England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cubert St Cubert

The Parish

The parish of Cubert lies in west central Cornwall forming a stretch of Cornwall's Atlantic Ocean coastline. Cubert is located around 3 miles southwest of the resort of Newquay and sits a little over a mile west of the A3075 road which connects Newquay through to Redruth. Cubert is a small and compact village which sits on a former clifftop overlooking the dunes of Penhale Sands. Formerly absolutely on the coast the whole bay became choked with sand forming a wonderful beach all the way south to Perranporth and burying the former church and rectory of St Pirin. Nowadays Cubert sits over two miles from the sea its cliff smoothed by centuries of erosion standing above an area rich in both wildlife and the sand and surf which attract so many visitors to this stretch of Cornish coast. Cubert, at the time of this transcript, would have largely been a pastoral farming community with some extractive industries, mainly quarrying the local stone for building. Cubert is drained westwards by a stream with reaches the coast at nearby Holywell just a couple of miles away. Cubert is sited at around 80 metres above the nearby sea, a height which makes it the highest land for several miles. Cornish parishes are often extensive but Cubert was not one of those, covering around 2,400 acres it would have supported a population of just over 350 parishioners. In Domesday Book Cubert is recorded under the manor of Halwyn, held by the canons of Bodmin it was a small place offering just 3 ploughs with the usual meadows & pastures.

The Church

St Cubert's church sits at the heart of the village perched on the edge of the substantial drop down the former cliff-line. Whilst the church has ancient origins not much remains of the earliest periods as the church was substantially rebuilt in Victorian times. The earliest features found in the western wall of the nave and in the responds of the southern arcade to the chancel are  Norman Romanesque and 12th century. Despite the renewal in the 19th century enough remains to date the iconic western tower to c1300, its style being Early English Gothic. The tower is unusual in its county, in having an octagonal broached spire, and it setting over the sands below making it a landmark for some considerable distance. Further traces of 14th century windows can be found in the chancel but the main work displayed is as a result of the Victorian restorers, a restoration of the late 1840s, at which point most windows were replaced, being followed by a substantial rebuild in 1852. Street parking can be found on entering Churchtown, the lane to the church being narrow beyond the first 100 metres or so. The entrance, beside the  war memorial, is unusual in having a central stone block for resting coffins, the churchyard being, unusually for Cornwall, hedged around is open uncluttered and with no obstacles for the photographer.