Temple, Cornwall Genealogy

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

Parish History
TEMPLE, a parish, in the union of Bodmin, hundred of Trigg, E. division of Cornwall, 6¼ miles (N. E. by E.) from Bodmin.

Temple St Catherine is an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Truro ( historically the diocese of Exeter).

The Knights Templars possessed land here in the 12th century. On 26th August 1335, Bishop Grandisson certified to King Edward III that the prior and brethren of St John of Jerusalem then held the parish; these Knights Templar left a lasting reminder of their order in the present name of this parish. In the middle of the 19th century Temple was practically a deserted village with an ash tree growing in the floor of the church. In the 18th century the church achieved some notoriety as a place where couples could marry without a licence or banns. The church of Temple was dedicated to St Catherine. It comprised a chancel, nave and north transept. By the mid 19th century, only the first stage of the tower remained. About 1883, when the population was increasing in the area, the small church was virtually rebuilt but in recent years has been allowed to fall into a dilapidated state.

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. Temple is and has been in the Bodmin Registration District since the inception of civil registration in 1837.

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
Bodmin 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:


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Temple in GENUKI