Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1883

LELANT or Uny Lelant is a township and parish, within the parliamentary borough of St. Ives, from which it is 3½ miles south-east, 6 miles north-east from Penzance, with a station on the St. Ives branch of the West Cornwall (Great Western) railway, in the Western division of the county, hundred of Penwith, Penzance union and county court district, rural deanery of Penwith, archdeaconry of Cornwall and diocese of Truro, situate on the estury of the Hayle river, opposite Hayle. The church of St. Uny is an ancient building of stone, partly Norman, with some marks of the thirteenth century restoration, which in turn gave way to a further reconstruction in the fifteenth century: it consists of chancel, nave and aisles of equal height, separated by arcades of six arches, south porch and an embattled western tower, 60 feet in height, with pinnacles, and containing 6 bells, all cast in 1836: the church was thoroughly restored in 1873, at a cost of £2,000, when open benches for 420 persons were substituted for the former pews; the roof was also reconstructed and the chancel decorated and paved: the rood loft remains in the north aisle, and there are piscinaniches in the chancel and south aisle, and portions of a stoup in the porch: the original font, of Early English date, has been discovered in a farm yard, and will be restored and re-erected: the east window is a memorial to William Praed and William Tyringham Praed, 1848: there are other stained windows in the aisles: the communion plate is dated 1725, but an old Elizabethan chalice is still in use at Towednack: there are memorials to the family of Praed, 1620–1846; Pawley, 1635–1721; Cundy, 1799–1802, and others; over the entrance of the south porch is an elaborate niche containing a sun dial: a mortuary chapel and additional land for a burial ground, vested in trustees, were added to the churchyard in 1879. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1684; [baptisms marriages] and burials, 1716. The living is a vicarage, with Towednack annexed, tithe rent-charge (Lelant) £205, joint yearly value £440, with residence, built in 1835, in the gift of the Bishop of Truro and the Crown alternately, and held since 1869 by the Rev. Richard Frederick Tyacke M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin, and surrogate. There are Wesleyan chapels at Lelant Town, Carbis Bay and Ninnes; Primitive Methodists at Lelant Town and Ninnes and Methodist New Connexion at Carbis Bay. In the churchyard stands a massive cross, 5 feet 6 inches high and 1 foot 7 inches broad; the round head is boldly carved with a St. Andrew’s cross, and a boss in the centre; outside the churchyard wall is another cross, 3½ feet high and about 1 foot broad, with an oval head, bearing a Maltese cross, and on the reverse a figure of Our Lord. A fair is held on the 15th of August, yearly, for cattle. Trevethoe, half a mile distant, is held on lease by Sir John St. Aubyn bart. M.P., D.L., J.P. of Roger William Giffard Tyringham esq. who is lord of the manor and chief landowner; the mansion is pleasantly situated, surrounded with plantations, and overlooks the estuary of the Hayle; it was almost entirely rebuilt by Humphrey Mackworth Praed esq. in 1761; the front, ornamented with a pediment, is constructed of granite ashlar: immediately behind the house, rising to a height of 550 feet above the sea level, is Trecroben Hill, on the summit of which are the remains of an ancient fortress. The following mines are at work in this parish:—Wheal Margaret, Tren-Crom and Wheal Sisters. The soil is gravelly; the subsoil is killas and granite. The chief crops are wheat. The area is 3,927 acres, of which 170 is water; rateable value, £6,539; and the population in 1881 was 1,720.

Chy-an-gwail, situated near the Providence mine, 2 miles north-west, and Lelant Down, or Trecroben, on the side of the hill so called, 1½ miles south-west, are hamlets; at the former is a chapel of the Methodist New Connexion.

Post Office (Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Cornwall added).—Charles Burt, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive at 8.20 a.m., 3 p.m. & 4.20 p.m.; dispatched at 3.40 & 8.15 p.m. & 7 a.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Hayle

A School Board of 5 members was formed in 1875; J. C. Rosewarne, clerk to the board

National School (mixed), for 160 children; average attendance, 78; Miss Charlotte Banfield, mistress

Board, Trevarrack (mixed), for 230 children; average attendance, 120; Alfred G. Williams, master

Railway Stations:—

Lelant,

Carbis Bay, John Tyack, station master