Chapel of St Just, Gorran Haven

St Goran is a coastal civil parish in Cornwall, England, UK, six miles (10 km) south-southwest of St Austell. The largest settlement in the parish is the coastal village of Gorran Haven, a mile to the east with a further cluster of homes at Trevarrick.[1] The population (including Boswinger) at the 2011 census was 1,411.[2][3][dubious – discuss]

The parish is bounded by the sea to the east and south. It is bordered by St Michael Caerhays parish to the west and by St Ewe and Mevagissey parishes to the north.[4]

The patron saint Guron or Goronus is said to have come here from Bodmin.[5] The parish church is a fine building of the 15th century though the foundation is Norman. Features of interest include the bench ends and the late medieval font. At Gorran Haven is a 15th-century chapel of St Just, restored in the 1860s. At Bodrugan, there are some remains of the medieval manor house of the Bodrugans which also had a chapel.[6]

Thomas Tonkin, MP and historian, is buried at the parish church.

Cornish wrestling

William Nott from St Goran was a farmer who had much Cornish wrestling competition success at the end of the 1600s and was known as the "philosopher".[7][8]

Charles Dawe from St Goran was referred to by Thomas Tonkin as being without equal in the early 1700s.[9][10][7][8]

References

  1. ^ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204 Truro & Falmouth ISBN 978-0-319-23149-4
  2. ^ "Parish population 2011 census". Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  3. ^ Note ONS raw data (as opposed to some County Council-obtained figures) as to St Michael Caerhays is for an area 'too small to publish all data for reasons of confidentiality of living people' its parish data being combined with part of St Goran into output area E00096212 so more demographic statistics will become available in a few decades from 2011 which should accessibly separate the two parishes.
  4. ^ "Cornwall Council interactive mapping". Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2012. Cornwall Council online mapping. Retrieved June 2010
  5. ^ Doble, G. H. (1970) The Saints of Cornwall: part 5. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 33-34
  6. ^ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; pp. 102-103
  7. ^ a b Rev Polwhele, R: History of Cornwall, Michell & Co (Truro) 1816, p67-68.
  8. ^ a b Dr Whetter, James: Cornish People in the 18th Century, Lyfrow Trelyspen, The Roseland Institute, Gorran 2000, p50-56.
  9. ^ Tripp, Michael: PERSISTENCE OF DIFFERENCE: A HISTORY OF CORNISH WRESTLING, University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2009, Vol I p2-217.
  10. ^ Cornish folk in times past, West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 12 January 1959, p2.

External links

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50°14′38″N 4°48′43″W / 50.244°N 4.812°W / 50.244; -4.812


Ceremonial county of Cornwall
Civil parishes of St Austell and Newquay constituency
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