The
parish of Mawgan Meneage is situated in the deanery and hundred of Kerrier.
It is bounded to the north by the parish of Wendron, and the Helford Estuary,
which separates it from Constantine. To the east lies St.
Martin, to the south is Cury,
and to the west is Gunwalloe.
The parish contains 5,273 acres. The church is dedicated to S. Mauganus. It comprises a chancel, nave, north aisle, north transeptal recess, south transept, and vestry. The chancel window displays the arms of Trevelyan, Reskymer, and others. The arcade consists of seven four centred arches, with monolith pillars, the material is porcelain stone, probably from the neighbouring parish of Germoe. The woodwork of the roof of the north aisle is richly carved and in good preservation. Attached to tho west end of this aisle is the Trelowarren mausoleum. About a quarter of a mile from the church, on the Helston road, stands what is generally called the Mawgan Cross, which however, is simply an inscribed stone, and bears no resemblance to the figure from which it is denominated. The insciption is preserved in two or three publications. |
Churchtown is the chief village in the parish. Near it was a chapel for the Wesleyan Methodists and there were also chapels for the United Methodist free church at Garras and Bowgyhere.
More
about Mawgan in Meneage:
- Is so called for distinction from Mawgan in Pydar, is bounded northward by
the River Helford.
Three noble Cornish families, the Roskymers, Carminowes, and Vyvyans, were once
settled in this parish. The latter only remain (1894). Their seat is a fine
old castellated building with a chapel, called Trelowarren. The family of Vyvyan
dates from the time of Edward VI. In the civil wars they attached themselves
with the most devoted loyalty to the royal cause, and suffered severely from
the Parliamentary forces. In testimony to the eminent services of Sir Rd. Vyvyan,
then the head of the family, there hangs in there house a large painting, by
Vandyke, of King Charles I on horseback, presented to the family by Charles
II.
Another Sir Richard Vyvyan , a lineal descendent of this brave old cavalier,
was imprisoned in the tower by George I, on suspicion of being concerned in
favouring the design of the Pretender.
Still another Sir Richard Vyvyan died at Trelowarren on August 15th, 1879. He
was a Tory of the old school, and represented Bristol in Parliament after the
passage of the Reform Bill in 1832 until the dissolution of 1837. In 1841 he
was returned as Member for Helston, which borough he continued to represent
up to 1857, when he finally retired from public life.
At Mawgan Cross, in this parish, is a very oldstone, with an inscription
in Cornish, which has been thus interpreted "What lieth here is not the
soul."
The Rectory of Mawgan forms one benefice with St. Martin's.
In the church is a stone effigy of a recumbent crusader, one of the Carminowes,
and in the north isle are hung the helmet and sword used by Sir R. Vyvyan in
the Civil Wars.
At Gear, Gweek Wood and Carvallock, are remains of extensive earthworks. On
Goonhilly Downs, which extends into this parish , are many barrows, in which
have been found coins and weapons of war. A "fogou" or cave exists
at Trelowarren near the entrance to an ancient entrenchment, the remains of
which can still be traced.
This parish was well wooded, and the walks and drives along and about the Helford
River are scarely to be equalled for variety and picturesque beauty in the county.
Numerous Roman coins have from time to time been found in this parish.
I myself (Roger Shirley) am the OPC for this parish. Currently I only have on the site the records that have links in the left frame. I do have most copies of most of the parish registers, so please do contct me if you need any assistance and I will help as much as I can.
Baptisms: - Am now gradually transcribing the baptisms, follow the links in the left panel. Their are two other sources for transcriptions. The first is with the Cornwall OPC database which is searchable by name. The second is the Family Search website in Records section which is searchable by name and one can retrieve all baptisms by entering one of the following, in the batch number box. C053571 or C053572 or C020931 and press enter. All these transcriptions are from the Parish Registers.
Marriages: - Are completed up to 1850, follow the links to the left. Phillimore's also completed Marriage Transcripts for Mawgan and images of the actual pages can be found on the UK Genealogy Archives The Cornwall OPC database (link above) is the other major source for transcriptions.
Burials: - Have completed these from 1678, up to 1865. These transcriptions also include the Bishops Transcripts where available. Other sources for transcriptions are the Family Search and Cornwall OPC websites. Batch numbers for the Family Search are on the information page, which can be found by following the link below.
Other Information: - Please follow this link to see which has more on the Parish Registers, where they are available for viewing and for purchase. Also here is the link to the Family History website where images of the parish registers can be seen and downloaded.
Civil Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages began in England from July of 1837. Copies of certificates can be obtained from two sources, the central archive maintained by the General Register Office (GRO) or the Cornwall Registration Service. The information required to obtain a copy of a certificate is explained in detail. Also visit Mark Howells website for more information on ordering certificates and check Barbara Dixon's Tutorials for details on what information appears on birth, death and marriage certificates.
Another large volunteer project is the "FreeCen" project. The goal of this project was to publish online for free access, transcripts of all the English Census Records. The Cornwall section of this country wide project was completed in 2008 for the 19th century and the links to the left lead to current records available online for Mawgan. The whole database can be searched from the FreeCen home page which makes it easier to find those you are searching for.
Digital images of various census records are available from "Archive CD Books" who have put many of these records onto CD's through an agreement with "The National Archives" (formerly, The Public Record Office). Do visit there website for details on purchasing these CD's. Also available from Ancestry.com (requires subscription, annual or monthly) are images for download of the original census pages.
The 1901 and 1911 census both have their own webpages online and are searchable, although to get full access requires membership and fees to be paid.
Families being researched in Mawgan in Meneage:
The Orchard Index - Showing descendants of families who were orginally from Mawgan
Cornwall OPC Project - Mawgan in Meneage page
Genuki Cornwall - Mawgan in Meneage may also have further information
Present day map of Mawgan - On Google maps
Mawgan on Wikipedia - includes information, history, references, map showing all surrounding parishes and a photo of the church
Trelowarren House - History of estate and Vyvyan family
Pictures of Church - Outside and Inside
Cornwall Gravestones - Images of Gravestones in the Mawgan Parish graveyard, 1st part, 2nd part and Cemetery near parish
Cornish Volunteer lookup library - includes records for Mawgan and many other Cornwall Parishes. Photo Courtesy of Ron Williams - click photo for more
Trelowarren House (click here for somewhere to stay)