AUSTELL (ST.), a market-town and parish in the eastern division of the hundred of POWDER, county of CORNWALL, 34 miles (S.W.) from Launceston, and 252 (W. S. W.) from London, on the great road from Plymouth to Falmouth, containing 6175 inhabitants. The name of this place is of uncertain derivation. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was an obscure village, and first rose into importance from its vicinity to Polgooth and other considerable mines. In the parliamentary war St. Austell, in which part of the army tinder the Earl of Essex had been quartered, was taken by Charles I., a short time previous to the capitulation of the parliamentarians near Lostwithiel, in 1644. In 1760, the great road from Plymouth to the Land's End was brought through the town, which is now a considerable thoroughfare. St. Austell is pleasantly situated in a highly cultivated district, on the south side of a hill, which slopes gradually to a small stream; the streets are paved, and lighted with gas, and the inhabitants are well supplied with water. The trade principally consists of the produce of its numerous mines of tin and copper, and in china-stone and clay of a very superior quality, which are found here in great abundance. The Great Crinnis, East Crinnis, and Pembroke mines, which are in the parish, and the Fowey Consolidated and Lanescot mines, in the vicinity, are exceedingly productive; and, from the improved manner of working them, promise continued prosperity to the town, the population, of which has been trebled wjthin the last eighteen years. Several harbours have been formed in different parts of the parish. Of these the harbour at Charlestown, a village within a mile and a half of St. Austell, is capable of affording secure anchorage to vessels drawing about fifteen feet of water. At Par, to the east of Charlestown, a harbour with a canal is in great progress; it was projected for the especial accommodation of the Fowey Consolidated and Lanescot copper mines, but promises additional public advantages. Another harbour has been lately completed at Pentewan, about four miles to the south, with which an iron rail-road communicates from the town. Many vessels are employed in the importation of coal from Wales, for the use of the mines, and in the exportation of copper-ore for smelting; and of china-stone and clay to the different potteries, and for the use of linenbleachers. The principal part of the grain tin produced in Cornwall is obtained here, and for melting it, blowinghouses have been erected near the town. A considerable pilchard fishery is carried on, in which many boats, fitted out from the different harbours, are employed. The market, which is considerable for corn and provisions, is on Friday; and there are fairs on November 30th and the Thursday before Trinity-Sunday. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, by whom constables and other officers are appointed. The Blackmore, the most considerable of the Stannary courts, is held here. The living is a vicarage, with that of St. Blazey annexed, in the archdeaconry of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter, rated in the king's books at £21, and in the patronage of the Crown. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is an ancient structure, combining various styles of English architecture, with a very handsome tower richly ornamented with sculpture. There are places of worship for Brianites, Calvinists, the Society of Friends, and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. AtMenacuddle andTowan, in this parish, there are baptismal wells, over which are ancient buildings in the early style of English architecture, covered with arched roofs of granite. Near the new harbour of Pentewan is a large quarry, from which freestone for building many of the churches and mansions in the county has been procured; and near it, in one of the celebrated tin stream-works of Pentewan, the bones of men, of oxen of enormous size, of a whale, and of animals now unknown, have been found.