St Day () is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is positioned between the village of Chacewater and the town of Redruth.[Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End ] The electoral ward St Day and Lanner had a population of 4,473 according to the 2011 census.
St Day is in an area that was historically known for mining, encompassing places such as Poldice, Tolcarne, Todpool, Creegbrawse and Crofthandy. The village gained significant wealth from mining activities. It holds a central position within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, which is a designated World Heritage Site. This site includes other notable locations such as St Agnes, Chacewater, Chapel Porth and Porthtowan.
Industrial history
St Day served as a hub for the wealthiest and arguably the most renowned copper mining district globally from the 16th century to the 1830s. The population, wealth and activity in St Day declined steadily from about 1870 onwards, today the population is smaller than in 1841.
It is now essentially a residential village.
The Wheal Gorland mine is the type locality for the minerals: chenevixite, clinoclase, cornwallite, kernowite, and liroconite.
The population of St Day was 1,821 at the census 2011
Annual events
St Day Feast takes place during the summer in the village and includes, among other things, two formal
Furry Dance reminiscent of those in Helston. One of the dances is specifically for children and involves the participation of students from St Day and Carharrack Primary School.
Sport
A St Day mine site has been used for short-oval stock car racing for many years. Stock car drivers from Cornwall have won eleven World Championships.
Cornish wrestling
There were many Cornish wrestling tournaments for prizes during the 1800s and 1900s, including feast day.
[West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 30 June 1938.][The West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 16 June 1837, p2.] Tournaments were held at various venues including the:
-
King's Arms Inn at Fair Meadow
-
Market House Inn
[Royal Cornwall Gazette - Friday 16 August 1839.]
-
Lion Inn
[The Royal Cornwall Gazette, Falmouth Packet, and General Advertiser, 5 July 1878, p4.]
-
Field opposite the hotel
[Cornish Post and Mining News, 22 October 1892.]
-
Park Field
[Royal Cornwall Gazette, 28 June 1906.]
See also Wrestling in Vogue.
Parish church
The parish was originally a
chapelry of
Gwennap but became independent in 1835. In the 13th century there was a chapel dedicated to the
Holy Trinity and even earlier there had been a chapel dedicated to St Day which was a great centre of pilgrimage.
[ The Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 54] The saint commemorated here is probably the Breton Saint Dei.
[Doble, G. H. (1964) The Saints of Cornwall: part 3. Truro: Dean and Chapter; , pp. 133-139][Chevrillon, André Au Pays breton; no. 6] St Dei is commemorated on January 18
[Ellis, Peter Berresford (1992) The Cornish Saints. Penryn: Tor Mark Press; p. 31 ] but the parish feast is at Trinity-tide since the church's dedication is to the Holy Trinity.
The Sans Day Carol or St Day Carol is one of the many Cornish Christmas carols written in the 19th century. This carol and its melody were first transcribed from the singing of Thomas Beard who lived in this parish.
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