Goldsithney

Goldsithney
Cornwall
Goldsithney
Location
Grid reference:	SW546306
Location:	50°7’30"N, 5°26’6"W
Data
Local Government
Council:	Cornwall
Parliamentary constituency:	St Ives

Goldsithney is a village in west Cornwall, in the west of the county, about a mile from the sea, looking out on Mounts Bay on the south coast. The village is to be found on the B3280 road, a mile east of Marazion, and four miles east of Penzance.

The name of the village is from the Cornish Golsydhn, meaning 'Fair of [St] Sithney'.

This is a little village, sharing a civil parish with Perranuthnoe (on the coast due south of Goldsithney) and St Hilary, a hamlet just up across the fields.

The centre of Goldsithney is a conservation area. It has two pubs (the Trevelyan Arms and the Crown Inn), a shop and a post office. The village holds a Charter fair in August each year.

Fair folklore

According to Popular Romances of the West of England by Robert Hunt:

“

On the 5th of August, St James's day (old style), a fayre is held here, which was originally held in the Church-town of Sithney near Helston. In olden time, the good St Perran the Little gave to the wrestlers in his parish a glove as the prize, and the winner of the glove was permitted to collect the market toll on the day of the feast, and to appropriate the money to his own use. The winner of the glove lived in the Church-town of Sithney, and for long long years the right of holding the fair remained undisputed. At length the miners of Goldsithney resolved to contest the prize, and they won it, since which time the fair has been held in that village, they paying to the poor of the parish of Sithney one shilling as compensation.

”

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Goldsithney)