Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MEVAGISSEY

MEVAGISSEY, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in St. Austell district, Cornwall. The village stands on a beautiful bay of its own name, 5½ miles S of St. Austell r. station; took its name from two saints, St. Mevan and St. Issey; is a sub-port to Fowey, with a pier and a capacious harbour; conducts so extensiVe a in one year in its bay,-though the quantity of late has very greatly declined; carries on also an import trade in coal, timber, salt, and other things; has long had a bad name for dirt and fishy malodour; was so fearfully scourged by cholera in 1849 that its inhabitants moved into tents till it was cleansed; and has a post office‡ under St. Austell, a good inn, a coast-guard station, a market on Saturdays, and a fair on St. Peter's day. The parish contains also the hamlets of Penwarne, Tregiskey, and Trelaven. Acres, 1,344. Real property, £4,829. Pop. in 1851,2,022; in 1861,1,914. Houses, 450. Penwarne and Pentuan belong to the Tremaynes; Tregiskey and Trelaven belonged formerly to the Grenvilles, but belong now also to the Tremaynes; and Porthhilly belongs to the Hoblyns. The surface is hilly. The bay measures 3 miles across the entrance, and 1¼ mile thence to the head; is bounded on the N by Black Head, 153 feet high,-on the S by Chapel Point, commanding a fine view of the coast eastward to the entrance of Plymouth sound; and has a depth of 18 feet within the village-pier at high water of spring tides. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £200.* Patrons, the Representatives of J. Benbow, Esq. The church is ancient, and has lost its tower. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, and a national school.—The sub-district contains also three other parishes. Acres, 12,874. Pop., 4,575. Houses, 1,003.


(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: Mevagissey CP/AP       Mevagissey SubD       St Austell RegD/PLU       Cornwall AncC
Place: Mevagissey

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