St Breward, Cornwall Genealogy

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

Parish History
BREWARD, ST., or Simonward (St. Bruard), a parish, in the union of Camelford, hundred of Trigg, E. division of Cornwall, 6¾ miles N by E from Bodmin.

St Breward (Cornish: Sen Branwalader) is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cornwall. Other places in the parish include: Lower Lanke. Until the 19th century it was commonly known by the corrupt form of the name: 'Simonward'. The church was dedicated to St Brueredus in 1278 and is the highest church in Cornwall.. It is a substantial building of the Norman period to which a south aisle and western tower were added in the 15th century (these additions are of granite). It was restored in the 19th century and only parts of the Norman north arcade remain. There were in the mediaeval period three chapels in the parish: at Hamatethy the manorial chapel of the Peverells; St Michael's Chapel at Roughtor, and another at Chaple. Thomas Taylor the historian was vicar here and edited the parish registers.

The village of St Breward boasts the highest Church in Cornwall at about 700 ft above sea-level, and is well known for granite and china clay quarries. Within the parish lie two of Cornwall's best known landmarks: Roughtor and Brown Willy. St Breward is also famous for its granite. It had three quarries: Tordown, Hantergantic and De Lank. Moorland Granite has been used for centuries to build local houses and churches, and stone from the De Lank Quarry was used for important and famous landmarks, such as the Eddystone Lighthouse (1882), the Beachy Head Lighthouse (1900) and London's Tower Bridge (1890).

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

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 is Free BMD.

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Cornwall ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * Cornish Parish Records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Census Records
Cornwall Online Census Project

Poor Law Unions
Camelford 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 Jurisdictions by Parish.

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


 * 1851 Jurisdiction Maps
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
St Breward in GENUKI