{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{infobox UK place | country = England | type = Village | coordinates = {{coord|50.184|-5.440|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | official_name = Lelant | population = | static_image_name = Lelantrear.jpg | static_image_caption = The railway station and old station building. The building is now a private house. | unitary_england = Cornwall | lieutenancy_england = Cornwall | region = South West England | civil_parish = St Ives | constituency_westminster = St Ives | postcode_district = TR26 | postcode_area = TR | post_town = ST. IVES | dial_code = 01736 | os_grid_reference = SW544372 | london_distance_mi = 300 | london_direction = ENE | cornish_name=Lannanta }}
'''Lelant''' ({{langx|kw|Lannanta}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=f3fabe0c-206f-4e0c-8889-4ce4a5060e5b&version=-1|title=The Cornish Language - Cornwall Council|publisher=|accessdate=25 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510151547/http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=f3fabe0c-206f-4e0c-8889-4ce4a5060e5b&version=-1|archive-date=10 May 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>) or '''Uny Lelant''' is a village in the civil parish of St Ives in, west Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the west side of the Hayle Estuary, about {{convert|2+1/2|mi|km}} southeast of St Ives and one mile (1.6 km) west of Hayle.<ref name=os>Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' {{ISBN|978-0-319-23148-7}}</ref> The village is part of the Lelant and Carbis Bay ward on Cornwall Council,<ref>{{cite web |title=Cornwall Council Interactive Map |url=https://map.cornwall.gov.uk/website/ccmap/?zoomlevel=6&xcoord=153054&ycoord=37321&wsName=ccmap&layerName=Electoral%20divisions |website=Cornwall Council |accessdate=29 October 2020}}</ref> and also the St Ives Parliamentary constituency. The birth, marriage, and death registration district is Penzance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lelant.info/administration.htm |title=Lelant Administration|publisher=Lelant website |accessdate=2011-09-26|last=Adams|first=Maxwell}}</ref> Its population at the 2011 census was 3,892<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/lelant-and-carbis-bay-e05008240#sthash.RCINRt4V.dpbs|title= Ward population for 2015 census|accessdate= 7 February 2015}}</ref> The South West Coast Path, which follows the coast of south west England from Somerset to Dorset passes through Lelant, along the estuary and above Porth Kidney Sands.<ref name=os/>
==History== [[File:Sand Dunes near Lelant, Cornwall, England MET DP161208.jpg|thumb|left|Sand dunes Near Lelant, Cornwall, by Walter Elmer Schofield]] The name is derived from the Cornish ''lann'' and ''Anta'', meaning ''church-site of Anta''.<ref>{{cite book | last = Mills| first = A. D. | title = The Popular Dictionary of English Place-Names | year = 1991 | publisher = Parragon Book Service Ltd & Magpie Books | isbn = 0-7525-1851-8 | page = 208 }}</ref> The earliest attested spelling is Lananta in about 1170.<ref>Archives of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, Number 3672.</ref><ref>For further information about the forms of this place name see: Gover, J. E. B. (1948) ''The place names of Cornwall'' volume 6, pages 635-658 (typescript at the Royal Institution of Cornwall and reference copy at the Cornwall Record Office, Truro); research note books on Cornish place names of Oliver Padel (at the Institute of Cornish Studies, Tremough); and {{cite web |url=http://lelant.info/name.htm |title=The real and true name of Lelant|publisher=Lelant website |accessdate=2011-09-26 |last=Adams|first=Maxwell }}</ref> Nothing is known about Anta, and Lelant parish church is dedicated to St Uny.<ref name=G>[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/Lelant/ GENUKI website]; Lelant. Retrieved April 2010.</ref> However, Carbis Bay church is dedicated to St Anta. Arthur Langdon (1896) records eight stone crosses in the parish, of which four are in the churchyard; the other crosses are at Brunian Cairn, Lelant Lane, Sea Lane and the churchtown.<ref>Langdon, A. G. (1896) ''Old Cornish Crosses''. Truro: Joseph Pollard</ref>
At one time Lelant was an important town and seaport having a market and a custom-house.<ref name=ca3>{{cite journal|last1=Noall|first1=Cyril|title=Nineteenth-Century Discoveries at Lelant|journal=Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow|date=1964|volume=3|pages=34–6}}</ref> A parish terrier of 1727 describing the bounds of the glebe land states that about 50 acres of land, and the vicarage, were overwhelmed by sand. The terrier does not give a date but does say that it was not in the living memory of man. In the spring of 1875, during the building of the railway line between St Erth railway station and St Ives, several human skeletons, graves and a building were found by a gang of navvies. Observers of the building thought it was of an ecclesiastical nature, and it is possible that it is the site of a pre-Norman church, burial ground and the former Lelant town.<ref name=ca3/> Lelant was formerly an ecclesiastical parish being the mother church of both Towednack and St Ives.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beacham|first1=Peter|last2=Pevsner|first2=Nikolaus|title=Cornwall|date=2014|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven and London|isbn=978-0-300-12668-6|page=301}}</ref> The parish church of St Uny's Church, Lelant is at the eastern end of the village on the edge of the towans and overlooking the West Cornwall Golf Club.<ref name=os/>
Lelant was a seaport in the Middle Ages, but the trade was lost to St Ives when the estuary silted up. In 1888 the Lelant Quays were offered for let from Lady Day (25 March). They had a water frontage of {{Convert|574|feet}} and there was a rail link to the St Ives branch line.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Lelant Quays |work=The Cornishman |issue=506 |date=15 March 1888 |page=1}}</ref>
<gallery> File:Lelant Church - geograph.org.uk - 580391.jpg|Lelant Church File:In St. Uny graveyard. - panoramio.jpg|One of the crosses in the churchyard File:Stone Cross in Lelant Churchyard - geograph.org.uk - 580451.jpg|Another cross in the churchyard File:Woodlands Cross. - panoramio.jpg|Woodlands cross </gallery>
At Lower Lelant is a house called The Abbey which was built in the 16th century and renovated in the 18th.<ref>Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall, 2nd ed. Penguin Books; p. 100</ref> In 1831 it was reported that much granite was quarried here, and that there were several tin mines nearby.<ref name=G /> The family of Praed were landowners here for many centuries. The early 19th century politician and poet Winthrop Mackworth Praed was a member of the family, though he did not live in Cornwall.
On 15 October 1878, the School Board Office of Uny Lelant advertised for tenders for the building of a school to accommodate 234 children. The architect was Silvanus Trevail of Tywardreath.<ref>{{cite news|title=Tenders|work=The Cornishman|issue=15|date=24 October 1878|page=1}}</ref> The school, at Trevarrack, {{convert|3|km|mi}} west of Lelant, is currently a public house.
The local community radio station is Coast FM (formerly Penwith Radio), which broadcasts on 96.5 and 97.2 FM.<ref>{{cite news|title=Volunteer run Penwith Radio to change its name to Coast FM|url=http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/14510092.Volunteer_run_Penwith_Radio_to_change_its_name_to_Coast_FM|website=falmouthpacket.co.uk|accessdate=2017-02-04}}</ref>\
In 1931 the civil parish of Uny Lelant had a population of 1733.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10122491/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Uny Lelant AP/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=11 May 2024}}</ref> On 1 April 1934 the parish was abolished and merged with St Ives and Ludgvan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10122491|title=Relationships and changes Uny Lelant AP/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=11 May 2024}}</ref>
==Transport== [[File:Railway Line at Porthkidney Beach.jpg|thumb|St. Ives Bay Line running above Porth Kidney Sands]] [[File:SWCP Lelant Towans.jpg|thumb|The South West Coast Path overlooking Porth Kidney in 2008 (the South West Coast Path passes through Lelant, along the estuary and above Porth Kidney Sands)]] Lelant lies on the short A3074 road that leads to Carbis Bay and St Ives, just to the north of the main A30 after it bypasses Hayle and where it swings southwestwards across country towards Penzance on the south coast, about six miles away.
The village is served by two railway stations on the St Ives branch. The original station, Lelant, was built by the Great Western Railway in 1877 to serve Lelant village. Lelant Saltings was built in 1978 as a park and ride station to relieve traffic congestion in St Ives and Carbis Bay. However, in June 2019, the park and ride facilities closed.
The St Michael’s Way trail, established in 1994, starts at Lelant parish church and terminates {{convert|12.5|mi|km|0}} later on the south coast at St Michael's Mount. The initial segment of this modern pilgrim route coincides with the South West Coast Path as far as the western end of Carbis Bay.<ref name=os/>
==Sport== The West Cornwall Golf Club is to the east of the village, on Lelant Towans, overlooks St Ives Bay and Godrevy Island. It is the oldest golf club in Cornwall and was formed in 1890.<ref>{{cite web|title=West Cornwall Golf Club|url=http://www.westcornwallgolfclub.co.uk/Home.aspx|publisher=Club Systems International|accessdate=4 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=West Cornwall Golf Club |work=The Cornishman |issue=597 |date=12 December 1889 |page=7}}</ref> The new pavilion was opened in May 1890 and Joseph Lloyd was employed as the first professional.<ref>{{cite news |title=West Cornwall Golf-Club |work=The Cornishman |issue=622 |date=5 June 1890 |page=6}}</ref>
St Ives Town play in the Cornwall Combination, a level 12 league in the English football league system. They play their home matches at the Saltings, which is between the village and Lelant Saltings railway station.
Cornish wrestling tournaments were held in a field opposite the Ship Inn in Lelant.<ref name="CT02101884">The Cornish Telegraph, 2 October 1884.</ref>
==Notable people== * Philip Christophers (1871–1946), member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada * Guy Thorne (1875–1923), a prolific English journalist and novelist; lived locally * Jim Barnes (1886–1966), golfer; winner of the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and the British Open * Rosamunde Pilcher (1924–2019), author of romance novels
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Portal|Cornwall}}
{{Cornwall|state=collapsed}}
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Category:Villages in Cornwall Category:Populated coastal places in Cornwall Category:Penwith Category:St Ives, Cornwall