Breage ( , ; (village) or (parish)) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, United Kingdom. The village is west of

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

. Other settlements in the parish include the villages of Ashton, Carleen and

Godolphin Cross Godolphin Cross () is a village in the civil parish of Breage, in west Cornwall, England. It is midway between the towns of Hayle and Helston.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' From 1974 until 2009 it was in Kerrier dist ...

; the coastal village of

Praa Sands Praa Sands ( ; , meaning ''pool of the wrasse''), (formerly Prah Sands) is a white-sand beach and coastal village in civil parish of Breage, in Cornwall, England. It lies off the A394 road between Helston and Penzance. Formerly serving the lo ...

; and the Great Work Mine. At the

2021 United Kingdom census 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

, the parish had a population of 3,159. Breage is named after

Saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

Breaca, a missionary from Ireland (to whom the 15th-century church is dedicated) and it is in the former

Kerrier Kerrier () 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 district included ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

within the manor of Binnerton. There were 8 hides 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, two square leagues () of pasture and square 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 north of the churchtown.

Governance

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

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

area. For elections to

Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( ), known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary ...

, it is in the Porthleven, Breage and Germoe

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

. It was in the Breage, Germoe and Sithney ward between 2013 and 2021. Before 2013, Breage was an electoral ward. For elections to the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

it is in St Ives constituency.

Geography

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

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

s in Cornwall that form part of the larger

Cornubian batholith The Cornubian batholith is a large mass of granite rock, formed about 280 million years ago, which lies beneath much of Cornwall and Devon in the South West Peninsula of England. The main exposed masses of granite are seen at Dartmoor, Bodmin M ...

) 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 Devon ...

). 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 Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

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 Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS ''Seahawk''; International Civil Aviation Organization airport code, ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy Military airbase, airbase located beside the town of Helston, situated on the L ...

Porthleven Porthleven (; ) is a town, civil parish and fishing port in 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. The South W ...

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

, 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 technolo ...

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

–

road 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: Ashton; Broadlane; Carleen;

; Gwedna; Hendra; Kenneggy; Millpool; Pengersick; Penhale Jakes; Polladras;

; Rinsey; Rinsey Croft; Trenwheal; Trescowe; Tresoweshill; Trevena; and Trew.

Protected areas

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

, to the west of the parish, was designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) in 1994 for its

biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

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. It 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

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, suggesting that there is a Roman road nearby, 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 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 Sidney Godolphin is the name of: * Sidney Godolphin (colonel) (1652–1732), Member of Parliament for fifty years * Sidney Godolphin (poet) (1610–1643), English poet * Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of G ...

, 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 ar ...

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 Villages in Cornwall Civil parishes in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall