St Cleer has two pubs , an excellent Farm Shop, and a Post Office & General Store/Newsagents opposite the fine parish church.
St Cleer on the edge of Bodmin Moor, north of Liskeard, is thought to have got its name from St Clarus. The St Cleer village is at 700 feet, and the surrounding area has historical connections with both mining and prehistoric times.
St Cleer prospered during the mining boom in this part of Cornwall, in the second half of the nineteenth century, when Captain James Clymo, his son Peter Clymo, and the brothers Thomas and Richard Kittow, discovered rich lodes of copper around Caradon Hill in 1836. The population rose from 600 in 1840 to 4000 by 1860. The Liskeard and Caradon railway was built between 1844 and 1846, and this ran through the bottom of the townr. By 1890, the price of copper ore had crashed, the boom was over, and all the mines were either closed or closing down. By 1901, the population r had decreased again to half what it was at the height of the mining boom.
The parish church of St.Cleer, dedicated to St. Clarus, dates back to Norman times, but the majority was built during the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. It has a Victorian stained glass window with eleven female saints. A rather Gothic looking open sided chapel has been built over the holy well.
Doniert Stone, a granite block with intricate carvings, dedicated to a 9th century Cornish king who drowned nearby is north west of the village. Two granite stones carved with latin inscriptions and intricate patterns. The stones are the remains of crosses, and are associated with King Doniert (Durngarth) of Cornwall who drowned in AD 875 in the river Fowey.
Trevetheye Quoit is a mile to the north of the church stands the . This primitive unwrought monument has occupied its present position for over 2000 years. It is of granite and consists of six upright stones and one large slab covering them in an inclined position. Its place name of Trevethy, Trevedi or Trevithy signifying, in the Cornish language, 'the place of the graves', indicating it was once a burial chamber from the Bronze Age.
There is an ancient packhorse bridge at Redgate, and from here a footpath runs along the River Fowey to Golitha Falls. Siblyback Lake, with visitor centre and sporting facilities is close. As is Dobwalls Family Adventure Park.
St Cleer, Cornwall, genealogical information from Genuki