The parish of
The parish of St Hilary once included the Town of Marazion and the offshore island St Michael’s Mount. Many of the older
records refer to residents as being ‘of the town’ or ‘of the parish’.
The term ‘of the town’ refers to the Town of Marazion, while ‘of the
parish’ refers to the balance of the parish. St Michael’s Mount is
usually referred to by it’s own name. The parish, excluding Marazion and
St Michael’s Mount, has no business center and is made up of a number of
small clusters of residences; Plain-an-Gwarry, Tregurtha, Churchtown,
Trewhella, Relubbus, Hallamaning, Colenso, Millpool, Greenberry,
Woodstock, Carter’s Downs, Rosudgeon, Trevean, and Prussia Cove are some
of these communities. The parish was made up mostly of families of
miners and farmers.
The Town of Marazion and St Michael’s Mount were inhabited by
tradespeople, fishermen and the men of the sea, the mariners, who were a
part of the coastal trading.
The parish church was located at Churchtown and with its unique tower
was a landmark used by the mariners from far out at sea. There was also
a church at Marazion, it being a chapelry of St Hilary, controlled by
the ‘mother church’ at Churchtown. The church rites of the entire
parish, (baptisms, marriages and burials) were all performed at the
‘mother church’ until 1813 when the Marazion church was awarded the
ability to conduct baptisms and burials. It was not until about 1850
that the Marazion church was allowed to conduct marriages. In 1892
Marazion became a fully independent parish.
St Hilary parish completely encircles the landward sides of the parish
of Perranuthnoe. Since the principal community of Perranuthnoe, known as
Goldsithney, is so near St Hilary Churchtown, a lot of those residents
attended or had their rites performed at the St Hilary Church.
Therefore it is prudent for researchers of the parishes of Perranuthnoe,
St Hilary, and Marazion (including St Michael’s Mount) to also check the
records of those other parishes.
There are two cemeteries in St Hilary; the churchyard containing the
older burials, and across the road from it is the newer cemetery (first
utilised in 1894).
The Online Parish Clerk (Geneaalogy) for St Hilary is Al Kline who can be
contacted by email.
For information about, and contact details for, the current
parish council, please see
Contact details for the church can be found by searching
Information can be found at
COCP (the Cornwall Online Census Project), which is complete for
1841 to 1891 and has been verified,
FreeCen at Rootsweb, which has a very good search engine and
information from COCP, as well as GenUKI, which has more reference information and alternative
- 1821 Census
(no names required)
1831 Census (no names required)
For Parish Register
information and other resources, please see our searchable database (C-PROP)
which is updated regularly, and GenUKI. The C-PROP
parish coverage page is
For information, see GenUKI or visit the University
of Leicester's Directories website, which has many directories online to
view for free.
Hilary 1899 (pdf)
A list of
available Wills and
Probate Documents. Copies of those marked as CRO can be ordered
from here using the appropriate reference. For those marked as
NA enter the reference in the search box on
this page and follow the onscreen instructions.
25 Jan 1686, Katherine St AUBYN (Marazion)
Dec 1771, John MAUGHAM (Marazion)
2 Jul 1723, a Clause in the Will of the Revd.
1804, James SILVER (Marazion)
Apr 1734, James WILLIAMS
Apr 1809, Richard MILDRUM
Oct 1741, Mary PENNECK
24 Jan 1816, John SIMONS
Jul 1743, Thomas PENBERTHY (Marazion)
Apr 182-?, Matthew ANGOVE
7 May 1745,
Feb 1822, Joan CARTER
1746, Francis SQUIRES (Marazion)
of Parish news (1700s & 1800s), transcribed from a register,
mentioning the Wills of Mrs. Amy HILL and Revd. John PENNECK, plus news
of a minor earthquake and parish statistics.
For more information regarding History, Population, and
much more, visit
For a zoomable and printable map of Cornwall please visit
Cornwall Council’s mapping website. To see the Parish
boundaries, click on the Layers Tab for Government Boundaries.
For maps and satellite
images use Google Maps.
To enjoy a "walk" around this parish, search for St Hilary at
drag the person icon from above the zoom commands and place it at a
specific location on the map.
Marazion (post-1813), St Erth,
- St Hilary is included in
The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume
II by Davies Gilbert,
William Hals, Thomas Tonkin, Henry Samuel Boase, originally published in
1838 (page 166). Also downloadable as a pdf.
Walks about St. Hilary, Chiefly among the Poor, by Charlotte
Champion Pascoe, first published in 1879
Phillimore's Marriages Vol
IX transcripts including St Hilary
(transcribed and in our