Gwinear - OPC Project Cornwall

The Parish of Gwinear is situated in the Eastern Division of the Hundred of Penwith. To the north is the Parish of Gwithian with Camborne also in the north going around to the East. Crowan is to the East going around to the south of Gwinear Parish, with St. Erth and Phillack both lying to the west. Gwinear Parish consists of 4,647 acres and was formerly a very important mining parish. The Gwinear Church stands on an elevated part of the parish and is dedicated to St. Winnierus and the living is held by Exeter College and has been since 1261. Villages within the Parish were Churchtown, Cos-winsausin, Drannock, Fraddam, Tregortha, Rewala, Relistian, Carnhill Green, and Wall. Wesleyan Methodist Chapels could be found at Carnhill Green, Wall and Conner Downs. There was also at one time 5 Manors which held land in the Parish they being Connerton, Drannick, Gurlyn, Polkinghorne, and Roseworthy.

Photo Courtesy of Dorothy Layzell
Farmland near Gwinear, Cornwall

Farmland near Gwinear

Photo Courtesy of Irene Polkinghorne
Countryside in Cornwall

Country Scene, Cornwall

Follow this link for additional Gwinear photos kindly provided by Cornwall Cam

Parish Records:

Baptisms: - Baptisms can also be looked up on the LDS website using the IGI Index by entering surname, changing region to "British Isles", and then entering one of the following, in the batch number box. C025711 or C025712 and press enter. These entries are actual extractions from the Parish Records.

Transcriptions on this site - 1560 to 1599 -- 1600 to 1699 -- 1700 to 1799 -- 1813 to 1820

Marriages: - Phillimore's Marriage Transcripts are available on CD from Archive CD Books. This covers the period from 1560 up to 1812. Lookups are also offered for marriages 1813 to 1837 on the Cornish Volunteer Lookup Library. (see below)

Transcriptions on this site - 1700 to 1740

Burials: - Still do not have easy access to these records, so they will be the first that I will transcibe. So far I have transcibed from 1656 to 1688 and 1702 to 1749 and they can be accessed from the link below.

1560 to 1599 --1600 to 1699 -- 1700 to 1785 -- 1800 to 1899 -- From 1900

Please follow this link to see where Parish Registers are available for viewing and what is for sale.

BDM Certificates:

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 local District Registration Office which is Penzance for Gwinear. The information required to obtain a copy of a certificate is different for both Offices and is explained in more detail here. 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

Census Records:

There is a large volunteer project called "FreeCen" with the goal of publishing online for free access, transcripts of all the English Census Records. The Cornwall section of this country wide project is well advanced and for Gwinear you may access the census records for the following years: 1841 - 1851 (first part) 1851 (2nd part) - 1861 - 1871 - 1881 - 1891 -1901 (if there is no link, then this year has not been done yet). Also making good progress is a project by "Archive CD Books" to digitise actual images of the various Census Records by agreement with "The National Archives" (formerly, The Public Record Office). Do visit there website for details on purchasing the CD's of the census records.

I also have copies of the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1881 census records for Gwinear. Only the 1881 census is indexed, therefore please be specific with any look up requests. The 1871 census is online at Kindred Konnections One can use the search engine on the main page or click on "United Kingdom" under Extracted Records to the left and then click on "1871 Cornwall Census" in the centre panel.

Links to other Records and Information:

Check out the Cornish Volunteer lookup library for the services as mentioned above and other Cornish Records.

A list of "Wills & Admons for Gwinear, Cornwall 1660 - 1773" has been prepared by Kathy Weigel along with many other Cornwall Parishes. Also check her Cornish database page.

For a look at modern day Gwinear, visit - UK Villages, Welcome to Gwinear

Genuki Cornwall - Gwinear may also have further information

Gwinear Church Bell Ringers - Some history and legend

Gwinear Parish Church - History, Information and list of Vicars.

Map of Gwinear in 1888 - Old-Maps.co.uk

Surnames being researched in Gwinear - This site is hosted by John Rees

The OPC Webpage for Cornwall - Lists all the OPC's and links to any that are online.

Help Needed:

The most urgent need at this time is for any transcriptions of the Parish Registers, whether they be just of a single family line, partial transcripts or even the full transcripts, every little bit helps. All transcripts sent in are being added into a database which will be available for free looksups. If you would like to volunteer to sit down at an LDS center or the Cornwall Record Office to copy out even a very small portion of the registers, I would be very grateful (please contact me first, to make sure someone else is not already doing the portion you would like to do).

I am interested in any data or information on Gwinear or people orginally born/baptised in Gwinear who may have moved away or emigrated overseas. Would welcome any articles on the history of the Parish or even the folklore. Would also love to have some photos. There are many little ways that one can help and any information would be gratefully recieved.