Launcells, Cornwall Genealogy

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

Parish History
LAUNCELLS (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union and hundred of Stratton, E. division of Cornwall, 1½ mile (E. S. E.) from Stratton.

Launcells St Swithin is an ancient parish in Cornwall, places in the parish include: Butspur, Cross, Grimscott, Hersham, and Prestacott.

The parish church is dedicated to St Swithin: nearby, in the wooded valley is the holy well of St Swithin. There are two aisles but the arcades differ: while the north is of granite the south is of Polyphant stone. The fine series of over 60 benchends is from the same workshop as those of Kilkhampton, Cornwall and Poughill, Cornwall. Other features of interest are the medieval wall painting and the tomb of Sir John Chamond, 1624.[Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall, 2nd ed. Penguin Books; p. 95]

Charles Henderson writing in 1925 gives the dedication as to St Andrew.[Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 136-37] The origin of the name Launcells is probably from Lan- and a personal name Kellys. In the early Middle Ages the church belonged to Hartland Abbey and there are records of a dispute over the building of the chancel in 1382 which required episcopal intervention. Unusually for a Cornish church it has not been affected by Victorian or later restorations.

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
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 * 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
Stratton 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
Launcells in GENUKI