Just, St.

JUST, ST., a parish, in the union of Penzance, W. division of the hundred of Penwith and of the county of Cornwall, 7 miles (W. by N.) from Penzance; containing 7047 inhabitants. This parish, of which the southern portion is about two miles distant from the Land's End, is bounded on the west and north by the Bristol Channel, and comprises 6500 acres, whereof 3750 are waste or common. It possesses a high degree of interest from the richness of its mineral productions, the number and variety of its geological features, and the curious antiquities with which it abounds. From numerous vestiges of the ancient process of mining, it seems evident that tin-mines were worked here at a very remote period; and it has not unreasonably been inferred that this district formed a part of what was termed the district of the Cassiterides, from which the Phœnicians obtained at least part of their supplies of tin. There are not less than ten mines which are or have been worked under the bed of the sea; in two of these, Botallack and Huel Cock, the noise of the waves striking against the rocks in stormy weather is sometimes so terrific as to induce the miners to rush from their stations, under an apprehension that the sea is actually breaking into the mines. The parish comprises several villages, the principal of which, called Churchtown, is of considerable extent, and has a good market on Saturday for the convenience of the neighbourhood. A handsome building was formally opened in the autumn of 1847, for a literary and scientific institution. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 11. 0½., and in the patronage of the Crown; impropriator, S. Borlase, Esq.: the great tithes have been commuted for £363, and the vicarial for £484; the glebe consists of 12 acres. A church district named Pendeen was endowed in 1846 by the Ecclesiastical Commission. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists, and a cemetery for the Society of Friends.

At Botallack and Tregascal are some circles of stone, called the Rock Circles, supposed to be of Druidical origin; those at the former place consist of small, and at the latter of large, upright stones. Adjoining Churchtown is an amphitheatre 126 feet in diameter, said to have been erected for the celebration of the games of the ancient Britons; in the time of Dr. Borlase it had six tiers of stone benches, but they are now scarcely visible. On the line which separates the parish from Morva is a cromlech styled Chun, consisting of a table-stone supported on upright stones, perhaps the tomb of some chieftain. In several parts of the parish are rock basins, the largest of which, named the Giant's Chair, is at Busworlas. There are ruins of ancient chapels at Park-an-Chapel (near Cape Cornwall) and on the summit of Carn-Brea Hill.