Kenwyn, Cornwall Genealogy

Parish History
General overview

Kenwyn St Keyne is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cornwall. Kea, Cornwall was a chapelry of Kenwyn. Other places in the parish include: Short Lanes End and Tregavethan.

Kenwyn (Cornish: Keynwynn)is probably the mother church of Truro-the original dedication is doubtfully St Keyne (Keynwen is the earliest form of the name which would be 'Keyn' and -wen' (white/blessed): by the 15th century it was assumed to be St Kenwyn (no medieval records have it with the prefix 'Saint'). Subsequently the dedication was attributed to St Cuby. The manor of Kenwyn was held in the 12th century by Richard de Luci after it had been confiscated by the King. Apparently the borough of Truro was established by the lord in part of the manor and this was the beginning of Truro as a town, then called Triuereu. In Domesday Book the manor of Kenwyn appears as Tregavran (in later usage Trehaverne). It was in the possession over many centuries of the families of Lantyan, Beville and Grenville, and Enys.

The church is more or less 14th and 15th century in date: (south aisle and tower 15th century). Restorations were carried out (1820 to 1862). The churchyard provides a fine view over the city of Truro and above the lychgate is an upper chamber (probably a schoolroom).

Lis Escop (the Kenwyn Vicarage of 1780) became after the establishment of the Diocese of Truro the bishop's palace

The earliest form of the name is Keynwen (1259), from keyn ridge and gwen white but the modern Cornish form has been interpreted as "Splendid Chief".

Kenwyn St George, Cornwall was created as a result of boundary changes and gazetted in 1846.Truro St John,Cornwall was built as a chapel in Lemon Street Truro from within the parish in 1837/8.

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
Overview, Include information for parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts, Contact information for the office holding the original records, Links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Images of parish registers are available online in historic records (formerly Record Search) Images refer to Cornwall County Record Office reference P 98

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/h_k/kenwyn.php

The history, registers and much more have been contributed by the Online Parish clerk for Kenwyn.

Census records
Overview, Include any unique information such as the census for X year was destroyed, Collection in FHL and link to catalog, Online sites.

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Cornwall Online Census Project

Poor Law Unions
Truro 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:


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

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