Marazion is a town on the east coast of Cornwall and stands on the coast of Mount’s Bay. It is adjacent to St Michael’s Mount about 3 miles from the town of Penzance.
The ancient name of this town was Marghasiewe; the more recent appellation of Marketjew, still in use by some. Neither the name Marazion nor Market Jew has anything to do with Jews, both derive from old Cornish (Jew from You meaning Thursday) as Thursday Market was one of the places within modern Marazion, whilst Marazion may have come from a corruption of Thursday Market or Marghasbighan, little market, another part of modern Marazion.
In 1595 Marazion was established as the major town of Mounts Bay and received a Charter of Incorporation as a Borough becoming the first town in Penwith to be granted that honour. Shortly afterwards Marazion managed to avoid the disaster that befell Penzance, Newlyn and Mousehole when they were attacked and burned by a raiding Spanish force. Richard Carew states in his Survey of Cornwall published in 1602 that ‘the Cornish forces, increased in number and amended in heart, encamped themselves on the green near to the town of Markasiew and St Michaels Mount for the defence thereof, and there spent out the night.’ With the burning of Penzance any threat to Marazion from a trading neighbour they thought was laid to rest, but Penzance folk were indefatigable in their efforts to rebuild and gain status. In 1614 Penzance gained their desired Borough Charter along with rights to markets and fairs. [Source]
An excerpt of the charter reads:
“There shall be one good and discreet man who shall be Mayor of the Town to be selected as hereafter specified, and eight of the bettermost and worthiest of the inhabitants shall be the Burgesses, and twelve other good and discreet inhabitants shall be the Capital Inhabitants, which Burgesses and Capital Inhabitants shall be the Common Council of the Town and shall aid and assist the Mayor in all causes and matters concerning the Town…. The first Capital Inhabitants shall be Peter Millett, William Bawdon, John Chrostopher, Thomas Allen, William James, William Garland, Thomas Smith, John Salte, Richard Avery, John Smith, Robert Barnacott, and John Lutye, who shall hold office for life unless removed.” 5
In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Marazion like this:
MARAZION, or MARKET-JEW, a small town, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Penzance district, Cornwall. The town stands on Mount’s bay, under a hill, near the West Cornwall railway, 3¼ miles E by N of Penzance; was formerly called Marghasjewe and Marghasion; is called, by Leland, Marhasdethon or Forum-Jovis.