Altarnun, Cornwall Genealogy

Guide to Altarnun, Cornwall ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
ALTARNUN (St. Nunn), a parish, in the union of Launceston, hundred of Lesnewth, E. division of Cornwall, 7¾ miles (W. S. W.) from Launceston. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Altarnun (Cornish: Alternonn), St Nonna is located on the north-eastern edge of Bodmin Moor at Ordnance Survey grid reference SX223811.

The parish of Altarnun includes the village of Fivelanes and the hamlets of Bolventor, Trewen and Trewint.

The church of St Nonna is also known as the Cathedral of the Moor and is the largest Moor parish church. It is a building largely of the 15th century in the Perpendicular style, with a tower 109 ft high. It is notable for the fine Norman font and the amount of old woodwork, including the screen, bench-ends and communion rails which date to 1684. The screen is one of the finest 15th century examples in Cornwall; it has three gates and the cornice of vines and tracery and vaulting are finely carved. The 79 bench-end carvings were executed by Robert Daye between 1510 and 1530 (Pevsner attributes them to 1524 or later) and portray a range of subjects including a Cornish piper and fiddler (Daye's name is given on one but the date is illegible). Also, one of the damaged pew ends was repaired to its former glory by the late local master joiner Douglas Edwards in the 1980s. The dedication is to Saint Non or Nonna, who was the mother of St David.

Neighbouring Parishes
St Breward, Cornwall St Cleer, Cornwall  St Clether, Cornwall  Trewen, Cornwall Lewannick, Cornwall Blisland, Cornwall St Neot, Cornwall

Civil Registration
Births, marriages, and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site isFree BMD

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Records available through the Family History Library are as follows: Church of England parish registers: 1688-1992; Church of England Chapelry of Bolventor registers 1849-1979; Church of England transcripts of parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts 1610-1837; Parish chest materials, 1729-1862. Church records for Alternon Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1846-1996.

Church records indexes for Alternon parish are also available.

Original registers are deposited at the Cornwall Record Office, County Hall, Truro TRI 3AY. These deposited original registers cover the time period 1610-1980.

Images of parish registers are available online at FamilySearchunder Records. Images refer to Cornwall Record Office reference: P4.

Cornwall Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource is the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks

Census records
Cornwall Online Census Project

Poor Law Unions
Launceston Poor Law Union

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Cornwall Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdiction by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
There are many maps and gazetteers showing English places. Valuable Websites are:


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Altarnun in GENUKI