Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1893

HALSETOWN is an ecclesiastical parish, formed June 5, 1846, out of the parish of St. Ives, and is 1 mile south-west from St. Ives terminal station of a branch of the Great Western railway, and 6 miles north from Penzance, 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. John, erected in 1866 at a cost of £2,300, is a structure of granite and Bath stone, in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, south porch and a western tower 66 feet in height, with a gabled root and containing one bell: the site and £2,000 were given by Robert Hichens esq. of St. Ives: there are sittings for about 500 persons: at Penbeagle, near the church, stands an ancient and much worn granite cross. The register dates from the year 1848. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £150, net yearly value about £170, with residence and 2 acres of glebe, in the gift of Rev. Frederic Harrison Hichens M.A. rector of St. Stephens, Canterbury, and held since 1892 by the Rev Richard Edward Griffin M.A. of St. John’s College, Oxford.

St. Mary’s Mission church is at Halsetown village, and there is a Wesleyan chapel, built in 1832, and a Bible Christian chapel. Earl Cowley P.C., K.G., G.C.B, Mrs. Jenkyn, and Messrs. Bolitho are the principal landowners. The soil is light; subsoil, killas and granite. The crops are oats, barley, wheat and roots. The population in 1891 was 1,200.

Letters through St. Ives R.S.O arrive at 9.20 a.m

Wall Letter Box, Wesleyan chapel, cleared at 11.45 a.m week days only. St. Ives is the nearest money order & telegraph office

National School (mixed), for 50 children; average attendance, 42; Mrs. Susan Webb, mistress