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Lelant

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The parish of Lelant, (Cornish: Lannanta), Uny-Lelant, Lelant-Euny, or Lanant, is situated in the Deanery of Penwith, and in the eastern division of the Hundred of Penwith. It is bounded on the north by St Ives and St Ives Bay, on the east by the estuary of the River Hayle and St Erth, on the south by Ludgvan and on the west by Towednack.

Lelant is not mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086. In the twelfth century the area was named Lanata, meaning 'Church site of Anta'. All that is known about this saint is that she had a chapel on the rocks at the entrance to Hayle River. Lelant is an attractive village on the west bank of the Hayle estuary about 3 miles from St Ives. One of the oldest houses in the village is The Abbey, which was owned by the monks on St Michael's Mount. It was used as a rest house by the monks.

"LELANT (UNY), a parish in the hundred of PENWITH county of CORNWALL, 3 miles (S.E.) from St. Ives, containing 1271 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of St. Ives, in the archdeaconry of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter, rated in the king's books at £22. 11s. 10½d., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Exeter. The church, dedicated to St. Ewny, is surrounded by banks of sand. There are two places of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The parish is bounded on the north by St. Ives Bay, and on the east by Hayle harbour and the river of that name, which is crossed by a bridge. A considerable quantity of granite is raised here, and there are several tin mines in the neighbourhood, the principal of which are Wheal Reath and Wheal Speed. A fair for cattle is held on August 15th." [Lewis 1831].

It is often referred to as Uny Lelant after its patron saint. Its main villages are: Lelant, Tredreath, Trencrobben, and Trink.

The modern ecclesiastical parish of Carbis Bay was created from Lelant in 1913.

Most parish and church description(s) on these pages are from Lake's Parochial History of the County of Cornwall by J Polsue (Truro, 1867 - 1873)

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Cemeteries

Information about the various burial grounds in Lelant is available by courtesy of Maxwell Adams.

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Census

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Church History

  • Anglican. St. Uny Lelant is the mother church for the area now covered by not only Lelant, but also of Towednack, St. Ives & Carbis Bay. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW5437. It is dedicated to St Ewinus (Uny or Euny).
    The Parish of Uny Lelant is sometimes shortened to Lelant; it is located on the north coast of Cornwall to the east of St. Ives. The older name for the churchtown is Lananta; in Middle Cornish it was Lan Anta or "Anta's church site" this is now preserved as 'Lelant'. A chapel to St. Anta (Chapel Anjier) stood on a low cliff north of the present church. St. Anta's church was standing as late as 1500.
    The present church comprises a chancel, nave, and north and south aisles. The north arcade has four ordinary pointed of arches of granite; a Norman arch supported on circular, moulded piers and a heavy pointed arch with a plain soffit. The south arcade consists of six ordinary pointed arches of granite, with granite pillars. The tower, which is in three stages, is 60 ft in height, buttressed at the angles and finished with battlements and pinnacles; it contains six bells.
    At the beginning of St Uny Lelant Parish Register of Marriages 1813-1837 the following was entered: "On Advent Sunday, December 2 1821, at two o'clock in the morning Lelant church tower was struck by lightening which falling first on the (porch ?) of the little West roof of the tower and tearing off many of the slates then down the south east pinnacle on the western gable of the southern aisle and split the large stone on which the pinnacle was fixed into two parts one of which was carried through the roof into the ringing loft. The other was thrown beyond the east end of the church. From the roof of the tower the lightening passed into the bell chamber where it broke out all the slated windows but did not injure either of the three bells which were sound before. A part of the fluid passed from the bell chamber to the ground through the tower and ringing loft breaking all the glass windows of the belfry, part passed from the bell chamber to the roof of the church where two streams of lightening came along the leading gutter between the middle aisle and the north and south aisles passing from west to east and entered the church breaking a large hole in the roof of the middle aisle over the ringing gallery and another in the roof of the north aisle. It entered the church also in several other places through smaller apertures, broke away a piece of the arches north of the altar and threw down the scotting at the side of the altar. There was at the time no conductor to any part of the church or tower".
    In the early years of the nineteenth century, when Anglicanism was still at a low ebb, there were only about a dozen communicants of St Uny's church. The numbers had increased by the mid-19th century as the 1851 religious census shows. By the beginning of the 20th century the numbers were such that a separate ecclesiastical parish of Carbis Bay was created from Lelant in 1913; however the two parishes are now conjoined again. Since 1948 Lelant has been part of the ecclesiastical parish of Carbis Bay and Lelant.
    There were ninety nine people on the St Uny church electoral roll at March 2003. Of these sixty five were Lelant residents. Further information about the history of St Uny's Church, Lelant, is available on-line, in three parts.
  • Non-Conformist. There was a Primitive Methodist chapel at Lelant Town built in 1859. There was also a Wesleyan chapel built in 1834 at Tredreath, and there were Wesleyan Methodist chapels at Carbus Water, Polpier and Boldstamps, and another one belonging to the Methodist New Connexion at Chyengweal. Because membership had shrunk to a handful, the Primitive Methodist chapel closed in 1909 and the Wesleyan one at Trendreath closed in 1987.
    Some Information about Methodism in Lelant is also available.
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Church Records

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Civil Registration

The parish of Uny-Lelant has been in the Penzance Registration District continuously from 1st July 1837. There were originally sub-districts at Marazion, Penzance, St Buryan, St Just, St Ives and Uny-Lelant but these have now been abolished.. Parishes within the district are: Gulval, Ludgvan, Madron, Marazion, Morvah, Penzance, Perranuthnoe, St. Buryan, St. Erth, St. Hilary, St. Ives, St. Just-in-Penwith, St. Levan, St. Michael's Mount, St. Paul, Sancreed, Sennen, Towednack, Uny-Lelant, Wolfe Rock Lighthouse, and Zennor. The Superintendant Registrar can be contacted at: Alphington House, Alverton Place, Penzance, TR18 4JJ. Tel: 01736 330093.

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Description & Travel

  • A history of the parishes of St. Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor in the county of Cornwall by J. H. Mathews (Published 1892), is available on-line, courtesy of the Old Cornwall Society.
You can see pictures of Lelant which are provided by:

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Directories

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Gazetteers

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"LELANT, (or Uny Lelant), a parish in the hundred of Penwith, county Cornwall, 3 miles S.E. of St. Ives, 6 N.E. of Penzance, and 1 mile from St. Erth station, on the West Cornwall railway. It is bounded on the N. by St. Ives Bay, and on the E. by Hayle harbour and river. It belongs to Praed of Trevethow, and is included within the borough of St. Ives. The parish, which is of considerable extent, contains the hamlets of Gunwyn and Trink, and Hayle lighthouse. When the tide is out, carriages can cross to St. Ives by Hayle, thus saving a distance of several miles. Near the sea-shore the surface is partly overwhelmed with drift sands, but in other districts it is gravelly, producing good wheat crops. The substratum is chiefly granite, greenstone, killas, and felspar; but the first predominates, forming the substance of the various hills with which the surface is diversified. Tin and copper are abundant, and the following mines are at present in operation-Weal Margery, Providence, East Wheal Margaret, Wheal Kitty, Wheal Mary, Wheal Wreeth, and Lelant Consols. A fine yellow clay is found here, much in request for building furnaces and ovens. The principal residences are Trevethow and Treadreath-the latter, an old Tudor building, was a seat of the Hoskinses. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter, value with Towednack, £441, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Ewny, is an ancient stone structure, with a square embattled tower containing six bells. Surrounding it are banks of land, and in the churchyard are several ancient crosses. There are two places of worship for Wesleyans, also National and Sunday schools-the latter held at the church. A fair for the sale of cattle is held on the 15thAugust.

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Genealogy

  • OPC Assistance.
    • The On-line Parish Clerk (OPC) scheme operates a service to help family historians; the OPC page for this parish is available on-line, from where the OPC can be contacted by email.
    • The OPC has produced a genealogical website which covers the parish.
  • A further variety of information to help those reserching Lelant families is also available from Maxwell Adams.
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Historical Geography

There are listings of various place names in Lelant as found on censuses, maps, and other documents. These include the names of settlements, roads, and fields.

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Land & Property

  • The parish and town tithe maps, and accompanying survey books of c1840, provide a fascinating snap-shot of land use and ownership in the 19th century. In order to preserve the documents and improve access to them, the Cornwall Record Office are digitising these maps and survey books. The CD ROM tithe package include a map and survey books, together with a reader, for this parish; it is now available from the Cornwall Record Office. Details are on their website.
  • Maxwell Adams has made the following information available on-line:
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Law & Legislation

Information on the application of law & order in Lelant parish is available. This includes many names of parishioners who had transgressed, and how they were punished.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SW526371 (Lat/Lon: 50.181859, -5.467244), Lelant which are provided by:

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Occupations

  • Information on the Lelant Brewery is available on-line.
  • Information on the Inns of Lelant is available on-line.
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Officials & Employees

Lelant parish officials 1770-1802 included churchwardens and overseers of the poor. Details of these are listed on-line.

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Politics & Government

Information on the civil administration of Lelant is available on-line.
For nearly forty years, from December 1894 to the Spring of 1934, Lelant had its own parish council. This covered a much larger area than the present village, stretching into Carbis Bay and into the countryside. Information on this is available on-line courtesy of Maxwell Adams.

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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Uny Lelant parish was part of the Penzance Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
  • Some information about the poor in Leland is available courtesy of Maxwell Adams. People listed in 1771-1772 in the Lelant poor book, the accounts of the Lelant parish overseers of the poor (CRO P/120/12/1), are also available.
  • Overseers' Accounts (1772 to 1837) are available in the Cornwall Record Office.
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Population

The 1377 poll tax recorded the number of Lelant people assessed for tax was 239. The approximate population of Lelant parish in 1377 (as estimated by MacLean from the poll tax figures) was: 359.

  • Population in 1801 - 1083 persons
  • Population in 1811 - 1180 persons
  • Population in 1821 - 1271 persons
  • Population in 1831 - 1602 persons
  • Population in 1841 - 2012 persons
  • Population in 1851 - 2290 persons
  • Population in 1861 - 2320 persons
  • Population in 1871 - 2178 persons
  • Population in 1881 - 1720 persons
  • Population in 1891 - 1439 persons
  • Population in 1901 - 1391 persons
  • Population in 1911 - 1351 persons
  • Population in 1921 - 1667 persons
  • Population in 1931 - 1733 persons
  • From 1924 the population was incorporated into, and mainly counted as part of, Carbis Bay,
    Ludgvan and St Ives. In 1981 and 1991, Lelant
    Village was separately enumerated again.
  • Population in 1981 - 725 persons
  • Population in 1991 - 925 persons
  • Population in 2001 - 3482 persons (Lelant (761 persons) and Carbis Bay)
  • In 2011 the population was enumerated under St Ives.
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Postal & Shipping Guides

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Probate Records

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Public Records

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Religion & Religious Life

The Vicars of Lelant, with the date of their appointment to the post, are available on-line courtesy of Maxwell Adams.

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Schools

  • The village had a school from 1833 to 1975. This was the National School (a Church of England school) in Church Road. A history of the school is available on-line.
  • Pupils at Lelant National School, born October 1898 - December 1910 are listed, courtesy of Maxwell Adams.
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Societies

The Penwith Local History Group aims:

  • To encourage and sustain public interest in the history of Penwith to provide mutual support and encouragement to members in their individual research projects, whether related to Penwith or of wider historical interest.
  • To work as a group on specific research projects, with the aim of publication to an academic standard.
  • To encourage the strong link with the Morrab Library, supporting the Library in its aims and activities.
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Statistics

The parish comprised 3524 acres of land.

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Taxation