Gerrans, Cornwall

Historical Description

Gerrans, a village and a parish in Cornwall. The village stands on the W side of a bay of its own name and near the head of St Mawes harbour, 10¼ miles SW by S of Tregony, and 7½ SSE of Truro station on the G.W.R.; is alleged to have been founded by Gerennins, a king of Corn' wall, in the latter part of the 6th century, and has a post office under Grampound; money order and telegraph office, Porthscatho. The parish contains also the hamlet of Porthscatho. Acreage, 2646; population, 790. An ancient earthwork, called Dungerein, situated N of the church, and communicating with the shore by a subterranean passage, is regarded as a vestige of a fort or palace of King Gerennius. The rocks include slate. Gerrans Bay has a semicircular outline, and measures about 2¼ inches across the chord. A fine specimen of a raised beach, consisting of pebbles cemented into conglomerate by oxide of iron, is on its E shore. The living of Gerrans is a rectory in the diocese of Truro; value, o£260 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Truro. The church stands on an eminence with a fine view, and contains a monument to the Hobbe family. There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Churches

Church of England

St. Gerent (parish church)

The existing church of St. Gerendus, erected in 1262, in the Early English style, and rebuilt in 1849-50, after having been devasted by a fire, is a building of stone consisting of chancel with aisle and arcade of two bays, nave of five bays, south aisle, north transept, south porch and an embattled western tower with spire, erected in 1636, containing 4 bells, two of which are dated 1830 and 1753, and all were recast in 1880, the dates being retained: the spire was restored in 1890 at a cost of £102: there is a good modern chancel screen, a piscina and an aumbry and several of the windows are stained: in the aisle is a fine monument of marble to Edward Hobbs, of Tregassa, gent. ob. 1718: there are 200 sittings: the churchyard contains a fine old granite cross, 7 feet high and 2 wide. This church is one of the few in Cornwall that has a Cornish spire.

Clergy

A list of Rectors of St Gerrans, 1260-2010

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Gerrans from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Gerrans (St. Gurons))

Maps

Online maps of Gerrans 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.