Marazion, Cornwall

Historical Description

Marazion or Market Jew, a township and a chapelry in Cornwall. The township stands on Mounts Bay, under a hill, with a station on the G.W.R. called Marazion Road, 320 miles from London and 3 from Penzance. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. Acreage, 716; population, 1342. It was formerly called Marghasjewe and Marghasion; is called by Leiand Marhasdethon or Forum Jovis, and by the editors of the old Mag. Brit. Market Jupiter, Market Jew, or Market Ju; is supposed by some writers to have been settled or inhabited by Jews, for collecting and selling tin, and to have been named by them Mara Zion, signifying "Bitter Zion;" appears to have been once a place of considerable consequence, both as a seat of trade, and as the headquarters of pilgrims to St Michael's Mount; was pillaged by the French in the time of Henry VIII., and by the Cornish rebels in that of Edward V.; obtained a charter from Queen Elizabeth, vesting its government in a mayor, 8 aldermen, and 12 capital burgesses; but by the Municipal Corporations Act in 1883 the corporation was dissolved. It lost much of its importance by the suppression of the neighbouring priory and the growing prosperity of Penzance. It is irregularly aligned and indifferently built; is connected with St Michael's Mount by a causeway 1200 feet long, but above water during only four hours of every twelve of the tide; carries on rope-making, an import trade in coal, iron, and timber, and a little business in connection with neighbouring mines. It has three inns, a church, four dissenting chapels, and a market-hall erected in 1871. The church stands at some distance, and has been rebuilt. There are chapels for Congregationalists, Friends, Wesleyans, and United Free Methodists. The chapelry includes the town, and is in the parish of St Hilary. Large quantities of flowers, broeoli, and potatoes are grown. Asbestos, actinolite, iron-ore, and other rare and useful minerals are found. About 1000 Roman coins have been discovered. Marazion is a favourite resort of invalids, on account of the mildness of its atmosphere. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Truro; gross value, £145 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of St Hilary.

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 Marazion from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Marazion 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.