Grampound's History


Our community in Cornwall

A Brief History of Grampound

In the past the little white river, part of the upper reaches of the river Fal which runs under the bridge at the bottom of Fore Street in Grampound, was a deep and busy waterway with a Roman encampment nearby. About 1,600 years ago the Romans built a great bridge here; in Norman times the bridge was called Grand Pont, by which name the village was known and from which its present name has evolved.

The community flourished and by 1332 Grampound was given its charter by Earl John of Eltham which gave the townspeople the right to 'hang convicted thieves' and to exemption from taxes and tolls on the repair and building of other bridges. Most importantly they were granted the right to hold 52 markets a year without payment of dues. The seven- sided market cross still remains in Grampound outside what was once the market hall. The clock tower, now a landmark on the A390, was a symbol of the status of the borough in later years.

The tanning of leather in Grampound goes back to medieval, perhaps even Roman, times and the large cattle markets supplied the hides. At one time there were five tanneries in the area, which was a centre for leather. From 1711 the Croggan tannery flourished in Grampound and until quite recently produced high quality leather by the traditional oak-bark method.

The church of St Nun was built in 1370, close to the market hall, as a chapel of ease for the convenience of worshippers. It was rebuilt in 1869 into the delightful church it is today.

A small dark chamber behind the market hall was the gaol. Perhaps it was used quite often, as later in its history Grampound became a notorious 'rotten' borough, with much buying and selling of votes. It was once described as 'one mass of notorious corruption' but, as it was also described elsewhere as 'a place of great privileges and very poor inhabitants', maybe the temptations were hard to resist.

Grampound sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward VI up to 1824, but was in that year disenfranchised for bribery, being the only borough so treated prior to the Reform Bill of 1832. It had the honour of introducing to parliamentary life two very notable men, Wm. Noye, the great lawyer (1604 to 1611), and John Hampden, the hero of the ship-money dispute (1620) and prominent parliamentarian during the Civil War, both good friends of the people, though the former deserted the popular cause. In 1768 it was represented by Grey Cooper, secretary to the treasury, and Charles W. Cornwall, afterwards speaker of the house, a man of great ability.

The village possessed a mill, mentioned in the Domesday Book, located at the end of what is still called Mill Lane. In 1501 there were spinning mills, in 1653 fulling mills and later, in 1801, these became woollen manufacturers. From 1816 the industry changed to glove manufacturing.

With all this industry, the inhabitants, visitors and the community from the 21 outlying farms became very thirsty and in the village, clustered around the main street, were six public houses. Nor was that all! The private enterprise of villagers who went in for brewing in their homes necessitated the presence of an Excise Office. Of the six public houses only the Dolphin inn remains, a welcome sight halfway up Fore Street. The village, which was once a town centred around the bridge and the market and is now divided by the main A390, annually cocks a snook by stopping the heavy flow of traffic with its carnival procession.

 

 


© 2006 Grampound with Creed Parish Council