Mullion, Cornwall Genealogy

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

Parish History
MULLION (St. Melan), a parish, in the union of Helston, W. division of the hundred of Kerrier and of the county of Cornwall, 7 miles (S. by E.) from the town of Helston. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Mullion (Cornish: Eglosvelyan) St Mellanus is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cornwall other places included are four smaller settlements: Mullion Cove and Predannack to the southwest; Trewoon and Meaver to the east. Mullion is bordered by the parishes of Gunwalloe, Cornwall and  Cury, Cornwall to the north,  Grade, Cornwall to the east,  Landewednack, Cornwall to the south, and by the sea to the west.

The parish also includes Mullion Island, a uninhabited island approximately half a mile (0.8 km) offshore from Mullion Cove. The island is home to large colonies of seabirds and owned by the National Trust.

The church is of 13th century foundation but the fabric is almost entirely of the 15th century. Features of interest include the fine series of bench ends and other old woodwork.

The parish name has evolved over the years, with references in the parish records to St Mullyon, St Mullian, Mullian, Mullyan, Mulion, Mullyon and St Mullion. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus carried out in 1535 the village name is recorded as Melyan.

The parish takes its name from Saint Melaine, the Breton Bishop of Rennes who supposedly took office in 519. He was a man of many aliases including the Latin version, Saint Melanius. Reference to early publications and the 1908 Ordnance Survey maps show that the parish church was actually known as St Melan's until at least the start of the 20th Century.

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
Mullion parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Cornwall Record Office.

Cornwall Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource is the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks page for the parish.

Census records
Cornwall Online Census Project

Poor Law Unions
Helston 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
Mullion in GENUKI