I can help with all resources marked [YES], copyright permitting.

For marriages in other places of worship see the separate Chapels page.

Some Strays & Extracts will be found at the end of this page. See also Extracts from the West Briton Newspaper

Mariages were required to be recorded from 1538 and were supposed to be entered into a parchment register (book) from 1558. The book had blank leaves, so what was recorded varied a great deal depending upon the minister. At the least you should get the date and the name of the groom, but you usually get the name of the bride as well. In theory, they were supposed to be performed in the parish church of one of the couple, or in another church, if by licence.By the C18th, some clerics were abusing their privileges and conducting marriages in other places. Hence the famous "runaway brides" and "Fleet" marriages which took place in taverns near the Fleet prison in London.

From 1754, as a consequence of the Hardwicke Act (1753), this was regularised, (Church of England) churches for marriage had to be licensed and the rules for banns and licences were defined. The only exceptions permitted were that Jews and Quakers were allowed to make their own arrangements. A standard printed form was introduced for marriage registers. This should result in more and uniform information being available. The form had spaces for the name of bride and groom, the parish, marital status and occupations of both, the date of the ceremony, whether by banns or licence and the signatures (or marks) of the couple, the minister and two or more witnesses. The witnesses were often relatives or friends but it often seems to be the case that a parish official considered it his duty to witness every marriage. Particularly at the beginning, not all spaces were completed. There are four entries per page. Banns had to be called for three Sundays and the "Hardwicke" books had spaces for them to be recorded, either at the front of the book separately from the marriages or combined with the marriage entries. In the latter case, you sometimes find that the banns called relate to a different couple to the marriage on the same form.

From 1813, as a consequence of the Rose Act (1812), a few small changes were made. A space was provided for the age of each of the couple, but "Full" (meaning 21 or over) was a permitted, and frequent, entry. If under 21, then there should be an indication of "with consent of father/parents." The number 21 could be an abreviation for “of full age.” There are now three entries per page. The Rose books do not include banns and there is often a gap in these records until the Marriage Act (1824) came into force which required the keeping of a separate banns register.

Marriages by licence were done if there was a particular hurry, in a church outside their own parishes, to avoid publicity or just as a status symbol. It was also used by non-conformists to avoid too much scrutiny by the parish church attendees. Sometimes you will find evidence of a marriage "enforced" (and paid for) by parish officers in the case of parents of illegitimate children. There are a wide variety of types of licence issued by archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, delegated deputies and local clergy (in the case of peculiars). A common, or general licence allows marriage in specified churches, usually the local parish churches of the couple. Records of these should be found in the CRO (or DRO for early ones) but many have not survived. Special licences (issued by the archbishop) allowed marriage in any church and the records should be found in the PRO. Together with the record of the licence issued, you may find the required Bonds and Allegations which were the documents signed by witnesses to certify that the couple were eligible to marry. The licence itself rarely survives as it was given to the couple. For gentry marriages, particularly, it is worth looking at the licences issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury which come in two groups called the Vicar-General’s and the Faculty Office Allegations. The original records are in the Lambath Palace Library in London and they have been microfilmed by the LDS.

The later ones (1694–1850) are available for searching at [Off Site]English Origins in associaltion with the SOG.

Also it can be useful to look at the licences issued by the Bishop of London which have been indexed in

With the introduction of civil registration in 1837, marriage before a registrar became available and chapels of other denominations were permitted to be licensed. In practice it took until 1890 or later for even the larger chapels to apply for a licence. Marriage registers from this date are identical to the registrar’s forms and are two to a page. See Civil Registration for these records, though the church copy can provide additional information (such as the real signatures) when you know exactly which church to look for.

Marriage settlements or dowrys were independent of any ceremony but were often made in the case of families with property. Provisions were also made for the woman's pension if she should outlive her husband but also to prevent her having any other claim on the estate. An example from 1813 has been transcribed and pictured on this site.

A lot of the information here was obtained from [Wilcox 1999] but additional details and corrections have been obtained from direct sources and repository handlists.

[YES]Phillimore Transcripts (to 1812) for all the parishes in the district. [YES] The CFHS have published indexes to all of these.

[YES]The CFHS have published 1813–37 marriage indexes for all of these parishes.

[YES]The IGI (1992) includes the parishes indicated and can be checked if required. Both this and the Vital Records Index can be checked online on the [Off Site]Family Search site.

Geoff Holloway has a large but random selection of [Off Site]Cornish 19th Century Marriages on his website.

Ross = An index of surnames and years only compiled by Dick and June Ross and available at the [Off Site]Courtney Library of the RIC and the CFHS Library. Years covered are indicated.

Boyd = An index of marriages country wide and held in bound typescript volumes by the [Off Site]Society of Genealogists. Copies for the Cornwall section are held at the CFHS Library, the West Country Studies Library, Exeter and the LDS Family History Center, Helston. [Off Site]English Origins have some counties online, but not Cornwall.

Pallot = An index of marriages, mostly in London but also some elsewhere, held by the [Off Site]Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.

The majority of the transcripts shown below as “On this site” are or will be included in the combined [Off Site]database created by the Cornwall OPC scheme.

The layout of each entry below is:—

Type (source) Dates (media) Locations.

Call, Batch and Film numbers are shown when available. All LDS copies are on microfilm or fiche.

In addition, the [Off Site]CORNISH-L Library offers a lookup service for most parishes to 1837.

Strays & Extracts

These strays were sent to me by Kathy Weigel on 20 Mar 2001.

Contract of marriage between Roger BYNY of this parish and
    Philip TREWHELLA of Towednack, 6 Oct 1658 at Ludgvan
John THOMAS als. POLMERE of this parish and Cathryn CORNO,
    daughter of Thomas CORNO of Twidnacke m. 12 Dec 1658 at Ludgvan
Jacob CURRNO of St. Ives and Katherine GARTRELL, m. 29 ___ 1705 at Phillack
Peter CURNOW of Towednack and Ann EVAH of Maddern m. 2 Jan 1709 at Madron
James NICHOLAS of Lelant and Grace BENATS of St. Ives, m. 25 Feb 1720 at St. Erth
Henry EDWARDS & Catherine CLYES, both of St. Ives m. 2 Feb 1726 at Lelant
Richard ROBERTS of Towednack and Ann COCK of Gwithian, m. 31 Oct 1738 at Gwithian
Peter CURNOW of Towednack & Ann HARRIS of Gwithian, m. 25 Jun 1742 at Phillack
John CURNOW of Towednack and Alice WHITE of Gwithian, m. 30 Dec 1742 at Gwithian
William TREWHELLA, yeoman of Towednack & Ann GLASSON, spinster of Lelant,
    m. 10 Jun 1797 at Lelant
George PERRY of Towednack, tinner & Susannah GLASSON of Lelant, m. 2 Jun 1799 at Lelant

These from Camborne were posted to CORNISH-L by Sally Cann on 27 Sep 2002 and 6 Jan 2003.

18 Nov 1813 James JONES of Madron, Methodist Preacher &  Esther BUDGE
23 Sept 1815 James HARVEY &  Jane GOMER of Madron
21 May 1816 Hugh Mason MOYLE of Madron &  Elizabeth PAULL
17 May 1817 Alexander HAMPTON of Penzance &  Catherine PHILPOTT
5 Jan 1820 Robert Matthews BRANWELL of Penzance &  Jane VIVIAN

20 Aug 1842 PEARSON Thomas of St.Just in Penwith  f.a Wid Lt. in Navy Thomas (decd) Officer in Navy
          & Mary BOWDEN  f.a Spin  Edward - Farmer

27 Aug 1842 THOMAS Benjamin Jnr of St.Just in Penwith  f.a Bach Tin Dresser Benjamin - Tin Dresser
          & Mary Anne SHEARMAN  f.a Spin Servant Thomas - Wheelwright

25 Dec 1869 ROBERTS William of St.Ives f.a. Bach Draper William - General Agent
          & Eliz. MORSHEAD f.a. Spin Dressmaker James - Blacksmith

These from Kenwyn were posted to CORNISH-L by Carol Hughes on 8 Jan 2003.

07-Feb-1814 Paul Quick of St Ives to Grace Trahar of Kenwyn by Licence
07-Jan-1819 Edmund Paul of Madern to Jean Stewart by Licence
28-Sep-1820 William Barlow of Kenwyn to Harriet Treleaven of Maderne by Licence
06-Oct-1826 Richard Davey of St Just to Charlotte Maynard
30-Nov-1828 Joseph Ladder of Madron to Mary Ann Kendall by Licence
09-Dec-1832 James Stevens Buzza of St Ives to Mary Quick by Licence
20-Feb-1834 William Hodge of St Ives to Ann Clark by Licence
13-Dec-1834 Benjamin Gartrell of Paul to Ann Walters by Licence
25-Jun-1835 Samuel Wilshaw of St Ives to Mary Geach by Licence

This one from Calstock supplied by Myra Cordrey on 16 Mar 2003.

15 Dec 1812 FOX, John & CORY, Elizabeth Ash, licence
           John minor bachelor of Gulval, Elizabeth minor spinster otp
           Witnesses: Fanny Wade, John Wade

A stray in St. Kew Highway sent by Sue Dent

Date: 12 May 1892
Richard PERMEWAN 44 Bachelor Gentleman Penzance (Father John Permewan, Gent)
Fanny Gertrude LOUIS 44 Spinster --- The Vicarage (Father William LOUIS, Gentleman)
Witnesses: William Louis, A E Evans