Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1883

SANCREED is a parish 4 miles west-by-south 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. The church of San Creed (or Sancta Crida) is a building of granite, mainly in the fifteenth century style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, transept, porch and an embattled tower containing 3 bells, and there are several mural monuments. The church was restored in 1882 at a cost of £2,250, when the remains of a Norman font were found: on the churchyard wall is the quatre-foiled head of an ancient cross, and in the churchyard a tall and finely incised cross, nearly 8 feet high: at Higher Drift is a stone 2 feet high with a Latin cross on one side. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1566; marriages, 1559; burials, 1579. The living is a vicarage, vicarial tithe rent-charge £370, net yearly value £313 with residence and 152 acres of glebe, in the gift of Dean and Chapter of Exeter, and held since 1879 by the Rev. Reginald Basset Rogers B.A. of St. John’s College, Oxford. There is a series of very perfect British caves at Brane and an ancient circular fortification at Caer Bran. There is a holy well at Chapel Uny and a baptistery and holy well at Chapel Downs. There are also two logan stones of some interest at Begowans. There are chapels at New Bridge and Court for Wesleyans, and at Grumbla, Brane, Tregerris and Drift for Bible Christians. Edward Bolitho esq. and Mrs. Scobell, are lord and lady of the manor, and chief landowners. The soil is killas; subsoil, marl. The chief crops are oats, barley and potatoes, but the greater part of the land is in pasture. The area is 3,909 acres; rateable value, £5,092; the population in 1881 was 937.

Parish Clerk, John Toman.

Post & Money Order Office & Savings Bank, New Bridge; Miss Elizabeth Bennetts, receiver

Letters through Penzance, received at 10.30 a.m.; dispatched at 2 p.m. The nearest telegraph office is at Penzance

A School Board of 5 members was formed in 1880; C. Clemens, Drift, clerk to the board

Board School, to acommodate 90; J. C. Guy, master

National School (mixed), for 170 children, supported by voluntary contributions; W. P. Mitchell, master; Miss Ellen Eddy, mistress