St Cleer

Coordinates: 50°29′12″N 4°28′20″W / 50.48667°N 4.47222°W / 50.48667; -4.47222

St Cleer (Cornish: Ryskarasek) is a civil parish and village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated on the southeast flank of Bodmin Moor approximately two miles (3 km) north of Liskeard.

The population of the parish in 2001 numbered 3257. This had increased to 3,339 at the 2011 census. An electoral ward also exists. The population at the 2011 census is 4,366.

Parish church

St Cleer parish church, at an elevation of approximately 690 feet (210 metres), is dedicated to Saint Clarus. Its three-stage tower is 97 feet (30 metres) high and contains a ring of six bells. First built in 800 but rebuilt in the 13th century, the tower suffered damage and was repaired in the 15th century.

St Clarus was an Englishman who went to Cornwall to preach to the inhabitants in the 8th century. He founded the church of St Cleer and lived a saintly life nearby. However he rejected the advances of a local chieftainess who had fallen in love with him and when she continued to pester him he fled to France where he lived in an isolated hermitage. The enraged woman had him pursued and then murdered. The place he had lived was afterwards named Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. The saint's feast day is 4 November.