Launceston St Mary Magdalene, Cornwall Genealogy

England Cornwall  Cornwall Parishes

Parish History
LAUNCESTON (St. Mary Magdalene), a borough,market-town, and parish, and the head of a union, in the N. division of the hundred of East, E. division of Cornwall, 20½ miles (N. E. by E.) from Bodmin, and 213 (W. S. W.) from London. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and other dissenters.

Launceston St Mary Magdalene is an Anceint parish historically in the Diocese of Exeter but in the modern Diocese of Truro. With St Stephen by Launceston, Cornwall and St Thomas by Launceston, Cornwall it forms the Launceston benefice in the Diocese of Truro.

The Tudor church was built in 1511-1524 by Sir Henry Trecarrel as a memorial to an infant son.

The ornate carvings in granite originally carved for the mansion he began to build at Trecarrel, Lezant have survived. The tower of the church dates from the 14th century, an earlier church and graveyard having previously occupied the site. The modern Roman Catholic Church is dedicated to the martyr Saint Cuthbert Mayne; it was built in the Byzantine style and opened in 1911. The churches at St Stephen by Launceston, Cornwall and St Thomas by Launceston, Cornwall form distinct parishes neighbouring the Ancient Parish.

England Jurisdictions 1851. may assist to search neighbouring 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
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Images of parish registers are available online in historic records (formerly Record Search) Images refer to Cornwall County Record Office reference: P 118

The image collection for the parish is titled Launceston and refers to the image conversion for

Parish registers for Launceston, 1852-1950 Church of England. Parish Church of Launceston

Cornwall Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource is the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks page for the parish http://www.cornwall-opc.org/Par_new/l_m/launceston_mary.php

The history registers and much more have been contributed by the Online Parish clerk for Launceston Phillipa Stout.

Census records
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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 [county] 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 web sites are:


 * 1851 Jurisdiction Maps
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Add here any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.