St Columb Major, Cornwall
Historical Description
Columb-Major, St, a small town and a parish in Cornwall. The town stands on an eminence, the reputed site of a Danish fort. On the north and south sides are trout streams which discharge into the sea, 4 miles distant. It is 2¼ miles from St Columb Road station on the G.W.R., and 15 NNE from Truro. It consists chiefly of one good street, and a pleasant suburb called Bridge contains some good Gothic houses and other private residences, is a seat of petty sessions, centre of a county court district, has a railway sub-post office (named St Columb, R.S.O., Cornwall), two banks, a very commodious hotel, once kept by Polkinhorn, the noted Cornish wrestler, and five inns, mechanics' institute with temperance house, a market-house with town-hall. Constitutional and Liberal clubs, a parish church, five dissenting chapels, a workhouse, and a cemetery of 2¼ acres under the control of a burial board. The church is chiefly of the 13th century, presents features of much beauty, consists of aisled nave, aisled chancel, and a transept, with pinnacled tower containing 8 bells, and has a curious font, and monuments of the Hoblyns, the Vyvyans, the Bealinges, the Pendarvises, and the Arundels. A college for six priests stood adjacent to the church, and was destroyed by fire in 1701. A weekly market is held on Thursday, and fairs on the Thursday after Mid-Lent Sunday, and after 12 Nov. The parish comprises 12,884 acres; population, 2612. Granite, felspar, tin, copper, cobalt, and bismuth are found. The ancient camp, called Castle-an-Dinas, is 2 miles SE of the town, and there are several Druidical monuments. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Truro; tithe rent charge as commuted £1515 with 42 acres of glebe and 5 glebe houses, net value, £1232. Bishop Arundel, who died in 1504, was a native. A mission church was erected in 1884, and a Wesleyan chapel in 1887. Trewan is a chief residence in the neighbourhood. In connection with a valuable charity named " Jenkins " Charity, is the ancient game of hurling, which takes place on every Shrove Tuesday and the Saturday week following.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Cornwall | |
Ecclesiastical parish | St. Columb St. Columba | |
Hundred | Pyder | |
Poor Law union | St. Columb Major |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for St Columb Major from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Columb, St., Major (St. Columba))
Maps
Online maps of St Columb Major are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cornwall papers online:
- Royal Cornwall Gazette
- Cornishman
- West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser
- Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser
Visitations Heraldic
We have a copy of The Visitations of Cornwall, by Lieut.-Col. J.L. Vivian online.