Charlestown, Cornwall, England Genealogy
Guide to Charlestown, Cornwall ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.
| Charlestown | |
| Type | Ecclesiastical Parish |
| Civil Jurisdictions | |
| County | Cornwall |
| Hundred | Powder |
| Poor Law Union | St Austell |
| Registration District | St Austell |
| Records Begin | |
| Parish registers | 1847 |
| Bishop's Transcripts | None |
| Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions | |
| Rural Deanery | Powder |
| Diocese | Exeter |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Probate Court | Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Archdeaconry of Cornwall |
| Archive | |
| Cornwall Record Office | |
Parish History[edit | edit source]
CHARLESTOWN, a church district, and a sea-port, in the parish and union of St. Austell, E division of the hundred of Powder and of the county of Cornwall, 1 mile ESE from St. Austell. This district was formed in August, 1846, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. [1]
Charlestown Parish, occupying a large segment of the St. Austell Bay coastline, and the town of Charlestown, originated from the tiny hamlet of West Polmear, population 7. In 1769, Charles Rashleigh, a successful lawyer and mining adventurer, saw the need for a port to handle china clay shipments from St. Austell's upper quarter. He bought the land, and hired men to carve out a port by hand from where the tiny fishing hamlet once stood. In time, his project became a model Georgian "new town", and took the name of its founder. Mount Charles was also named for him.
The town flourished along with the china clay trade. In 1847, it became the hub of a new parish, carved from St Austell parish. It encompasses land from Porthpean to Par (which was formed into its own parish circa 1845). The parish church, St. Paul's (Church of England), was established in 1846 but built in 1851; it was completed in 1971, with the fibreglass spire being lowered by helicopter.
As transport ships grew ever larger, use of the port slowly declined until today, when it is used only occasionally by "coastal vessels", but the village is open for tourists as well as movie crews at all times. It is the part-time home of 3 sailing "tall ships" which occasionally sail out into the bay.
Par harbour, just east of Charlestown, was built by J. T. Austen (Treffry) commencing in 1820, and continued to approximately 2006 as the main port for shipping china clay. Fowey has now taken over the job.
Other churches in the parish include St. Levan, a C. of E. chapel which was built at Porthpean by the Sawle family to serve their nearby manor of Penrice. Although tiny, the church today acts as a community centre for the village.
Chapels which have closed include Polgooth Methodist, Penwithick Methodist, Mount Charles Victoria Road Wesleyan Methodist, and Carclaze Methodist. Pentewan's All Saints Church of England church, built in 1821 by Sir Charles Hawkins, remains active. Tregrehan Mills Primitive Methodist church built in 1830, is still active, Bethel Methodist, and the London Apprentice chapel remain open, too.
There were Baptist chapels, a Society of Friends, and other non-conformist chapel circuits which included this area. Land was maintained and administered by the Charlestown Corporation in the village.
Please remember that records previous to 1850 are found under St. Austell parish.
Campdown cemetery serves the parish, and is still open. Contact the town council for information on obtaining information regarding specific burials. CFHS has gathered Memorial information for this cemetery; please contact them via their website for details.
Resources[edit | edit source]
Find Neighboring Parishes[edit | edit source]
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
Church Records[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
Due to the increasing access of online records:
- Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
- Dates in the following table are approximate
Hover over the collection's title for more information
| Charlestown Online Parish Records | ||||||
| FamilySearch Collections-Cornwall | ||||||
| FamilySearch Parish Registers-Cornwall | ||||||
| Bishop's Transcripts - FamilySearch Catalog | ||||||
| FreeREG | ||||||
| Findmypast-Cornwall ($) | ||||||
| Ancestry-Church of England BMD-Cornwall ($) | ||||||
| Ancestry-England & Wales, Birth, Christening, Marriage and Death Indexes ($) | 1500s-1900s |
1500s-1900s |
||||
| Databases with Known Incomplete Parish Coverage | ||||||
| Boyd's Marriage Indexes-FMP (Free) | ||||||
| National Burial Index-FMP (Free) | ||||||
Other Websites
These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
- The Genealogist Parish Registers - Cornwall ($)
- UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
- Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
- Cornish Parish Records
Nonconformist Records[edit | edit source]
"Nonconformist" is a term referring to religious denominations other than an established or state church. In England, the state church is the Church of England.
- 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast - index & images ($); coverage may vary
- England Roman Catholic Parish Marriages at Findmypast — index & images ($); coverage may vary
Civil Registration[edit | edit source]
Births, marriages and deaths were kept by the government from July 1837 to the present day. Most events were reported, although there was no penalty for not reporting the events until 1874. As burials could not take place until a certificate was obtained, these are quite well covered. All marriages - conducted by the Registrar, any authorized chapel or church, or recognized alternative - are included. Some birth dates were mis-represented by parents, who failed to register the event within 6 weeks, but in the main data is correct.
To view an index of these records visit FreeBMD. It gives enough detail that a certificate may be ordered from the Cornwall Record Office. PLEASE be sure to search alternative spellings! As many people handled these registrations, creative spelling variations were common.
BMD records on the St. Austell Genealogical and Historical Website, referred to below, extend to 1900. Many of the Charlestown baptisms also give birth dates, as that was the vicar's preference.
Census Records[edit | edit source]
Census records from 1841 to 1921 are available online. See England Census for more resources.
Access to the FreeCENS database also may be found under FreeBMD on Rootsweb's main index page. FreeBMD.
Poor Law Unions[edit | edit source]
Charlestown was part of the St Austell Poor Law Union. There are no records of individuals in this Workhouse, per the Cornwall Record Office; all that exist deal with supplies, vendors, etc. which are of no interest to genealogists. St. Austell Workhouse census data is included on the St. Austell Historical and Genealogical website - under Genealogy - as is an explanation of the Poor Laws (under Life in the Parish). There is also a photograph of the St. Austell Workhouse on the site; the workhouse itself burned down in the 1930's.
Probate Records[edit | edit source]
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.
The St. Austell Historical and Genealogical website also has information regarding wills.
Maps and Gazetteers[edit | edit source]
There are two maps of this parish, including the first Ordnance Survey map of 1810, on the St. Austell and Genealogical website, as well as many photographs taken by various persons. The Tithes Map index of 1841 is also available; it lists all land owners, lessees, and occupiers of land within the parish at that time. There is also a List of Voters from 1854 onward on the same site.
There are many other maps and gazetteers showing English places. Valuable web sites are:
- 1851 Jurisdiction Maps
- Vision of Britain
References[edit | edit source]
"CORNWALL and It's People", A.K. Hamilton-Jenkin, David & Charles, London, 1945 & 1988
"ST. AUSTELL: Church, Town, and Parish", A.L. Rowse, H.E. Warne, LTD, 1960
"ST. AUSTELL, A Cornish Parish" Canon Joseph Hammond,L.L.B., Skeffington & Son, London, 1897
"A CORNISH CHILDHOOD" A.L. Rowse, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc/Crown Publishers Inc, New York. 1942 & 1979
"HISTORIC CORNWALL - St. Austell" , Kate Newell, Historic Environmental Service, Cornwall County Council, 2004, at http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/csus/towns/staustell/staustell [If this address does not work, go to historic-cornwall.org.uk, and click on Cornwall and Scilly Urban Survey, then "towns"; you can then enter "St. Austell" to see the reports and download a map of the area circa 1907]
"The Archaeology of the St. Austell China Clay Area" P. Herring and J. Smith, Historic Environment Service, Cornwall County Council, 1991
Websites[edit | edit source]
Charlestown in GENUKI
- ↑ Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 549-554. Date accessed: 11 March 2013
St. Austell Genealogy and History
Contains free BMD transcriptions from 1632 to 1900; Lists of Voters; Tithe Map of 1841 index; Manorial records; List of Vicars, chapels, and churches; indexes of Directories, 1797 to 1856; newspaper references; photographs, both old and new, and various other relevant data. Updated frequently.
West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser Newspaper
Searchable transcriptions of the newspaper, 1836 to 1887, which includes all Court cases,news of the day,BMDs published in the paper, various advertisements, etc.
[Cornwall Online Parish Clerks (http://cornwall-opc.org OPC Website]
Contains free information including maps, links to all OPCs and all parishes within Cornwall, and several databases.
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks Databases
Free access to County-wide BMD database, either by individual divisions or comprehensive searches, emigration, bastardy bonds, etc. Updated frequently.
Registrar's index from 1 July 1837 to current day - indicates Quarter and DISTRICT where event was registered. Charlestown was part of the St. Austell District.
FreeCens - Census transcriptions, checked by 3 people. All of Cornwall is complete, 1841 to 1891.