Cornwall

Nearby places

Halsetown

Halsetown (Cornish: Trehals) is in the Hundred of East Penwith. It is a small housing development two miles south-west of St Ives, built for miners in the early 19th century by James Halse, Member of Parliament for St Ives. He built the village in 1832, to house his mine workers. At that time the village was part of St. Ives parish. There is a story that each house had just enough land to qualify the tenant for the right to vote, and only supporters of James Halse were selected as tenants.

The civil parish was created from part of St Ives parish on 5th June 1845.

Cemeteries

The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions on-line for the Parish Church.

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. In the 1841 Census, Halsetown was enumerated as part of St Ives.
• 1851. In 1851, Halsetown was enumerated as part of St Ives (HO107/1917), Enumeration District 2a; this is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1861. The 1861 Census of Halsetown (RG9/1589), Enumeration Districts 1 to 4, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1871. The 1871 Census of Halsetown (RG10/2333), Enumeration Districts 1 to 4, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of Halsetown (RG11/2341), Enumeration Districts 1 to 4, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of Halsetown (RG12/1854), Enumeration Districts 1 to 4, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.

Church History

• Anglican. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW5038 and was dedicated to St John the Evangelist. In 1846 an 'Order in Council' established the ecclesiastical parish of Halsetown - but without a Church building. The first services in the Parish were held in a room adjoining the Methodist Chapel which had already been established.
  The building of the new Church of St. John's-in-the-Fields, an apt name as it really was in fields with no houses close-by, was made possible largely by the generosity of Robert Hichens, brother-in-law to James Halse. He gave the site, £1000 towards the building costs of £2300, £800 to build the vicarage, and £1000 towards the endowment of the "Living". Tradition states that Halsetown was mostly Non-conformist and no-one there would sell any land for the site. Consequently the nearest piece of land to Halsetown - one mile distant - was chosen. Construction started in 1857 and the work completed in 1858 with the first service being held during November of that year. The Church was consecrated on May 26th 1860 by Bishop Phillpotts of Exeter. St. Mary's Mission church was built at Halsetown village. Further information on these churches is available.
  The parish is now part of the St Ives Team Ministry which is on-line.
  A history of the church and old vicarage is also on-line.
• Non-conformist. The Wesleyan Methodists (built 1845), Primitive Methodists (built 1831), Methodist New Connexion, and the Bible Christians (built 1858) also had chapels here.

Church Records

• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1848 - 1944, Burials 1901 - 1976, Marriages 1860 - 1970.
• Marriages at Halsetown 1860 to 1901 are available on-line.
• Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, records of the St Ives Methodist Circuit . These comprise baptisms (1818 to 1900). The areas covers St Ives, Towednack, Lelant, Ludgvan, St Erth, Halestown and Zennor.

Civil Registration

The parish of Halsetown has been in the Penzance Registration District since it was created in 1848. There were originally sub-districts at Marazion, Penzance, St Buryan, St Just, St Ives and Uny-Lelant but these have now been abolished. Parishes within the district are: Gulval, Ludgvan, Madron, Marazion, Morvah, Penzance, Perranuthnoe, St. Buryan, St. Erth, St. Hilary, St. Ives, St. Just in Penwith, St. Levan, St. Michael's Mount, St. Paul, Sancreed, Sennen, Towednack, Uny-Lelant, Wolfe Rock Lighthouse, and Zennor. The Superintendant Registrar can be contacted at: Alphington House, Alverton Place, Penzance, TR18 4JJ. Tel: 01736 330093.

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 Halsetown are available on-line.

Directories

• Kelly's 1873 Directory of Halsetown.
• Kelly's 1883 Directory of Halsetown.
• Kelly's Directory of Cornwall 1893 covering Halsetown.

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.
• The West Penwith Resources have a genealogical website giving further information on St Ives and Halestown.

Maps

• Map of the Penzance Registration District in which the parish lies.
• An old map of the parish of Halsetown in the 19th century is also available.
• A map showing Halsetown in the context of its neighbours is available.

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

Halsetown parish became part of the Penzance Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief on its creation.

Population

The parish was created from St Ives in 1848. Population figures before this date are with that parish.

Statistics

The parish comprises 1400 acres of lands.

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