St Agnes ()Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel . Cornish Language Partnership. is a civil parish and village on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about north of Redruth and southwest of Newquay. and At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 8,591.
The town of St Agnes, a popular coastal tourist spot, lies on a main road between Redruth and Perranporth. It was a prehistoric and modern centre for mining of copper, tin and arsenic until the 1920s. Local industry has also included farming, fishing and quarrying, and more recently tourism.
The St Agnes district has a heritage of industrial archaeology and much of the landscape is of considerable geological interest. There are also stone-age remains in the parish. The manor of Tywarnhaile was one of the 17 Antiqua maneria of the Duchy of Cornwall.
Geography
In addition to St Agnes village, the civil parish includes the hamlets of Blackwater, Mithian, Mount Hawke, and Porthtowan.
St Agnes is on Cornwall's north coast, along the Celtic Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. This stretch has been designated as St Agnes Heritage Coast,St Agnes Heritage Coast. British Express. Retrieved 18 September 2012. a nationally protected area since 1986. The marine site protects 40 species of mammals and amphibians.St Agnes Heritage Coast. Protected Planet. Retrieved 18 September 2012.Species Protected Planet: St Agnes Heritage Coast. Retrieved 18 September 2012. Interesting features along the coast include Trevaunance Cove, Trevellas Porth, Crams, Chapel Porth, Hanover Cove, and Porthtowan. Some of these have beaches, and there are also two beaches at Perranporth.St Agnes Cornwall. Explore Britain. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
The Godrevy Head to St Agnes site of special scientific interest, starts at Godrevy Head (with the Godrevy Towans) in the west and continues for to the north east, through Portreath, Porthtowan and ends just past St Agnes Head, north of the village.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End
St Agnes Beacon overlooks the Atlantic and is considered "the most prominent feature" of the heritage coastline, with coastal and inland views that may be enjoyed during hillside walks. The National Trust landmark's name comes from the Cornish name .St Agnes Beacon. St Agnes Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 18 September 2012. "Beacon" is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin referring to the use of a hill summit for a warning signal fire.Macdonald, A. M., ed. (1972) Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers; p. 111. During the Napoleonic Wars a guard was stationed on the hill to look out for French ships and light a warning fire on seeing any.Mee, Arthur (1937) Cornwall. (The King's England.) London: Hodder & Stoughton; p. 195
Geology To the northwest foot of the St Agnes Beacon is Cameron Quarry and St Agnes Beacon Pits, Sites of Special Scientific Interest noted for their geological interest. Trevaunance Cove is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Geological Conservation Review site of national importance for "... the two principal ore-bearing mineral veins associated with the Hercynian St. Agnes-Cligga granite".
Toponymy
The original name of St Agnes was "Bryanick", a Cornish name which may mean pointed hill (i.e. St Agnes Beacon). Craig Weatherhill suggests it was a compound of bre (hill) and Anek (Agnes) and gives the first recorded form as "Breanek" (1420–99).Weatherhill, Craig. (2009) A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-names, Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype; p. 62
Neither Bryanick nor St Agnes, though, were established at the time of the Domesday Survey, 1086; the area was included in Perran Sand (Perranzabuloe). The St Agnes Chapel was named after the Roman martyr Agnes of Rome who refused to marry a son of Sempronius, a governor of Rome and member of the Sempronia family. She was killed in 304 AD.Samuel Drew. The History of Cornwall: From the Earliest Records and Traditions, to the Present Time. W. Penaluna; 1824 [cited 21 September 2012]. pp. 16-17.
According to Arthur G. Langdon, writing in the 1890s, the inhabitants of St Agnes pronounced its name as if it were "St Anne's" to distinguish it from St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly.Langdon, Arthur G. (1896) Old Cornish Crosses. Truro: Joseph Pollard, p. 77
History and antiquities
Antiquities There are a number of ancient archaeological sites in the St Agnes parish.Search on: St Agnes Cornwall. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012. The earliest found to date are mesolithic fragments which are dated from 10,000 to 4,000 BC. They were found near New Downs and West Polberro.Monument No. 428381 - New Downs / West Polberro Monolith., Monument No. 428381 - New Downs / West Polberro Monolith - map. and Monument No. 428408 - New Downs / West Polberro Monolith. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
During the Bronze Age, barrows were created in many places in the area,Search on: St Agnes Cornwall Barrow. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012. which was probably because its rich supply of bronze-making raw materials: copper and tin.History of St Agnes. Cornwall Tourism Magazine. Retrieved 21 September 2012. During the Iron Age there were more forts and evidence of mining. A noteworthy Iron Age site is the Caer Dane hillfort, 2.2 mi southeast of Perranporth. It had three concentric defensive walls surrounding the inner, topmost ring.Caer Dane. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 19 September 2012. St Piran's enclosed round was wide and may have been a "playing place" (performance area). During the Middle Ages it was converted to a "Plain-an-gwarry (theatre)". It is still used sometimes as a theatre.St Piran's Round. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 19 September 2012.St Piran's Round - map. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
There are other prehistoric geographic features, but the specific age or time period is unclear. The Bolster Bank, or Bolster & Chapel Bulwark, at Porth, is an univallate earthen boundary about long. It was likely used for defensive purposes, protecting the heath and valuable tin resources. Located on the "land side" of St Agnes Beacon, evidence of the bulwark can be seen sporadically from Bolster Farm to Goonvrea Farm, down to Wheal Freedom and then to Chapel Coombes. Although much of the boundary has been levelled, it is presently at its highest by Bolster Farm and Goonvrea where it is about high. It could have been constructed as early as the Iron Age or some time in the Dark Ages.Bolster Bank. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
Some Iron Age buildings and features were used during the Roman period from 43 to 410 AD.
Middle Ages
The first chapel or church in St Agnes was believed to have been built as an early Celtic church sometime between 410 and 1066 AD; At that time it also had an enclosure. The Church of St Agnes was built on the same location around 1482.Monument No. 428376 - Medieval Chapel / Church of St Agnes. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012. A medieval chapel with an enclosure stood at Chapel Porth, about 570 metres north west of Wheal Freedom. There was a holy well and a post-medieval (1540 to 1901) storehouse or shelter on the site. The chapel was destroyed in 1780, and the holy well remained until 1820. There still remains some ruins of the medieval enclosure and the small building.Monument No. 426049 - Medieval Chapel. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
During the Middle Ages there was tin working at a St Agnes Head tin works site with an extractive pit for openworks and lode back workings.Monument No. 1152214 - Medieval tin working site. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 20 September 2012. There are also ancient signs of tin works at Wheal Coates, near the Chapel Porth area cliffs. The site includes an adit, which is a tunnel or access to the mine; dam; dressing floor where the ore was processed for smelting; and an open cut where excavation occurred in a ravine on the surface. There were also prospecting pits to locate ore below the surface and a wheel pit for a water wheel. A bothy provided lodging for the miners.Monument No. 426049 - Wheal Coates Mine. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.Adit., Dressing floor., Bothy., Prospecting pit., Open cut., Wheel pit. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
A manor was built in St Agnes during the Middle Ages. Between 1700 and 1800 a house was built on the site of the previous manor. It is now a convalescent home.Monument No. 428386 - Trevaunance Medieval Manor House. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.Monument No. 428386 - Trevaunance Medieval Manor House - map. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012. A Trevellas country house was built during this period. Sometime between 1540 and 1901 a new house was erected where the country house once stood.Trevellas House. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
The Charter of Tywarnhayle by King Edgar granted land to Eanwulf in 960 AD.
16th and 17th century A chapel created between 1540 and the 1800s was located just north of Mawla. In its latter years the building was a shed for cows. By 1847 it was in ruins. The St John the Baptist church in Mount Hawke received the font from this church, although its original "Medieval" carvings were lost when the font was resculpted.Monument No. 427954 - Mawla area chapel. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 20 September 2012.Monument No. 427954 - Mawla area chapel. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
It was during this period that the Gill family were first recorded to be living in the area. The Gill family have traced their origins to St Agnes from as early as 1565, where it is believed that they were one of the more influential yeoman families.
The area saw an emergence of a variety of industries, such as public houses. The Miners Arms Public House was constructed in Mithian in the 17th century. It saw additions and renovations in the following two centuries. The building exterior is made of granite, killas rubble, brick and elvan. It is roofed in Delabole slate.Miners Arms Public House. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012. Trevaunance Cove had a post medieval lime kiln that operated sometime between 1540 and 1901.Monument No. 428402 - Lime Kiln. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
18th and 19th century Medieval mining locations began to take on modern methods of mining in the 19th century, like that at Wheal Coates. Wheal Lushington is thought to have been the biggest tin mining operation in the area. Operational by 1808, smelting was also performed at Wheal Lushington.Wheal Lushington. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012. Modern mining practices were employed at Blue Hills Mine about 1810 and until 1897. There had been prior mining activities in that area before 1780.Blue Hills Tin Mine. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 19 September 2012. A number of copper, tin and arsenic mines operated during the 18th, 19th and some into the 20th century.Advanced Search on: St Agnes Cornwall Post Medieval Industry (theme). English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
Allen's Corn Mill operated at Porthtowan between 1752 and 1816.Allen's Mill. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
20th century