Cornwall

Nearby places

Gwinear

The parish of Gwinear (Cornish: Sen Gwynnyer), is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Penwith. To the north is the parish of Gwithian with Camborne also in the north going around to the east. Crowan is to the east going around to the south of Gwinear Parish, with St. Erth and Phillack both lying to the west. This parish lies on high ground south-west of Camborne and is composed of scattered farms and houses. There is archaeological evidence that farming in this area goes back at least to the 2nd century, as a defended farmhouse of that period was discovered in the parish. The village of Rosewarne was once in possession of the Arundells of Lanherne. Gwinear was the son of an Irish pagan king and is reputed to have been slaughtered together with his companions by the Cornish pagan king Theodoric.

Silver and copper mines and related industries were important in the past, but as elsewhere in Cornwall these have now declined. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Rosewarne and Herland mines produced silver, whilst Wheal Alfred and Wheal Relistian produced copper. In those days, the parish was a thriving mining community and one of the first steam engines ever to be built was installed at the Herland mine in 1758. Now the parish has camping and caravan parks and agriculture is the other source of industry.

Villages within the Parish are the Churchtown, Coswinsausin, Drannock, Fraddam, Tregortha, Rewala, Relistian, Carnhell Green, and Wall. The civil parishes of Gwinear and Gwithian were combined to form Gwinear-Gwithian in 1934.

Cemeteries

• The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions for the the Parish Church - 648 entries.
• War Memorial inscriptions for Gwinear parish are separately available.

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 Gwinear (HO107/142), Enumeration Districts 5 to 8, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1851.
  • The 1851 Census of Gwinear (HO107/1916) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
    • Enumeration Districts 1a and 1b.
    • Enumeration Districts 1c and 1d.
  • The New Zealand Society of Genealogists have compiled separate surname indexes of the 1851 Census for each Cornish registration district; Gwinear is listed in Volume 38. 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 Gwinear (RG9/1585), Enumeration Districts 5 to 8, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1871. The 1871 Census of Gwinear (RG10/2329), Enumeration Districts 7 to 9, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of Gwinear (RG11/2338), Enumeration Districts 6 to 9, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of Gwinear (RG12/1852), Enumeration Districts 6 to 9, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.

Church History

• Anglican. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW5937 and was dedicated to St Winierus or Gwinear. The Gwinear Church stands on an elevated part of the parish, some 240 feet above sea-level, and the living was held by Exeter College and had been since 1261.
  The church comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, north aisle, and an extreme north aisle. The south arcade has four obtuse arches, the north six, and the extreme north four. Entrance is by a north porch, there is a priest's door; the south door is blocked. The tower is of three stages, buttressed on the square, and finished with battlements and pinnacles. The stone staircase is finished with a turret which also is battlemented. The tower was built around 1441, when money was left for its building. A beacon used to be lit on the church tower as a navigation aid.
  Details about the plans of the modern church are available on-line.
• Non-Conformist.There is a Methodist Church at Wall, and a Meeting House at Carnhell Green. John Wesley preached at Wall in 1747.

Church Records

The Gwinear parish registers begin in 1560; however, the orginal register is in very poor condition.

• LDS Church Records.
  • The LDS Church batch numbers for Gwinear are: C025711/2/5, M025714/6/7. These are searchable by surname.
  • The IGI coverage of this parish is 1560 - 1895.
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1560 - 1900, Burials 1560 - 1900, Marriages 1560 - 1812, Boyd's Marriage Index 1560 - 1912, Pallot's Marriage Index 1800 - 1812.
• Baptisms.
  • The Cornish Forefathers' Society have published on CD baptisms 1712 to 1840 for this parish.
  • Baptisms in Gwinear parish 1813 to 1820 are available on-line courtesy of West Cornwall Genealogy.
  • 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.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD baptisms (1845 to 1900) and Burials (1892 to 1900) of the Breage and Crowan Methodist Chapels, (including Black Rock, Horsedowns, Nancegollan, Praze, Townshend, Trenwheal chapels). Areas include: Breage, Crowan, Gwinear, Sithney, and St Erth.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, baptisms (1866 to 1900) of the Hayle Wesleyan Methodist Circuit. The area covers Hayle, Phillack, Breage, Crowan, Gwinear, St Erth and Gwithian.
  • Cornwall Legacy have also published on CD, records of the Hayle Wesleyan Circuit (Wall Section). These include: baptisms (1862 to 1900), Wall Chapel marriages (1867-1884, 1899-1900, Connor Downs Chapel baptisms 1900. The areas covers Hayle, Phillack, Breage, Crowan, Ludgvan, Gwinear, Copperhouses, St Erth and Gwithian.
• Marriages.
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Marriages 1560 to 1837, which is available in Book, CD or downloadable .pdf file formats.
  • Phillimore's marriages 1560 to 1710 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 or CD formats.
  • West Cornwall Genealogy have placed on line burials in Gwinear parish:
    • 1600 to 1699.
    • 1700 to 1799.

Civil Registration

The parish of Gwinear was originally in the Redruth Registration District until its dissolution. There were sub-districts at Camborne, Gwennap, Illogan, Phillack and Redruth which have now been abolished. Gwithian-Gwinear is now part of the Penzance Registration District. Parishes in this registration district were: Camborne, East Phillack, Gwennap, Gwinear, Gwithian, Illogan, Phillack, Redruth, St. Sithian's, West Phillack.

The Superintendant Registrar of Penzance 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).

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.
• There is a genealogical website for the parish.

Historical Geography

• Roseworthy (Rituuori, Ritwore), Grid Reference 615390.

Manors

There were five Manors which held land in the Parish; they were: Connerton, Drannick, Gurlyn, Polkinghorne, and Roseworthy.

Maps

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

Names, Personal

A list of surnames in Gwinear, which are being researched by those who are email capable, is available on-line.

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

Gwinear parish was part of the Redruth Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.

Population

The civil parishes of Gwinear and Gwithian united to form 'Gwinear - Gwithian' in 1934. However, population figures were combined from 1901 for the joint Gwinear-Gwithian civil parish.

Probate Records

A list of Wills & Admons for Gwinear, Cornwall 1660 - 1773 is available on-line.

Statistics

The parish comprises 4647 acres of land.

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