Kelly's Directory of Cornwall 1914

ST AGNES (pronounced by its inhabitants with the g silent, so as to distinguish it from St Agnes, one of the Scilly Isles) was formerly called Bryannack is a town and large parish, bounded on the north and west by the sea, with a station, 1 mile from the town on the Truro and Newquay branch of the Great Western Railway, 9 miles north-west from Truro, 7 east-by-north from Redruth.

The parish is in the North Western division of the county, hundred of Pyder, petty sessional division of Powder West, Truro union and county court district, rural deanery of Powder, archeaconry of Cornwall and diocese of Truro.

There once existed a chapel at Chapel Porth, near the sea shore. The church of St Agnes is a building of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and a tower, with a finely tapering spire, containing six bells: in 1905 the spire was struck by lightning and re built, and in the same year the bells were re-cast, as a memorial to Alderman William Lawrence, the cost being defrayed by his son, Sir Edward Durning-Lawrence bart. Of Ascot, Berks, : the east window is a memorial to Mr and Mrs William Carne, who took a leading part in the restoration of the church, which in 1848 was rebuilt under the direction of Mr J Piers St Aubyn, architect and there are other memorial windows to John James Halls BA FRCS d. 1860 and Mrs Clarke Twite: in 1909 a new vestry was added by the late Mr W Naylor-Carne, and a brass lectern was provided by his family in his memory : the oak choir stalls were the gift of the family of the late Mr Thomas Martin, who for over 20 years was sidesman and churchwarden : there are 450 sittings : by the churchyard gate is an ancient cross with irregularly shaped head, 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide.

The register of baptisms dates from the year 1653: marriages 1674: burials, 1674. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £227, with residence and ½ acre of glebe, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Truro, and held since 1887 by the Rev. Alfred Rudall MA of Wadham College, Oxford.

The Catholic chapel, built in 1882, is on Trevella’s Downs, near Cligga Head, and is served from Camborne : there are also Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and United Methodist chapels.

A Cemetery of 2 acres was formed in 1876 at a cost of £900, including two mortuary chapels; it is under the control of a Burial Board of nine members.

In 1632 an attempt was made to form harbour at Trevaunance (now called Trevaunance Quay), and after repeated failures the effort was resumed in 1710 by the Tonkin family, who were so far successful that this work remained nearly a century, when some portions having become decayed, a new pier of moor-stone was erected in 1794 by a company at a cost of £10,000.

A Board of Trade Rocket Apparatus is kept here, and there is a Coastguard officer in charge, with four men.

At Trevaunance are clay works. This town and parish are mainly dependant on tin-mining. The following mines are at present working;-

The West Kitty Mine, employing about 250 persons, and the Wheal Kitty Mine, employing about 220 persons.

On the 3^rd February, 1830, a fearful accident occurred at the United Hills Mine, in this parish, by the bursting of the engine boiler; out of thirteen persons on the premises at the time, nine were killed on the spot, or died shortly afterwards.

The Odd fellows’ Hall is a building of stone, erected at a cost of £600, and opened in 1882; it is also used for public entertainments.

The Miners and Mechanics’ Institute, erected in 1893, is a building of local stone, with ornamental granite dressings and comprises a large reading room, billiard and committee rooms and other offices : the foundation stone was laid 7^th June 1893 byt eh late J Passmore Edwards esq. Of London.

The Trevellas Institute, opened in 1913, comprises reading and billiard rooms.

Nicholas Kent, of Mingoose, by his will, bearing date 1688, gave, for the term of 499 years, a dwelling-house, divided into four tenements, and a garden for poor widows of this parish; the property having become ruinous, its site now let for pasturage.

John Opie ARA, the celebrated painter, was born at Harmony Cottage, in this parish, in May, 1761; he was the son of a carpenter, but his genius for painting became known to Dr. Wolcot (Peter Pindar), who was so highly gratified with his juvenile attainments in the art, that he provided instruction for him and afterwards took him to London, where he much distinguished himself as an artist; he also possessed great literary ability, and was the author of the ‘Life of Reynolds’ published Dr Wolcot’s edition of ‘Pilkington’s Dictionary’; he afterwards published a letter in a daily paper ‘ The True Briton’ entitled ‘An Enquiry into the Requisite Cultivation of the Arts of Design in England’ in which he proposed a distinct plan for the formation of a National Gallery of pictures : he afterwards was elected professor of painting at the Royal Academy: died 9^th April 1807, and was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.

St Agnes Beacon is a lofty hill of singular geological character, rising pyramidally 629 feet above the level of the sea, and commanding extensive views; on the summit are three barrows; Borlase particularly describes the extraordinary stratification of this hill, as deserving the attention of the geologists. In a large entrenchment, called the Gorres, a golden coin of Valentinian was ploughed up.

Off the coasts are the Boden Rocks, also called the Cow and Calf or Man and His Man.

Trevaunance was formerly the property and residence of Thomas Tonkin esq. The annotator in 1811 of Carew’s Survey of Cornwall and author of the parochial history of the county. It is now a convalescent home for working men, conducted by the Sisters of the Epiphany, and supported by voluntary contributions.

The rights of the manors of Tywarnhale are vested in John Charles Williams esq. of Caerhayes Castle: those of the manor of Goonlaze in the representative of Richard 3^rd and last Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, GCSI and CIE (d.1889), Sir Hugh Molesworth-St Aubyn bart. Of Clowance, and JC Williams esq.

The manor of Trevaunance belongs to representatives of the late James Jago MD and others : the Manor of Mithian to J C Williams esq. And that of Penwinnick to G Coulter Hancock esq.

The soil is clay: subsoil spar and killas. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats, and some laid out in pasture.

The parish comprises 8438 acres of land, 4 of wter, 3 of tidal water and 105 of foreshore: rateable value £18,827 ; the population attached to the mother church in 1911 was 2251; the remaining population of the parish is in the ecclesiastical parishes of Mithian and Mount Hawke, which are given separately: the population of the entire parish in 1911 was 3886.

BLACKWATER is a village 3 miles south-east, in the ecclesiastical parish of Mithian (which see) on the road between Redruth and St Columb.

GOONBELL, with a "halt" on the Perranporth and Newquay rail motor car branch of the Great Western railway, is a place in this parish.

POST M.O. & T.Office, Church Town – Miss Susan Stribley, sub-postmistress. Letters through Scorrier arrive at 8 a.m. & 2.30 pm, Sundays 8 am & are despatched at 11.15 am & 4.50 pm, Sundays 11.30 am.

WALL LETTER BOXES - Peterville, cleared at 10.50 a.m. & 4.35 pm ; Sundays 11 a.m.

Goonvrea at 9.40 am & 4 pm weekdays only & Beacon at 8.20 am & 3.45 pm week days only

Pillar Box Vicarage Road clered at 11.20 a. and 4.55 pm: Sundays 11.20 am

COASTGUARD STATION :- Joseph Clissold, officer in charge

PUBLIC OFFICERS :-

Clerk to the Burial Board, George Coulter Hancock, The Manor office

Medical Officer to St Agnes District of the Truro Union, William Whitworth, MRCSEng, Vicarage Road

Assistant Overseer and Clerk to Parish Council, John Angwin, Vicarge Road

Rate Collector, Samuel John Hooper, Vicarage Road

Registrar of Births & Deaths for St Agnes Sub-district, Christopher Harris, Vicarage Road

SCHOOL :-

Public elementary School (Boys, Girls and Infants) built in 1872 for 400 children ; average attendance, 93 boys, 109 girls, & 83 infants ; Francis Bilstone, master ; Miss Annie Tredinnick, mistress ; Mrs Elizabeth Lockett, infants mistress

This school is controlled by the Redruth and Camborne Education Committee: William Mead Burchell B.Sc Clinton Road, Redruth, clerk: Matthew Pope Radcliffe attendance officer for St Agnes and Gwennap.

RAILWAY

Great Western, Perranporth & Newquay branch, Wm. James Julian, station master

CARRIER TO :-

TRURO – Richard James, wed, & sat ; returning same days

REDRUTH – Richard James, fri

Private Residents

Commercial

Early closing day Friday