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Blisland

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Blisland, (Cornish: Blyslann), is situated in the Hundred of Trigg, and in the Deanery of Trigg-Minor; It is surrounded by St Breward (Simonward) on the north, Altarnun, St Neot and Temple on the east, Cardinham and Helland on the south, and St Mabyn on the west. The parish is named after an unknown personal name plus 'tun' which means land. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Glustone, here the B has changed to a G.
The village lies on the edge of Bodmin Moor about 3 miles North East of the town of Bodmin. It is a hilly area with numerous isolated farms and small unfenced moorland roads. It is primarily farmland and cattle and sheep are grazed on the moorland. Waterloo is a hamlet here.
In 1934, the parish of Temple was incorporated into Blisland parish.

Most parish and church description(s) on these pages are from Lake's Parochial History of the County of Cornwall by J Polsue (Truro, 1867 - 1873)

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Cemeteries

The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions for the Parish Church - 777 entries

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Census

Census information for this parish (1841 - 1901) is held in the Cornwall Record Office. The Cornwall Family History Society offers a census search service for its members.
Specific census information for this parish is available as follows:

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Church History

  • Anglican. The parish Church of Blisland is located in OS Grid Square SX1073 and is the only church in Britain dedicated to Saints Protus (or Protatius, Prothus, St Proto) and Hyacinth. They were Italian brothers martyred in the late third century. It is known locally as St Pratt and St Hyacinth. The fifteenth-century Blisland Parish Church was built after the Norman conquest on the site of an earlier Saxon church.
    It is pleasantly situated at the southern extremity of the park-like church village. It is an ancient fabric and comprises a chancel; a nave, with a hansomely carved roof; a south aisle, with transept; and a short north aisle. The transept is wholly occupied by the Morshead family pew to which there was a private entrance. The tower is on the north side of the church, and has no external entrance to it. The tower arch, which is perfectly plain, is blocked. There is a south porch, a priest's door and a separate side entrance leading to the tower. The rood stairs are in the north wall. The chancel window is a three-light early English. The font is sculptured in St Stephen's porcelain stone. Outside, near the tower, there was a font of a much earlier date in Pentewan stone. The tower has six bells.
  • Non-Conformist. The Bible Christians and Wesleyans had congegations in Blisland.
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Church Records

  • LDS Church Records.
    • The LDS Church batch numbers for Blisland are: P007961/2, M007961/2. These are searchable by surname.
    • The IGI for this parish covers the period 1539 - 1875.
  • The Cornwall Record Office holdings are: Baptisms 1563 - 1859, Burials 1539 - 1901, Marriages 1563 - 1859, Boyd's Marriage Index 1539 -1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1790 - 1812, BTs 1608 - 1664.
  • Baptisms.
    • Baptisms 1682 to 1805 (Bishop's Transcripts), and 1708 to 1812, are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • Marriages.
    • Phillimore's Marriages 1539 to 1812, 1682 to 1772 (Bishop's Transcripts), 1539 to 1907, are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
    • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Marriages 1539 to 1837, which is available in Book, CD or downloadable .pdf file formats.
  • Burials.
    • Burials 1539 to 1687, 1696 to 1901, and 1682 to 1805 (Bishop's Transcripts), are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
    • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Burials 1813 to 1837, which is available in Book format.
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Civil Registration

The parish of Blisland is in the Bodmin Registration District and has been since 1st July 1837; there were sub-districts are Bodmin, Egloshayle, Lanlivery and St Mabyn, but these have now been abolished. Parishes within the district are: Blisland, Bodmin, Bodmin Borough, Cardinham, Egloshayle, Endellion, Helland, Lanhydrock, Lanviet, Lanlivery, Lostwithiel, Luxulion, St. Kew, St. Mabyn, St. Minver Highlands, St. Minver Lowlands, St. Tudy, St. Winnow, Temple, Wadebridge, Warleggon, Withiel.

The Superintendant Registrar can be contacted at: Lyndhurst, 66 Nicholas Street, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL31 2AG. Tel: 01208 73677.

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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Blisland which are provided by:

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Directories

  • Kelly' Directory of 1873.
  • Kelly' Directory of 1910.
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Gazetteers

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"BLISLAND, a parish in the hundred of Trigg, in the county of Cornwall, 4 miles to the N.E. of Bodmin, its post town. It is situated on the banks of the river Camel, in a district containing abundance of granite and schist, with stream tin. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Exeter, of the value of £571, in the patronage of the Rev. F. W. Pye. The church, which is dedicated to St. Pratt, contains several monuments and a brass of the year 1410. The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel here. A fair for the sale of cattle is held on the Monday after the 22nd September."

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Genealogy

  • OPC Assistance. The On-line Parish Clerk (OPC) scheme operates a service to help family historians; the OPC page for this parish is available on-line, from where the OPC can be contacted by email.
  • Mailing List. British-genealogy.com operate a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical and or historical interest in the Parish of Blisland. To post a message to all the list members, send an email to: opc-con-blisland[at]british-genealogy[dot]com.
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Historical Geography

The Domesday Settlements of Cornwall, a study undertaken by the Cornwall Branch of the Historical Association, has identified and located settlements listed in the Exeter and Exchequer Domesday Survey of AD 1086. The following places have been identified in Blisland ecclesiastical parish:

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Land & Property

Family Deeds. The Family Deeds Project provides a large amount of FREE online information to help you with your family history using information contained in our collection of old deeds and documents. These documents can contain a wealth of information for family historians and so the Family Deeds project was created with the aim of trying to preserve some of that information and make it easily available to all. The deeds relating to Blisland are on-line.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SX125740 (Lat/Lon: 50.535798, -4.646616), Blisland which are provided by:

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Occupations

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Poor Houses, Poor Law

Blisland parish was part of the Bodmin Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief. Settlement Papers (1833) are available in the Cornwall Record Office.

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Population

The parish of Temple was incorporated into the parish of Blisland in 1934.

  • Population in 1801 - 437 persons
  • Population in 1811 - 487 persons
  • Population in 1821 - 637 persons
  • Population in 1831 - 644 persons
  • Population in 1841 - 688 persons
  • Population in 1851 - 606 persons
  • Population in 1861 - 553 persons
  • Population in 1871 - 611 persons
  • Population in 1881 - 569 persons
  • Population in 1891 - 510 persons
  • Population in 1901 - 489 persons
  • Population in 1911 - 539 persons
  • Population in 1921 - 489 persons
  • Population in 1931 - 536 persons
  • Population in 1951 - 577 persons
  • Population in 1961 - 529 persons
  • Population in 1971 - 446 persons
  • Population in 1981 - 490 persons
  • Population in 1991 - 600 persons
  • Population in 2001 - 565 persons
  • Population in 2011 - 666 persons
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Religion & Religious Life

In the May of 1641 it was agreed and ordered that every Member of the House of Commons and House of Lords should make a protestation (declaration of loyalty) to the crown. The Protestation was printed and then distributed by the Members to their counties. The Protestation was to be made by everyone and the Rectors, Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, had to appear before the Justices of the Peace in their Hundred to make their protestation and, on returning to their parishes, any two of them were to witness the taking of the Protestation Oath by all males over the age of 18 years. All names were listed and anyone who refused was to be noted.

The Protestation Returns of 1642 for Blisland are available on-line.

The incumbents of the parish of Blisland are listed on-line.

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Statistics

The parish comprises 6421 acres of land and 24 acres of water.