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Carbis Bay

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Carbis Bay, (Cornish: Karrbons), is generally accepted as being part of Lelant; it is located in a romantic wooded gorge, running from the road down to the shore and is a holiday resort. In this spot several good dwelling-houses and hotels were built for visitors to the neighbourhood. The best view of the valley is had from the beach, looking upwards. The bay with its broad sands, is a nice spot for a quiet walk or read, and is more retired than the beach of Porthminster.
The railroad crosses the valley by a stone viaduct, and near at hand is the little Carbis Bay station. The train always stops here, for the convenience of those who like to walk back to town of St Ives, or from that town to Carbis Bay, returning by train.
Hawke's Point is a headland a short distance beyond Carbis Valley. The beauty of its scenery has a great attraction for tourists. Here is a pretty shaded garden and places in which visitors may have refreshments.

The ecclesiastical parish is named after the farm, which gave its name to the actual bay. The Cornish name for the bay is 'Barrepta Cove'. The word Carbis may be derived from the Cornish for 'causeway'.

Most parish and church description(s) on these pages are from Lake's Parochial History of the County of Cornwall by J Polsue (Truro, 1867 - 1873)

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Cemeteries

  • Barnoon, is St. Ives oldest cemetery. It is an area of St. Ives on a steep hill above Porthmeor beach. The cemetery is located on the hill itself behind the Tate Gallery. All burials prior to Barnoon for St Ives were in local parishes. When all the plots at Barnoon were full or purchased, the next cemetery used from late 1950s was Longstones Cemetery at Carbis Bay. There is no church situated at either Barnoon or Longstones; however at Longstones there is a small chapel where services can be held.
  • Transcriptions from Barnoon and Longstones cemetery, in St Ives, are available on the Cornish Cemeteries site..
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions on-line for the Parish Church - 49 entries.
  • Some monumental inscriptions for Lelant, Longstones cemetery at Carbis Bay are available on-line courtesy of West Penwith Resources.
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Census

Census information for Lelant (1841 - 1901) is held in the Cornwall Record Office.


Carbis Bay has generally been enumerated as part of Lelant. Specific census information for this parish is available as follows:

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Church History

  • Anglican. A mission church was first erected here in 1913, following the separation from Uny-Lelant. The parish church, which was built in 1929, is located in OS Grid Square SW5238; it is dedicated to St Anta and All Saints. The parish is now again united with Uny-Lelant.
  • Non-Conformist. There were chapels here for the Wesleyans and United Methodists.
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Church Records

The earliest Registers for Carbis Bay started in 1934, although there are some entries from 1929. The Anglican registers are all held in the church; none are at the Cornwall Record Office.

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Civil Registration

The parish of Carbis Bay has been in the Penzance Registration District since it was created in the early 20th century from Uny-Lelant. 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

You can see pictures of Carbis Bay which are provided by:

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Directories

Kelly's Directory of Cornwall 1893 covering Lelant (including Carbis Bay).

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Gazetteers

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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.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SW526387 (Lat/Lon: 50.196353, -5.467931), Carbis Bay which are provided by:

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Poor Houses, Poor Law

Carbis Bay parish was part of the Penzance Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.

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Population

Carbis Bay has always been enumerated with, and as part of, Lelant.

  • Population in 1921 - 1361 persons
  • Population in 1931 - 1429 persons
  • Population in 1951 - 1548 persons
  • Population in 1961 - 1859 persons
  • Population in 1971 - 2615 persons
  • Population in 1981 - 2605 persons
  • Population in 1991 - 2930 persons
  • Population in 2001 - 3482 persons (Lelant and Carbis Bay)
  • In 2011 the population was enumerated under St Ives.
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Statistics

The parish comprises 1957 acres of land. (In 1971, Lelant and Carbis Bay occupied 792 Hectares of land).