Breage ( , ; kw, Eglosbrek (village), Pluw Vrek (parish)) is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

and village in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

, United Kingdom. The village is three miles (5 km) west of

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...

. Other settlements in the parish include the villages of

Ashton Ashton may refer to: Names *Ashton (given name) *Ashton (surname) Places Australia * Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales *Ashton, South Australia Canada *Ashton, Ontario New Zealand * Ashton, New Zealand ...

Carleen Carleen is a village in the parish of Breage, Cornwall, England, about north of the village of Breage on the road to Godolphin Cross. Carleen Wesleyan Chapel opened in 1883 and was later renamed Carleen Methodist Church; it closed in 1990. Ca ...

and Godolphin Cross; the coastal village of Praa Sands; and the Great Work Mine. The ward population at the Census 2011 had increased to 4,757. Breage civil parish had a population increase to 3181. Breage is named after Saint Breaca, a missionary from Ireland (to whom the 15th-century church is dedicated) and it is in the former

Kerrier Kerrier ( kw, Keryer) was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was the most southerly district in the United Kingdom, other than the Isles of Scilly. Its council was based in Camborne (). Other towns in the dis ...

District.

History

The parish was at the time of

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

within the manor of Binnerton. There were 8

hides __NOTOC__ Hide or hides may refer to: Common uses * Hide (skin), the cured skin of an animal * Bird hide, a structure for observing birds and other wildlife without causing disturbance * Gamekeeper's hide or hunting hide or hunting blind, a stru ...

of land with enough for 60 ploughs. There were 32 villagers and 25 smallholders with 15 ploughs between them. Apart from the arable land there was of meadow, 2 sq leagues of pasture and half a sq league of woodland. Livestock were 45 mares, 13 cattle, 5 pigs and 60 sheep; the annual value was £10. There are two Cornish crosses in the parish: one which was found buried in the churchyard now stands near the south porch; Trevena cross stands at a road junction about half a mile north of the churchtown.

Governance

Breage has a parish council, the lowest level of local government. It is in the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a traditio ...

, and the parliamentary constituency of St Ives, represented since the 2015 general election by Derek Thomas (

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Geography

The geological formation known as the Tregonning-Godolphin Granite (one of five granite

batholith A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock types, su ...

s in Cornwall) underlies the parish and the area was formerly an important source of tin and copper ore (see

Geology of Cornwall The geology of Cornwall, England, is dominated by its granite backbone, part of the Cornubian batholith, formed during the Variscan orogeny. Around this is an extensive metamorphic aureole (known locally as killas) formed in the mainly Devonian ...

). The area has evidence of habitation and mining for the past two millennia. Other than Praa Sands, the villages in the parish were tin and copper

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

villages. Breage itself was where the mine owners (or captains) lived as evidenced by the number of fine buildings in the village. The village water pump (presumably now disconnected) still stands today as a relic of the past. Most of today's working population are commuters, travelling to Helston, RNAS Culdrose,

Porthleven Porthleven () is a town, civil parish and fishing port near Helston, Cornwall, England. The most southerly port in Great Britain, it was a harbour of refuge when this part of the Cornish coastline was infamous for wrecks in the days of sail. Th ...

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situ ...

, Falmouth or even further afield. Some residents are still involved in farming or

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

in the surrounding area. Ashton is at : it is situated on the A394

road one mile (1.6 km) north of Praa Sands. Ashton has a pub called the Lion and Lamb and at one time had a football team. The following villages and hamlets are in the parish:

; Broadlane;

; Godolphin Cross;

Gwedna Gwedna is a hamlet in the parish of Breage (where the 2011 census population was included ), Cornwall, England, UK.Hendra; Kenneggy; Millpool;

Pengersick Pengersick Castle is a fortified manor house located between the villages of Germoe and Praa Sands in Cornwall, England. The tower house, which is in the parish of Breage, is a Grade I listed building. Parts of the building date from the early ...

; Penhale Jakes;

Polladras Polladras is a hamlet in the civil parish of Breage, in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated one mile south of Godolphin Cross Godolphin Cross ( kw, Krows Hirlan) is a village in the former Kerrier District of west Corn ...

; Praa Sands; Rinsey; Rinsey Croft;

Trenwheal Trenwheal is a hamlet in the parish of Breage, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, and southeast of Leedstown.Ordnance Survey ''One-inch Map of Great Britain; Land's End, sheet 189''. 1961 References Hamlets in Cornwall {{Cornwall-g ...

;

Trescowe Trescowe ( kw, Treskaw) is a hamlet north of Germoe in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The name ''Trescowe'' is an anglicisation of the Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language, Southw ...

; Tresoweshill; Trevena; and Trew.

Protected areas

Tregonning Hill Tregonning Hill is the westerly of two granite hills overlooking Mount's Bay in west Cornwall, United Kingdom, the other being Godolphin Hill. They are approximately west of the town of Helston. The Plymouth chemist William Cookworthy mixed ch ...

, to the west of the parish, was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1994 for its

biological Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

interest. Tremearne Par SSSI and Porthcew SSSI, along the coast west of

, were designated for their geological interest and are also

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...

(GCR) sites. Great Wheal Fortune was a small mine in operation between 1855 and 1880 and produced 2992 tons of tin, 322 tons of copper and some arsenic and tungsten. In 1991 it was designated a SSSI and is also a GCR site of national importance.

Parish church and church school

Breage Parish Church (Taken by Flickr user 13th August 2013)

The church was built of granite in the 15th century: on the north wall are five medieval wall paintings. A Roman milestone of the 3rd century is preserved in the church and in the churchyard there is an unusual Hiberno-Saxon cross head. The inscription on the milestone is: IMP DO NO MARC CASSI: this incomplete text refers to the Emperor (Marcus Cassianus) Postumus, 258–68 AD (Collingwood, RIB no. 2232). There is also a Methodist church in the village known as

Breaney Methodist chapel Breaney Methodist chapel is a Methodist chapel in the civil parish of Breage, near Helston, Cornwall, UK. The chapel is on Trewithick road in Breage, past the school. It was built in 1829 for and by the Miners of Breage. There were many oth ...

which is on Trevithick road. The local primary school is Breage Church of England VA Primary School established in the 1840s.

Notable people

* Sidney Godolphin, the

Cavalier poet The cavalier poets was a school of English poets of the 17th century, that came from the classes that supported King Charles I during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Charles, a connoisseur of the fine arts, supported poets who created the art ...

and courtier, was baptised in Breage. * Major-General David Tyacke, the last Commanding Officer of the

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a Light infantry, light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd ( ...

was born and buried in Breage, where his family had been involved in tin-mining since the early 18th century.

References

External links

{{authority control Civil parishes in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Villages in Cornwall