Par, Cornwall

Historical Description

Par, a seaport village and an ecclesiastical parish in St Blazey and Tywardreath parishes, Cornwall. The village stands on Tywardreath Bay, and has a station on the G.W.R. 276 miles from London, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. A harbour was constructed by the late Mr Treffry entirely at his own expense, and is formed mainly by a breakwater 450 feet in length. The chief depot of the Cornwall mineral district branch of the G.W.R. is situated in this parish. Par is a thriving port, and has a custom-house and a coastguard station. China stone and china clay are shipped for Staffordshire. The ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1849. Population, 1634. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Truro; value, £150 with residence. Patrons, the Crown and the Bishop of Truro alternately. The church is a good building of stone in the Early English style. There are Wesleyan and Methodist chapels and a reading-room. A seamen's institute was opened in 1893. The views of the bay and of distant cliffs from the neighbourhood of the village are very fine. The chapelry is noticed in the article Biscovey.

Maps

Online maps of Par 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.