Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for GWENNAP

GWENNAP, a village, a parish, and a sub-district in Redruth district, Cornwall. The village stands 3 miles ESE of Redruth town and r. station; and has a post office, of the name of Gwennap-Church Town, under Redruth. The parish is inhabited chiefly by persons connected with mines; contains the seats of Pengreep, Burncoose, and Trewince, -the latter two belonging to J. M. Williams, Esq., and E. Beauchamp Tacher, Esq.; and comprises 6, 565 acres. Real property, £24, 518; of which £15, 443 are in mines. Pop., 10, 537. Houses, 2, 246. The property is much subdivided. The rocks abound in ores, principally copper ones; and the parish has been called "the great cupriferous parish of Cornwall." De la Beche says that in part of the Gwennap district, " the country can be considered as little else than a mass of huge fragments, cemented together by various mineral substances; the great dislocations having been produced at two different times, at least; the last cutting off the continuity of numerous fissures previously filled in part by the ores of the useful metals, -in this case chiefly by those of copper." Some of the mines are worked to a depth of more than 200 fathoms under the sea; and short lines of railway go from them to the ports of Portreath and Devran. An interesting feature is noticed in our article CARN-MARTH; a small ancient earthwork is on Trebowling hill; and an ancient entrenchment, occupying about an acre, is on a hill opposite Carn-Marth. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £428.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. The church is ancient; was lately in part restored; has a separate tower; and contain s monuments of the Williamses and the Beauchamps. The vicarages of St. Day and Lannarth are separate benefices. There are chapels for Baptists, .Wesleyans, and Plymouth Brethren, large national schools, and charities £18.—The sub-district contains also the parish of St. Stithians. Acres, 10, 856. Pop., 12, 895. Houses, 2, 736.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Gwennap CP/AP       Gwennap SubD       Redruth RegD/PLU       Cornwall AncC
Place: Gwennap

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