Cornwall

Nearby places

St Winnow

The parish of St Winnow, (Cornish: Sen Gwynnow), is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of West. It is bounded on the north by Cardinham, on the east by Bradock and Boconnoc, on the south by St Veep, and on the west by the River Fowey and the parish of Lostwithiel. The River Fowey separates St Winnow from (Golant) St Sampson, Lanlivery and Lanhydrock. There is some doubt as to whether the name is connected with St Winnoe or St Winwaloe. The parish is mentioned in Domesday Survey of 1086 as San Winnuc and the Church still has some remains of the Norman building. In 1644-5, some 90 persons of this parish died of the plague; this occurred during the English Civil War but only four of the dead were soldiers.

This thinly-populated scattered parish is east of Lostwithiel and the River Fowey. The picturesque village and church are close to the river's edge. Some scenes from the BBC Poldark TV series were filmed here. Other villages in the parish are Bridgend, Polscoe, and Respryn.

Cemeteries

• The Parish Church - 838 entries.
• St Nectan Chapel - 633 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 St Winnow (HO107/153), Enumeration Districts 1 to 3, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1851.
  • The 1851 Census of St Winnow (HO107/1904), Enumeration Districts 1a, 1b and 1c, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
  • Ray Woodbine has compiled the 1851 Census for many Cornish parishes. Entries for St Winnow are contained in Volume 4-1. This is available in the Library of the Cornwall Family History Society from which it can be purchased.
• 1861. The 1861 Census of St Winnow (RG9/1534), Enumeration Districts 11b, 12c, and 13b, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1871.
  • The 1871 Census of St Winnow (RG10/2247), Enumeration District 11 to 13, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
  • The 1871 Census of St Winnow is also available from the Cornwall Family History Society.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of St Winnow (RG11/2289), Enumeration Districts 11 to 13, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of St Winnow (RG12/1814), Enumeration Districts 11 to 13, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.

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Church History

• Anglican. There are two Anglican churches in St Winnow:
  • Parish Church. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SX1157 and was dedicated to St Winnocus. It comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, and north transept. The arcade consists of six four-centred arches supported on monolith granite pillars with capitals of porcelain stone. There are a south porch and a priest's door. The tower has three stages, is buttressed on the square, and finished with battlements and pinnacles. The belfry contained five bells.
    Like so many other churches in Cornwall, this church was probably founded by a Celtic religious community round about the 7th century (St Winnow or Winnoc was an evangelist, perhaps Welsh, who also founded churches in Wales, Brittany and northern France, and died in 717); about 500 years later a larger, stone building probably replaced the old cob-and-thatch one; further enlargements and the tower were added in the l5th century; and a thorough restoration was carried out in Victorian times. Luckily, the restoration was more sensitive than that suffered by many other churches, and one of the most attractive features inside is the old woodwork. The wagon roofs, except in the chancel, are old, and so are the pulpit and parts of the beautiful screen which dominates the interior. The early bench-ends (l5th-l7th centuries) are particularly fine.
    About two miles north-east of the church stands a chapel of ease dedicated to St Nectan (called locally St Nighton's chapel). It comprises a chancel, nave, and north and south aisles. The orginal structure consisted of what is now the south aisle only. The entrances are a south porch and a vestry door. At the south-west corner of the chapel stands one substantial buttressed stage of the tower on which there is a wooden bell-cote. The upper stages were destroyed in the Civil War when the bells were melted down for use as armaments. The chapel is surrounded by a burial ground, and marriages and baptisms are celebrated it in.
    Details about the plans of the modern church are available on-line.
  • St Nectan. St Nightons (Nectan's) chapel of ease is 2 1/2 miles north-east from the Parish church. It is an ancient building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave and aisles, and at the south-west corner is one stage of an old and substantial butteresed tower with a bell cot, containing one bell. The upper stages were destroyed during the Civil war in 1644, and the six bells are said to have been melted down to furnish war material. One pinnacle was removed years ago to Boconnoc, and another serves as a gate post on the steps to the entrance to the churchyard. There are 250 sittings.
    Details about the plans of this church are available on-line.
• Non-Conformist. At Bofarnel, near Resprin, was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel. There was also a Primitive Methodist chapel at Bridgend.

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Church Records

• LDS Church Records.
  • The LDS Church batch numbers for St Winnow are: P002211, St Winnow with St Nighton C053491. These are searchable by surname.
  • The IGI coverage of this parish is 1612 - 1837; it is NOT believed to be fully included in the LDS Church's International Genealogical Index (IGI).
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1622 - 1970, Burials 1622 - 1920, Marriages 1622 - 1947, Boyd's Marriage Index 1612 - 1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1800 - 1812, BTs 1612 - 1639.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published on-line transcripts of:
  • Pre 1813 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Burials
• Baptisms.
  • The Cornish Forefathers' Society have published on CD baptisms 1708 to 1850 for this parish.
  • 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 (1870 to 1900) of the Bodmin Wesleyan Circuit, including Fletchers Bridge Chapel (1896 - 1900). Areas include: Bodmin, Lanhydrock, Lanlivery, Lanivet, Roche, Luxulyan, Cardinham, St Mabyn, Withiel, Egloshayle, Lostwithiel, Helland, St Winnow and St Breock.
  • Cornwall Legacy have published on CD, records of the Liskeard Wesleyan Circuit. These comprise baptisms 1834 to 1900. The areas cover Liskeard, Boconnoc, Broadoak, Callington, Linkinhorne, Looe, Menheniot, Morval, Pelynt, Quethiock, St Germans, St Ive, St Martins, St Neot, St Pinnock, St Veep, St Winnow, South Hill and Talland.
• Marriages. Phillimore's Marriages at St Winnow - 1622 to 1812 are available on-line from UK Genealogy Archives.

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Civil Registration

The parish of St Winnow was originally in Bodmin Registration District; it is now in the Liskeard Registration District. There were sub-districts are Bodmin, Egloshayle, Lanlivery and St Mabyn but these have now been abolished. Parishes within the BOdmin district were: Blisland, Bodmin, Bodmin Borough, Cardinham, Egloshayle, Endellion, Helland, Lanhydrock, Lanviet, Lanlivery, Lostwithiel, Luxulion, St. Kew, St. Mabyn, St. Minver Highlands, St. Minver Lowlands, St. Tudy, St. Winnow, Temple, Wadebridge, Warleggon, Withiel.

The Superintendant Registrar of Liskeard can be contacted at: Graylands, Dean Street, Liskeard, PL14 4AH. Tel: 01579 343442.

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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 St Winnow are available on-line.

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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.

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Historical Geography

• Dawna (Douenoi, Dovenot), Grid Reference 141615.
• Polscoe (Poleschat, Polscat), Grid Reference 109604.
• St Winnow (San Winnuc, Sanwinvec), Grid Reference 115570.

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Maps

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

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Occupations

Apprenticeship Indentures for St Winnow (1761 - 1820) can be found in the Cornwall Record Office.

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• St Winnow parish was part of the Bodmin Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
• Overseers' Accounts (1758 to 1837) are available in the Cornwall Record Office.

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Population

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Statistics

The parish comprises 5038 acres of land.

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