Charlestown

Charlestown Shipwreck & Heritage Centre
Charlestown
ST AUSTELL
PL25 3NJ
Tel 01726 69897 - Overseas +44 1726 69897
Open 1st March - 31st October, 10am - 5pm (later in high season)

• The parish Church of Charlestown is St Paul's; it has its own churchyard in which there are many headstones. There are also burials at the Campdowns Cemetery which is a few hundred yards further along the road east of the parish on Beach Road. This cemetery serves a larger area than just the parish. Those records are now held by the Cornwall County Council.
• The Council are able to undertake a manual search for a burial, and they are also able to make a cross-reference to the grave records and tell you whom else is in that grave.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions on-line for the Parish Church - 736 entries.

Census information for this parish (1841 - 1901) is held in the Cornwall Record Office. The Cornwall Family History Society offers a census search service for its members.
Specific census information for this parish is available as follows:

• 1841. In the 1841 Census, Charlestown was enumerated as part of St Austell.
• 1851. The 1851 Census of Charlestown (HO107/1907), Enumeration Districts 1g, 1h, 1k, and 1l, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
• 1861. The 1861 Census of Charlestown (RG9/1547) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • Enumeration Districts 5c, 6c, and Merchant Shipping.
  • Enumeration Districts 7d, 8d, and 9e.
• 1871. The 1871 Census of Charlestown is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • RG10/2262. Enumeration District 5.
  • RG10/2263. Enumeration Districts 6 to 9.
  • RG10/2267. Merchant Shipping.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of Charlestown is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • RG11/2301. Enumeration Districts 6 to 9.
  • RG11/2302. Enumeration District 10.
  • RG11/2303. Merchant Shipping.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of Charlestown (RG12/1822) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • Enumeration Districts 6 to 8.
  • Enumeration Districts 9 and 10.

• Anglican. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SX0351 and was dedicated to St Paul in 1846 when the Charlestown Ecclesiastical District was formed.
  By the 1840s the population of the village of Charleston had grown to approx. 3000. In recognition of this and the inflated size of the parish of St Austell, the Diocese of Exeter formed the parish of Charlestown in 1846. In 1848 the land to build the parish church was given to the parish by George Augustus Crowder, Managing Director of the Charlestown Estates. The foundation stone was laid in 1849. Through funding difficulties, brought on by the slump in mining in the area, slowed completion.
  The church of St. Paul is a cruciform building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, transept and north porch. The nave and aisles are divided by arcades carried on granite piers, alternately round and octagonal. there are memorial windows to the Rev. C.S. Woolcock first incumbent of the church, and others: the church affords 450 sittings. The register dates from the year 1846. The New Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter on Friday, May 30th, 1851; services began there on 1st June 1851.
• Non-Conformist. In 1799 a Methodist Chapel was started though the present chapel, alas closed in 1998, was built in 1828.

• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1847 - 1944, Marriages 1851 - 1973, Burials 1851 - 1974.
• Baptisms.
  • Baptisms 1847 to 1911 are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • The OPC has put on-line baptisms at Charlestown as follows:

    1847 to 1851 - recorded before St. Paul's church was built. The curate, C.S. Woolcock, reported that these services was conducted "in a room especially licensed for divine worship". 1851 to 1855 - at St Paul's. 1856 to 1859 - at St Paul's. 1860 to 1864 - at St Paul's. 1865 to 1869 - at St Paul's. 1870 to 1874 - at St Paul's.

    1875 to 1879 - at St Paul's. 1880 to 1884 - at St Paul's. 1885 to 1889 - at St Paul's. 1890 to 1894 - at St Paul's. 1895 to 1899 - at St Paul's. 1900 to 1901 - at St Paul's.

• Marriages.
  • Marriages 1851 to 1900 are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • Marriages in Charlestown (1848-1901) are available on-line, courtesy of the OPC. These are searchable only by date as follows:

    1850 to 1852. 1853 to 1854. 1855 to 1859. 1860 to 1862.

    1863 to 1864. 1865 to 1869. 1870 to 1874. 1875 to 1879.

    1880 to 1884. 1885 to 1889. 1890 to 1894. 1895 to 1898.

• Burials. For burials before 1850, see St Austell Holy Trinity burial records.
  • Burials 1851 to 1900 are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • Burials in Charlestown (1850-1897) are available on-line, courtesy of the OPC. These are searchable by name or date as follows:

    1850 to 1869: by name, or by date. 1870 to 1879: by name, or by date. 1880 to 1889: by name, or by date. 1890 to 1897: by name, or by date.

The parish of Charlestown has been in the Registration District of St Austell continuously from its creation in 1847. There were sub-districts at Fowey, Grampound, Mevagissey and St Austell, but these have now been abolished. Parishes within the district are: Creed, Fowey, Gorran, Grampound, Mevagissey, Roche, St. Austell, St. Blazey, St. Dennis, St. Ewe, St. Mewan, St. Michael Carhays, St. Sampson, St. Stephen in Brannel, Tywardreath.

The Superintendant Registrar can be contacted at: 12 Carlyon Road, St Austell, PL25 4LD. Tel: 01726 68974. Fax: 01726 68974.

• The OPC has provided some pictures of Charlestown.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Charlestown to another place.

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.

Charlestown Shipwreck & Heritage Centre

• Map of the St Austell Registration district in which the parish lies.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SX038518 (Lat/Lon: 50.333135, -4.758109), Charlestown which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

Charlestown parish became part of the St Austell Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief on its creation.

Charlestown parish was created in 1847 from part of St. Austell parish. The parish later became part of St Austell Urban District Council.

The parish comprises 1600 acres of land.