St Austell, Cornwall Genealogy

HISTORY
A once-large parish of 11,450 acres, located in the hundred of Powder, on the south-eastern coast of Cornwall, St Austell did not appear in the Domesday book, but by 1292 was recognized as a separate entity, part of the territory held and administered by Tywardreath priory until the dissolution of the monasteries. There were also manors of Tewington and Trenance, as well as Treverbyn.

The main town also carries the name, and when most people refer to St. Austell now, they most often intend to refer to the town.

The parish church, originally dedicated to Saint Austell (Austol, Austle), an Irish mendicant who arrived in Cornwall with St. Mewan, was re-dedicated to the Holy Trinity, perhaps when the church tower of Pentewan stone was erected in the 1480's. It has been called "a bible in stone", with sculptures illustrating not only the Holy Trinity, but all the apostles, and the 2 Irish saints as well. The church was remodeled in the 1490's, and again in the mid 1840's by St. Aubyn in his well-known style, but some remnants of the original church remain.

The parish was of modest importance until Wm. Cookworthy discovered the use of china clay in 1759, and shortly thereafter it was discovered the parish was rich in this resource; it has since been proven to be one of the top 5 sources of pure china clay in the world. Previously, tin and copper mining had been a mainstay of the parish, but their importance diminished while the china clay mines grew. In 1804, it was estimated 1,400 persons lived in St. Austell. In 1844, when the market for Cornish tin crashed, and subsequently miners found themselves out of work, the china clay mines continued producing - and people moved into the parish, raising the population to over 10,000.

Today, the population is estimated at over 28,000; it is the largest town in Cornwall.

CHURCH RECORDS, REGISTERS, AND CHAPELS IN THE PARISH
In July of 1837, births, marriages and deaths were required to be reported to government Registrar(s), and various non-conformist churches were licensed to conduct such services. Prior to that date, from 1565 to 1837, the Holy Trinity Church of England registers contained almost all the vital statistics for the parish. These registers have been transcribed, and are available for free look-up either on the St. Austell Genealogical and Historical website, or in the OPC free database, which also includes various later non-conformist registers as well. (See below for links.) These registers have been filmed by LDS; see the library section for information. CFHS has booklets available for purchase, with very helpful information on cemeteries, and has BMD information in their database on Find My Past, for a fee.

By 1848, the parish was divided into 3; Charlestown was taken from the portion following the bay, while Treverbyn was carved from the "china clay" upper-area. Various other political division took place over the years; in 2009, St. Austell parish was once again divided, but these changes should not affect genealogists.

Please see the separate pages for Charlestown and Treverbyn, but remember that earlier records are included under St. Austell.

There were very active Bible Christian chapels, as well as Wesleyan Methodist, Primitive Methodist, and Free Methodist congregations; in 1837, there were 27 Wesleyan chapels alone. St. Austell was the home of Loveday Hambley, of Tregongeeves, the "Quaker Saint" and friend of George Fox, whose family donated land for a burial ground. Unfortunately, that burial ground no longer exists, as it was subsumed by road expansion. However, the manor house still stands, and the headstones were removed to the Friend's Meeting House, which is still in operation.

According to the 1873 Kelly's Directory, there were 31 non-conformist chapels in the town and parish; unfortunately most have been re-purposed or closed, and many records have been lost. Included amongst these were the "Tabernacle" of the Congregational church, and several Baptist chapels, as well as Bridge United Free Methodist Chapel of Mount Charles, demolished in 1985.

Burials were conducted in the Holy Trinity churchyard until 1880, when the community cemetery was opened. During various remodelings and highway alterations, the graves & bodies were removed, and the headstones crushed and buried in a corner of the property. High Cross Cemetery, with 485 memorials,has since been changed into Cemetery Park, across from the railway station; remaining headstones have been arranged near the stone walls. The larger, roomier St. Austell Cemetery on Eastbourne Road, also known as "Watering Hill" cemetery, once on the edge of town, remains open and available. It has 4,103 memorials. Records for this burial ground are maintained by the local government; due to recent changes, procedures to obtain information are uncertain. (late 2009)

ST. AUSTELL UNION WORKHOUSE
The St. Austell Union Workhouse was built in 1837, with a capacity for 300 residents and the capability of serving several parishes until 1930, when all such workhouses were abolished. Afterward, the building fell victim to an arsonist. According to the Cornwall Record Office, workhouse information regarding individual inmates in the form of records such as admission and discharge registers no longer exist. All that remains deals with buildings and finance, which would not be of interest to a genealogist.

Census data from 1841 through 1891 is available on the St. Austell History and Genealogy website, as well as Rootsweb's FreeCENS. A photograph of the workhouse, and a sample diet, is also available on the St. Austell site.

ST. AUSTELL REGISTRATION DISTRICT
After births, marriages, and deaths were required by law to be reported to governmental Registrars in 1837, Registration Districts were established. One of these was named "St. Austell". It should not be confused with the parish.

When utilizing the FreeBMD database at Rootsweb, the Registration District will be shown. Any of the parishes in the District may have the desired information.

As of 2002, the Registration District comprised the following parishes:


 * Charlestown
 * Colan
 * Crantock
 * Fowey
 * Grampound with Creed
 * Lanlicvery
 * Luxulyan
 * Lostwithiel
 * Mawgan-in-Pydar
 * Mevagissey
 * Newquay
 * Roche
 * St. Austell (St. Austle)
 * St. Blazey (St. Blaise)
 * St. Columb Major
 * St. Columb Minor
 * St. Dennis
 * St. Enoder
 * St. Ewe
 * St. Goran
 * St. Mewan
 * St. Michael Caerhays
 * St. Sampson
 * St. Stephens in Brannel
 * St. Wenn
 * Treverbyn
 * Tywardreath

As any of these parishes might contain the requisite information, it might be best to access the Cornwall Online Parish Clerk database as it covers all of Cornwall, rather than an individual parish.

REFERENCES, and RECOMMENDED READING
"CORNWALL and It's People", A.K. Hamilton-Jenkin, David & Charles, London, 1945 & 1988

"ST. AUSTELL: Church, Town, and Parish", A.L. Rowse, H.E. Warne, LTD, 1960

"ST. AUSTELL, A Cornish Parish" Canon Joseph Hammond,L.L.B., Skeffington & Son, London, 1897

"A CORNISH CHILDHOOD" A.L. ROWSE, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc/Crown Publishers Inc, New York. 1942 & 1979

"HISTORIC CORNWALL - St. Austell", Kate Newell, Historic Environmental Service, Cornwall County Council, 2004, at http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/csus/towns/staustell/staustell [If this address does not work, go to historic-cornwall.org.uk, and click on Cornwall and Scilly Urban Survey, then "towns"; you can then enter "St. Austell" to see the reports and download a map of the area circa 1907]

"The Archaeology of the St. Austell China Clay Area" P. Herring and J. Smith, Historic Environment Service, Cornwall County Council, 1991