Marhamchurch, Cornwall Genealogy

Parish History
General overview

Marhamchurch St Marwenne is an ancient parish in Cornwall.

The name derives from the Celtic Saint Marwenne (Morwenna) who is thought to have founded a hermitage here around the end of the fifth century. Marwenne was one of the twenty-four children of St Brychan, a Welsh saint and king.

Marhamchurch parish church is dedicated to St Marwenne. Most of the present church is of the 14th century; in the 15th century an aisle and porch were added. In the early 15th century the existence of an anchorite's cell occupied by an anchoress called Cecilia Moys is recorded. Features of interest include the four-holed cresset stone and a Norman quarter-capital (though this is unlikely to be a fragment of the Norman church which may have preceded the present building). St Marwenne was probably the same as Morwenna of Morwenstow. In the 9th century the district was probably on the border between Cornwall and Wessex and the farms in the parish have Saxon names unlike those of Poundstock, Cornwall on the other side of the River Bude.

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 137

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/l_m/marhamchurch.php

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

Census records
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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 [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.