The St Keyne history group was launched in 1998 as one of the new village activities which started when the new village hall opened.

The aim from day one was to collect and study papers which would tell the story of St Keyne.

The group was set up by Gwen Collin who has led the enthusiastic group ever since.

In just under four years the group has gathered together transcripts and church papers. They have spent many hours working hard to put all the information into a data base

These large pieces of information from the village's past were then arranged both chronologically and alphabetically.

It has enabled local people to find information on a member of the family of a particular event that much easier.

St Keyne local history group study a model of the village

One of the many interesting things the group discovered was that it had a link with Charlestown even though the two places were many miles apart.

"We found that for 300 years the Lord of the Manor had been a succession of members of the rich and famous Rayleigh family of Fowey. Tywardreath and Menabilly," says Alan Southerton from the St Keyne local history group.

"What was more exciting was that many of the deeds and documents relating to their tenants in Steeple were in the custody of the C.R.O. So now we had access to such records as Court Rolls and details of their leases surveys of the farms and much more."

Many more exciting things have been discovered from the past. Click here for more information.

Rapid progress has been made in a very short time to find out about the village of St Keyne. Many of the history group's findings have been added to a book called 'The People of St.Keyne' and provides a fascinating insight to the history of the village. The book is available locally.

The group is keen to have more members as there is still plenty of work to be done to maintain the village records.

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Find out how the village hall came to be.