MICHELL, or St. Michael, formerly an ancient Parliamentary borough, partly in this parish and partly in the parish of Newlyn, is on the high road from Truro to St. Columb, 2 ½ miles south-west from the parish church, 2 south-east from Newlyn and 7 north-north-east from Truro: it is said to have been a town of considerable importance in the time of the Saxons, but has now dwindled down to a small village: the borough returned two members to Parliament from the 6th year of Edward VI. (1552), until it was disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832. It was never incorporated, but was governed by a portreeve, annually elected by a jury at the court leet of the high lord. Among the parliamentary representatives of this borough may be named Richard Carew, the Cornish historian, Sir Walter Raleigh and 'Colonel Clive. The manor of Michell was, in the time of Edward I. the property of Walter de Raleigh, whose son Peter sold it to Ralph de Arundell. John de Arundell, in the year 1301, certified his right to a market or fair on his manor called “Modeshole,” which appears to have been allowed in the same manner as it had been previously granted to his predecessor, Walter de Raleigh. The market has been long discontinued, but an annual fair is held on the 15th of October for cattle and sheep.

National School (mixed), established in 1828, for 150 children; average attendance, 130.