Constantine (St. Constantine)
CONSTANTINE (St. Constantine), a parish, in the union of Falmouth, E. division of the hundred of Kerrier, W. division of Cornwall, 5½ miles (N. E. by E.) from Helston; containing 2042 inhabitants. This parish, which is bounded on the south by the navigable river Hel, and includes a part of the port of Gweek, comprises 8000 acres by computation: the soil near the river is rich and fertile, but in the higher parts sterile rock; the hills are chiefly of granite. The village is pleasantly situated on an eminence nearly surrounded by tin-works, and commands some delightful views of the river, with its numerous creeks, the banks of which are finely clothed with wood. A copper and tin mine, called Wheal-Vyvyan, is worked; and large masses of granite are scattered over the surface of the lands, of size sufficient for building bridges. Great quantities of oysters are sent from Merthen, on the river, to Rochester. The petty-sessions for the division are held here. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £19. 3. 10½., and in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, who are also appropriators: the tithes have been commuted for £480 payable to the appropriators, and £485. 12. to the incumbent, who has a glebe of 11 acres. The church contains an ancient monument, with a brass, to the family of Gervis. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Bryanites. On the estate of Mayere, in the parish, is a vast rock of granite computed to weigh 750 tons, called the Tolmen, in the shape of an egg, with several excavations on the top, curiously poised upon two others; and at a short distance is another mass, of circular form, resembling a cap. The sites of decayed chapels are discernible at Bonallock and Budockvean; and near the church, a bag, full of silver coins of Arthur and Canute, was found about the close of the seventeenth century.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.