Madron, Cornwall

Historical Description

Madron, a village and a parish in Cornwall. The village-stands on an eminence about 350 feet above sea-level, 2 miles NW of Penzance station on the G.W.R., and commands a fine view of Mounts Bay. It has a post office under Penzance; money order office, Heamoor; telegraph office, Penzance. The parish contains also the town of Penzance. Acreage, 5589; population of the civil parish, 2810; of the ecclesiastical, 2430. There are numerous good seats, and some of them are very old. The road from Penzance to the village passes on the right an avenue to Trenear, on the left York House; then passes on the right the new cemetery and its chapels, on the left a lane leading to Nancealverne, Rose-cadgehill, Rosehill, Castle Horneck, and a wayside cross; then, about a quarter of a mile beyond the cemetery, arrives at a turning to the fertile tract of Hea or Hay, formerly an uncultivated moor, notable for John Wesley's long preaching on it from a granite boulder, now covered by a Wesleyan chapel; and then ascends a steep hill to the village, passing Poltair on the left. The road beyond the village ascends through the plantations of Trengwainton, formerly the seat of Sir Rose Price, Bart., and now the property of the Bolitho family. Trengwainton Cam, on the Trengwainton estate, is famous for commanding a magnificent view, and is popularly called the Bull's Look-out. Boswarva Cam is a rocky crest rising over the slope of a wild moor. Lanyon Cromlech, on Lanyon Moor, consists of a tablestone 18 feet long and 8 broad, resting on three rude pillars, and is commonly called the Giant's Quoit. Remains of another cromlech nearly as large are in a field of Lanyon Farm. Madron Well, about a mile N of the village, was long held in deep superstitious repute for supposed thaumaturgic virtues, and was covered by a chapel or baptistery, some ruins of which still exist. The rocks of the parish are both diversified and rich. Tin, copper, lead, fireclay, porphyry, and granite are worked in the neighbourhood. The fireclay is used for making bricks of eminent suitableness for smelting-honses and furnaces. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Truro; gross value, £680 with residence. The church is ancient, and has an embattled tower. It was thoroughly restored and renovated in 1887, and a fine stained glass E window was put in in 1894. A mausoleum of the Price family, formerly of Trengwainton, is in the churchyard. A rudely-sculptured ancient cross also is in the churchyard, and stood for ages in the centre of the village. The chapelries of Penzance are separate benefices. There are Congregational, Baptist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and an endowed school. The Penzanee workhouse is in the parish.

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.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Madron from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Madron 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.