ST COLUMB MAJOR

 
The Parish Church
© Steve Beazley

The ancient town of St Columb Major has a wonderful Church at its heart. The tower is 15th century and 80 feet high with a passage from south to north through it that is as wide as a hand cart. This was a right of way to the College founded by Sir John Arundel in 1427 as the Church did not own the land on three sides of the tower until 1820.

The parish is bounded by St Ervan, Little Petherick, St Issey, St Wenn, Roche, St Dennis, St Enoder, Colan, St Columb Minor and St Mawgan in Pydar. Edward III granted a market in St Columb Major to Sir John Arundell in 1333. It is still a busy market town and the largest settlement in the parish. The Union Workhouse for the parishes of St Breock, St Columb Major, St Columb Minor, Colan, Crantock, Cubert, St Ervan, St Eval, St Enoder, St Issey, Little Petherick, St Merryn, Mawgan-in-Pydar, Newlyn East, Padstow and St Wenn was built in St Columb Major town in about 1840. This means that a large number of "strays" from other parishes are recorded here in the censuses and baptismal registers.

As well as farming, there was mining in this parish.

The volunteer as Online Parish Clerk (Genealogy) for St Columb Major is Karen Tuplin who can be contacted at karentuplin@btinternet.com

If you are trying to contact the local council then search the Cornwall County Council website at https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/people-and-communities/

Contact details for the local church can be found by searching https://www.achurchnearyou.com/

PARISH INFORMATION

CENSUS:

Transcriptions can be found at COCP - the Cornwall Online Census Project - which is complete for 1841 to 1891.
These COCP transcriptions can be searched using FreeCen.

GenUKI has more reference information and alternative resources.

REGISTERS:

For Parish Register transcriptions and other resources, please see our online searchable database (C-PROP) which is updated frequently.  The C-PROP coverage page can be found here.

Images of many Cornwall Parish Registers can be viewed free of charge at FamilySearch.

OTHER RECORDS:

Bastardy Documents: (Alphabetical order by Mother's surname)

Coroners' Inquests: (newspaper reports)

Deaths, Funeral Accounts and Obituaries: (newspaper reports)

Other Legal Documents:

• dated 21 March 1818, naming the Rev. Francis COLE of this parish
• dated 2 Apr 1898, a bankruptcy indenture, involving Thomas HICKS of St Columb Major

Other Newspaper Reports:

Parish Apprenticeship records: (Alphabetical order - for index only entries referencing a film number please see these instructions for finding it on FamilySearch)

Parish 'settlement' records: (Alphabetical order - these documents arise out of the Poor Law Acts and may have a wider relevance than just settlement)

Trade Directories &c:

For other information and links to trade directories see GenUKI and the University of Leicester's website.

Voters Lists:

Wills:

A list of available Wills and Probate Documents. See also the wills on the unknown parish page.
Copies of the original documents marked CRO can be purchased using the Kresen Kernow copying service, or may be freely accessible on films from the FamilySearch website. Copies marked NA can be purchased from the National Archive.
Help with locating the Wills on the FamilySearch films can be found here.

PHOTOS:

St Columb Major

In the estimation of that great Cornish historian, Charles Henderson, the church of St. Columb Major – “ranks among the finest churches in Cornwall. The main part of the fabric dates from the 14thC and the carved stonework of that period is abundant and good”, and it is difficult to argue with that judgment. In fact, when it was proposed that Cornwall should have its own diocese in the 19th century, plans were drawn up to extend St. Columb church so that it could become the cathedral, which all came to nought of course when Truro was chosen as the site. The parish itself is extensive, and has, as its neighbours, St. Ervan, Little Petherick and St. Issey to the north, St. Wenn and Roche to the east, St. Dennis and St. Enoder to the south, and Colan, St. Columb Minor and Mawgan in Pydar to the west. The church is dedicated to St. Columba, who is reputed to have been the daughter of Scottish parents (both unbelievers), and who was converted to Christianity on having a vision of a dove sent from God – columba being the Latin word for dove. She came to Cornwall, making landfall in the Porth area, but was brutally murdered later by a local jealous chieftain. The church we see today has chancel and nave, north and south aisles, north and south transepts with arches into the aisles, porches on north and south sides – each with a parvise – and a western tower dating from 1433. The tower is unusual in that it is open at ground level to north and south, apparently to allow passage along an ancient right of way. In the 13th century the church was in the possession of the Arundells of Lanherne (celebrated recusants), who kept it unappropriated to any religious house, and with their generosity it became the most valuable benefice in Cornwall. In the century leading up to the Reformation, no less than 7 clergy served its different altars, but of course that all changed with Henry VIII’s reforms, and the church was then served by a single rector. In 1676 three youths set fire to a barrel of gunpowder which was stored in the church (for safety!), and the ensuing explosion caused considerable damage to old woodwork and glass, as well as killing the three perpetrators. As with so many of Cornwall’s churches, it underwent restoration in the 19th century, but there is still a good collection of ancient carved oak bench ends, the oldest dating from about 1510, depicting symbols of the Passion, crowned ‘M’, and animals – including even a camel and monkeys! Much of the woodwork in the wagon roofs is of the 15th century, although the rood screen, impressive as it is, dates from one of the 19th century restorations. The wagon roof of the chancel, though not old, is very ornate, with gilded angels embellishing the ends of the ribs. The chancel reredos of the Last Supper is 19th century, as is the wooden pulpit with its detailed carving. The font, at the west end of the south aisle, dates from about 1300 and is octagonal with well-carved sides. There are some interesting memorials, including some very old brasses to members of the Arundells in the floor of the south chapel. The parish War Memorial stands on the southern boundary of the churchyard, which is surprisingly extensive for a town, with interesting headstones.

Church from the south east	Tower & porch from the south	General view of nave & aisles
Banner of St Columba	Font	16th century carved oak bench end
Stained glass window in Lady Chapel	Rood screen	Rood
Memorial to Robert Hoblyn (died 7 Jan 1705)	Altar in chancel & reredos of The Last Supper	Carved wooden pulpit
Carved wooden angels at the end of roof ribs	Ornate roof of chancel	Modern plaque in baptistry
Arundell brasses in Lady Chapel	War Memorial	Photos ©John Evans 2021 Click thumbnails to enlarge

St Columb Major - Historical Images

Fore Street looking towards the bank. The arch runs from the Red Lion to the shops opposite & was built to mark the 1887 Jubilee of Queen Victoria	View along Broad St. from Union Square	The Board of Guardians of St Columb Major Workhouse 1901/1902	Gluvian, St Columb c.1880
The above photographs © Malcolm McCarthy

OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION:

For further information regarding History, Population, and much more, visit GenUKI.

Maps:

For a zoomable and printable map of Cornwall please visit Cornwall Council’s mapping website. To see the Parish boundaries, click on the Layers Tab for Government Boundaries.

For maps and satellite images use Google Maps.

The Ordnance Survey Maps for Great Britain from the 1840s are online at the 'National Library of Scotland' Map Images page https://maps.nls.uk/. Click on 'Find By Place' and type in the parish or town you are looking for.

A large number of old O.S. Maps of many areas of Cornwall (various scales) are also available, the index is here.

The ecclesiastical (church) parish boundaries can be found by searching here on the Church of England website.

Online Books:

1. St Columb Major is included in The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume I by Davies Gilbert, William Hals, Thomas Tonkin, Henry Samuel Boase, originally published in 1838 (page n252). Also downloadable as a pdf.
2. The Registers of the Parish of St Columb Major (1539 - 1780), Edited by Arthur J Jewers F.S.A.
3. The Cornwall Register by John Wallis, A.M. F.S.S., then Vicar of Bodmin, printed 1847. If the in-built search produces no results, use the index pages (474-476) to find your parish of interest. Tables of statistics and other data can be found at the beginning of the book, starting at page n9.

ADJACENT PARISHES:

Colan, St Columb Minor, Mawgan in Pydar, St Ervan, Little Petherick, St Issey, St Wenn, Roche, St Dennis and St Enoder.