GWITHIAN, a parish in the hundred of PENWITH,
county of CORNWALL, 7 miles (W.) from Redruth, containing
412 inhabitants. The living is a rectory united
to the rectory of Phillack, in the archdeaconry of Cornwall,
and diocese of Exeter. The church, dedicated to
St. Gothian, has been long since demolished, and the
ruins, with a considerable portion of the parish, are overwhelmed
with sand, blown hither from the sea-shore by
violent gales of wind. The sea-rush, the roots of which
prevent the further dispersion of the sand, has been planted
in sufficient quantity to protect the village from a
similar fate. The river Gwithian runs through the parish,
in which it is crossed by a bridge, and falls into St.
Ives bay. Several mines have been wrought at shallow
levels, the lodes being very large, but relinquished from
want of capital. A singular kind of sand-stone, considered
by geologists a great curiosity, is obtained here,
and used in building chimnies instead of brick. A
remarkable spring formerly rose amongst the sands,
called, from its perpetual bubbling, the Boiling well,
which had never been frozen, but an adit lately driven
near it has caused its disappearance. There are two
moats remaining of extensive earth-works, called Trevarnon
Rounds, within which cannon balls have been
discovered.