Cornwall

Nearby places

Towednack

Towednack, (Cornish: Tewunnek), is situated in the Western Division of the Deanery and Hundred of Penwith; it is bounded on the north by St Ives; on the east by Lelant; on the south by Ludgvan and Gulval; and on the west by Zennor and the sea.

According to O.J.Padel, this name is derived from To-Winnow, a pet-form name of St Winwaloe, to whom the local church is dedicated. Towednack is west and south of St. Ives; the name Towednack is derived from middle Cornish to, "thy" Wednack. The remoteness of the 13th century church, situated south-west of St Ives, suggests it was built on the site of a Celtic hermitage rather than to serve a village. Evidence of Bronze Age habitation has been discovered in the area. In the Domesday Book of 1086, this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Amall, now Amall Veor or Trenwith.

The chief villages of the parish are the Churchtown, Nancledra, and Trevidge Veor (or Trevessa).

Cemeteries

• Transcriptions from Towednack cemetery are available on the Cornish Cemeteries site.
• Some monumental inscriptions for Towednack are available on-line courtesy of West Penwith Resources.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions for the Parish Church - 485 entries. There are also some photographs of Towednack Churchyard.

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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 Towednack (HO107/144), Enumeration Districts 11 to 13, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
  • The 1841 Census of Towednack, (Enumeration Districts 11 to 13), is also on-line from West Penwith Resources.
• 1851.
  • The 1841 Census of Towednack (HO107/1917), Enumeration Districts 1a, 1b and 1c, 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; Towednack is listed in Volume 25. 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 Towednack (RG9/1590), Enumeration Districts 11 to 13, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1871. The 1871 Census of Towednack (RG10/2335), Enumeration Districts 12 to 14, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of Towednack (RG11/2342), Enumeration Districts 13 to 15, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1891.
  • Details of the 1891 Census of Towednack is available on-line.
  • It is also available (RG12/1854), as Enumeration Districts 13 to 15, on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.

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Church History

• Anglican. Towednack was constituted as a separate ecclesiastical parish from Lelant on 2nd August 1902.
  The ancient parish church is located in OS Grid Square SX4838 and was dedicated to St Tewinock or St Towennocus (Winwallo). Wednack is the pet-name given to St. Winwalo, the patron saint of the church.
  The church comprises a chancel, nave, and south aisle. The arcade consists of five four-centred arches, supported on three octagonal granite pillars. The only entrace is a south porch. The tower is a massive structure of two stages; it is finished with battlements.
  Towednack church is the only church in West Cornwall to possess a Chancel arch and this dates from the late 13th or 14th century. The Nave and parts of the North Wall are Norman. The South Aisle was added in 1460 and the Tower in 1500. The Tower is squat and massive. There is a legend which purports to explain its lack of height. When the courses were being built by the masons had reached a certain level the devil came and knocked down subsequent building every night. This happened time and time again. As the work was resumed by day so it was removed by night. Finally the builders in despair erected the battlements as they are today. The Tower staircase in unusual, springing direct from the north-west angle of the nave in the church itself with five steps. At one time there was a Gallery at the west end of the Nave. Perhaps the most striking feature of the church is the stone Altar. It is roughly hewn from a solid block of granite and has five crosses incised at the centre and four corners (these crosses representing the five wounds of Christ). It is late Norman and was probably thrown out at the Reformation which required that altars should be of wood.
  The 13th century church is best noted for its unusually short massive tower that is totally lacking in ornamentation. The church was substantiaklkly restored in 1869-70. A further descriptive information about the church, and taken from Blight's Churches of West Cornwall - 1864, is available.
  Details about the plans of the modern church are available on-line. In 1933 Towednack was the first church in modern times to hold a service said in the Cornish Language followed by the Gorsedd Assembly. A history of the church is also available.
• Non-Conformist. There are Wesleyan Methodist chapels at Nancledra and Coldharbour Moor.

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Church Records

Surviving church registers date from 1676. Whilst the Towednack Parish Register (PR) does not begin until 1676, there are extant Bishop's Transcripts (BTs) to help fill the gaps back to the 1500s. However, they are very sparse, and contain many missing years. The Towednack PR is missing for the years 1707-1720. This gap is partially filled by the extant BTs, and these are missing the years 1706, 1707, 1709, 1710, 1713, and 1714.

• LDS Church Records.
  • The LDS Church batch numbers for Towednack are: C022791, M022791. These are searchable by surname.
  • The IGI coverage of this parish is 1676 - 1812.
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1676 - 1983, Burials 1683 - 1985, Marriages 1677 - 1983, Boyd's Marriage Index 1597 - 1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1790 - 1812, BTs 1597 - 1674.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published on-line transcripts of:
  • Pre 1813 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Burials
• General.
  • Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, taken from Bishop's Transcripts (Exeter), 1597 to 1674, are available on-line.
  • Baptisms and Burials, taken from Towednack Bishop's Transcripts (Bodmin) 1706 to 1720, are also available on-line.
• Baptisms.
  • Baptisms 1676 to 1812, and 1859 to 1911, in this parish are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • Towednack Baptisms 1676 to 1812 are available on-line.
  • The Cornish Forefathers' Society have published on CD, baptisms 1720 to 1840 for this parish.
  • Cornwall Legacy have published on CD, baptisms (1839 to 1900) of the Penzance Bible Christian Circuit. The Circuit covers Penzance, Sancreed, St Just, Madron, Gulval, St Hilary, Ludgvan, Paul, Sennen, St Buryan, Zennor, Towednack and Morvah.
  • Cornwall Legacy have published on CD, baptisms (1844 to 1900) of the Penzance Primitive Methodist Circuit. The Circuit covers Penzance, Madron, St Ives, Gulval, Lelant, Ludgvan, Paul, Newlyn St Peter, and Towednack.
  • 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.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, records of the St Ives Primitive Methodist Circuit. These comprise baptisms (1832 to 1900). The areas covers St Ives, Penzance, Towednack, Lelant, and Ludgvan.
• Marriages.
  • Phillimore marriages 1676 to 1812, and marriage transcripts 1837 to 1911 for this parish, are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Marriages 1597 to 1836, which is available in CD or downloadable .pdf file formats.
• Burials.
  • Burials 1866 to 1911 for this parish are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • Towednack Burials 1683 to 1812 are available on-line.
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Burials 1813 to 1837, which is available in Book or CD formats.

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Civil Registration

The parish of Towednack has been in the Penzance Registration District continuously from 1st July 1837. 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.

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Description & Travel

• A history of the parishes of St. Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor in the county of Cornwall by J. H. Mathews (Published 1892), is available on-line, courtesy of the Old Cornwall Society.
• 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 Towednack are available on-line.

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Directories

• An extract from Kelly's Directory of Cornwall 1856, covering Towednack, is available.
• An extract from Kelly's Directory of Cornwall 1873, covering Towednack, is available.
• An extract from Kelly's Directory of Cornwall 1883, covering Towednack, is available.
• An extract from Kelly's Directory of Cornwall 1893, covering Towednack, is 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.
• The West Penwith Resources have produced a genealogical website for Towednack to help family historians.

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History

• Towednack: Lake's Parochial History 1868.

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Manors

The Manor of Ludgvan Lese covered parts of the parishes of Ludgvan, St. Ives, Zennor and Towednack. The abstracts of the Manorial Records 1688-1739, which are taken from LDS film #1471491, are available on-line.

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Maps

• Map of the Penzance Registration District in which the parish lies.
• An old map of the parish of Towednack in the 19th century is also available.
• An old map of Lelant, St Ives and Towednack in 1835 is available on-line from GENMAPS.
• A map showing Towednack in the context of its neighbours is also available.

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Towednack parish was part of the Penzance Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
• Settlement Papers (1829, 1839) and Bastardy Bonds (1831), are available in the Cornwall Record Office.

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Population

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Probate Records

• Wills & Admons for Towednack parish, 1660-1772 are available on-line.

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Societies

• To encourage and sustain public interest in the history of Penwith to provide mutual support and encouragement to members in their individual research projects, whether related to Penwith or of wider historical interest.
• To work as a group on specific research projects, with the aim of publication to an academic standard.
• To encourage the strong link with the Morrab Library, supporting the Library in its aims and activities.

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Statistics

The parish comprises 2400 acres of land.

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