Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1883

ST. LEVAN is a parish, 8 miles south-west from Penzance, 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, situated on the extreem south point of the coast. The church of St. Levan, situated in a secluded dell opening to the sea, is a plain building of granite in the Late Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, north transept, porch and an embattled tower containing 3 bells: the church will seat 250 persons: in the churchyard is an ancient cross, about 7 feet high, on a round base, the head of which bears a rude carving of the Crucifixion: on the churchyard wall stands the round head of another cross. The register dates from the year 1700. The living is a rectory, tithe rent-charge £280, net yearly value £248, in the gift of H.R.H. the Duke of Cornwall and held since 1878 by the Rev. Paul D’Ockham Silvester M.A. Exeter College, Oxford. Here is a Wesleyan chapel. Eastward, on the coast is the celebrated Logan rock, an immense block of granite on the summit of three piles of rock rising from the sea; the weight of this stone is supposed to be 90 tons, yet it is so nicely balanced that it may be easily logged, or rocked to and fro in a certain direction: in 1820 it was displaced by some sailors in a frolic, but was replaced by the officer who had overthrown it. The lords of the manor and the principal landowners are Jospeh Hockin, James Hockin, Henry Hodge, John Saundry, jun. and Thomas Roberts. The soil is growan, overlying granite. The chief crops are wheat and potatoes. The area is 2,328 acres; rateable value, £3,647; and the population in 1881 was 583.

Portcurnow, in this parish, is bounded on the west by magnificent and lofty rocks, extending far out seaward and heaped one upon another in magnificent disorder; these rocks are wholly granitic, no trace of limestone being found in them, and constitute a portion of the boldest and most romantic scenery in the south of Cornwall. Here is a station of the Eastern Telegraph Company, having direct submarine communication with Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, India and Australia.

Roskestal is a hamlet lying westwards

Post Office.—Francis Wallis, sub-postmaster. Letters through Penzance, arrive at 10.40 a.m.; dispatched at 1.20 p.m. The nearest money order office is at St. Just & telegraph office is at Portcurnow

A School Board of 5 members was formed in 1872; the Rev. Paul D’Ockham Silvester M.A. clerk to the board

Board School, John James Redhead, master;