Crowan (St. Crewenne)

CROWAN (St. Crewenne), a parish, in the union of Helston, E. division of the hundred of Penwith, W. division of Cornwall, 6 miles (N. by W.) from Helston; containing 4638 inhabitants. The parish contains several copper-mines, of which the principal, called Binner-Downs, affords employment to 780 persons. Clowance, the seat of the family of St. Aubyn, is in the parish. A fair for cattle is held at the village of Penge. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 9. 2.; patron and impropriator, the Rev. H. M. St. Aubyn: the great tithes have been commuted for £490, and the vicarial for £470; the glebe contains 40 acres, with a glebe-house. The church was beautified in 1832, when 190 additional sittings were provided; it has several handsome monuments of the St. Aubyn family. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Bryanites; and a spacious schoolroom erected at an expense of £1000, by the late Sir John St. Aubyn. From Crowan Beacon, a heap of stones of a conical form, and probably a cairn, are fine views of the surrounding country. Near the farms of Tregear and Drym are slight remains of an encampment; at Burneston are vestiges of an ancient chapel; and on the Barton of Boletto is a singular spot called Hangman's Barrow.