England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Breage St Breaca

The Parish

The parish of Breage lies in southwestern Cornwall, indeed it forms a substantial part of Cornwall's English Channel coast. Breage is located about 3 miles west of the market town of Helston and sits on and mostly north of the A394 road which connects Helston with Penzance. Breage is a large and compact village with most properties clustered around the central grouping of church & inn. Breage's economy was dominated by the local mining & quarrying industries, mining for tin, copper, lead, manganese & zinc all took place as well as extensive quarrying of granite on nearby Tregonning Hill, in addition agriculture was present on good alkaline soils and despite the coast being many rugged cliffs some fish & shellfish harvesting took place. The parish's population once stood as high as almost 6,200 folk, a figure scarcely credible given the reduced population today. Most of the mining has ceased and the area has become much more dependent upon tourism for its living. Those rugged cliffs are a challenging part of the South West Coastal Trail, one of England's toughest treks. Small streams, deeply incised into the landscape, drain quickly to the nearby Channel coast mostly through Porthleven. Breage village is sited at around 90 metres above the sea, a level which forms a peneplane broken by deeply incised valleys and the granite outcrop of Tregonning Hill which rises to 194 metres and dominates this part of the coast. Breage parish was extensive but so are many in this area of Cornwall, it covered almost 7,100 acres and, as stated, the population once stood at almost 6,200 parishioners. There is no specific mention of Breage in Domesday Book albeit the manor of Rinsey, once part of the personal estates of King Harold and in the hands of William the Conqueror, is mentioned as having 36 ploughs as well as meadows, pastures & woodland

The Church

St Breaca's church sits at the heart of the village and a hundred yards or so north of the A394. The church is essentially a single build of the 15th century, thus Perpendicular in style, and almost totally constructed from the local granite of, probably, Tregonning Hill. ST Breaca is a large church which befits the once populous parish, nave and chancel are augmented by aisles and transepts and topped by the tall western tower. The aisles, of seven bays, are particularly impressive features and increase the congregation capacity immensely. There is much decorative detail, battlements on the main body, gargoyles and grotesque heads on the tower making for an elaborate building. As with most churches St Breaca was restored in the 19th century but for once Pevsner does not berate this process for being careless of dating features. The church sits, in a rather elevated position, on the western side of Shute Hill. There is a small parking space by the steps leading to the churchyard which is braced by local granite walls, the northern end of the site stands over head-height respective to the road, is open and with few obstructions for photography.