St Just in Penwith

St Just ( _kw. Lanust) is a town and civil parish in the district of Penwith, Cornwall in England, UK. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of, Pendeen and Kelynack and is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to the south and by the sea in the west. It is the most westerly town in England. The parish consists of convert|7622|acre|km2|0 of land, 12 acres of water and convert|117|acre|km2|1 of foreshore. The town of St Just is situated approximately eight miles (12.7 km) west of Penzance along the A3071. St Just is one of the most ancient mining districts in Cornwall and remains of ancient pre-industrial and more modern mining activity have had considerable impact on nearby landscape. Some sources state that the name St Just derives its name from Justus or Saint Just, who was sent to England by Pope Gregory in A.D. 596, with Saint Augustine to convert the Saxons. He was consecrated bishop by S. Augustine A.D. 604, and appointed to the see of Rochester by king Ethelbert. In 616 he was made Archbishop of Canterbury; and died in November. St Just has a population of c. 4500 and houses local amenities. Nearby is Cape Cornwall, which was once believed to be the most westerly point of the Duchy and in the Union. Within the Parish of St Just but not part of the town are Pendeen and Trewellard.

Mining

The ancient settlement has a strong mining history and was during the 19th Century one of the most important mining districts in Cornwall both for Copper and Tin. Mines within the area included Boscaswell Downs, Balleswidden, Parkenoweth, Boscan, Wheal Owls, Wheal Boys, Levant, Botallack and Geevor (which closed in 1990) (see [http://www.cornwall-calling.co.uk/mines/st-just-area/St-Just.htm list of mines around St Just] ). Geevor mine itself is now a tourist attraction which allows visitors to explore Cornish Mining heritage (see [http://www.geevor.com/ Geevor Homepage] ). The boom in 19th century mining saw a dramatic increase in the population of St Just, the 1861 census records the population figure as being 9290, however like other areas in Cornwall the population declined with the collapse in the tin trade in the 20th Century and was further aggravated by the decision of the Great Western Railway to abandon its plans to make St Just the terminus of the London mainline to Cornwall. It was announced in July 2006 that the St Just mining district and the rest of the historic mining areas of Cornwall had become the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=29003] .

Local Government

For the purposes of local government classification St Just is a town and elects a Mayor every 12 months from among the St Just Town Council. The St Just Town Council was created following the re-structuring of English Local Government in 1974, St Just being previously an Urban District Council. Principal Local government functions are now undertaken by Penwith District Council and the Cornwall County Council.

Culture and Local Traditions

St Just has a healthy artistic scene including the several times televised Kurt Jackson. St Just is home to the popular Lafrowda festival [http://www.lafrowda-festival.co.uk/] a 7 day community and arts celebration. A more ancient celebration associated with the town is St Just feast which is held in November every year to celebrate the dedication of the parish church. The feast itself is a 2 day event with a church service and civic procession being held on the Sunday of the feast and a larger scale popular celebration being held on the Monday (which includes a meeting of the local hunt). A description of St Just feast from 1882 follows

"Rich and poor still at this season keep open house, and all the young people from St. Just who are in service for many miles around, if they can possibly be spared, go home on the Saturday and stay until the Tuesday morning. A small fair is held in the streets on Monday evening, when the young men are expected to treat their sweethearts liberally, and a great deal of "foolish money" that can be ill afforded is often spent"

St Just is also home to a 'Plain an Gwarry' (Cornish - playing place). These sites were open air performance areas used for historically for entertainment and instruction. St Just's Plain an Gwarry occasionally hosts productions of the Cornish Ordinalia mystery plays [http://www.ordinalia.com/] .

Twinning

St Just is twinned with
* Burra, South Australia

Other Information

St. Just is the home of Cape Cornwall Secondary School which serves Sennen, Sancreed, Pendeen, St. Buryan and many other surrounding villages.

It is not to be confused with another Cornish place of the same name, St Just in Roseland.

Nearby, lies Cot Valley. It has a stream running down through it to the Atlantic. The area had been heavily mined, as was St Just. The round boulders in the cove here are of specific scientific interest.

See also

*Pendeen
*Ballowall Barrow

External links

St Just Town Council [http://www.stjust.org/]
* [http://www.oldcornwall.org/bodmin_old_cornwall_society.htm St Just Old Cornwall Society]
* [http://crocat.cornwall.gov.uk/dserve/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqSearch=((text)='st%20just%20in%20penwith') Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for St Just in Penwith]