Illogan Today

In April 2001 Janette and I made our first visit to the village of Illogan. Our objectives were:

• To see if we could locate in St Illogan churchyard the tombstone, known to exist into the middle 1990s, of my 3g grandfather William Gribble.

• To explore the Churchtown and Ventonraze areas of Illogan in which my ancestors had lived according to St Illogan parish records.

• To see exactly what might remain in the area from the time of the mining boom of the 19th century.

The Churchtown area was of special interest as a recent photograph supplied by St Illogan's Reverend Mike Kippax suggested almost no change in the view from the church tower since circa 1906 when compared with the photograph in the book by Janet Thomas.

I am happy to say the weekend we spent in Illogan was all and more than we could have asked for. Our place of residence "Aviary Court Hotel" turned out to be the historic Aviary Cottage, parts of which are said to be over two hundred years old, and in the early 1900s occupied by the engineer James Tangye.

The churchyard and St Illogan church itself was another highlight. Like stepping into a movie set of times long ago. Huge pine trees, tombstones at each and every angle, and a general sense of timelessness. We attended the Palm Sunday service and thus had the chance to meet with some of the parishioners and tour the interior of the church. For security reasons the latter needs to be arranged with Reverend Kippax. It is most worthwhile as there are a range of historical artifacts including Basset memorials, antique church furniture including an early bier, lead lights, and even a matchstick model of the previous church and tower.

Illogan itself still retains a number of historic buildings and sights. These include the Churchtown, the school rooms, the Harris Memorial Hall, some Methodist Chapels, "The Barn", a number of old water wells, the walk from The Aviary up to the school, the walk down Ventonraze, and a sadly neglected Illogan Woods. I wouldn't call The Robartes Arms Hotel historic but we found it an interesting place in which to have at least one or maybe two drinks!

Overall we found the village of Illogan unspoilt and incredibly charming. The description that comes to mind back here in Australia is "Illogan village a living treasure". To my mind the danger is that at some time in the future it will be "crassly" modernised as parts of it have been already, perhaps even further "suburbanised" which will destroy once and for all time it's unique attraction for tourists - especially overseas descendants of long departed Illogan miners.

If Illogan has displays highlighting its mining past we did not see them in the few days we were there. In fact in the immediate area we came across relatively few examples devoted to the area's mining history. One of these (to be closed and moved to Redruth soon after our visit) was in a historic old building at the foot of Carn Brea. The display was fantastic in terms of the detailed explanation and illustrations it provided concerning all things mining and how and why Carn Brea and Illogan were linked to Portreath.

Closeby Illogan there are quite a few towns and places of historic and artistic interest. One of these is the old port Portreath. You can easily walk there in fifteen or so minutes from Illogan village. A place to shed funds fast is the nearby gold, silver, and jewellery sales venture. Like many you see in South East Asia. We found it pretty good for afternoon tea. Our hosts at The Aviary said that most of their guests came simply to enjoy the relaxed Cornish ambience and the local rambling paths which abound. Ah yes, and the fine evening dinner to work off the next day!