Germanus

Today we stumbled upon St Germans, a village and estuary harbour steeped in history.

It is named after St Germanus, a 5th century Bishop of Auxerre who had been Duke of Auxerre prior to being consecrated Bishop and used his combination of missionary zeal and military experience to help the Britons, who were being over-run with invading Saxons at the time.

From 926-1042 the church of St Germans was the Cathedral of the Bishop of Cornwall and an impressive west door remains. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the buildings and land were bought by the Eliot family, who still own them. By the 18th century it was a rotten borough, electing two MPs with a handful of eligible voters, but the Eliot's had used this cheap influence and clearly some business acumen to start making a fortune importing tea. They soon became more actively involved in politics and became Barons and eventually Earls of St German.

The 10th Earl is in his 70s and the heir apparent is his 8 year old grandson. It is worth reading up on Wiki about his sons, who have had not had the careers you might expect.