 CORNWALL ONLINE PARISH CLERKS - helping to bring the past alive | ||
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ST AUSTELL
The Online Parish Clerk (Genealogy) for St Austell is Sue Mutton, who can be contacted at oxenfell@yahoo.co.uk If you are trying to contact the local council then search the Cornwall County Council website at
https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/people-and-communities/ PARISH INFORMATIONCENSUS:Transcriptions can be found at
COCP
- the Cornwall Online Census Project - which is complete for 1841 to
1891. GenUKI has more reference information and alternative resources. REGISTERS:For Parish Register transcriptions and other resources, please see our online searchable database (C-PROP) which is updated frequently. The C-PROP coverage page can be found here. Images of many Cornwall Parish Registers can be viewed free of charge at FamilySearch. OTHER RECORDS:Bastardy Documents: (Alphabetical order by Mother's surname)
Coroners' Inquests: (newspaper reports) various years Inquests of Unidentified Infants Deaths, Funeral Accounts and Obituaries: (newspaper reports) Other Documents:
Other Legal Documents:
Other Newspaper Reports: Parish Apprenticeship records: (Alphabetical order - for index only entries referencing a film number please see these instructions for finding it on FamilySearch) Parish 'settlement' records: (Alphabetical order - these documents arise out of the Poor Law Acts and may have a wider relevance than just settlement)
Trade Directories &c:
For other information and links to trade directories see GenUKI and the University of Leicester's website. Voters Lists:
War Memorial:
Wills:
A list of available
Wills and Probate Documents. See also the wills on the unknown parish page.
OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION:For further information regarding History, Population, and much more, visit GenUKI. Maps: For a zoomable and printable map of Cornwall please visit Cornwall Council’s mapping website. To see the Parish boundaries, click on the Layers Tab for Government Boundaries. For maps and satellite images use Google Maps. The Ordnance Survey Maps for Great Britain from the 1840s are online at the 'National Library of Scotland' Map Images page https://maps.nls.uk/. Click on 'Find By Place' and type in the parish or town you are looking for. A large number of old O.S. Maps of many areas of Cornwall (various scales) are also available, the index is here. The ecclesiastical (church) parish boundaries can be found by searching here on the Church of England website. Online Books:
PHOTOS:St Austell Church The parish of St Austell lies on the south coast, with Treverbyn to the north, Charlestown to the east, Mevagissey to the south and St Ewe and St Mewan on the west. The town of St Austell is not old, and achieved its size largely as a result of metalliferous mining - Carclaze was worked continuously for over 400 years - and latterly the china clay industry, but the church is large essentially because of the size of the parish itself. The parishes of Treverbyn and Charlestown, created in 1846/7, had formerly been part of St Austell which until that time covered almost 11,500 acres, but today it is a modest 1,500 acres or so. As its name suggests, the church was originally dedicated to St Austell or Austol, who is mentioned in the medieval Breton Life of St Mewan as being Mewan’s godson, and they became friends after both were ordained, and in fact served in the same monastery in Brittany. They then accompanied Sampson when he came to Cornwall, so it is not surprising that the parishes named after them sit side by side, and neither is far from St Sampson’s at Golant. Nothing remains of whatever early Celtic church existed, although the churchyard does have the characteristic oval shape of a ‘lan’. The present church was clearly begun in Norman times, though considerably enlarged in the 15th century by the addition of aisles and the magnificent west tower. Before 1150 the church was given by the Cardinham family to Tywardreath Priory, and at some stage between then and 1290 a chantry chapel dedicated to St Michael was constructed on the southern side of the church. Then, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries and of chantry chapels by Henry VIII, the parish became a vicarage, and the enlargement of the church saw the chantry chapel being absorbed into it. It was probably at the time of the enlargement of the church in the 15th century that its dedication was altered to its present Holy Trinity. The church sits in the very heart of the town, adjacent to the junction of Church Street, Fore Street and Menacuddle Street (now called North Street) - which was the former site of the Mengu Stone marking the junction of the 3 Domesday manors of Tewington, Trenance and Treverbyn. It now consists of chancel and nave, north and south aisles, porches on north and south (the latter with parvise), and magnificent west tower of 3 stages, much enriched with statues and built in the period 1478-1487 as witnessed by the carved coats of arms of Bishop Courtenay and the Plantagenets. Before entering the church, it is worth spending some time outside, to take in some of its attractive features, the first of which has to be the tower – regarded by some as the finest in the Duchy; not the tallest, nor the most impressive by its bulk, but by its ornate carving. On the west face are three tiers of statues – the Trinity at the top, then the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary with a jar of lilies between them, and below that the risen Christ in the centre, flanked by a bishop and a priest. At some of the corners, instead of plain quoins, are some detailed carvings of angels holding shields – one depicting the head of Jesus with the crown of thorns. The stone-built south porch, with its parvise chamber, is impressive, as is the carving of the pious pelican over the doorway. At the eastern end of the churchyard is a small Latin cross of granite, known as the Treverbyn Cross, discovered on the Treverbyn Estate in 1879, and moved to the churchyard at that time. The entrance to the church today is via the west doorway, and after passing through the base of the tower, you have the whole building in front of you. The initial impression is perhaps its colour, because virtually every window contains stained glass, the chancel arch and that in the south aisle are beautifully decorated – although the strings of light bulbs are slightly incongruous! At the east end of the nave is the alabaster pulpit, the work of Harry Hems of Exeter, the individual panels of which show amazing detailed workmanship. It was installed in the restoration of 1881, and its first preacher was Bishop Benson, the first bishop of the renewed diocese of Truro. The chancel is a riot of colour, with paintings on either side of the east window, and an eye-catching reredos of alabaster and mosaic, designed by the architect George Edmund Street (who designed St Mary’s at Par) – the central panel of which was later added in memory of Lieut. Richard Charles Graves-Sawle, killed in the First World War. The roof timbers and ceiling are also decorated in a most intricate fashion. The same can be said of the adjoining south chapel, the oldest part of the church fabric, with its arch supported by pairs of angels, and the timbers decorated with religious texts. There are many interesting memorials on the walls, a number of them (unsurprisingly) to members of the Sawle family, who were generous supporters of this church, and indeed of others in the immediate locality. There is also a clever memorial to the Reverend Thomas Scott Smyth and his wife Frances, he having served as the vicar of the parish in the early part of the 19th century. It is carved from marble in the form of a rolled scroll, inscribed with a verse in fulsome praise of Mrs. Smyth. The south wall of the south aisle is filled with tall four-light windows of stained glass, one of which, interestingly, is dedicated to John William Colenso, born in St Austell in 1814 and baptised in this church on 10 July 1827. A talented mathematician, who published books on the subject, he was later ordained, and in 1853 was appointed as the first bishop of what was then the province of Natal in South Africa, having been recruited by the Bishop of Cape Town. Because of his critical views on the literal interpretation of everything in the Bible, and his support for the Zulu people, he came into conflict with those in authority, and an attempt was made in 1863 to depose him. He successfully challenged that move, and died in Durban in 1883. At the west end of the south aisle is the finely-carved granite font dating from late Norman times. It is of the Bodmin type, with a central supporting column and four more slender columns at the corners, topped with carved heads. The bowl itself is decorated with carvings of a salamander, tree of life and fleur de lys, the whole being surmounted by a tall, most intricately carved wooden cover. Outside the church is the parish War Memorial in the form of a granite Celtic cross, but inside the church are 2 plaques commemorating those men of the congregation who did not return. There is so much to see in the church that this mere introduction can only be a sample – it does need to be seen in person to appreciate all its beauty.
Many photographs are held by the Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum (and copies by the China Clay History Society), not only those related to that industry. Two examples are given below (click thumbnails to enlarge).
Photographs below © John Evans
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ADJACENT PARISHES:Mevagissey, St Ewe, St Mewan, Treverbyn (post-1846), St Stephen in Brannel (pre-1846), Roche (pre-1846), Luxulyan (pre-1846), St Blazey (pre-1847) and Charlestown (post-1847). |
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