Gorran Cornwall Family History Guide

Gorran is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cornwall.

Alternative names: St Goran, St Gorran

Other places in the parish include: Menegwins, Trevarrick, Treninick, Trevear, High Lanes, and Gorran Haven.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1661
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1607

Nonconformists include: Bible Christian Methodist, Independent/Congregational, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

GORRAN, two villages and a parish in St. Austell district, Cornwall. The villages stand 2 miles N of Dodman point, 2 S of Mevagissey, and 6½ S of St. Austell r. station; and have a post office under St. Austell. One of them is on the coast, at the entrance of Mevagissey bay; bears the name of Gorran Haven, or Port-east; is a coast-guard station; has a very old pier, said to have been constructed by some of the Bodrugan family; is supposed to have been anciently a place of some consequence; and has still some trade in importing coals and in pilchard fishing. The parish includes also the hamlets of Treninick, Trevear, Menegwins, and Trevarrick. Acres, 4,725. Real property, £5,519. Pop. in 1851, 1,188; in 1861, 1,054. Houses, 234. The decrease of pop. was caused partly by the closing of a large mine, partly by the failure of the fisheries. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged to the Bodrugans; had a magnificent mansion, called Bodrugan Castle, long ago destroyed; and passed to Lord Mount-Edgecumbe. Sir Henry Bodrugan was attainted for treason, at the accession of Henry VII.; and, being in danger of capture, he fled to a vessel by a tremendous leap over a cliff, at a spot which is still called Bodrugan's Leap. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £258. Patron, the Bishop of Exeter. The church stands on an eminence; has a pinnacled tower of 1606; and was reported, in 1859, as not good. Chapels anciently stood at Gorran Haven, Bodrugan, and Galowres. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].