Illogan

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Illogan
Cornish: Egloshalow
Cornwall
St Illogan Church Bell Tower - geograph.org.uk - 188951.jpg
St Illogan Church Bell Tower
Location
Grid reference: SW673439
Location: 50°15’0"N, 5°16’5"W
Data
Population: 5,404  (2011)
Post town: Redruth
Postcode: TR16
Dialling code: 01209
Local Government
Council: Cornwall
Parliamentary
constituency:
Camborne and Redruth

Illogan (pronounced illuggan) is a village in western Cornwall, two miles northwest of Redruth.

This is a sizable village: the population of Illogan was 5,404 at the 2011 census, and in the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan and several satellite villages, stood at 55,400, making it the largest conurbation in Cornwall.

Originally a rural area supporting itself by farming and agriculture, Illogan shared in the general leap into prosperity brought about by the mining boom, which was experienced by the whole Camborne-Redruth area.[1]

Antiquities

In 1931 the ruins of a Roman villa at Magor Farm were found and excavated under the guidance of the Royal Institution of Cornwall.[2] The villa was probably the residence of a wealthy Dumnonian who had adopted the Roman lifestyle.[3]

Church

The parish church is dedicated to St Illogan and St Edmund. St Illogan is also known in records as 'Ylloganus' or 'Euluganus. The earliest reliable reference to the church, dated 1235, refers to the Ecclesia of Eglossalau.

By 1844, the original church had become too small to serve a vastly increasing mining population, so a new church was built to the designs of J. P. St Aubyn.[4] at a cost of £2,875 and came into use on 4 November 1846. The Bell Tower is all that remains of the old church; Trinity House refused to allow its removal as it provided a useful seamark for shipping.[5]

The church reopened in 2012 after extensive repairs to the roof.

The churchyard includes fifty-two Commonwealth War Graves.,[6] and the grave of Thomas Merritt, whose carols are sung by Cornishmen worldwide and who was commissioned to write the 1902 Coronation March for Edward VII.[7] The Church, its tower, the Basset sarcophagus, a Cornish cross, and the gates at the north end of the churchyard are all Grade II Listed.

Paynters Lane End Methodist Church was built in 1890. The Methodist Sunday School was built in 1858; 30 years before the Chapel.[7]

The parish extends beyond Carn Brea and includes long stretches of the North Cliffs – from Reskajeage Downs on the North Cliffs to Cambrose, with a population of 12,500 people. It was split into three civil parishes - Illogan; Carn Brea, which includes the village of Pool; and Portreath.[7]

The civil parish differs; it and stretches from Bridge and Harris Mill in the East; Tolvaddon and Bell Lake in the West; and from the A30 trunk road to Reskajeage.

About the village

Aviary Court is a house parts of which date back 300 years. It was the home of mining engineer James Tangye and is now a hotel.

The Bain Memorial is in memory of David Wise Bain who owned Portreath Harbour, built in 1901 as almshouses for decayed (invalid) miners.[7]

Mary's Well was built in the village in 1888: it is named after the wife of Gustavus Lambart Basset.

Tehidy Country Park is the largest area of woodland in West Cornwall. It contains an 18 hole golf course and is owned and managed by the council. Tehidy was the estate of the Basset family, one of the four most powerful families in Cornwall who had extensive lands and mineral rights.[8]

Maningham Community Woodland was opened to the public in 2004. It was part of an ornamental garden for the old Rectory now called Maningham – now a private house – built of Bath stone in 1783 for the Rev John Basset, brother of Lord De Dunstanville whose monument is seen on Carn Brea.[7]

In literature

  • In the Poldark novels by Winston Graham, Demelza Carne was born in 'Illuggan'.[9]

Outside links

Commons-logo.svg
("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Illogan)

References

  1. Thomas, J. (1990) Illogan: More than a Village, p.vii. Redruth: Dyllansow Truran. ISBN 1-85022-051-4.
  2. O'Neil, B. H. St. J. "Roman villa in Cornwall", Antiquity 5 (1931), pp. 494-5, with photographs.
  3. "Romano-British Villa Magor Farm, Illogan, Redruth, Cornwall". Roman-Britain.org. http://www.roman-britain.org/places/illogan.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-29. 
  4. Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall, 2nd ed. Penguin Books; pp. 82-83.
  5. Information on Illogan  from GENUKI
  6. "Cemetery Details". 1918-06-09. http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/37002/ILLOGAN%20%28ST.%20ILLOGAN%29%20CHURCHYARD. Retrieved 2016-08-08. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 [http://www.illoganparishcouncil.gov.uk/ Illogan Parish Council
  8. "Tehidy Country Park - Cornwall Council". http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=13240. Retrieved 2016-08-08. 
  9. Clarke, D. (1977), Poldark Country. St Teath: Bossiney Books; p. 28.