The entire village of Trevalga is owned by Marlborough College - a public school in Wiltshire. It was left in trust so that the village and parish would remain unspoiled for future generations. Consequently there are a number of original old slate buildings that have remained unchanged for many decades. In 2010, the college was told that it was breaking charity law by owning a hamlet, and thereafter placed the entire estate on the market causing uproar amongst the tenants, and became know as "The Battle of Trevalga" featuring in the national news and a radio 4 documentary. The legality of the sale is being disputed by the Trustees and Tenants of the estate and the sale has been suspended until this is resolved.
The coastline around Trevalga is particularly spectacular with a number of rock stacks which provide homes for seabird colonies, including Long Island which is one of the last remaining atlantic puffin nesting places in Cornwall. On a headland next to coast path there is a rock arch known as The Lady's Window which you can walk through.
The Norman church (St Petroc's) is made of a stone known as Elvan or Greenstone which occurs in small pockets in North Cornwall and was highly valued by local stonemasons as it can be finely carved. The church tower was built a little later in the 13th Century and reworked in the 15th Century. The wheel-headed wayside cross next to the south door could be as old as 8th Century (just before Celtic Cornwall was conquered by the Anglo-Saxons).
Originally the religion of the Cornish Britons was Celtic polytheism, a pagan, animistic faith, assumed to be led by Druids. Celtic Christianity was introduced to Cornwall in the year 520 by Saint Petroc, a Brython from the kingdom of Glywysing, and other missionaries from Wales, as well as by Gaelic monks and holy women from Ireland.
You may want to visit Trevalga via our circular walk which also includes Rocky Valley and St Nectan's Glen.
There are 4 geocaches around Trevalga courtesy of SMacB:
