St Day

The churchyard in St Day Parish (OS Grid Reference SW423736) was opened in 1835.

• Some memorial inscriptions from the St Day cemeteries, and recorded by the CORNWALL INSCRIPTIONS PROJECT, found 633 memorials with 2172 names.
• Transcriptions from St Day Road cemetery are available on the Cornish Cemeteries site.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions for the Parish Church - 2027 entries.
  The "Churchyard" is closed, but there is a new extension (operated by Cornwall County Council) which is still very much in use.
• The Historic Churchyards Group was set up in 2002 to help make the churchyards of Cornwall's central mining villages more easily accessible for research and education. The group comprises representatives of the local churches and parish councils together with the aid of local historians, naturalists, and volunteer help, and seeks to research and record details of those at rest in the churchyards before time and nature have their effect on headstones and memories. This website collates the group's work and seeks to entice you to visit these fascinating tributes to our ancestors. Burials at St Day" are listed on-line.
• War Memorials online - St Day

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.
  • The 1841 Census of Gwennap with St Day (HO107/142) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
    • Enumeration Districts 1 to 6.
    • Enumeration Districts 7 to 12.
    • Enumeration Districts 13 to 18.
    • Enumeration Districts 19 to 25.
  • The 1841 census for this parish (Gwennap with St Day) has also been filmed by the LDS church - film No. 241260.
• 1851.
  • The 1851 Census of St Day (HO107/1914) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
    • Enumeration Districts 2a [including Schools], 2b and 2c.
    • Enumeration District 2s.
  • The New Zealand Society of Genealogists have compiled separate surname indexes of the 1851 Census for each Cornish registration district; St Day is listed in Volume 34. The booklets are available in Cornwall at the Cornwall Centre, (formerly known as the Cornish Studies Library), and is also available in the Cornwall FHS Library.
• 1861. The 1861 Census of St Day (RG9/1576) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • Enumeration Districts 1 and 2.
  • Enumeration Districts 6 and 7.
• 1871. The 1871 Census of St Day is also available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • RG10/2311. Enumeration Districts 9 and 10.
  • RG10/2312. Enumeration Districts 11 to 14.
• 1881. The 1881 Census of St Day (RG11/2328) is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project as follows:
  • Enumeration Districts 1 to 7.
  • Enumeration Districts 8 to 10.
• 1891. The 1891 Census of St Day (RG12/1844), Enumeration Districts 4 and 5, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.

• Anglican. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW7342 and was dedicated to the Holy Trinity in 1835.
  The ecclesiastical district of St Day (alias St Dye) was formed in 1835, the present church having been consecrated in 1828. There was formerly a chapel here dedicated to the Holy Trinity, dating from before 1269, and endowed with some land. Its tower was standing as late as 1780, but the main part was probably pulled down at the time of the suppression of chantries, the stones having (accordng to tradition) been used in erecting the north aisle of Gwennap parish church. St Day does not seem to have been a parochial chapelry. The description of St Day by Norden (born 1548) is 'St Daye - A hamlet. There was sometime a Chappell, now decayde, called Trinitye, to which men and women came in times paste from far in pilgrimage: the resorte was so greate, as it made the people of the Countrye bringe all kind of provision to that place; and so longe in contynued with increase, that it grew to a kinde of market; and by that meanes it grew and contynueth a kinde of market to this daye, without further charter'. In 1568 Queen Elizabeth sold "the Chapel of Holy Trinity" with its lands in the parish of "St. Gwynep" to a government contractor, after which time it became "quite in ruins" although the last ruins, including the tower, appear not to have been removed until 1797.
  The new (replacement) church was consecrated on 1 August 1828 by Dr Carey, Bishop of Exeter. On 1 April 1835, a district was assigned to it and the parish became a separate one for all ecclesiastical purposes.
  As with the Chapel before, the Church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the registers date from 1833. The building is of stone in the Gothic style; it has always looked imposing, both from close at hand and also from a distance with its towers and pinnacles adorning the landscape. The main walls, towers, pinnacles and castellettes are constructed of cut granite which, apart from some isolated surface erosion, is now as good as the day it was built. Restoration works were carried out in 1891 and a new pulpit and other furniture were added in 1897. A "new" system for heating the building was installed in 1911 and coloured glass windows set in sandstone window mullions were added, dedicated to the memory of Sir Wm Williams Bart, Lady Williams and Mrs Buller in the 1870s and 1880s. However, the collapse of the mining industry in the 1870s caused massive depopulation of the area and it is understood that questions arose among the Church Commissioners as to the necessity of maintaining such a large church. The refurbishment works carried out in 1931 included the removal of a mezzanine gallery which had had a stiffening effect on the slender brick built columns supporting the high double valley roof, thus causing inherent weakness. This defect was seized upon by the Church who obtained a report that the structure was unsafe and a further report that the granite was "pot" or mined granite and therefore liable to serious erosion.
  The present church is a gothic structure, and had four stained-glass windows, and an organ. The graveyard was virtually full by the turn of the 20th century and the church was finally closed in 1956. In 1985 vandals caused the fall of a small section of the roof and a decision was taken that the rest of the roof structure be dynamited. The pulpit, and possibly the lectern were removed to St Euny Church in Redruth. The font is now in several pieces, and the single bell has been stolen. Work started in September 1999 to stabilise this derelict ruin so that it could be used for open-air concerts and events. It is also planned that the church building become a centre for the interpretation of the Mineral Tramways routes around the St. Day area. This FORMER church of the Holy Trinity is open during the summer months (Approx. Easter to September). It is held on lease from the Diocese of Truro by the Trevithick Trust and is no longer a church.
  The present parish church is across the road, also dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The church is located in what was the Mission Hall (originally built about 1880), located across the road from the entrance to the churchyard. It was used from August 1956 when the old structure was closed. It was greatly extended and modernised during the late 1970s, dedicated in early 1971 by Dr. J.M. Key, the then Bishop of Truro.
• Non-Conformists. The Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists and Bible Christians also had chapels in this parish.

• LDS Church Records. This parish is NOT included in the LDS Church's International Genealogical Index (IGI).
• The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1833 - 1935, Burials 1833 - 1919, Marriages 1833 - 1962.
• The Cornwall Family History Society have published on-line transcripts of:
  • 1813-37 Marriages
  • 1813-37 Burials.
• Baptisms.
  • Baptisms in the parish 1833 to 1895 are also available on-line through the OPC Search Facility - (C-PROP).
• Marriages.
  • Marriages in the parish 1837 to 1901 are also available on-line through the OPC Search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Marriages 1835 to 1837, which is available in CD or downloadable .pdf file formats.
• Burials.
  • Burials in the parish 1833 to 1901 are also available on-line through the OPC Search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts of: Parish Burials 1813 to 1837, which is available in Book format.

The parish of St Day is in the Registration District of Camborne, and has been continuously from 1st July 1837. Parishes in this registration district are: Camborne, East Phillack, Gwennap, Gwinear, Gwithian, Illogan, Phillack, Redruth, St. Sithian's, West Phillack.

The address of the Superintendant Registrar is: Roskear, Camborne, TR14 8DN. Tel: 01209 612924.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from St Day 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 Camborne and Redruth Registration district in which the parish lies.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SW721427 (Lat/Lon: 50.240163, -5.197073), St Day 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.

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

This parish was created from part of Gwennap parish in 1833. In 1841, it was enumerated as part of Gwennap parish when the joint population totalled 10465..

The parish comprises 1025 acres of land.