Why might Illogan and Gwythian parishioners marry in 1749 at Phillack, Cornwall?

Question

My 5th great grandparents William Angove and Elizabeth Hocking married on 19 Nov 1749 at Phillack, Cornwall, with William being of the parish of Gwythian and Elizabeth being of the parish of Illogan.

The Cornwall OPC currently has this as record 388277 in the Marriages database:

Day Month   19-Nov
Year    1749
Parish Or Reg District  Phillack
Groom Fn    William
Groom Sn    ANGROVE
Groom Residence Gwythian
Bride Fn    Eliz.
Bride Sn    HOCKIN
Bride Residence Illogan
Transcriber Notes   Phillimores
Transcriber John Smith

and the record is also found at FamilySearch.org:

"England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NKB1-7JH : accessed 25 March 2016), William Angove and Elisabeth Hock, 19 Nov 1749; citing Phillack,Cornwall,England, reference ; FHL microfilm 254,198, 254,201, 254,202, 90,263.

Phillack is not far from Gwythian but it is further from Illogan.

The baptisms that I have for William (1719) and Elizabeth (1725) are both at Camborne.

Is there any obvious explanation for why William and Elizabeth might have chosen Phillack for their marriage, rather than one or other of their own parishes?

Many of the Angoves, including Abel (my 4th great grandfather), were Miners, so I suspect, but have no evidence, that William may have been a Miner.

Answer 1

Rebecca Probert in Marriage Law for Genealogists give a number of reasons why a couple might have married in another parish. Including:

• Inability to marry in their own parish: Their local parish church might have been closed (e.g. for rebuilding), or temporarily without an incumbent, or sharing an incumbent with a neighbouring parish.
• Cost or privacy or speed (some incumbents charged less, some asked fewer questions, some had the right to grant a licence which was faster than banns)
• An unknown link with the parish where they married (e.g. parents of one of the parties live there or got married there)

It's worth looking at baptism marriage and burial entries in the PR both where they married and where they lived, to see if there's a pattern that helps work out what's going on, plus investigating the history of the relevant churches.

Answer 2

Just as interest, I have a will for a John Richards 1750 who owned Sithney Manor and Abel Angove was a witness who went to great lengths to point out they knew each other, knew his handwriting and was with the Holy Evangelists. Wasn't that Wesleyism?May there not have been some religious disparity between the two? And what year was John Wesley at Hayle? I gather he nearly drowned himself getting over to Dynamite Quay. I know the feeling! Phillack Church is above that area and next to the Bucket of Blood pub.They could easily get from Portreath to Hayle in a boat if they had to or walk along the coast, I've managed it and I'm 70. They may not have liked Robert Newcombe who was the vicar there.Her father may have been tinning at Hayle.

Answer 3

Following the advice of @ColeValleyGirl in an earlier answer I now think I may know what transpired.

The only Angove baptism in the 18th century at Gwithian was, from the Cornwall OPC record 1358612 in the Baptisms database:

Day Month   09-Mar
Year    1749
Parish Or Reg District  Gwithian
Forename    Elisabeth
Surname ANGOVE
Sex Dau
Father Forename William
Mother Forename Elizabeth
Transcriber Kathie Weigel

This occurred under the Julian calendar so it was 4 months after the marriage of William and Elizabeth, and was in William's parish so it looks like a pregnancy may have necessitated a quick marriage in a nearby parish.

At the time Gwythian marriages were very rare:

1747 
John Petherick of Phillack & Jane Cock  23 February by banns 
1748 -- none 
1749 -- none 
1750 
James Hoskin & Mary Hoskin  31 December by banns
Ralph Clements of the Parish of Gwyniar & Mary Cock  31 Dec. by banns 
1751 -- none 
1752 -- none 
1753 
Ambrose Blackwell of Phillack & Grace Hockin  5 Feb. by license
John Verrant of Illogan & Jane Crase  22 May by banns
Henry Johns of Phillack & Catharine Hockin  13 August by license 

I suspect that they chose to marry in the nearby Phillack parish rather than travel further to Elizabeth's parish of Illogan for both expediency and privacy.

Curiously, only one other Angove marriage occurred at Phillack between 1700 and 1750:

The Cornwall OPC currently has this as record 388182 in the Marriages database

Day Month 09-Feb 
Year 1729 
Parish Or Reg District Phillack 
Groom Fn Abel 
Groom Sn ANGOVE 
Groom Rank Profession gent. 
Bride Fn Jane 
Bride Sn PHILLIPS, Mrs. 
Transcriber Notes Phillimores 
Transcriber John Smith 

William and Elizabeth named their sons William, William, John, John, Abel and Thomas, in that order. I have not yet found a solid explanation for why they may have named a son Abel after a wealthy namesake, who does not appear to be closely related, other than perhaps for luck.

There were some other Hocking marriages at Phillack between 1700 and 1750:

1739 Phillack Thomas WITHIEL     Grace HOCKIN 
1738 Phillack Francis HARRIS     Jane HOCKIN 
1720 Phillack Henry HOOPER       Katherine HOCKIN 
1739 Phillack Hannibal TREDINICK Jane HOCKIN 

Unfortunately, I have not yet identified the parents or siblings of Elizabeth. She and William named their daughters Elizabeth and Mary, in that order.