I first encountered Dynarth by accident shortly after I moved to St Cleer in 2010.

Driving uphill through a snow clad landscape I missed my turn and found myself thoroughly lost. I pulled into a wayside grotto  in which stood two intricately carved stones.

Using my very basic latin I was able to translate part but not all of the inscription,

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'Don rogavit pro anima'

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which I took to mean that somebody  was begging prayers for his soul, a fairly commonplace request.

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I had no idea who he might have been but standing there I was overcome with a sadness for this long dead soul whose memorial stood outside the peaceful confines of the churchyard.

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Of course the present church is of Norman origin but it's likely that there was a church on the site before the conquest in 1066.

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I did eventually make my way home and immediately set about researching the stone.

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It turned out to be  a memorial to the last truly independent king of Cornwall.

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The inscription translates literally as:

 

'Dynarth begged for his life'.

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It is believed that Dynarth was drowned in the nearby River Fowey but I was puzzled;

how could a king be so ill-guarded that he drowned?

How had the location for the monument been chosen? Whom had he begged for his life?

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Needless to say I did not find any definitive answers to my questions but I did unearth a lot of highly suggestive background information.

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