Falmouth King Charles

The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall
Discovery Quay
Falmouth
Cornwall
TR11 3QY

Tel.: +44(0)1326 313388; Email:enquiries[at]nmmc.co[dot]uk.

The Museum contains the Bartlett Library which makes available key maritime reference books, which are necessary to trace the maritime achievements of Cornish men and women. The Library includes an extensive run of Lloyd's Registers from 1764 to 2002. Archive material includes the Falmouth Harbourmaster's Daily Records from 1880 to 1990. In addition, there are several databases, the most important of which covers all vessels built in Cornwall between 1776 and 1914. The Library also includes the Martime Censuses of Falmouth.

The Library will undertake research for enquirers, although the cost of extensive research will be charged. Entry to the Library is free and it is normally opened five days a week from Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 5 pm. The telephone number of the Library is: +44(0)1326 214579.

Whilst there are burials at the church, most parishioners were interred at the municipal cemetery of Falmouth, which is at Swanpool.

See under Falmouth Town.

The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW8032 and was dedicated to King Charles the Martyr in 1665. It must be remembered that in the early 1600's there were no more than eight houses in Falmouth, and by 1665 this number had increased to only 200. Even as late as 1721 no house lay to the west of Market Street and no road was made up the moor. Sir Peter Killigrew in 1660 planned his church to be the centre of what he envisaged as a growing town, and this has come about in the church's three hundred years of history, with Falmouth's building estates now reaching out towards the parish of Budock.

On August the 29 1662, Sir Peter measured out the ground which was to be devoted to the Church and a ministers house and workers began to dig the foundations. The building was finished on February 21st, 1664 having taken only 18 months to complete. The first sermon was preached in the finished Church by John Bedford, who was appointed as the first rector, his chosen as his text being: Gen: 33; 20 etc. On March 17 1663 the first sacrements were administered, and on August 22nd, 1665, the church was consecrated by Dr Seth Ward, Lord Bishop of Exeter. It was built at the expense of King Charles II, the Duke of York (later James II) and other distinguished persons. in memory of their father - the executed King Charles I.

The Records show that on the 26 November 1664 James Prowse, Gent, was the first to be buried in the Churchyard. The Rector John Bedford was forbidden to bury anyone else because the ground was not consecrated. On April the following year, he was permitted to resume burials by The Most Reverend C T Gilbert, Archbishop of Cantabury, and the Right Reverand ct Seth Bishop of Exon (Exeter). From 1663 to 1877 the parish was part of the Diocese of Exeter; from 1877 onwards it became part of the Diocese of Truro.

The church comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, north, south and west galleries, and a vestry. The central roof is supported by eight lofty Ionic columns of granite, four on each side, assisted by wooden pillars. In 1684 extensions were made to the east and west. A chancel was added and the lowest part of the tower was built. In 1695 a gallery was built at the west end at the joint cost of Sir Peter Killigrew and Mr Bryan Rogers; also in that year, another gallery was built on the north aisle by voluntary contributions, and in 1702 one was built in the south aisle. An organ was erected in 1703 which was replaced in 1798. The tower was raised another stage in 1738 when it acquired a 12-hundredweight bell, and was raised again by another stage in 1800 for the reception of a clock. Three additional bells were added in 1861. The tower is finished with battlements and pinnacles.

The population of Falmouth had grown to about 7000 by 1813, so the 1684 chancel was demolished. At the same time, the church was lengthened eastward by one-third of its whole length, and the chancel was then rebuilt. In 1861, the flooring of the church was renovated. In 1896 another major reconstruction began. The three pitched roofs and the galleries were removed and the walls raised. Three new barrel ceilings in ornamental plaster work were installed. The building was back in use within a year. An organ chamber was installed in 1915, when the previous space occupied by the organ became the Warrior Chapel. A new window was added to this chapel which was dedicated as a war memorial in 1928. A baptistry was formed in 1936.

There are a south door, a north porch, a priest's door and a vestry door. The bells have now been replaced by an eight-bell carillon.

• The Church Registers consist of a total of 8 volumes. Vol. 1 contains Marriages 1664-1735; Baptsms, 1663-1735; Burials 1664-1735. ....Vol.2 Marriages 1736-1754; Baptsms 1736-1781; Burials, 1736-1780....Vol. 3 Marriages, 1754-1769 (printed forms) "According to Act of Pariament 1754. Vol.4 marriages 1769-1782. Vol.5 Baptisms 1781-1802; Burials 1780-1812. Vol. 6 Marriages 1782-1803. Vol.7 Baptisms 1803-1812. Vol.Marriages, 1803-1812.
  
  These Registers commenced a hundred years later than many others but are important since they concern not only a leading Cornish town but the leading Packet Station of the British Isles. Because of this, many names occur which are linked to various other places including many foreign countries.
  
  The first of the eight volumes, all of which have been transcribed, is written on parchment leaves. it is a folio seventeen inches long by thirteen wide, an inch and a half in thickness, bound in rough brown leather, with a stamped gilt title:- "Falmouth Register, 1660 to 1734", on the front cover. The other volumes are of oblong shape, of varying degrees of thickness, bound in calf, the contents of which are easily noted by using the publication produced by the Devon and Cornwall Record Society (DCRS) in 1915. All the entries made from the start of the registers until 1752 were based on the old way of Computing the year - from 25th March to 24th March. Thus we find that on the 16th of January 1712 Mary d. of John Roach was buried, whilst on August 3rd 1712 we find her birth recorded, since since 1712 goes on until March 25th when 1713 begins.
  
  In the case of an alias both surnames are indexed in the DCRS. The use of an alias arose sometimes from the mothers family being superior to the fathers, and therefore preferred. But more often it was a persona; or family nickname, and at times it was an attempt on the part of a topobnymic name to oust the more recent parronymic type of name. The spelling of the same name frequently differs in the entries. Sometimes a letter is left out, or one is added, and occasionally the entire spelling is phonetic in character, though the name can be guessed with accruacy. Thus "Calker" is afterwards spelt "Corker", "Nickols" becomes "Nichols" and "Hoskyng" becomes Hoskin.
   
  • The letters "ij" indicates "y" in early entries and "u" is interchangeable with "v" as in Jvne.
  • The word mariner frequently occurs in the records. This did not at the time signify a seaman, but the captain of any small or large vessel short of an East Indiaman, the captain of which was usually styled a "commander". The term therefore had a wide range and included both the educated and uneducated. Just how Falmouth depended upon the sea is demonstrated by the record of marriages for the year 1758. In that year there were a total of 43 marriages of which 19 gave their profession as Mariner.
  • In the original Registers there is a gradual change in the signatures of married couples, how the "mark" or cross becomes less frequent and the name is more often written, and the spelling becomes more uniform as education increases. The signatures of the women, who were denied education for so long in the eighteenth century slowly follows suit, until correct spelling became the norm along with a decent hand writing style. (Courtesy of Sandra Prichard).
• See under Falmouth Town for on-line church records.
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Deposited original registers 1663 - 1900, Baptisms 1663 - 1900, Burials 1663 - 1900, Marriages 1663 - 1900, Boyd's Marriage Index 1663 - 1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1790 - 1812, Non-Conformist Records 1783 - 1837.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published on-line transcripts of:
  • Pre 1813 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Burials

The ecclesiastical parish is part of Falmouth Town for civil purposes.

• Photographs of Falmouth (including King Charles Church) are available on-line.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Falmouth King Charles to another place.

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.

• Map of the Falmouth Registration District in which the parish lies.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SW809326 (Lat/Lon: 50.152879, -5.068446), Falmouth King Charles 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.

The Falmouth parishes were part of the Falmouth Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.

The parish comprises 1180 acres of land.