• Statistics
• “Online Parish Clerk”
• Links
• Glebe terriers 1679 & 1727 see Lelant
• Hals’ History of Cornwall (c1730)
• Tonkin’s Natural History of Cornwall (1739)
• Lysons’ History & Topography (1814)
• The Topographical Dictionary of England (1831)
• Kelly’s Directory (1856)
• Blight’s Churches of West Cornwall (1864)
• Lake’s Parochial History of Cornwall (1868)
• Kelly’s Directory (1873)
• Kelly’s Directory (1883)
• Matthews’ History (1892)
• Kelly’s Directory (1893)
• A Brief History (1977)
• Detailed Map of the Parish
• The Parish in Context (44K)
• Gazetteer
• Picture Gallery
• Baptism Registers (Transcript 1676–1812)
• Marriage Registers
• Burial Registers (Transcript 1683–1812)
• Bishop’s Transcripts (Exeter) 1597–1674
• Bishop’s Transcripts (Bodmin) 1706–1720
• Monumental Inscriptions (Index)
• Methodist Chapels
• Census 1841
• Census 1891

Statistics

In 1817 its boundaries enclosed 2,569 acres, 101 houses and 532 inhabitants. With the current boundaries the area is now 2,400 acres [ GENUKI 1997]. Its population has varied little over the years but with the usual rise in the C19^th., sharply falling away in the C20^th..

The later figures were obtained from from the Country Socio-Economic Statistics as the sum of Nancledra & Towednack and Towednack civil parish.

In 1678, Towednack was the last church to have services conducted in the Cornish language.

Online Parish Clerk

A new (Jan 2001) initiative that has started in Cornwall is the Online Parish Clerk. One person is encouraged from the CORNISH-L or CORNISH-GEN-L mailing list to be the custodian of historical records, including transcripts of registers, for each parish and will supply extracts to researchers as they need them. This person may be geographically distant from the parish, but their heart will be there. The volunteer for Towednack is myself and links to data will be found on these pages as it becomes available. Parish information

Links

June Nicholls’ Genealogy Pages had some information about the history of Towednack. It has now been transferred to this site.

George Prichard has put a lot of Towednack Records On-Line. Most are the same as on this site.

SOSKernow (friends of Cornwall) have a detailed history of Towednack church.

Marcia Rothman’s Customs of the People of Cornwall page has a bit about the Towednack Cuckoo (Crowder) Feast.

See also the general West Penwith Links.

Tonkin’s Natural History of Cornwall—1739

The following description is quoted from [Tonkin 1739] and must be read in the context of that date. The extract is taken from [Polsue 1868]. Other extracts are available online.

Towednack lies in the hundred of Penwith, and has to the west, Zennor; to the north, the Sea; to the east, S. Ive’s and Lelant; to the south, Ludgvan.

I take the name of the parish to signify no other than S. Wednock or Wynnock; for Ta and Da are synonymous terms for good. It is a daughter church or chapel of ease to Lelant, and goes in the same presentation.

Hals’ History of Cornwall—c1730

The following description is quoted from [Hals 1750] and must be read in the context of about 1730 when it was written. The extract is taken from [Polsue 1868]. Other extracts are available online.

Towednack is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north, the Irish sea, east, S. Ive’s and Lelant; south, Ludgvan; west, Zennor.

In the Domesday Book this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Amall, now Amall Veor or Trenwith [see St. Ives for a discussion of this question]. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294 into the value of Cornish Benefices, Ecclesia de Tywidnick, in decanatu de Penwith, is rated at cxiiis iiijd, vicar ibidem, xxvis. viiid. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it goes in value, consolidation, and presentation, with Lelant and S. Ive’s, £22. 11. 10½. The patronage in the Bishops of Exeter, who endowed it; the incumbent Heawkins; the rectory in Pitz; and the parish rated to the four shillings per pound Land Tax, for one year, 1696, £51. 3. 2.

In this parish are two notable camps, castles, or intrenchments of our ancestors the Britons, wherein they fortified themselves against their enemies in formor ages, the ruins and downfalls of whioh are yet to be seen, the one called Castle-an-Dunes, (in Ludgvan) or Denis; the other Tre-crag-an, the raffed rock town, situate upon Tre-crag-an hill or mountain, as I take it.

Lysons’ History & Topography—1814

The following description is lifted directly from [Lysons 1814]. It must be read in the context of that date.

Towednack, in the deanery and in the west division of the hundred of Penwith, lies about two miles and a half nearly south-west from St. Ives. The principal villages in this parish are, Amilibria or Amalibry, Amalvear, Amalwidden, Bossow, Breja, Nancledry, Skilly-waddon, and Trevidgia.

The manor of Amalibria was conveyed by Humphrey Noy to his son-in-law, Davies, and is now the property of his descendant Davies Giddy, Esq., M.P.

The church is a daughter-church to Lelant; it is called in old records, the chapel of St. Ewin: the church-yard was consecrated in 1541, since which time it has been esteemed a separate parish: as a benefice it is still united to Lelant. William Praed, Esq. is impropriator of the great tithes of both, which belonged to the college of Crediton.

Topographical Dictionary of England—1831

The following is from [Lewis 1831] and must be read in the context of that date.

TOWEDNACK, a parish in the hundred of Penwith county of Cornwall, 3 miles (S.W. by W.) from St. Ives, containing 582 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Lelant-Uny, in the archdeaconry of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter. The church is dedicated to St. Twinnock. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The mine called Wheal Durla is in this parish.