ST GORAN PARISH HISTORY

& GENEALOGY

LINKS

THE PARISH of Gorran (or, more correctly, of St. Goran), stretches along the south coast of Cornwall from the beach at Porthluney on the west, where the river forms the boundary, to Portmellon on the east, bounded by the river flowing from Galowras to the sea. Inland it is bounded by the road from Tubb's Mill to Rushpool.

It is a district of scattered farmsteads and hamlets, the centres of population being Gorran Churchtown and Gorran Haven, the latter a quiet fishing village except in the summer when the population is multiplied by the annual influx of holidaymakers.

How many people ever wonder what Gorran was like centuries ago-who the people were, how they lived, worked and spent their leisure? Family documents, maps, books, old buildings, roads, fields, even footpaths and hedgerows can answer these questions.

This is intended partly as a brief 'history of the parish, and partly as a reminder that history is not only to be found in books, and documents, but is all around us for those who have eyes to see; though the countryside today, and with it the visible remains of the past, is in danger of being overrun by the remorseless tide of industry in the name of progress.

School House in the Wind at Gorran burnt to the ground in 1966