Gwithian, Cornwall
Historical Description
Gwithian, a village, a parish, and a stream in Cornwall. The village stands near the mouth of the stream, at the E side of St Ives Bay, 2½ miles N by W of Gwinear Road station on the G.W.R., and 3½ NE of Hayle, and has been so exposed to accumulations of drift sands as to have been in risk of destruction by them, and to have required an extensive planting of the Arundo arenaria to stop them. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Hayle. Acreage of parish, 2420; population, 649. Copper ore at one time was worked more extensively than now. Building stone, and a peculiar kind of freestone, suitable for chimneys, are quarried. There are extensive ancient earthworks called Tre-varian Rounds. The living is a rectory, annexed to the rectory of Phillack, in the diocese of Truro; value, £140 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1866. Remains of an ancient, small, very rude chapel, a baptistery, and a graveyard were discovered by digging into the sand in the vicinity of the church. There is a Wesleyan chapel. The stream rises between Redruth and Cambome, and runs westward, about 6½ miles, to St Ives Bay.
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 | Gwithian St. Gothian | |
Hundred | Penwith | |
Poor Law union | Redruth |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Gwithian from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Gwithian (St. Gothian))
Maps
Online maps of Gwithian 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.