Ludgvan, Cornwall Genealogy

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

Parish History
LUDGVAN (St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Penzance, W. division of the hundred of Penwith and of the county of Cornwall, 1½ mile NNW from Marazion. The Baptists and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists have places of worship.

Ludgvan (Cornish: Ludewan) is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cornwall. Other places in the parish include: Canon's Town, Crowlas, Long Rock, Newtown, Tregurthen, Trenowin, Truthwall, White Cross, and Whitecross.

The church is dedicated to St Ludowanus and St Paul the Apostle but it is probable that the saint did not exist (by just prefixing 'Saint' to the existing name 'Ludgvan); it was rededicated in 1336 and earlier spellings of the place-name vary between forms with and without 'Saint'. The building was originally cruciform and Norman but was rebuilt in the 15th century with a tower; in 1840 a south aisle replaced the previous transept and porch. The feast traditionally celebrated in the parish is the Sunday nearest to January 22.[ The last church services conducted in Cornish were claimed to be in Ludgvan in the late 17th century (however this claim is also made for Towednack, Cornwall).

The parish is mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086. In June 1793, a Roman urn was found by some labourers in digging a trench on the border of the parish near the sea. It was buried in the sand two or three feet under the surface and the coins in it were considerably corroded. However, they were chiefly of the reigns of Gallienus, Victorinus, Tetricus.

The Davy and Borlase families are prominent in the history of the parish. The parents of Sir Humphrey Davy, President of the Royal Society and inventor of the safety lamp are buried here.

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 FreeBMD.

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
Penzance 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 web sites are:


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Ludgvan in GENUKI