Cornwall

Find your Cornish ancestors and relatives with this list of links and resources to family history, genealogy and local history records.

Archives

• Cornwall Archives

  Kresen Kernow ('Cornwall Centre') is home to the world's largest collection of documents, books, maps and photographs related to Cornwall's history. As well as 14 miles of shelving to store over 1.5 million of Cornwall's treasured archives, the centre has exhibition spaces, learning rooms and a digitisation suite.

Births, Marriages & Deaths

• England BMDs
• FreeBMD
• Cornwall Parish Records

Burials & Cemeteries

• Cornwall Burials

  Search 781,449 records covering almost three hundred parishes across the Cornish peninsula.

• Cornwall Memorial Inscriptions

  These records cover about 90% of Cornwall's parish burial grounds.

• Cornwall Unitary Authority Cemeteries

  Burial records from 261 Cornwall locations.

• Cornwall OPC Memorial Inscriptions

  Search more than 26,600 MIs from many parishes.

• Cornwall Cemetery Index

  Over 18,000 entries organised alphabetically, showing surname, forename, date of death, age at death and cemetery. Records from the following cemeteries are included:

  • Barnoon Cemetery, St Ives
  • Callington Churchyard (St Mary's)
  • Camborne Centenary Wesleyan Cemetery, Camborne Parish Cemetery
  • Crelly Wesleyan Cemetery, Wendron
  • Crowan Parish Church
  • Landrake (St Michael's)
  • Lelant (St Uny, Lelant)
  • Longstones Cemetery
  • Penponds Cemetery
  • Phillack Cemetery
  • Quethiock Churchyard (St Hugh's), Quethiock Cemetery
  • Redruth, St Day Road & St Euny
  • Towednack Churchyard
  • Wendron Churchyard & Cemetery

The following records are from specific towns or villages in Cornwall.

• Barnoon Cemetery, St. Ives
• Camborne Memorial Inscriptions Archived
• Falmouth Burial Records
• Gwennap Burial Records
• Illogan Churchyard and Illogan Cemetery Memorial Inscriptions Archived
• Illogan Church Burials Archived
• Illogan Memorial Inscriptions Archived
• Lanner Burial Records
• Lelant Burials
• Linkinhorne Burials Archived
• Longstones Cemetery, Carbis Bay Memorial Inscriptions
• Mevagissey Cemetery Gravestone Inscriptions Archived
• Penryn St. Gluvias Burials
• Redruth St. Day Rd Memorial Inscriptions Archived
• Redruth St. Euny Memorial Inscriptions Archived
• Stithians Burial Records
• St. Ewe Gravestone Inscriptions Archived
• St. Day Burial Records
• St. Goran Gravestone Inscriptions Archived
• Towednack Memorial Inscriptions
• Treleigh Memorial Inscriptions Archived
• Trevenson Burial Records Archived

Census Records

• Census 1841–1921

  Search the census records from 1841–1921, plus the 1939 Register with over 276,000 Cornwall residents in this great census substitute.

• FreeCen

  Good, but not complete, selection of free records to search and view.

• Cornwall Hearth Tax 1664

  A useful census substitute for pre-1841 research, listing householders by parish.

Criminals & Convicts

• Cornish Smugglers Archived
• Cornwall Institution Inmates
• Criminal Ancestor Records

Electoral Registers

• Cornwall Voters Lists
• Electoral Registers 1832–1932

Heraldry

• Complete Heraldry of Cornwall
• Heraldic Church Notes of Cornwall
• Visitation of Cornwall 1620

Local History

• Cornish Characters & Strange Events
• Cornish Memory

  Cornish life as captured on camera and recorded on reel. Find photos, watch films, and listen to the stories of Cornwall's rich history from Victorian times to the present day.

• Domesday Book Cornwall
• Genuki Cornwall

  A free family history & genealogy resource which lists links and resources for the English county of Cornwall.

• History of Cornwall from Earliest Times
• Mediaeval Cornwall 1066–1485
• Rhymes of Cornwall
• The Cornwall Register

Military Records

• British Military Records
• Historical Records of the 32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry
• Cornwall Roll of Honour
• Cornwall's War History

Newspaper Archives

• Cornish Newspaper Collection 1710–1953

  Search the Cornwall & Devon Advertiser, Launceston Weekly News, The Cornish Telegraph, The Cornish Guardian and many more.

• The West Briton 1836–1887

Occupations

• Cornwall Apprentices 1710–1808

  Was your ancestor an apprentice? There are more than 6,000 Cornish records.

• Cornwall Constabulary Index Archived
• Cornwall: its Mines and Miners
• Cornwall Police Roll of Honour
• Mines and Miners of Cornwall PDF
• Lost Pubs of Cornwall

Societies & Forums

• Cornwall Family History Society

  A good place to start or continue your Cornwall family history research. There are monthly events and meetings plus a quarterly journal.

• RootsChat Cornwall

Surnames

• Cornwall Surnames 1881
• Glossary of Cornish Names
• Patronymica Cornu-Britannica

  The etymology of Cornish surnames.

Wills & Probate

• Cornish Will Abstracts Archived
• Cornwall Wills Database

Workhouses & Poor Law

• Bodmin Workhouse
• Helston Workhouse
• Launceston Workhouse
• Liskeard Workhouse
• Penzance Workhouse
• Redruth Workhouse
• St. Austell Workhouse
• Truro Workhouse

Additional Records

• Cornwall Historical Directories
• Ordnance Survey Maps of Cornwall, 19th Century