St Day
Encyclopedia
St Day is a civil parish and village in Cornwall
, United Kingdom
. It is situated between the village of Chacewater
and the town of Redruth
.
St Day is located in a former mining
area (which included Poldice
, Todpool
, Creegbrawse
and Crofthandy) and St Day accrued considerable wealth from mining. The parish is at the heart of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
(a World Heritage Site
) which also includes St Agnes
, Chapel Porth and Porthtowan
.
The Wheal Gorland
mine in St Day is the type locality
for the minerals Chenevixite, Clinoclase
, Cornwallite and Liroconite
.
A St Day mine site has been used for short-oval stock car racing
for many years. Stock car drivers from Cornwall have won 11 World Championships, and typical West Country F2 stock cars of the 1970s at St Day as well as St Austell and Newton Abbot.
but became independent in 1835. As early as the 13th century there was a chapel of the Holy Trinity at St Day and even earlier there had been one of St Day which was a great centre of pilgrimage. The saint commemorated here is probably the Breton saint Dei.
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is situated between the village of Chacewater
Chacewater
Chacewater is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three miles east of Redruth.-Village:...
and the town of Redruth
Redruth
Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...
.
St Day is located in a former mining
Mining in Cornwall
Mining in Cornwall and Devon began in the early Bronze Age approximately 2,150 BC and ended with the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall closing in 1998...
area (which included Poldice
Poldice
Poldice mine is a former metalliferous mine located in Poldice Valley in south-west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated near the hamlet of Todpool, between the villages of Twelveheads and St Day, three miles west of Redruth....
, Todpool
Todpool
Todpool is a hamlet in south-west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is located between Chacewater and St Day villages and is three miles east of Redruth....
, Creegbrawse
Creegbrawse
Creegbrawse is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated between the villages of Chacewater and Todpool approximately three miles east of Redruth....
and Crofthandy) and St Day accrued considerable wealth from mining. The parish is at the heart of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is a World Heritage Site which includes select mining landscapes across Cornwall and West Devon in the south west of the United Kingdom...
(a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
) which also includes St Agnes
St Agnes, Cornwall
St Agnes is a civil parish and a large village on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately five miles north of Redruth and ten miles southwest of Newquay....
, Chapel Porth and Porthtowan
Porthtowan
Porthtowan is a small village in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom, and is a popular summer tourist destination which lies within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a World Heritage Site. Porthtowan lies on Cornwall's north Atlantic coast about west of St Agnes, north of...
.
Industrial history
St Day was a centre for the richest and perhaps most famous copper mining district in the world from the 16th century up 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
Wheal Gorland
Wheal Gorland was a metalliferous mine located just to the north-east of the village of St Day, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It was one of the most important Cornish mines of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, not only for the quantity of ore it produced, but also for the wide variety of...
mine in St Day is the type locality
Type locality (geology)
Type locality , also called type area or type locale, is the where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit, fossil or mineral species is first identified....
for the minerals Chenevixite, Clinoclase
Clinoclase
Clinoclase is a hydrous copper arsenate mineral, Cu3AsO43. Clinoclase is a rare secondary copper mineral and forms acicular crystals in the fractured weathered zone above copper sulfide deposits. It occurs in vitreous, translucent dark blue to dark greenish blue colored crystals and botryoidal...
, Cornwallite and Liroconite
Liroconite
Liroconite is a complex mineral: Hydrated copper aluminium arsenate hydroxide, with the formula Cu2Al[4|AsO4]·4. It is a vitreous monoclinic mineral, colored bright blue to green, often associated with malachite, azurite, olivenite, and clinoclase...
.
A St Day mine site has been used for short-oval stock car racing
Stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil and Argentina. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately in length...
for many years. Stock car drivers from Cornwall have won 11 World Championships, and typical West Country F2 stock cars of the 1970s at St Day as well as St Austell and Newton Abbot.
Parish church
The parish was originally a chapelry of GwennapGwennap
Gwennap is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles southeast of Redruth....
but became independent in 1835. As early as the 13th century there was a chapel of the Holy Trinity at St Day and even earlier there had been one of St Day which was a great centre of pilgrimage. The saint commemorated here is probably the Breton saint Dei.