SANCREED.

HALS.

Sancreed is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north Morva, west St. Just, south Buryan, east Madderne.

At the time of the Norman Conquest this district passed under the jurisdiction of Alverton. In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, aforementioned 1294, Ecclesia de Sancti Credi, in decanatu de Penwith, was rated at £6. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, at £8. The parish was rated to the four shillings per pound Land Tax, 1696, at £91. 9s. 0d.

The earth of this parish hath tin lodes in it of great riches.

TONKIN.

Sancreed is in the hundred of Penwith, and hath to the west Just, to the north Morva, to the east Maddern and St. Paulin, to the south St. Buryan.

This parish takes its name from and is dedicated to St. Sancred. [Query, if not Creed, and so called Saint-Creed or Sancred? Certainly not, as it is denominated expressly, “Ecclesia Sancti Sancredi,” in the Valor of 1291. W.]

It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Book, £8. 0s. 0d.; the patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter; the incumbent ——.

In anno 1291, 20 Edward I. this church was valued (Tax. Benef.) at £6, being then appropriated to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter.

THE EDITOR.

This parish is the only one west of Hayle that does not reach the sea shore.

There is little remarkable about the church and tower, although they are pleasing objects in various directions. The church contains monuments to some former vicars, and also to Mrs. Bird. This lady was the only daughter of Mr. William Wayne, a gentleman brought from Bristol to instruct the newly established copper smelting company at Hayle, in the requisite branches of metallurgy. He married in Cornwall, and his daughter succeeded to a portion of the very considerable property left by Mr. Abell Angove of Trevenson.

Miss Wayne was born at St. Erth in 1762, married Mr. Bird a gentleman of Devonshire in 1785; and having become a widow, died near Plymouth in 1803, without leaving any family. Several of her maternal relations had been buried here.

The great tithes belong to the Chapter of Exeter, who are patrons of the vicarage, which is endowed with the lordship of a manor.

This parish has to boast of a consecrated well, efficacious for restoring health to children, and indebted for its virtues probably to St. Enny, as the remains of a chapel dedicated to that saint are near the well,

Mr. Hals has a long dissertation on the various creeds professed at different times in the Christian church, and fancies that this house may indicate an assumption by the inhabitants of the one most holy of all. This is omitted.

It seems, however, to be worth remarking, that all the people of the county used to pronounce the word san-crist; and this, joined with the fast of the parish feast being celebrated, not in honor of any particular saint, but at Whitsuntide, may be sufficient for suggesting a query at least, whether the church is not really dedicated to the Saviour of Mankind.

Drift in this parish, was formerly the residence of the Trew-rens, or more probably Tre-wren, which is said to mean the fair and handsome town. The family removed to Trewardreva in Constantine, and Drift was sold about sixty years ago, by the last Mr. Trewren.

Tregonnebris, stated by Mr. Lysons to be the only manor in the parish, belongs to Mr. Buller of Downs, derived from Ezekiel Grosse. The barton was held for many years under lease for lives by a branch of the Lanyons, and so entirely bare of trees is this district, that every child in the west of Cornwall is acquainted with the tale of a Mr. Longer of Tregonnebris, being terrified by a supposed attack of robbers when he first heard the hooting of an owl.

The late vicar Mr. Sechell held also the vicarage of St. Just.

Sancreed measures 3997 statute acres.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815359300
Poor Rate in 1831321110
Population,—
in 1801,
782		in 1811,
790		in 1821,
1001		in 1831,
1069

giving an increase of 36½ per cent. in 30 years.

Present Vicar, the Rev. William Stabback, presented by the Dean and Chapter of Exeter in 1816.

THE GEOLOGY BY DOCTOR BOASE.

Like St. Levar and Morval, this parish is entirely situated on the granite of the Land’s End district.