Bernard Deacon's Blog, page 12

St Winnow: the saints come marching in

There are 212 ancient parishes in Cornwall and another six on Scilly. Of these, 60 or so are routinely identified as a saint’s name by the addition of the word Saint. In some places, saint is usually omitted by the natives in speech, as in Buryan. In others, such as Endellion, the word is sometimes … Continue reading St Winnow: the saints come marching in →

St Wenn: teaching the deaf

St Wenn is a small farming parish in mid-Cornwall to the west of Bodmin. Off the tourist maps, it can be easily overlooked. In 1861 in its small churchtown we would have found Mary Ann Hobbah, described as the wife of a schoolmaster. It’s not clear where her husband John was at the time, although … Continue reading St Wenn: teaching the deaf →

St Veep: on the roads

St Veep in the nineteenth century was a rural parish bordering the lower reaches of the River Fowey and well away from the main communication routes. More than half of its working population would have been found on the farms of the parish. However, one alternative to farm labouring in the 1800s was labouring on … Continue reading St Veep: on the roads →

St Tudy: shoemakers and carpenters

St Tudy is another of those typical Cornish farming parishes found in the rolling countryside of north Cornwall between Bodmin Moor and the Camel estuary. And yet three of the four children from the parish who appear in our database had a connection with craftsmen over the course of their lives. Even in farming parishes … Continue reading St Tudy: shoemakers and carpenters →

St Thomas by Launceston: a gentleman and a grocer

St Thomas by Launceston was part rural, part urban. On its eastern side it probed into the village of Newport that lay in the valley between St Stephen’s and Launceston. To the west, it stretched into the countryside alongside the River Kensey. It might not have been very obvious by the mid-1800s but this parish … Continue reading St Thomas by Launceston: a gentleman and a grocer →

St Teath: slate quarrying on two continents

St Teath in the 1860s was Cornwall’s slate capital. The village of Delabole in the parish had grown as the result of the expansion of the former hamlets of Pengelly, Meadrose and Rockhead, which housed the hundreds of quarry labourers who came to work at Delabole Quarry, one of the deepest, if not the deepest, … Continue reading St Teath: slate quarrying on two continents →

St Stephen’s by Saltash: selling insurance and saving souls

St Stephen’s was the parish out of which Saltash, Cornwall’s most easterly town, was carved in medieval times. Now, the boot firmly on the other foot, Saltash devours its parent in turn as Plymouth’s commuter belt greedily siphons up south east Cornwall’s countryside. In the 1800s, St Stephen’s by Saltash was a large fairly unexceptional … Continue reading St Stephen’s by Saltash: selling insurance and saving souls →

St Stephens by Launceston: Draper and caterer

After consolidating their control over England the Normans cautiously extended their rule westwards, reaching the Tamar by 1070. A few decades later, they were busy building a border castle to awe the natives at what is now Launceston. Except that it wasn’t Launceston before the 1150s. The name Lansteffan, meaning the holy site of Stephen, … Continue reading St Stephens by Launceston: Draper and caterer →

St Stephen in Brannel: a million-selling author

In earlier times, inland parishes such as St Stephen in Brannel in mid-Cornwall were places where the fiercely independent tinner-farmers of Cornwall flourished. This class had energetically enclosed the downs, carved out their smallholdings and built their cottages. However, from the early nineteenth century their way of life was being progressively undermined by the expansion … Continue reading St Stephen in Brannel: a million-selling author →

St Sampson: saints on the move

On the west bank of the Fowey River, the small parish of St Sampson with Golant lies at the southern end of the ‘Saints’ Way’ trail from Padstow to Fowey. In the sixth and seventh centuries this was the supposed route whereby scores of holy men and women crossed Cornwall from Wales on their way … Continue reading St Sampson: saints on the move →