The church is dedicated to Saint Keyne, said to be one of the daughters of the legendary Welsh King Brychan.

The Perpendicular north aisle has probably been added to a church originally cruciform in plan (its windows however are Decorated, no doubt reused).

[4][better source needed] The ballad The Well of St Keyne was written by the poet Robert Southey (1774–1843).

[5] In Victorian times St Keyne's well had the reputation of conferring supremacy to the marriage partner who first tasted it.

("The quality, that man and wife / Whose chance, or choice, attaines / First of this sacred stream to drinke / Thereby the mastery gains.