Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1893

SANCREED is a parish 4 miles west-by-south 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 San Creed (or Sancta Crida) is a building of granite, chiefly in the late 15th century style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 3 bells: the rood stairs, piscina and stoup remain: some carving on the rood screen is possibly Spanish: the restoration of the church, begun in 1881, under the direction of Mr. J. D. Sedding, architect, was completed in 1891 at a cost of £2,350: the church has been new roofed, refloored and reseated with carved oak benches affording 240 sittings, and internal fittings are still (1893) being added: during the restoration the remains of a Norman font were found: on the churchyard wall is the circular head of a cross, discovered by the present vicar in a ditch close by, and near the vicarage gates the quatrefoiled head of another has been erected on its original shaft, recently found in the south aisle; in the churchyard is a fine cross nearly 8 feet high, uniquely incised with a lily, the emblem of the Virgin. at Higher Drift is a stone 2 feet high with a Latin cross on one side. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1556; marriages, 1559; burials, 1579. The living is a vicarage, average tithe rent-charge £258, net yearly value £295, including 152 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Dean and Chapter of Truro, and held since 1879 by the Rev. Reginald Basset Rogers B.A. of St. John’s College, Oxford. There are Wesleyan chapels at New Bridge and Court, and Bible Christian chapels at Grumbla, Brane, Tregerrest and Drift. There is a series of very perfect British caves at Brane and an ancient circular fortification at Caer Bran, now ruinous. At chapel Uny are the remains of a well or baptistery dedicated to St. Eurnus or Uny and another baptistery and well at Chapel Downs. There are also two logan stones of some interest at Bejowans. Thomas Bedford Bolitho esq. M.P., D.L., J.P. of Trewidden, Madron, and Mrs. Scobell, are lord and lady of the manor, and Lord Robartes and Jonathan Rashleigh esq. are the 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 4,471 acres; rateable value, £5,028; the population in 1891 was 857.

New Bridge is a village 1½ miles north on the road between Penzance and St. Just. Drift is a hamlet 1 mile south-east.

Post Office, New Bridge (Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Cornwall added).—Mrs. Eliza Hosken, postmistress. Letters received at 8.35 a.m. & 4.45 p.m.; dispatched at 9 a.m. & 3.45 p.m. The nearest telegraph & money order office is at Penzance. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid

Wall Letter Box, Drift, cleared 3.20 & 6 p.m

Wall Letter Box, at Churchtown, cleared at 1.30 p.m

Schools:—

A School Board of 5 members was formed Sept. 24, 1880; C. Clemens, Drift, clerk to the board & attendance officer

Board, New Bridge, built in 1883, for 100 children; average attendance, 31 boys, 27 girls & 29 infants; George Henry Guy, master

National (mixed & infants), for 170 children; average attendance, 75; supported in part by voluntary contributions; William Phillips Mitchell, master; Miss T. J. Thomas, infants’ mistress