Morvah

MORVAH is situated in the deanery and hundred of Penwith; it is bounded on the north by the sea and Zennor; on the east, by Madron; on the south, by Madron and S. Just; and on the west, by S. Just and the sea.

The parish contains by actual measurement 1226A. 3R. 29p. The tithes were commuted in 1841 at £138 3s. 9d., namely, to the vicar £70 3s. 3d., and to the impropriator, D. P. Le Grice, Esq., £68 0s. 6d.; and there is a glebe which measures 2R. 29p. The living is consolidated with that of Madron, to which this is a daughter church.

The church was dedicated April 7, 1409, to S. Morwetha [doubtful, now known to be have been dedicated to St. Briget of Sweden since 1390]; it is a plain square structure of no pretension whatever. It was rebuilt in 1828, the Incorporated Society granting £250, for which 292 additional free sittings are claimed. The east window is of ornamented glass. The font is octagonal, and stands on a slender chamfered shaft with a square basement. There is a western gallery; and the entrances are a south porch and a north door. An ancient pew which bore the arms of Lanyon and the initials and date W.L., 1593, has been destroyed. Under the gallery is the inscription,— “Rev_d. Wm. Tremenheere, Vicar of Madron and Morvah, Rev^d. C. V. Le Grice, A.M., Rural Dean, &c. Jno. E. Sandry, Wm. D. Lawry, Ch. Wardens. Reb. A.D. 1828.”

The tower consists of two stages, and is finished with battlements and pinnacles; it contains three bells.

A headstone in the churchyard commemorates Jane Noy, who died February 3rd, 1861; aged 103 years.

The barton of Tregaminian is still vested in the Borlase family. There was formerly an ancient chapel at this place, to which was attached a baptistry or holy-well, known as Tregaminian Chapel-well.

On the boundary line of the parishes, and partly in this parish and partly in S. Just, stands Chyoon or Ch’un Quoit, or Cromlêh, about 500 yards to the west of Ch’un Castle. The table or covering stone is 12¾ feet long, 11 wide, and about 36 feet in circumference. The two side supporters are each about 8 feet in length, and, with the end stones form a kist-vaen. A low barrow surrounds the cromlêh from which it rises about four feet. The parishes of Morvah, Madron, Sancreed, and S. Just meet near this place.

In 1754 an urn was found under a large barrow at Carne; the clay was very fine and well burnt; it was ornamented with double straight lists around the edge and handle, and wavy lists on the sides; it was of a grey colour, and about ³/₈ of an inch in thickness.

Another urn was discovered in this parish by Wm. Harry, in June 1789; it was surrounded by a thick wall or hedge, and covered by a slab of granite. This urn, which was accidentally broken in pieces by the discoverer, contained Roman coins of copper and lead, but chiefly of the former; they were retailed about the country by a Jew at about a penny a coin.

The villages are the Churchtown, where there is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel with schools; Tregaminian; Trevowan; and Trevean.

The principal landowners are the Rev. M. N. Peters and Borlase of Castle Horneck.

The parish is situated on granite; indeed its surface, excepting where they have been removed in order to cultivate the soil, is in a great measure covered with small irregular granite boulders. Where the land has been enclosed, for which these boulders offer a facility, the soil appears to be gratefully productive.