MARKET TOWNS OF CORNWALL (from SDUK Penny Cyclopedia) Mevagissey in 1837 Mevagissey, in the hundred of Powder, is a small town on the coast of the channel, on Mevagissey Bay, several miles to the left of the road by St. Austell and Grampound to Truro and Falmouth, 250 miles from London. The parish, which is small, contained in 1831, 340 houses, and 2,169 inhabitants. In 1821 the population was 2,450 : the diminution is ascribed to the failure of the pilchard fishery, on which the inhabitants chiefly depended. Ships of 100 tons may ride securely in the pool or basin of Mevagissey. The market, which is held by prescription, is on Saturday. The living is a vicarage, in the gift of the Earl of Mount Edgecombe ; net annual value £186, with a glebe-house. It is in the diocese of Exeter, and archdeaconry of Cornwall.