Constantine, Kerrier
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- This place should not be confused with Constantine Bay, Cornwall, which is west of Padstow.
Constantine
is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, UK. It is located in Kerrier, roughly halfway between Falmouth and Helston. Constantine is named after Saint Constantine, a 6th century Cornish saint and prince.
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[edit] Twinned with Breton Village
Like many other Cornish places, Constantine Parish with Gweek, is twinned with the Breton partner. It is the village of 
Pont-Croix, in Breton 
Pontekroaz, colloquially, Ar Pont[1].
[edit] History
The history of Constantine is related in The Book of Constantine (2001)[2]. An earlier study by Charles Henderson (1937) is still worth reading [3].
The ancient name of Constantine, "Langustentyn", implies that the settlement was monastic, with the "Lan" prefix. Dr. Lynette Olson [4] has examined literary and archaelogical evidence for all early monastic establishments in Cornwall and found significant doubts about the religious nature of Constantine before the Norman Conquest. Little remains of the Norman church, which was rebuilt between 1420 and 1480. The settlement called Constantine Churchtown grew up around the church. Mineral extraction lead to a massive increase in population and the village expanded down what is now called Fore Street, during the Nineteenth Century.
The village had three main industries: agriculture, mining for tin, copper and iron and quarrying granite[5]. The largest mine was Wheal Vyvyan, which was worked from 1827 to 1864. The production figures for copper 1845-1864 and for tin ore, 1855-1864, are given in Cornish Mines[6]
[edit] Today
The village has several shops, including a SPAR grocer/newsagent and a Post Office/General Store/Off-Licence The latter is remarkable for stocking 700-800 different sorts of Whisky and attracting customers from Scotland and across England.
Constantine parish is the home of four Cornish Bards, including Vanessa Beaman, who was installed a Grand Bard at the annual Gorseth Kernow,in September 2006 [7].
Also in September 2006, Constantine won the Calor Best Village in Cornwall 2006 competition [8]
[edit] References
- ^ http://constantinecornwall.com/village/pg_twinning.htm - Twinning Association
- ^ The Book of Constantine see List of Sources below for bibliographic details.
Contents
Acknowledgements 7,
Introduction 9
Ch.1 Aspects of the Parish: Geology, The destruction of the Tolmen, Stone crosses of the Parish, Tithe Map, Constantine in literature 11
Ch. 2 Village views & Hamlets of Constantine: Port Navas, Oyster farming and the Royal Visit , Seworgan, Brill, Polwherveral 19
Ch. 3 Local Industry: Agriculture, Mining, Granite industry 31
Ch. 4 In times of War [1939 – 1945] 51
Ch. 5 Historic houses: Merthen Manor, Treviades, Bonallack Barton, Trenarth, Goongillings, Trewardreva, Bosvathic 57
Ch. 6 Churches and Chapels 69
Ch. 7 Education 85
Ch. 8 Parish Council, footpaths & Gardens 95
Ch. 9 Shops & Amenities 99
Ch. 10 Entertainment & Leisure 111
Ch. 11 Sporting pastimes 131
Ch. 12 Transport 141
Ch. 13 Folk of Note 147
Ch. 14 Constantine Enterprises Company & the Tolmen Centre 153
List of Subscribers
Note: This book does not cover the Part of Constantine to the east of the Port Navas inlet that was transferred to the Parish of Mawnan or the part transferred to the new Parish of Gweek at boundary revisions in 1986.
- ^ A history of the parish of Constantine in Cornwall. see List of Sources below
- ^ Early monasteries in Cornwall, page 105 - for bibliographical details - see List of Sources below.
- ^ See pages 44-49 of the Book of Constantine. For more information on Quarrying in the Constantine area, see Peter Stanier South West Granite - bibliographic details in List of sources below
- ^ Cornish Mines see List of Sources below. The value of copper raised peaked in 1845, 1850 and 1855. The peaks of value in tin ore production were in 1856 and 1863. The value of tin raised in 1864 was only a quarter of the previous year's value and the mine closed. The story of the local mines is covered in detail - pages 40-43 of the Book of Constantine
- ^ Cornish Gorseth site
- ^ Calor Best Village Press Release
[edit] Sources
- Trethowan, Gerald (2001). A history of the parish of Constantine in Cornwall. Tiverton, Devon: Halsgrove. ISNB 1-84114-102-X.
- Henderson, Charles (1937). A history of the parish of Constantine in Cornwall. Truro: Royal Institution of Cornwall.
- Cornish mines by Roger Burt, Peter Waite and Ray Burnley; University of Exeter with the Northern Mine Research Society; 1987. ISBN 0-85989-287-5
- South West Granite: a history of the ranite industry in Devon and Cornwall by Peter Stanier; Cornish Hillside Publications, St. Austell; 1999. ISBN 1-900147-14-9 (Hardback) ISBN 1-900147-13-0 (paperback)
- Olson, Lynette (1989). Early monasteries in Cornwall (Studies in Celtic History series). Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-478-6. This link for Dr. Olson's online CV (University of Sidney, Australia)
[edit] External links
- French Wikipedia article on Pont-Croix(Twin town)
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