{{Short description|Bay in Cornwall, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=September 2025}} [[File:Charlestown Beach St Austell Cornwall right.jpg|thumb|220px|Looking south from Charlestown]] thumb|View of St Austell Bay from Carn Grey
'''St Austell Bay''' ({{langx|kw|Baya Ti war Dreth}})<ref>[http://www.magakernow.org.uk/default.aspx?page=520 Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF)] : [http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=79ba408d-7c02-499e-8cd6-b18dd48de58d&version=-1 '''List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel''']. Cornish Language Partnership.</ref> is a bay on the southern coast of Cornwall in England. The bay is bounded to the east by Gribbin Head and to the west by Black Head.<ref name=OS /> It takes its name from St Austell, the parish of which historically included much of the land on the western side of the bay, although the town itself is a little way inland.
A civil parish called St Austell Bay was created in 2009 covering an area on the western side of the bay, stretching from the southern edge of St Austell town to Black Head. The main settlements in the parish are Charlestown, Duporth, Higher and Lower Porthpean, and Trenarren. At the 2021 census the population of the parish was 1,475.
==Bay== The bay lies south-east of the town of St Austell<ref name=OS>Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' {{ISBN|978-0-319-22938-5}}</ref>
In 2023, a {{cvt|887|acre|adj=on}} seagrass meadow, one of the largest in the UK, was discovered off the coast of St Austell Bay. Divers which were sent in to examine the site recorded 56 species living there, which included short-snouted seahorses and broadnosed pipefish. The divers also examined beds of maerl a little further out from the coast, where they found an additional 66 species, including the curled octopus and streaked gurnard.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Steven |date=17 April 2023 |title=One of UK’s largest seagrass beds discovered off Cornwall |language= |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/17/one-of-uks-largest-seagrass-beds-discovered-off-cornwall |access-date=8 May 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Parish== {{Infobox UK place | static_image = Foundry Parc, Charlestown - geograph.org.uk - 1240147.jpg | static_image_caption = Former foundry site at Charlestown | official_name = St Austell Bay | civil_parish = St Austell | country = England | region = South West England | coordinates = {{Coord|50.325|-4.764|display=title}} | os_grid_reference = | post_town = ST. AUSTELL | postcode_area = PL | postcode_district = PL25, PL26 | dial_code = | unitary_england = Cornwall | lieutenancy_england = Cornwall | hide_services = Yes | population = 1,475 | population_ref = (Parish, 2021)<ref name=2021census>{{cite web |title=2021 Census Parish Profiles |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/sources/census_2021_pp |website=NOMIS |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=31 March 2025}} (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)</ref> | area_total_km2 = | website = }}
There are two tiers of local government covering St Austell Bay, at parish and unitary authority level: St Austell Bay Parish Council and Cornwall Council. The parish council generally meets at the Pattern Hall in Charlestown, a converted building from the old Charlestown Foundry that was retained when the site was redeveloped for housing.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meetings, Agendas and Minutes |url=https://www.staustellbay-pc.gov.uk/Meetings_Agendas_and_Minutes_30202.aspx |website=St Austell Bay Parish Council |access-date=17 September 2025}}</ref>
===Administrative history=== The area that is now the civil parish of St Austell Bay was historically part of the ancient parish of St Austell. In 1894 the parts of St Austell parish outside the urban district of St Austell (which initially just covered the town itself) became a separate civil parish called St Austell Rural.<ref>{{cite web |title=St Austell Rural Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10122132 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=14 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Diagram of Cornwall showing administrative boundaries, 1921 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/241241896 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=15 September 2025}}</ref> St Austell Rural parish was abolished in 1934 and absorbed into St Austell Urban District.<ref name=UDVoB/>
St Austell Urban District was abolished in 1968, when it merged with the neighbouring borough of Fowey to become a short-lived borough called St Austell with Fowey.<ref name=UDVoB>{{cite web |title=St Austell Urban District |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10108410 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=14 September 2025}}</ref> The borough of St Austell with Fowey was abolished six years later in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, when the area became part of the new borough of Restormel.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=District Councils and Boroughs |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1974/mar/28/district-councils-and-boroughs#S5CV0871P0_19740328_CWA_145 |website=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=4 December 2021 |date=28 March 1974}}</ref>
The area of the former borough of St Austell with Fowey became an unparished area as a result of the 1974 reforms. In 1983 five new civil parishes were created from parts of the pre-1974 borough, but the area around St Austell, including the St Austell Bay area, remained unparished until 2009.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Restormel (Parishes) Order 1983 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202003052mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/12458/restormel-parishes-order-1983.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=11 September 2025}}</ref>
Restormel was abolished in 2009. Cornwall County Council then took on district-level functions, making it a unitary authority, and was renamed Cornwall Council.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cornwall (Structural Change) Order 2008|year=2008|number=491|access-date=19 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Local Government (Structural Changes) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Other Provision) Order 2009|year=2009|number=837|article=3}}</ref> As part of the 2009 reforms the remaining unparished area around St Austell was split into four new civil parishes: St Austell, Carlyon, Pentewan Valley, and St Austell Bay.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7766589.stm|title=Town and parishes to get councils|work=BBC News website|publisher=BBC|access-date=6 December 2008 | date=5 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Restormel (Parishes) Order 2008 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202003053mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/12671/the-restormel-parishes-order-2008.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=15 September 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Cornwall}} {{Commons category inline|St Austell Bay}}
{{Cornwall|state=collapsed}} {{St Austell and Newquay CP navigation box}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Austell Bay}} Category:Civil parishes in Cornwall Category:Beaches of Cornwall Category:Populated coastal places in Cornwall
{{Restormel-geo-stub}}