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 entitiy, part of the territory held and administered by Tywardreath priory until the dissolution of the monasteries. There were also the 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 the town.

The parish church, orginally 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 orignal church remain.

The parish was of local importance only 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 these diminished while the china clay mines grew. In 1804, it was estimated 1,400 persons lived in St. Austell. In 1844, when tin mining crashed and 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 over 21,000, and it is the largest town in Cornwall.

CHURCH RECORDS, AND CHAPELS IN THE PARISH
In July of 1837, births, marriages and deaths were required to be reported to the 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 Genealogy and History website, or in the OPC free database, which also includes various later non-conformist registers as well. 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 pages for Charlestown and Treverbyn for these parishes, 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 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)