England in 1086 - the Domesday Book.
A good website for the meaning of Cornish place names is www.cornish-language.org
Our family history page has links and messages
walks
This is a very peaceful area for delightful valley and moorland walks.
Here are a few:
Granite roadside sign to Liskeard.
The other side points to
North Hill
and Trebartha.
top of page