St Germans (Cornish: Lannaled)[1] is a village and civil parish in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
It takes its name from the St. German's Priory, generally associated with St Germanus, although the church may have been associated initially with a local saint, who was gradually replaced by the 14th century.
[2] This Norman church is adjacent to the Port Eliot estate of the present Earl of St Germans.
The St Germans Quay was busy in the last century with cargoes of timber, coal and limestone and materials for the building of the railway that was to bring about the demise of river trade .
A rental of Landrake Manor made in 1652 says 'there was a Fayre keept yeerely within the Towne of St Germans upon the Last Tursday in Maye' but notes that the fair has decayed and ended under Cromwell's government.
Indeed, it is listed annually in local newspapers until the late 1950s, with the date of the fair held on the nearest possible day to 28 May.
[11] Robert Hunt in Popular Romances of the West of England describes a two-day festival, that took place on the 28th and 29 May.
On 28 May, a 'mock mayor' was chosen 'with many formalities, remarkable only for their rude and rough nature', and cattle were brought into the village for the fair.
This is a wooden, decorated garland that is symbolic of a walnut nut tree that once stood on the green at the top of present-day Old Quay lane.
Recently a small walnut wood cabinet was re-discovered in church storage and shown to the community during the 2018 May Tree Fair.
The sloping land was excavated and tree trunks were laid as a base before being covered with top soil to give a flat playing surfaces thus making it one of the first purpose built cricket grounds in the county.