Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1893

MORVAH is a parish near the coast, 6 miles north-west from Penzance, where is the nearest railway station, and 4 north-by-east from St. Just, 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. Morvah is a building of granite in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of two bays, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 3 bells: the stained east window was presented by the Rev. Michael Nowell Peters M.A. a late vicar: there are several monuments: the church has 120 sittings. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1653; marriages 1617; burials, 1655. The living is a vicarage annexed to Madron, average tithe rent-charge £679, joint gross yearly value £600, with residence, in the gift of Misses Nowell Peters, and held since 1880 by the Rev. Franklin Tonkin M.A. of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, who resides at the Vicarage, Madron; the Rev. Walter Arthur Taylor, of Caius College, Cambridge, has been curate in charge since 1893. There is a Wesleyan chapel here. The Misses Borlase, or Castle Horneck, Penzance, who are ladies of the manor, and Mrs. Hichens, are the chief landowners. On Chûn Hill are the remains of a very ancient castle, consisting of three lines of wall, built of loose stones: in the interior, which has a diameter from east to west of 125 feet and from north to south of 110 feet, traces of dividing walls exist, and a well, with steps leading to the water: opposite the gateway of the castle, and at about 200 yards’ distance, is Chûn quoit, a cromlech, consisting of several upright stones, supporting at an elevation of about 4 feet a huge monolith nearly 13 feet long and 11½ feet wide. On Kerrow Hill stands a monumental pillar 6 feet high. The soil is decomposed granite; subsoil, rabmen. The land is principally pasture, and the chief crops are wheat and barley. The area is 1,226 acres; rateable value, £1,112; the population in 1891 was 172.

Letters through St. Just R.S.O. arrive at 12 noon; The nearest money order office is at Pendeen & telegraph office at St. Just-in-Penwith

Wall Letter Box, cleared at 12.30 p.m

A School Board of 5 members was formed June 25, 1875; Richard David Daniel, of Rosemergy, clerk to the board; Edward White, Pendeen, attendance officer

Board School (mixed), formerly a Bible Christian chapel, but altered at a cost of about £200, for 58 children; average attendance, 45; Miss Beatrice Mary Edwards, mistress