Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1883

MORVAH is a parish, 6 miles north-west from Penzance and 4 north-by-east from St. Just, near the coast, 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. The church of St. Morvah is a building of granite and consists of chancel, nave, aisle and an embattled tower with pinnacles containing 3 bells: the stained east window was presented by the Rev. Michael Nowell Peters M.A. late vicar: there are several monuments. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1653; marriages 1617; burials, 1655. The living is a vicarage annexed to Madron, tithe rent-charge £882, joint gross yearly value £890, in the gift of the three daughters of the late Rev. M. N. Peters M.A. and held since 1880 by the Rev. Franklin Tonkin M.A. of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, who resides at Castle Hornick, Madron; the Rev. James Seller T.A.K.C.L. is curate. There is a chapel for Wesleyan Methodists. John Borlase esq. J.P. and Mrs. Hichens are lord and lady of the manors and chief landowners. The Chûn cromlech, consists 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 killas; subsoil, rabmen. The land is principally pasture, and the chief crops are wheat and barley. The area is 1,226 acres; rateable value, £1,210; and the population in 1881 was 184.

Letters through Penzance. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at St. Just

A School Board of 5 members was formed in 1875; J. Quick, chairman; & Charles Reed, clerk to the board

Board School, Old Bible Christian chapel altered at a cost of about £200, for 30 children; average attendance, 25