St Austell
St Austell is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon.
At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 20,985 and the built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics had a population of 24,360.
Toponymy
St Austell is named after Austol, a 6th-century Cornish saint. A 10th-century manuscript at the Vatican includes a list of Cornish saints, which some authorities deduce is a list of Cornish parishes from around 900 AD, suggesting St Austell was already a parish by that time.History
St Austell was a village centred around the parish church, until the arrival of significant tin mining in the 18th century turned it into a town.St Austell is not mentioned in Domesday Book. However, A. L. Rowse, in his book St. Austell: Church, Town, and Parish, cites records which show a church was dedicated on 9 October 1262 by Bishop Bronescombe, and other records show a church there in 1169, dedicated to "Sanctus Austolus". The current church dates from the 13th–14th centuries, and was extended in 1498–99. The join between the two sections is still visible.
In the time of Henry VIII, St Austell is described as a poor village. In John Leland's Itinerary he says, in around 1542, "At S. Austelles is nothing notable but the paroch chirch". Neither travel writer, John Norden or Richard Carew in his Survey of Cornwall mentioned St Austell as a place of any consequence. Oliver Cromwell granted a charter to hold a market on Friday, as a reward to a local gentleman who fought for him at the battle of Boconnoc.
The village started to grow in the 18th century. The nearby Polgooth mine became known as the greatest tin mine in the world. Around 1760 the Land's End to Plymouth road went through the town. Along with William Cookworthy's discovery of china clay at Tregonning Hill in west Cornwall, and the same mineral, found in greater quantity in Hensbarrow downs north of St Austell, the town became more prominent.
China clay mining soon took over from tin and copper mining as the principal industry in the area, and this eventually contributed enormously to the growth of the town. The china clay industry really only came into its own during the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, at a time when the falling prices of tin and other metals forced many mines to close down or convert to clay mining. The success and high profitability of the industry attracted many families whose breadwinner had been put out of work by the depression in the local metal mining industry, and increased the population of the town considerably. This meant that more shops and businesses took root, providing more jobs and improving trade. This, along with other factors, led to St Austell becoming one of the ten most important commercial centres of Cornwall.
The town was a noted centre of Methodism. By 1839 The West Briton recorded 37 non-conformist chapels in the town.
St Austell was connected to the electric telegraph network in 1863 when the Electric and International Telegraph Company opened stations at Truro, Redruth, Penzance, Camborne, Liskard and St Austell.
Redevelopment
Work began in 1963 on a brutalist-style pedestrian precinct which included shops, offices, and flats. The design was by Alister MacDonald & Partners and the materials reinforced concrete with some stone facing.In the 2000s this area of the town had become very outdated, and underwent a £75 million redevelopment process. In August 2007, developers David McLean and demolition team Gilpin moved onto the town centre site to complete the preparation, with the Filmcentre which was originally an Odeon cinema dating back to 1936, being demolished in late September/early October.
In October 2007, the South West of England Regional Development Agency announced the new development would be named White River Place. It was also announced that 50% of shop units had been leased to High Street stores, with New Look, Peacocks, Bonmarché and Wilko opening new stores. This would mean New Look relocating from its current premises in Fore Street and the return of Peacocks to St Austell following the demolition of its old store to make way for the new development. Bonmarché, New Look, Peacocks and Wilko have since closed.
It was announced in October 2008 that the developer David McLean Developments had gone into administration and concern was expressed that this could jeopardise the completion of the project.
The new White River Cinema opened its doors in December 2008 for the first time: the cinema is technically advanced and the first purpose-built cinema in Cornwall for over 60 years. The Torchlight Carnival was revived in November 2009 as a direct result of public demand through a survey conducted with local residents. The Torchlight Procession has become an important event in the town's calendar, heralding in the Winter celebrations and drawing thousands of people from across Cornwall and Devon. The event is run by a small group of non-affiliated volunteers.
The St Austell and Clay Country Eco-town is a plan for several new settlements around St Austell on old Imerys sites. It was given outline government approval in July 2009.
The Cornwall Council strategic planning committee voted in July 2011 to approve a £250 million beach resort scheme at Carlyon Bay, St Austell. The development was initially proposed in 2003.
Climate
Governance
There are two tiers of local government covering St Austell at parish and unitary authority level: St Austell Town Council and Cornwall Council. The town council is based at the Stable Block of Pondhu House on Penwinnick Road.St Austell is in the parliamentary constituency of St Austell and Newquay which was created in 2010 by the Boundary Commission for England. Before 2010 it was in the Truro and St Austell seat.
Administrative history
St Austell was an ancient parish in the Powder Hundred of Cornwall. The parish covered an extensive rural area as well as the settlement of St Austell itself. By the 16th century, the neighbouring parish of St Blazey had come to be deemed a chapelry of St Austell for ecclesiastical purposes, but was still treated as a separate parish for civil purposes. St Blazey regained its ecclesiastical independence from St Austell in 1844.In 1864 a local government district was created covering just the settlement of St Austell, administered by an elected local board. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894. The 1894 Act also directed that civil parishes could no longer straddle district boundaries, and so the part of the old St Austell parish outside the urban district became a separate parish called St Austell Rural.
The urban district was significantly enlarged in 1934, when it absorbed the civil parishes of St Austell Rural, Mevagissey, St Blazey, and Tywardreath, subject to some adjustments to the boundaries with other neighbouring parishes. To coincide with its expansion in 1934, the urban district council bought a large house called Clynton at 75 Truro Road to serve as its headquarters. St Austell Urban District was abolished in 1968, when it merged with the neighbouring borough of Fowey to become a short-lived borough called St Austell with Fowey.
The borough of St Austell with Fowey was abolished six years later in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, when the area became part of the new borough of Restormel. Restormel Borough Council based itself in St Austell, initially spread across several buildings, including 75 Truro Road where meetings were held, before consolidating its headquarters at a new building at 39 Penwinnick Road, built in the grounds of Pondhu House, which opened in 1980.
The area of the former borough of St Austell with Fowey became an unparished area as a result of the 1974 reforms. In 1983 new civil parishes of Fowey, Mevagissey, St Blaise, Treverbyn, and Tywardreath were created from parts of the former borough of St Austell with Fowey, leaving just the central part unparished, including St Austell itself.
Restormel was abolished in 2009. Cornwall County Council then took on district-level functions, making it a unitary authority, and was renamed Cornwall Council. As part of the 2009 reforms the remaining unparished area around St Austell was split into four parishes: St Austell, St Austell Bay, Carlyon, and Pentewan Valley. The parish council for the new parish of St Austell adopted the name St Austell Town Council.
The arms of St Austell are Argent a saltire raguly Gules.
Economy
St Austell is the main centre of the china clay industry in Cornwall and employs around 2,200 people, with sales of £195 million.The St Austell Brewery, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2001, supplies cask ale to pubs in Cornwall and other parts of the country. Its flagship beer is St Austell Tribute; a number of other ales are brewed but are less commonly sold outside Cornwall. St Austell Brewery's first public house, The Seven Stars Inn, purchased in 1863, still stands on East Hill in the town but has closed as a public house; the building is let by the Brewery at 'minimal rent' to a charity providing an educational facility for young people. Tregonissey House, the site of the company's first steam brewery, built in 1870, can also be seen in Market Hill. A brewery museum and visitor centre is open to the public on the present brewery site in Trevarthian Road.
Tourism
As in much of Cornwall and neighbouring counties, tourism is increasingly important to St Austell's economy. Tourists are drawn to the area by nearby beaches and tourist attractions such as the Eden Project, sited in a former clay pit, and the Lost Gardens of Heligan. The China Clay Country Park, in a former china-clay pit north of the town, tells the story of the men, women and children who lived, worked and played in the shadow of the clay tips around St Austell.St Austell is home to several public houses, numerous high street retailers, and several independent shops, many of which cater for tourists. The town has a small museum which is situated in St Austell Market House.
A Brewery Museum and Visitor Centre is situated on the site of the St Austell Brewery in Trevarthian Road.