Cornwall

Nearby places

Mullion

The parish of Mullion, (Cornish: Eglosvelyan), is situated in the Meneage district, and is in the Deanery and Hundred of Kerrier. It is bounded on the north by Cury, on the east by Ruan Major and a detached part of Grade, on the south by Landwednack and the sea, and on the west by the sea and Gunwalloe. The parish takes its name from St Melan. It is located on the west coast of the Lizard peninsula. This part of the coast has witnessed many shipwrecks and often vessels have sought shelter in Mullion Roads and Porthleven Bay. The rocky coast of Mullion extends from Gunwalloe to Landewednack. Before the lighthouse on the Wolf Rock was erected, in 1871, this coast was the scene of many shipwrecks. In 1873 the Vicar wrote, "In six years and a quarter there have been nine wrecks, with a loss of 69 lives, under Mullion Cliffs, on a bit of coast line not more than a mile and a half in length." The frequency of these occurrences added not a little to the smuggling that was formerly carried on to a great extent on every part of the western coast of Cornwall.

The villages are the Churchtown (now just called Mullion), Predannick, Trewoon, and Meaver. The Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Station at Poldhu received the first morse telegraph signal across the Atlantic on 12 December 1901. Mullion is today a thriving village with many shops, several hotels and guest houses.

Cemeteries

• The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions for:
  • the Parish Church - 385 entries
  • Municipal Cemetery - 897 entries
• War Memorial inscriptions for Mullion 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 Mullion (HO107/138), Enumeration Districts 10 and 11, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1851.
  • The 1851 Census of Mullion (HO107/1913), Enumeration District 5, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
  • The New Zealand Society of Genealogists have compiled separate surname indexes of the 1851 Census for each Cornish registration district; Mullion is listed in Volume 32. 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.
• 1861. The 1861 Census of Mullion (RG9/1573), Enumeration District 10, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1871. The 1871 Census of Mullion (RG10/2306), Enumeration District 10, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of Mullion, (RG11/2325), Enumeration District 3, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of Mullion (RG12/1841), Enumeration District 10, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.

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Church History

• Anglican. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW6719. It is dedicated to St Melanus. According to an inscription on the cornice, the chancel was rebuilt by Robert Luddra in 1500, so the church must be much older. It comprises a chancel, nave, and north and south aisles. The arcades each comprise seven four-centred arches - one less than ordinary being each end towards the chancel; all are of fine granite. There is a south porch, a north door and a blocked priest's door. The tower is built of granite and serpentine mixed; it has two stages, is un-buttressed and is finished with pinnacles and a pyramidal roof; it contains four bells.
  The parish church was restored in 1870, and the roof was rebuilt in 1987/88. It contains some admirably carved benches of 15th century date in good preservation, together with some few remains of a much earlier date.
  Details about the plans of the modern church are available on-line.
• Roman Catholics. The most southerly part of Cornwall comprising Helston and the Lizard Peninsula had no Catholic church until the 1920s. In fact it wasn't until 1925 that a tiny Church was built on private ground, owned by a parishioner, at Mullion. Prior to the laying of the foundation stone, in January 1925 Mass was celebrated at Kenabos, the home of Miss M. Balfour. Father Dobbeliers, from Belgium, was the priest in charge of the widespread parish of Mullion, the Lizard and Ruan Minor. On June 25th 1924 a tent was erected on the spot where the Church now stands and was celebrated there every Sunday for the next three months. On September 25th 1924 the tent was moved closer to the bungalow but was destroyed by fire on October 1st 1924.
  On April 5th 1925 the Church was opened, solemnly blessed, and the first Mass celebrated. Ten years later an extra wing was added to the Church, it included the Lady Chapel and the little tower. The Sacred Heart Chapel was added in the 1950s. Much of the Church furniture was purchased in Belgium in 1924 so the interior has a "continental" flavour particularly emphasised by the paintings from the St. Croix Studio, Bruges.
• Non-Conformist. There is a Methodist Circuit for Mullion. In the churchtown were chapels for the Wesleyan Methodists, and the United Methodist Free Church; the last-named also had a chapel on Predannick Downs.

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Church Records

• LDS Church Records.
  • The LDS Church batch numbers for Mullion are: C021911/2, M021913. These are searchable by surname.
  • The IGI coverage of this parish is 1598 - 1875.
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1598 - 1981, Burials 1598 - 1981, Marriages 1621 - 1965, Boyd's Marriage Index 1610 - 1673, BTs 1610 - 1673.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published on-line transcripts of:
  • 1813-37 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Burials
• Baptisms.
  • Baptisms 1696 to 1912 for this parish are available on-line through the OPC Search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • 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 CD, baptisms 1696 to 1840 for this parish.
• Marriages.
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Marriages 1610 to 1837, which is available in Book, CD or downloadable .pdf file formats.
  • Marriages 1650 to 1901 for this parish are available on-line through the OPC Search Facility - (C-PROP).
• Burials.
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Burials 1813 to 1837, which is available in Book format.
  • Burials 1650 to 1901 for this parish are available on-line through the OPC Search Facility - (C-PROP).

Civil Registration

The parish of Mullion 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

• The Mullyon: its history, scenery and antiquities; narratives of shipwrecks on its coast; its agriculture, fisheries, and mining; tales of the days of wrecking and smuggling; longevity of its inhabitants; names of places, their true Cornish renderings and significations, &c. .., is available on-line, courtesy of the Old Cornwall Society. It was edited by Edmond George Harvey, and published in 1875.
• Photographs of Mullion are available.
• There is a Mullion Village Website available.

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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.
• Strays. Persons living in a parish but born elsewhere are known as "Strays". Strays found in Mullion in the 1861 Census are available on-line.

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Historical Geography

• Garah (Garuerot, Garverot, Garuro), Grid Reference 678184.
• Trenance (Trenant), Grid Reference 673184.

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Maps

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

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Mullion parish was part of the Helston Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
• Overseers' Accounts 1696 are available in the County Record Office.

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Population

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Probate Records

Wills & Admons for Mullion 1660-1773 are available on-line.

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Societies

The Mullion Old Cornwall Society News Page is on-line.

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Statistics

The parish comprised 5007 acres of land, 8 acres of water and 55 acres of foreshore.

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