St Wenn is a small farming parish in mid-Cornwall to the west of Bodmin. Off the tourist maps, it can be easily overlooked. In 1861 in its small churchtown we would have found Mary Ann Hobbah, described as the wife of a schoolmaster. It’s not clear where her husband John was at the time, although … Continue reading St Wenn: teaching the deaf
Category: social history
St Veep: on the roads
Constructing a road along the lines proposed by John McAdam in the 1820s. This was painted in Maryland but the same basic principles would have been found in Cornwall in the later 1800s St Veep in the nineteenth century was a rural parish bordering the lower reaches of the River Fowey and well away from … Continue reading St Veep: on the roads
St Tudy: shoemakers and carpenters
St Tudy is another of those typical Cornish farming parishes found in the rolling countryside of north Cornwall between Bodmin Moor and the Camel estuary. And yet three of the four children from the parish who appear in our database had a connection with craftsmen over the course of their lives. Even in farming parishes … Continue reading St Tudy: shoemakers and carpenters
St Thomas by Launceston: a gentleman and a grocer
St Thomas by Launceston was part rural, part urban. On its eastern side it probed into the village of Newport that lay in the valley between St Stephen’s and Launceston. To the west, it stretched into the countryside alongside the River Kensey. It might not have been very obvious by the mid-1800s but this parish … Continue reading St Thomas by Launceston: a gentleman and a grocer
St Stephen’s by Saltash: selling insurance and saving souls
St Stephen's was the parish out of which Saltash, Cornwall’s most easterly town, was carved in medieval times. Now, the boot firmly on the other foot, Saltash devours its parent in turn as Plymouth’s commuter belt greedily siphons up south east Cornwall’s countryside. St Stephen's church before World War One. It's not advisable to walk … Continue reading St Stephen’s by Saltash: selling insurance and saving souls
St Stephens by Launceston: Draper and caterer
After consolidating their control over England the Normans cautiously extended their rule westwards, reaching the Tamar by 1070. A few decades later, they were busy building a border castle to awe the natives at what is now Launceston. Except that it wasn’t Launceston before the 1150s. The name Lansteffan, meaning the holy site of Stephen, … Continue reading St Stephens by Launceston: Draper and caterer
St Stephen in Brannel: a million-selling author
In earlier times, inland parishes such as St Stephen in Brannel in mid-Cornwall were places where the fiercely independent tinner-farmers of Cornwall flourished. This class had energetically enclosed the downs, carved out their smallholdings and built their cottages. However, from the early nineteenth century their way of life was being progressively undermined by the expansion … Continue reading St Stephen in Brannel: a million-selling author
St Sampson: saints on the move
On the west bank of the Fowey River, the small parish of St Sampson with Golant lies at the southern end of the ‘Saints’ Way’ trail from Padstow to Fowey. In the sixth and seventh centuries this was the supposed route whereby scores of holy men and women crossed Cornwall from Wales on their way … Continue reading St Sampson: saints on the move
St Pinnock: the mines open, the mines close
St Pinnock just to the west of Liskeard, is another of those east Cornish parishes touched by the mining boom of the 1840s and 50s. Although on the periphery of the lead mining district nonetheless a quarter of St Pinnock’s adult men in 1861 found employment in local mines, the majority no doubt at Herodsfoot … Continue reading St Pinnock: the mines open, the mines close
St Neot: leaving for town and new jobs
St Neot is a large parish in east Cornwall stretching from the valley of the River Fowey in the south onto empty moorland as far as Dozmary Pool, to which the Arthurian tale of Excalibur and the Lady of the Lake were attached in the nineteenth century. More prosaically, St Neot shared a little of … Continue reading St Neot: leaving for town and new jobs
Cornish studies resources 