Cornwall

Nearby places

Roche

The parish of Roche, (Cornish: An Garrrek), is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Powder. It is bounded on the north by St Wenn and Withiel, on the east by Lanivet and Luxulyan, on the south by St Austell and St Stephens-in-Brannel, and on the west by St Dennis and St Columb Major. It is named after the prominent granite tor, known as 'Roche Rock', upon the top of which, according to the legend, a hermit decided to build his cell. It was only accessible by ladders and there are many versions as to who was its occupant. It is now delapidated; portions of the north wall have fallen and the fragment of tracery that remained in the east window has disappeared.

Roche parish is located on high ground north of St Austell, surrounded by moorland wastes. The clay-mining villages of Stenalees and Bugle (also once known as Carn Rosemary) are to the south-east. Tin was also once mined on the Goss Moor. Both the rivers Par and Fal rise in this parish. The chief villages were the Churchtown, Belovely, Tregoss and Tresease.

Cemeteries

• The Parish Church - 571 entries
• The Methodist Chapel - 88 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. 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 Roche (HO107/145), Enumeration Districts 24 to 28, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1851. The 1851 Census of Roche (HO107/1907), Enumeration Districts 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and 2e, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1861. The 1861 Census of Roche (RG9/1549), Enumeration Districts 20c, 21b, 22b, 23c, and 24b, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project
• 1871. The 1871 Census of Roche is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • RG10/2266. Enumeration Districts 20 to 23.
  • RG10/2267. Enumeration District 24.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of Roche (RG11/2303), Enumeration Districts 21 to 25, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of Roche (RG12/1823), Enumeration Districts 21 to 25, 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 SW9859 and was dedicated to St Goemandus, Conandus, Conant or Gonnet. It was originally arcaded as most of the neighbouring churches are, but was rebuilt in 1822 and is now a plain parallelogram with a north transept, entered through a chamfered pointed arch. The west end is travered by a low gallery. The church has a fine Norman font of the Bodmin pattern made from Pentewan stone. The entrances to the church are a south porch and a priest's door. The 15th century tower of moorstone granite ashlar rises to a height of some 85 feet and forms a well-known landmark; it consists of three stages, is buttressed on the square and embattled. It once had pinnacles, the octagonal bases of which, springing from angel corbels, still remain. It carries a peal of eight bells.
  It is likely that there was a Saxon building before the Norman Church was built by the Lords of Tremodrett. The Norman Church was largely rebuilt in the 14th century and restored in 1820-2 and again in 1890.
  Details about the plans of the modern church are available on-line.
• Non-Conformist. There was a large Wesleyan Methodist chapel, with a cemetery adjoining, in the Churchtown; it was built in 1833. There were Bible Christian chapels as Tresease, Tremonds, Tregoss, Belovely, and Mount Pleasant; at the last named place there is also a cemetery.

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Church Records

• LDS Church Records.
  • The LDS Church batch numbers for Roche are: C022211/2, M966954. These are searchable by surname.
  • The IGI coverage of this parish is 1571 to 1875; the records are NOT believed to be fully included in the LDS Church's International Genealogical Index (IGI).
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1571 - 1885, Burials 1612 - 1933, Marriages 1579 - 1966, Boyd's Marriage Index 1578 - 1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1790 - 1812.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published on-line transcripts of:
  • Pre 1813 Marriages.
  • 1813-37 Marriages.
  • 1813-37 Burials.
• The OPC for Roche offers look-ups of Roche Parish register transcriptions undertaken by Lyndon Baker [and donate by Pam Drake (CFS) with permission to undertake lookups]:
  • Baptisms: 1571-1900.
  • Marriages: 1578-1900.
  • Burials: 1612-1900.
  • Phillimore Marriage Transcripts.
• Baptisms.
  • Baptisms at Roche 1571 to 1847 courtesy of the OPC. [The webpage is slow to download].
  • Cornwall Legacy have published on CD baptisms (1874 to 1900) of the St Austell Primitive Methodist Circuit. Areas include: St Austell, St Blazey, St Winnow, Par, Polgooth, Tywardreath, Roche and Holmbush.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD baptisms (1837 to 1873) of the Bodmin Bible Christian Circuit. Areas include: Bodmin, Lanivet, Roche, Luxulyan, Withiel, and St Breock. They have also published on CD baptisms (1872 to 1900) of the Bodmin Bible Christian Circuit. Areas include: Bodmin, Lanivet, Roche, Lanlivery, Luxulyan, Withiel, and Egloshayle.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD baptisms (1838 to 1900) of the St Columb Bible Christian Circuit. Areas include: St Columb, St Dennis, St Stephens, St Enoder, Roche, St Mawgan, Ladock, Newquay, St Wenn, St Eval, St Merryn and Perranzabuloe.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD baptisms (1837 to 1900) of the Bodmin Wesleyan Circuit, including Fletchers Bridge Chapel (1896 - 1900). Areas include: Bodmin, Lanlivery, Lanivet, Roche, Luxulyan, Cardinham, St Mabyn, Withiel, Egloshayle and St Breock.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, baptisms (1838 to 1900) of the St Ervan Bible Christian Circuit. The Circuit covers St Ervan, St Breock, St Wenn, St Issey, Padstow, Roche, St Dennis, St Columb, St Merryn, St Eval, St Enoder, Little Petherick, Egloshayle, Wadebridge, Mawgan-in-Pydar and Colan.
• Marriages.
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Marriages 1578 to 1837, which is available in CD or downloadable .pdf file formats.
  • Marriages at Roche 1578 to 1900 courtesy of the OPC. [The webpage is slow to download].
• Burials. 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 Roche has been in the Registration District of St Austell continuously from 1st July 1837. There were sub-districts at Fowey, Grampound, Mevagissey and St Austell, but these have now been abolished. Parishes within the district are: Creed, Fowey, Gorran, Grampound, Mevagissey, Roche, St. Austell, St. Blazey, St. Dennis, St. Ewe, St. Mewan, St. Michael Carhays, St. Sampson, St. Stephen in Brannel, Tywardreath.
  
  The Superintendant Registrar can be contacted at: 12 Carlyon Road, St Austell, PL25 4LD. Tel: 01726 68974. Fax: 01726 68974.

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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 Roche are available on-line.
  • Blizzard in the West (from ArchiveCDBooks) limited look-ups is also on offer from the OPC.

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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.
  • The OPC for Roche has produced a genealogical website for the parish.

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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 Roche ecclesiastical parish:
  • Tremoddrett (Tremodret), Grid Reference 005612.

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  Land and Property

  The OPC for Roche offers look-ups of Owners of Land in Cornwall 1873 in respect of this parish.

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  Maps

  • Map of the St Austell Registration district in which the parish lies.
  • An old map of the parish of Roche in the 19th century is also available.

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  Occupations

  Apprenticeship Indentures for Roche (1756 - 1836) can be found in the Cornwall Record Office.

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  Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

  • Roche parish was part of the St Austell Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
  • Overseers' Accounts (1731 to 1762, 1791 to 1827), Settlement Papers (1736 to 1859) and Bastardy Bonds (1792 to 1818), are available in the Cornwall Record Office.

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  Population

  Population in 1801 - 954 persons Population in 1811 - 1161 persons Population in 1821 - 1425 persons Population in 1831 - 1630 persons Population in 1841 - 2041 persons Population in 1851 - 1863 persons Population in 1861 - 1882 persons Population in 1871 - 1863 persons Population in 1881 - 1681 persons Population in 1891 - 1636 persons

  Population in 1901 - 1624 persons Population in 1911 - 1827 persons Population in 1921 - 1950 persons Population in 1931 - 1965 persons Population in 1951 - 1660 persons Population in 1961 - 1701 persons Population in 1971 - 1778 persons Population in 1981 - 2035 persons Population in 1991 - 2360 persons Population in 2001 - 2876 persons

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  Statistics

  The parish comprised 6439 acres of land.

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