St Day

Cornwall Information & Accommodation Guide

St Day Old Church

St Day, in Cornish Sen Day, is a civil parish and village near Redruth.

Mining Heritage of St Day

The parish lies in the heart of a former mining area which is now included in the Cornwall and West Devon World Heritage Site.

The remains of more than sixteen mines have been located in the parish including:

Wheal Gorland (the mine underlies the village and is a cause of subsidence)

West Wheal Jewel (Tolcarne Mine, North Wheal Damsel)

Cathedral Mine

Wheal Trelawny

Busveal Mine

Wheal Grambler (East Wheal Sparnon), St Aubyn United Mines (Grambler and St Aubyn Mines)

Wheal St Aubyn, St Aubyn United Mines (Grambler and St Aubyn Mines)

West Wheal Gorland (Roselobby Mine; Roselabby Mine), West Wheal Jewel (Tolcarne Mine; North Wheal Damsel)

Wheal Pink, Clinton and Pink United Mine

Wheal Muttrall, Wheal Gorland

Wheal Clinton, Clinton and Pink United Mine

Clinton and Pink United Mine

Park-an-Chy Mine

Between the 1500s and the 1830s St Day earned considerable wealth from mining, lying at the centre of the richest and most famous copper mining district in the world.

Associated industries flourished too, including brick making, rope making and explosives.

From 1870 onwards mining activity and with it the fortunes of the parish declined and the population is now considerably lower than it was in its heyday. Many local miners emigrated to South America and South Africa, sending money home so their families could survive. At the 2011 census, the population of St Day was recorded as 1,821.

The mining boom was not the first period when St Day experienced so much interest from visitors . Many centuries before, what is now St Day, was formerly part of the Manor of Tolgullow which dates from 1005 or earlier. The first record of Tolgullow dates from the reign of Ethelred the Unready. The area had become important as a place for pilgrims to visit as they walked from Canterbury to the shrine at St Michael’s Mount as a Shrine of the Holy Trinity had been established at Tolgullow earlier in the Dark Ages.

St Day Feast is celebrated annually on Feast Monday at the end of June. When it was first established it would have been a more solemn event. Nowadays, two formal street dances take place similar to Helston’s Furry dance, one including children from Carharrack and St Day Primary School and the other is for adults. Music is provided by St Day and Carharrack Silver Band. The Feast of St Day has likely been celebrated since the dedication of the church in the 14th century. In the late 1920s, Peter Michael Williams gifted the Playing Field for its use and W. J. Mills set up a trust to enable the Feast Day to be celebrated in perpetuity.

Historic Buildings

The village of St Day lies within a conservation area with much of the street layout and market places having been preserved. There are over fifty listed buildings in St Day Parish with much architectural interest including the Old Church and graveyard and buildings with their original shop fronts.

The site of the former chapel and the enclosure that would have surrounded it (in Cornish, ‘lan’ meaning a ‘sacred enclosure’) can be seen in the shape of today’s road layout which curves around the site.

The Old Church is an interesting location to visit. It contains an imposing memorial statue and other memorials on its walls. Information boards guide you, providing history about the site and the surrounding area. It can be visited during the summer months.

The Churchyard contains a number of memorials to family members who had emigrated for work, particularly after the decline in mining, and who had died overseas.

As you walk around the Churchyard, you will notice that many of the iron railings are missing from the entrance and from around the graves. This is due to them being removed in WW II and melted down to help the war effort.

Servicemen from the parish who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars are buried here. One of these memorials commemorates two soldiers.

Several large tombs can be seen including that of the Hawke family, rope works owners which stands to the east of the church and is surrounded by railings. Nearby is the grave of the Corfield family, who ran a chemist’s shop in Church Street. The tombs of the Harvey family, merchants supplying both the general population and the needs of the mining industry, can be seen to the right of the Old Church.

Hamlets within the parish include Tolcarne, Todpool, Creegbrawse, Vogue and Busveal.

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