St. Austell, Cornwall Genealogy

A once-large parish located in the hundred of Powder, on the southern coast of Cornwall, os coordinates ..... St Austell did not appear in the Domesday book, but by 1292 was recognized as a separate entitiy. It was part of the territory held and administered by Tywardreath priory until the dissolution of the monasteries. The church, orginally dedicated to Saint Austell (or Austol), an Irish mendicant who arrived in Cornwall with St. Mewan, was re-dedicated to the Holy Trinity, perhaps when the church tower was constructed in the late 1400's. The tower of Pentewan stone 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 some remnants exist still, including a pew-end illustrating a fox in the pulpit preaching to a worshipper, and another with the original Duke of Cornwall insignia.

The parish was not of great importance until Wm. Cooksworthy discovered the use of china clay, and it was discovered the parish was rich in this concretion. Previously, tin and copper mining had been a mainstay of the parish, but these diminished while the china clay mines grew.