Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1893

ST. BURYAN is a parish, 7 miles south-west from Penzance terminal station of the Great Western main line, and 4 east from the Land’s End, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Penwith, petty sessional division of Penwith West, Penzance union and county court district, rural deanery of Penwith, archdeaconry of Cornwall and diocese of Truro.

The church of St. Buriana, said to occupy the site of a collegiate church of Austin Canons, founded by Athelstan A.D. 930, in honour of St. Buriana and dedicated Aug. 26, 1238, is situated on an eminence 400 feet above the level of the sea and is a building of granite, chiefly in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, but with some Norman remains, and consists of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower 90 feet in height with pinnacles and containing 3 bells; the remains of a chancel screen, partially destroyed with other interesting antiquities in 1814, still exists, and is of exceedingly rich and bold workmanship, carved, coloured and gilt; and there are also four ancient stalls: the entrance to the rood-loft may be traced on the south side, and in the tower is a stone coffin lid of the 13th century, found in the churchyard and bearing an inscription in Norman-French to Clarice wife of Geoffrey de Bolleit or Boleigh, still the name of a farm in the parish: the font, of granite, is Early English: the church was repaired in 1814, and restored and re-seated with open benches in 1875: there are 425 sittings. The register dates from the year 1653.

St. Burian continued to be a deanery and royal peculiar, including the adjoining parishes of St. Levan and St. Sennen until the death (April 11, 1864) of the Very Rev. Fitzroy H. R. Stanhope, last dean, when under the provisions of the Act, 13 and 14 Vict. c.76, the deanery and peculiar jurisdiction were abolished, the rectory remaining and being endowed, together with the rectories of St. Levan and St. Sennen out of the income of the dissolved collegiate foundation. The living is now a rectory, average tithe rent-charge £434, net yearly value £350, with 4 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of H.R.H. the Duke of Cornwall K.G. and held since 1882 by the Rev. Richard James Martyn M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge.

There is a mission church at Lamorna, Wesleyan chapels at Borah and Crows-an-wra and Wesleyan and Bible Christian chapels at Church Town. In this parish was born in or about 1577, William Noy M.P. for St. Ives, 1625, and attorney-general Oct. 31, 1631; he is said to have devised the now historical tax called “ship-money,” so vigorously resisted by Hampden; he died at Tunbridge Wells, Aug. 6, 1634. The buildings of the college formerly existing here were extant in part until the time of the Protectorate, when it was said they were destroyed by one Shrubshall or Shrubsole, governor of Pendennis Castle under Cromwell. Mention is said to be made of the college in Domesday. Near Bosliven are the ruins of an ancient chapel or chantry. At Crows-an-wra stands a rude circular-headed cross about six feet high; in the Church town is another, on a square base, and in the churchyard, the quatre-foiled head of a third cross, raised on three steps; opposite Boskenna gate is a round-headed cross about four feet high, with a boldly carved Latin cross upon it, and close by it, two other crosses: at Vellansager is a similar cross three feet in height, on a circular base; at Nûn Careg another, with a double incised cross on the round head; and at Choyne a cross 2 feet 3 inches high and 2 feet 7 inches broad with a figure on it; there are also in this parish several Druidical remains, consisting of circles, cromlechs, cairns, pillars and logan stones; the Druidical circle at Boscawenûn, seventy-three feet in diameter, now consists of 19 stones and one in the middle, the original number being doubtful.

Two miles south of the Church town, and at the mouth of the stream forming the boundary between this parish and St. Leven, is Penberth, a well-sheltered cove with magnificent coast scenery, in which crab and lobster fishing is carried on. Treverven House is the residence of the Rev. John Tonkin B.A., J.P. and Boskenna, of Capt. Camborne Haweis Paynter. At Trewoofe, in this parish, are the remains of an old mansion of the Levelis family, which from their extent and situation show that the house must originally have surpassed anything of its kind in the county. Trewoofe passed by the heiress of the Levelis family to the Vospers of Liskeard, who disposed of it in 1704; it is now the property of Mr. John Richards.

A feast is held on the Sunday nearest to May 13th, and a fair on the first Tuesday in March, yearly, for sheep and cattle, and horse races are held every Easter Monday. The Rev. John Tonkin B.A., J.P. who is lord of the manor; Lord St. Levan, Viscount Falmouth, Rev. Sir Vyell Donnithorne Vyvyan bart. J.P. of Trelowarren, Mawgan-in-Meneage; Commander E. A. Bolitho, Major Ross, Captain Camborne Haweis Paynter and Mr. John Richards, are the chief landowners. The soil is black growan; the subsoil is granite. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and potatoes. The acreage is 6,964; rateable value, £9,803; the population in 1891 was 1,288.

Sexton, John Richards.

Post, M.O. & T.O. [Money Order & Telegraph Office], S.B. [Savings Bank] & Annuity & Insurance Office, Churchtown. (Railway Sub-office. Letters should have R.S.O. Cornwall, added)—John Richards, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive at 8.55 a.m. & 5.40 p.m.; dispatched at 8.25 a.m. & 3.25 p.m.

Wall Letter Boxes:—

• Trenugga, cleared 10.15 a.m
• Lamorna, cleared 11.30 a.m
• Penberth, cleared 10.55 a.m
• Crows-an-wra, cleared 10.15 a.m
• Sparnon, cleared 2.30 p.m

Schools:—

National (mixed), built in 1830, for 200 children; average attendance, 73 boys, 68 girls & 40 infants; John Walter Stone, master

National, Lamorna (mixed), for 50 children; average attendance, 40; Miss Elizabeth A. Williams, mistress

Conveyance.—Omnibus, Joseph Thomas to Penzance, tues. thurs. & sat. returning same day