Churches of west Cornwall; with notes of antiquities of the district, etc

Preface

. TN presenting these papers in a collected form, little more need be said than that they were originally published in successive numbers of the " Gentleman's Magazine," during the years 1862 — 1864. They are reprinted without alteration, with the exception of the concluding remarks of the ninth chapter, which have been rewritten; and several notes and woodcuts have been added. There is still a wide field for investigation among the pre-historic antiquities of the county; but hitherto attention has been directed almost entirely to these, to the exclusion of the ecclesiastical buildings of the Middle Ages. When the county histories were written nothing was known of Church architecture, and it is needless to say that the occasional descriptions of churches which they contain are wholly untrustworthy, and, indeed, quite valueless.

Late Norman work is called "Saxon;" late Perpendicular figures as "Early English ;" and one writer of eminence assumes the pre sent church at St. German's to be the ancient "cathedral of Cornwall" itself, before Leofric, dilating on the great antiquity of certain windows with geometrical tracery in particular. Of the thirty-five churches noticed in the following

PREFACE.

. IV pages, nearly all are of early date, as a careful in vestigation will prove ; but in most of them the early character of the work has been greatly obscured by extensive alterations and additions during the Perpen dicular period. And yet, as the illustrations will shew, the Cornish churches are by no means so devoid of interest as is commonly supposed. The last chapter is occupied by an illustrated narra tive of two days' pleasant wandering among the old stones of West Cornwall, in company with the members of the Cambrian Archæological Association. J. T. B. Penzance, March, 18G5 From the Eood-Screen, St. Burian. By J. T. Blight. Illustrations by the Author, I. THE DEANERY OF ST. BURIAN. In the latter part of the fifth and beginning of the sixth century, a numerous company of Irish saints — bishops, abbots, and sons and daughters of kings and noblemen — "came into Cornewaul and landed at Pendinas, a peninsula and stony rok, wher now the toun of St. les (St. Ives) standeth3."

Hence they diffused themselves over the western part of the county, and at their several stations erected chapels and hermitages. Their object was to advance the Christian faith. In this they were successful, and so greatly were they reverenced, that whilst the memory of their holy lives still lingered in the minds of the people, churches were built on or near the sites of their chapels and oratories, and dedicated to Almighty God in their honour. Thus have their names been handed down to us. Few of them are mentioned in the calendars, or in the collec tions of the lives of saints, and what little is known of them has been chiefly derived from tradition. Dr. Whitaker be lieved that St. Burian, a king's daughter, was among those who landed at St. Ives, and that she took up her abode at the spot which now bears her name.

Leland says, — " St. Buriana, an holy womar of Ireland, sumtyme dwellid in this place, and there made an oratory. King Ethelstan, founder of St.Burian's College, and giver of the privileges and sanctuarie to it. King Ethelstan goyng hens, as it is said, on to Sylley, and returning, made, ex voto, a college where the oratorie was." Whitaker gives full credit to the truth of this tradition : — " Athelstan advanced towards the Land's End, in order to embark his army for the Sylley Isles. About four miles from it, but directly in the present road to it, as he was equally pious and brave, he went into an oratory, which had been erected there by an holy woman of the name of Burien, that came from Ireland, and was buried in her own chapel. Here he knelt down in prayer to God, full of his coming expedition against the Sylley Isles, and supplicating for success to it ; then in a strain of devoutness that is little thought of now, but was very natural to a mind like his, at once munificent and religious, he vowed, if God blessed his expedition with success, to erect Lelund.

B a college of clergy where the oratory stood, and to endow it with a large in come. So, at least, says the tradition of St. Burien's itself no less than two centuries and a-half ago." Having subdued the Scilly Isles, Athelstan on his return founded and endowed a collegiate church in honour of St Buriana, on the spot called after her, Eglos-Berrie, about five miles eastward of the Land's End. " He gave lands and tithe of a considerable value for ever, himself becoming the first patron thereof, as his successors the Kings of England have been ever since." Athelstan also gave to the church the privileges of a sanctuary. The date of foundation is supposed to have been about the year 930. In Domesday Book reference is made to a college of canons here. The establishment consisted of a dean and three prebendaries, who are said to have held it from the king by the service of saying a hundred masses and a hundred psalters for the souls of the king and his ancestors.

Dr. Whitaker alludes to a rector for the ruling church. Dr. Oliver says the clergy who first served the church were probably seven in number. Hals states that — " The church or college consisted of Canons Augustines, or regular priests, and three prebendaries, who enjoyed the revenues thereof in common." He says that " about the time of Edward III., one of the popes obtruded upon this church, the canons and prebendaries thereof, a dean to be an inspector over them. This encroachment of the pope being observed by Edward, this usurpation was taken away." From this statement it would be understood that the dean to whom reference is here made was the first who presided over the establishment, whereas we find it elsewhere recorded that this was the third dean, one John de Maunte, that he was objected to by the king on account of his being a foreigner, and that on this pretence Edward seized the establishment and kept it entirely in his own hands.

It is also stated that, according to the foundation of Athelstan, the establishment was exempt from all inferior jurisdiction, there was no appeal from the local authorities but to the king himself. But Dr. Oliver, the highest authority on the subject, says " the founda tion did not purport to confer any exemption from the jurisdiction of the ordinary, and, as far as documentary evidence can be traced, it is manifest that the diocesan exercised here the right of visitation as fully as in any other portion of the diocese." In his Monasticon will be found a Vidimus of the original endowment of this collegiate church by King Athel stan, on the 6th of October, 943, — " a date," says the Doctor, " evidently incorrect." It appears that the establishment was well maintained for some time after the Conquest, but was subsequently much neglected from the non-residence of the deans.

Leland wrote, " Their longeth to St. Buryens a deane and a few prebendarys, that almost be nether ther." Much unpleasant feeling seems to have existed between the bishops of the diocese and the Crown respecting the control of this peculiar. Dr. Oliver tells us, that — "On the death of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, King Edward I. claiming St. Burian as a royal free chapel, gave Sir William de Hameldon, his chan cellor, dean of York, and a great pluralist, this deanery of St. Burian. But the neglect of residence was properly objected to by Bishop Thomas Bitton, and a suit in the king's court was the consequence, which was not decided at the death of that prelate in 1307. His successor, Bishop Stapeldon, offered equal opposition when Queen Isabella appointed her chaplain, John Maunte, a foreigner, to this deanery."

Bishop Grandisson afterwards excommunicated this dean for " neglect of duty" and "disregard of his monitions." The dean's supporters within the parish of St. Burian were excom municated with him : — " On the 4th of November (1328), being at St. Michael's Mount, he (Bishop Grandisson) excommunicated with all form the principal delinquents, especially Richard Vivian, the most obnoxious of all. At his public visitation, on July 12, 1336, the bishop found the parishioners returned to a sense of duty, and truly repentant for their contumacy ; and at their earnest suppli cation he absolved them from their censures, and preached to them from the text, 1 Peter ii. 25, ' Ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.' To add to the bishop's satis faction, the dean, John de Maunte, on Aug. 16, 1336, waited upon him at Bishop's Court, Clyst, promised amendment in future, and took the oath of obedience to him and hi3 successors in the see of Exeter.

"But the contest did not end here; within fifteen years King Edward III. revived the claim of exemption. But eventually the contest was terminated in favour of the stronger party, and to this day the dean receives institution from the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall as his ordinary, though the patronage has often been exercised by the sovereign, vacante ducatuh." The "church-town" of St. Burian stands on a high position, and the lofty tower is a very conspicuous object from the surround ing district. The spot commands extensive views, terminated on the south and west by the distant horizon of the Atlantic. b Oliver's Monasticon. The church is a large building, consisting of a nave and north and south aisles, with a tower ninety feet in height at the west end. The dimensions of the building are about ninety feet by forty-seven.

Not a vestige of the original church or college remains, for the present edifice was erected on the site of the older church in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is curious to observe that, though Polwhele in his History of Cornwall correctly refers this building to the fifteenth century, Dr. Whitaker in the supplement to the same work should be so mistaken as to describe it as the veritable churcli of Athelstan, erected more than eight centuries previously : — "The inside," he says, "is still dis posed nearly as Athelstan left it." And " its fresh appearance results merely from the frequent washings to which its high position on a hill and its pointed ex posure to the rains from the Atlantic continually subject it." Dr. Oliver gives in his Monas ticon the act of the dedication of St.Burian's Church on the 26th of August, 1238, by Bishop Brewer of Exeter.

But few relics even of the church of that period remain : the font may have stood there at that time, it is of Ludgvan granite0, and has on the bowl three angels (not four as Dr. Oliver says) sup- Font, St. Burian. porting shields ; on a fourth shield is carved a plain Latin cross on two steps. On the opposite side there is a small Maltese cross between two of the angels. The height of the font is 2 ft. 11 in. It has been cleaned of the lime-wash which at one time covered it. Iu the early part of the present century this church was particularly rich in carved oak benches, and possessed a mag nificent roodscreen and loft. In the year 1814 the building underwent repairs, when the benches and screen were bar barously destroyed. The plea for taking down the latter was, that it deadened the preacher's voice ; a portion yet remains.

About two-thirds of the curiously carved cornice has been 1 The granite from Ludgvan parish is a better material for fine sculptured work than other granite found in the district. placed in its original position, extending across south aisle and nave, and some of the beautiful arcade-work is preserved in a large chest within the church. The workmanship, as the accompanying cuts will shew, was exceedingly rich ; the whole Arcades of lloodscrecn, St. Buria.n, was gilded and painted, chiefly in red and blue, and each com partment was of a different design in the tracery. The screen extended the whole breadth of the churcli, and must have had a very fine effect. It was put together with wooden pins, no nails being used. The vandals who took it down do not appear to have had the least regard for it, for if they had no reverence for the holy things of the sanctuary, it would be thought that they would have taken some care to preserve the several por tions merely for the sake of the beauty of the designs.

Such, however, was not the case, for their saws were ruthlessly passed through the most elaborate tracery. It is said that some figures of saints belonging to this work were to be seen as chimney ornaments in the houses of the parishioners, and some of the bench-ends and panels were used as ordinary wood about farm out-houses. On the upper part of the cornice is carved a vine pattern, beneath which are very curious scenes of hunting, warfare be tween animals and birds, and grinning heads : the workman ship is somewhat rude, but the effect is good. Some of the lower panels remain in situ, but no part of the connecting framework is to be found. The outer part of the screen was gilded and painted with different colours, red and blue pre dominating, but the inside, facing the altar, was entirely red.

The spiral staircase, in the wall of the south aisle, which led to the rood-loft, has not been destroyed. Adjoining the screen, within the chancel, are four oak mi serere stalls, placed two on either side of the entrance from the nave to the chancel. Dr. Oliver says they were " destined for the dean, for the prebendary of Respernell, for the prebendary of Trithing, and for the holder of the ' Prebeuda Parva.' Fortunately they have escaped destruction from the hands of the Puritans, and the no less mischievous pew-builders of more recent date." It has been suggested that when there was a choir at St. Burian's one of the stalls might have been for the precentor. Each stall has a moveable seat ; when turned up, a rounded ledge is brought forward which served as a sort of occasional rest for the monks.

The engraving shews one seat raised and the other down. Misereres, St. Burian. The chancel end of the church appears to have undergone alteration in modern times. The large east window, which has a pointed arch, does not retain its original tracery. A smaller square-headed window on the south side has been recently re-opened. On the north side there was an unusual arrangement, which can now only be seen from the outside. Here we find that a large archway has beeu built up, and in connection with it immediately under the window of the north aisle there were three stone steps, evidently constructed with the original wall. These steps were to be seen about twenty or thirty years ago, and though now removed, their position may be traced. There are no remains of a piscina either in the chancel or in the east end of the north or south aisle, for the church probably had three altars.

The aisles are connected with the nave by six pointed arches The piers have a simple ogee moulding ; the capitals, though of a plain character, have a bold effect. The aisles are each lighted by five square headed windows, with hood-mouldings, divided into three lights, which are rounded at the top, and were in serted late in the sixteenth century. The tower-arch is lofty, and its mouldings are bold and effective. Over tbe tower doorway, on the outside, is a shield bearing the sacred monogram I.H.S. The Perpendicular window above this is much superior to those at the east end of the church, and Capital and Base of Pier, St. Burian. evidently of earlier date. Within the tower, on the pavement, is an ancient tomb which, when Whitaker visited the church about sixty years ago, was " lying near the altar-rails, but on the floor in the northern access to it."

According to Hals it was discovered about the year 1665, buried four feet in the ground, by the sexton while digging a grave. The inscription, he says, " was difficult to be read," but the " curious" found it to be " Jane, the wife of Geffery de Bolait, lies here : whosoever shall pray for her soul shall have five days pardon, m.lx.ix." Another writer says, that " not only the year, but even the month and day of the month are both inserted," and he supposed it to mean " March 16, 1101." He then gives an incorrect reading of the inscription. At present there is no appearance of any date on the stone. The county histories vary in the wording of this inscription, owing probably to their authors inaccurately copy ing what had been previously published, and not taking the trouble to examine the monument for themselves.

As will be seen from the engraving on the next page, the in scription, which is in Norman-French, is cut in letters of the thirteenth century, and runs as follows : — ■_• Clarice : la : FEMME : CHEFFREI : DE : BOLLEIT : GIT : ICI : DEV : DE : LALME : eit : merce : ke : pvr : lealme : pvnt (priunt) : DI : IOR : DE : pardvn : avervnd— "_J. Clarice the wife of Geoffry de Bolleit lies here, God of her soul have mercy : who pray for her soul shall have ten days' pardon." The stone is seven feet long, Tomb of Clarice de Bolleit, St. Burian. and has a floriated cross on three steps carved in relief on the upper part. The family of Bolleit resided on an estate of the same name in this parish. The tower, which is constructed entirely of wrought granite, is divided into four stages, and has double buttresses at each angle.

The newel staircase is contained in an octagonal turret which rises picturesquely above the parapets at the south-east corner. The bells are three in number. The largest has this legend, " Virginis egregiæ vocor campana Mariæ," i. e. " I am called the Bell of the glorious Virgin Mary;" and the date 1738. It is singular to find such a legend on a post-Reformation bell ; probably, however, it was in that year recast and the original legend reproduced. The bell has a flaw or crack running through it, for which the following tradition accounts. The bell was cast in the village of St. Burian, and before it had hardened, a man jumped from a hedge near the mould, which being disturbed by the shake, rendered the bell imperfect. Its diameter is 3 ft. 9 in., an unusually large size for Cornish bells.

The next bell has for its legend, " Vocem ego do vobis : vos date verba Deo," i. e. " I give to you a voice ; give ye words to God." Date 1638, diameter 3 ft. 6 in. The third bell has the names of the Churchwardens, — "Mr. Biehard Davies, Sampson Hutchens — wardens, 1681." Diameter 3 ft. The porch is surmounted with battlements, has double but tresses at the angles finished with crocketed pinnacles, and a bold stringcourse. Within are stone benches on either side, and a mutilated stoup. Over the church door is a bracket, on which may have been placed an image of the Blessed Virgin, or of St. Burian, the patron saint of the church. When Bishop Sta;ieldon visited St. Burian, in 1314, he took the following inventory of the church property : — " Three suits entire of vestments with tunics and dalmatics ; two copes for the choir ; two chalices ; one good missal, and another inferior ; one anti phonar, with a middling good psaltery (psallerium in medio bonum) ; two grails in excellent condition ; a trophar ; a legend, and one old antiphonar ; a veil for Lent ; nine towels ; a nuptial veil ; a pall for the dead ; three pair of corporals ; and three surplices d." Near the porch, on the right hand side of the path, is an ancient cross on a flight of five steps.

Another cross stands without the churchyard, and there is a tradition that the churchyard at one time surrounded it. This, however, is not probable. About a mile south-east of St. Burian, on the estate of Bos liven, are some remains of an ancient building, to this day called "the sanctuary." It has been considered as the original " sanctuary" of Athelstan, but the title and privileges of sanctuary pertained to the church, the churchyard, and sometimes a limited space beyond. C. S. Gilbert says of these ruins that J Oliver's Monasticon. C they appear to be the remains of the chapel attached to the Deanery-house. Dr. Oliver mentions a " capella Sancti Silvani" as having existed in this parish. The building at Bosliven appears to have been much larger than the other ancient chapels of which remains are found throughout Cornwall.

But what ever it may have been, sanctuary, chapel, or oratory, it seems to have incited the rage of the Puritans ; for it was almost totally destroyed by Shrubsall, one of Cromwell's miserable in struments of sacrilege. This fact alone is sufficient proof that at that time it was a sacred edifice of some note. The adjacent parishes of St. Levan and St. Sennen form part of the deanery of St. Burian. St. Levan Church, about three miles s.w. from St. Burian, is situated in a most romantic spot, in a deep hollow, scarcely a furlong from the cliffs. The celebrated Logan Rock is in the immediate neighbourhood, and the adjoining coast is acknow ledged to rank among the finest coast-scenery in England. So abrupt is the hollow (or"gulph," as a Cornish historian ex presses it) in which the church stands, that the four pinnacles of the tower are all that can be seen of the building for any con siderable distance when approaching it from the east or west.

The church consists of a nave, south aisle and north transept, a tower at the west end, and a small porch. The aisle is lighted on the south by three square-headed windows with hood-mouldings, and has pointed windows at the east and west ends. The arch of the chancel-window is more obtuse than that at the east end of the aisle : both have been partially built up from the sill and filled with wooden frames. The arched window at the north end of the transept has also been despoiled of its stone tracery. In the west side of this transept is a small lancet window. Some of the quoins of the jambs of this window are of sand-stone, a material easily worked, but not the best that might have been chosen in such a locality. It must have been brought from the neighbourhood of Hayle, where the sand on the shore is in some places becoming changed into solid rock.

An account of this curious formation, by Dr. Paris, will be found in the "Transactions of the Geological Society of Corn wall," and in his " Guide to the Mount's Bay." Some of this stone may also be found in the wall near the east window of the north aisle at St. Burian's. An arched doorway in the angle between the nave and the transept has been walled up. A square-headed window near it has had its mullions taken away, and is filled with a wooden frame. The arch of the tower doorway consists of two plain cavetto mouldings, under a hoodmould. Entering by the porch, the first object to be noticed is the stoup, which is per fect. It is square, and ornamented with simple arcading on one side. Adjoining the doorway is a carved representation of two jesters. The floor of the church Stoup, St. Levan. is two steps below the doorway.

Internally the building is in a most dilapidated and neglected state, extremely damp, aud with the atmosphere of a vault. The walls aud arcades have been from time to time liberally coated witb lime-wash, and modern pews have been introduced to break the uniformity of the original benches. Some of the panels of the roodscreen remain, aud have curiously-carved shields. On one are represented the figures of a winged bul lock, a winged cat or lion, and two human heads with the heads and wings of birds above them, (one of the birds has also the head of another animal projecting from the hinder part of its neck,) and the legs and feet of some quadruped. These Bench-ends, St. Levan. may have reference to the vision of Ezekiel or to the mystical beasts described in the Revelation of St. John. On other shields are devices symbolical of the Passion, as the spear, the j 9 Cornish Churches. nails, the hammer, and the cross, encircled with the crown of thorns.

But the intruding pews hide much of the work. Some of the bench-ends are also curiously carved. One has a pilgrim monk with a breviary and a dis cipline. The illustrations will give a general idea of the rest. One female has a sort of network over the hair not unlike that worn at the present time. The sacred monogram I. U.S. is repeated in a variety of forms. There are other mono grams probably intended to be commemorative of forgotten be nefactors of the church : a good Bench -end, St. Le van. Monogram, St. Levan. example of these is annexed. There are many other carvings suggestive of sacred subjects. The nave and aisle are con nected by an arcade of six low, pointed arches. The piers of these arches are octagonal, and the capitals consist merely of rounded and hollow mouldings. The oldest and most interesting part of the church is the transept, which is evidently Early English, and was probably West View of Transept, St. Levan. erected early in the thirteenth century.

The high-pitched roof, lancet window, and other details are characteristic of the style of that period. Each side of the arch of this little window, which is about 3 ft. 3 in. high, is formed of one stone with a chamfered edge. The modern wooden frame is omitted in the engraving. The transept and nave are connected by two arches with octa gonal piers, but the capitals differ from those of the aisle-piers. The middle one, which has sustained some injury, is curiously chamfered at each angle. The eastern pier (3 in plan) is Interior of Transept, St. Levan. almost entirely hidden by the pulpit ; a part of the capital is, however, exposed to view : it is ornamented with the zigzag Plan of Transept. A. B. mark tbe positions of Windows ; 1. 2. 3. Piers Capital of Pier (2). moulding, and has the appearance of being Norman, — the relic, perhaps, of an older church.

The roof of the transept has been entirely plastered. The font appears Capital of Pier (3) to be transitional from Norman to Early English. About twenty years ago it was carefully scraped and cleaned — it is therefore free from lime-wash, and its star and cable mouldings are in good preservation. The height of the font is 2 ft. 6 in., and the diameter of the bowl is 2 ft. Font, St. Levan. It has no base or step. The wood-work of the roofs of the nave and aisle is handsomely carved, and was originally painted and gilt. Some traces of this decoration may still be seen. The tower has a rude round-headed arch springing from pentagonal imposts. It contains two bells, which have no legends. One has the date 1641 ; the other has the names of the churchwardens aud the founder's mark, — a bell with the initials A. R. In the churchyard are two ancient crosses : the taller one, nearly seven feet high, stands near the porch, and is a good example of its class.

Dr. Oliver is of opinion that the patron saint of this church is St. Livin, an Irish bishop, who preached the Gospel in Bel gium, and suffered martyrdom a.d. 656. The well and chapel of St. Levan stood on the edge of the cliff, a little below the church. Some remains of the well may yet be seen. There are also the ruins of the four walls of an aucient chapel at Porth-curnow, about half a mile distant. The descriptions of churches, where any are given, in the county histories, are extremely meagre. C. S. Gilbert's is pro bably the best general history of Cornwall, yet all he can say of the interesting little church of St. Levan is, that it contains carved shields bearing the arms of Vyvyan and Trethurffe, and " a curious figure of the devil." The church of St. Sennen, or Senanus, an Irish abbot who accompanied St. Burian into Cornwall, is four miles from St. Levan, and rather more than that distance from St. Burian.

It is a small, low structure, standing on high ground about a mile from the Land's End, and exposed to all the storms of the Atlantic. The plan of this church is nearly the same as that of St. Levan ; here, however, the chancel projects beyond the aisle, which is not the case at St. Levan. The aisle has three arched windows on the south side, and one at either end. The chancel window has a round head. A square-headed win dow with a hood-moulding, on the south side of the chancel, is blocked up. The transept has two windows, one square headed, the other arched. The flat-headed north doorway is also walled up. The stone mullions and tracery of all the windows have been removed, aud their places occupied by ugly wooden frames. The belfry-lights alone remain in their original condition. Internally the church is iu a most dilapidated condition, and, like its neighbour, has been plentifully bedaubed with lime-wash.