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St Erme

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St Erme, (Cornish: Egloserm), is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Powder. It is bounded on the north by Newlyn East, on the east by Ladock and Probus, on the south by St Clement, and on the west by St Allen. A detached portion of the parish, comprising the Manor of Polsue, is bounded by the parishes of Probus and St Clement, and St Clement's Creek. The parish is named after St Hermes, a 3rd century Roman martyr. In was in this parish, at Tresillian Bridge, that a treaty was concluded in March 1646 between Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir Thomas Fairfax, by which Cornwall was surrendered to Parliament at the end of the English Civil War.

This parish is four miles north of Truro, sandwiched between the parishes of St Allen and Ladock. The main village is St Erme with Trispen, which is actually composed of two neigbouring villages, St Erme and Trispen. At one time St Erme had the church, school and village hall while Trispen had the pub, post office, and chapel. Agriculture no longer provides the main employment and the area has become a dormitory area for Truro.

Villages in this parish are the Churchtowns, Trispen (or Trevispen), and Stairfoot.

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

The Cornwall Family History Society have published Monumental Inscriptions for the Parish Church - 366 entries.

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Census

Census information for this parish (1841 - 1901) is held by Kresen Kernow. 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 St Erme (HO107/147), Enumeration Districts 14 and 15, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
  • 1851.
    • The 1851 Census of St Erme (HO107/1910), Enumeration Districts 2a and 2b, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
    • Booklets.
      • The New Zealand Society of Genealogists have compiled separate surname indexes of the 1851 Census for each Cornish registration district; St Erme is listed in Volume 19.
      • Ray Woodbine has compiled the 1851 Census for many Cornish parishes. Entries for St Erme are contained in Volume 14-1.
      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 from which they can be purchased.
  • 1861. The 1861 Census of St Erme (RG9/1557), Enumeration Districts 3 and 4, is available on-line from the Cornwall Online Census project.
  • 1871.
  • 1881. The 1881 Census of the UK can be searched on-line courtesy of familySearch.org.
  • 1891. The 1891 Census of St Erme (RG12/1829), Enumeration Districts 3 and 4, is available from the Cornwall Online Census project.
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Church History

  • Anglican. The parish church is located in OS Grid Square SW8449 and was dedicated to St Hermes. It consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and north and south transepts. The chancel and nave are wide, and the aisles are narrow; this arrangement was made for the purpose of covering the whole with one roof. The arcades each have six elliptical arches of St Stephen porcelain stone, supported on pillars of the same material. The chief entrances to the church is through the tower, besides which there are a priest's door and vestry door. The tower is of three stages, buttressed on the square, and finished with battlements and crocketed pinnacles; it contains five bells.
  • Non-Conformist. There was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Trispen.
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Church Records

  • LDS Church Records.
    • The LDS Church batch numbers for St Erme are: P020281. These are searchable by surname.
    • The IGI coverage of this parish is 1671 - 1875; it is NOT believed to be fully included in the LDS Church's International Genealogical Index (IGI).
  • The Cornwall Record Office holdings: Baptisms 1671 - 1874, Burials 1671 - 1917, Marriages 1671 - 1967, Boyd's Marriage Index 1614 - 1812, Pallot's Marriage Index 1800 - 1812.
  • The Cornwall Family History Society have published transcripts on-line of:
    • Pre 1813 Marriages
    • 1813-37 Marriages
    • 1813-37 Burials
  • Baptisms. Baptisms 1813 to 1850 for this parish are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • Marriages.
    • Marriages 1614 to 1808, and Phillimore's marriages 1614 to 1812, for this parish are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
  • Burials. Burials 1813 to 1849 for this parish are available on-line through the OPC search Facility - (C-PROP).
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Civil Registration

The parish of St Erme has been in the Truro Registration District continuously from 1st July 1837. There were sub-districts at Kea, Kenwyn, Probus, St. Agnes, St. Clement and St Just-in-Roseland, but these have now been abolished. Parishes in this registration district are: Cornelly, Cuby, Feock, Gerrans, Kea, Kenwyn, Ladock, Lamorran, Merther, Perranzabuloe, Philleigh, Probus, Ruan Lanihorne, St. Agnes, St. Allen, St. Anthony in Roseland, St. Clement, St. Erme, St. Feock, St. Just in Roseland, St. Michael Penkevil, Tregavethan, Tregony St. James, Truro St. Mary, Veryan.

The address of the Registration Office is: Dalvenie House, New County Hall, Truro, TR1 3AY.
Tel: 01872 322241.

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Description & Travel

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

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Gazetteers

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"ST. ERME, a parish in the hundred of West Powder, county Cornwall, 3 miles N.E. of Truro, its post town. It includes the hamlet of Trespan, and part of that of Tresillian. It formerly belonged to the Killigrews, who had a seat here. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Exeter, value £473. The church is a modern stone structure, built on the site of the old one. It is dedicated to St. Erme, and contains some monuments with quaint inscriptions. The parochial charities produce about £8 per annum. There are some ancient British burial-places in the neighbourhood.

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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.

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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 Erme ecclesiastical parish:

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SW848510 (Lat/Lon: 50.319349, -5.024518), St Erme which are provided by:

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Occupations

Apprenticeship Indentures for St Erme (1766 - 1819) can be found in the Cornwall Record Office.

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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • St Erme parish was part of the Truro Union for Poor Law administration and parish relief.
  • Overseers' Accounts (1674 to 1837), Settlement Papers (1739 to 1842) and Bastardy Bonds (1727 to 1826), are available in the Cornwall Record Office.
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Population

  • Population in 1801 - 358 persons
  • Population in 1811 - 431 persons
  • Population in 1821 - 561 persons
  • Population in 1831 - 586 persons
  • Population in 1841 - 552 persons
  • Population in 1851 - 625 persons
  • Population in 1861 - 554 persons
  • Population in 1871 - 560 persons
  • Population in 1881 - 507 persons
  • Population in 1891 - 462 persons
  • Population in 1901 - 494 persons
  • Population in 1911 - 365 persons
  • Population in 1921 - 378 persons
  • Population in 1931 - 373 persons
  • Population in 1951 - 715 persons
  • Population in 1961 - 1205 persons
  • Population in 1971 - 1220 persons
  • Population in 1981 - 1210 persons
  • Population in 1991 - 1255 persons
  • Population in 2001 - 1215 persons
  • Population in 2011 - 1363 persons
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Statistics

The parish comprises 4256 acres of land.