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The parish of Gwennap (Cornish: Lannwenep) is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Kerrier. It
is bounded on the north by St Agnes, and a detached part of Kenwyn and Kea, on
the east by Perranarworthal, on the south by Stithians, and on the west by
Wendron and Redruth. Little is known about the saint that gave her name to this
parish which is situated to the south-east of Redruth. Gwennap is better known
for it's strong associations with Methodism and John Wesley. In the 18th century Wesley preached here to huge crowds in the
stepped open-air amphitheatre known as Gwennap Pit. (An extract from his
diary recording his visit to Gwennap is available). At that time Gwennap
was the hub of Cornwall's richest mining area, but by the 20th century most
pits had closed down. This parish is now a scene of desolation and dreariness; the
mines are of great depth, and have been worked for ages, but they are now all
stopped. For long periods together their produce exceeded in value £1000 per
day, and often more. The value of the whole produce of the parish, in tin and
copper, during the 19th century, cannot have been much less than £10,000,000
sterling.
Villages in the parish are the Churchtown, Carharrack,
Trevarth, Crofthandy and Sunnycorner. Two new parishes were created from parts
of this parish: St Day in 1833 and Lanner in 1845.
Gwennap Parish Council was formed on 4 December 1894 and Carharrack formed part of the area looked after by that Council until, after a government review and pressure from the local inhabitants, Carharrack became a civil parish in its own right in 1985. The first meeting of the newly-formed Carharrack Parish Council took place on 28 May 1985.
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:
The parish of Gwennap was originally in the Redruth Registration District
until its dissolution. There were sub-districts at Camborne, Gwennap, Illogan,
Phillack and Redruth which have now been abolished. It is now part of the Registration
District of Truro. Parishes in this registration district were: Camborne, East Phillack, Gwennap, Gwinear, Gwithian, Illogan, Phillack, Redruth, St. Sithian's, West Phillack.
The address of the Superintendant Registrar of Truro is: Dalvenie House, New County Hall, Truro, TR1 3AY.
Tel: 01872 322241.
The OPC has produced a webpage of extracts from local Newspapers which relate to events in Gwennap in the 19th century.
Gwennap parish was part of the Redruth Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief. Overseers' Accounts (1818 to 1821) are available in the Cornwall Record Office.
Two new parishes were created from parts of this parish: St Day in 1833 and Lanner in 1845. Figures reflect the inclusion of part of this Parish in Redruth and the formation of Carharrack & St Day civil parish in 1985.
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The Carharrack Old Cornwall Society News Page is on-line.
The parish comprises 3659 acres of land.
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