is located on the road from Launceston to
Camelford and Wadebridge, in the hundred of Lesnewth. It is rolling
farmland, with light soil over rock. The chief crops are wheat, oats,
and root crops. St. Kitt's hill, on the western side of the parish, is
985 feet above sea level. The rivers Camel and Inney arise here.
Davidstow Moor adjoins Bodmin moor, and has an airfield, in use by small
planes and a flying club. (to contact them, see link below) The village
hall, near the creamery, was once the gymnasium for the airfield. The
airfield ambulance station and mortuary has been a private workshop for
a number of years. Today, "Dairy Crest" are the largest employers in the
area.
There were Bible Christian and United Methodist Free
chapels at Tremail and Trewassa; Tremail Chapel is still operational. The Church
of England's St. David, which was rebuilt in the Early English style over the
ruins of an older church, was paid for by Miss Pearse, of Launceston, in the
late 1800's. It holds approximately 250 people. She also donated stained-glass.windows,
in honour of her parents and their families, which had owned land in the area
for centuries. In 1890, the lay rector, Michael Williams, Esq., contributed
three stained glass windows to honour his father and sisters. The Vicarage
residence and 26 acres of glebe was a gift of H.R.H. the Duke of Cornwall.
The
parish register dates from 1709. In 1891, the population was 393.
Please visit
COCP (Cornwall Online Census Project), which is complete for 1841 to
1891 and validated,
FreeCens
at Rootsweb - both are free, searchable databases - or check
GenUKI for other
alternatives.
REGISTERS:
For Parish Register information and other resources, please see our searchable database (C-PROP)
which is updated frequently or
GenUKI. The
C-PROP coverage page is
here.
A copy of transcriptions to 1900 is available to search at Camelford Library,
closed Monday and Wednesday. Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, transcribed by the
OPC, are also available in our searchable database.
DIRECTORIES:
Please visit the University
of Leicester's Directories website, which has many directories online to
view for free.
OTHER:
The local Flying Club has a website, at
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/davidstowfc.
For more information regarding history, population, etc., visit GenUKI.
MAPS:
For a Parish Locator map, please click
here.
Davidstow
can be located at coordinates I - 8.
For further map information, please visit
GenUKI (Genealogy - United Kingdom
& Ireland).
To see a current, zoomable Ordnance Survey map, visit
MultiMap, or for maps and satellite
images use
Google Maps.
ADJACENT PARISHES:
Minster,
Lesnewth, St Juliot,
Otterham,
Treneglos,
St Clether, Altarnun,
St Breward, Advent
and Lanteglos by Camelford.
ONLINE BOOKS:
Davidstow is included in The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume I by Davies Gilbert,
William Hals, Thomas Tonkin, Henry Samuel Boase, originally published in
1838 (page n344). Also downloadable as a pdf.
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