Cornwall

Nearby places

Crowan

The parish of Crowan (Cornish: Egloskrowenn) is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Penwith. It is bounded on the north by Camborne, on the west by Wendron, on the south by Sithney and Breage, and on the west by St Erth and Gwinear. The parish is named after its patron, St Carwenna.

The manor of Clowance was in this parish. The house was the main residence of the St Aubyn family; it is now a county club and holiday establishment. In the past, like neighbouring Camborne, the parish was the home to much mining activity.

The chief villages besides the Churchtown, are Leedstown, Praze-an-Beeble, Nancegollan, Townsend, Cargenwen, Drym, Trethannas, Trevoole and Releath.

Cemeteries

• The cemetery of Crowan Church is situated just outside the village of Praze-An-Beeble on the Camborne to Helston Road. Its monumental inscriptions are on-line in five parts; the link is to part 1 only.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions for:
  • Nancegollan Methodist Chapel - 224 entries
  • Townshend Methodist Chapel - 690 entries.
• War Memorial inscriptions for Crowan parish (1914-1918 and 1939-1945 Wars) are separately available.

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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. The Cornwall Family History Society have also published on-line census detail by surname on the FamilyHistoryonLine site.

Specific census information for this parish is available as follows:

• 1841. The 1841 Census of Crowan (HO107/141) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • Enumeration Districts 1 to 5).
  • Enumeration Districts 6 to 12.
• 1851.
  • The 1851 Census of Crowan (HO107/1913) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
    • Enumeration Districts 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d and 1e.
    • Enumeration Districts 1f, 1g, 1h, 1i, 1j, 1k and 1l.
  • The New Zealand Society of Genealogists have compiled separate surname indexes of the 1851 Census for each Cornish registration district; Crowan is listed in Volume 33. The booklets are available in Cornwall at the Cornwall Centre (formerly known as the Cornish Studies Library), and is also available in the Cornwall FHS Library from which it can be purchased.
• 1861. The 1861 Census of Crowan (RG9/1575) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • Enumeration Districts 1 to 4.
  • Enumeration Districts 5 to 7.
  • Enumeration Districts 8 to 12.
• 1871.
  • The 1871 Census of Crowan is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
    • RG10/2309. Enumeration Districts 1 to 5.
    • RG10/2310. Enumeration Districts 6 to 12.
  • The 1871 Census of Crowan is also available from the Cornwall Family History Society.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of Crowan parish (RG11/2327), Enumeration Districts 1 to 10, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of Crowan parish (RG12/1843) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • Enumeration Districts 1 - 4.
  • Enumeration Districts 5 - 10 from the Cornwall Online Census project.

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Church History

• Anglican. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW6434 and was dedicated to St Carwenna (or Crewena). It comprises a chancel (without an east window), nave, north aisle, and a short south aisle. The chancel is separated from the north aisle by three small arches; the nave is separated from the same aisle by three large arches and one small one. The material is granite, and the pillars are monolith. BesIdes the south porch, there are a priest's door and a blocked north door. The tower is of three stages, and is built of granite ashlar; it has pinnacles and has a battlemented parapet.
  The east end of the church was rebuilt in 1746 when the chancel window, and the east window of the north aisle, were blocked. In the churchyard on the north side stands a lofty building of granite ashlar, with moulded gables. It was used for some time as a mausoleum for the St Aubyn family. Crowan church still has parts that date to the reigns of Henry VIII & Elizabeth I, but the church was extensively restored in 1870-2. During that over-enthusiastic restoration amongst other things, a 17th-century arcade was replaced, an organ chamber added, old roofs and wooden carvings discarded and, in all probability, some of the more obscure plaques removed. Now virtually all the internal church memorials are to various members of the St Aubyn family; one is dated 1599.
  There was also a Misson Church at Leedstown in this parish. Details about the plans of the existing churches are available on-line.
• Non-Conformist. There were several dissenting places of worship in this parish. There was a large Wesleyan Methodist chapel and cemetery at Nancegollan. There were Wesleyan and Brianite chapels in Leedstown; a Wesleyan chapel at Praze, and other chapels were situated at Townsend, Horse Downs, Releath, and Black Rock.

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Church Records

• LDS Church Records.
  • The LDS Church batch numbers for Crowan are: C022261/2/3/4, E022262, M022262/5. These are searchable by surname.
  • The IGI coverage of this parish is 1674 - 1875.
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1691 - 1869, Burials 1691 - 1947, Marriages 1691 - 1979, Boyd's Marriage Index 1614 - 1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1790 - 1812, BTs 1614 - 1681.
• Baptisms.
  • The OPC of Breage has transcribed Breage Circuit: Bible Christian Births & Baptisms 1821 to 1837. Parishes mentioned include: Breage, Crowan, Gwinear, Helston, Mullion, Porthleven, St Anthony, St Hilary, St Keverne, Sithney and Wendron. These can be searched on-line.
  • The Cornish Forefathers' Society have published on two CDs, baptisms 1741 to 1837 for this parish.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, baptisms (1866 to 1900) of the Hayle Wesleyan Methodist Circuit. The area covers Hayle, Phillack, Breage, Crowan, Gwinear, St Erth and Gwithian.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, records of the Hayle Wesleyan Circuit (Wall Section). These include: baptisms (1862 to 1900), Wall Chapel marriages (1867-1884, 1899-1900, Connor Downs Chapel baptisms 1900. The areas cover Hayle, Phillack, Breage, Crowan, Ludgvan, Gwinear, Copperhouses, St Erth and Gwithian.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, records of the Lelant, Ludgvan and St Erth Chapels. These comprise baptisms (1855 to 1900) for Chyangwheal, Hayle Foundry, Ludgvan & St Erth Chapels (Ludgvan Chapel Register is called "Marazion Wesleyan Circuit from 1883". St Ives, Penzance, Towednack, Lelant, and Ludgvan). The areas cover Lelant, Breage, Crowan, St Erth, Hayle, Ludgvan, St Hilary, Germoe and Marazion.
• Marriages. The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Marriages 1614 to 1837, which is available in Book, CD or downloadable .pdf file formats.
• Burials. The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Burials 1813 to 1837, which is available in Book or CD formats.
• Mixed Records. Cornwall Legacy have published on CD baptisms (1845 to 1900) and Burials (1892 to 1900) of the Breage and Crowan Methodist Chapels, (including Black Rock, Horsedowns, Nancegollan, Praze, Townshend, Trenwheal chapels). Areas include: Breage, Crowan, Gwinear, Sithney, and St Erth.
• Other Non-Conformist Records. OPC Coverage of Non-Conformist records of chapels in this parish is available.

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Civil Registration

The parish of Crowan was originally in the Helston Registration District; there were sub-districts at Breage, Crowan, Helston, St Keverne and Wendron. It is now in the Kerrier Registration District. Parishes in this registration district are: Breage, Crowan, Cury, Germoe, Gunwalloe, Grade, Helston, Landewednack, Manaccan, Mawgan in Meneage, Mullion, Ruan Major, Ruan Minor, St. Anthony in Meneage, St. Keverne, St. Martin in Meneage, Sithney, Wendron.

The address of the Registration Office is: The Willows, Church Street, Helston, TR13 8NJ.
Tel: 01326 562848.

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Description & Travel

• ePodunk's Cornwall page - providing general, plus some historical and genealogical information, about Cornwall and its parishes, together with links (mainly relating to general sites and services, rather than ones that are specific to Cornwall or particular parishes).
• Photographs of Crowan are available on-line.

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Directories

Kelly's 1873 Directory of Crowan.

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Genealogy

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.

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Historical Geography

• Binnerton (Bennartona, Bennartone), Grid Reference 608332.

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Land & Property

• The parish and town tithe maps, and accompanying survey books of c1840, provide a fascinating snap-shot of land use and ownership in the 19th century. In order to preserve the documents and improve access to them, the Cornwall Record Office are digitising these maps and survey books. The CD ROM tithe package include a map and survey books, together with a reader, for this parish; it is now available from the Cornwall Record Office. Details are on their website.

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Maps

• Map of the Kerrier Registration District in which the parish lies.
• An old map of the parish of Crowan in the 19th century is also available.

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Occupations

Apprenticeship Indentures for Crowan (1832) can be found in the Cornwall Record Office.

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Crowan parish was part of the Helston Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
• Overseers' Accounts (1728 to 1737, and 1818 to 1821), Settlement Papers (1825 to 1852) and Bastardy Bonds (1841), are available in the Cornwall Record Office.

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Population

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Probate Records

Wills & Admons for Crowan parish, 1660-1857 are available on-line.

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Statistics

The parish comprises 7478 acres of land and 18 acres of water.

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