KELLY'S 1873 directory (Cornwall)

PHILLEIGH, FILLEY or EGLOS ROS (or the Church on the heath), is a parish, 6 miles south-west from Tregony and 6 south-east from TRURO, in the Western division of the county, west division of the hundred of powder, union and county court district of Truro, rural deanery of Powder, archdeaconry of Cornwall, and Exeter diocese, situated on the river Fal, near its mouth.

There are ferries over King Harry's passage to Feock, and at Tolverne and Kea parish.

The church of St. Felix, rebuilt 1867, consists of chancel, nave, south aisle, with tower containing three bells: the east window of stained glass, contains representations of the four evangelists. the register dates from the year 1733.

The living is a rectory, commuted at £350, with 21 acres of glebe, in the gift of, and held by, the Rev. William FOOKES M.A. of caius College, Cambridge. There is a parochial school for children. There are two chapels for Wesleyans. the chief landowners are Viscount FALMOUTH esq., and Richard DAVEY esq.

The soil is light loam on slate. The crops are wheat, Barley, oats, turnips, potatoes, and mangold-wurtzel. The area is 2,392acres of which 15 are water; gross estimated rental, £2,854; rateable value, £2,264; and the population in 1871 was 287.

Letters through Grampound, by messenger, from High Lanes. The nearest money order office is Porthscatho.

QUETHIOCK (pronounced "Gwithick") is a village and parish, 3.5 miles from Menheniot railway station, 9 miles north-west from Saltash, 4 east from Liskeard, and 5 south-west from Callington.

In the eastern division of the county, middle division of the hundred of East union of St-Germans, and archdeaconry and diocese of Exeter.

The church of St Hugh is an old building, has chancel, nave, north aisle, transept, square tower and 3 bells. There are several brasses in the church, one of them, a fine one, in memory of the KINGDON family, is dated 1473. The register dates from the year 1658. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £340, with residence and 30 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Bishop of Exeter; the Rev. John Rooke FLETCHER D.D., of Exeter college, Oxford, is the incumbent, who has held the living for the last 57 years. A portion of the great tithes, of the yearly value of £340 belongs to the Rev. Fritz William John TAYLOR. Here are chapels for Methodists and a national school. A fair for cattle is held here on the last Monday in January.

Here are almshouses, with an endowment of £3 7s 7d yearly. Colonel Augustus CORYTON J.P. is lord of the manor and the principal Landowner. The soil is heavy, subsoil, clayslate. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and turnips. the area is $4,351 acres; gross estimated rental, £5,738; ratable value, £5,208; and the population in 1871 was 661.

Letters through Liskeard, by foot post, arrive at 8.30 a.m.; dispatched at 3.25 p.m. Liskeard is the nearest money order office.

REDRUTH is a market and union town, head of a county court district, a parish, and station on the West Cornwall Railway; it is 9 miles south-west from Truro, 11 north-west from Falmouth, 11 north from Helston, 18 east from Penzance, and 263 from London, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Penwith, rural deanery of East Penwith, Cornwall archdeaconry, and diocese of Exeter.

The ancient name of the town was Dredruith, or Druids Town. The principal street runs east and west. The town is not incorporated: a local board of health, established 1843, has charge of the highways and necessary improvements in lighting and drainage.

The water supply of this town is very precarious, water being supplied to the inhabitants by means of 24 taps, situated in various parts of the town, supplied by pipes from the east or higher part of the district. The Board of Health has spent several hundreds of pounds in endeavouring to obtain a permanent supply of water, but without success; the draining caused by the vast mining operations into he neighbourhood appears to preclude the possibility of doing so, unless at an enormous depth and expense. The town is lighted with gas. The drainage is incomplete, there being no sewer.

The Parish church of St Uny is situated about half a mile from the town: it is a modern building, with the exception of the tower, has a chancel, nave, aisles, tower with 6 bells and a clock, and contains some monuments. The register dates from the year 1560. The living is a rectory, yearly value £430, with about 50 acres of glebe land, in the gift of Gustavus Lambert BASSET esq., and held by the Ref. John Webster HAWKSLEY M.A. of St Johns College Cambridge.

In the town is a chapel of ease. Here is a school under the management of a school board; also places of worship for Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyan Association, Baptists, and the Society of Friends. The United Methodist Free Church chapel, situated in Fore Street, is a handsome and spacious building in the Lombardo-Venetian style; it was erected 1864-5.

The county court for the Redruth district is held monthly in this town on a Tuesday in each month, but the date varies. The district comprises the following places within its jurisdiction:- Redruth, Gwennap, Camborne, Gwinear, Illogan, Phillack, Gwithian, and Stithians.

The Redruth Union house is situated about half a mile from the town, in the parish of Illogan: the meetings of the guardians are held at the Union House every alternate Friday. The union, which has a population of 53,508 includes the same parishes as the county court district.

The trade of the town has no peculiar character, but it is here that the greatest part of the copper and tin ores raised in the country are sold at weekly and other periodical assemblies of agents of smelting companies. The sales are called "ticketings" from the tickets or tenders for each parcel of ore handed in by purchasers and read by a chairman the highest tendered being the purchaser; the practice has been adopted with a view of evading the expenses of a sale by auction, and yet securing the advantages of sufficient competition. Some of the most extensive mines in Cornwall are to be found in this neighbourhood. The town contains an extensive brewing establishment, two iron foundries, a crucible manufactory, and safety-fuse works and tin smelting works.

The market days are Tuesday and Friday. Fairs are held in the town on March 25th May 2nd August 4th and October 13th yearly.

The police force consists of one sergeant and three constables.

A commodious town Hall was erected in 1850, by Mr Robert BLEE, in which the County Court is held. In Fore Street is a clock tower of granite, with illuminated dials, built in 1828.

There is a good market-place built by the late Lord DE DUNSTANVILLE, for the sale of corn, meat, butter, poultry and eggs, from which a flight of steps leads to the cattle-market, which is commonly called the Fair Meadow.

The New Hall and Public Rooms (also called the DRUID'S Hall) erected 1860 by a limited liability company, are situated in Penryn Street; a great quality of slate raised in the parish was used for its erection: it is in the Elizabethan style, and forms a prominent and pleasing addition to the town: the building contains the Library of the Redruth Literary and Scientific Institution, also a billiard room, news rooms, and parochial offices: on the 2nd floor is a spacious hall, used for concerts and lectures, and on Sundays as a school.

About a mile south-west of Redruth stands Carn Brea, a granite hill of great picturesque beauty, and containing many remains of Druidical circles and other monuments of that ancient superstition. Dr BORLASE considers the hill to have been one of the principal resorts of the Druid's for the celebration of their mysterious rites, and in his "Antiquities of Cornwall" gives a very interesting account of the remains still traceable in his time. Many of these have disappeared, but enough still remains to invite the visits of the antiquary. A magnificent view is obtained from the summit of the hill, extending from St Michaels Mount in the west to Devonshire in the east, and to the north and south as far as St George's and the British Channels.

A very extensive view is also obtained from Carn Marth, a neighbouring hill of still greater height, and from which Falmouth Castle and harbour are very distinctly seen.

The principal landowners are J.W. BULLER Esq., Sir John St AUBYN, bart, M.P., Sir Frederick M. WILLIAMS, bart. M.P., Lord CLINTON, Messrs. GARDEN, CHADWICK and MITCHELL and the representatives of the late Mrs HARTLEY. The acreage is 3,770; gross estimated rental, £27,803; rateable value, £23,340; the population of the parish in 1861 was 11,504, and in 1871 was 10,685, of which the town contains 7,760.

TOWEDNACK is a parish within the parliamentary borough of St Ives, 6 miles north-east from Penzance, 2.5 south-west from St-Ives, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Penwith, Penzance Union and county court district, rural deanery of Penwith, Cornwall archdeaconry, and Exeter Diocese.

The church of St Twinnock is an old building, which was restored and re-seated in 1870: it consists of chancel, nave, south aisle, and porch with a low square embattled tower containing 3 bells; there is a curiously carved font, which bears the date 1720: the seats are free, and provide accommodation for nearly 200 persons.

The register dates from the year 1720. The living is a chapelry, annexed to the vicarage of Uny Lelant, and of the joint yearly value of £441, with a residence and small glebe, in the gift of the Bishop of Exeter, and held by the Rev. Richard Frederick TYACKE M.A. the Rev. Nathaniel BOLINGBROKR B.A. of Queens College, Cambridge, is the resident curate. A house and field are given by the Hon. Mrs GILBERT for the curate. There are four chapels for Wesleyans, and one for Teetotal Methodists. There is also a school for both sexes, which is supported by the Hon. Mrs GILBERT, Government grant and school pence. Rosewall Hill and Ransom United Tin Mine is in this parish, and there is an ancient entrenchment called Tre-Crag-an, also on the border of the parish. Adjoining Ludgvan is an extensive china clay work and quarry, which belong to Mr Baker AMALVEOR, now a farm house, was anciently the seat of the HINGESTONS. The Duke of CLEVELAND, the Hon Mrs GILBERT, and William Batten PRAED esq. of Lelant are owners of the manor and chief landowners.

The soil is killas; the subsoil is granite. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and roots. The area is 3,035 acres; gross estimated rental, £2,761; rateable value, £2,483; and the population in 1871 was 849.

Letters through Penzance. St. Ives is the nearest money order and telegraph office. There is a letter box at Nancledra, which is cleared at 12.30 pm.

TUCKINGMILL is an ecclesiastical parish, formed in 1844 from the parishes of Camborne and Illogan, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Penwith, Union of Redruth, Redruth county court district, rural deanery of Penwith, archdeaconry of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter: the village is ½ mile north from Camborne.

The church of All Saints is a neat Norman building, having chancel, nave, south aisle, and porch, a Norman tower containing 1 bell, and three stained windows. The register dates from the year 1845. The living is a vicarage, yearly value, £220, without residence, in the alternate gift of the Bishop of Exeter and the Crown, and held by the Rev. Charles JENKYNS,B.A. of Clare College, Cambridge. There is a National school for boys and girls, and a Sunday school is held in the school room. There are chapels here for Wesleyans, United Methodists, and Primitive Methodists.

The principal landowners are Mrs PENDARVES, and G.L. BASSET, Esq. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats; the population in 1871 was 4,108.

Letters, through Camborne, arrive at 9.40am and 5.35 pm dispatched at 3.5 and 7.35 pm. The nearest money order office is Camborne.

WENDRON or St Gwendron, is a parish, 2½ miles north from Helston, in the Western division of the county, hundred of West Kerrier, Helston Union and county court district, rural deanery of Kerrier, Cornwall Archdeaconry, and Exeter Diocese, situate on the river Cober.

The north-western part of this parish is within the parliamentary borough of Helston. The church of St Gwendron* is in the perpendicular style, having chancel of much earlier date, nave, south aisle, north transept, and square embattled tower with pinnacles and 5 bells, and porch, and contains several mural monuments; the church was new roofed, thoroughly restored, and re-seated with open benches in 1868, by the present vicar at a cost of £1,100: there is in the chancel a stained glass window, with three lights, representing the Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection, presented by the late vicar, and one in the north with two lights, representing the figures of St. Simon and St. Jude.

The register dates from the year 1560. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £550, with residence and 55 acres of glebe land, in the gift of Queens College Oxford, and held by the Rev. Henry ANSTEY M.A. of University College, Oxford.

The church of St Methenny was desecrated at the end of the last Century: a portion of the font and part of a cross still remain on the old site, which is now a farmyard. There is a National school for boys and girls.

There are chapels for Wesleyans. This is a mining district. Fairs are held on the 27th of July and 29th of September, yearly, for cattle and sheep. £5 from ROWE'S charity is for poor widows of the parish. Colonel TREMAYNE who is lord of the manor, Lord ROBARTES, Sir R.R. VYVYAN bart., and Sir John ST AUBYN bart., M.P. are the chief landowners.

The soil is loam; the subsoil is granite. The chief crops are wheat oats and green crops. The area, including the district of CARNMENELLIS is 13.029 acres; gross estimated rental, £13,481; rateable value £12,164 5s; the population in 1871 was 5,818 including CARNMENELLIS excluding Helston.

Letters through Helston, which is the nearest money order and telegraph office.

[*The church at Wendron is dedicated to St Wedrona.]