Hide

St Enoder

hide
Hide
hide
Hide
hide
Hide
Hide
hide
Hide

The parish of St Enoder, (Cornish: Eglosenoder), is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Pydar. It is bounded on the north by St Columb Major, on the east by St Dennis and St Stephen-in-Brannel, on the south by Ladock, and on the west by St Newlyn East and Colan.

Standing on the site of St Enoder Church over 2000 years ago, early man would have looked down on wooded slopes and shallow lakes. Millions of fresh water shells have been dredged up at Penhale showing these lakes to have existed for thousands of years before the first human beings even came to the area. St Enoder parish is south of St Columb Major and Newquay, but nothing is known about the saint to whom the local church is dedicated. At a busy road junction near the A30 is the village of Summercourt, which has one of the longest established fairs in the country. In the past this was an important venue where sheep, cattle and horses were bought and sold.

The once bustling village of St Enoder Churchtown no longer exists. All the smaller houses have long since become ruins and disappeared. Only the more substantial of the foundations are left and these form boundaries of fields and have become Cornish hedges. The once 'Nelson Arms' public house still stands but is now a private house. Glebe Farm, built from the stone of a row of arms houses adjacent to Narrow Lane years ago, is still a working farm and the old back part of the Rectory has been pulled down and the house made more compact. The rubble from the old building was carried and dumped in the field below the Church. The recent development of the area has not helped the development of the village. First, St Enoder was by-passed by a new road and then Summercourt was developed. Now the new A30 runs between the two. The new roads have cut across ancient pathways and St Enoder Church appears marooned and separated from its people. But the old building still has the ability to draw people to it. For centuries men, women and children have been coming to this site and now once again they are making the journey and are finding peace and comfort within the walls of this lovely old building. The manor and borough of Mitchell is partially in this parish. From 1552 until the Reform Act of 1832, Mitchell sent two members to Parliament. In 1592, Sir Walter Raleigh was an MP for the borough, and Richard Carew, the noted Cornish historian, was MP in 1620.

Besides the Churchtown, the principal villages are Fraddon, Penhale, Summercourt, St. Columb Road, Indian Queens, and Trevarren.

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)

Hide
topup

Cemeteries

  • There is a graveyard in the parish church grounds, plus a small cemetery plot adjacent to the churchyard itself. The parish also has a later cemetery too. Some gravestone inscriptions at St Enoder have been transcribed by the OPC.
  • Some transcriptions from the St Enoder churchyard are available on the Cornish Cemeteries site.
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions on-line for the Parish Church - 369 entries.
topup

Census

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:

topup

Churches

Anglican
St Constantine, Pedna Carne, Church of England
St Enoder, St Enoder, Church of England
St Francis, Indian Queens, Church of England
topup

Church History

  • Anglican. Within the Parish of St. Enoder there are three churches: that of St. Enoder itself, St. Francis at Indian Queens, and St. Constantine at Pedna Carne.
    • The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW8956 and was dedicated to St Enodorus. It comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and a short north transept. The south chancel arcade has three obtuse arches; the north chancel arcade has three four-centred pointed arches. The south arcade of the nave has four pointed arches on piers; the north arcade has four four-centred arches on pillars. The south porch is buttressed on the square, and finished with battlements and pinnacles; there is a north door and a priest's door. The tower is of three stages, buttressed at the angles, and surmounted with battlements and pinnacles; it contains five bells.
      St Enoder Church still stands overlooking rolling farmland and trees.
      The first Christian Chapel may have been built on the site as early as the 5th Century AD. The dedication is uncertain as Enoder is not a name well known as a Celtic saint. It is possible that he was St. Cyndr whose feast day is on the 27th April as St. Enoder feast has been traditionally kept on the Sunday nearest to the last Thursday in April, and the name sounds very similar. St. Cyndr came from Breckonshire where he founded two churches and travelled on to Brittany in about 547-550 AD. It is however more likely that 'Enoder' was Tinidor or Tenenen who travelled with St. Crantock.
      Details about the plans of the modern church (ICBS) are available on-line.
  • Non-Conformist. There was a Bible Christian chapel at Fraddon and Summercourt; the Wesleyan Methodists also has a chapel at Summercourt.
topup

Church Records

topup

Civil Registration

The parish of St Enoder was originally in the St Columb Registration District. It is now in the Registration District of St Austell. There were sub-districts at Newlyn, Padstow and St Columb Major, but these have now been abolished. Parishes within the old St Columb district were: Colan, Crantock, Cubert, Little Petherick, Mawgan-in-Pydar, Newlyn, Newquay, Padstow, St. Breock, St. Columb Major, St. Columb Minor, St. Enoder, St. Ervan, St. Eval, St. Issey, St. Merryn, St. Wenn.

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

topup

Description & Travel

You can see pictures of St Enoder which are provided by:

topup

Directories

topup

Gazetteers

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"ST. ENODER, a parish in the hundreds of Pyder and Powder, county Cornwall, 4 miles S.W. of St. Columb Major, its post town, and 10 N.E. of Truro. It includes the hamlet of Summer Court, and the villages of Mitchell, Penhale and Fraddon. The village of Mitchell was formerly a borough, and was represented in parliament by Sir Walter Raleigh and Carew, the historian. The land is chiefly arable. The substratum is rich in mineral wealth, especially tin, of which one mine is in full operation. Porphyry, granite, and slate are also quarried. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Exeter, value £278, in the patronage of the bishop. The church is an ancient structure of stone, with tower surmounted by minarets. It is dedicated to St. Enoder, and contains a Norman font and several old monuments. The Wesleyans have a chapel. There is a National school for both sexes. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £460, and the vicarial for £320. Fairs are held on the 28th July and 25th September for horses and sheep.

"FRADDON, a hamlet in the parish of St. Enoder and hundred of Pyder, county Cornwall, 4 miles S. of St. Colomb Major."

"ST. MICHAEL, (or Midshall or Mitchell), a village, partly in the parish of St. Enoder, and partly in that of Newlyn, hundred of Pyder, county Cornwall, 6 miles N. by E. of Truro, and 36 W. by S. of Launceston. The ancient name of this place was Modeshole, at which time it was a market town, and a place of considerable importance. It was subsequently constituted a borough, and sent two members to Parliament from the reign of Edward VI. till disfranchised by the Reform Act. It is now an inconsiderable village, consisting only of a few houses, but is the place where petty sessions are held. There is no church. A fair is held on the 25th October for sheep.

topup

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.
  • There is a website for the parish to aid researchers.
  • British-Genealogy have a mailing list for those wanting to discuss ancestry in St Enoder.
topup

Historical Geography

The Domesday Settlements of Cornwall, a study undertaken by the Cornwall Branch of the Historical Association, has identified and located settlements listed in the Exeter and Exchequer Domesday Survey of AD 1086. The following places have been identified in St Enoder ecclesiastical parish:

topup

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.
topup

Manors

The Manorial Documents Register (MDR) notes that St Enoder parish included the manors of: Arrallas (or Argallez), Burthy, Carvinack, Fraddon, Mitchell, Penhale and Trewynian. It is not possible to list in detail the surviving records for each of these manors; however, a brief indication of the locations can be given. Records relating to Arrallas, Carvinack, Penhale, Mitchell and Trewynian can be found in Cornwall Record Office, Old County Hall, Truro TR1 3AY (Email: CRO[at]cornwall.gov[dot]uk). There are extensive collections for Arrallas, Mitchell and Penhale.

Further records for Arrallas are in the Duchy of Cornwall Office, 10 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LA, and additional Penhale Manor records are at the British Library, Manuscript Collections, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB (Email: mss[at]bl[dot]uk). Fraddon Manor records are also in the British Library, Manuscript Collections. The staff at these repositories can advise further. No records are noted for Burthy Manor.

topup

Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SW895557 (Lat/Lon: 50.363913, -4.960885), St Enoder which are provided by:

topup

Military Records

topup

Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • St Enoder parish was part of the St Columb Major Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
  • Overseers' Accounts (1805 to 1830) are available in the Cornwall Record Office.
topup

Population

  • Population in 1801 - 869 persons
  • Population in 1811 - 881 persons
  • Population in 1821 - 833 persons
  • Population in 1831 - 1124 persons
  • Population in 1841 - 1127 persons
  • Population in 1851 - 1153 persons
  • Population in 1861 - 1151 persons
  • Population in 1871 - 1122 persons
  • Population in 1881 - 1120 persons
  • Population in 1891 - 1114 persons
  • Population in 1901 - 1169 persons
  • Population in 1911 - 1412 persons
  • Population in 1921 - 1074 persons
  • Population in 1931 - 1090 persons
  • Population in 1951 - 1220 persons
  • Population in 1961 - 1129 persons
  • Population in 1971 - 1028 persons
  • Population in 1981 - 2865 persons
  • Population in 1991 - 2975 persons
  • Population in 2001 - 3819 persons
  • Population in 2011 - 4391 persons
topup

Probate Records

Some St Enoder Will transcripts are on-line.

topup

Religion & Religious Life

  • In the May of 1641 it was agreed and ordered that every Member of the House of Commons and House of Lords should make a protestation (declaration of loyalty) to the crown. The Protestation was printed and then distributed by the Members to their counties. The Protestation was to be made by everyone and the Rectors, Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, had to appear before the Justices of the Peace in their Hundred to make their protestation and, on returning to their parishes, any two of them were to witness the taking of the Protestation Oath by all males over the age of 18 years. All names were listed and anyone who refused was to be noted.

    The Protestation Returns of 1642 for St Enoder are available on-line.
  • Priests at St Enoder are listed on-line, courtesy of the OPC.
topup

Statistics

The parish comprises 6920 acres of land.

topup

Taxation

The Hearth Tax of 1664 for St Enoder parish has been published by the OPC.