GRAMPOUND (grand-pont), also called at an early period “Ponsmur,” is a parish and small town, formerly a borough, and pleasantly situated in a valley, 2 miles south-west from Grampound Road station on the Great Western railway, 8 east-north-east from Truro and 5 ½ south-west from St. Austell, in the Mid division of the county, west division of the hundred of Powder, petty sessional division of Powder East, St. Austell union and county court district, rural deanery of Powder, archdeaconry of Cornwall and diocese of Truro. The river Fal divides the parishes of Probus and Creed, and is crossed by a substantial stone bridge of two arches, erected in 1834. The town was formerly chiefly in the parish of Creed, a small portion to the west of the bridge being in Probus parish; it is, however, now a separate civil parish. This is supposed by some to have been the “Voluba” of the Romans; it was a borough by prescription and charter, and returned two members to Parliament from 1551 until its disfranchisement in 1821 for corrupt practices. The corporation, constituted by a charter of James II. and which ceased to exist at the same date, consisted of a mayor, eight aldermen, a recorder and town clerk. The ancient corporate insignia, now (1897) in the possession of Mr. William Croggon, of Grampound, consist of a mace and borough seal: the mace, of silver, 15 inches long, has a plain banded shaft and a flattened head, on the top of which are the royal arms of James I. : round it is the legend, “Thomas Hancock Maior of Granpont,” and the date 1618; the circular silver seal bears the device of a bridge over a stream, and on the bridge appear the arms of Richard (Plantagenet), Earl of Poitou and Cornwall (ob. 1272), who was a benefactor to the town; on the margin is a legend. Here was formerly a chapel of ease, licensed August 3rd, 1421, and dedicated to St. Nunn, or St. Naunter; it was used for divine service up to 1815, but fell into ruins about the year 1820; in 1827 every vestige of it had been carried away, and from that time until 1869 the site was used as a playground and sheep market: in that year, through the exertions of the Rev. Philip Woollcombe, late rector of Creed, a new chapel was erected on the old site, and consecrated by Bishop Trower (commissary for Dr. Philpotts, Bishop of Exeter) on the 30th of June in the same year; it is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of apsidal chancel, with a reredos beautifully carved in Caen stone, nave, with lofty open roof, south porch and a turret containing one bell: divine service is conducted here by the Rev. Chas. Baker M.A. rector of Creed: there are 250 sittings. Some remains of the old chapel, including a very pretty rose window, were built into a cottage or lodge at the entrance to the grounds of Veryan vicarage. In the old chapel there were sittings appropriated to the mayor and corporation, and it is said that on the day of choosing the mayor, which took place in the Town Hall, if the corporation could not agree, they retired into the chapel, where they remained until they were unanimous in their choice. Here are Congregational, Bible Christian and Wesleyan chapels. An extensive business is done in leather, there being three tanneries here. The Town Hall, in the centre of the town, is a building of stone, surmounted by a cupola, containing a clock: the hall is used as a reading room and has a library, opened in 1870, containing over 200 volumes; in the same room are the Royal arms taken from the old chapel and bearing the name and date of King John: near the Town Hall stands the Market Cross, a monolith of Pothole stone, now about 12 feet in height. The nominal market day is Friday. On the banks of the Fal are several entrenchments. Christopher Henry Thomas Hawkins esq. of Bignor Park, Pulborough, Sussex, is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The area is 170 acres; rateable value, £1,215; the population in 1891 was 495.

National School (mixed), built in 1854, for 135 children; average attendance, 120; it has an endowment of £15 from a charity, given in the reign of Queen Anne, by John Buller esq. of Morval.