The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 3 (of 4)
THE
PAROCHIAL HISTORY
OF
CORNWALL.
J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT-STREET.
THE
PAROCHIAL HISTORY
OF
CORNWALL,
FOUNDED ON THE MANUSCRIPT HISTORIES
OF
MR. HALS AND MR. TONKIN;
WITH ADDITIONS AND VARIOUS APPENDICES,
BY
DAVIES GILBERT,
SOMETIME PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, F.A.S. F.R.S.E. M.R.I.A. &c. &c. AND D.C.L. BY DIPLOMA FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SON;
AND SOLD BY
J. LIDDELL, BODMIN; J. LAKE, FALMOUTH; O. MATTHEWS, HELSTON; MESSRS. BRAY AND ROWE, LAUNCESTON; T. VIGURS, PENZANCE; MRS. HEARD, TRURO; W. H. ROBERTS, EXETER; J. B. ROWE, PLYMOUTH; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN CORNWALL AND DEVON.
1838.
HISTORY
OF THE
PARISHES OF CORNWALL.
LANWHITTON, OR LAWHITTON.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lanwhitton, vulgo Lawhitton, is in the hundred of East; and hath to the west South Pederwin, to the north Launceston, to the east the river Tamar, to the south Lezant.
As for the name, I take Whitton to be the same as Whidden, white or fair; so as to signify the white or fair church, from the beauty of its first building. It is a rectory valued in the King’s books at 19_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ The Bishop of Exeter is the patron.
All this parish doth in a manner entirely belong to the Bishop of Exeter’s great manor of Lanwhitton.
I shall begin therewith: Mr. Camden tells you that this was one of the three manors given by Edward the elder about the year 905 to the Bishop of Kirton, from whom, on the union of the sees, it came to the Bishop of Exeter, in whose hands it hath ever since continued.
By an extract from the Register of John de Grandison, Bishop of Exeter, from 1327 to 1369, it appears that at an Assizes held at Launceston, before John de Berwick, Walter de Burveton, Henry Spigurnel, John Ralph, and Henry de Stainton, Justices Itinerant, Thomas Bishop of Exeter was summoned to answer to our Lord the King by what authority he held the different royalties in the manors of Lanwhitton, St. Germans, and Poulton, and certain other privileges in Tregear and Penryn, with a free market, fairs, &c.; and free warren over all lands belonging to the see throughout Cornwall. And the said Bishop, by his attorney, comes into court and saith, That as to the free market and fairs, and free warren, that the Lord Henry, father to our Lord the King that now is, did grant to one William, lately Bishop of Exeter, his predecessor, the said liberties to him and his successors for ever; and produced the said King’s charter for the same. And in respect to the liberties, he saith, that himself and his predecessors have held them from time of which there is no memory, without interruption, and therefore claims their continuance.
The jurors agree that the said Bishop and his predecessors had the said liberties, &c. in his manor of Penryn; but as for the manor of Tregear, that he and his predecessors had the same liberties from his and their villains, and not from their free tenants, a tempore quo non extat memoria, sine intermissione.
The Bishops of Exeter have been accustomed to farm out their manor on lives to several gentlemen. The present farmers are――Francis Manaton, Esq., William Clowberry, Esq., and Edward Bennet, of Hexworthy, Esq.
I now come to treat of the remarkable places of the said manor; and first of the barton Hexworthy.
Hexworthy――the field of reeds, corrupted, by pronunciation, from hesk or hesken, a reed or bulrush, and the Saxon worthing, a field. This place has been for three or four descents the seat of the family of Bennet. The present possessor, Edward Bennet, Esq., has been twice married; first, to a daughter of Sir Walter Moyle, of Bake; and, secondly, to a daughter of ―――― Coffin, Esq., of Portledge, in Devonshire. The arms of Bennet are Gu. a Bezant between three demi-lions Arg.
Bullsworthy, id est, the Bull’s-field (qu.? Ed.) This was lately the seat, by copy of court roll under the farmers of this manor, of John Coren, Esq., who in the reign of Queen Anne was in the Commission of the Peace, and Deputy-Surveyor of the Duchy of Cornwall, who dying without issue, left his estate to his widow; and on her decease it fell to the three gentlemen above-named, lessees of the manor. Mr. Coren derived himself from the Corens of St. Stephen’s, in Branwell, and gave for his arms, Arg. a millrind between two martlets in fess Sab. He left a part of his estate to a younger brother, now (November 1735) a captain of foot.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this parish, although gone much into decay, is said to exhibit appearances of venerable antiquity. In it is a monument to the memory of Richard Bennet, counsellor at law, who died in 1619. And another of artificial stone, with the following inscription:――
Underneath lieth the body of Richard Coffin, Esq. and also some of his nearest and dearest relations, who resided for many generations at Hexworthy, in this county. He was the son of Edward Bennet and Honor his wife, daughter of Richard Coffin, of Portledge in Devon, Esq. and Honor his wife, who was daughter of Edmund Prideaux, of Padstow, Esq. in this county. Dying without issue, in him ended the lineal descent of the families of Bennet and Coffin. He was born in the year 1715, and died Sept. 30, 1796.
This gentleman gave Hexworthy to one of his relations, the Prideauxes of Padstow.
The lessees of the great manor having neglected to renew their holding, it reverted to Doctor George Lavington, Bishop of Exeter fom 1746 to 1762, who made a new lease in favour of his only child, afterwards married to the Rev. Nutcombe Nutcombe, Chancellor of the Cathedral, in whose three daughters or their families it still remains.
The Editor cannot quit this parish without noticing that here resided as rector during many years the Rev. Robert Walker, who once entertained thoughts of really executing, what is now feebly attempted, a parochial history of Cornwall. The Editor well remembers waiting on him in 1787, to make inquiries respecting some of his own ancestors, when Mr. Walker, then far advanced in life, received him with the utmost kindness, insisted on his taking refreshments, and when they were declined on the ground of giving him trouble, Mr. Walker remarked, that such trouble was at once a duty and a pleasure, since our most important business in this world was to accommodate each other, and to make each other happy.
In a letter from him dated November the 9th, of the same year, the parish is written Lewhitton.
Mr. Walker is said to have been born in 1699.
Lawhitton measures 2455 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2715 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 246 15 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 289 | 368 | 435 | 485 giving an increase of nearly 68 per cent. in thirty years. Present Rector, the Rev. J. D. Coleridge, collated by Bishop Carey in 1826.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
The rocks of this parish are very similar to those of Launceston. Where argillaceous earth, either alone or in conjunction with carbonate of lime, prevails in these rocks, the soil produced from them is very fertile; but sometimes silica is so predominant, that the ground is comparatively barren.
LELANT.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lelant is in the hundred of Penwith, and hath to the west Towednack, to the north St. Ives, to the east the river Hayle and St. Ives Bay, to the south St. Earth and Ludgvan.
I take Lelant to be compounded of Le, a place, and Lan, a church, so as to signify the church place. It is dedicated to St. Uny, and therefore hath the adjunct of Uny Lelant mostly used in writings. But Leland calls it Lannant; and if that be the right name, it is a church in a valley. In the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope Nicholas, Lanvanta or Laventa is rated at 15_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._
It is a vicarage valued in the King’s book together with St. Ives and Tewednack, which pass in the same presentation, at 22_l._ 11_s._ 10_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter. The sheaf and tithe of fish in Lord Hobart, as heir to Sir John Maynard, who got possession of them from Edward Noseworthy, Esq.
St. Uny, to whom not only this church, but also that of Redruth, and a ruined chapel in St. Wendrone, are dedicated, is by Leland called St. Unine.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this parish is situated in the midst of sand, at the very extreme point inclosed by the sea, and by the estuary of Hayle. It is said to have been almost entirely covered towards the early part of the last century by one of these immense drifts of shell-sand which occasionally overwhelm this coast, originating, as is supposed, from the Nympha Bank, lying about midway between the Land’s End and Cape St. Clear. The Editor has in his possession the following receipt for money contributed by his collateral ancestor towards clearing the church, and accommodating it for the celebration of divine service; which was then done, and the old church restored――not a new one constructed, as some writers on Cornwall have erroneously stated.
August 11th, 1738. Mr. Hugh Powley and Mr. John Pears received of Mr. Henry Davies for bounty money towards Lelant church, twenty-six pounds five shillings, as appears by the church book. THOMAS KNIVETON.
Several great inundations of sand appear to have covered this coast at distant and uncertain periods; but the comminuted shells are perpetually increasing on the sea-shore, from whence they are drifted over the adjacent lands: their progress has, however, been checked, and in some places almost arrested, by the simple expedient of planting the Arundo Arenaria of Linnæus, named by others, Calamagrestis Arenaria. This rush grows readily in the sand, where it mechanically opposes all motion on the surface, and ultimately favours the production of a grassy turf.
Tradition asserts, that a town of some magnitude, having a market, and the establishment of a custom-house, stood near the church, when Hayle afforded deep water without the aid of artificial works, and before St. Ives had risen into consequence. Foundations of houses have undoubtedly been discovered here under the sand; and the tradition is somewhat confirmed by a distinction paid to the principal village, which is universally called Lelant Town, and not Church Town, as in other parishes.
The town is divided into two separate portions, usually distinguished as higher or lower, but the latter was formerly called Tredreath, the town on the sand or beach. This parish has several other villages: Brunion, Trecrobben, giving name to the most picturesque granite hill in that whole district, Polpear, Trink, &c.
In the taxation of Pope Nicholas, Lelant, under the name of Lanvanta or Laventa, is rated at 15_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ without any notice of St. Ives or Towednack.
Lelant, as the mother church, is alone of the three parishes provided with a glebe; but this land, although more extensive than what falls, on an average, to neighbouring incumbents, is rendered of very little value, and totally unfitted for a residence, by the encroachment of sand. An ancient vicarage house is believed to have disappeared with the town at the last great inundation, and the parish has remained longer than the period of memory, without a resident clergyman; but in this very year (1835) the Reverend Uriah Tonkin having been most liberally accommodated with an elevated situation at some distance from the sea, by Mr. Praed, is now constructing a house adequate to every thing that can be wished.
The rectorial tithes are said by Mr. Lysons to have been given by Robert de Cardinham, in the reign of Richard Cœur de Lion, to the monastery of Tywardreath; but that afterwards they were appropriated to the College of Crediton. Although this college has in part survived the general devastation of King Henry the Eighth, yet the tithes of Lelant were taken from it, and after passing through various hands, they now belong to Mr. Praed.
Mr. Lysons also states, but without giving any authority, that St. Uny (a brother of St. Herygh), patron of Lelant, Crowan, and Redruth, was buried in this church.
If St. Uny and St. Herygh ever existed at all, they were probably two of the missionaries from Ireland.
The parish feast is celebrated on the nearest Sunday to Candlemas day, but supposed to be in commemoration of the Saint.
Trembetha is said to have been the seat of John Hals, one of the judges in the reign of King Henry the Fifth, and to have been sold by him to the Godolphins. In the time of Queen Elizabeth it belonged to the Mahons. The barton and manor are now the joint property of Mr. Praed and Mr. Champernowne, of Dartington, near Totnes, as to two-thirds; and the remaining share is divided between Mr. Tremayne, Mr. Rodd, and Mrs. Stephens, as coheirs of the family of Hearle.
Lelant was for centuries the residence of three old and respectable families――Praed, Hoskin, and Pawley. The Hoskins still remain possessed of their ancient freehold, and other property; and Mr. Henry Hoskins, the present head of the family, resides in a house at the northern extremity of Tredreath, or Lower Lelant Town, bearing all the marks which distinguished the dwellings of private gentlemen in the times of the Tudors or Plantagenets. The Pawleys are extinct, having declined through a series of years; Goonwhyn, or Gunwin, (the White Croft) where the family had long resided, together with some other remnants of property, came to Miss Jane Pawley, sufficient, however, to give her the reputation of an heiress: but misfortunes and disgraceful conduct reduced her so very low, that the Editor recollects her soliciting charity from those who once looked up to her superior station; and this representative of an ancient family closed her mortal career in a parish workhouse.
The Praeds are also extinct; but the name has, with singular felicity, arrived at tenfold splendour in a new dynasty.
The original family became at last represented by two brothers: the elder distinguished as Colonel Praed, married a Basset of Tehidy, but died soon after, leaving all the personal property to his widow: the younger brother succeeded to the real estate; but having been unsuccessfully engaged in trade, and finding the farms mostly leased on lives with the payment of small quit-rents, according to the custom of those times, he became more and more embarrassed; till, meeting with a gentleman of the family of Mackworth, in Glamorganshire, bred to the higher department of the law, he arranged with this gentleman, that on being freed from all pecuniary difficulties, and receiving a certain annuity for life, the whole Cornish estate should be transferred to Mr. Mackworth; on the further conditions of his taking the name of Praed, and what seems almost ludicrous, of his engaging, so far as the consent of one party could be sufficient, to marry Miss Penrose, of Penrose, near Helston, the heiress-at-law to Mr. Praed’s estate.
Mr. Praed died about the years 1716 or 1717, when Mr. Mackworth came into possession, having performed every engagement to the utmost of his power; for the Editor recollects having heard from his son, the late Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed, that his father went to Penrose in execution of the condition dependent on another; but that, so far from obtaining success, he found some difficulty in escaping with his life.
The validity of the transfer was ultimately disputed on the part of Miss Penrose; and Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed has told the Editor that he was present at the trial in his nurse’s arms, when the agreement was finally established. The lady married a gentleman of the name of Pearse, and left an only daughter, who married Mr. Cumming; and their great-grandson, Sir Alexander Cumming Gordon, of Elginshire, is the present representative of the former family of Trevethow.
Mr. Mackworth Praed settled at Trevethow, where he was succeeded by his eldest son, Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed, one of the most distinguished men in his adopted country, for abilities, acquirements, wit, knowledge of the world, kindness, and unbounded hospitality. He once represented the county in Parliament, and on another occasion the borough of St. Ives. He married a lady of the eminent family of Forrester, in Shropshire, widow of Sir Bryant Broughton Delves, and had six children: William, his eldest son and heir; Herbert, Rector of Ludgvan, who died in early life; and four daughters,――Catherine, Mary, Arabella, and Julia.
Mary married the Reverend William Sandys, Vicar of St. Minver, and died without leaving any family. The other three never married.
Mr. William Praed married Miss Backwell, of Tyringham, in Buckinghamshire, eventually sole heiress to her very opulent family. He represented St. Ives in several Parliaments, and Banbury in one.
Endowed with a strong mind and with an active disposition, Mr. Praed did not confine his public services to the discharge of duties in the House of Commons. To him the nation is mainly indebted for one of the most useful and most successful of our public works――The Grand Junction Canal.
Three extensive chalk ridges issue from the great central nucleus forming Salisbury Plain; the most southern terminates at Beachy-head, constituting what is called the South Downs. The middle range, passing through Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent, extends to Dover, inclosing between them the wealds of Kent and Sussex, with the Hastings sand formation, and the great alluvial deposits of Romney and Pevensey Marshes. The northern range is still more extensive than the other two: this, passing through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, traverses Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire; then, after being cut through by the Wash, re-appears in Yorkshire, and finally terminates its long course at Flamborough Head. These two latter ranges intercept all water communication between the capital and the interior of England, except by the Thames, which finds its way through the northern ridge of chalk above Reading. Most river navigations beyond the reach of tides, are impeded by shallows in summer, by floods in winter, by artificial rights of mills, drainages, &c., all of which are avoided by the Grand Junction Canal, which, availing itself of cross valleys, and perforating narrow ridges, has opened an inland navigation from the metropolis to the British Channel, to the Irish Sea, and to the German Ocean.
Mr. William Praed closed his useful and honourable career of life at Trevethow, in Oct. 1833, having completed his eighty-fourth year; and is succeeded by his eldest son, Mr. James Praed, recently elected member for Buckinghamshire, the county in which he principally resides. Mr. Praed married Miss Chaplin, of Lincolnshire, and has several children.
If this distinguished family should now unfortunately be lost to Cornwall, it is curious to remark that, after remaining there much above a century, no permanent connexion has been formed, and not a single relative will be left behind.
Trevethow is by its natural situation one of the finest places in the west of Cornwall. The house looks to the estuary of Hayle, over a park variegated by rising ground and vales; and immediately behind the house stands Trecrobben or Trencroben-hill, crowned by an ancient fortress, corresponding with those described by Dr. Barham in the third volume of the Transactions of the Geological Society of Cornwall; this hill is the last towards the killas formation of a granite district, extending from the Land’s End, and covered with rocks of a magnitude to create strong impressions of grandeur. The house was so much enlarged and decorated by Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed, as almost to claim him for its founder; and it is sheltered by trees more numerous and of a larger size than can usually be found in a country unfavourable to their growth.
But the great artificial ornament of this place is its extensive plantations. Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed displayed on this comparatively trifling subject, the same acumen which distinguished him in matters of importance, throughout a long life. Having observed a single pinaster fir, the Pinus Pinaster of Linnæus, growing in an exposed situation, and braving the violence of our west wind, Mr. Praed immediately conjectured that this tree might be rendered available not merely for ornament, but as affording a shelter for better trees; the experiment was immediately tried, and with complete success.
The pinaster loses all its beauty when it gets beyond the dimensions of a shrub: its wood in this climate is almost useless, and no tree ceases to live after so short a period; but it grows rapidly at first in all situations, and almost in any ground, so that mixed with deciduous trees, and planted round the exterior, it acts as a nurse, and the office is fully performed long before the termination of its short existence.
By this use of the pinaster fir, Cornwall is now acquiring valuable and decorative plantations of the best timber trees, for all which it is indebted to the example given by Mr. Praed.
Lelant measures 3,279 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 3165 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 462 15 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 1083 | 1180 | 1271 | 1602 giving an increase of 48 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
The western part of this parish rests on granite, which is generally coarse-grained and crystalline, often with large porphyritic crystals of felspar; here and there it contains beds of porphyry (elvan courses), and also of shorl rock, sometimes in masses, but more frequently in the form of large and irregular veins. This granite has been productive of metallic ores, and more particularly of tin. The eastern part is composed of rocks belonging to the porphyritic series. The principal varieties are felspar rock, both massive and schistose, and green-stone. The soil derived from these rocks, as is often the case near granite, is on some spots very fertile. Some land near the entrance into Hayle is covered with testaceous sand, so common in the vicinity of all the bays and inlets of the sea on the north coast of Cornwall, and which, whenever it is unprotected by vegetation, is drifted by the winds over the uncultivated lands. Nature has pointed out the remedy for this evil to be the diffusion and increase of arenaceous plants.
THE EDITOR.――Whele Reath, a mine on the extreme western border of this parish, where it joins Towednack, has proved more productive of tin than any other mine except Whele Vor; and it has been prosecuted to a depth unexampled till within these few years, even in mines of copper.
At the other extremity of the parish, near the sea-shore, both copper and tin have been found in the belt of green stone which generally interposes between the granite and the sea-shore.
LESKEARD.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Leskeard is situate in the hundred of West, and hath to the west St. Pinnock, to the north St. Clair, to the east Menhinnet, to the south St. Kaine, and St. Matin’s juxta Looe.
As for the name of this town and parish, I derive it from les, a court or palace, and kaer, a fortified town, as having been for many ages a seat and castle of the ancient Princes and Dukes of Cornwall. Mr. Carew’s derivation from les-broad and ker-gone, is so much out of the way that it is not worth confuting; neither doth he himself put any stress on it.
This parish is a vicarge, valued in the King’s Books at £18. 13_s._ 10_d._ The patronage in Mr. Blatchford.
This church, in A. D. 1291, 29 Edward I., was valued at £8. and the vicarage at £2. 13_s._ 4_d._ it being appropriated to the Priory of Launceston.
The great duchy manor of the same name, including the whole parish and borough, I shall first begin with it, and then go on with the town, the church, castle, and the other most noted places in it.
THE MANOR OF LESKEARD.
In the extent of Cornish acres 12 Edward I. this is valued in 18. The 3d Henry IV. this manor is said to be half of a small fee of Morton, and was then in the hand of the King; who had not then, it seems, as may be made out in other places of the same book, given livery to Prince Henry of all the lands belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall; but since that time it having gone with the rest of the Duchy of Cornwall, and accounted for accordingly, I need not say any more of it here; and so come to treat of the
TOWN OF LESKEARD.
Mr. Willis, in his Rot. Parliamentaria, vol. ii. p. 27, gives this account of it: “This borough was, in like manner as spoken of in Launceston, held in the time of the Conqueror by Robert Earl of Morton and Cornwall; and afterwards, as that did, belonged to Richard, brother to King Henry the Third, created Earl of Cornwall in the 15th year of his reign, who made this place a free borough, and granted to the burgesses all those liberties and free customs which he, by his charter, had before granted to his burgesses of Launceston and Helston. This charter is dated the 5th of June, anno 1240, in the 24th year of the reign of his brother King Henry the Third, about ten years after the date of Launceston charter, as I guess. To this Richard succeeded Edmund Earl of Cornwall, his son, who in the 3d year of the reign of Edward I. granted this whole burgh, with the rent of the same, &c. and toll of the market and fairs, and all fines, mulcts, and perquisites thereof belonging to him and his heirs, in fee farm, at the rent of £18 sterling; upon which conditions the said borough being leased to the townsmen, has remained in their hands ever since, and the corporation at present enjoy the profits of the fairs and markets, &c. which yield them about £200 per annum. The royalty of this borough has been in like manner as that at Launceston, vested in the Duchy ever since Edward the Third’s time; and the Dukes of Cornwall, as tenants of the Crown, have received the said fee-farm rent till the reign of the late King William, who alienated the same, and gave it to the present Lord Somers, to whom the corporation pay the abovesaid chief rent of £18.”
Leland, Itinerary, vol. iii. lob. 19, saith, “The towne knowlegith freedom and privileges by the gift of Richard, King of Romanes and Earl of Cornewaul.” Perhaps by him this place was antiently incorporated; but the present charter doth not say when or by whom, for thus runs the last Visitation: “The towne and burrough of Liskeret, alias Liskerd, was antiently incorporated by the name of Mayor and Burgesses of Liskeret, alias Liskerd, and re-incorporated the 6th day of July, in the 29th year of Queen Elizabeth, by the same name of Mayor and Burgesses, and by that name to have perpetual succession; and enabled in law to purchase lands, tenements, and liberties, and likewise to assign the same, and by the same name to plead and be impleaded; and that the borough and corporation should consist of 9 Burgesses, which shall be called the Common Councell of the said burrough, whereof one for the time being shall be yearly chosen for Mayor, to have power to chuse a Steward and Recorder. That the Mayor and Burgesses shall have a common seal for their affairs; and that the Mayor and Recorder shall be Justices of the Peace within the said burrough (of which new corporation, granted by Queen Elizabeth, John Hunkin was the first Mayor), with diverse other privileges and immunities, as by their charter doth appear. And at this present visitation, the 12th day of October, 1620, was Edward Chapman, Mayor, Sᵗ William Wrey, Knight, Recorder, John Hunkin, Gent. High Steward, Thomas Jane, John Vosper, Martin Sampson, John Pott, Jeffrie Clarke, John Taperell, and William Grege, Chief Burgesses, and Walter Nicholls, Town Clark, of the said town and burrough.”
Mr. Willis goes on: “As for the right of election of Members of Parliament, ’tis vested in these nine capital burgesses and fifteen assistants, with others who are free of the borough, as many of the neighbouring gentlemen are; so that the whole number of electors is near about 100, who are all sworn freemen. The town of Leskeard is very large and populous, and contains (as I am informed) about 500 houses. It has a very considerable market, and perhaps the greatest in this county. It was in Leland’s time the best except Bodmin, which it much exceeds now, [this is a great mistake,] as the town does in buildings. This being in all respects one of, if not the biggest and best built in Cornwall [I take Falmouth to exceed by much every way, and so doth Truro too in building, if not bigness]; ’tis situate partly on rocky hills, and partly in a bottom. On the eastern ascent of the hill stands the church (of which more by and by). On the north side of the town stood the castle, of which Leland speaks thus: ‘There was a castle on an hill in the town side, by north from St. Martin. It is now all in ruin; fragments and pieces of waulles yet stand. The site of it is magnificent, and looketh over all the town. This castle was the Earles of Cornwall.’”
Mr. Willis continues: “In this town is an admirable conduit of water (this Leland too mentions), which plentifully supplies the streets about the market-place, which lies in a bottom about the middle of the borough; and from thence branch several other streets, divers of which lie on steep ascents. The town is near four furlongs over every way, and in some parts the houses stand scattered, though the streets are generally broad. This is one of the towns for coinage of tin (but there are hardly ―――― blocks of tin coined here in a whole year, the works in its neighbourhood being rather neglected than worn out); and was remarkable, anno 1642, for the defeat of the Parliament army by Sir Ralph Hopton, a memorial of which was put up in the church. The market, in Leland’s time mentioned to be observed on the Monday, is now kept on Saturday. The town hall stands on stone pillars, and is a good building. At the top is a clock-turret, having four dials. It was erected about the year 1707, by Mr. Dolben, one of the Members for this town, at near £200 expense. There has been given also to this corporation very handsome presents of plate, with two large silver maces well gilt, as are several of their silver cups, round one of which, in most constant use, is this engraved:
‘Qui fallit poculum, fallit in omnibus.’”
THE EDITOR.
Leskeard still continues a place of considerable trade, and distinguished by its excellent market, although in relative importance it does not maintain the station among towns in the county assigned to it a hundred years since by Mr. Tonkin. Of late years, several persons possessed of large properties have decorated the environs with excellent houses; and one gentleman of the town, Mr. Lyne, has brought home from successful trade and speculation, conducted at Lisbon by himself and his uncles during two-thirds of a century, a fortune that may be denominated princely. Leskeard has benefited beyond most other towns by the recent improvements of roads, and by a canal from the port of Looe, which affords a cheap and easy conveyance for lime, the most important of all manures in that district.
This town has been the residence, if not the origin, of several distinguished persons.
Dr. William Jane, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford in the time of Charles the Second, was from hence. And I believe that Mr. Jane, for many years master of the grammar-school at Truro, was his nephew; and this gentleman’s son, first a student at Christchurch, and afterwards Rector of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, bore a conspicuous part among the learned divines of his day.
From hence also originated the family of Taunton; of whom Mr. William Elias Taunton, knighted on some occasion of the King visiting Oxford, attained the highest eminence in that city as a legal practitioner; and he had the satisfaction of seeing his eldest son attain the proud situation of a judge. Of this family is also Richard Taunton, M.D. distinguished by his eager pursuit of all scientific acquirements, as well as by his medical skill; now resident at Truro. To this gentleman’s liberality the Editor is indebted for the original manuscript of Mr. Hals’ Parochial History, the foundation of this work.
Among eminent persons residing at Leskeard, it is impossible to omit Mr. Haydon, for many years master of the grammar-school. Of his classical acquirements it may be sufficient to say that Dr. Cornelius Cardew, who has been mentioned under St. Ewan, and must be again under Truro, was his favourite scholar; but, in addition to literature, Mr. Haydon acquired a profound knowledge of mathematics and of astronomy; and in these, the most exact and the most noble of sciences, he was not content with theory, and with the practical result of labours carried on by others. Mr. Haydon provided himself with various instruments, of a size and accuracy rarely possessed by individuals at that period; and with those he made important observations on the transit of Venus in June 1769; and for a long time all the longitudes of places in the West of England were deduced from Mr. Haydon’s determination of Leskeard. He ultimately retired to the family living of Okeford, in Devonshire, and was succeeded in the school by Mr. Lyne, whose grandson has been noticed for his acquisition of an immense fortune.
A gentleman of very singular habits flourished at Leskeard through a large portion of the eighteenth century, the last of an ancient and respectable family, Trehawke. No one stood more prominent for ability, knowledge of business, or for integrity; all disputes were referred to his arbitration, and every one pressed eagerly to obtain his advice; but habits of parsimony grew on him to such an extent, that the most ridiculous tales were circulated of his private savings, without, however, detracting from the estimation in which he was otherwise held. Having decupled his fortune, he left the whole to a distant relation, Mr. Kekewich, since Member for Exeter, a gentleman altogether worthy of so splendid a gift.
Mr. Lysons says, “In the town of Liskeard was a nunnery of poor Clares, founded and endowed by Richard King of the Romans,” but of which he had not been able to obtain any further account. But this seems to be a mistake; as Richard King of the Romans died in 1271, and the Nuns of St. Clare were first brought into England by Blanch Queen of Navarre, and wife of Edmund Earl of Lancaster, about twenty years afterwards. The monastic remains appear, moreover, too magnificent for an establishment of Nuns Minories, or Poor Clares, the female branch of the begging monks or friars instituted by St. Francis.
The castle walls have entirely disappeared, but the elevated site is still conspicuous; it is surrounded with trees, and the centre is occupied by the school-house.
The church is among the largest in Cornwall, and its south wall, like that of St. Neot, is embattled, and also ornamented by a handsome porch. There is a tradition which describes this church as being decorated with two towers, one on each side of the building, but taken down in the year 1627. The existing western tower is very inferior to the church.
The great tithes of this parish were appropriated to the Priory of Launceston. They were granted by Queen Elizabeth to a Mr. Harris, and they have recently been sold in parcels to the various proprietors of land. Mr. Honey, who holds the vicarage, is also patron.
In the church are various monuments to the family of Trehawke, &c. and one to Joseph Wadham, who died in 1707; being the last of that family, founders of Wadham college, Oxford.
The house and the room are still shewn which were occupied by King Charles the First in August 1644, before the surrender at Fowey of the army commanded by Lord Essex.
Mr. Lysons gives an account of the various persons and estates in this parish. The chief proprietors are Mr. Kekewich and Mrs. Connock. The extensive property of the Moreheads has been entirely sold in various lots, and their manor of Lamellian, or Lamellin, now belongs to the Editor of this work.
The borough, made co-extensive with the parish by the Reform Act of 1832, sends one Member to Parliament.
There cannot be a question as to the first syllable in the name of this town being les, a court, or inclosure; and the second may probably be derived, as Mr. Tonkin conjectures, from kaer, a fortress; but in times when every thing was referred to the French language, les became changed into lis, and a flower-de-luce was adopted on the town seal.
The parish measures 7126 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815: Borough 7077 0 0 Parish 6153 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831: Borough 1009 7 0 Parish 801 4 0 Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
Borough 1860 1975 2423 2853 Parish 848 909 1096 1189 ―――― Together 4042, giving an increase on the borough of 53½ per cent.; on the parish of 42 per cent.; on both of 49 per cent. in 30 years. Present Vicar, the Rev. T. Foote, instituted in 1821.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The rocks of this parish are principally on the boundary of the porphyritic and calcareous series; partaking of the former in the northern part, and of the latter in the southern. The former sometimes nearly resemble hornblende schist; and, gradually leaving the hornblende, they pass into a coarse, lamellar, argillaceous rock, of a dirty yellowish brown colour, irregularly and indistinctly marked with blue spots. There are several large quarries in this rock round the town of Leskeard, where the stone is extensively used for building. It very nearly approaches in character to that of Bodmin, but is not quite similar.
THE EDITOR. At a short distance from the town, on the road side leading towards Plymouth, occurs a soft micaceous schist, of a deep yellow tinge, which was most unfortunately mistaken for an ore of gold, about fifty years since, by a Mr. Hoskin, of Leskeard, and by his son, a clergyman, who, in utter ignorance of modern science, expended considerable sums of money in erecting machinery, for the prosecution of pursuits so vain as the raising of gold ore and extracting the metal.
LESNEWITH.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lesnewith is in the hundred of the same name, and hath to the west Trevalgar, to the north Tintagell and Minster, to the east Otterham, to the south Davidstow.
I have always imagined, whether rightly or not I am not certain, that this place, instead of giving name to the hundred, changed its own, when this was divided into two hundreds, Strathan and Lesnewith; having been formerly but one hundred, called Trigg Major, as they still continue in respect to ecclesiastical affairs; and if so, then the name signifies the New Court.
This is a rectory valued in the King’s book at £8, the incumbent Mr. Crewys.
This church, in 1291, by the taxation of Pope Nicholas, was valued at £4. 6_s._ 8_d._ never having been appropriated.
I shall begin with the principal estate in this parish, the manor of Lesnewith.
In the third year of Henry IV. Henry de la Pomeroy held here and in Trevygham half a knight’s fee.
I fancy this to be the same which is called in Domesday Book by the name of Lisniwen. And if so, it was one of the manors which William the Conqueror gave to his half-brother the Earl of Morton, with the earldom of Cornwall.
THE EDITOR.
There does not appear to be any thing remarkable in this parish. The only village, except the church town, is Treworrell.
The manor of Grylls in this parish formerly belonged to the Betensons, who intermarried with the Gilberts of Tackbear; and their arms remain in the church, Argent, within a bordure engrailed Ermine, a fess Gules, with a lion passant gardant in chief.
The advowson of the rectory is annexed to the manor of Lesnewith, which belonged two centuries ago to the family of Dennis. It was a considerable time in the family of Glynn. Mr. Jose is the chief proprietor in the parish.
Lesnewith measures 1,734 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 1,400 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 133 16 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 104 | 105 | 123 | 127 giving an increase of 22 per cent. in 30 years. Present Rector, the Rev. Charles Worsley, instituted in 1813.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Under the head of St. Cleather, a peculiar calcareous rock was noticed, consisting of a variety of hornblende and calc spar, either distinctly conjoined in a granular or laminated form, or so intimately blended, as to form an homogeneous green rock. A large bed of this peculiar rock occurs at Grylls or Garles, near the western boundary of the parish. An attempt was made here to burn this rock as a limestone for agricultural purposes; but after several trials it was abandoned; for, unless great care be taken in selecting those parts alone in which calc spar mainly abounds, the whole charge of the kiln vitrifies, or runs into a slag, owing to the great fusibility of hornblende, the other constituent of this calcareous rock.
LESTWITHIEL.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lestwithiel is in the hundred of Powder, and is surrounded to the west, north, and south, by Lanlivery; to the east it has Fowy river between it and St. Winnow. As for the name, I take it to be a corruption of Les-uchel, i. e. the lofty place, as having been from all antiquity the chief seat of the Dukes, &c. of Cornwall. Mr. Camden in Cornwall saith, “the Uzella of Ptolemy is seated, and has not yet quite lost its name, being called at this day Lestuthiell, from its situation. Now uchel, in British, signifies the same as high and lofty.” But of this more when we come to describe the town. As for Mr. Carew’s derivation, who calls it Lostwithiel, from the Cornish Losswithiall, which in English, saith he, signifieth a lion’s tail, it is so ridiculous, as not to be worth repeating; neither doth the word carry that sense. This parish is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at £2. 13_s._ 4_d._
The Duke of Cornwall is patron. The incumbent Mr. Baron, who succeeded Mr. Whiteford.
This church is not valued in Tax. Benefic. anno 1291; and was then appropriated to the Priory of Bodmin.
THE TOWN AND BOROUGH OF LESTWITHIEL,
“Reputed,” saith Mr. Willis, “the ancient Uzella of Ptolemy, lies situated on the river Uzella,” (I wonder how Mr. Willis came to be guilty of this mistake, since both Leland and Camden, whom he quotes, tell him that it lies on the river Fowy,) “from which it more probably had its name, as the learned Camden thinks” (Mr. Camden says as I have quoted him above,) “than from Carew’s interpretation of the word Lestwithiel, which he would have to signify in English, lion’s tail. This town is reputed in former times to have stood on a high hill, where the old castle of Lestormel showeth its ruins, which with a park thereto belonging, lies on the north side of the town” (and is in the parish of Lanlivery, for which reason it is not treated of here). “In the park was a Chapel of the Trinity, long since defaced, as are the public buildings of the town, insomuch that little remains of them; though some small parts are repaired, and made use of for the prisons and courts belonging to the Tin Stannaries, which are appointed to be kept here, this being one of the coinage towns.”
Before I go on any further with Mr. Willis, it may be proper to insert at length what Mr. Camden saith of it. “More within the land, on the same river (Fowy), the Uzella of Ptolemy is seated; and has not quite lost its name, being called at this day Lestuthiell, from its situation; for it was upon a high hill, where is Listormel, an ancient castle; though now it is removed into the valley. Now Uchel, British, signifies the same as high and lofty; from whence Uxellodunum of Gaule is so termed, because the town being built upon a mountain, has a steep rugged ascent every way. This in the British history is called Pen-Uchel-Coit, a high mountain in a wood, by which some will have Exeter meant. But the situation assigned it by Ptolemy, and the name it has to this day, do sufficiently evince it to have been the ancient Uzella. Now it is a little town, and not at all populous; for the channel of the river Fowy, which in the last age used to carry the tide up to the very town, and bring vessels of burthen, is now so stopped up by the sands coming from the tin-mines, that it is too shallow for barges; and indeed, all the havens in this county are in danger of being choaked up by their sands. However, it is the county town, where the Sheriff every month holds the County Court, and the Warden of the Stannaries has his prison. For it has the privilege of coinage, by the favour (as they say) of Edmund Earl of Cornwall, who formerly had his palace there. But there are two towns which especially eclipse the glory of this Uzella,――Leskerd to the east, and Bodman to the north.” Now to return to Mr. Willis. “It is a very ancient corporation, belonging to the Duchy, having had great privileges conferred upon it by Richard Earl of Cornwall (so saith Leland, Itinerary, vol. III. fol. 16,) who, when he was King of the Romans, in the twelfth year of his reign, by charter dated at Wallington, made Lostwithiel and Penknek (alias Penkneth, in the parish of Lanliversey, for Lanlivery, saith Leland, in the above cited place,) a place near adjoining, and now part of the borough, one free burgh, and granted his burgesses a gild mercatory, &c. When this place was first incorporated, I have not been informed; but it has returned Members to Parliament ever since 4 Edw. II. and once before, viz. 23 Edw. I. The Representatives are chosen by the majority of the Corporation, which consists of seven capital burgesses (whereof one is Mayor), and seventeen assistants, in whom, as I presume, the fee-farm rent of the borough is vested, who hold the same, or not many years since did, of the Duchy. This Corporation (otherwise a poor one) holds also the anchorage in the harbour, and bryhelage of measureable commodities, as coals, salt, malt, and corn, &c. in the town of Fowey; which port lies lower on this river, which was navigable to this town before the sands barred it up. The town of Lestwithiel consists chiefly of two streets, from east to west, meanly built, and has in it a church (of which more at the end).
“In August 1644, some soldiers of the Parliament Army, as may be seen in Dugdale’s Short View of the late Troubles in England, p. 560, defaced several stately edifices in this town, as the great Hall and Exchequer of the Dukes of Cornwall, who had their palace here in times past; this having been formerly reputed the shire town of the county, a small branch of which it yet retaineth, viz. the election of knights of the shire, and keeping the county weights and measures, which it had assigned by Act of Parliament, anno 11 Hen. VII. Who held this manor (note, that this place is no manor, but Penknek,) at the making of Domesday Book, the learned Dr. Brady could not discover; but no doubt it was reckoned among those of Robert Earl of Moreton and Cornwall, the King’s brother. Though in the reign of Richard I. it was part of the demesne lands of Robert de Cardinan Lord of Fowey, who was returned debtor into the Exchequer, of ten marks due to the King for having a market at Lestwithiel. Robertus de Cardinan debet decem marcas pro habendo Foro apud Lostwithel. Mag. Rot. 6 Ric. I. Rot. 12 a. m. 2, Cornwallia. However, this town belonged, temp. Hen. III. to Richard Earl of Cornwall, King Richard’s nephew, upon the death of whose son Edmund, it became part of the King’s demesne, and anno 7 Edw. III. upon the creation of John Earl of Cornwall, the King’s brother, he had this borough, inter alia, granted him; which was afterwards assigned to Edward the King’s son, when he was made Duke of Cornwall, and became, upon his death, the jointure or dowry of Joan Princess of Wales, his wife; on whose decease, anno 9 Ric. II. the King granted it to Tho. Holland Earl of Kent, his (half) brother, who held for life the manors of Lestwithiel and Camelford; he died in the 20th Ric. II. His son Thomas was created Duke of Surrey, and was beheaded anno 1 Hen. IV.”
Mr. Willis having a little mistaken this, I have thus rectified it. After the death of which last Thomas, (who also held them for life), Sir John Cornwall, Lord Fanhope, obtained a grant of the same on account of marrying Elizabeth, the King’s sister; and obtained a grant of the same from Henry Prince of Wales to enjoy them during her life; and afterwards procured it for his own life, and died accordingly seised thereof in December 1443 (22 Hen. VI.) as may be seen in Dugdale’s Baronage. The yearly rent of this borough, payable to the Duke of Cornwall, is in Doddridge’s History of that Duchy, p. 108, set down at £11. 19_s._ 10½_d._
The town is situated between hills. Boats of ten and twenty tons come up hither. Here are about 70 houses; and the manor is in the duchy.
THE EDITOR.
Lestwithiel evidently owes its locality to that which determined in early times the site of all towns placed on the banks of navigable rivers. They were universally built on the highest point to which vessels or boats frequenting the estuary were capable of being carried by the tide.
Richard Plantagenet might well have been captivated by the beauties of this place and of the surrounding country, by its central situation, and by the commanding eminence of Restormal. Here the last of our real feudal princes, whether he originally built or only enlarged the castle, fixed his court, and collected those revenues with which he is said to have bought from the venal electors of Germany, the titular office of King of the Romans; conveying, however, the legal right of succession to the throne of his grandfather the Emperor Henry the Fifth.
Nummus ait pro me, nubit Cornubia Romæ. Carew, 204, Lord Dunstanville’s edit.
To Richard King of the Romans Lestwithiel is indebted for the remains of the palace or stannary buildings, and for its privileges.
The palace, if it was ever the residence of a Prince, has long since been converted into a prison, with apartments for occasionally holding the Stannary Courts.
Various charters have been granted to this town. The last was given in the reign of King George the Second, by which seven permanent Aldermen annually chose, for one year, seventeen other persons, misnamed freemen, who altogether formed the select body for electing Members of Parliament. The validity of this charter has never been contested; but a doubt can scarcely be entertained of all its being utterly void, at least as to constituting a Parliamentary grant, on the ground of its entire variance from the common law of the land: but this question has now lost its importance in consequence of the Reform enacted in 1832.
The church possesses a character unusual in the west of England, by having its nave elevated, with a series of windows above the two ailes. It contains several monuments, and a curious antique font.
The etymology of this town, like that of Leskeard, has suffered from modern caprice, the Les having been here changed into Los; as Dover, from some strange fancy, is rapidly passing into Dovor.
No separate measurement has been taken of this parish, not even co-extensive with the modern town; the site is included in the parishes adjacent.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 1498 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 398 3 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 743 | 825 | 933 | 1548 giving an increase of 108 per cent. in 30 years. Present Vicar, the Rev. John Bower, presented in 1816 by Lord Mount Edgcumbe.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Dr. Boase says of the geology of this little parish, that it is composed of the same schistose rocks as the eastern part of the parish of Lanlivery.
ST. LEVAN.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
St. Levan is situated in the hundred of Penwith, and is bounded to the west by the ocean, to the north by Sennon, to the east by St. Burian, to the south by the mouth of the Channel.
This parish taketh its name from the saint to whom the church is dedicated, St. Levine.
It is a daughter church of St. Burian, forming part of the deanery of St. Burian.
THE EDITOR.
St. Levan exceeds perhaps every other parish in the whole county for bold and romantic scenery.
First it possesses Trereen Dinas.
This magnificent promontory has towards the land one of those ancient entrenchments which so much distinguish the western coast, from whence the word dinas. There the point runs out into the sea, rising into a succession of natural granite towers in spires, and aiguilles, and the first presenting a perpendicular front, is crowned with the far-famed Loging Rock.
Without calling in question the religious uses made of this stone in rude and barbarous times, it may be declared as a certainty to be entirely natural. Among the thousands of rocks lying scattered in all directions, some possessing a convex surface have accidentally rested on the flat surface of another. Many such rocks are known, but this one transcends in size, and occupies a most commanding station. The rock has been measured with the greatest care, and it is believed to weigh about ninety tons, yet any one, by applying his shoulder to the edge, and favouring the vibrations, can easily cause the stone to log through a very sensible angle.
Doctor Borlase, in his most learned and ingenious speculations on the religion and policy of the Druids, paid considerable attention to rock monuments in general, and especially to this, the most remarkable of all. In p. 180 of the Antiquities, second edition, Doctor Borlase says, “In the parish of St. Levan, Cornwall, there is a promontory called Castle Treryn. This cape consists of three distinct groupes of rocks. On the western side of the middle groupe, near the top, lies a very large stone, so evenly poised, that any hand may move it to or fro; but the extremities of its base are at such a distance from each other, and so well secured by their nearness to the stone which it stretches itself upon, that it is morally impossible that any lever, or indeed force (however applied in a mechanical way) can remove it from its present situation.”
This rather over-strong expression piqued the vanity of a gallant and intrepid officer, commanding an armed vessel on the coast, in 1824, who maintained that nothing could be impossible to the courage and skill of British seamen, and therefore, attended by ten or twelve of his men, Lieutenant Goldsmith, nephew of the celebrated novelist and poet (for it would even be unjust to withhold his name, as connected with a transaction on the whole redounding to his credit), went on the eighth of April to the rock, and there, by a continued application of their united strength, they threw this huge mass into vibrations of such extent as to cause the convex surface at last to slide from its horizontal base, most fortunately in the direction opposite to that in which they stood. The rock was saved from falling to the ground, and from thence probably into the sea, by a narrow chasm which caught it in the descent.
Mr. Goldsmith having thus achieved what had been declared impossible by the highest authority that Cornwall could produce, must have congratuled himself on such complete success; but the sensations of all the neighbourhood were entirely at variance from those of the gallant officer; fears were even entertained for his life; and a meeting of the Magistrates and principal persons was contemplated, for the purpose of representing the affair to Government: but the Editor of this work being then in London, and having the honour of being known to all the Lords of the Admiralty, he went there, and representing the exploit that had been performed in the light of an indiscreet frolic, he proposed that the Admiralty should lend a proper apparatus, and send it from Plymouth, while he on his part would endeavour to raise an adequate sum of money; and that Lieutenant Goldsmith, having thrown down this natural curiosity, should superintend the putting it up again. The terms were accepted, and thirteen capstans, with blocks, chains, &c. were sent from the dock-yard.
The Editor having commenced a contribution of money with twenty-five pounds, raised it to a hundred and fifty; and on the 2d of November, in the presence of thousands, amidst ladies waving their handkerchiefs, men firing feux-de-joye, and universal shouts, Mr. Goldsmith had the satisfaction and the glory of replacing this immense rock in its natural position, uninjured in its discriminating properties.
In consequence of the Editor making a second application to the Admiralty, and of his commencing another contribution of money with five pounds, Lanyon Cromlech was also replaced by the same apparatus.
The walk of about a mile and a half along the cliffs from Trereen Dinas to St. Levan Church, is grand and romantic in the highest degree. Between the two points is inclosed Porth Kernow, where the water is beautifully transparent, over a fine sand composed in part of minute shells quite entire, and of various species and genera, to be collected on the beach. The church itself is in a most sequestered spot, and said by Mr. Tonkin to be dedicated to St. Levina, who was a British female, and suffered martyrdom under the Saxons before their conversion to the Christian faith.
The relics of St. Levine or Lewine were long preserved and honoured at Seaford, about ten miles from Eastbourn in Sussex, till, in 1058, eight years before the Norman Conquest, her remains, together with those of St. Idaberga, another female, and a portion of the relics of St. Oswald, were carried beyond the seas, and deposited in the abbey of St. Winock at Bergh in Flanders, amidst a variety of miracles attested by Drogo, an eye-witness, and published in the great collection of the Bollandists.
The only object worthy of attention in St. Levan church is a plain monument to Miss Thomasin Dennis, with the following inscription:
Thomasin Dennis, de Trembath, ingenio, suavitate, virtute insignis, doctrina insignissima. Nata xxix die Septembris, 1771, væ! lenta sed præmatura morte erepta obiit xxx die Augusti 1809, anno ætatis xxxviii.
Miss Dennis was born at Sawah in this parish, the daughter of Mr. Alexander Dennis, one of the superior class of farmers, who occupy their own estates held at quit-rents for lives. He afterwards removed to Trembath in Maddern. Her superior genius displayed itself at a very early age, in reciting poetry from our best authors, and then in producing imitations of her own. “She lisped in numbers from her mother’s arms.” French was acquired with equal accuracy and facility; and then, observing that her eldest brother appeared to make an inadequate progress in Latin, occasioned by the entire want of attention on the part of the schoolmaster at Penzance, this young lady under eighteen studied a classic language for the mere purpose of helping forward her brother.
The celebrity which Miss Dennis had now acquired, brought her acquainted with the Rev. Mr. Hitchins, the learned vicar of St. Hilary, with the Editor of this work, and with several others, more or less scholars, from all of whom she received the praises due to her superior talents, and such instruction or assistance as they could afford, by lending books, or by indicating the most approved methods of proceeding; and with such slender help her progress was so great and almost unexampled, that not only were all the Roman authors soon read, but the Greek writers followed in a rapid succession, till Æschylus and Pindar became her familiar acquaintance.
About this time Miss Dennis was induced to accompany Mr. and Mrs. Josiah Wedgewood from Penzance, chiefly as a friend and a visitor, but partly also, in return for their civilities and kindness, to overlook the progress of their son; but her health began to fail, her only sister fell into a consumption, she returned to nurse her, and died of the same most pitiable complaint.
Εν Μακαρεσσι πονων ανταξιος ειη Αμοιβη.
Nothing of her poetry has been given to the public; nor would it now be fair to print a few trifles. Miss Dennis proved herself adequate to the composition of any work in prose, by publishing in 1806, at Mr. Johnson’s in St. Paul’s Churchyard, “Sophia St. Clare,” in name indeed a novel, but far superior in style of writing and in correctness of sentiment, to the fictions of the day. From the want of incident, however, similar to those which are characterized in the drama by producing stage effect, the work failed of becoming popular.
This parish, after Trereen Dinas, is distinguished by the possession of Tol-Peder-Penwith, about a mile westward from the church, the approach to which lies under romantic cliffs, and crosses a short deep vale, where boats are sheltered in a small cove apparently inaccessible to human art or daring. At the very extremity of the point an excavation has been made by the sea, of some portion less compacted than the remainder of the rock, probably of a lode, which opens to the surface in the form of an inverted cone. This place is very dangerous of access, on account of the steep descent covered by a slippery turf; but strangers are tempted to risk their lives in approaching the abyss, by the dashing of the waves within it, and by the tremendous roar of the sea. Two gentlemen from London were induced to enter the cavern leading from the sea, and were surrounded by the tide. One, who excelled in swimming, fortunately got out and communicated the perilous situation of his companion to a neighbouring farmer, who hastened with assistance and with ropes to the spot, and succeeded in lifting him to the surface through the cone. Nor must the circumstance be omitted, that, although the stranger was possessed of a very large fortune, he could not prevail on his rescuer to accept of the least pecuniary reward for preserving the life of a fellow-creature.
The villages in this parish are of small importance. Bosistow belonged in remote times to a family of the same name, giving for their arms Azure, three escallops Vaire. Mr. Bosistow, now residing at Tredreath in Lelant, is believed to represent this ancient family. In more recent times Bosistow belonged to the Davieses.
All the farms in this parish have been constantly occupied either by the freeholders or by persons possessing leaseholds, paying quit-rents, for lives; in consequence, they have taken extreme care against making parishioners, and in managing their Poor Rate, as will appear from its small amount.
The parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to October the 10th.
St. Levan measures 2079 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2063 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 94 4 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 400 | 434 | 490 | 515 giving an increase of 29 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
This parish is entirely situated on granite, which in many places furnishes a good and fertile soil, as has been observed in the adjoining parish of St. Burian. Its fine sea cliffs exhibit many varieties of the granite, and distinctly show the manner of arrangement in the more common and larger masses. To enter on the details of this subject, would occupy too much space. The geologist will find ample amusement along the whole line of these cliffs, which are always viewed by the romantic tourist with great delight. Besides the elevation and grand contour of the cliffs, here will be found the celebrated Logan Rock at Trereen, and the Tunnel Rock at Tol-Peder-Penwith.
THE EDITOR.
It may be observed, that I have always used the words Log-ing Rock, for the celebrated stone at Trereen Dinas. Much learned research seems to have been idly expended on the supposed name, “Logan Rock.” To log, is a verb in general use throughout Cornwall, for vibrating or rolling like a drunken man; and an is frequently heard in provincial pronunciation for ing, characteristic of the modern present participle. The Loging Rock is therefore strictly descriptive of its peculiar motion.
LEWANNICK.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lewannick is in the hundred of East, and hath to the west and north Alternun, to the east South Pederwin, to the south North Hill.
The right name of this parish is Lanwennock; and it is dedicated to the same Wennack as Landewednack. It is a vicarage valued in the King’s Books at £7. 18_s._ 2_d._ The patronage in the Crown.
This is but a poor parish, and hath not many noted places in it. The most considerable is the manor of Trelask, Trelask, that is the burnt town, from such an accident I suppose happening there.
I take this to be the most ancient seat of the Lowers in this county; who in the last century were a flourishing family, divided into several branches, though now the females have carried off the estates into other families, and there are very few of the males remaining.
On the death of Edward Roper, Esq. this manor fell to ―――― Plowden, Esq. descended from the famous lawyer of that name, who is the present lord of it.
THE EDITOR.
The parish church is distinguished by some remains of Gothic ornaments, and by its lofty tower. Within the church are some recent monuments to the Archers of Trelask, and one to the Rev. W. A. Morgan, the late vicar. There are also several ancient monuments, but greatly defaced.
The villages in this parish are small, and the houses are generally constructed of the least durable materials. The principal are Hick’s Mill, Pollyfont, Trenhorne, and Trevadlack.
The manor of Trelaske, having originally belonged to a family of the same name, came to the Uptons. It is stated by Mr. Lysons that two co-heiresses of the Upton family married two brothers of the Lowers, between whom the property was divided. One half passed to the family of Plowden; and the other half was sold by Thomas Lower, Esq. who died in 1703, to John Addis, Esq. whose son purchased the share of William Plowden and others. In 1741, William Addis, Esq. bequeathed the whole to Nicholas Swete Archer, Esq. in whose collateral heirs it still remains. Trelaske is a handsome gentleman’s seat, and surrounded by extensive woods. Mr. Nicholas Swete Archer married a sister of the late Mr. Francis Basset, of Tehidy, and resided chiefly at Truro in a house the property of Mr. Enys, of Enys, who had married another sister of Mr. Francis Basset; this gentleman dying without children, left Trelaske to his nephew, whose son greatly improved the house and the place; but has recently been taken out of this life at an early age, leaving a numerous family amply provided with the gifts of fortune, and consoled by the recollection of a parent universally respected and esteemed.
The manor of Tinney Hall belonged to the family of Beaumont; the last possessor of that name, Mrs. Dorothy Beaumont, bequeathed it to her nephew Mr. John Speccot, of Penheal, from whom it passed to his relation Mr. Thomas Long (see Egloskerry), and the manor now belongs to his heir-at-law the Rev. Charles Sweet.
The etymology given by Mr. Tonkin for Trelaske does not seem to be very probable. The verb Losgi is in Cornish to burn; but it does not approach nearly to the sound of laske, and the derivation has not any support from tradition at this place, nor in Cubert, nor in Pelynt, where the name occurs.
The manor of Pollyfont was heretofore a parcel of the priory of Minster near Botreaux Castle[1], and has been annexed to the rectory of Minster parish. Some remains of a chapel are still to be seen at this place.
The great tithes belonged to the family of Gedy or Giddy, of Trebersey, from whom they descended to Mr. John Eliot, heir-at-law of the celebrated patriot Sir John Eliot, who married the heiress of that family; and they were by him devised, with the whole of his property, to Mr. William Eliot, second brother of Lord Eliot, of Port Eliot, now Lord St. Germans, who has parted with them to Mr. William Hocker, of Trewanta in this parish.
Lewanick measures 3,516 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 3773 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 431 8 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831. { 548 | 563 | 623 | 643 giving an increase of 17 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The geology of this parish is similar to that of Alternun; this parish, however, merely touches the granite on its western corner, whilst the latter is situated on that rock through a considerable extent.
[1] See Carew, p. 125. Lord de Dunstanville’s edition.
LEZANT.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lezant is in the hundred of East, and hath to the west Lewannick and Linkinhorne, to the north South Pederwin and Lawhitton, to the east the river Tamar, to the south Stoke Climsland.
Lezant is an abbreviation of Lansant, the Holy Church, and so it is written in the Taxatio Beneficiorum; so called, perhaps, as being dedicated to All the Saints: so that Lezant may signify the same as All Hallows.
It is a rectory, valued in the King’s Books at £32. The patron is the Bishop of Exeter. The incumbent is the Rev. Mr. John Grant, Rector likewise of Ruan Lanyhorne, Canon of Exeter, and son-in-law to the present Bishop, Dr. Stephen Weston.
The first place of note that offers itself in this parish, is the manor of Trecarell, which gave name to an eminent family, seated here (as it is said) before the Norman Conquest, who gave for their arms, Ermine, two chevrons Sable.
Next, Landew, the black inclosure; aptly enough (in my opinion) so called, as being under a dismal hill.
This place was for several descents the seat of a younger branch of the family of Trefusis: the last of which, Nicholas Trefusis, of this place, was chosen Knight for this county in Parliament, to succeed Sir Bevil Granville, as Mr. Hugh Boscawen, of Tregothnan, was to succeed Sir Alexander Carew; both which knights fell for the King’s cause in 1643 and 1644, the first by the sword, at the battle of Lansdowne, the other by the axe, on Tower Hill. The said Nicholas Trefusis had by his wife two daughters and coheirs: Mary, married in her father’s lifetime to Edward Herle, of Prideaux, Esq. and Catherine, married after his death to Richard Kelliow, Esq.
Mr. Trefusis, by his will, bearing date August 13, 1647, settled (inter alia) this barton, with its appurtenances, called his barton and demesnes of Landew and Dinham’s land, with the Almes Pool Meadow, and Greston Moor, on the said Mr. Herle and Mary his wife, and their heirs for ever.
Mr. Herle settled in this place his eldest son, who new-built the house here, but did not live to finish it, for he died in his father’s lifetime, leaving by his wife two sons, Edward and Nicholas, and several daughters.
Edward Herle, Esq. seated himself and family here, was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 12th year of Ann, 1713; and was a Member in the last Parliament for the town of Launceston. A gentleman of bright parts, a lovely aspect, and admired and esteemed by all that had the happiness to know him,――I may say by all that ever heard of his name and character; but being miserably tormented by the gout, so as to be a perfect cripple with it, he died in the best of his time, at this place; leaving by his wife, the daughter of ―――― Northmore, of Oakhampton, in Devon, Esq. Northmore Herle, Esq. who is now about twenty years of age. His mother is since married again to Charles Kendall, M.D. second son to Archdeacon Kendall, of Killigarth, who has left her a widow, for the second time, with five daughters.
Since the above was written, Northmore Herle, Esq. has died at Oxford, unmarried, in May 1737, in the 22d year of his age.
THE EDITOR.
This parish seems to be inserted among others belonging to the hundred of East, in the valuation of Pope Nicholas, under the name Ecclesia de Sacre, and valued at £5.
Trecarrell, but slightly noticed by Mr. Tonkin, appears to have been a place of considerable consequence. The last of the original family bearing the same name, was living there in the year 1540, when, having lost his only son, Sir Henry Trecarrell built the beautiful church at Launceston. On this gentleman’s decease, the property became divided among his three daughters; but at the period of the Civil Wars Trecarrell had passed into other hands, and Mr. Maneton, then proprietor, entertained King Charles the First, on the 1st day of August 1644, previously to his proceeding to Leskeard, and from thence to the surrender of the army commanded by Lord Essex. Mr. Maneton died in 1654, since which time it has ceased to be a mansion. The property is now vested in Sir Thomas Acland, and Mr. Geake who resides on the place, where some portions of the ancient building are still to be seen, especially the remains of a hall, and of a chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen.
Landew also bestowed a name on its ancient proprietors, or received it from them; two of whom occur in the list of Members returned to Parliament for Launceston.
Mr. Tonkin has mentioned the early death of Mr. Northmore Herle: this gentleman devised Landew to one of his half-sisters, daughter of Dr. Kendall, from whom it descended to the late Mr. Humphry Lawrence, of Launceston, who sold it to Mr. William Bant. But the place has been sold again, and is now the residence of John Thomas Phillipps, Esq. representative, with Mr. Carpenter of Mount Tavy, of the Phillippses of Newport and Camelford.
Landew had formerly a chapel dedicated to St. Bridget; and there was a third in the parish, dedicated to St. Lawrence.
Carthamartha, a part of the great manor of Lawhitton, leased by Bishop Lavington to his daughter, is the occasional residence of Mr. John Gould, a place beautifully situated on the banks of the Tamar river, the most romantic of all the mountain torrents in the West of England.
The church and tower are of granite; and in it are several monuments to the eminent possessors of Trecarrell and of Landew.
There is also one to the Rev. Charles Mayson, D.D. late Rector of Lezant, and who is stated to have succeeded his father, the Rev. Peter Mayson, in 1784, and to have died here in 1815.
Lezant measures 4357 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 3303 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 613 19 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 610 | 671 | 853 | 841 giving an increase of 38 per cent. in 30 years. Present Rector, the Rev. John Bull, D.D. Canon of Christ Church.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Dr. Boase says of the geology of this parish, that the rocks and the substrata belong entirely to the calcareous series, and resemble those of Lawhitton.
LINKINHORNE.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Linkinhorne is in the hundred of East, and hath to the west St. Clair, to the north North Hill and Lezant, to the east Stoke Climsland, to the south South Hill and St. Eve.
The right name of this parish is Lankinhorne, which signifies, according to the proper meaning of the words, a church of iron, or of singular iron, but how applicable to this doth not appear to me.
This is a vicarage valued in the King’s book at £13. The patronage in John Hicks, of Trenedick, Esq. the sheaf in James Tilly, of Pentilly, Esq. and William Clobery, of Bradstone, in Devon, Esq.; the incumbent Mr. George Jeffery.
I shall, according to my usual method, begin with the most westerly estate in it, having first of all premised that in the 19 Edward I. anno 1291, this Church being valued for Pope Nicholas, by the name of Ecclesia de Lankynheon, was rated, the rectory at £4. 6_s._ 8_d._, the vicarage at £2. 13_s._ 4_d._ with a payment to the Prior of Launceston of £1. 6_s._ 8_d._
THE MANOR OF CARNEDON PRIOR.――THE ROCKY HILL.
In Domesday Book is a manor called Carneten, which I believe to be this. And if so, it was one of the manors given by William the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton, when he made him Earl of Cornwall.
THE EDITOR.
The manors of Millaton and Carnadon Prior belong to the Duchy of Cornwall; the latter had belonged to the Priory of Launceston, and is one of the manors given in exchange by King Henry the Eighth for the honour of Wallingford.
On the waste of this manor stands the lofty hill usually called Carraton Downs, supposed, with the exception of Brown Willy (which is elevated 1368 feet above the sea) to be the highest land in Cornwall. Here King Charles the First drew up his forces on the 2d of August, 1644, and was joined by Prince Maurice.
The manor of Trefrize or Trefy is said to have belonged, at a remote period, to the family of Trefey. It belonged to Sir Henry Trecarrell, of Trecarrell, in Lezant, and became split among his daughters. It is now again united in the family of Vyvyan, of Trelowarren. Some accounts represent this place as having been very magnificent, and the residence of a Lord (qu. Laird?) Trefey.
In this parish are several elevated points of land covered with granite or other crystaline rocks in the most magnificent groups, and commanding extensive prospects, first over this rugged ground, then across the Tamar, and its fertile vale, with Hamoaze, Plymouth, and the Sound, having the whole bounded by the mountains of Dartmoor.
Among the most remarkable of those points or carnes are Sharp or Sharpy Tor, the Cheese Wring, and the Hurlers. But for a minute and accurate description of the whole district, the Editor would again refer, as he has done under St. Clair, to “Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Borough of East and West Looe, and of the neighbourhood. By Thomas Bond, Esq. 1 vol. 8vo. 1823, printed for J. Nichols and Son, Parliament Street, Westminster.”
The church having fallen into decay was rebuilt by the munificent founder of Launceston Church, Sir Henry Trecarrell: it contains several monuments.
Linkinhorne parish measures 7292 statute acres. Value of the Real Property, as returned £. s. d. to Parliament in 1815 5643 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 886 0 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 924 | 1002 | 1080 | 1159 giving an increase of somewhat more than 25 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The geological structure of this parish is similar to that of St. Clear. Its western part rests on granite, forming high and barren hills, the sides and summits of which are covered with boulders and tors. Of the latter the most interesting is the celebrated Cheese Wring. Its eastern part consists of massive and schistose varieties of felspar rocks and green stone.
LUDGVEN, or LUDGEAN.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Ludgian is situated in the hundred of Penwith, and hath to the west Maddern, to the north Lelant and Towedneck, to the east St. Erth and St. Hilary, to the south Gulval and the Mount’s Bay.
Mr. Gwavas derives the name from Lug Var, the high or hilly placed tower. To which the situation of this church does very well agree.
This is a rectory valued in the King’s book at £30. 11_s._ 6_d._ The patronage in the Duke of Bolton.
At the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, in 1291, this church is valued at £7 a year, having never been appropriated; and it is there called Ecclesia de Ludewon.
The chief place in this parish, on which stands the church, is the manor of Ludgian Lease, that is, Ludgian place, or inclosed land. In Domesday Book it is called Ludaham, being one of the manors given by William the Conqueror to his half-brother, Robert Earl of Morton.
THE EDITOR.
The manor of Ludgean Lease has been of great consequence and extent. It still spreads over lands in several parishes; and holds as appendages the advowson to the rectory of this parish, and the high lordship of St. Ives, where certain honorary perquisites are paid to the lord of this manor for ships entering the port; and moreover, on the day of holding the annual court, the corporation maces are borne before the steward. Mr. Lysons states that the manor was given by Richard Earl of Cornwall to the family of Ferrers; from whom it passed, by successive female heirs, to those of Champernown and Willoughby (Lord Broke), and from a coheiress of the latter to the family of Paulet; and it now belongs to the two daughters, or their descendants, of Henry Paulet, last Duke of Bolton, who died in 1794.
Treassow has been for a considerable time the seat of the family of Rogers, since removed to Penrose, in the neighbourhood of Helston, in consequence of a large fortune acquired there by Mr. John Rogers, as steward to the Godolphins.
Annexed to Treassow is Castle-an-Dinas, the most lofty hill in that whole district, and the one standing furthest towards the south. It differs, however, from all the other hills thereabout in the quality of its material; for, although the whole is granite, not a rock is to be seen, and at its north-western base works are carried on, similar to those near St. Austell for preparing china-clay. On the top of the hill a considerable part remains of the extensive dinas, entrenchment, or castle, that has given the name, reduplicated in modern times, from an entire forgetfulness of the Celtic language.
Borlase gives the following description of these remains:
“Castle-an-Dinas consisted of two stone walls, one within the other, in a circular form, surrounding the area of the hill. The ruins are now fallen on each side of the walls, and show the work to have been of great height and thickness. There was also a third, or outer wall, built more than halfway round. Within the walls are many little inclosures of a circular form, about seven yards diameter, with little walls round them of two or three feet high; they appear to have been so many huts for the shelter of the garrison. The diameter of the whole fort from east to west is four hundred feet, and the principal ditch sixty feet. Towards the south, the sides of the hill are marked by two large green paths, about ten feet wide. Near the middle of the area is a well, almost choked up with its own ruins, and at a little distance a narrow pit, its sides walled round, probably for water also, now filled up.”
On this account the following remarks have been made by a recent intelligent writer:[2]
“It is to be regretted that Borlase did not publish a plan to illustrate his description of this Castle, as it has been much dilapidated since his time. A tower was built on the site of the outer wall about forty years ago, by Mr. Rogers, of Penrose; and subsequent reparations have not contributed towards a restoration of the old walls. Nor are there any perceptible remains of the inclosures, two or three feet high, which formed the huts for the shelter of the garrison; but in this respect, Borlase’s description exactly corresponds with the remains I observed within the area of Chûn-Castle, as already mentioned. I could discover no traces of the ancient entrance, nor does Borlase notice it; if it was towards the west, as at Chûn-Castle, it has been blocked up, for the walls on that side seem to have been rebuilt or repaired; if on the southern side, where, Borlase says, there were two broad paths leading up the side of the hill, towards the Castle, it has been totally destroyed.
“I now proceed to a description of this ancient and curious fortress. The first inclosure is a mound of earth alone, seven or eight feet high, surrounded by a ditch. Within this, a second fosse, or ditch, encircled the outer wall, which was built as before described, and is about five feet in thickness, and four or five high, excepting towards the south-east, where it has been destroyed, and the materials used in building the tower before mentioned.
“A vallum, or terrace, separates this wall from another of considerable strength and thickness, being thirteen feet across at the top. The circular area inclosed by this wall is two hundred and fifty-four feet in diameter. A third wall, of no great substance or height, like the others, appears to have made a circuit within this space, and reduced the diameter to one hundred and ninety feet. But what is most curious in this Castle, is the appearance of a certain wavy outline, slightly raised above the natural soil, but overgrown with turf. The singular form of these foundations, if they are supposed to be the inclosures noticed by Borlase, and their exact regularity, which I took some pains to ascertain, is perhaps deserving the attention of some more experienced antiquary.
“The area within is very uneven, and has, nearly in the centre, a small round inclosure, twenty-two feet in diameter, without an entrance. It is exactly similar in its construction to the remains in Caër-Brane and Bartìnè Castles. There is a well also within the circuit of the walls, and we were told it was never known to be without water. The diameter of the whole work, from ditch to ditch, north and south, is four hundred and thirty-six feet.”
Rosevithney was for ages a gentleman’s residence. The family of Larmer possessed it during a considerable time, till it passed by an heiress to a branch of the Davieses. The freehold has recently been sold three or four times.
Trowell, an adjoining farm, which belonged to the Godolphins, is remarkable for the extremely productive copper-mine, called Whele Fortune, which first launched Mr. Lemon on his splendid voyage through life.
The name of another farm in Ludgean, which cannot be accidental, requires notice. On this farm was a well, now destroyed by mines, having, in all probability, some slight quality of a chalybeate. The water acquired an established reputation for the relief of weak sight, and hundreds repaired there every year to bathe their eyes. The farm is named Collurian, and has been so time out of mind.
Varfull has been held as a leasehold for lives, or under copy of court roll, for more than a century, by the family of Davy, and actually belonged to Sir Humphry Davy, whose name has reflected so much honour, not on Cornwall alone, but on the whole nation to which he belonged.
The church, with the church town and the rectory, are placed in a commanding situation, and being surrounded by trees, make one of the most pleasing objects in the Mount’s Bay. The house has been entirely rebuilt by the late rector Mr. John Stephens. The tower is one of the most correct in its proportions and in its ornaments of any in the west of Cornwall. About the year 1761, a pinnacle was thrown down by lightning, and the effect was then universally imputed to the vengeance of a perturbed spirit exorcised from Treassow, and passing eastward towards the usual place of banishment in the Red Sea.
A more ancient legend is also connected with this church. After St. Ludgvan, an Irish missionary, if such a one ever existed, had constructed the fabric, he brought a stream of water under the church stile, with the intention of bestowing on the water various miraculous powers; among others, that of enabling every infant sprinkled with it at the baptismal font, instantly to acquire the power of making all the responses in distinct words, and probably in the Latin tongue; but, being interrupted by some unhallowed interference, his general purposes were defeated, so that one alone of the many intended qualities could by possibility be conferred; a qaality very different from the former, but so much esteemed by some descriptions of persons, that, within times of memory, children are reported to have been brought there for baptism, to acquire the protection afforded by this consecrated stream, which, after washing away the stain of original sin, does not indeed effectually guard the infant against committing crimes of his own, but against ever expiating them through the medium of an hempen cord; and experience is said to have proved that the charm does not extend to one of silk.
But the church of Ludgvan is not driven to seek renown from ancient missionaries or from legendary saints: during fifty years of the eighteenth century, it had for its rector Dr. William Borlase, a man of whom Cornwall will ever have reason to be proud.
At a time when the very names of natural science were scarcely heard among us, and when our mining and metallurgic processes were matters merely empiric, Dr. Borlase kindled the first spark of light, and fanned it by long-continued and able exertions, guided by a correspondence with persons the most distinguished on the continent of Europe, as well as at home, with the great Linnæus, and with Boerhaave, in some departments superior even to Linnæus himself. When no communications were maintained by the rapid circulation of periodical journals, antiquities, as connected with classical acquirements, had proceeded much further than the sciences dependent on mathematics and on natural philosophy. Dr. Borlase, in a most learned work, essayed to trace the learning, the mythology, and the civil institutions of the Celtic people, the earliest inhabitants of Britain, and especially of their priests the Druids; and with such success, that it established his high reputation for learning, for extensive research, and for discriminating judgment, throughout the literary world, where the subject, from its general nature, excited universal attention. For this work the degree of Doctor in Civil Law by diploma was conferred on him by the University of Oxford; an honour bestowed with so much discrimination and regard to its high value, that the next instance occurs in the case of Dr. Johnson, about ten years afterwards.
* * * * *
The following document has been copied by the Editor from the official Register at Oxford, and it is inserted as a record at once honourable to Dr. Borlase and to the University:
“Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen,
“Whereas I have been informed that it is proposed among you to confer the degree of Doctor in Civil Law by diploma upon the Reverend William Borlase, Master of Arts, formerly of Exeter College, and now Rector of Ludgvan in Cornwall, whose abilities as a scholar are sufficiently known to the public by his learned and valuable work, entitled ‘The Natural History and Antiquities of Cornwall;’ and also having heard that he has been a considerable benefactor to the University by presenting to the Ashmolean Museum a curious collection of ores, crystals, and other specimens of natural subjects, I give my full consent that he should receive the proposed testimony of your approbation, and am, Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen,
Your affectionate friend and servant, LITCHFIELD.
“Hill Street, March 8, 1766.”
“Lectis hisce literis et approbatis, diploma tenoris sequentis per registrarium lectum erat, et ex decreto venerabilis domus in proxima congregatione communi Universitatis sigillo muniendum.
“Cancellarius, Magistri, et Scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis omnibus ad quos præsens scriptum pervenerit, salutem in Domino sempiternam.
“Cum a majoribus nostris eo consilio gradus academici instituti fuerint, ut eximia virorum eruditorum studia digno præconio honestarent, aliisque imitanda proponerent;
“Nos Cancellarius, Magistri, et Scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis, summa cum voluptate, viri Reverendi Gulielmi Borlase, ecclesiæ de Ludgvan in comitatu Cornubiæ rectoris, et olim e collegio Exoniensi Artium Magistri, scripta pervolventes, queis natalis sui soli res cum naturales tum antiquas descripsit, magnoque sumptu et labore diutino in lucem edidit; nec inter ea immemores benevolentiæ suæ et pietatis in Matrem Academicam singularis, quâ varia quæ sibi occurrebat, mineralium, metallorum, et vetustissimi ævi reliquiarum supellectili, Museum nostrum Ashmoleanum locupletavit, quo viro tantum de nobis et republica literarum merito debitus constet honos, (quique etiam non minus ecclesiam sacerdos, quam patriam ornat philosophus,) in frequenti academicorum senatu decrevimus eundem Gulielmum Borlase, gradu Doctoris in Jure Civili, omnibusque quæ ad talem dignitatem pertinent privilegiis, insignire. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum Universitatis commune, quo in hoc casu utimur, præsentibus apponi fecimus.
“Datum in domo nostra convocationis die decimo-tertio mensis Martii, anno Domini millessimo septingentessimo sexagessimo sexto.”
Not having been born sufficiently early even to see this highly distinguished person, I am induced to copy the following short notices from a well-known Biographical Dictionary, with a few trifling alterations:
The Rev. William Borlase, LL.D. a very ingenious and learned writer, was of an ancient family in Cornwall, and born at Pendeen in the parish of St. Just, February 2d, 1695-6. His father had represented St. Ives in Parliament.
Mr. Borlase received the early part of his education at Penzance, but in 1709 removed to Plymouth. In March 1712-13 he became a member of Exeter College; and in June 1719, took his degree of Master of Arts. In 1720 he was ordained priest, and in 1722 he received institution to the rectory of Ludgvan in Cornwall. In 1732 the Lord Chancellor King presented him to the vicarage of St. Just, his native parish, the only preferments he ever obtained.
In the parishes of Ludgvan and St. Just were at that time rich mines of copper and of tin, abounding with a great variety of curious minerals. These he collected, and from that pursuit was led to study at large the natural history of this most interesting county.
The numerous monuments of remote antiquity scattered over the hills and promontories of Cornwall, made also deep impressions on his mind, and he availed himself of every resource placed within his reach, by previous learning and erudition, to acquire a knowledge of the Druidical learning, and of the manners and customs of the ancient Britons previously to their becoming Christians. In 1750 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1753 published in a folio volume, at Oxford, “The Antiquities of Cornwall.” A second edition in the same form came out at London in the year 1769, with considerable additions, under the following title: “Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall, consisting of several Essays on the ancient Inhabitants, Druid Superstition, Customs, and Remains of the most remote Antiquity in Britain and the British Isles; exemplified and proved by Monuments now extant in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands: with a Vocabulary of the Cornu-British language. Revised, with several additions, by the Author.”
His next publication had for its title, “Observations on the ancient and present state of the Islands of Scilly, and their importance to the Trade of Great Britain,” Oxford, 1756, 4to. This work was an extension of a paper, read before the Royal Society in 1753.
In 1758 came out his “Natural History of Cornwall, with Engravings of all the specimens, both animate and mineral, deemed to be of curiosity or of importance,” printed also at Oxford, in one volume folio, the original specimens and many antiquities being deposited in the Ashmolean Museum.
All these works, executed with great ability, patient diligence, and skill, raised the reputation of the author so high throughout the learned world, that in March 1766, the University of Oxford conferred on him their highest honour, the degree of Doctor by diploma, which he lived to enjoy somewhat more than six years, having departed this life on the 31st of August, 1772.
Besides his literary correspondence with various learned men, he carried on one of peculiar frequency with the great poet of his age, Mr. Alexander Pope, and a large collection of Mr. Pope’s letters to him is still extant, with a variety of other papers, obviously intended for publication.
Dr. Borlase furnished Mr. Pope with many Cornish fossils to decorate his celebrated grotto at Twickenham, where the donor’s name was scored in capitals of the most splendid materials; and in a letter written on the occasion, Mr. Pope says, “I am much obliged to you for your valuable collection of Cornish diamonds. I have placed them where they may best represent yourself, in a shade, but shining.”
The Royal Society is indebted to Dr. Borlase for about twenty different communications, and in addition to all these labours, he for several years undertook the care of some private pupils, and had together under his roof the heirs of the principal families in the neighbourhood, Hawkins, St. Aubyn, and Vyvyan.
A plain stone has been laid over his remains in Ludgven Church, with an inscription rendered almost illegible in the short period of sixty years.
The monument of some distinguished person bears an inscription ending with these words:
Commemorat hæc tabula brevi et ipsa interitura.
But we may console ourselves with a better reflection,――
Ανδρων γαρ επιφανων πασα Γη Ταφος, και ου Στηλων μονον εν τῃ οικειᾳ σημαινει επιγραφη, αλλα και εν τῃ μη προσηκουσῃ αγραφος μνημη παρ’ εκαστῳ της γνωμης μαλλον η του εργου ενδιαιταται.
Dr. William Borlase left two sons, one a Fellow of All Souls College, and subsequently presented to the University living of South Tetherwin near Launceston. He married Miss Alice Dewen of Marazion, but died without a family.
The other son was rector of St. Mewan, and his grandson is now in possession of the family estates, not one of the numerous sons of Dr. Walter Borlase having left a male heir.
Since the decease of Dr. William Borlase, two permanent rectors have alone held the church up to the last year 1834, Mr. Herbert Praed, second son of Mr. Humphry Mackworth Praed of Trevethow, and Mr. John Stephens of Tregenna; but their relative situations, in regard to the individuals possessing the right of presentation, have induced many to conjecture that this power may have been exercised from considerations not strictly conformable to those in contemplation when advowsons were entrusted to private hands. Mr. Stephens is succeeded by the Rev. Henry Elliot Graham; a relation or connection of the gentleman now representing the Powlet family.
The chief proprietor of land in this parish is the Rev. John Rogers of Penrose, canon residentiary of Exeter. Mr. Gregar of Trewarthenick has also some farms; and as leasehold proprietors, the family of Curnow have been ancient residents.
The parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to St. Paul’s Day, January 25.
This parish measures 3941 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 5755 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 561 3 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 1324 | 1491 | 1839 | 2322 giving an increase of 75 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The northern corner of this parish is situated on granite, resembling that of Gulval in every respect, except as to one variety abounding in mica. Much of this stone may be seen in the more ancient houses at Penzance. The spot, however, from whence this stone was procured, is no longer known. A difference of opinion is indeed entertained as to whether it was gotten from blocks near the surface, or from a bed that has been exhausted; but all are agreed as to the district from whence it came; and it is universally known by the name of Ludgvan stone. The property of cleaving evenly into regular blocks, eminently possessed by this species of granite, makes it valuable for building purposes; and this property is clearly derived from the even arrangement of the scale of mica in which it abounds.
Between the granite and the sea-shore a considerable portion of the schistose rocks is covered by a marsh, and by banks of sand. These rocks are made up of compact felspar, sometimes nearly pure, at others intimately united with hornblend or actynolite; they are traversed by courses or dykes of felspar porphyry, as may be seen on the sea-shore.
[2] Extracted from an “Account of certain Hill Castles, near the Land’s End in Cornwall,” by William Cotton, Esq. F.S.A. printed in the Archæologia, vol. XXII. where a plan and section of Castle-an-Dinas will be found, taken with greater care than that in Lysons’s Cornwall. In the Gentleman’s Magazine, LXXII. p. 393, are engravings of two stone weights found within the inner circle of this fortress. The weight of one was seventeen pounds and a half; and that of the other three pounds one ounce.
LUXILIAN, or LUXULIAN.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Luxilian is in the hundred of Powder, and hath to the west St. Roche and St. Anstell, to the north Lanivet, to the east Lanlivery, to the south St. Blasey and Tywardreth.
The right name of this parish is Lan Julian, the church of Saint Julian; but although the church was originally dedicated to him, it has since changed its patron, and belongs to St. Ayre.
It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at 10_l._ The patronage in Sir Nicholas Trevanion and Mrs. Carverth, now married to Mr. Cole, the present incumbent, whose father was incumbent before him. This church was valued, if at all in the taxation of Pope Nicholas, together with that of Lanlivery, both being then appropriated to the priory of Tywardreth.
I shall begin with the principal as well as the most westerly estate in it,
THE MANOR OF PRIDEAUX.
This some would derive from a French original, as being pres d’eaux, near the waters; for that the sea formerly flowed up as high as this place, till the stream works choaked up its entrance, any one that views the high cliffs under this place, and those on the opposite side of the valley in Tywardreath, must needs be convinced of. And this leads me to another etymology for it, and as suitable to its situation, from Pir or Prid, clay, and Aus, the same with Als, the cliff or sea-shore.
But be this how it will, Prideaux Castle herein was for several ages (probably before the Norman Conquest) the seat of, and gave name to a family which hath been very eminent both in this county and in Devonshire, and still flourisheth in both. Thomas de Prideaux represented this county in the Parliament 26 Edward I. and Roger de Prideaux was Sheriff of Cornwall 15 Edward III. His father Dominus Thomas Prideaux de Prideaux, was one of those who had in the 25th of Edward I. 20_l._ per annum or more, in lands or rents in this county, which he held by knight’s service. This family gave for their arms, Party per pale Azure and Gules, three castles Counterchanged; which arms are now quartered by Mr. Prideaux of Padstow, who is descended, as well as all of the name, from younger branches of the family residing here.
THE EDITOR.
There does not seem to be any thing connected with the remaining property of this parish that is important or curious. The chief landholders are the Rashleigh family, and Mrs. Agar, representative of the Robertses.
Mr. Coleman Rashleigh, son of Mr. John Rashleigh of Penquite, a younger brother from Menabilly, has purchased Prideaux, built there an excellent modern house, and restored the place, although in a different style, to its ancient splendour. This gentleman has distinguished himself as one of the most active, most able, and most energetic among those who have supported in Cornwall the theories leading to recent organic change in the system of our representation, and he has been created a Baronet by the Reform administration.
The church is situated on very lofty ground, amidst granite rocks, so universally scattered over the surface, that many houses are built in such a manner as to make one or more of these rocks available in the walls. Yet the soil is good; and Mr. Grylls, the present vicar, has proved that taste and perseverance may create an elegant assemblage of whatever is useful or ornamental in a situation apparently the most unpromising. The tower as well as the church far exceed the average in size and beauty. The tower has a singular addition of a small room at the top; and in this room various records relating to the Stannaries and to the Duchy of Cornwall are said to have been preserved, while the armies on both sides, in the civil war, were ravaging the country, and destroying the towns.
Mr. Tonkin has remarked on the romantic and beautiful vale which descends from Luxilian Church by Prideaux to St. Blazey Bridge, and in explaining the phenomena of lofty and precipitous inland cliffs, he has anticipated the most recent theories of modern geology. See Principles of Geology, by Charles Lyell.
This parish measures 5,041 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 3,768 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 554 16 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 875 | 1047 | 1276 | 1288 giving an increase of 47 per cent. in thirty years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish stretches north and south across the large patch of granite, which is situated between Bodmin and St. Austell, and also extends over the slate at its northern and southern extremities. The extent of surface covered by the northern slate is more than a square mile; but the southern slate forms only a small triangle north and north-east of St. Blazey Bridge. The northern half of this parish corresponds with the parish of St. Dennis in the nature of its rocks; the southern half with St. Austell and St. Blazey. The most interesting feature of this parish, in a geological point of view, consists of its numerous and extensive stream-works. This part of Cornwall, including the adjoining parishes, has long been celebrated for the fine quality of its stream-tin, which is, as to the greater part, either crystalline, or of the kind denominated wood-tin, on account of its fibrous texture. The gravel containing this stream-tin rests on the rock, or on its untransported debris; above this occurs a regular stratum of decayed trees and plants; in the deepest stream-works these are covered by another bed of gravel containing tin, having also a superincumbent layer of decayed trees and plants: but this second stratum of tin, always less in quantity than the first, is seldom of sufficient value to pay for the labour of separation. Over all occurs a layer of uncertain thickness, composed of the debris of adjacent rocks, and sustaining on its surface a coating of recent vegetable, and forming marshy, arable, or meadow land, according to the accidental situation of the spot.
THE EDITOR.
The greater part of the valleys in Cornwall having been long since streamed, exhibit little else than heaps of unsightly rubbish; instead of displaying, as in other districts, the most pleasing features of a country. The late Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed has, however, proved in the case of a valley at Lelant, that such deformities may be removed, and the meadows restored to their natural beauty, accompanied even by pecuniary advantage to the proprietor. But such improvements are greatly obstructed by an anomalous property called the right of bounds.
MABE.
HALS.
Mabe, a vicarage, is situated in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north Stithians, and west Constantine; east, part of Gluvias and Bradock.
For the name, it is plain Cornish Mab or Mabe, being a son, and in this place either to be construed in reference to Milorus (son of Melianus, King or Duke of Cornwall), who lies buried in Milor church-yard, and who was lord of this place, or had some jurisdiction over it, as Milor church at this day hath in spirituals over Mabe, to which it is considered as annexed.
Or perhaps the name of this church, Mab or Mabe, refers to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whose honour it may have been erected by our ancestors as a pledge of their orthodox faith, in opposition to the Ebiorite and Arian heresies.
At the time of the Norman conquest the district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Tremiloret, i. e. Milor’s Town. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia de Sancto Milore in decanatu de Kerryer cum Sacello (that is to say, with this church or chapel), was rated £6. 13_s._ 4_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, Milor la Vabe, or Mabe, is valued £16. 15_s._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exon, the incumbent. Now Milor-la-Vabe is either Milor’s son’s place, or a corruption of Milor-ha-Vabe, i. e. Milor and mabe, or Milor and son; this parish was rated to the 4_s._ per pound land-tax 1694, £56. 17_s._
In this place, at Tremough, is the dwelling of John Worth, Esq. sheriff of Cornwall 10th of Queen Ann, who married Trefusis, his father Penularick; originally descended from the Worths of Worth, in Devon or Somerset; who giveth for his arms, in a field Ermine, an imperial eagle with two necks Sable, armed Gules.
Tre-mayne in this parish, i. e. the town of stone, or the stone town, transnominated the gentle family of Peares or Perys, i. e. Pearce in English, to that of Tremayne, tempore Edward III. at which time Peres de Tremayne was lord and possessor thereof, who married Dame Opre, or Obre de Treskewis, and by her had issue John, that died without issue; 2ndly, Peros, that married Onera Trevartea, by whom he had issue Richard, who had issue Thomas, that married Isabella, daughter and heir of Trenchard of Collacomb in Devon, and removed thither, by whom he had issue Nicholas, Canon of St. Peter’s Church, Exeter; which Isabella, surviving her husband Tremayne, married Sir John Damerell, Knight, sheriff of Devon 1 Richard II. 1377, by whom she had no issue: nevertheless so prevailed with him, having no issue of his own, to settle divers land upon her issue by Tremayne, which was a great advancement of the estate of the Tremaynes. In 1392, Nicholas her son aforesaid married Jane, and had issue Thomas that married Carew, who had issue John, who by Joan Warr had issue John, who had issue Thomas, who by Grenville had issue Roger, Edmund, and Degory; Degory had issue Arthur, that married Grenville, by whom he had issue Edmund and Richard, from which Richard the Tremaynes of St. Ewe are descended. This tenement of Tremayne is long since gone out of that name, and is now the land of persons to me unknown. Tremayne tenements are also in St. Martyn’s in Kerrier, also in St. Colomb Major, et al. Tremayne parish in the hundred of East.
The arms of Damorell were, Party per fess Gules and Azure, three crescents, 2 and 1, Argent.
TONKIN.
The name of this parish in the king’s book is La Vabe, that is, St. Vabe, or Mabe’s Place.
The chief estate in this parish, and which I shall therefore begin with, is the manor of Carnsew, alias, says Mr. Carew, Carndew, the black rock, or rather a heap of black rocks, this parish and estate abounding in great rocks of moorstone. This place gave name to a very eminent family, which removed afterwards to Bokelby in St. Kew. One of the Carnsews of Bokelby granted a lease of the barton of Carnsew, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to William Thomas, which William Thomas from thenceforth took the name of Carnsew; and I have in my possession a grant of arms from Sir Richard St. George, Clarenceux King-at-Arms, to Henry Carnsew, of Trewone, junior, dated the 2d of December 1633, recognising this assumption of a new name from his place of residence.
This family has since removed to a better settlement at Trewoon in Budock.
Carverth, which signifies the green town, is also within and held from this manor. This place gave name to, and was the seat of an ancient race of gentlemen, from whom it passed to the Penalunas, till, in the reign of King Charles the First, it was sold to Thomas Melhuish of Penryn, merchant, descended from the Melhuishes of Northan in Devonshire.
Tremogh, that is, the dwelling or town of hogs, is also held from this manor, and was likewise formerly the seat of a family of the same name, from whom it came to the family of Blois of Penryn, in which name it continued till the year 1703, when Roger and John Blois, two brothers, sold this barton, which is of considerable value, to John Worth, Esq. of Penryn, who had for some time before a considerable mortgage on it.
Mr. Worth hath built on Tremogh a very large house of moorstone (granite), and hath inclosed a small park for deer. He hath been a justice of the peace during all the reign of Queen Anne, King George the First, and King George the Second; and was sheriff of the county in the tenth year of Queen Anne. His father, Mr. William Worth, of Penryn, merchant, married Jane, one of the daughters and coheiresses of Pennalerick, by whom he had, among others, a second son, William Worth, D.D. now Archdeacon of Worcester.
Mr. John Worth hath been some time a widower by the death of his wife Bridget, daughter of Francis Trefusis, of Trefusis, Esq. who has left him only one son, of the same name.
Hantertavas is likewise held of this manor, which signifieth the half tongue, but why I know not.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Hals has been singularly unfortunate in his etymology of Tremogh, which has therefore been omitted. Without all doubt, it means, as Mr. Tonkin has interpreted, the hog or pig’s town; and the street leading to Tremogh from Penryn is now called Pig’s Street. The heiress of the Worth family married an adventurer of the name of Hamilton, who ruined all his affairs by contested elections and extravagances. Tremogh was sold about the year 1775; and having passed into the hands of persons of a nearly similar description, the house remained shut up till the wood decayed, and the place was disfigured by the sale and removal of all the trees. The property has, however, at last been secured by a respectable gentleman, who resides on the spot, has renovated the house, and commenced planting and other decorations.
The most discriminating feature of this parish and of the immediate neighbourhood, is the great abundance of granite, not merely in large blocks, the proper moorstone, but in regular and extensive quarries; and so great has been the exportation of this most valuable material, that almost the whole of Waterloo Bridge, and much of the interior of London Bridge, are constructed of stone carried to the Thames from Falmouth harbour.
Districts abounding in crystalline rocks are usually uneven, and in this parish the main road, leading from Helston and all the west to Penryn and Falmouth, had to descend Mabe-hill; but in this year (1835) the line has been turned from the south of Tremogh to a vale on the northern side, which reduces the upper level, and converts a precipitous descent into one sufficiently sloped for carriages of every description. The old road has, however, still an attraction for botanists, as the antirrhinum monspessulanum, a plant very rarely found in other situations, grows there abundantly on the banks and hedges.
Mr. Tonkin is mistaken in tracing the family of Tremayne, long settled at Heligan, in St. Ewe, from the barton in this parish. That family is unquestionably derived from Tremayne in St. Martin’s, on the Helford river.
Mabe measures 2029 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2383 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 317 8 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 387 | 396 | 457 | 512 giving an increase of 32 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
One corner of this parish, immediately north of Penryn, extends on the slate in the form of a very narrow and short stripe; but all the remainder rests entirely on granite, which is for the most part coarse-grained and crystalline, abounding in porphyritic crystals and felspar. It, however, also contains numerous beds of a finer quality, which being well adapted for building is extensively quarried.
ST. MABEN, OR ST. MABIN.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the north St. Kewe, east St. Udye, south Helland, west Egleshayle. For the modern name of this church, it signifies, in the holy or sacred son, or a church dedicated and consecrated in honour of God the Son, in opposition to Arianism, as aforesaid under Mabe. In the Domesday Book 1087, 20 Will. I. this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Treu-es-coit, i. e. the wood-town, or town of wood; still the voke lands of a manor, the lords whereof first endowed this church, whose names were ――――, together with the Duke or Earl of Cornwall.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia de Maben in decanatu de Trig Minorshire, is rated at £8. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is rated at £36. The patronage formerly in the lords of the manor aforesaid, and the Duke of Cornwall, that endowed it; afterwards in the Duke and Louis alternately, the which Louis sold it to Boscawen, now in possession thereof; the incumbent Hill; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound land-tax 1696, at £158. 19_s._ by the name of St. Mabyn or Mabin aforesaid.
Nevertheless the inhabitants of this parish, through ignorance of the Cornish tongue, as not understanding the etymology or import of this compound word Mab-in, have substituted St. Mabiana, as the tutelar guardian or patroness of this church, instead of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the true patron and defender thereof.
Coll-quite, Coll-coit, alias Killyquite, in this parish, tempore Edward III. was the lands of Sir Richard Sergeaulx, sheriff of Cornwall 12 Richard II. who held this place by tenure of knight’s service, two knight’s fees and a half, Morton (see Talland and Crowan); whose issue male failing, his three daughters and heirs were married to Beere, Marney of Essex, and Seyntaubyn of Clowans (whose widow Alice after his death was married to Richard de Vere, the eleventh Earl of Oxford).
From Segreaulx’s heirs this barton and manor by descent or purchase came to Henry Marney, sheriff of Essex, the 2d and 8th of king Henry VII. executor of the last will and testament of Margaret Plantagenet, alias Beaufort, daughter and heir of John Duke of Somerset (grandchild to John of Gaunt by his son John), widow of Edmund of Hadham, Earl of Britain and Richmond, father and mother of King Henry VII. who died 1509, and was by her executors honourably buried in the abbey of Westminster. The arms of Marney were Gules, a lion rampant guardant Argent.
Tre-blith-ike, alias Tre-bletike, in this parish, is now in part, or the whole, the possession of … Hamley, Gent. that married Dingle, and giveth for his arms, in a field Argent, three talbots passant Azure, taloned, clawed, and langued Gules, two in chief and one in base.
Haligan, alias Hel-ligon in this parish. The first name as a monosyllable, signifies, after the Belgick Cornish, the holy or sacred; the second the legal nuncio or ambassador’s hall, perhaps the spiritual legate or ambassador, viz. the minister or priest of this parish. Otherwise, if Heligan be a Greek monosyllable, it signifies willows or osiers, ἑλικὴ helikê, helike, salix.
This barton and manor is the dwelling of Joseph Silly, Esq. one of his Majesty’s Commissioners for the peace, that married Cloberry, his father Elford, originally descended from the Sillys of St. Wenn and Minver. In this place Robert de Haligan, 3 Henry IV. held, by the tenure of knight service, two knight’s fees. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 42.
Pen-wyne in this parish, that is, the head or chief wyne, was the dwelling of Porter, Gent, that married Spry; and giveth for his arms, in a field Sable, three bells Argent, and a canton Ermine. This place is now sold to Cole. Pen-wyn is the beloved head or promontory of land; but properly pen gwynsa is head or chief wine.
Baldwyn, alias Bawdwyn, of Colquite, gave for his arms Gules, within a plain bordure two bendlets Argent. Prout, id est, Proud, gave for his arms Sable, a stag rampant Argent, depressed with a fess indented in chief Or; the stag tripped and armed of the Same.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has not anything but what was abridged from Hals.
THE EDITOR.
Tredeathy, pleasantly situated in this parish, has been made a handsome gentleman’s seat by the present possessor, the Rev. Francis John Hext.
The church has several monuments; one to the memory of Grace, the wife of Sir Richard Carnsew; and another to Mrs. Elizabeth Silly; and there remain some slight memorials of a branch from the Godolphins, formerly seated here. It is large, and occupies a commanding situation, with a lofty tower, visible to a great extent in all directions. But nothing has in modern times so much distinguished this parish as the residence of its learned rector, the Rev. Charles Peters.
Mr. Peters’ reputation for a most profound acquaintance with oriental literature, is sufficiently established by a controversy with the mighty man of his time, Doctor William Warburton; but there is also a traditional history of his benevolence, of his piety, and of his genuine simplicity, so interesting that the Editor has most gladly availed himself of a communication from persons nearly connected with this great and good man, to insert it here.
“The Rev. Charles Peters, of St. Mabyn, was descended from a merchant of Antwerp, who fled to England from the persecution of the Protestants in Germany. His grandson was a Turkey merchant of Fowey in the time of Queen Elizabeth: this gentleman was father of the famous Hugh Peters, and his mother was a Treffry, of Place-house.
“The ancestor of Mr. Peters of St. Mabyn was a royalist. The Rev. Charles Peters was born on the 1st of December 1690. In Tregony, at the German school there, he was taught Latin and Greek, and the first rudiments of Hebrew. He was afterwards of Exeter College, Oxford. When first ordained he served the curacy of St. Justin Roseland; then was presented with the living of Boconnock. In 1723 the living of Bralton Clovelly was given to him, and three years afterwards St. Mabyn, where from that time he chiefly resided, but spent a part of each year at Bralton, keeping a curate at each. Every Sunday he entertained a great number of the poorest of his parishioners; and on Monday the remaining meat was distributed to them, with bread for each; and thus in succession he entertained all the poor of the parish; and there was scarcely any poor rate in St. Mabyn during his life.
“He spent a large portion of his income in relieving the temporal wants of his fellow-creatures, and much of his time in their spiritual instruction. Besides morning and evening prayers, he read the Bible daily to his family, and also daily studied it himself in the original languages.
“When he published his Dissertation on the Book of Job, and drew on himself the insolence of Warburton, he bore it with the most perfect Christian charity.
“He had written a vindication of Homer in answer to Warburton. Before it was published Warburton had become a Bishop, when, fearing that the faults of the man might reflect on the sacred order, he abstained from publishing it, saying, ‘Thou shalt not speak evil of the rulers of thy people.’ Mr. Peters was of abstemious habits, regular both in his studies and his exercise, which the natural delicacy of his constitution required. He never married, but educated the two eldest sons of his elder brother, Dr. Joseph Peters, M.D. of Truro, and the Rev. Jonathan Peters, of St. Clement’s. The latter was bred to the church at his desire, and continued with him as his curate, till the living of St. Clement called the nephew to the cure of his own church.
“Mr. Peters lived to the age of eighty-four, retaining the full possession of his faculties to the last.”
Extracts from his Meditations in manuscript:――
When speaking of Warburton, he says,
“Let me then go on with this work which I have begun. Let me beg the assistance of God, that I may do it in a proper manner, so as not to return evil for evil, or railing for railing, but to preserve my temper, and to consider what the Dean has said, in a cool dispassionate way if possible; or at least to check my pen so as to say nothing that may misbecome me either as a Christian or a clergyman.
“As to what relates to Dean Warburton, he has freed me, I think, from all manner of obligation to say anything in complaisance; for this, considering the usage he has given me, would look like stooping to him, and distrusting the cause I have to plead for. I must keep up my spirits then, but beware of transgressing the rules of charity, of prudence, or of good manners.
“If it be necessary that I should publish the remainder of the Reply to the author of the Divine Legation, grant, oh Lord! that I may conduct it with all that decency and prudence, that strict regard to charity as well as truth, which may become a Christian and a minister of Christ; that I may have a constant check upon myself with regard to every thing that may be either light and ludicrous, or bitter and sarcastic: if my antagonist has given but too much into this way of writing, the greater shame to him; and the greater shame to me if I should not endeavour to avoid so palpable a fault.”
Under the influence of an opinion, or rather of a prejudice similar to those of plenary inspiration, and an immaculate preservation of the text, and unmindful that the Gospels themselves convey a large portion of their instruction under the form of allegory or parable, Mr. Peters maintained the historical authenticity of the book of Job against Dr. Warburton, who argued in favour of the opposite and manifestly the correct hypothesis. Yet so accurate and so extensive were the Hebrew learning and the general erudition of this profound scholar, that he completely worsted the most celebrated critic of his age, and drove him from a sober investigation of facts, of ancient opinions, or of the peculiar form and nature of moral instruction used by eastern nations at various and remote periods, into virulent and personal abuse.
It is curious to observe that the Book of Job has not the most remote allusion to anything connected with the Jews, neither to their laws or their ritual, nor to their patriarchs, or to their leader and legislator.
And it is more curious that in all the writings transmitted to our time by this extraordinary people, from the Book of Genesis to the last prophecy antecedent to its Babylonish captivity, not the slightest reference is made to a state of future existence; unless the strange narrative respecting the Witch of Endor should be deemed an exception, suspected as it is of interpolation; and at all events utterly unfitted for announcing, and that too incidentally, the most important of revealed truths. Previously, moreover, to the captivity, no personification is ever mentioned of the Principle of Evil.――“Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made; and he said unto the woman,” &c. No allusion is here made to any supernatural being; nor did the serpent lose the disgraceful credit till three thousand five hundred years after the fact, of having by his own unassisted subtilty, malevolence, and craft, led our first parents into the fatal snare predestined to work the utter and eternal destruction of countless millions of the human race, but for the stupendous mystery of their subsequent redemption.
In the Book of Job reference is made to a future life; and the Principle of Evil not only appears as a distinct personage, but is placed in collision and in debate with the Principle of all Good, driving the Divinity itself to the clumsy expedient, suited only to the imperfections of a finite intellect, of ascertaining by an actual experiment, whether a man were capable of sustaining certain degrees of bodily pain and of mental affliction, without murmuring against his Creator, the Lord and Giver of life, in whom we live, and move, and have our being.
It seems plain, therefore, from the doctrine of a future state first noticed in this work, from the first introduction of a being hostile to the happiness of all others and delighting in their misery, and from the absence of any allusion to a single fact connected with the Mosaic dispensation, or to the history embodied in the Sacred Records; and, lastly, from the dramatic form of the whole; that the Book of Job must be a parable, a moral tale, a poem wholly unconnected with the Jewish faith. It seems not to be improbable that such a composition, teaching the important duties of resignation and submission to the Divine will,
Αγου δε με, Ω Ζευ, και συ γ’ ἡ Πεπρωμενη, Οποι ποθ’ ὑμιν ειμι διατεταγμενος, Ως εψομαι γ’ αοκνος· ην δε μη θελω, Κακος γενομενος ουδεν ηττον εψομαι,
may have been translated from the Chaldean into the Hebrew language during the Captivity, retaining the Chaldean character, for no copy is said to exist in the ancient or Samaritan alphabet. And a work so excellent, so abounding in the most sublime and elevated flights of eastern poetry, soaring towards such topics as even that poetry is unable fully to reach, may well have been added by Ezra to the Book of the Law which he brought before the congregation, and read before them in the street, when they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
The Editor has also been desirous of obtaining information respecting another member of this family, whom, at the distance of almost two centuries from those times of violence and of civil commotion in which he lived, we may now consider as one persecuted in his death and in his fame, far beyond the degree which any demerit on his part, either as a fanatic in religion or as a partizan in politics, could have justly merited.
He was probably selected as a victim by his opponents to gratify the base passions of an ignorant multitude, now anxious to destroy those whom they had previously adored; and ridicule was cast on his memory by the triumphant party, as an expedient for beating down religious opinions hostile to the system of ecclesiastical government then reestablished: perhaps also, the possession of Lambeth Palace, like that of the house adjoining the capitol by Manlius, may have excited similar feelings; and possibly he was considered in some degree as an equivalent for Laud.
Extract from a History written in 1781:――
“William, Thomas, and Hugh Peters were brothers, and born at Fowey in Cornwall. Their father was a merchant of large property, and their mother was Elizabeth Treffry, daughter of John Treffry, Esq. of a very ancient and opulent family in that town.
“William received his education at Leyden, Thomas at Oxford, and Hugh at Cambridge. Between the years 1610 and 1620 Thomas and Hugh became clergymen in London. William continued a private gentleman. About the year 1628 Thomas and Hugh having rendered themselves obnoxious by their popularity and puritanic preaching, were silenced by the Bishop. They then went to Holland and remained till 1633, when they returned to London. The three brothers then sold their landed property, and in the following year embarked for America. Hugh settled at Salem, and soon became so popular as to excite the jealousy of those who had previously swayed the fanatical opinions of that place. Mr. Hugh Peters was in a short time appointed a trustee of the college at New Cambridge. He built a grand house, and purchased a large tract of land. The yard before his house he paved with flint-stones from England; and having dug a well he paved that also with flint-stones, for the accommodation of every inhabitant in want of water. It bears the name of Peter’s Spring up to the present time.
“He here married a second time, and had one daughter named Elizabeth. His renown as a zealot increasing, he received an invitation to remove from Salem to Boston, with which he complied, and there laid the foundation-stone of the great meeting-house, of which the Reverend Doctor Samuel Cooper, one of the most learned literati in America, is the pastor. Those whose envy he had excited at Salem, ill brooked being thus outrivalled by Mr. Peters. Yet finding him an orthodox fanatic, and more powerful than themselves, they seemingly bowed to his superiority, at the same time that they were contriving a plan which ended in his destruction.
“In 1641 they conspired with the civil authorities of Boston to convert their leading priest into a politician, by appointing him agent to Great Britain. The plot succeeded, and Mr. Hugh Peters assumed his agency under colour of petitioning for some abatement of customs and excise; but his real commission was to foment the civil discontents, wars, and jars then prevailing between the King and the Parliament. He did not see into the motives of these people; and he felt a strong inclination to chastise the Court and the Bishop of London, who had turned him out of the church for his fanatical conduct.
“On Mr. Peters’s arrival in London, the Parliament took him into their service. The Earls of Warwick and of Essex were also his patrons. In 1644 the Parliament gave him Archbishop Laud’s library, and soon afterwards made him head of the Archbishop’s court, and gave him the estate and palace at Lambeth; all which he kept till the Restoration.
“The people of Boston conducted themselves with ingratitude and neglect towards Mr. Peters; they never paid him any part of the stipend attached to his office, although he discharged the duties of it during twenty years, and obtained from the Protector a charter for the Society for propagating the Gospel in New England, which, by contributions raised in Great Britain, has supported all the missionaries among the Indians to the present time.
“An occurrence at the melancholy close of Mr. Peters’s life evinces his firmness of mind and self-possession.
“The sentences of our law, now barbarous in words alone, were in those days executed with horrors so savage, as to forbid description. The scenes of cruelty were repeated one after the other; and in his own case Mr. Peters, either from design or accident, remained to witness on others the inflictions which awaited himself. At that moment an officer whose heart must have been more obdurate than the hardest flint, or than Marperian rock, inquired of him how he liked the proceeding, and received for answer, ‘Friend, thou doest ill to distress a dying man!’”
St. Mabyn measures 3,846 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 6051 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 383 1 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 475 | 560 | 715 | 793 giving an increase of 67 per cent. in 30 years. Present Rector, the Rev. Granville Leveson Gower, presented by the Earl of Falmouth, in 1818.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is entirely situated within the calcareous series. Its rocks are similar to those of the adjoining parishes of Egleshayle, Helland, and St. Kew.
MAWNAN.
HALS.
It is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north Constantine, east Budock, and is elsewhere surrounded with the waters of the British ocean and Hayleford Haven.
However, the reader may take notice that long before the Norman Conquest, even in King Alfred’s days, this district was not known but by the name of Penwarne; viz. the voke lands of the bailywick of the hundred of Kerryer; and its court baron hath its prison and sub-bailiff still extant in Budock, which lands and court baron claims the respective suits and services of the several tithings or freeholders within its precincts, as of ancient right accustomed. And this barton of Penwarne hath also still extant upon it an old unendowed free chapel and burying-place of public use, before the church of Mawnan was erected, for under the name and jurisdiction of Penwarne this parish was taxed in the Domesday Book, 20 William I. 1087.
Though, at the time of the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, this parish church was rated then by the name of Ecclesia de Mawnan, in decanatu de Kerryer, 4_l._ 3_s._ 8_d._ In Wolsey’s inquisition, 1521, 14_l._ 16_s._ 1_d._ The patronage formerly in Killygrew, afterwards Rogers, now Kempe. The incumbent Trewinard; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, by the name of Mawnan, 72_l._
From Pen-gwarne alias Pen-warne, synonymous words, was denominated an old English family of gentlemen now in possession thereof, surnamed De-Penwarne (who by possession of those lands is bailiff or lord of the bailiwick of the hundred of Kerryer by inheritance), whose ancestors have been seised and possessed thereof, beyond the records of time, and have been possessed in former ages of divers other lands of considerable value in those parts.
Particularly Richard Penwarne, Esq. that married one of the coheirs of Tencreeke, Member of Parliament for Penryn, temp. James I.; whose son Robert married the daughter of Robinson of London, who had issue the present possessor, Robert Penwarne, Esq. that married Sprye of Tregony, and hath issue; that giveth for his arms, in a field Sable a chevron between three fleur-de-lis Argent.
TONKIN.
The manor of Trevose, that is, the town in the valley, from its principal mansion so called, where are the ruins of a very large house, as having been formerly a seat of the Killigrews, and particularly in J. Norden’s time of Sir William Killigrew, to which family, together with other lands adjoining, I suppose it came by their marriage with the daughter and heir of Arwinick. This property was sold to Sir Nicholas Slanning of Marystow in Devonshire, who I believe made this place his residence, while he was Governor of Pendinas Castle. This was the famous Sir Nicholas Slanning, so much cried up for his valour, who had a chief command in the King’s army, and was killed before Bristol in July 1643. He left a son of the same name, then an infant, who was made a Baronet by King Charles II. in 1662, as he had been before that one of the Knights of the Bath at his Majesty’s Coronation; which Sir Nicholas Slanning gave for his arms, Argent, two pales ingrailed Gules, over all a bend Azure, charged with three griffin’s heads erased Or.
This gentleman sold Trerose to Brian Rogers of Falmouth, merchant, who left by his wife, the daughter of John Tregeagle of Trevorden, Esq. one only son, Peter Rogers, Esq. who dying under age, the estate was sold to pay his father’s debts, under the authority of an Act of Parliament, to James Kempe of Penryn, Esq. who settled it on his second son James Kempe; but he died in his father’s lifetime; and, therefore, on his father’s death, in 1711, it fell to his son John Kempe, who marrying Mary the daughter of Joshua Ratcliff of Francklyn in Devonshire, Esq. died in May 1714, leaving an only daughter, who died soon afterwards. The manor ultimately devolved to Nicholas Kempe of Rosteage, Esq. who is the present lord thereof. Mr. Rogers gave for his arms, as deriving himself from the Rogerses of Cannington in Somersetshire, Argent, a chevron between three bucks courant Sable, attired Or.
The advowson of the parish was appendant to this manor, but has been severed therefrom, and now belongs to John Peters, Esq. of Harlyn.
In this parish is also Penwarne. This has been for many generations the seat of an ancient family of the same name, where they have flourished, being Justices of the Peace, and Members of Parliament; they began, however, to decline about the middle of Queen Elizabeth’s time, till Peter Penwarne, Esq. parted with almost the whole of his landed property, except the barton. The present gentleman married Joan, the daughter of Thomas Taylder of St. Mabe, gent.; his father Robert the daughter and heir of Peter Spry of Tregony, merchant.
Mr. Peter Penwarne died this present year (1732), leaving two sons, Thomas and John. The arms of Penwarne are, Sable, a chevron between three fleurs-de-lis Or.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Lysons gives a detailed account of the various manors.
Tresore belongs at present to the Rev. Robert Hoblyn. The manor of Boskenso and also Penwarne, were purchased by Mr. Michael Nowell, a merchant of Falmouth, who was knighted on presenting an address to the King. They now belong to his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Usticke.
Mr. John Penwarne, the representative of this ancient family, practised the law at Penryn, and married Miss Ann Kivell. He now resides in London, and has a son and one daughter.
The Rev. John Rogers, Canon Residentiary of Exeter, is the patron and incumbent of the living.
This parish measures 1,702 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2,591 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 247 11 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 427 | 497 | 536 | 578 giving an increase of 35 per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The northern part of this parish consists of felspathic hornblend rocks, belonging to the porphyritic series, which nearly touches the granite of Constantine and Budock. The southern part of Mawnan is situated on the calcareous series, and some of its rocks are very interesting, particularly those in the cliffs near the church and Rosemullion Head.
MADDERN.
HALS.
St. Mad-darne, or Mad-ran, a Vicarage, is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north Sennor or Zeynar, west Sancret, east Gulval, south Paul and the Mount’s Bay.
At the time of the Norman Conquest this district was taxed in the Domesday Book, under the jurisdiction of Alverton, of which more under. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancti Maddarne is rated £5. 6_s._ 8_d._ in decanatu de Penwith; prior Hospitalis Johannis percepit in eadem £6. 13_s._ 4_d._ The meaning of which is this: Henry de la Pomeraye, tempore Richard I. (or his ancestors) built or endowed this church, and gave it to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, for the health and salvation of his own soul, that of his Lord the King, and the souls of his father, mother, brothers, sisters, progenitors and successors, as it is set down in that charter. See Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. ii. page 792. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is valued to first fruits £21. 5_s._ 10_d._ by the name of Madran as aforesaid, without the appellation or pronoun Saint. The patronage formerly in the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem at Sythney, subject to St John’s Hospital of Jerusalem at London, after their dissolution in the Crown, now in Flemen; the incumbent Bellot, and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound land-tax, 1696, temp. William III. £163. 14_s._ Penzance town £139. 11_s._ 6_d._ in all £303. 5_s._ 6_d._
Who the supposed tutelar guardian of this church, St. Maddarne, was, is past my ability of finding out, either in the legends or martyrologies, therefore refer him to the scrutiny of the inhabitants; only by the way let it be remembered that Galfridus Monmouthensis tells us in his Chronicle that one Madan was a British king in these parts before Julius Cæsar landed in Britain, and probably that he lived or died here, in memory of whom this parish is called Madran, now Maddarne. Here also is Maddarne Well of water, greatly famous for its healing virtues, of which thus writes Bishop Hall of Exeter, in his book called the Great Mystery of Godliness, p. 169, where, speaking of what good offices angels do God’s servants.
“Of which kind was that noe less then miraculous cure, which at St. Maddarn’s Well in Cornwall was wrought upon a poore criple; wherof, besides the attestation of many hundreds of the neighbours, I tooke a strict and impartial examination in my last triennial Visitation there. This man for sixteen years was forced to walke upon his hands, by reason of the sinews of his leggs were soe contracted that he cold not goe or walk on his feet, who upon monition in a dreame, to wash in that well, which accordingly he did, was suddainly restored to the use of his limbs, and I sawe him both able to walk and gett his owne maintenance. I found here was neither art or collusion, the cure done, the author our invisible God, &c.”
However, notwithstanding this instance of that Reverend Bishop’s, I know no medicinal waters in Cornwall that are constantly and universally sovereign for any disease, but only to some particular persons, at times and seasons.
Alvorton, alias Alverton, in this parish, was the Voke lands of a considerable manor heretofore pertaining to the Kings and Earls of Cornwall, and under that jurisdiction and name this district of Maddern was taxed, 20 William I. 1087, as also Paul Parish; it consisted, temp. Edward III. of eighty-four Cornish acres of land. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 46, that is to say 3600 statute acres. (Page 131 of Lord Dunstanville’s Edition; the Cornish Acres 64).
Within the confines of this parish, or the said manor, stands Mayne Screffes, that is to say, the written or inscribed stone, being a monument set up of a rough perpendicular stone, in memory of a famous Cornish-British Prince or King, that probably lived and died here, and was interred near the same, in which stone are yet extant these British and Latin words: “RIALOBRAN CUNOWALL FIL:” [id est, Rialobran the son of Cunowall] which contracted Latin word fil. for filius, shows that it was made and erected there since first the Romans came into this land, for the Britains before had no knowledge of the Latin tongue; which words, if not monosyllables, are compounded either of those particles Rial-o-Bren-Cunowall fil: Extraordinary Royal or Imperial Prince King of Wales son; or rather it ought to be thus read, Rial-o-Bren-Cornowall filius, viz. the extraordinary Royal Prince or King of Cornwall’s Son. For as Rial in British answers to Regalis, Regius, Augustus, Regificus, Basilicus, in Latin, so -o- by itself to nimius, id est, much, excessive, overmuch; and Bren, Brene, to Princeps, a Prince, Ruler, or Chief Governor. However, let it be remembered, in favour of the second etymology, that one Bletius (son to Roderick King of Wales and Cornwall, anno Dom. 700,) was Prince of Wales and also King or Prince of Cornwall. But this funeral monument stone must have been erected before that time; for afterwards it became lawful to bury dead human creatures in towns and cities, lastly in churches and churchyards, though not before. [See Dr. Borlase’s Antiquities, 2d edit. p. 391, and the plate in Lysons’s Cornwall, p. ccxxi. Editor.]
Landithy. Landegey, Landigey, in this parish, contiguous with the church, which signifies the temple church, was formerly the lands of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, now ―――― Flemen, gent.
In this parish, at ―――― liveth Francis Seynt Aubyn, esq. sometime Commissioner for the Peace, who married ―――― Arundel, of this place, whose lands it was, and Crocker of St. Agnes, and hath issue. He is a younger son of John Seyntaubyn, of Clowens, esq. by Godolphin of Treveneage.
Upon the south part of this parish, at the head of St. Michael’s Mount’s Bay, on a little promontory of land shooting into the sea, is situate the market and coinage town of Pensance, or Penzance, which stands now rated in the Exchequer as a noun substantive, or distinct jurisdiction from Maddarne; whereas the borough of Camelford is taxed under Lenteglos, Mitchell under Newlan, and St. Enedor-Bosithney under Dundagell.
The old chapel, and the whole town of Penzance, the 20th July 1595, was burnt to ashes by five Spanish galleys, that then came into St. Michael’s Mount’s Bay for that purpose, of which fact there is a large history to be seen in Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 156, (page 381, Lord Dunstanville’s edition); since which time the new chapel hath been founded and beautified as it now stands, and the old town comparatively all new built of brick and stone, and augmented with a greater number of houses than before.
It was incorporated by charter from King James the First, with the jurisdiction of a court leet, by the name of the Mayor, Aldermen, or Magistrates, before whose tribunal all pleas of debt and damage, within the precincts of that borough, are judged and determined by the said charter; it is also made the fifth town for coinage of tin, at the usual times of the year, by the Duke of Cornwall’s officers, as also with a weekly market on Thursdays, and fairs yearly, on Thursday before Advent Sunday, and also on Trinity Thursday.
This town of Penzance, anno Dom. 1646, in the time of the wars between King Charles I. and his Parliament, for the kindness and charity the inhabitants showed to the Lord Goring’s and Lord Hopton’s troops of horse, driven into those parts by Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliament General, was made a prey to his soldiers or troops, who for two days had the plunder of the town and its inhabitants’ goods, to the one’s great loss and the other’s great enriching; for one of those troopers, viz. Edward Best, of St. Wenn, had to his share five gallons of English coin, silver and gold, and pieces of eight, as I was told by one of his servants, that was the measurer and spectator thereof; though long since all riotously spent, as also the shares of his fellow-troopers Littlecot, Keen, and Lockyer of Roach.
In this port his Majesty and the Duke have their coinage hall for coining tin, custom-house, collector, surveyor, comptroller, and wayters for sea and land service. The chief inhabitants of this town are John Carveth, gent. attorney-at-law, Mr. Gross, of the same profession, Mr. Tremenheer, Mr. Williams, Mr. Veale, Mr. Rawlinge.
The arms of this town, through ignorance of the true etymology of the name thereof, is St. John Baptist’s head in a charger.
To remove an action at law depending in the leet of Penzance to a superior court, the writ must be thus directed: “Majori et Burgisensibus Burgi sui de Pensance, alias Penzance, in com: Cornu: salutem:” otherwise, “Majori, Aldermanis, et Senescallo Burgi sui de Penzance alias Pensance, in comitatu Cornubiæ, salutem.”
On the east side of this town, on the sea shore, at the top of St. Michael’s Mount’s Bay, stands that notable treble intrenchment of earth, after the British manner, built as a rampart or fortress for defence of the country against foreign invaders, called Les-cad-dock Castle; otherwise Les-caddock, as two monosyllables, refer to Cadock, Earl of Cornwall, whose broad camp or castle of war it was, as tradition saith.
TONKIN.
This is a vicarage; the patronage in John Harris, esq.; the incumbent Doctor Walter Borlase, LL.D. But note, that the patronage of this parish is at present in the Corporation of Penzance, carrying with it the town, and the little parish of Morvah.
Penzance.――This town is a parish of itself, but the church is a daughter church to St. Maddarne, and passeth in the same presentation.
The village of Penzance was incorporated by King James I. on the 9th day of May, in the 12th year of his Highness’s reign, by the name of Mayor, Aldermen, and commonalty of the village of Penzance, and by that name to be one body, both in name and deed, and to have perpetual succession, and to be persons in the law, capable to purchase and possess lands, to consist of a Mayor, annually chosen, of eight other Aldermen, and twelve Assistants.
And at the time of the Heralds’ Visitation, the 9th day of October 1620, William Noseworthy was mayor; John St. Aubin, esq. recorder; John Maddern, John Clyse, Robert Dunkin, John Games, Roger Polkinhorne, William Madderne, Robert Luke, and Pasco Ellis, aldermen; Nicholas Hext was town clerk of the said Corporation.
THE EDITOR.
The church of Maddern stands on a commanding elevation, and retains indications of its former connexion with the Knights Templars, who are believed to have had a preceptory or provincial establishment at Landithy, immediately adjoining.
In the church and churchyard are monuments to various distinguished families resident within the parish: Borlase, Nicholls, Arundell, Harris, Pearce, Jenkin, Heckens, Clies, Pascoe, &c.; and some in memory of strangers, who too long delayed availing themselves of the mild climate and salubrious air of the Mount’s Bay. One of the more ancient monuments has these lines:
Belgium me birth, Britaine me breeding gave, Cornwall a wife, ten children, and a grave.
Castle Horneck is thought to be the site of a castle denominated Hornec, or iron, from its supposed strength, and built by the Tyers, who were lords of this district early in the times of the Plantagenets.
This place was the residence during a long life, of the Rev. Walter Borlase, Doctor of Civil Law, Vice-Warden of the Stannaries, and Vicar of Maddern for more than fifty-five years, who died April 26, 1776, aged 81 years and six months.
Doctor Borlase appears to have been universally respected, as a man of ability and learning, and for firmness and decision of character. He was the eldest son of Mr. John Borlase, of Pendeen in St. Just, sometime Member of Parliament for St. Ives, and brother of the Rev. William Borlase, also Doctor of Civil Law, and Rector of Ludgvan, our justly celebrated historian.
Doctor Walter Borlase married Margaret, daughter of the Rev. Henry Pendarves, vicar of the adjoining parish of Paul; and he is said in consequence of this marriage to have quitted the law, in which profession he could scarcely have failed of attaining some considerable distinction. They had a very numerous family of sons and daughters; but, none of the sons having left a son, the family estate has passed, under an entail, to the descendants of Doctor William Borlase, and now belongs to his great-grandson.
Doctor Walter Borlase built the house at Castle Horneck. The family arms are, Ermine, on a bend Sable, two hands issuing at the elbows from as many clouds Proper, and rending a horseshoe Or.
Trereife has been long the residence of the Nicholls’s, of whom the most distinguished person was Frank Nicholls, M.D. Physician to King George the Second, and son-in-law of the celebrated Dr. Mead. His life has been written in Latin by Dr. Lawrence, sometime President of the College of Physicians, with his portrait. It appears from this work that Dr. Nicholls was born in 1699, that he became a member of Exeter College, Oxford, in March 1714, took his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1729, and was chosen a Fellow of the College of Physicians in the following year, being previously a Fellow of the Royal Society. Nine different communications from Doctor Nicholls are printed in the Philosophical Transactions, and he published a separate work: “De Anima Medica,” to which is added a treatise, “De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Homine Nato et non Nato.”
His reputation stands deservedly very high as an Anatomist. Several dissections of the viper’s head and poisonous fangs, engraved for Dr. Mead’s work, are believed to be his; and to him is attributed the invention of what are termed corroded preparations. He died in January 1778, having completed his 79th year.
This gentleman’s elder brother married in London, but finally settled at Trereife, with one son and two daughters. The two daughters married, the eldest Mr. Love of Penzance, the second William Harris, of Kenegie, Esq. but neither left any family. The son, William Nicholls, married Miss Ustick, of Penzance, and died leaving one son. Mrs. Nicholls subsequently married the Rev. Charles Valentine Le Grice, of Bury St. Edmunds, then Lecturer of Penzance, and bore him a son, who, together with Mr. Le Grice, now hold the estate as tenants in remainder, and by the courtesy, under the will of Mr. Nicholls, Jun. who lived to the age of twenty-three or twenty-four years.
Trengwainton appears to have been inhabited by branches of the Arundell family, for a long series of years, and finally the last Mr. Arundell, of Menadarva, removed there, having in a great measure rebuilt the house. Soon after his decease it was sold, and Mr. Praed, of Trevethow, became the purchaser. Trengwainton was thus chiefly used as a farm-house till the late Sir Rose Price, wishing to form a seat in that neighbourhood, obtained it as an accommodation from the late Mr. Praed, and under his hands it has become a splendid residence.
It appears that a gentleman of the name of Price accompanied Venables and Penn in their successful expedition against Jamaica, during the Protectorate, and obtained an extensive grant of land, which his descendants lived on and improved, till early in the last century one of the sons was sent to England for education and health. It is understood that Doctor Nicholls was consulted as a physician, and that he recommended the climate of Penzance; perhaps Mr. John Price may have been the first invalid ever sent from a distance to breathe the soft air of this all but island in the Atlantic. At that time Mr. Henry Badcock, from the parish of Whilstone, in the north-eastern extremity of Cornwall, held the office of Collector at Penzance, where he had married Parthenia Keigwin, daughter of Mr. John Keigwin, of Mousehole. The young patient was received into their house by Mr. and Mrs. Badcock, who had several daughters. Mr. Price married in the year 1736 Margery, one of their daughters; but having gone back to Jamaica he died there three years afterwards, leaving her with an only son, also John Price.
This gentleman, having gone through the usual stages of education, ending with Trinity College, Oxford, went also to Jamaica, and there married Elizabeth Williams Bramer, daughter of John Bramer, a physician. They had only one son, who lived to a mature age, and succeeded his father in January 1797.
Mr. Rose Price, in the subsequent year, married Miss Elizabeth Lambert, a young lady from the county of Meath, born on the 12th of April 1782, by a singular coincidence on the very day that Admiral Rodney’s victory saved Jamaica from being captured by the French, and therefore about sixteen at the time of her marriage. Mr. Price served the office of Sheriff for Cornwall in the year 1814, as his father had done forty years before, in the year 1774. In this year also he was made a Baronet, in consequence of a promise from King George the Fourth, then Regent.
Lady Price died early in life, leaving a large family; and Sir Rose Price died on the 29th September 1834, having nearly completed his 65th year.
And here I would add a few lines to commemorate a gentleman whose progress through life was mainly guided by his connexion with this family, and whose conduct reflects credit on them for their choice.
In compliance with a custom evidently derived from the Catholic times of our forefathers, when every thing relating to the church was transacted in the language of ancient Rome, all boys whose parents were raised above the lowest state in society, went for six or twelve months to a Latin school. Mr. John Vinicombe was among the number, but his progress exhibited so great a superiority above other scholars of his age, that Mr. Perkin, the Lecturer and schoolmaster, prevailed on his father to allow of his staying an additional year. Just at that moment Mr. John Price placed his son at the same school; and, at the suggestion probably of Mr. Perkin, Mr. Price was induced to purchase at some small premium a further continuance of Mr. Vinicombe at the school, that he might assist, instruct, and be in some degree the companion of Mr. Rose Price.
A connexion thus formed naturally went on; Mr. Vinicombe became a member of Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a Fellowship; attended Mr. Rose Price to the school at Harrow, and acted as his private tutor when he became a gentleman commoner of Magdalen; made with him the tour of Europe; and finally, attended his friend and former pupil to Jamaica, where, by a residence of about two years, they nearly doubled the value of the estate. Soon after their return to England Mr. Vinicombe went to his Fellowship, and became not only a college tutor but one of the Public Examiners, under the then recent statute, and he had confident expectations of preferment in the church; but a premature death terminated his useful and honourable career, occasioned (or hastened at least) by a fall from his horse. An excellent picture of Mr. Vinicombe, by Mr. Opie, has gone to Pembroke College, under the will of Sir Rose Price.
Rosecadgwell has been for a considerable time in the family of Borlase. Mr. John Borlase, father of the two Doctor Borlases, removed there from Pendeen in the latter portion of his life; and Samuel Borlase, Esq. representative of this ancient and respectable family, resides there at present.
Nanceolvern almost adjoins Rosecadgwell. This was the residence of Mr. Carverth. After building there an excellent house, Mr. Carverth died in very embarrassed circumstances, which gave rise to an unusual extent of litigation. This place, however, was purchased by one of the Mr. Urlicks, and it now belongs to Mr. Scobell, who married the heiress of that branch of the family.
Poltare has a large and decorated house, built by the late Mr. Richard Heckens, of St. Ives, who married one of the daughters and coheiresses of Mr. George Veale. That place has passed by purchase also to the Scobell family.
Trenear was formerly a seat of the Olivers. The last of this family, Doctor William Oliver, a physician, died at Bath in 1764; and another William Oliver, M.D. had the honour of accompanying King William in the expedition which placed him on the throne, to preserve the civil and religious liberties of England. Trenear was sold soon after the younger Dr. Oliver’s decease, and purchased by Mr. Robyns, who built there a good house, and made it a gentleman’s seat. It afterwards became the property and residence of the Rev. Anthony Williams, sometime Vicar of St. Kevern, and it has passed with one of his daughters and coheiresses to Henry Pendarves Tremenheere, Esq. late Captain of one among the first-rate ships in the East India Company’s Service, where he merited and obtained the approbation, esteem, and respect of every individual with whom he had the slightest connexion, and the same effects of honour, ability, and kindness of heart, have followed him into retirement.
Rose Hill has a good house, built about the commencement of this century by Richard Oxnam, Esq. who served the office of Sheriff in the year 1810. It has since become the property and residence of the Rev. Uriah Tonkin, recently appointed Vicar of Lelant.
Lariggan is remarkable for the beauty of its situation; having been selected, and a neat house built there, by Mr. Thomas Pascoe, a worthy and respectable magistrate. And just above the town of Penzance stands a house having almost the appearance of a palace, built some years since by an individual of the name of Pope.
Mr. Pope was originally from Camelford; he conducted business for some time at Bristol, and then emigrated to the United States, where he accumulated a large fortune, unknown and forgotten by his family; till on a sudden he appeared at Penzance, recognised some relations, and, having purchased a few acres of ground, he built this magnificent house, which instantly became known by general acclamation as the Vatican, a name suited at once to its splendour, to its elevated situation, and to its founder’s name. Mr. Pope scarcely lived to inhabit this mansion; but left it to his nephew Mr. Vibert, to whose patriotism, skill, and perseverance, as a member of the corporation, Penzance is mainly indebted for several of its improvements, and especially for its new church. The house is now inhabited by Mrs. Rogers, widow of the late Mr. John Rogers, of Penrose, near Helston, and her daughters.
Lanyon was in former times the residence of one branch of the ancient and respectable family bearing that name. It now belongs to Mr. Rashleigh, of Menabelly; the farm, however, possesses one of those monuments in comparison with which all family records are modern.
In a croft near the side of the road leading from Penzance towards Morva, stands the Cromleigh or Coit described by Doctor Borlase, in pp. 230, 231, of his Antiquities, 2d edition. It fell down and has been replaced, (see the Logging Rock under St. Levan). Dr. Borlase mentions another Cromleigh at Malfra, in this parish, and two others in the adjoining parishes of Morva and Zennor, all within a few miles of each other. These monuments, scattered over a large portion of Europe, bear all the marks of great antiquity. Their construction is rude as well as simple, a flat but unhewn stone, laid on three columnar stones, also in their natural slate, and all of Cyclopean dimensions. The flat stone at Lanyon has been estimated at twenty ton.
Their use is much less certain. They are generally supposed to be sepulchral monuments; but the flat surface of the upper stone always inclined at a small angle from the horizon, would seem to countenance the opinion of their being meant for religious observances, probably for sacrifices, which is further countenanced by the etymology of the name, if it means in Celtic the Holy Hearth.
Landithy, the college or preceptory of the Knights Templars, belonged for several generations to the Flemings, a family now quite extinct, and their property alienated.
The great tithes of this parish belonged to the Knights Templars, under a gift from Henry de Pomeroy, one of the great family of the Pomeroys, Lords of Bury Pomeroy Castle. They were given by Henry the Eighth to some private person, and have belonged for a considerable time to the family of Nicholls, now Le Grice.
The Vicarage has passed through other hands. It is related by Hals and Tonkin to have belonged to Fleming and to Harris, and then by purchase to the corporation of Penzance, from which body it passed by sale to the family of Borlase, and is now vested in the heir-at-law, or in the devisee of the late Samuel Borlase, Esq.
But at a remote period the baronial residence of an extensive lordship was at Alverton, held by the Pomeroys; and Mr. Lysons says that it passed successively through the Tyes, Lisles, and Berkeleys, till reverting to the Crown it was granted to Whitmore and others, and has been divided and subdivided. Scarcely a trace can be seen at Alverton of its former magnificence. The portion still claiming the nominal distinction of Manor of Alverton, Penzance, and Mousehole, was bought of the Keigwins by the late Mr. George Veale, second son of Mr. Veale, of Trevaila, who acquired a considerable fortune at Penzance by the practice of the law; afterwards divided between his three daughters,――one married to Mr. Hickens, of Poltair; another to Mr. Baines, a Captain in the Navy; and the third to Mr. Jenkin, an officer in the army. These ladies, or their families, have since disposed of Alverton, and the whole is now vested in James Halse, Esq. M. P. for St. Ives.
Maddern Well is one of the numerous springs of water almost revered in former times on account of imputed supernatural virtues; and it has in reality, from time out of mind, diffused health and comfort over the thousands of persons inhabiting Penzance, the stream having been conducted there by a winding channel of some miles in extent, and arriving at the highest part of the town, it is enabled to flow down to the sea through every street.
Penzance, the most western market town in Cornwall, is one of the most flourishing. It appears to have been in former times no more than a small village, occupying the promontory now distinguished as the Quay, where stood a chapel, dedicated to St. Anthony, the Patron of fishermen, which in all probability gave it the name of Pen-sance, or the holy head (land), and it seems further probable that the new church or chapel yard may have been an ancient fortress for the protection of the place. Houses however gradually extended beyond this narrow limit; and the place had acquired some magnitude, when, in the year 1595, on the 23d of July, a predatory squadron of ships from Spain, stood into the bay, and landing about two hundred men, destroyed Mousehole, burnt Paul Church, and did much injury to Penzance; see Carew, Lord Dunstanville’s edition, p. 381. But, as appears from history to be very usual in such cases, the town arose with increased splendour from its ashes, and a charter of incorporation having been soon after, in 1614, granted by King James the First, measures were taken by this new body of trustees for insuring the increase and prosperity of the district committed to their charge. The most material of these were purchasing the seignorage of the harbour, and of the market, and of fairs, which according to the rude policy of former times had been vested in private persons, for individual benefit; the first of whom was Alice de Lisle, lady of the manor of Alverton, about the year 1332.
The Corporation also acquired a piece of ground called the three-cornered spot, on which a spacious market house was constructed, and buildings proper for shops and for merchandize, were raised on the three faces of the triangle. Penzance acquired also the privilege of being a coinage town. From this period it continued gradually to increase in size, in wealth, and in consideration, notwithstanding some adverse events in the Civil War, till the progress received an almost unlooked-for acceleration by another effort of the faithful trustees for the place, the body corporate. They, by a series of judicious efforts, continued for many years, at last completed a Pier, so extensive and well placed as to afford shelter for perhaps a hundred vessels, to admit several of the largest size used for traders, and to afford every accommodation and facility for the shipping or unshipping of merchandize. From the completion of this great work in 1813, up to the present period, Penzance has flourished beyond example; and though much may be imputed to the general prosperity of the times, and to the diffusion of knowledge, yet by far the greater part must be ascribed to the management of an unappropriated fund, by a body of honest and disinterested trustees, for the public benefit; and the Editor is especially disposed to bear this testimony to one Corporation, at a period (1835) when all municipal bodies are about to be remodelled, on the alleged ground of their insufficiency for useful purposes.
Penzance, for all ecclesiastical matters forming a part of the parish of Maddern, has long had a chapel of ease, with a lecturer appointed for life by the corporation, on an endowment made in 1680 by Mr. John Tremenheere, at that time a merchant residing in the town, and either the direct or collateral ancestor of the very respectable family of that name still remaining in the town and neighbourhood.
It has since been augmented by Queen Anne’s Bounty; but, the chapel having become wholly inadequate to the population, a church has been built in its place, accompanied by a lofty tower, and all constructed of granite, so as to add, in a most extraordinary degree, to the beauty of the town, and at the same time to afford every convenience that the space could possibly admit; and it is pleasing to add, that the work has been conducted and executed by all the parties concerned, in a manner highly creditable to their taste, to their judgment, and to their care in the expenditure of public money. But among the gentlemen who have exerted themselves in different ways, it would be unfair not particularly to mention Mr. Vibert, whose general skill, ability, and accurate knowledge of details have been most conspicuous throughout the whole undertaking; and the Editor hopes that the ties of consanguinity will not be thought of a nature to preclude him from referring here to the late Mr. Edward Giddy, who, in the situation of chief magistrate, conferred on him, over and over again, in every other situation, on all occasions, and especially in regard to this splendid and useful building, proved himself the active, zealous, and intelligent friend of the town and of all its inhabitants; and it is further gratifying to state, that the existing members of the family of Tremenheere, in emulation of their ancestor, to whom the chapel is indebted for its original endowment, have added the splendid decoration of painted glass over the whole east window of the chancel. The new church will be opened for divine service in the present year; and in this year also, as perhaps the last act of a select corporate body, which, in the administration of an income little short in its gross amount of two thousand pounds a year, may challenge the most minute investigation, the town and neighbourhood will receive the benefit of a new, commodious, and extended market-house, with the usual appendages, fully adequate to the still increasing opulence and commerce of the place.
Penzance may justly be proud of the many distinguished families and individuals connected with it: Clive, Fleming, Borlase, Tremenheere, Tonkin, Veale, John, Pellew, Batten, Carne, Davy, Boase, Colston, Giddy. It would require a volume to give even a slight history of each family, and of its individual members.
The Tonkins were long represented by Mr. Uriah Tonkin, who, through a life extended far beyond the period usually assigned to human nature, obtained universal regard and esteem. This gentleman had several sons; from one of whom is descended the Reverend Uriah Tonkin, now Vicar of Lelant. Another son, Mr. John Tonkin, pursued the practice of medicine till he succeeded to the family estate. He was distinguished for ability, good nature, and for quaintness of expressions in the form of apophthegms; but the most remarkable incident in Mr. John Tonkin’s life was his adoption of Humphry Davy, with the intention of educating him to the medical profession, and making him his successor. Davy, having succeeded to a small fortune on the decease of his father, soared above the narrow limits of a country practitioner, and was preparing himself for Edinburgh, when the Editor most fortunately directed his course to Clifton, where Dr. Beddoes was then engaged in applying pneumatic chemistry in aid of the Bristol waters for the cure or alleviation of incipient consumption; from thence he fought his way to the pinnacle of honour attached to experimental science.
Everything of importance in the life of this extraordinary man has been given with accuracy and ability by Doctor Paris, in a Life of Davy, 1 vol 4to. or 2 vols. 8vo. Colburn and Bentley. 1831.
The family of Batten have been for some time the leading merchants of Penzance. They have recently lost Mr. John Batten, distinguished by the intelligence and liberality incident to gentlemen in that profession; but he has left a family more than promising to support his reputation and the credit of his ample fortune; and this family has the honour of possessing the Reverend Joseph Hallett Batten, D.D. Principal of the East India College.
This gentleman having been placed at Trinity College, Cambridge, by the Editor’s recommendation, immediately distinguished himself in the public examinations and by obtaining college prizes; and on taking his degree Mr. Batten became Third Wrangler. These honours led at once to a Fellowship, and to the most desirable private tuitions; and, having married, he was placed at the head of an institution destined to prepare the minds and the habits of young men for the government of a vast empire.
Mr. William Carne came to Penzance about sixty years ago, where, by active and intelligent industry, he has acquired an ample fortune. Of his son, Mr. Joseph Carne, it would not be an easy task to speak in terms sufficiently laudatory: I therefore refer to his communications in the Transactions of the Geological Society of Cornwall, to his most ample and valuable collection of natural history, and to his patronage of every institution established for the diffusion of knowledge.
The late Mr. Boase left Cornwall at an early age, and became the active partner in a London bank, from whence he returned to Penzance, and conferred important benefits on the town as a magistrate and member of the corporation, and by the judicious employment of his capital. His eldest son Dr. Henry S. Boase supports, as Secretary, the Geological Society, instituted by Doctor Paris in the year 1814. Besides papers in these Transactions, Dr. Boase has published, “Primary Geology,” a separate work, in 1 vol. 8vo. Longman and Co. 1834, which has attracted the attention of natural philosophers throughout Europe; and although this is not the place to express my individual gratitude, yet I may say, that the most valuable additions to Mr. Hals’s and Mr. Tonkin’s parochial histories will be found in Doctor Boase’s geological description of each separate parish.
I cannot omit here to notice, among the inhabitants who have done credit to Penzance, my late respected relation Mr. Thomas Giddy, as a gentleman, a scholar, and a man of unblemished reputation. He came to Penzance in the year 1774, was chosen Mayor ten different times, and in his last mayoralty mainly assisted in carrying into execution a great improvement of the town, by removing the Coinage Hall from a place adjoining the Market House, to a proper situation near the quay, permission for which the Editor had the good fortune to obtain from the Lord Warden and the Duchy Officers. Mr. Giddy died July the 26th, 1825, having nearly completed his eighty-fourth year, and having somewhat more than completed the sixtieth year of his marriage. His widow survived him about five years.
Dr. Stephen Luke was also from Penzance. He practised with much success and reputation at Falmouth, Exeter, and London, where he died on the 30th of March 1829.
Finally, I may state that the intrepid and successful Admiral Pellew, although not a native of Penzance, received his nautical education in this town.
A grammar school has long been endowed by the Corporation; and the master used formerly to hold in addition the lecturership of the chapel.
The Reverend James Parkin, afterwards Rector of Okeford in Devonshire, held both offices for a considerable time; and under his care, for about eighteen months, the Editor received the only instruction for which he is indebted to a stranger.
The school is now presided over by the Reverend Mr. Morris, M.A. from Balliol College, Oxford; and Mr. Le-Grice having resigned the lecturership, after holding it above twenty years, has been succeeded by the Reverend Mr. Vyvyan, of Trelowarren.
Penzance has become, in the last half century, a considerable resort of invalids; and much benefit has been received in pulmonary cases from the mildness and comparatively even temperature of the climate, which has been most satisfactorily established by the observations of Mr. Edward Giddy, printed in the Journal of Philosophy. For a detailed account of Penzance and of the Mount’s Bay, in a medical point of view, the reader is referred to the works of Dr. Paris, who resided some years in the town, till he left it to acquire one of the most extensive fields of practice in London.
An event occurred at Penzance in the year 1760, of a nature so curious as to be well worthy of remembrance. This country was then deeply engaged in what has since been termed the seven years’ war; and, notwithstanding the splendid successes of 1759, the nation still felt alarm from the always threatened invasion by France, and from the fear of predatory excursions, when in the night following the 29th of September the town was roused by the firing of guns, and soon after by the intelligence of a large ship of a strange appearance having run on shore on the beach towards Newlyn. Great numbers of persons crowded to the spot, where they were still more astonished and shocked by the sight of men still stranger than their vessel, each armed with a scymetar and with pistols. It was now obvious that they were Moslems; and a vague fear of Turkish ferocity, of massacre and plunder, seised the unarmed inhabitants, just awakened from their sleep in the middle of the night. A volunteer company obeyed, however, with alacrity the beat to arms, and 172 men were conducted or driven into a spacious building which then stood on the Western Green, and for some reason or other was called the Folly. Eight men were found to be drowned. Before morning it was ascertained from themselves, by some who understood the lingua Franca, that the ship was an Algerine corsair, carrying 24 guns, from nine to six pounders, and that the Captain had steered his vessel into the Mount’s Bay, and run it against the shore under a full conviction that he was safe in the Atlantic Ocean, at about the latitude of Cadiz, thus committing an error of thirteen degrees in latitude. The instant it was known that the sailors were Algerines, a fear seized the town and neighbourhood scarcely less formidable than the other of massacre and plunder――namely, of the plague. The volunteers, however, kept watch and ward to prevent all intercourse. Intelligence was conveyed to the government, and orders are said to have been issued for troops to march from Plymouth for surrounding the whole district; but most fortunately the local authorities ascertained that no cause whatever existed for such a precaution, and the orders were countermanded.
When it was found safe to visit the strangers, curiosity attracted the whole neighbourhood. Their Asiatic dress, long beards and mustachios, with turbans, the absence of all covering from their feet and legs, the dark complexion and harsh features of a piratical band, made them objects of terror and of surprise.
They were on the whole treated kindly; their vessel had totally disappeared, and consequently after some delay a ship of war took all the men on board, and conveyed them to Algiers.
The tower of Penzance Church is situated in latitude 50° 6′ 48″; longitude 5° 31′ 0″; in time 22m. 4s. west of Greenwich, as deduced from the Trigonometrical Survey.
The establishment of the port, or the time of high water at the new and full of the moon, is 4h. 30m. very nearly. London Bridge being 2h. 7m.
The establishment of the Lizard is about 5h.; Portbend 6h.; Beechey Head 10h.; Dover 11h; Margate 12h.; mouth of the Thames 1h.; so that the tidal wave occupies about 9h. 30m. in flowing from the Land’s End to London Bridge.
The parish of Maddern measures 5450 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815: Parish 8,454 0 0 Penzance 10,401 0 0 ―――――――――――――――― £18,055 0 0 ―――――――――――――――― Poor Rate in 1831: Parish 593 7 0 Penzance 811 11 0 ―――――――――――――――― £1,404 18 0 ―――――――――――――――― Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831, Parish 1564 1817 2011 2058 Penzance 3382 4022 5224 6563 ―――― ―――― ―――― ―――― 4940 5839 7235 8621 giving an increase on the parish of 31½ per cent.; on the town of 94 per cent.; on both of 74 per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
A large portion of this parish is situated on granite, the boundary line of which extends from near the church, in a semicircular form, to Buryas Bridge. South of this line the parish consists of felspar, hornblend, and actynolite rocks, all of which occur both in massive and in schistose forms. A fine instance of the latter may be seen at the back of the quay at Penzance, and may be traced for some distance in a westerly direction on the sea shore below high-water mark. About half way to Newlyn another bed of porphyry, or an irregular continuation of the former, was a few years since explored for tin, and became the celebrated Wherry Mine, yielding not only a large quantity of tin, so as to afford profit after paying the expenses of a steam-engine, but also beautiful specimens of rare metallic minerals. For an account of this curious submarine mine, Mr. Hawkins’ Paper in the Transactions of the Cornwall Geological Society, vol. 1, p. 127, may be consulted; and in the third volume of the same work, p. 166, will be found an account of the sand bank and submarine forest existing near the same spot (by Dr. Boase. ED.). Every part of this parish appears to be intersected with metalliferous veins; some copper and small quantities of lead have been raised, but tin is the only metal that has yet proved of importance.
To the above the Editor must add, that Penzance has the good fortune to possess a geological and mineralogical treasure peculiarly its own.
In the year 1814 Doctor Paris and Mr. Ashurst Majendie began to institute the Geological Society, and to form a museum. The Society has flourished far beyond any expectation that could have been originally formed; and the collection has been enriched by the liberality of Mr. Carne, Dr. Barham, Mr. Henwood, and others; but, above all, by Doctor Boase, who has deposited specimens from all parts of Cornwall, collected on an actual survey extended to each individual parish. All these specimens are arranged, labelled, and numbered, with reference to their localities and to his admirable work.
For the general arrangement of the cabinet, with indexes, &c. the Society and the public are indebted to the ingenuity and industry of the late Mr. Edward Giddy; and the room of the Cornwall Geological Society at Penzance may justly be pointed out to scientific strangers as the object most worthy of their attention throughout the whole extent of the country.
MAKER.
HALS.
Maker Vicarage is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the east Plymouth Harbour and St. Nicholas Island, north Millbrook and East Anthony, south and west Rame and St. John’s.
In the Domesday Book 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed in Cornwall by the name of Macret-tone.
In the Inquisition into the value of Cornish Benefices 20 Edward I. 1294, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, Ecclesia de Macre, in decanatu de Estwellshire 100_s._ Vicar ejusdem 53_s._ 4_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it is rated by the name of Meker 23_l._ 11_s._ The patronage in Edgcumbe, the incumbent Mitchell, and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 143_l._ 11_s._
Part of Maker, and those lands called Mount Edgcumbe, were formerly the lands of Durneford of Devon, of which family, Stephen Durneford was Sheriff of Devon 6 Henry V. 1413, and of Cornwall 7 Henry V. 1419, whose great granddaughter, (the issue male failing) the sole heir of the family, was married to Sir Piers Edgcumbe, Knight, Lord of Cotehele in Cornwall by long inheritance, and of East Stonehouse in Devon, whose ancestor Peter Edgcumbe, Esq. 12 Henry VI. 1443, was certified by the Commissioners to be one of the gentry of the county of Devon. He was the father of Richard Edgcumbe, afterwards knighted, Sheriff of Devon 2d Henry VII. 1487, when John Tremayne was Sheriff of Cornwall; the which Mr. Edgcumbe was a gentleman that hazarded his life and fortune in espousing the Earl of Richmond’s case and title to the Crown in opposition to King Richard III. He then lived at Cotehele aforesaid in Calstock parish; and being discovered to be one of that faction or party, he was forced to abscond and retire into the thick woods that then were and still are about Cotehele; nevertheless, King Richard, having notice of his absconding, ordered his officers to make diligent search for him, and in all probability had taken him, had he not rescued himself from their pursuit by an unparalleled accident, as Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 114, (page 270, Lord Dunstanville’s edition), informs us, viz. “at such tymes as those searchers were in his woods, and himself hid in a secret hole of the sea cliffe, the tide being full up, he put a small stone into his wearinge cap and threw it into the sea, which swimming in the water the winds and waves tossed it to and fro that it soone came to those seekers’ sight and observation.”
Whereupon they concluded he had leapt into the sea and drowned himself for fear of their discovery and being taken by them, and so left over further quest after him, which gave him opportunity soon after in a small ship to waft over the British Channel to Britany to the Earl of Richmond, with whom afterwards he returned again into England, and was engaged with him in the battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, where King Richard’s army was overthrown and himself slain upon the spot. When soon after the said Mr. Edgcumbe was by King Henry VII. knighted and made one of his Privy Council; and as a further reward of his good services, rewarded with the whole estate and lands of inheritance of Sir Henry Trenoweth, of Bodrigan, Knight, of a very great value, then forfeited by attainder of treason on the part of King Richard III. against King Henry VII.; as also with the Castle and Lordship of Totnes in Devon, with much other lands of John Lord Zouch, then also for the same fact forfeited by attainder of treason against King Henry VII.
This Sir Richard Edgcumbe, Knight, married Tremayne, and had issue Peers, afterwards knighted, that married Durneford’s heir aforesaid, and had issue Richard, afterwards knighted, that married Tregian, of Walveden, who had issue Peter, that married Margaret, daughter of Sir Andrew Luttrell, Knight, in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, who gave for his arms, Gules, on a bend Ermine between two cottices Or, three boar’s heads couped. Sir Richard Edgcumbe, Knight, Privy Councillor to King Henry VII. as Mr. Carew saith, in the place where he hid himself in Cotehele woods aforesaid, built a chapel to the honour of Almighty God, in testimony of his thankful remembrance of God’s preserving him from the hands of his enemies then at his heels.
Him or his father I take also to be that Edgecumbe which founded at West Conworthy, on the west side of the river Dart, between the towns of Totnes and Dartmouth in Devon, a priory of Benedictine monks, whose revenues out of Zouch’s lands was valued 26 Henry VIII. when dissolved, 63_l._ 2_s._ 10_d._ as the Monasticon Anglicanum informs us.
At which time it was purchased of the Crown by William Harris, Esq. father of Sir Thomas Harris, of Hayne, Knight and Sergeant-at-law, tempore Elizabeth, who made it the place of his residence; but in the third descent it came to be divided between the daughters and heirs of Sir Edward Harris, Knight, the house being now comparatively demolished. Now as from the premises it appears those gentlemen’s estates were greatly augmented by the bounty of King Henry VII. so after a grateful manner they have converted great sums of money towards the service of their prince and country; and to this purpose I find it recorded, that as
Sir Richard Edgcumbe the first was Sheriff of Devon 2d Henry VII. so his son Sir Peers or Peter Edgcumbe aforesaid, was Sheriff of Devon 10th Henry VII. also the 13th; also the 9th of Henry VIII. also the 20th; also Sir Richard Edgcumbe that married Tregian, and built the present house here called Mount Edgcumbe, 36th Henry VIII. also the 1st of Queen Mary; also Peter Edgcumbe his son 9th Elizabeth.
And of Cornwall Sir Peter Edgcumbe 14th and 15th of Henry VII. also 21st; also 8th of Henry VIII. also 26th. Sir Richard Edgcumbe 2d and 3d of Queen Mary, also Peter Edgcumbe 11th of Elizabeth, Richard Edgcumbe 8th James I. in all or total sixteen times Sheriff of Cornwall and Devon, from the year 1487 to the year 1640, which is but 150 years; the like instance of Sheriffs not to be given of any other family in England except the Arundels, of Lanhearne, Trerice, and Tolverne, who have been twenty times.
Richard Edgcumbe, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 8th of King James I. had issue Richard Edgcumbe, Esq. created one of the Knights of the Bath, at the Coronation of King Charles II. He married the Lady Anne Montagu, daughter of the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Sandwich, and had issue Richard Edgcumbe, Esq.
Finally, Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, hath written so large a history of this family, the magnificence of the house, and sweetness of the dwelling, that I refer the reader thereto as not being able to make further addition.
Half of Millbrook in this parish and of Mount Edgcumbe lands, are part of the county of Devon, though severed from it by the Tamerworth sea or harbour ever since King Athelstan, anno Dom. 930, separated Devon from Cornwall, and made them several jurisdictions, which before were but one county or regniculum; and the reason in all probability why several parcels of land, not only here in this place, but in divers others on the east and west side of the Tamer river, the Devonshire side lands are annexed to Cornwall, and the Cornwall side lands to Devon, was in all probability by reason the owners of those lands were possessed of lands both in Devonshire and Cornwall; and it could not in any sense consist with justice that the Cornish men should lose their lands in Devon, or the Devonshire men lose their lands in Cornwall, because those counties were divided by the river Tamar, and both people under the dominion of one king.
This town of Milbrook, as I am informed, amongst others was once privileged with the jurisdiction of sending of two Members to sit in the Lower House of Parliament, but was divested of that privilege propter paupertatem, tempore Henry VIII. for that the town was not able to pay their Burgesses’ salary of 4_s._ per diem whilst they sat in Parliament; however, Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 101, tells us, that within his memory this town had near forty ships and barks at one time pertaining to the inhabitants thereof, that followed trade, merchandize, and fishing; but upon the breaking out of Queen Elizabeth’s wars with Spain, the townsmen neglected their usual honest employments and took up a more compendious though not so honest way of gaining, and began by little and little to reduce those plain dealers to their former undeserved plight, &c. id est, by piracy and privateering at sea.
In this parish standeth Cremble Passage, the common place of transferring passengers by boat or barge over the rapid and dangerous waves of the Tamerworth Harbour or Sea Haven from the Cornish shore to the Plymouth or Devonshire side or lands, wherein many persons heretofore by the violence of the seas and wind in their passage have lost their lives.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has not noticed this parish.
THE EDITOR.
This parish, forming the western boundary of Plymouth harbour, and extending between Hamoaze and the sea, occupies a situation more beautiful than any other on the whole coast.
The church stands on the summit of the ridge, and its lofty tower was long an object of curiosity on account of the signals displayed on it to indicate the arrival of ships or fleets. From ten to twenty arbitrary signals were made, by means of differently shaped and coloured flags, displayed from a perpendicular staff, and by balls suspended on two others, rising at an inclined angle from the opposite parapets.
The tardy adoption of a method, so simple and universal as that of conveying intelligence through the combination of signals, and of alphabetic writing, may be reckoned among the most curious anomalies of the human mind; when the common mode of what is called talking with the fingers actually does the thing itself, and Polybius, the friend of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, and his companion, at the destruction of Carthage, 145 years before our æra, gives a detailed description of a method by which this object may be attained, and dwells on its immense advantages. He admits indeed that difficulties must be expected in the execution; but adds, “In the present age the sciences are advanced to so great a perfection that almost every thing is capable of being taught by method.” See the General History of Polybius, book 10, extract 7, chapter 2. It was, however, reserved for the French, in their Revolutionary War, to practise this art, and for the first time in the spring of 1794, more than nineteen hundred years after the suggestion by Polybius, and notwithstanding repeated recurrences to nearly the same effect by various writers in modern times.
Mr. Hals states, that in the valuation of Pope Nicholas this parish was assessed, the Rectory at 100_s._ the Vicarage at 53_s._ 4_d._
In the folio edition of the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliæ et Walliæ, auctoritate Papæ Nicholai IV. printed by command of King George III. 1802, the entries stand thus:
£. s. d. £. s. d. Taxatio. Decima. Eccl’a de Sacre 5 0 0 0 10 0 Non ex’ { Vicar ejusdem 2 13 4 ―――――― { Eccl’ia de Rame 2 6 8 ――――――
The bracket may perhaps be wrongly placed, and Maker may be a corruption of the name here used.
Inceworth appears to have been the principal manor in this parish, and belongs to the family of Trefusis; it includes Milbrook, formerly a town of some consequence. Here were till very lately the brewhouses attached to the great naval establishment of this port; they are now removed to The Point on the Devonshire side, where one of the most extensive and most useful works ever constructed for such purposes has been recently completed. Walls have been laid in deep water, by the use of diving bells, so as to allow of the largest ships coming quite in contact with the wharfs, and there receiving, in the course of a few hours, all the supplies of meat, bread, beer, water, &c. that are requisite for their going to sea.
The object however which attracts the attention of strangers from all others in this parish, is the place formerly called Vaultershome, and afterwards West Stonehouse, but which Mr. Edgcumbe, who acquired it by a marriage with the heiress of the family of Durneford, its former possessors, chose to name Mount Edgcumbe, a proceeding now sanctioned by time, as are those of the change from Port Prior to Port Eliot, and some others. It would be useless to describe this most beautiful and superb place, considered by many as altogether the finest gentleman’s seat in the West of England. Nor can it be the least necessary to say any thing here of the distinguished family after whom it is called; who have possessed an hereditary seat in Parliament since the year 1741, and for two descents have been Lord Lieutenants of Cornwall.
By a strange absurdity this south-eastern extremity has been, notwithstanding that the whole river is attached to Cornwall, artificially considered as a part of Devonshire; but this and other similar anomalies are in some degree corrected by modern acts of the legislature, the authority of magistrates for any county having been extended over these insulated portions of another, and the right of voting for Members of Parliament is brought back to its natural state by the enactments of 1832.
A small town or village, partly in Maker, but extending into Rame, is distinguished by the double appellation of Kingston and Cawsand; the latter name is applied to the bay formed by a recess of the land at this place, a bay capable of containing the largest ships, and esteemed the least dangerous part of Plymouth Sound.
The Harbour of Plymouth consists of three distinct parts, the Sound, entirely exposed to the violence of south and south-western winds, and two inner harbours, Catwater and Hamoaze; the former adapted only for small vessels; and Hamoaze rendered utterly inaccessible in bad weather by a ridge of rocks extending from Drake’s Island to the western shore, thus restricting the only passage to a narrow and winding channel round that Island under the Hoe, and between Mount Edgcumbe and the Point.
To remedy this most essential defect, by making a safe anchorage in the outer harbour, an immense work was commenced in August 1812, which should be called the Artificial Reef, from its close resemblance to a natural reef, and from its having been avowedly planned in imitation of the coral reefs, abounding near all the Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The Plymouth reef consists of a middle part a thousand yards long, and lying directly across the entrance of the Sound, and of two wings bending inwards at a small angle, each 350 yards long, making in all 1700 yards, or very nearly a mile. Advantage having been taken of a shoal, the depth under low water averages about 36 feet, and the height above low water is just 20 feet. The slope towards the sea forms an angle of 22° with the horizon, giving an increase of breadth of nearly two feet and a half for each foot of descent; the slope towards the land forms an angle of 33° with the horizon, and increases one foot and a half for each foot of descent: consequently the increase of breadth on the whole is four feet for one of descent. The whole mass is composed of stones blown by the force of gunpowder from limestone rocks on the river side, from whence they are rolled at once on board barges, which sail to the spot and drop them into sea.
The whole weight of the reef is estimated at 2,500,000 tons. It may be curious to compare it with the largest building in the world. The Great Pyramid of Egypt measures 687 feet on each of its four sides, and the perpendicular height is 480 feet; these dimensions, supposing the Pyramid to be solid, give a content of 76,500,000 cubic feet, and a weight exceeding 5,500,000 tons, more than double the weight of the reef, and the materials are large blocks hewn into regular forms, transported from a considerable distance by land carriage, then raised into the air, and finally laid with cement in their exact places.
The artificial reef has cost a million of money; the Pyramid must have required an amount of labour represented at present by perhaps twenty times that sum, a building without use or beauty, while the reef has made Plymouth one of the best harbours in the whole world.
Maker measures 1867 statute acres. If the artificial arrangement were attended to, 967 acres must be deducted. Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815, including the part returned as in Devonshire under the name of Vaultershome 3465 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 821 16 0 Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831, Cornwall 1691 3678 1796 1545 Devon 1614 1569 1222 1092 ―――― ―――― ―――― ―――― 3305 5247 3018 2637 The fluctuations in the number of people are evidently caused by the difference of war and peace, in a parish so much blended with the great naval and military establishments of Plymouth. Present Vicar, the Rev. Daniel Stephens, presented by the Lord Chancellor in 1796.
GEOLOGY.
The geology of Maker is not noticed by Doctor Boase; but it is obviously the same as that of the adjacent parish, Rame, which Doctor Boase says is composed in great measure of red and greenish grey slate, enclosing two and three beds of compact quartzse rock. They are all similar to the formations in St. Anthony, and in the cliffs under Mount Edgcumbe and at Saltash; but whether they belong to the calcareous series or to a more recent one, associated with the fossiliferous limestone of Plymouth, remains to be ascertained.
MANACCAN.
HALS.
Manack-an, Manuc-an Rectory, is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north St. Martin’s, east Haylford harbour, south St. Anthony, west Mawgan, and Cury. For the modern name it signifies Monk the, or the Monk, so called in memory perhaps of some religious monk or monks that had a convent or abbey in this place.
In the Domesday Book, 1087, this district is not named, neither can I tell under what jurisdiction it was then taxed, unless Lizart, or Leschell, which latter may be a corruption of Kestell; neither is the name Manackan Church of any great antiquity, for in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, Ecclesia de Minster, in decanatu de Kerryer, (which is now called Manackan) is rated £4, but in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is called Manackan, and valued £4. 16_s._ 0½_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exon; the incumbent Archer; the rectory in possession of ―――― and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax for the year 1696, £98. 13_s._
However to the 15th of the Clergy, 24 Henry 6, it was rated, then by the name of Minster Church, £1. 4_s._ 6_d._ afterwards abated by the name of Minster 6_s._ (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 95.) And lastly Manacan, as aforesaid; by both which names it is evident that heretofore there was some abbey or religious house of monks in this place or parish, wherein God was served with a minister; viz. vocal or instrumental music in time of divine service, as that appellation in British implies. And of this place we further read, (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 46,) the 12th Edward I. its revenues was rated for twelve Cornish acres of land, that is to say, seven hundred and twenty statute acres; in that book, page 44, that the Bishop of Exeter held by tenure of knight service, in Minster in Kerrier, half a knight’s fee of land, 3 Henry IV.; probably this Minster was some alien monastery or priory, subjected to some abbey beyond the seas, as many others were in this land, all dissolved by Act of Parliament, temp. Richard II. and Henry V. for transmitting the secrets of the State to their superior house aforesaid, in the French Wars; for which reason perhaps it is not mentioned in the Monasticon Anglicanum, 26 Henry VIII. when other religious houses were dissolved; neither for the like reasons are St. Neot’s, Lancells, or St. Benet’s in Lanyvet, which I take to be those three abbeys or priories mentioned by Dugdale and Speed to have been dissolved in Cornwall, the value of whose revenues they do not set down, but saith they were Black Monks of the Angells, for Black Monks of the Augustines.
Moreover, let it be remembered that Manack is also a glove in British, and Manackan signifies the glove.
Kes-tell, id est, a castle, probably the Reschell in the Domesday Book aforesaid, in this parish, so called from some British camp, intrenchment, or fortification, formerly upon the lands thereof, or contiguous therewith, on the sea-coast, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen now in possession thereof, surnamed de Kestell; and in particular John Kestell, Esq. sometime Commissioner of the Peace and Taxes, that married Gregor of Tredenick; and giveth for his arms in a field Or three castles Gules. Since the writing hereof the male line of this tribe is quite extinct; and those lands, much incumbered with debt, fallen between the two daughters of the said Mr. Kestell, married to Penrose and Trevinard, as I am informed.
TONKIN.
The ancient name of this parish was Minster, which every one knows doth signify in Saxon a monastery, and from thence most commonly a church, and so it is called in the Taxatio Beneficiorum 20 Edward I.
THE EDITOR.
The ancient name of this parish, Minster, and the more recent one Manac-an, conspire to point it out as the locality of some religious establishment, since Manack is the Cornish word identical with Monk, and evidently from the same root, while an is the article, but although adjectives in all the Celtic dialects are placed after the substantive, yet the article regularly precedes it, and this inversion throws some doubt on the meaning of the compound word, more especially as not the slightest trace exists of any monastic institution within this parish in any authentic record, nor does tradition point out a spot where the foundation of a building can be perceived.
There is not any thing worth remarking about the church; it is pleasantly situated, and surrounded by a neat church town. The vicarage house is good; it was honoured by the residence, during some years, of our distinguished poet, historian, and divine, the Rev. Richard Polwhele, till he resigned it for Newlyn, a better living, most properly bestowed on him by Dr. Carey, then Bishop of Exeter.
The only other village of consequence in this parish is Helford, where is a passage across the river, of greater breadth than any other in Cornwall, and various branches of trade are conducted at this place.
Kestell was formerly the seat of a family giving or deriving their name from this place; their arms, Or, three castles Gules, may still be seen over the entrance to the house. The property now belongs to Lemon of Carclew.
Halvose was for many years the summer residence of Mr. Thomas Hawkins, of Helston; it belongs at present to the family of Grylls.
This parish measures 1371 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2711 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 213 7 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 498 | 506 | 591 | 654 giving an increase of 31 per cent. in 30 years. The parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to the 14th of October. The Rev. Richard Polwhele was collated to the rectory of Manaccan by Bishop Buller in 1794.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The rocks of this parish are similar to those of the adjacent parish of St. Anthony, both being contained within the calcareous series. This little parish is however mineralogically celebrated for its streams containing a dark ferruginous sand, in which the metal titanium was discovered by the Rev. William Gregor, and, under the supposition of its being a new substance, received from him the name of Manaccanite.
MARHAMCHURCH.
HALS.
Marham Church rectory, called Marwyn Church, Marwon Church, in some old books and manuscripts, is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north Stratton parish, east Bridgerule and the Tamer river, south St. Mary Wick, west Poundstock. For the name, it signifies without doubt the house, home, habitation, or church-dwelling (for so the words Mar and Ham do signify in the British, Armorican, and Scottish tongues); and by the name of Mar-om-cerch it was taxed in the Domesday book 20 William I. 1087, from whence it appears here was a famous endowed rectory church before the Norman Conquest; for vicarage churches, especially in Cornwall, sprung not up till after that time. The first of those appropriations of the advowsons of churches that I find on record in England, is that of William the Conqueror’s, anno Dom. 1070, who by charter granted the patronages or advowsons of the churches of Feversham and Middleton in Kent to the abbey of St. Austin’s in Canterbury, in these words:
“Donatio Domini Regis Willielmi Anglorum de Ecclesiis Feveresham et de Middeltone.
“In nomine sancte et individue Trinitatis, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Ego Willielmus ineffabili Dei providentiâ Rex Anglorum, ex hiis que omnipotens Deus sua gratia mihi largiri est dignatus, quædam concedo ecclesiæ Sancti Augustini Anglorum Apostoli, que sita est in suburbio urbis Cantuarie, pro salute anime mee, et parentum meorum, predecessorum, et successorum hereditario jure.
“Hec sunt Ecclesie et decime duarum mansionum videlicet Faversham et Middeltona, ex omnibus redditibus que mihi redduntur ex hiis mansionibus, et omnibus ibidem appendentibus, terra, silva, pratis, et aqua, exceptis decima mellis et gabbi-denariorum. Hec omnia ex integro concedo sancto Augustino et Abbati et fratribus, ut habeant, teneant, possideant imperpetuum. Si quis autem huic nostræ donationi contraire presumpserit, anathemati subjacebit.
“Facta est hec Donatio in villa que dicitur Wyndesor anno Incarnationis Domini Millesimo septuagesimo. Testibus, Episcopo Golfrydo de Seynt Loth. et Willielmo Tremle Londoniensi, et Hugone de Port, et aliis ejus quamplurimis optimatibus.”
Which grant was afterwards confirmed by Pope Alexander the Third, and ratified by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury, together with an establishment and ordination of a vicarage by the said archiepiscopal authority in each of the said churches respectively. Afterwards King Edward III. 1349, appropriated to the same Abbey three other church advowsons, viz. Wivelsberge, Stone, and Brockland in Kent, ratified and confirmed by Pope Clement the Fifth’s bull, and by Simon Mepham, then Archbishop of Canterbury, with the establishment of three perpetual vicarages in those churches.
Of these sort of vicarage churches appropriated to Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, Abbots, Colleges, and Priories, there are in England about three thousand eight hundred and forty-five, in Cornwall one hundred and twenty-two; most of them endowed with glebe lands and small tithes, except about fifteen of them wholly impropriate, the vicar subsisting only on a small salary or stipend by custom or subscription.
Wales-bury, i. e. the Wales or Welsh burying, or the place where some Welsh tribe lived and had their burying place or were interred, was another manor or lordship, under which jurisdiction this district was taxed 20 William I. 1087, from whence was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen surnamed de Walesbury, who flourished here in worshipful degree and great affluence of wealth for many generations till the latter end of the reign of King Edward IV.; at which time, the issue male failing, this estate fell amongst daughters, one of which was married to Trevillian, who was no small advancer of the fame and wealth of that family. Of this family Thomas Walesbury was Sheriff of Cornwall 20 Henry VI. when William Wadham was Sheriff of Devon; Thomas Walesbury, his son, was Sheriff of Cornwall 32 Henry VI. when John Cheyney was Sheriff of Devon; his son John Walesbury was Sheriff of Cornwall 37 Henry VI. when Richard Hals, of Kenedon, was Sheriff of Devon. The arms of Walesbury were, Argent, a fess lozengy Gules.
Lang-ford-hill, in this parish, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Langford; and in particular, Humphrey Langford, Esq. Commissioner for the Peace and Taxes [was] in possession [of Langford Hill] tempore Charles II. and giveth for his arms, in a field ―――― a lion rampant. The which gentleman aforesaid had issue only daughters, one of which was lately married to her kinsman Walter Langford, of Swadle Downes in Devon, Esq. now in possession of this place.
In this parish liveth Alexander Cottle, Gent. who married Hawkey, his father Cosowarth.
TONKIN.
The name Marhamchurch is only an abbreviation of St. Morewen’s Church from St. Morwen, to whom it is dedicated.
It is a rectory valued in the King’s books at 15_l._ 11_s._ having never been appropriated.
Anno 1291, 20th Edward I. this church was valued at 6_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._
The manor, Marwyn Church.――This is in Domesday book named Marone Church, and was one of the manors given by William the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton.
In the 3d of Henry IV. Herbert de Pyn held in Marwen Church one knight’s fee.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this parish has the appearance of being very ancient; it contains several monuments to former residents on the principal estates.
Mr. Lysons says, that the manor of Marham Church has been in the families of Pyne, Stafford, and Rolles; from the last it has descended to Trefusis.
That the manor of Walesborough gave name to an ancient family residing there, from whom it went with an heiress to the family of Trevelyan, from whom it was purchased by the late Mr. Justice Buller, and now belongs to his grandson.
Mr. Lysons further states, that the manor of Hilton, also in this parish, was held jointly by the families of Cobham, Carminow, and Botreaux; that it subsequently came into the possession of a Rolle, and now belongs to the Rev. John Kingdon.
Wood-Knowle was formerly the residence of the Rolles, probably of the branch which came possessed of Hilton; it is now the residence of the Rev. Henry Badcock.
The Rev. John Kingdon is Patron of the rectory, and the present incumbent, instituted in 1818.
The whole parish is fertile, variegated by hill and dale, and moreover, notwithstanding its maritime situation, abounds with trees, so that the prospect is every where interesting, and the church, almost inclosed in a grove, presents a very pleasing object.
Marhamchurch measures 2,392 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2,485 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 339 3 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 414 | 448 | 647 | 659 giving an increase of 59 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Doctor Boase says of the geology, that the whole rests on massive and schistose varieties of dunstone, a member of the calcareous series, similar to what may be found in the adjoining parishes of Launcells, Bayton, and Kilkhampton.
ST. MARTIN’S, NEAR LOOE.
HALS.
St. Martin’s rectory is situate in the hundred of West, and hath upon the north Morvall by Looe, south and west the British Channel and Looe Haven, east Seaton River and St. Germans.
This parish is denominated from the church thereof, as it is from its tutelar guardian and patron St. Martin, Bishop of Tours in France, which was a famous endowed rectory church before the Norman Conquest, as is testified by the Domesday book in Cornwall 20 William I. 1087, wherein we read, Lant Martin, i. e. Martin’s church, chapel, or temple, now turned to St. Martin.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish Benefices 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Martino in decanatu de West, was valued 9_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, St. Martin juxta Looe 36_l._ The patronage in the Duke of Bolton; the Incumbent Hancock. The Parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 178_l._ 17_s._ 5_d._; East Looe town, within its precincts, 53_l._ 9_s._; in all 222_l._ 6_s._ 5_d._
Within this parish stands the borough town of East Looe, that is to say, the town that stands on the east side of the River Looe; for as loo, looe, lough, in the old Scots and Irish tongues and the French, signifies a lough, a lake, or pool of water, so it is sometimes used in the same sense in old British. East and West Looe towns, situate in the Looe Haven or harbour thereof, afford opportunities to the inhabitants for foreign and domestic trades and merchandizes to be imported and exported, to their no small advantage. In which town of East Looe there is a chapel or oratory for divine service, wherein the rector of St. Martin’s, or his curate, officiates on Sundays for convenience of its inhabitants. It was of old a privileged manor by prescription, all which was confirmed by a charter from Queen Elizabeth, the 29th year of her reign, whereby it was also incorporated by the name of the Mayor and free Burgesses, consisting of a Mayor and eight chief Burgesses or Council, the two Members of Parliament elected by the majority of them. It is also privileged with administration of justice within the liberties or precincts thereof, as also with a market on Saturday weekly, and fairs on the 2d of February and the 29th of September yearly.
The arms of this town are a gallot (high ship) in the sea, rigged with ropes and yard, bearing three escutcheons, each charged with the arms of De Bodrugan.
The writ to remove an action of law, depending in this Court Leet of East Looe, to a superior; and the precept for election of Members of Parliament from the Sheriff must be thus directed: “Majori et Burgensibus Burgi sui de East Looe, in comitatu Cornubiæ, et eorum cuilibet, salutem.”
The history of Kevorall is by mistake placed under St. Germans, a contiguous parish, only parted by the Lynar or Seaton river, which should be placed here.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has not any thing relative to this parish or town, but a long quotation from Browne Willis, wholly uninteresting; and a conjecture that the chapel at Looe is dedicated to St. Kenna, usually pronounced St. Kayne, adding as a confirmation, that her festival is kept on the 30th of September, and that on the eve of that day a fair is established in the town.
THE EDITOR.
It will be unnecesary to enter on any details respecting either St. Martin’s parish or Looe, since every thing curious or interesting may be found in a most excellent work: “Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of East and West Looe, in the County of Cornwall, with an account of the Natural and Artificial Curiosities, and Picturesque Scenery of the Neighbourhood. By Thomas Bond, Esq. London, printed by and for J. Nichols and Son, 25, Parliament Street.”
Since Mr. Bond’s work was published, both Looes have lost the privilege of sending Members to Parliament; and it is said that a spirit of active exertion has already superseded the listless reliance on patronage which used to characterize small borough towns.
A canal has also been constructed to Leskeard, since the time of Mr. Bond’s publication, promising to diffuse cultivation and fertility over districts previously inaccessible to manure; and now at its commencement the canal transports coal, lime, and other bulky commodities, to such an extent as to amply repay the sums expended on its formation.
Another plan of a great work is in agitation, likely to render this beautiful and romantic neighbourhood the resort of strangers from all parts of the kingdom. Cornwall is stretched out into the sea by an interrupted chain of granite hills, extending from Dartmoor to the Land’s End. The valleys follow a general course on either side, transverse to the granite chain; so that to avoid the perpetual recurrence of steep declivities, the main road has been carried along the middle line, above the formation of the valleys, or, as it is termed, on the backbone of the ridge, over a most uncultivated and dreary tract.
It is now proposed, in consequence of the safe conveyance at all times by steam across the Tamar river from Plymouth, and in humble imitation of the road connecting France and Italy by the maritime Alps, to convey a new line of road along the face of the cliffs, over the debouches of the vallies, and across the Looe and Fowey rivers on lofty bridges, thus to avoid the hills, and to shorten the distance nine miles between Tor Point and St. Austell; but the very large expense may possibly defeat the execution of a plan, which, in addition to the essential advantages already stated, would lead travellers to Falmouth, or to any part of the west of Cornwall, through a district as beautiful, as that which the road now traverses is unsightly and uncouth.
The situation of East Looe is at once singular and pleasing. The two rivers, uniting about half a mile above the bridge, expand into a lake, loch, or low, evidently bestowing its name on the towns, and are then contracted into comparatively a narrow channel by the near approach of two steep hills. A beach has nevertheless been formed on the eastern and least precipitous side, by the meeting of the sea with the descending stream; and on this beach, secured by artificial mounds, and on the slope of the hill, East Looe is built.
Perhaps the only other addition that I can make to Mr. Bond’s work is to state that he himself has been the chief ornament of Looe for many years past, and that his ancestors may be found among the mayors and aldermen of the corporation, up to the period when the charter was given to the town.
Mr. Hals has detailed at great length the history of St. Martin of Tours, the undoubted patron of this parish.
It may be sufficient to state a few particulars of this far-famed personage. He was born in Hungary, of parents elevated in life, and commenced his early career in the Roman army, but afterwards became an ecclesiastic, having obtained celebrity, influence, and power, by adopting the most baneful of all practical heresies, founded on a belief that the favour of the Almighty may be effectually obtained by reversing the order established by his Divine Providence, and bestowing on idleness, profligacy, and vice, the legitimate rewards of industry, frugality, and care; in consequence, he became the favourite of rogues, thieves, vagrants, and impostors, and has continued so in Catholic countries to the present time. A part of his high reputation has however been derived from a more pure source. He supported the orthodox faith against the Arians, who at that period are supposed to have more than numerically divided the Christian Church.
The most absurd and ridiculous legends are related of this Saint by his disciple St. Sulpicius, and by other writers. In one of these it is said that our Saviour himself appeared to him on a cold winter’s night, under the disguise of a half naked wandering beggar; and that Martin, then a soldier, not having any thing else to bestow, divided his cloak with a sword, and gave one portion of it to the supposed mendicant. In another, setting at defiance the precept “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” he allowed himself to be fastened with cords, immediately under the inclining trunk of a tree, as workmen were dividing the roots; but just as the tree was about to fall on him, he signed it with the sign of the cross, when instantly the trunk ascended, and reached the ground in an opposite direction. Raising people from the dead, and resisting personal temptations of the devil, appear to have been frequent and ordinary occurrences. He died at Tours, in the odour of sanctity, in the year 397, having held the bishoprick 26 years. The festival in honour of St. Martin is kept on the 11th of November, but parish feasts are not observed in the eastern parts of Cornwall.
The advowson of this living, appurtenant to the manor of Pendrym, came to the family of Paulet, through the same succession as that which brought Ludgvan Lease, including the high lordship of St. Ives; and a peculiar although well-known relationship having continued to exist between the two properties, the learned Mr. Jonathan Toup was translated from the borough town to this rectory in the year 1751, where he died, Jan. 19, 1785. A monument has been erected to Mr. Toup’s memory by the Delegates of the Oxford Press, and he is there related to have been born in Dec. 1713. Mr. Toup has been mentioned under St. Ives, the place of his birth.
There are other monuments:――to Walter Langdon, of Keveril, stated to be the last of his race; to Philip Maiowe, probably ancestor of John Mayo, or Mayow, M.D. Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and afterwards Physician at Bath[3]; also to the Rev. Stephen Midhope, sometime Rector of this parish, who died in the year 1636; but this gentleman, hurried away by the whirl of fanatical opinions, growing out of the Reformation, had resigned his living some years before, on professing himself an Anabaptist.
This parish measures 2,719 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815: The parish 3469 0 0 East Looe 921 0 0 ――――― ―― ―― £4390 0 0 ――――― ―― ―― Poor Rate in 1831: The parish 231 19 0 East Looe 325 5 0 ――――― ―― ―― £557 4 0
Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831, The parish 344 343 411 455 East Looe 467 608 770 865 ―――― ―――― ―――― ―――― 811 951 1181 1320 giving an increase on the parish of 32 per cent.⎫ East Looe 42 per cent.⎬ In 30 years. both 39 per cent.⎭
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish entirely resembles St. Germans, to which it is contiguous.
[3] One of the most eminent chemists and natural philosophers of his age.
ST. MARTIN’S IN MENEAGE.
HALS.
St. Martin’s Rectory is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, hath upon the north and east Helford Channel and Constenton, south Manaccan and St. Kevorn, west Mawgan: under what jurisdiction this parish was taxed in the Domesday Book in 1087 I know not. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices in Cornwall, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancti Martini in decanatude Kerryer, was valued at £4. 6_s._ 8_d._ At or before the time of Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it was consolidated into its superior or mother church St. Mawgan, and therefore not mentioned by itself. I take it to have been founded and endowed by the Prior of St. Michael’s Mount, who formerly was patron of both, now Trevillian; the incumbent Trewinard; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, £105. 15_s._
Tremayne, that is the town of stone, or the stone town, in this parish, is the dwelling of an old family of gentlemen, surnamed Thoms or Tomys, Anglice Thomas; so called after the Cornish-British manner, after the font name of some of their ancestors. Of which family was Robert Thomy, who held by the tenure of knight’s service half a knight’s fee at Bliston, in Trigshire, now Blissland, temp. Henry IV. (Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 42). Also one little knight’s fee at Carnanton, in Pedyr, idem liber, page 43. The present posssessor is ―――― Thoms, and giveth for his arms, in a field Argent, a chevron between three talbots Sable. From this family, as I am informed, by younger brothers sprang, from their dwellings at Carveth and Carnsew in Mabe, and Roscrow in Gluvias, three families, who were transnominated after the names of those places, from Thoms to Carveth, and Roscrow, and Carnsew, who in testimony thereof ever gave their arms as aforesaid as Thoms did.
Mudgan in this parish, is the corruption of Muchan, as I take it, which signifies a short chimney,[4] with a lovour or chimney-hole through the top of the house for the smoke. From whence was denominated a family of gentlemen, surnamed Mugaun, or Mudgan, whose sole inheritrix was married to Chynoweth, of Chynoweth, in St. Earth, temp. Queen Mary, that is new house, so called from a new house, the first of this name, built in that parish, when he parted with his old lands and name of Trevillizik there, (now Tre-liz-ik) which signifies the water gulf, creek, town, as situate upon the sea banks or cliff, which affords a bad passage over the Hayle river, at low water, for passengers on foot or horseback. The last gentleman of this family, viz. Anthony Chynoweth, that married Trevillian, dying without issue, his brother John Chynoweth’s three daughters, by Lannar, succeeded to his estate and became his heirs; who were married to Banfeild, Dunscomb, and Trelevan, lately in possession of Mudgan, and other lands of value; which I hear is by them all spent through luxury and ill-conduct.
The arms of Chynoweth are Sable, on a fess Or, three eagle’s heads erased Gules.
TONKIN.
This parish is so called from the famous St. Martin of Tours. It is a daughter church to Mawgan, and valued in the King’s Books at £5. 10_s._ 8_d._ where the parish is designated St. Martin alias Dedimus.
The patronage in Trevelyan; the incumbent Mr. William Whiting, who succeeded Mr. James Trewinnard.
THE EDITOR.
This parish presents very little worthy of notice except Tremayne, which gave origin to both branches of the honourable and respected family, which flourished at Sydenham in Devonshire, and at Heligan in this county. The place is situated on the southern bank of Helford river. Mr. Lysons states that it passed with an heiress from the family of Tremayne to Reskymer. It has been frequently sold in recent times.
Mr. Hals mentions a Nunnery at a farm in this parish, called Hellnoweth, which Mr. Lysons says did belong to the Monastery of St. Michael’s Mount; but there is not the slightest trace to be found in any authentic work of a separate establishment having ever existed there; although Mr. Hals is so confident of it, as fancifully to derive the word Meneage from Menales, a supposed appellation of the nuns. All the parishes in the Lizard district, bounded by the Helford River and the Looe Pool, are said to be in Meneage, although no such division is recognised for any civil or ecclesiastical purpose. Under a supposition that this parish might be dedicated to St. Martin, pope and martyr, Mr. Hals has given his history at great length, which is omitted as being wholly uninteresting, as well as irrelevant, since the parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to Nov. the 11th, the well-known festival of St. Martin of Tours. Some notice is taken of this Pope under Gulval, where he is honoured as the patron Saint. He was not born till about an hundred and fifty years after the death of St. Martin of Tours.
This parish measures 2023 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2306 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 193 11 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 336 | 391 | 504 | 508 giving an increase of 51 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The south-western corner of this parish near the Dry Tree, (a mark on Goonhilly Downs) is situated on serpentine; the remainder of the parish belongs to the calcareous series, corresponding with Manaccan, and the other parishes immediately bordering on the Helford river.
[4] From mog, or moge, smoke.
ST. MAWGAN IN MENEAGE.
HALS.
St. Mawgan rectory is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north Gwendron and Helston, south Cury and St. Martin’s, west Gonwallo. Under what jurisdiction this parish was rated in the Domesday Tax, 1087, I know not, probably under the names of Gwendron, Helleston, Lizard, or Trevery; for the modern names of St. Mawgan, or Maneage, were not then heard of. However, at the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish Benefices, Ecclesia de Sancti Mawgani in decanatu de Kerryer, is valued £10. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, Ecclesias de St. Maugani in decanatu de Kerrier, £35. 10_s._ 0½_d._; the patronage formerly in the Prior of St. Michael’s Mount, who as I am informed endowed it, now Trevillian; the incumbent Trewinard; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, £148. 8_s._
This district of Meneage is a kind of peninsula, formed between the lakes or rivers Looe and Hayle, conjoined at the neck only by a little part of this parish of Mawgan with that of Gwendron and Helleston; from whence further south in length and breadth, the land shooteth in towards the British Ocean, in the several parishes of St. Martin’s, Manaccan, St. Anthony, Kevorne, Ruan Major, Ruan Minor, Landawednack, Grade, Cury, Mullyan, Gonwallo. Which peninsula is further notable for its great fertility between the rocks for corn and grass; for as at St. Kevorne and other parishes, if wheat corn be seasonably tilled and well manured, it will produce commonly in the beginning of July a harvest of twenty bushels Cornish measure, that is to say sixty bushels Winchester to a Cornish acre of land; so in like manner this neck of land, being the most south-west part of this island of Britain, and situate between two seas, will in ten weeks time after the sowing of barley, produce a harvest in many places of much greater increase than that of wheat aforesaid. Moreover, it is also profitable for breeding and feeding bullocks and sheep of all sorts; and particularly Gon-hilly Downs, id est the Hunting Downs, is notable for the breed of an under-statute sort of mares and horses, swift and sure of foot, and of great strength and hardiness for travel and labour. Which Downs consist of many hundred acres of land, all overspread with grey cloos, or a kind of marble stones as aforesaid.
The barton and manor of Carmenow, Car-mynow, Carminou, in this parish, words of one import, is the rockhill or mountain, a name given and taken from the natural circumstances of the place, viz. lands situate upon the rocks and hills abutting upon the sea-cliff of the British channel, and the Looe creek or cove therof. I know, contrary to this etymology, Mr. Carew tells us that Carminow is a little city, p. 55 Surv. Cornwall. But Caer-Vyan, or Caer-Byan, or Vyan-Caer, is a little city in Cornish; Caer-Broas, Bruse, a great, large, or extensive city. Again, page 142, he tells us that the interpretation of Car-mynow is often-loving; from which contradictory or cross etymology of this compound word aforesaid, it is evident he knew very little of the language of our ancestors the Britons, as his successor Mr. Camden did much less.
This local place gave name and original to an old British family of gentlemen surnamed de Carmynow, now extinct, who flourished there for many generations in great fame and riches; in particular here lived Robert de Carmynow, who held £16 per annum by the tenure of knight service, who was summoned by writ, 48 Henry III. to come and take his degree of knighthood. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 50.) This gentleman, as tradition saith, accompanied King Edward I. in the Holy War in Palestine. He had issue Ralph Carmenow, said to be Chamberlain to King Edward II.; who had issue Ralph Carmenow, Sheriff of Cornwall 2 Richard II. 1379. Betwixt whom and the Lord Richard Scrope, of Bolton Castle, in Richmondshire, Lord Chancellor of England temp. Edward III. (father of William Lord Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire and Lord Treasurer of England 21 Richard II. and Knight of the Garter, beheaded at Bristol for attainder of treason against Henry IV. anno Dom. 1399,) happened a memorable trial in the Court of Chivalry, or Earl Marshal’s Court, about the bearing on their shields, or coat armour, viz. Azure, a bend Or.
In this action the Lord Scrope was plaintiff, who declared that he was lineally descended from one Scrope, a French or Norman soldier, that came over into England under the banner and conduct of William the Conqueror, against King Harold, anno Dom. 1066; and that he gave for his arms, (portoit) d’Azur, à la band d’Or; and that his posterity till that instant (1360) ever gave the same arms, and to corroborate this their bearing, they produced a copy of the record thereof in the Earl Marshal’s Court; therefore Mr. Carmenow’s thus assuming and bearing their proper arms, it was contrary to law, and equity, and arms.
To this declaration the defendant pleaded not guilty, and in justification of the bearing aforesaid, said that his ancestors were Cornish Britons; and lived at Carmenow long before the Norman Conquest; and particularly, that one of them was sent by King Edward the Confessor an ambassador, either to the French King or Duke of Normandy; who gave those arms in and for his device, or shield; and that from that time to the time of King Edward III. aforesaid, which was about three hundred years, his posterity had ever given or borne the same arms, without interruption or alteration.
To this the plaintiff rejoined, that there was then no such public record extant in the Office of Arms, or Marshal’s Court, that appropriated any such bearing to this name or family of Carmenow, neither was the Provincial Herald called Clarencieux, for granting arms and recording the descents of private gentlemen for the south-west part of England, instituted but just before this action; and therefore, if the said Ralph Carmenow, or his ancestors, gave those arms, they were only personal badges or devices that terminated with their lives, and could not be hereditary or descend to posterity. And further it was alleged that in case Carmenow’s ancestor lived at Carmenow before the Norman Conquest, those arms could not be appropriated to him by the name of de Carmenow, for it was not the custom of the Britons till about a hundred years after, to style themselves from local places with the Latin pronoun or particle, De, after the manner of the French. But before were generally distinguished by the names John Mac Richard, Richard Mac Thomas, Robert ap Ralph, &c. that is to say the son of Thomas, Robert, and Ralph, according to their lineal descents.
Whereupon, after a full view and hearing of what could be said and shown on either part, by learned council as to records, manuscripts, deeds and pedigrees, the Earl Marshal, in Westminster Hall, gave judgment for the plaintiff; and the definitive sentence was afterwards made and signed with the public seal of that Court, and read in open audience; and orders given to the Sub-Marshal to put the same in execution; which was, that Carmenow should never more give the arms aforesaid without a label of three points Gules for a distinction; when accordingly the same was first entered of record in Clarencieux, or the Provincial Herald’s books, as the subsequent hereditary coat armour of his family, (and as tradition saith Carmenow paid costs,) which rule was ever after by those gentlemen observed in their bearings.
And though Carmenow’s friends pleased themselves in this distinction of a label, because given by the Emperor of Rome’s son and heir whilst his father was alive; and for that it is the mark or cognizance of the eldest son and heir of a family of the greatest degree; yet it is manifest Carmenow himself was so distasted therewith, that he chose for the motto of this new bearing arms, a Cornish sentence which abundantly expressed his dislike thereof: Cala rag Ger da, id est, a straw for fame, or breath.
William Carmenow, his son and heir, married the sole daughter and heir of Rawleigh, of Smallridge, in Devon, and was Sheriff of that County 14th of Richard II.; he had issue by her Thomas Carmenow, Sheriff of Cornwall 2 Henry VI. He or his son was also Sheriff of Cornwall the 8th of Henry VIII.; who had issue William Carmenow, father of John, whose daughters and heirs were married to Arundell of Lanherne, and Sir John Reskymer, of Reskymer, Knight. This John Carmenow suffered the barton and manor of Carmenow, with other lands, to go in marriage with his two daughters and heirs, married as aforesaid; whilst the greatest part of his ancient estate, by virtue of the entail, after his decease descended to his younger brother, John Carmenow, of Fentongollan, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 5 Henry VIII.
In this local place of Carmenow those gentlemen had their ancient domestic chapel and burying place, the walls and windows whereof are still to be seen; in which place also formerly stood the tombs and funeral monuments of divers once notable persons of this family; of which sort, in the beginning of King James the First’s reign, when this chapel was left to run to ruin and decay, the inhabitants of this parish of Mawgan, out of respect to the memory of those gentlemen, brought from thence two funeral monuments in human shape, at full length, made of alabaster, freestone, or marble, man and woman I take it, curiously wrought and cross-legged, with two lions couchant under their feet, and deposited or lodged them in this parish church of St. Mawgan, where they are yet to be seen, though the inscriptions and coat armour thereof are now obliterated and defaced by time. Now, though it was the custom to form the funeral monuments of such as had been in the Holy War temp. Richard I. and Edward I. cross-legged, yet I find that posture of monuments for the dead was much more ancient, and placed on the tombs of such as had never been in the Holy War, in memory of the cross whereon our Blessed Saviour suffered for our redemption and salvation. Lastly, it is further observable of this family of Carmenow, that, notwithstanding their great estate, gentility, and antiquity, they never had any higher title of honour or dignity conferred upon them by our English Kings than that of Knights Bachelors, of which sort two or three of them had been knights. This family was possest of five knight’s fees of land temp. Henry IV.; in Trewint, in Lesnewith, also in Moteland there, also in Hernecoft in Stratton hundred, also in Merthyn and Winenton in Kerrier; by computation four thousand acres of land of this tenure. (See Carew’s Survey of Cornwall.)
Res-ky-mer, in this parish, was the seat of Rogerus de Reskymer, a military man or officer for conduct of the new levies for France, 15 Edward III. (Survey of Cornwall, page 52.)
Richardus de Reskymer, probably his son, was one of those forty-nine Cornish gentlemen that held lands by the tenure of knight service, or grand sergeanty, by attending the King personally in his wars, with a horse and arms furnished according to his degree. See the writ directed to the Sheriff of Cornwall for that purpose, commanding him to attend him in his wars in France, 25 Edward III. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 51.) He held by the same tenure above £20 lands per annum.
John Reskymer married Alice, the second daughter and heir of John Densill, Esq. Sergeant-at-Law, about the year 1508, and had issue by her Sir John Reskymer, Knight, that married ―――― one of the coheirs of John Carmenow, of Carmenow, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 31 Henry VIII.; who had issue by her, as I am informed, John Reskymer, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 3 and 4 of Queen Mary; who married Seyntaubyn, by whom he had issue only four daughters, that became his heirs; married to Trelawney of Poole, Lower of St. Wenow, Vyvyan of Trelowarren, and Courtenay of Trethyrfe; in whose families the name, blood, and estate of those Reskymers are terminated; though now this Reskimer barton is the lands and possessions of Pendarves of Roscrow, as I am informed, and purchased by Mr. Basset, who gave for their arms, in allusion to part of their name, in a field Azure three bars Argent, in chief a wolf or wild dog passant of the First.
Tre-lo-warren, alias Talla-warren. In this place, as appears from Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 42, 3 Henry IV. one Mathew de Trethake held by tenure of knight service half a knight’s fee of land, from whose heir I suppose it came by purchase or marriage to Ferrers; but whether those gentlemen were descended from the Ferrers of Tutbury Castle, in Staffordshire, whose ancestor came out of France, a collateral under William the Conqueror, 1066, (who gave for his arms, sex ferres de cheval de Sable,) or from the Ferrers of Newton Ferrers, in the county of Devon, (who gave for their arms, Argent, a bend Gules, and a chief Vert,) I know not. However, there is yet extant, in the stone wall of the tower of St. Mawgan, cut in chief in the same, the 1st the arms of Carmenow, 2d of Reskymer, 3d Ferrers, 4th Vyvyan; by which arms this family may be distinguished.
Originally the Vyvyans were possessed of Trevederne in Buryan, as they still are; and from thence matched with the daughter and heir of Skyburiow, afterwards with the daughter and heir of Ferrers of Trelowarren; which first brought those lands into the possession of Vyvyan; particularly as I am informed Richard Vyvyan, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 9 Henry VII. 1494; Richard Vyvyan, Esq. his son, was Sheriff of Cornwall 20 Henry VIII; Michael Vyvyan, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 22 of Henry VIII.; Hanniball Vyvyan, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 43 of Elizabeth; whose son, Frances Vyvyan, Esq. afterwards knighted, was Sheriff of Cornwall 15 James I. who built the house now extant at Trelowarren, and married one of the coheirs of Vyell, of Trevorder. His son, Richard Vyvyan, Esq. afterwards, 12 February 1644, by King Charles I. was created the 384th Baronet of England, married Bulteel, and had issue by her Sir Vyell Vyvyan, Baronet, afterwards knighted by King Charles II.; who married Thomasin, daughter and heir of James Robins, of Penryn, Gent. Attorney-at-Law, who died without issue; afterwards he married Jane, daughter of Thomas Melhuish, of Penryn, Gent. the relict of Michael Cood, but died without issue that lived. Note that the name Melhuish is local, viz. from the barton or tenement of Melhuish, near Kirton in Devon, which signifies a lark-bird, or larks, as alauda.
After Sir Vyell Vyvyan’s decease, his nephew Sir Richard Vyvyan, Baronet, that succeeded to his estate and honour, son and heir of Charles Vyvyan, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, (younger brother of Sir Vyell aforesaid) by Erisey, married Mary, daughter and heir of Francis Vivian, of Cosowarth, Esq. by Anne, daughter and heir of Henry Mynors, of St. Enedor, Gent. by Bridget, the only surviving child of Sir Samuel Cosowarth, Knight, and sole heir to her brother Nicholas Cosowarth, Esq. that died without issue temp. Charles II. By the which Mary Vyvian, his lady, Sir Richard is now in possession of Cosowarth and Vivian’s lands.
Sir Richard Vyvyan, Bart. first mentioned, had also issue by Bulteel five daughters, married to Robinson, Trewren, &c.
The arms of this family are in a field Argent, a lion rampant Gules.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has not any thing of the least consequence different from Mr. Hals.
THE EDITOR.
It is curious that this parish should have afforded residences to three families so distinguished as Carminow, Reskymer, and Vyvyan. The two first have been long extinct; Vyvyan still continues one of the first in Cornwall.
Sir Richard Vyvyan, mentioned by Mr. Hals, adhered to what was thought by many in those days to be the good old cause of the Cavaliers and the Restoration of Charles the Second; and in consequence King George the First and his ministry, excusing themselves perhaps by the authority,
Res dura, et regni novitas me talia cogunt Moliri,
not only removed all their suspected opponents from the commission of the peace, and from places of trust, but committed several to prison. Among others Sir Richard Vyvyan, who was seized in his house at Trelowarren, conveyed by water to Pendennis Castle, and removed from thence to the Tower.
A story is related of a king’s messenger having been detained at an inn called Hallworthy, east of Camelford, while an adherent reached Trelowarren, and enabled Sir Richard Vyvyan to destroy many documents, which might have proved his being adverse, as well as many other Cornish gentlemen, to the new government.
As the persons then in power failed of being able to prove any overt acts taken against themselves, they were obliged to discharge this gentleman out of custody; but not till he had a daughter, Ann Vyvyan, born in the Tower, whom the Editor well remembers; and Sir Richard Vyvyan was, as a matter of course, chosen one of the representatives for the county at the next election, which situation he had however held in some former Parliaments.
He married Mary, only daughter and heir of Vyvyan of Cosowarth, in the parish of Little Colan, and left a numerous family.
His eldest son, Vyel Vyvyan, married Mary, daughter and heiress of the Rev. Carew Hoblyn, and left two sons, Richard, who married Jane, daughter of Christopher Hawkins, Esq. of Trewinnard, and of Mary, coheiress of the Hawkinses of Penzance:――they had not any family; and Carew the second son, a clergyman, never married.
Richard, the second son of Sir Richard Vyvyan, married the heiress of the family of Piper, and settled at their seat called Modford, almost in the town of Launceston. Their eldest son Philip, married Mary, the daughter and heiress of Sheldon Walter, Esq. and through her mother heiress of the Medlands, of Tremail, in South Petherwin. Their son, Vyel, succeeded to the family estate, and having married Mary, daughter of Thomas Hutton Rawlinson, of Lancaster, Esq. has been succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, of whom it may be sufficient to say, that, having been very early in life elected member for the county of Cornwall, he so distinguished himself in Parliament as to receive an invitation from all the leading gentlemen of Bristol, to represent their city, when a difference of political opinion severed him from the constituent body of Cornwall, and that he has twice obtained the honour of being elected Member for the second city in England.
Trelowarren alone remains of the seats in this parish, and it amply compensates for the disappearance of the others. No place in the county, excepting perhaps Penhale in Egloskerry, comes into comparison with Trelowarren, as a gentleman’s residence in the style of former times. The house is believed to be more ancient than the time assigned to it by Mr. Hals, and that Mr. Francis Vyvyan only repaired and possibly enlarged a building at the least as old as the possession of the Ferrers. Sir Richard Vyvyan almost entirely reconstructed the interior of the house, soon after the year 1750, and great improvements have been made by the present proprietor, and by his father. Doctor Borlase has given a view of the house, page 86 of his Natural History.
The manor of Carminow continued long in the family of Arundell: it is now by purchase the property of the Rev. John Rogers.
A detailed account of the curious trial before the judges of the Court of Chivalry, and ultimately before the King himself in person, relative to the arms borne by the Carminows, has been given in “Anecdotes of heraldry,” published by a lady about thirty years since. The decision of the King is there stated to be, that each claimant should bear the arms without differences. The motto given by Mr. Hals is literally in Cornish, Cala rag ger da, a straw for a good word.
Mr. Lysons, quoting from “The Scrope and Grosvenor Roll,” another controversy on the same armorial coat, (and which has been recently published by Sir Harris Nicolas) notices that testimony was adduced on behalf of the Carminows, tracing the use of their arms back to the reign of our renowned King Arthur! To such evidence on armorial bearings, as Lysons justly remarks, little credit is due.
The church is large, and contains some ancient monuments, believed to be of the Carminow family, with shields and other decorations.
The advowson of the living belongs to the Trevelyans, of Nettlecombe, in Somersetshire, and one of that family is the incumbent.
The patron saint is St. Martin of Tours; and the parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to November the 11th, St. Martin’s day in the Roman Calendar.
This parish measures 2023 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2306 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 193 11 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 363 | 391 | 504 | 508 giving an increase of 40 per cent. in 30 years. The present rector is the Rev. Horatio Mann, instituted in 1816, on the presentation of Sir M. Blakiston, Bart.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The south-western corner of this parish, near the Dry Tree, is situated on the serpentine of Goonhilly Downs. The remainder of the parish belongs to the calcareous series, and corresponds with Manaccan and the other parishes immediately bordering on the southern banks of the Helford river.
MAWGAN IN PYDER.
HALS.
St. Mawgan Rectory in Pider, hath upon the north the Irish Sea, east St. Evall, west Lower St. Coumb, south St. Columb Major and Colan.
In the Domesday Book, 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed under the name of Lan-cherit; here was an endowed rectory, chapel or church before that time; and the same endowed by the Prior of the Priory of Plympton (founded by the West Saxon Kings). Afterwards, when this old church was re-edified and enlarged to the mode and bulk it now shows, it was then consecrated or dedicated to the honour of Almighty God, in the name of St. Mawgan aforesaid; and this is evidenced from the Inquisitions of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Benefices, in decanatu de Pidre, Sancti Maugani £6. 13_s._ 4_d._, and the Prior of Plympton received £1. 6_s._ 8_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, Mawgan Rectory, without the Saint, is rated £26. 13_s._ 4_d._ After the first Inquisition into the value of the revenues of this church, it follows in that book, Prior de Plymton percipit de Ecclesia Sancti Maugani 26_s._ 8_d._ per annum. The patronage, since the dissolution of that Priory, 26 Henry VIII. in Arundell of Lanherne; the incumbent Tregenna; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, £178. 9_s._
From this church is denominated the manor and barton house of Lanherne, contiguous therewith; which of old was the lands of Symon Pincerna, id est Butler; so called for that, as tradition saith, he was butler of the cellar, or waited upon the cup, bottle, or glass of King Henry II. and is mentioned from the Records of the Exchequer, in Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 45, to have held by the tenure of knight service in Lanherne, one knight’s fee; which gentleman was also lord of the manor of St. James’s in Middlesex, at Westminster, who exchanged the same with King Henry II. or King Henry III. for the manor of Conerton, in the parish of Gwythian and hundred of Penwith in this county; which deeds of conveyance are yet to be seen at Lanherne.
The issue male of the Pincernas failing, the two daughters and heirs of his family were married, temp. Edward III. to Arundell, of Trembleth in St. Ervan, and Umphravill; hence it is we read in the Rolls of the Exchequer and Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 43, Johannes de Umfranvill tenet in decanatu de Pidre, ratione Aliciæ uxoris suæ, unam mag. feod. in Lanherne, 3d Henry IV.
After Arundell’s match with Pincerna’s heir, he removed to Lanherne, which hath ever since been the seat of that famous and flourishing family, who derive their name from John de Arundell, temp. Henry I.; since which time (for about twenty-three descents) they have married with the inheritrixes of Trembleth, Pincerna, Lamburne, Lescor, Lanbaddern, Tresithny, Carmenow, Grey, Denham, and several others; so that by reason of their wealth, or great estates, the country people heretofore entitled them by the name of the Great Arundells, (see Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 144,) though there was a great diminution of their ancient estate at and after the time that John Arundell, temp. Queen Mary, married Anne, the daughter of Sir Henry Gernigan, Knight, Master of the Horse, or Captain of the Guards to that Queen. However, I take it his son or grandson, John Arundell, Esq. married the coheir of Chydiock, and thereby repaired part of that loss, and had by her issue John Arundell, Esq. afterwards knighted, who married Elizabeth Roper, daughter of the Lord Teynham, and by her had issue two sons that died without issue, and Elizabeth, married to Sir Richard Billinge, knight; ―――― married to Sir Robert Bedingfield, knight; and ―――― that was entered into a monastery of Benedictine nuns in France, as I am informed.
Sir John Arundell, knight, (my very kind friend,) after his lady’s decease, took for his second wife ―――― daughter of John Arundell, of Trerice, esq. the relict of John Trevanion, of Caryhayes, esq. by whom he had no issue. Whereupon the said Sir John Arundell, having by fine, proclamation, and recovery, docked his estate tail to bar the remainder, settled the same upon his grandson, Richard Billinge, Esq. by his last will and testament; on condition that he and his posterity for ever should assume the surname of Arundell, in conjunction with that of Billinge, or separate, anno Dom. 1701.
The first gentleman of this family that appears on public record to have served the state or the country, was Sir John Arundell, knight, Sheriff of Cornwall, 6 Henry V. 1418, when Stephen Durneford was Sheriff of Devon. Renfry Arundell, esq. his son, was Sheriff of Cornwall 16 Henry VI. 1443, (when one Thomas Arundell was Sheriff of Devon,) Renfry Arundell, esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 3 and 4 Edward IV. 1483.
John Arundell, son of the said Renfrye, had his first education in the college of Canons Augustine in St. Columb, partly founded and endowed by his ancestors; from whence he removed to Exeter College, in Oxford, where, after he had taken his degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts, he was ordained Priest, and presented by his father to the great rectory of St. Columb Major in Cornwall; and accordingly, had institution and induction thereto from the Bishop of Exeter; afterwards he was chosen Dean of Exeter, when Doctor Fox was Bishop thereof, 1490; where after he had sat for some time, upon the translation of William Smith, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, to Lincoln, (the successor of John Hals, who died 1492,) he had bestowed upon him by King Henry VII. that bishoprick, and was consecrated anno Dom. 1496; afterwards, upon the death of Dr. Redman, Bishop of Exeter, 1504, he was translated to that diocese, and was installed Bishop thereof 1504; where, after he had well governed that diocese for about two years space, he died at London, 19 February 1506, and lies buried in St. Clement’s Church without Temple Bar.
From this family, by younger branches, were descended, temp. Richard III. the knightly family of the Arundells late of Tolvorne (from whence the writer of those lines by females is descended); as also the Arundells, late of Trevithick, in St. Columb Major, temp. Edward VI.; as also the Baron Arundells of Wardour in Wiltshire, temp. James I.; as also the Arundells of Gloucestershire, temp. Charles I.
Though this family by the name of Arundell is set forth in Battle Abbey corrupted roll, to have come out of France with the Conqueror, I take it to be denominated from Arundell town and castle in Sussex, (for as Sir John Arundell, the last possessor of Lanherne, told me he could never understand there was any such local place in France as Arundell, though he lived long in that country and made strict inquiry after it,) for Ederick the Saxon was Earl of Arundell town and castle aforesaid, before William the Conqueror landed here, who after the death of King Harold was displaced and disinherited by the Conqueror, and Roger de Montgomery made Earl thereof in his place, to whom his estate was given. However, notwithstanding that this family, out of a supposed allusion to their name, give for their arms, in a field Sable six swallows, in pile three, two, and one, Argent or proper, for that Arond in Gaulish French is a swallow; now corrupted after the Latin to hirundelle; guenol, Tisbicock, guenvoll, British: as (χελιδων, hirundo in Greek) in Armoric guinib is a swallow. Arond in French, Ar-ran-dell, British, is the lake of water division valley.
One Bishop of this parish, in his youth, was, after his school education at Retallock, in St. Columb Major, in the Latin and Greek tongues, under Mr. John Coode, that famous schoolmaster, taken by the cost and care of Sir John Arundell, of Lanherne, from thence, and placed by him in Douay College in Flanders, where he took orders as a Catholic Roman Priest, and afterwards returned into England, and became house chaplain to the said Sir John Arundell, knight; and from thence visited and confirmed the Roman Catholics in those parts for many years, by the pretended surname of Mr. Gifford; he died at Hammersmith, near London, 20 March 1733, aged 99 years, and ordered his body to be opened and his heart to be taken out, and sent to Douay aforesaid, and kept in spirits, and his body to be buried in Pancras church, in London. (London Gazette, 23 March 1733.) He was made Doctor of Divinity by his College aforesaid, and consecrated Bishop of ――――[5] in the Banqueting House at Whitehall, in the last year of King James II.
Car-nan-ton in this parish, id est, the Rock Valley Town, was the voke lands of a considerable manor, taxed in the Domesday Book 1087. As it was then so it is now, a franchise royal, pertaining in chief to the Crown, invested with the jurisdiction of a Court Leet within its precincts, and had lately its steward and bailiff, to attend the public services in trials at law between party and party, on pleas of debt and damage; and here Robert Thomye held the fourth part of a knight’s fee of land, temp. Henry IV. as Mr. Carew informs us.
It was lately the dwelling of William Noye, of Pendrea in Buryan, Esq. farmer thereof; who was first bred a student at law in Lincoln’s Inn; afterwards, having taken his degrees therein, he was chosen Member of Parliament for the town of St. Ives in Cornwall, in which capacity he stood for some Parliaments in the beginning of the reign of King Charles I. and was specially famous for being one of the boldest and stoutest champions of the subject’s liberty in Parliament that the Western parts of England afforded; which being observed by the Court party, King Charles was advised by his Cabinet Council that it would be a prudent course to divert the force and power of Noye’s skill, logic, and rhetoric another way, by giving him some Court preferment; whereupon King Charles made him his Attorney-general, 1631; by which expedient he was soon metamorphosed from the assertor of the subjects’ liberty and property to a most zealous and violent promoter, beyond the laws, of the despotic and arbitrary prerogative or monarchy of his Prince; so that, like the image of Janus at Rome, he looked forward and backward, and by means thereof greatly enriched himself.
Amongst other things he is reflected upon by our chronologers for being the principal contriver of the Ship-money tax, laid by King Charles upon his subjects, for setting forth a navy or fleet of ships at sea, without the consent of Lords or Commons in Parliament; which moneys were raised by writ to the Sheriffs of all counties, and Commissioners for a long time brought into the Exchequer twenty thousand pounds per mensem, to the great distaste of the Parliament, the Laity, and Clergy, who declared against it as an unlawful tax. Nevertheless all the twelve judges after Noye’s death, except Hutton and Crook, gave their opinions and hands to the contrary, in Hampden’s case; viz. Branston, Finch, Davenport, Denham, Jones, Trevor, Vernon, Berkeley, Crawley, and Weston. (See Baker’s Chronicle, printed 1656.) However, out of kindness to the clergy, the King wrote to all the Sheriffs of England, requiring that the clergy, possessed of parsonages or rectories, should not be assessed above a tenth part of the land rate of their several parishes, and that regard should be had to vicars accordingly; by which rule the quanto or sum of this Ship-money Tax by the month may be calculated. But I shall conclude this paragraph of Noye in the words of Hammon Le Strange, Esq. in the Life of King Charles I. viz. “Noye became so servilely addicted to the King’s prerogative, by ferreting up old penal statutes, and devising new exactions, for the small time he enjoyed his power, that he was the most pestilent vexation to the subject that this latter age afforded,” &c. He died on Saturday, August the 9th 1634, and was buried in the church of New Brentford, Middlesex, with an inscription on a stone to this purpose: “Here lyes the body of William Noye, Esq. som tyme Atturney Generall to Kinge Charles I.” This gentleman writ that excellent book of the law called Noye’s Reports; he married ―――― and had issue: Edward Noye, his eldest son, killed in a duel soon after his father’s death; and Humphrey Noye, his second son. He married Hester, daughter of the Lord Sands of Hampshire, and by her had issue two sons, William Noye and Humphrey Noye, that died without issue, and Katherine, married to William Davies, gentleman, of St. Earth; and Bridgman, to John Williams of Rosworthy, Esq. sometime Commissioner for the Peace, temp. Queen Anne, in whose right he is now in possession of this barton of Carnanton, but by her he had no issue; after her decease he married Dorothy, daughter of Peter Day, gentleman, and by her hath issue, and giveth for his arms, in a field Argent a fess checky Gules and Vert, between three griffin’s heads erased Vert, each gorged with a ducal crown Or; the paternal coat armour of the Williams’s, of Dorset or Wiltshire; his grandfather coming from thence a steward to the Arundells of Lanherne.
The arms of Noye are: Argent, three bendlets and a canton Sable, on the canton a cross of the Field; and another, Azure, three crosses botony in bend Argent.
The Attorney-general on a day, having King Charles I. and the principal officers and nobility of his Court, at a dinner at his house in London, at which time the Arch Poet Ben Jonson, and others, being at an inn on the other side the street, and wanting both meat and money for their subsistence, at that exigent resolved to try an expedient to get his dinner from the Attorney-general’s table; in order to which, by his landlord at the inn aforesaid, he sent a white timber plate or trencher to him, when the King was sat down to table, whereon was inscribed these words:
When the world was drowned No deer was found, Because there was noe Park; And here I sitt Without ere a bitt, Cause Noyah hath all in his Arke.
Which plate being presented by the Attorney-general to the King, produced this effect, that Jonson had a good dish of venison sent him back by the bearer, to his great content and satisfaction; on which aforesaid plate, by the King’s direction, Jonson’s rhymes were thus inverted or contradicted:
When the world was drowned There deer was found, Although there was noe park; I send thee a bitt To quicken thy witt, Which comes from Noya’s Arke.
William Noye, anagram, I moyle in Law. He was the blow-coal, incendiary, or stirrer up of the Civil Wars between King Charles and his Parliament, by asserting and setting up the King’s prerogative to the highest pitch, as King James I. had done before, beyond the laws of the land as aforesaid; and as Counsell for the King he prosecuted for King Charles I. the imprisoned Members of the House of Commons, 1628: viz. Sir John Elyot, Mr. Coryton, and others; whom after much cost and trouble he got to be fined two thousand pounds each, the others five hundred pounds, and further to be sentenced, notwithstanding they paid those fines, not to be delivered from prison without submission and acknowledgment of their offences, and security to be put in for their good behaviour for the future.
Den-sill, alias Dyn-sill, in this parish, synonymous words, signifying man-chapel or church, or a man of the church or chapel; otherwise Den-sell is either man-great or great-man; and upon the confines of those lands, on the high and lofty downs, is situate Densill Barrow, that is to say Densill grave or burying place; a notable tumulus, wherein some person of this little barton, after the ancient British manner, was, before or soon after Christianity prevailed, here interred. The rubbish and down-fallen walls of a free chapel, heretofore on this place, prove the truth of this etymology, known now by the name of Chapel Garder; garda, gerder, is a churchyard or field.
From this place was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen, surnamed de Densill, or Densell; and the first of those gentlemen that have come to my knowledge was Thomas Densill, that married Skewish, temp. Henry VI. who had issue by her John, that married the daughter and heir of Trenowith, of St. Colomb Major, temp. Edward IV.; on whose right he annexed the lands of Trenowith to his manor of Densell, as it remains to this day; (those Trenowiths lye interred in the north side of St. Colomb Church, now pertaining to Mr. Vivian;) by Trenowth’s heir the said John had issue, John Densill, esq. barrister at law, who had his education at Lincoln’s Inn, afterwards was made Serjeant at law, 1531, married Mary, daughter of Sir ―――― Lucas, of Warwickshire, by whom he had issue two daughters, that became his heirs; Anne, married to William Hollis, of Houghton, in Nottinghamshire, knight, ancestor of the Earls of Clare, and now Duke of Newcastle; Alice to Mr. Reskymer, father of Sir John Reskymer, of Reskymer, knight, Sheriff of Cornwall 27 Henry VIII. This John Densill, Serjeant at law, died 3 January 1535, and was buried in the church of St. Giles in the Fields.
The name, estate, and blood of those Densills, being thus terminated in Hollis and Reskymer, the Hollis’s have long time made it a font name in their family, to preserve the memory thereof; in particular, there was lately extant Densill Hollis, created Baron Hollis, of Ifield, 2 April 1661, Privy Councillor to King Charles II. Lord High Steward of the honours, manors, and revenues to his Queen Catharine; Extraordinary Ambassador in France 1663, 1664, 1665, 1666; afterwards Ambassador and Plenipotentiary at Breda, 1667; uncle unto John and Gilbert late Earls of Clare.
This little barton and manor of Densill was by the Earl of Clare sold to Buller, temp. Charles II.; from Buller to Vivian, of Truan; and by Vivian to Pendarves, temp. William III. 1700; and from Pendarves to Upton, now in possession thereof, as I am informed.
From the family of Densill, by a younger branch, was descended the Densills of Philley, in Devon; in particular Richard Densill, younger brother to the Serjeant’s father, whose only daughter and heir was married to Martin Fortescue, Esq. who first brought Buckland Filleigh to that family, as I am informed; after his decease she was married to Sir Richard Pomeroye, of Bury Pomeroye, in Devon, Knight of the Bath at the creation of Henry Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry VIII.
Quere whether John de Mawgan Sheriff of Cornwall 12 and 19th of Richard II. were not of this parish or St. Mawgan in Kerryer; as also the Mawgans of Essex, who gave for their arms, Argent, two bars, in chief three mullets Sable.
TONKIN.
The patron of this parish is St. Mawgan, one of the missionaries from Ireland.
It is a rectory, in the patronage of Sir John Arundell, of the Lanhearne, which was the ancient name of the parish; which, says the author of the English Etymological Dictionary, is not unlikely from Lan, a church, and Herwa, to fly, meaning a place of refuge.
I shall begin with the most important place,
THE MANOR OF LANHEARNE.
This place had formerly possessors of the same name, but how long they lived in it is uncertain; for I can meet with but one and the last of them; John de Lanhearne, who by Margaret, the daughter and heir of Richard Fitz John, had only one daughter and heir, Alice, married the 15th Henry III. (A. D. 1231) to Sir R. Arundell, of Trembleth, Knight, ever since which time Lanhearne hath been the principal seat of this illustrious family. I shall not here enter into a detail of the many great men it hath produced, referring myself to their well known pedigrees; and shall only take notice here that the Lord Arundell of Wardour, Arundell of Tolvorne, Trevethick, &c. were descended from younger branches thereof; and insert what Mr. Camden and Mr. Carew say of them. The first hath these words:
“Near which place (St. Colomb), at a little distance from the sea, stands Lanhearon, the seat of the family of the Arundells, knights, who upon account of their vast riches, were not long since called ‘The Great Arundells.’ They are sometimes called in Latin De Hirundine; and appositely enough in my mind, for a swallow in French is Hirondelle, and their arms are, in a field Sable, six swallows Argent. ’Tis certainly an ancient and noble family, as also very numerous: to the arms whereof Brito, a poet, alludes, where he describes a warlike man of this family attacking a Frenchman, about the year 1170.
Swift as the swallows whence his arms device And his own name are took, enraged he flies Through gazing troops, the wonder of the field, And sticks his lance in William’s glittering shield.”
Mr. Carew says of this family:
“Their name is derived from Hirundelle, in French a swallow, and out of France at the Conquest they came, and six swallows they give in arms. The country people entitle them ‘The Great Arundells,’ and greatest for love, living, and respect, in the country heretofore they were.” (See Carew, p. 343, Lord De Dunstanville’s edition.)
THE EDITOR.
The name of Arundell has not, in all probability, any thing to do with swallows. It is on the contrary derived from their Castle in the Arun Dale, Sussex, which like all other British or Saxon names having the slightest resemblance in sound to a French word, has been referred to a Norman origin.
Mr. Lysons says that Sir John Arundell, the last of the Lanhearne branch, or parent stock, who died in 1701, settled his estates on his grandson, Richard Billinge, Esq. with the condition of his taking the name of Arundell. This gentleman had an only daughter and heiress, who carried the property by her marriage to the Lords Arundell of Wardour.
It does not appear that any of the Wardour Arundells have ever resided at Lanhearne; with a sectarian attachment to the ancient faith, they kept up a Catholic establishment at this place, and retained great numbers of the parishioners in communion with the See of Rome, by making it a passport to lucrative employment and to good cheer; but the house having been appropriated to the reception of Nuns from Antwerp, of the order of Carmelites, as reformed by St. Tereza, and the secular establishment broken up, the system of private interpretation has entirely superseded the authority of Popes and Councils, so that not a Catholic can now be found without the walls. The Nuns were received here on their flying from the French Invasion to their native country, for all were English, and their numbers are still maintained by fresh recruits.
Henry Arundell, the 8th Baron Arundell, of Wardour, having built a magnificent house adjacent to the old castle, and feeling little interest about the property in Cornwall, although it is said to have regularly descended through the Dinhams, from a period anterior to the Norman Conquest, sold the whole in parcels, with the exception of Lanhearne, and has thereby several the very ancient connexion of his family with this county.
The church stands near the river, and adjacent to the house of Lanhearne. It is decorated on the inside with a rood loft, very few of which have been suffered to remain, and by monuments to the Arundells, with inscriptions, most of which may be found in Mr. C. S. Gilbert’s History of Cornwall.
There is also another to Humphrey Noye, which, as his descendant and heir, the Editor hopes he may be excused for transcribing:
Here lyeth the Body of Collonell Humphry Noye, Son and Heir of William Noye, of Carnanton, Esq^e, Attorney Generall to Charles The First, of Blessed Memory, King of Great Britaine, France, And Ireland. Who was intered the 12^{th} of December, Annoq^e Dom: 1679.
On the stone are the arms:
Arg. three bends and a canton Sab. on the canton an English cross of the Field.
The crest of Noye is a dove bearing an olive branch, and the motto: Teg yw Hedwch, Lovely in Peace. Evidently an allusion to the names Noye and Noah.
The above words were on a slate stone laid flat on the pavement, so that the letters were beginning to disappear; but Mr. Humphry Willyams, his successor in Carnarton, although not his descendant, has recently preserved the stone and the inscription, by placing this memorial perpendicularly against one of the walls.
The manor of Carnarton belonged to the father, if not to the grandfather, of the Attorney-general. He was born however at Pendrea, in St. Burian, where the family had been settled time out of mind, but understood to be of Norman extraction.
Little is known of Mr. Noye’s early life, till he became a member of Exeter College, in the year 1593. He removed from thence to Lincoln’s Inn, and was chosen Member for Helston to the Parliament which met in January 1620. He afterwards represented St. Ives, and certainly took an active, zealous, and able part in fostering the nascent liberties of his country; but having formed a connexion with Mr. Wentworth, he became a partizan in what was afterwards named the Stafford Faction, was made Attorney-general in 1631, devised the exaction of Ship Money, and conducted himself in a manner very different from the promise of his former days; fortunately for himself, Mr. Noye died in 1634, before the more violent agitations commenced, which terminated in the Civil War. He left three children, Edward his eldest son and heir, Humphrey, and Catharine.
Edward lost his life not long after the Attorney-general’s decease, in a duel with a Captain Byron. Humphrey then inherited the property.
Catharine married John Cartwright, esq. of Aynhoe, in Northamptonshire, whose descendant in the fifth degree, William Ralph Cartwright, is now of that place (1835), and Member for the county.
Mr. Noye’s will is so curious as to be worthy of insertion:
Incerta mortis hora, hodie ventura, suspecta esse debeat Christiano: sensi me gravatum: mens tamen, Deo annuente, sanitate viget (quam nollem in extremis de mundariis cogitare) hinc est quod――
Ego Will’mus Noye die mensis Junii tertio, anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo trigesimo quarto, rerum mearum dispositionem, per præsens testamentum meum (Dei nomine primitus invocato) ut inferius scriptum est ordinare statui.
Lego animam meam Deo omnipotenti, ejusdem et universi Conditori. In illum credo qui dixit, Ego sum resurrectio et vita; et quia credidi in illum vivam etiam si mortuus fuerim. Corpus meum terræ, unde confectum est, diem novissimum expectaturum, lego. Novi quod Redemptor meus vivit, et in die illa de terra resurrecturus in carne mea videbo salutare illum, quem oculi mei conspecturi sunt. Reposita est hæc spes in sinu meo. Funeralia celebrari nolo.
Pauperibus de Isleworth 100_s._; de St. Burian cum capellis 100_s._; de St. Mawgan in Pyder 150_s._; Will^o Browne 200_s._ et tantum uxori suæ; Roberto Wescombe 100 marcas; Egidio Chubb 300_s._; Will’mo Richards 200_s._ Humfredo filio meo mille marcas do, lego. Et eidem Humfredo lego annualem centum marcarum exeuntem de omnibus tenementis meis in hundredo de Pyder in comitatu Cornubiæ, habendum eidem Humfredo et hæredibus suis, durante vita Johannis fratris mei, et uxoris suæ et superviventis eorum, ad festa Omnium Sanctorum et Philippi et Jacobi, per æquales portiones annuatim solvendum; liceatque eis in omnibus præmissis distringere quoties prædictus redditus fuerit insolutus. Et eidem Humfredo et hæredibus suis do et lego omnia tenementa mea in Warpstowe in comitatu Cornubiæ prædicto.
Reliqua meorum Edwardo filio meo, quem executorem testamenti mei constitui, dissipanda (nec melius speravi) reliqui. In cujus rei testimonium istud testamentum meum manu mea propria scripsi, ac illud sigilli mei appositione, et nominis subscriptione confirmavi.
WM. NOYE. (L. S.)
Probatum fuit testament. suprascriptum apud London. coram judice 5^o Septembris 1634.
Several of Mr. Noye’s works have been printed, and others remain in manuscript.
Noye’s Grounds and Maxims of the English Law, various editions; the last, with additions by Charles Barton, Esq. in 1800.
Noye’s Reports, printed in 1656, 2d edition in fol. 1669.
Noye’s Perfect Conveyancer, London 1655.
Noye’s Complete Lawyer, London 1661, and a second edition in 8vo, 1674.
Noye’s Treatise of the Rights of the Crown, declaring how the King of England may support and increase his Annual Revenues, in 12mo, 1715, but written in the 10th year of Charles the First. The Editor has two MSS. of this work.
The following MSS. are preserved in the British Museum.
Some Notes from Mr. Attorney-general Noye’s Reading in Lincoln’s Inn, Aug. 1632, where he showed that Law Readings are of great antiquity.――Harl. MSS. No. 980, art. 164.
From the same Readings. That every Inn of Court is an University, extolling the Ancient Lawyers for not assuming Lofty Titles, &c.――Ibid. art. 165.
From the same, relative to Officers in the Forest.――Ibid. art. 166.
His Opinion that Espousals in Facie Ecclesiæ are but pro honestate publicanda.――Ibid. art. 174.
Ex Ultima Voluntate sive Testamento Willelmi Noye, Attornati Generalis.――Harl. MSS. 980, art. 226.
Mr. Noye’s Argument on the Earl of Suffolk’s case, 16th April 1628――Harl. MSS. 2305, art. 51.
The Will of Mr. Wm. Noye, (Lat.) June 3d, 1634.――Cotton MSS. Titus B. VIII. 344.
Memoirs of William Noye.――Sir Hans Sloane’s MSS. see Ayscough’s Catalogue, vol. II. p. 736.
Mr. Noye also left in manuscript several collections from the Records in the Tower, especially two large volumes:――
One respecting the King’s prerogative for maintaining the Naval Power according to the practice of his Ancestors.
The other relating to the Privileges and Jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Courts, to which Doctor Thomas James, the learned Compiler of the Bodleian Catalogue, acknowledges his obligation in a work, entitled “A Manuduction or Introduction into Divinity,” Oxford, 1625, 4to.
Mr. Noye had the honour of receiving the public thanks of his College, under the following circumstances: Sir William Petre, son of John Petre, of Torbryan in Devonshire, well known as Secretary of State in the time of King Henry the Eighth, and successively in the reigns of his three successors, had been a Commoner of Exeter College, and from thence elected a Fellow of All Souls. He afterwards became Principal of Peckwater Hall, one of the Visitors of Religious Houses, and finally Secretary of State. Sir John Petre, by participating in the good fortune of all those who were favourites at Court in this eventful period of our history, appropriated to himself a share of the Confiscated Church Lands, most profusely distributed; and by so doing became the founder of a family still existing, with an hereditary seat in Parliament, and professing the Catholic religion. Wishing perhaps to make some restitution, Sir John Petre founded eight Fellowships at Exeter College, in the Protestant University of Oxford, to all of which, called Petrean Fellowships, he continued to nominate during his life, according to an ancient custom in similar cases; but when his successors attempted to exercise the same right or privilege, they were resisted by the College, and the cause came to be tried in the Court of Common Pleas, under the form of a replevin; they were successfully and gratuitously supported by Mr. Noye, as will appear from the passage in the College Register.
A. D. 1614. Circa idem tempus reclivimus vaccas Edmundi Lord per replevin de Walton Court, ubi hæsit paulisper negotium donec Baro Petreius illud transferri curavit ad Communia Placita, ut ibidem decernatur.
Petimus autem nos per Dominum Chamberlyne, servientem ad Legem, ut, bonâ cum judicum veniâ, in Comitiis Oxoniensibus coram Justitiario Regis hoc transigeretur, sed obnixe obstitit Baro Petreius. Sic convenerunt Rector et Magister Chambers, ex Collegii consensu, ad causam promovendam in Communibus Placitis. Qui adeuntes Dominum Gulielmum Noye, olim hujus Collegii Baccellarium, virum in jure municipali (si quis alius per totam Angliam) perspicacissimum et profundissimum, ab eo semper acceperunt quod esset faciendum.
Perlegit ille, et diligentissime perpendit omnes evidentias nostras et statuta, expendit rationes utriusque partis, conteruit solide compendia sive brevia quibus servientes (nam tales solum audiuntur in Communibus Placitis) informabantur. Ipse (sc. Dominus Gulielmus Noye) eos, relictis propriis negotiis, una cum nobis edit et instauravit; quæ omnia sponte fecit et alacriter, sine omni expectatione præmii, quæ ideo in fastos referenda duximus, ut agnosceret talis viri in Collegium pietatem grata posteritas.
The Editor possesses a picture of Mr. Noye painted on oak, by Cornelius Jansen; and at the desire of Exeter College, he has recently presented to them a copy, which is placed in the Hall.
Mr. Noye was succeeded by his eldest son Edward; but the melancholy forebodings expressed in his will: “I have left all the remainder of my property to my son Edward (whom I have constituted executor of this my will) to be squandered, nor have I ever hoped any better,” were rendered vain by the death of this young man, soon after that of his father, in a duel with a Captain Byron.
Humphrey then succeeded as eldest son, and in the year 1637 allied himself by marriage with the very distinguished family of Sandys, of The Vine, near Basingstoke, in Hampshire.
The Editor has their marriage contract, which may be esteemed a curiosity, as compared with the more lengthened writings of recent times.
“Articles of agreement, indented, had, made, and agreed upon the three and twentieth day of May, in the thirteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Between Henry Sandys, of the Vine, in the county of Southampton, Esq. and Hester Sandys, one of the daughters of the said Henry Sandys, of the one part, and Humphrey Noye, of Carnanton, in the county of Cornwall, Esq. of the other part, as followeth, viz.:
“Whereas a marriage is intended to be had and solemnized between the said Humphrey Noye, of the one part, and the said Hester Sandys, of the other part, if the laws of God and the Holy Church shall permit the same,
“In consideration of which marriage it is covenanted and agreed, by and between the said parties, as followeth:
“Imprimis, the said Henry Sandys, for himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, and for every and either of them, doth contract, promise, and grant, to the said Humphrey Noye, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and to and with every and either of them, by these presents, that in consideration of the said marriage, he the said Henry Sandys do and shall give and pay unto the said Humphrey Noye, his executors, administrators, or assigns, the full sum of two thousand pounds current money of England, as a marriage portion for and with the said Hester Sandys his daughter, to be paid unto the said Humphrey Noye, his executors, administrators, and assigns, in manner and form following, viz.: the sum of one thousand pounds current money, parcel of the said two thousand pounds portion, to be paid in hand at the very day of the marriage aforesaid, and the sum of one thousand pounds residue, parcel of the said two thousand pounds portion, to be paid in manner and form following, that is to say, five hundred pounds in and upon the first day of November next ensuing the date hereof, and the other five hundred pounds residue thereof, in and upon the feast day of the Ascension of our Blessed Lord and Saviour, then also next ensuing.
“Item. The said Humphrey Noye, for himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, and for every and either of them, doth covenant, promise, and grant, to and with the said Henry Sandys, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and to and with every and either of them, by these presents, that he the said Humphrey Noye, in consideration of the said marriage, at or before the feast of All Saints next ensuing, shall and will in due form of law convey, settle, and assure, to and for the use of the said Hester, his intended wife, so much of his lands and tenements as shall be of the clear yearly value of three hundred pounds, by the year, for and during the term of the natural life of her, the said Hester, for and in lieu of her jointure, freed and discharged of and from all and all manner of incumbrances whatsoever, the security thereof to be made in such manner and form as by Counsel learned in the law, of the said Henry Sandys and Humphrey Noye, shall be reasonably devised, advised, or required.
“In witness whereof the parties abovesaid, to these present indentures, interchangeably have set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.”
The seals appended under the signatures Henry Sandys and Hester Sandys, bear the impressions: Argent, a cross raguly Sable; arms of their maternal ancestors, Sandys, of The Vine.
This lady’s grandfather, Sir Edwin Sandys, nephew of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York, whose family originated from St. Bees, in Cumberland, bearing for their arms, Or, a fess dancette between three crosses crosslet fitchy Gules; married Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of William Baron Sandys, of The Vine, by tenure in fee, under a writ of summons issued by King Henry VIII. on the 3d of November 1529, in the 21st year of his reign. Their son Henry Sandys, party to the above marriage settlement, married his first cousin Margaret, daughter of Sir William Sandys, of Hedbury, in the County of Worcester, and lost his life in one of the battles of the Civil War, in 1644. They had several children, of whom William, Henry, and Edwin, were in succession summoned to Parliament on the right deduced from their grandmother, and with the last of these the barony fell again into abeyance. Hester, their eldest sister, married Colonel Humphrey Noye, and their daughter, Catharine, on the 21st of July 1679, married William Davies, of St. Erth. John Davies, their son and ultimate heir, married Elizabeth Phillips, of Tredrea; and their daughter and heiress married the Rev. Edward Giddy, whose only son is the Editor of this work.
Another daughter of Colonel Humphrey Noye and Hester Sandys, christened Bridgman, in remembrance of Sir Orlando Bridgman, an early friend and patron of the Attorney-general, married Mr. John Willyams of Roseworthy, in Gwiniar, and, dying without issue, left him Carnanton, which had fallen to her share. Mr. Willyams married secondly Dorothy, daughter of Mr. John Day, by whom he had two sons.
John, the elder, married the daughter and heiress of Mr. Oliver, a gentleman of Falmouth. They had a son, Mr. John Oliver Willyams, for many years Colonel of the Cornwall Militia; and a daughter Ann, married to Mr. William Lemon, jun. only son of the great Mr. Lemon. The younger son was James; whose son James Willyams succeeded to Carnanton, under the will of his first cousin John Oliver Willyams, in the year 1809; and his son, Humphrey Willyams, Esq. now resides there, having so much altered and improved the house and gardens, as to place Carnanton among the gentlemen’s residences of the first class in Cornwall.
Thomas Willyams, a Captain in the Navy (brother of Mr. John Willyams, who married Miss Bridgman Noye,) married ―――― Fox, of Deal; they left a son John Willyams, also a Captain in the Navy, who married Anne Goodyere, and their son, the Reverend Cooper Willyams, Rector of Kingston, near Canterbury, is known to the world by various publications:
A History of Sudeley Castle.
A Campaign in the West Indies, with the reduction of the Island of Martinique, &c.
A Voyage up the Mediterranean, with description of the Battle of the Nile; and some others.
He married Elizabeth Snell, of Whitby.
Mr. Cooper Willyams died July the 17th, 1816, leaving two sons and two daughters.
The late Mr. John Oliver Willyams related to me an anecdote, illustrative of the contingencies which are incident to human life, and of the concatenation between public and private events.
His grandfather, Mr. John Willyams, had undertaken a journey to Oxford in the year 1685, but was stopped at Exeter by the Duke of Monmouth’s invasion; he returned in company with a gentleman of St. Columb, and remained there a few days, where at some public exhibition he met with Miss Bridgman Noye, who soon afterwards became his wife.
Mr. Hals devotes some pages to the virulent abuse of Colonel Humphrey Noye, against whom it is obvious that he must have entertained a personal animosity; but the Editor, having omitted various similar effusions, hopes that he shall not be accused of any partial favour towards his own ancestors, by omitting this also, which does not carry with it the semblance of truth.
Mawgan in Pider measures 6078 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 4016 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 360 6 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 543 | 622 | 580[6] | 745 giving an increase of 37 per cent. in 30 years. Present Rector, the Rev. Philip Carlyon, instituted on his own presentation in 1806. Net income in 1831, 585_l._
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
This parish is situated entirely within the calcareous series, and its rocks are the same as those of the adjoining parishes, St. Colomb Major and St. Evall.
The parish feast is celebrated on the nearest Sunday to St. James’s Day, July the 25th.
[5] Probably a Bishop in Partibus Infidelium.
[6] Perhaps 680.
ST. MELLION, OR ST. MELLYN.
HALS.
St. Mellyn Rectory is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Kellaton, east St. Dominick, south Pillaton, west Quethiock.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia Sanctæ Meliani in decanatu de East £4. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £11. 12_s._ 6_d._ The patronage in Coryton; the incumbent ――――; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, for one year, £96. 13_s._
Niew-tone, now Newton, synonymous words, signifying after the English Saxon a new town, was another district or voke lands of a manor taxed in the Domesday Book, 1087; which lordship for many ages hath been the seat of that ancient British family surnamed de Coryton.
William Coryton, Esq. Member of Parliament for Killaton, was one of those imprisoned Members of Parliament, temp. Charles I. 1628, who asserted the prerogative of Parliament, the liberty and property of the subject, against the despotic and arbitrary power of the Monarch, set up by Noye, his Attorney-general; for which he was fined five hundred pounds, and could not be delivered from prison till he had paid that sum, but forced to make a submission and acknowledgment of his offence, and put in security for his good behaviour.
He was the father of Sir John Coryton, of this place, who, the 27th February 13 Charles II. 1661, was by his letters patent of that date, created the 605th Baronet of England. He married Mills of Exeter, and had issue by her Sir John Coryton, Bart. his eldest son; who married one of the heirs of Mr. Richard Chiverton, Knight, bred a Skinner in London, and was Lord Mayor of that city 9 Charles II. 1657, by whom he had issue two daughters. He was Sheriff of Cornwall, 1682.
After his decease his younger brother, William Coryton, Esq. Barrister-at-law, succeeded to his honour and estate; who married the daughter of Sir Theophilus Biddulph, of Westcomb, in Kent, the 744th Baronet of England, by letters patent, bearing date 2 November 16 Charles II.; by whom he had issue Sir John Coryton, Bart. now extant.
After Sir William’s first wife’s death, he married the widow and relict of Thomas Williams, Gent. a goldsmith or banker of Lombard Street, in London; by whom, though a very aged woman, to recompence that defect he had much riches or wealth. After his death she married Sir Nicholas Trevanion, of St. Germans, who followed in marriage the Delphic Oracle’s direction, and Dion’s,
Refuse noe woman nere soe old, Whose marriage bringeth store of gold.
His sisters, Anne was married to John Peter, of Porthcuthan, Esq. and Catherine to Clarke and Dobbins, and ―――― to Goodall, of Fowey, Esq.
The arms of Coryton are Argent, a cross saltier Sable.
Croca-don, or Croucadon, Cruco-don, words of one signification, signifying bank, hillock or tumulus, hill or town; a place notable for barrows, wherein human creatures were heretofore interred, before and after the Roman Invasion. (See Tacitus in the life of Agricola.) This place was the dwelling of Charles Trevisa, Gent. that married with Fortescue; who giveth for his arms, Gules, a garb Or. Denominated, I suppose from Trevisa, or Tre-wisa, in St. Enedor, and originally descended from John Trevisa, born in Gloucestershire (as Baker saith), who being for some time bred in Oxford, afterwards took orders, and became a secular priest, that might marry; and then became domestic chaplain to Thomas Lord Berkeley, by whom he was afterwards made Vicar of Berkeley in Gloucestershire; where, at that Lord’s request, he translated the Sacred Bible into the English tongue, though the same was done by John Wickliff fifty years before, but not with that perfection of language that Trevisa did it; although Trevisa’s translation is altogether as far short of Tyndall’s in Henry the Eighth’s days, by reason the English tongue was still improving to a higher perfection; and yet Tyndall’s translation was far inferior to that of King James I. notwithstanding they all agree in the original substance, sense, and meaning of words in those translations; wherein Wickliff, Trevisa, and Tyndall, made use of infinite Cornish-British words to express the same. Neither is the last translation of King James I. altogether void of them.
Mr. Trevisa also translated Bartholomew de Proprietatibus Rerum; the Poly-chronicon of Ralph Higden; a treatise of all the Acts of King Arthur; and divers other things. Lastly, this learned and painful priest died about the year 1470, aged about eighty-six years.
Westcot, in this parish, was another district taxed in the Domesday Book, 1087; it is now the dwelling, as I take it, of Mr. William Brendon, Gent.
In this parish is Pentyley, or Pillaton, a house and church built and so named by Mr. James Tillie, afterwards knighted, and married the widow of Sir John Coryton.
Since the writing of the above premises, about the year 1712, Sir James Tillie died, and as I am informed, by his last will and testament, obliged his adopted heir, one Woolley his sister’s son, not only to assume his name, (having no legitimate issue) but that he should not inter his body after death in the earth, but fasten it in the chair where he died with iron, his hat, wig, rings, gloves, and best apparel on, shoes and stockings, and surround the same with an oak chest, box, or coffin, in which his books and papers should be laid, with pen and ink also; and build for reception thereof, in a certain field of his lands, a walled vault or grot, to be arched with moorstone; in which repository it should be laid without Christian burial; for that as he said but an hour before he died, in two years space he would be at Pentillie again; over this vault his heir likewise was obliged to build a fine chamber, and set up therein the picture of him, his lady, and adopted heir for ever; and at the end of this vault and chamber to erect a spire or lofty monument of stone, from thence for spectators to overlook the contiguous country, Plymouth Sound and Harbour; all which as I am told is accordingly performed by his heir, whose successors are obliged to repair the same for ever out of his lands and rents, under penalty of losing both.
However I hear lately, notwithstanding this his promise of returning in two years space to Pentiley, that Sir James’s body is eaten out with worms, and his bones or skeleton fallen down to the ground from the chair wherein it was seated, about four years after it was set up; his wig, books, wearing apparel, also rotten in the box or chair where it was first laid.
TONKIN.
I take this parish, as well as Mullion in Kerrier, to take its name from its tutelar saint, Melania. The church is a rectory; the patronage in Sir John Coryton.
The principal manor and seat in this parish is West Newton Ferrers, so called from its relative situation to another Newton, and from its ancient lords the Ferrers. As for the name Newton, it signifies no other than the plain meaning of the word, a new town or house. In the valuation made by Edward the First this manor is called Newton, without any addition, as is the case at present in common speech.
William de Ferrers was Knight of this shire with Thomas Sereod, Knight, 8 Edward II.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Hals has given a long history of St. Melania, the supposed patron of this church, containing, however, little more than the usual details of effects produced by the ascetic fanaticism popular in those days. Personal sufferings and privations were then endured, under a persuasion that bodily pain, mental stupidity, and a course of life utterly useless to the human race, could alone ensure the divine favour, in opposition to the sentiments,
Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi; Quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat; Quique pii vates et Phœbo digna locuti; Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes; Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo.
Newton came into the family of Coryton, by a marriage with the heiress of Ferrers, and continued till that family became extinct in the male line, on the decease of Sir John Coryton in 1739, who gave the property to his widow Rachael, a daughter of Weston Helyar, Esq. of East Coker in Somersetshire; and it has continued with her relations nearly to the present time, under an entail, which carried Newton from Mr. Weston Helyar, probably a great-grandson of the gentleman above mentioned, to several other younger brothers; till the failure of heirs male in all these brought it back to the son or grandson of the elder brother, who, wishing to concentrate his property in Somersetshire, has parted with the whole Cornish estate to Edward Collins, Esq. of Truthan.
Although Sir John Coryton alienated his principal seat and manor by this bequest to his widow, he devised a large share of the family property to the descendants of his eldest sister Elizabeth, who married William Goodall, of Fowey; and their grandson, on succeeding to the estate, assumed the name of Coryton. The present representative of this ancient family, John Tillie Coryton, Esq. has built a magnificent house or castle at Pentilly in a most beautiful situation, on the Tamar river, so that he need not regret the loss of Newton.
Sir John Coryton had two other sisters, one of whom, Johanna, married John Peter, of Harlyn, Esq. The third sister married a gentleman of the name of Vaughan.
In addition to the tales relative to Sir James Tillie’s funeral direction, Mr. Hals has added several others, all to this gentleman’s disadvantage, but not in any way illustrative of the times in which he lived, or of the general manners prevalent in the country: they are therefore omitted, with the exception of one respecting armorial bearings.
It is certain that Mr. Tillie was one of those persons, most justly esteemed, who advance themselves in the world without being beholden in any considerable degree to their ancestors. Mr. Tillie was knighted by King James II. and then not finding himself provided with a coat of arms, he assumed, as Mr. Hals states, the blazon of Count Tillie, a German Prince, which coming to the knowledge of King James, an inquisition was ordered, the fact was established, and a fine imposed on the knight, in addition to the demolition of the assumed arms, with some acts of indignity.
It is moreover proper to add, that although Sir James Tillie did without all question express some absurd fancies in respect to his mortal remains, which were in part executed, yet they are far from bearing the colour of impiety cast on them by Mr. Hals, and still less are they chargeable with the blasphemies imputed to them by Mr. Gilpin.
The church and tower are plain on the outside, but within are several handsome monuments to the Corytons.
It seems much more probable that this church is dedicated to Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, and third Archbishop of Canterbury, than to an obscure African lady.
Bede has given various particulars of this eminent person, and his life may be found in Capgrave’s Aurea Legenda. He led a second body of missionaries in aid of the great St. Austin, and the conversion of a Pagan temple into a Christian church, since expanded into St. Paul’s Cathedral, and also the foundation of Westminster Abbey, are imputed to him. He departed this life on the 24th of April, in the year 624.
St. Mellion measures 2410 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 1928 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 163 8 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 284 | 326 | 321 | 330 giving an increase of 16 per cent. in 30 years. The Rev. George Fortescue died Rector of St. Mellion in 1835.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The Geology of this parish is precisely the same as that of St. Dominick.
MENHENIOT.
HALS.
Men-hyn-yet, Men-hin-iet vicarage, is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Linkinhorne, east Quethiock, south St. Germans, west Leskeard. For the modern name of this parish, it is taken from the manor of Men-hin-iet within the same; which is compounded or conjugated of Cornish and Saxon, and signifies old or ancient stone gate; for the terminative particle yet, jet, in Saxon signifies a gate (as porth in British). This manor is one of the franchises of Cornwall, privileged with the jurisdiction and freedom of a court leet, for plea of debt or damage between party and party, within the precincts thereof, by the Kings of England or Earls of Cornwall; and hath its steward and bailiff to attend the public services thereof, as the hundred of East hath.
At the time of the Norman Conquest this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Trehavock, now Trehawke, of which more under. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish benefices, 1294, Ecclesia de Manyhynyet, (id est, English Saxon, and Cornish, many ancient or old gate,) in decanatu de Est, is rated £8. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £21. 15_s._ 4_d._ The patronage in Exeter College, in Oxford; none but Fellows admittable to the cure; the incumbent Snell; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. £332. 6_s._ by the name of Men-hyn-iet, as aforesaid.
Men is the common contraction of meyn, mein, main, a stone; and hyn, him, the corruption of hen, heyn, hain, old, ancient. See Floyd upon Lapis.
This manor of Men-hyn-yet, as I remember, was formerly the lands of one Carmenow, a soldier or military man; by whose daughter and heir it came first in marriage to Trelawny, in Edward the Fourth’s days. Within the precincts of which lordship is situate the house and barton of Poole, so called after the English from the natural circumstances of the place; where, by reason of the level or evenness of the town place, in winter season many lakes and pools of water stand. Of which place thus speaks Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall: “Poole, for its lowe and moyst seate, is not unaptly named, houseth Sir Jonathan Trelawny, far beneath his worth and callinge. He marryed Sir Henry Killigrew’s daughter, his father the coheir of Reskimer, his grandfather Lamellyn’s inheritrix. His arms are Argent, a chevron Sable, between three oak leaves Vert.”
There is a public fair held yearly in this church town, on June 11.
Ten-creek, Den-creek, in this parish, was formerly the lands and possessions of Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, second son of King John; who probably at some time lived at it (as also at his castle of Leskeard), for in the old dilapidated houses of this once famous fabric, I saw the ruins of a moorstone oven, about fourteen foot diameter, in testimony of the hospitality once kept here. And moreover, in the front of the castlewise moorstone gate, or portal, I beheld his arms cut in stone; viz. within a bordure bezantée, a lion rampant crowned, whose arms in colours I think ought to be thus blazoned: ill port ung lyon rampant de Gowles, en Argent, bordure de Sable, talentée.
Here groweth a sort of tree, bearing a strange sort of leaves and fruit, or berries, not seen in any other part of Cornwall, and therefore without name given it by me or others.
Tre-havock, in this parish, Cornish Saxon, id est, the hawk town, was taxed in the Domesday Book, 1087, as the voke lands of a parish or manor which now is suitably called after the Cornish English Tre-hauke; for that it seems heretofore it was a place notable for keeping, mewing, or breeding hawks (or for that those lands were held by the tenure of paying hawks to its lord); from which place was denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Tre-hauke, who gave for their arms, in a field Sable, a chevron between three hawks. It is now in the possession of Peter Keckwich, Esq. descended from the Keckwiches of Catch-French, as they were from the Keckwiches of Essex; who give for their arms, Argent, two lions in bend passant Sable, cottised Gules.
Cur-tuth-oll, lands as I am informed heretofore pertaining to the nuns or nunnery of Clares, at Leskeard, according to the name thereof; after whose dissolution, 32 Henry VIII. it came to Becket, who gave for his arms, in a field Sable, a fess between three boar’s heads couped, and six cross-crosslets fitchee Or; in memory of the Archbishop.
From Becket this place came by sale to Harris; from Harris to Hamlyn; from Hamlyn to Cole, now in possession thereof, who was steward to Francis Roberts, Esq. and got riches in the service of the Earl of Radnor.
Tre-wint, in this parish, id est, the spring or well town, is the dwelling of Thomas Kelly, Gent.
Dr. John Moorman, Vicar of this church, was the first minister in Cornwall that said or taught the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Creed in the English tongue. (See Feock and Creed.) He also catechised the children therein; which I judge was in the latter end of King Henry the Eighth’s, or the beginning of King Edward the Sixth’s reign, 1549; for then by proclamation were called in all books of the Latin service for churches; and the Bishops commanded in their several dioceses that forthwith should be warned, all prebendaries of their cathedral churches, all parsons, vicars, curates, and the churchwardens of every parish within their dioceses, to bring in and deliver up particularly.
In this parish was formerly extant a hospital for lepers, that had competent lands and revenues.
TONKIN.
Pool, adjoining to the church town, was the seat of the Trelawnys, and their chief dwelling for many generations, till they fixed at their present one of Trelawen, in the parish of Pelynt. The chief manor in this parish is called Menheniot, or Tregelly.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this large and opulent parish is of size proportioned to it, having three large aisles. The tower is low and surmounted by a spire. In the church are some monuments, but not of much antiquity.
Archbishop Courtenay appears to have settled the right of presentation to this parish, by giving it to the Chapter of Exeter, with the limitation of their always bestowing it on some one who is at the time, or has been, a Fellow of Exeter College. The vicarage is endowed with the great tithes, on a payment of £20 a year to Exeter College, and it is therefore considered as a rectory. Mr. Carew observes (p. 277, Lord de Dunstanville’s edition) that this parish has been successively graced with three well born and well educated incumbents, Doctor Tremayne, Master Billett, and Master Dennis; and it is believed that William of Wykeham held this preferment for some time previously to Archbishop Courtenay’s endowment.
The late incumbent, the Reverend William Holwell, may be noticed for his taste and skill in the fine arts. He was the son of a medical practitioner at Exeter, and nephew of William Holwell, student and tutor of Christ Church soon after the middle of the last century, and then Vicar of Thornbury, in Gloucestershire, where he died in 1798, having distinguished himself by the following, among other works:
The Beauties of Homer, selected from the Iliad, 8vo.
Extracts from Pope’s Translations of Homer compared with the Beauties of the Original. 8vo.
A Mythological, Etymological, and Historical Dictionary. 8vo.
Mr. William Holwell, the nephew, was of course a Fellow of Exeter College. He travelled through France and Italy about the year 1780, where he began forming a collection of pictures, bequeathed on his decease to the National Gallery. He is said to have taken Orders with some reluctance, for the purpose of accepting this valuable living. But the most important event in this gentleman’s life was his marrying Charlotte, daughter and heiress of James Carr, Earl of Erroll. He in consequence assumed the name of Carr. He died in the year 1830, having survived his wife nearly twenty years, who has a monument to her memory in Menheniot church.
In the valuation of Pope Nicholas, the name of this parish is written Manyhinyhet, or Saihinet, proofs of the small reliance that can be placed on mere phonic etymologies.
Cartuther, noticed by Mr. Hals, became the property and the residence of the Morsheads, but having been sold, with all the other possessions of that family, it was purchased by Mr. Kekewich.
Mr. Lysons gives a detail of other manors and bartons of little interest.
This parish has the reputation of being the most fertile of corn, especially of wheat, in the whole county. The aspect of the church town gives a strong impression of monastic remains, but there is not any tradition on record of a religious establishment in the place.
Menheniot measures 6047 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 10599 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 1422 11 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 918 | 1024 | 1170 | 1253 giving an increase of 36½ per cent. in thirty years.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
The southern part of this parish is bounded by the hill of Clicker Tor, which is entirely composed of a dark compact serpentine, abounding in steatite, asbestos, tremolite, and other magnesian minerals. The occurrence of this large mass of serpentine, amidst an extensive tract of rocks belonging to the calcareous series, imparts no little geological interest to this parish, which deserves therefore to be more minutely examined; for the cursory observations hitherto published have not satisfactorily developed the connection of this serpentine with the adjoining rocks. In crossing the parish from north to south, the rocks are first seen to consist of compact felspar and hornblend, resembling those at Rosecradock in St. Clear; next they become more schistose, and the hornblend forms only the colouring material, as it does on the north of Leskeard town; at Pengover the hornblend again abounds, and is intermixed with calcareous spar, as in the vicinity of St. Ives. Approaching the church of Menheniot, the rocks again put on the appearance of a true hornblend schist, and this is succeeded by the serpentine of Clicker Tor.
THE EDITOR.
Not only is the serpentine of the Lizard found at Clicker Tor, but the plant also indicative of that formation, the great ornament of our southern promontory, the ERRICA VAGANS, the multiflora of Hudson and Ray, and the didyma of Withering. Nothing seems to be more extraordinary, nor what, independently of experience, would be more unexpected, than the existence of the same rare plants at distant and unconnected places, where the peculiarities of soil and climate happen to agree; but to increase the wonder still further, even this diffusion has its limits. The southern hemisphere is said not to be decorated by a single wild rose, the Ανασσα Ανθων of the northern world. And the whole continent of America is believed not to produce a single heath.
Our preconceptions of what would be fitting for intelligences superior to our own, and a fortiori as to what might be expected from infinite wisdom and power, have been established beyond the shadow of a doubt by SIR ISAAC NEWTON, in respect to the great bodies moving in our universe. They perform all their revolutions in obedience to the simple and general laws of gravity and inertia; and the rapidly progressive discoveries of each succeeding year, establish the same principle respecting causes acting conformably to general laws in the internal construction, preservation, and renovation of our planet; and we are moreover induced to believe that a like system must prevail in the moral world, not from analogy alone, but from a deep conviction that such a plan, and no other, can reconcile the existence of partial evil with universal good: and thus conciliate the actual state of things with the attributes of unlimited goodness, wisdom, and power; but in respect to animal and vegetable life, although an arrangement as plain and as demonstrative of infinite wisdom may exist, it is, in the actual state of our knowledge, utterly hidden from our view. Thousands of distinct species or genera have ceased to exist, and their remains, varying from the most gigantic skeletons to objects suited for a microscope, are daily brought under our view――animals and plants have succeeded each other in the various geological periods, tending in succession towards more elaborate construction and greater general perfection; but not a trace is laid before us of the plan by which this beautiful system is arranged; our ignorance compels us therefore to suppose the immediate agency of THE DIVINITY itself, when a plant indigenous to an old formation appears on one more recently elevated to the surface; or when any of the innumerable changes take place in an organized inhabitant of this or of some other plant.
ST. MERRAN, MERIN, OR MER-YN.
HALS.
Mer-in or Mer-yn, is situated in the hundred of Pedyr, and hath upon the north the Irish sea, west St. Evall, south St. Ervyn, north-east Padstow.
In the Domesday Book this district was taxed by the name of Trevoes or Trevose, id est, the maid or virgin’s town; then and now the voke lands of a manor annexed to Pawton, or Polton, (parcel of the lands of the Prior of Bodman and Bishop of Exon before the Norman Conquest,) on the confines of which, towards the sea, is yet extant the ruins of an old church, chapel, and cemetery pertaining thereto, dedicated to St. Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome: which, upon the encroachment of the sea-sand on the marsh beneath, which surrounded and overwhelmed the same, was discontinued, and thereby gave occasion to the inhabitants to build their now church of Merin in a more secure place, further up in the country from the sea and sand, and moor or marsh ground; the church of St. Constantine being in part converted now to a dwelling house for poor people.
Near this church is yet extant St. Constantine’s Well, strong built of stone and arched over; on the inner part hereof are places or seats for people to sit and wash themselves in the streams thereof; the consequence of which facts, if the inhabitants may be credited, is not only very refreshing and salubrious, but, if it be dry weather, immediately showers of rain will follow.
The barton of Trevose is now, by lease, in possession of Gregory Peter, Esq. and Lawrence Growden, that well-known Quaker, the reversionary fee pertaining to Sir Nicholas Morice, Baronet, as parcel of his manor of Pawton; and is a large lofty promontory of land, shooting out far into the Irish sea, beyond all other lands there, yet notable for its production of sheep, barley, and rabbits, and not altogether unprofitable for bullocks in winter season; and as fatal and unfortunate for wrecking ships, that happen by night or stormy weather to fall on the rocks thereof, at that or any other time.
Arel-yn, alias Har-lyn, in this parish. This barton is the dwelling of my very kind friend and brother-in-law, Gregory Peter, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall part of the last year of William III. and first of Queen Anne, 1701; he married Elizabeth, daughter of Gove of Devon, the relict of William Wadland, merchant, by whom he had issue two sons, William and John; William died without issue, and John that married Anne, the daughter of Sir John Coryton, of Newton, Baronet, by whom he hath a numerous issue of children of both sexes. After the death of the said Elizabeth, he married the daughter of Anthony Carveth, of Peransand, Gent. his cousin-german removed, and hath issue by her Francis Peter.
Gregory Peter aforesaid was the son of Thomas Peter, of Treater, in Padstow, Gent. who married the daughter and heir of Mitchell, lord of Harlyn; the which Thomas Peter was the son of John Peter, of Trenaran, in Padstow, Gent. that married Toms, as John Peter was the son of John Peter of Trenaran, that married Kestell.
Whether this surname of Peter be derived from the Christian or font name of some of their ancestors, or from their being ancient inhabitants of Pedyrstowe, id est, Peter’s dwelling, now Padstow, I cannot resolve. Their arms are in a field Gules, on a bend between two escallops Argent, two Cornish dawes Proper; much resembling the arms of the Lord Petre of Exeter, now of Essex.
If this church of Merin, or Meran, were extant, it was not endowed with any revenues at the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, since it is not named therein. And the five churches of Peran-sand, St. Agnes, St. Colomb Minor, St. Breock, Lanhidrock, were then under the same circumstances.
The tutelar guardian of this new church of Merin is St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose festival is duly celebrated by the inhabitants of this parish of Meran on July the 7th, being commonly called his day, a hundred and twenty-two years after his death made a calendered Saint, who was slain at the altar in his cathedral church of Canterbury, the 30th of December 1172.
In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, this vicarage of Merin was valued for its revenues £15. 16_s._ 8_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, or the Dean and Chapter, who endowed it; the incumbent Gurney; the rectory or sheaf in possession of Francis Peter aforesaid; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax for one year, 1696, £241.
One Margaret Tregoweth, of Crantock, temp. Henry VII. gave lands in Harlyn, viz. a dwelling-house and garden, with commons there, towards the repair of blessed St. Meran and St. Thomas Becket’s church, of about £12 per annum for ever. [But who this Sanctus Meranus, or St. Meran, was I know not.]
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin does not add any thing to the history of this parish except the following assertion.
This parish takes its name from a female patroness, Sancta Merina, so that the name should be written Merin.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Tonkin has not given any information respecting St Merina, nor is any such name to be found.
The barton of Harlyn, or Arlyn, belonged to the family of Tregewe; from that family it passed by a marriage to the family of Michell, and with the heiress of Michell to Peter. Perthcothen, which belonged to the family of Trevethen, is now the seat of another Mr. Peter.
The manor of Trevose having formed a part of the very extensive property acquired by the Roberts’s, was purchased from them by the Morices of Werington, and in the division of property between the coheiresses of that family, it fell to the share of Molesworth of Pencanow; one part of it is held on lease by Mr. Peter, of Harlyn, and another belonged to the late Mr. Rawlings, of Padstow.
There is not any thing remarkable about the church. The stone in that immediate neighbourhood, at a place called Catacluse, is very favourable for building, and for ornamental work, as may be seen in the fonts at this church and at Padstow, and also in the ruins of the old church, dedicated to Constantine.
The Editor has been favoured with the following communication respecting this ancient building, by William Peter, Esq. of Harlyn.
“Constantine church is now in ruins, and the parish (if it ever was one) has been long merged in that of St. Merryn. The festival of Constantine is still celebrated by an annual hurling match, on which occasion the owner of Harlyn supplies, and has (according to parish tradition) from time immemorial supplied, the silver ball.
“Adjoining the church of Constantine was a cottage which a family of the name of Edwards held for generations, under the proprietors of Harlyn, by the annual render of a pie, made of limpets, raisins, and various herbs, on the eve of the festival. This pie, as I have heard from my father and from more ancient members of the family, and from old servants, was excellent. The Edwards’s had pursued for centuries the occupation of shepherds on Harlyn and Constantine commons. The last died about forty years ago, and the wreck of their cottage is almost buried in sand.”
The font and the pillars of Constantine church are handsomely carved out of Catacluse stone, and Mr. Peter adds, that the font was transferred by his great-grandfather to St. Merryn Church, when it underwent a thorough repair.
Under Catacluse Cliffs is a small pier, constructed by the late Mr. Peter for the shelter of coasting vessels and boats.
The feast of Constantine is kept on the nearest Sunday to the 10th of March.
The feast in honour of the comparatively modern Saint to whom St. Merryn Church is dedicated, is celebrated on the nearest Sunday to July the 7th, the Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury (Becket).
The great tithes belong to the Chapter of Exeter, and the Bishop collates to the vicarage. It has been remarked that three successive gentlemen of the name of Gurney held the living for above a century.
The diversion of hurling, mentioned by Mr. Peter as taking place on the festival in honour of Constantine, is now wholly discontinued, or kept up on this particular occasion as a mere remembrance of former times, when the manners of society were more adapted to such rude exertions of activity and strength. For an account of hurling see Carew, p. 195, Lord Dunstanville’s edition.
St. Merran measures 3,644 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 4,084 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 428 18 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 425 | 458 | 537 | 576 giving an increase of 35½ per cent. in 30 years. The Rev. John Bayley, the present Vicar of St. Merryn, was collated in 1803 by the Bishop of Exeter.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The rocks of the southern part of this parish resemble those of St. Ervan, but near the church a lamelar blue slate prevails, like that of Endellion, and like it also abounding in veins of the sulphurets of lead and of antimony.
The western part of the parish, which extends into the sea, forming a promontory called Trevose Head, is composed of crystalline rocks, which are massive, and differ from all the rocks that are interposed between it and the granite of St. Dennis. Both the composition and the relative situation of these rocks are very interesting. They appear to be the equivalents of the masses of serpentine of Clicker Tor, and of the Lizard district; of the felspathic rocks which form the downs between Launceston and Davidstow; and of that curious mass of rock at King Arthur’s Castle, in Tintagel. Geologists have yet to learn the precise relation of these crystalline masses with the calcareous series in which they are situated.
MERTHYR.
HALS.
Merthyr, Murder, vicarage, is situated in the hundred of Powder, and hath upon the north and east Probus and Tresilian river, south Lamoran and St. Michael Penkivell, west an arm of Falmouth Harbour, towards Clemens. As for the name, it refers to the tutelar patron and guardian saint of the church, who it seems was murdered and slain for the Christian religion, as a martyr; viz. one St. Cohan, a Briton of this parish, whose little well, and consecrated chapel annexed thereto, was lately extant, upon the lands of Egles Merthyr barton, (that is to say upon the lands of the Martyr’s Church,) though now in a manner demolished by greedy searchers for money.
This church goes in presentation and consolidation as a daughter to St. Probus, which vicar is to present the curate, vicar, or chaplain of Merthyr to the Bishop for licence and confirmation; though the eight men of the said parish are by ancient custom to choose and name him, in consideration whereof the vicar of Probus is to receive annually from them, on the high altar, three shillings and four pence.
However, great controversies have happened in the Bishop’s Consistory between the vicar of Probus and the inhabitants of this parish, before and since Henry the Eighth’s days, upon the death, removal, or translations of the vicar of Probus, concerning the right of the jurisdiction, presentation, or patronage of this church; whether in the vicar of Probus, or the eight men of the said parish, the vicar presenting one clerk or curate to be confirmed by the Bishop, and the eight men another; but generally it hath passed as a rule in the Ecclesiastical Court, where this matter, by learned counsel or proctors, hath been debated, that the right of patronage and presentation of this church lay in the eight men of the parish, and not in the vicar of Probus, though the same hath been often controverted.
There is a Latin deed which I have seen yet extant, between Bar. Combe, vicar-general to Dr. Peter Courtenay, Lord Bishop of Exeter, 1480, under seal of the diocese, and John Fullford, perpetual vicar of Probus of the one part, and Thomas Tresithney, John Hallvose, Thomas Webber, and others of the eight men of the parish of Merthyr on the other part, wherein those premises are concerted or regulated; and moreover, therein a confirmation, covenant, or agreement, made and established between them, according to ancient custom; that in case the said eight men and their successors should annually pay to the vicar or curate of the said parish of St. Cohan Martyr, of Merthyr, for ever annually the full and just sum of twenty marks lawful moneys of England, that then the lands of the said parish, and every part and parcel thereof should be exempt and free from the payment of small tithes in kind, oblations, or obventions to the vicar thereof for ever. Which privilege hath ever since been kept and enjoyed by the inhabitants of the said parish accordingly; to the great loss of the vicar, and greater gain of the inhabitants.
Now, though when this compact was made and confirmed, the vicar had much the better bargain, not one vicarage church in Cornwall being of that value in the King’s or Pope’s Books towards Annats in the first inquisition, 1294, nor many in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1520; yet now the inhabitants have great profit thereby, since the plenty or commonness of money lessens the intrinsic value thereof, whereby much number of money will buy but little lands, goods, or chattels, whereas in those days a little quantity of money would purchase much of those things. (Witness Baker, and other our chronologers, temp. Henry VII. soon after the compact aforesaid was made, wherein we may read that a bushel of wheat, Winchester measure, was sold for 6_d._, a bushel of salt for 3½_d._, a ton of Gascoign wines 40_s._, and all other things sold after a proportionable price.)
In the Domesday Book, 1087, this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Penkivell. Afterwards, upon the setting up the vicarage of Probus, it was concerted into that parish about the beginning of King Henry the Third’s days; for in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, its superior or mother church was rated for it, as also the five chaplains for their salaries, that officiated in Probus, Cornelly, and Merthyr. It was endowed by the treasurer of the cathedral church of Exeter, which must be after that dignitary was first set up there, by William Brewar, Bishop thereof 1224. The patronage as aforesaid; the incumbent, Monsieur Baudree, a French Protestant; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. £83.
At Tre-saws-an, alias Tre-saus-an, id est, the Saxon town, or dwelling, a place heretofore pertaining to some Saxon, is the possession by lease of James Hals, Gent., granted him by his mother in the time of her widowhood, as parcel of the manor of Fentongollan, whereon she had power of leasing during her widowhood. He was a younger son of Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fentongollan, Knight, by Grace his wife, daughter of Sir John Arundell, of Talverne, Knight; and was first bred a soldier in Pendenis Castle, whereof his father was Governor, under King James I. and Charles I. Afterwards he was made lieutenant of his brother Captain William Hals, in the expedition of the Duke of Buckingham in the French war, at the Isle of Rhé and Rochelle. And after that war was over was sent with his said brother by King Charles I. with a foot company of soldiers to supply or reinforce the garrisons of the Barbadoes, St. Christopher’s, and Mountserat Islands in America, where he remained about seven years; and after his brother’s death, who died returning into England, Captain Ayleworth was displaced, and the said James Hals made Governor of Mountserat Island, by King Charles I.
After which, the wars breaking out in England, between that King and his Parliament, he and divers other officers were commanded to return back into England for the King’s service; where soon after his arrival at Plymouth, that stood for the Parliament, then besieged by the King’s army, he was cajoled out of his allegiance to King Charles I. by his country gentlemen then in that place in garrison, and engaged against that King, to become Lieutenant-Colonel to Colonel Nicholas Boscawen’s troop of horse, then posted there. From whence he was commanded, with several other troops of horse, to go outside the lines, under conduct of the Earl of Stamford, then Governor of Plymouth for the Parliament, and to fight the King’s army that besieged it under conduct of Sir Ralph Hopton, Knight, and Sir Richard Grenvill, Knight and Baronet, the King’s Generals in the West; where, after a sharp engagement and loss of many men between both parties, the victory fell to the King’s army; and then and there the said James Hals, and many other gentlemen were taken prisoners of war, and forthwith sent prisoners to Lidford Castle in Devon, under custody of Marshall Ellery, of St. Colomb Major.
Where soon after several of his companions, or fellow officers and soldiers, viz. Mr. Leach, Mr. Morris, Mr. Brabyn, and others, were executed without trial or judgment, as guilty of high treason. But the said James Hals had his life spared or given him by the General Sir Richard Grenville, Knight, upon account of consanguinity, but not without many frowns and angry threats; (a sure token of his clemency, as his smiles and embraces were of death and destruction, suitable to those of King Richard III. and King James I. and Caius Caligula, Emperor of Rome,) to dissuade him from the Parliament service to that of the King’s, with promise of greater preferment in his army; all which proving ineffectual, he was sentenced a straight or close prisoner to that tremendous castle, in daily expectation of death; where he remained immured up for about twenty months space, in great want, durance, and misery, till General Essex came into those parts with the Parliament army, and set at liberty him and other Lidford prisoners, by Captain Braydon raised the siege of Plymouth, and sore distressed Hopton and Grenville in Cornwall.
During the time of this James Hals’ imprisonment in Lidford Castle, amongst others there came to visit him one Mr. Doctor William Brown, of Tavistock, who gave him a copy of rambling verses and observations he had made upon the borough and castle of Lidford, for his diversion; which verses, for want of the original, I find false and imperfectly set forth and printed in Mr. Prince’s Worthies of Devon, therefore I have hereunder set it down verbatim from the Doctor’s own copy, given Mr. Hals, viz.:
I oft have heard of Lidford Lawe, How in the morn they hang and draw, And sit in judgment after; At first I wondered at it much, But since I find the matter such, As it deserves noe laughter.
They have a castle on a hill; I took it for some old windmill, The vanes blown off by weather; To lie therein, one night ’tis gast, ’Twere better to be stoned or pressed, Or hanged when you come thither.
Ten men less room within this cave Than five mice in a lanthorn have; The Keepers they are sly ones; If any could devise by art To get it up into a cart, ’Twere fit to carry lions.
When I beheld it! Lord thought I, What justice, truth, or equity, Hath Lidford Castle hall; Where every one that there doth stay, Must first be hanged out of the way, ’Fore he can have his trial.
Prince Charles a hundred pounds hath sent, To mend the leads and planchins wrent, Within this living tomb, Some forty-five pounds more had paid The debts of all that shall be laid There till the day of doom.
One lies there for a seam of malt, Another for two pecks of salt, Two sureties for a noble; If this be true or else false news, You may go ask of Master Crew’s, John Vaughan, or John Doble.
Near to those men that lie in lurch, There’s a direful bridge and little church, Seven ashes and one oak; Two houses standing and ten down, They say the Rector hath a gown, But I saw ne’er a cloak.
Whereby you may consider well, What plain simplicity doth dwell At Lidford without bravery; Since in that town both young and grave Do love the naked truth to have, No cloak to hide their knavery.
This town’s inclosed with desert moors, Where tiger, wolf, and lion roars, And nought can live but hogs; All overturn’d with Noah’s flood; Of fourscore miles scarce one foot good; Where hills are wholly bogs.
And near unto the Gubbins Cave, A people that no knowledge have Of laws of God or men, Where Cæsar never yet subdued, Have lawless lived, of manners rude, All naked in their den.
By whom, if any pass that way, He dares not any time to stay, For presently the howl, Upon which signal they do muster Their naked forces in a cluster, Led forth by Roger Rowle.
The people all within this clime, Are frozen in the Winter time, Deprest with cold and pain; But when the Summer is begun, They lie like silkworms in the sun, And gather strength again.
’Twas told me, in King Cæsar’s time The town was built with stone and lime, But sure the walls are clay, For they are all fallen for ought I see: And since the houses are got free The town is run away.
O Cæsar, if thou there didst reign, Whilst one house stands come there again; (Come quickly whilst there is one) For if thou stay, but little fit, But five years more, they will commit The whole town to a prison.
To see it thus much grieved was I, The proverb saith ’sorrows be dry,’ So was I at this matter; When by good luck, I know not how, There thither came a straying cow, And we had milk and water.
To nine good stomachs, with a wig, At last we got a tithen pig; This diet was our bounds; And this was, just as if ’twere known, A pound of butter had been thrown Among a pack of hounds.
One glass of drink I got by chance, ’Twas Claret when it was in France, But then from it much wider; I think a man might make as good With green crabs boiled in Brazil wood, And half a pint of cider.
I kissed the Mayor’s hand of the town, Who though he wears no scarlet gown, Honours the Rose and Thistle; A piece of coral to the mace, Which there I saw to serve in place, Would make a good child’s whistle.
At six o’clock I came away, And prayed for those that were to stay Within that place so arrant; For my part I’ll come there no more, Unless it be on better score, Or forced by Tin Warrant.
This custom of executing malefactors before trial on common fame, was also an old law amongst the Germans and Swiss Cantons; and if upon trial, after execution done on the criminal, he or she appeared to be innocent, a priest was appointed to pray for his soul. (See Glover’s Somerset, and Duverdier’s History of the Swiss Cantons.)
The same law was in force amongst the people of Carinthia, a country adjoining to the Alps and Italy on the south, and Styria on the north; moreover, if upon the trial three days after the offender’s execution, he appeared to be guilty, his body should be left so long to hang upon the gibbet, till his members rotted piecemeal from his body. But if innocent they took it thence and gave it venerable obsequies, with prayers, oblations, and alms deed for the salvation of his soul.
This James Hals married Anne, one of the coheirs of John Martin, of Hurston, Gent. attorney-at-law, (lineally descended from the Martins of Pittle Town, in Dorset,) by Anne his wife, daughter of John Mundy, of Rialton, Esq. by Jane his wife, daughter of Walter Kendall, of Pellyn, Esq.; by whom he had issue James Hals, his eldest son and heir, that married Martha, daughter and heir of Thomas Penrose, of Lefeock, Gent. commander of the Bristol, Maidstone, and Monck frigates, during the several Dutch wars of Oliver Cromwell and King Charles II. with the States of Holland; by whom he hath issue James Hals, his eldest son, of Hungerford Park in Berkshire, and Thomas Hals, bred a gentleman volunteer, upon King William the Third’s ship the Sunderland, Captain Tudor Trevor, Commander; but being from thence transferred to the Kingfisher, Captain Tallat, Commander, in order to go to St. Helena, with other men of war, to convoy home the East India fleet, the air on the south part of Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope, not agreeing with his constitution of body, he sickened there of a consumption and died 1702.
James Hals aforesaid, father of those young men, proved a man of ill conduct, and wasted all his lands and leases, of a very considerable value.
James Hals first above-mentioned had also issue William Hals, the author of these lines, who married three wives, Evans of Landrini family in Wales, Carveth of Peransand, and Courtney of Tremeer, but had issue by none of them.
He had also issue Thomas Hals, of the City of London, first bred a merchant, who married Jane, daughter of Captain Richard Bourchier, of that city, and hath been a merchant, factor, and traveller in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Venice, Greece, Smyrna, Egypt, Constantinople, and Alexandria, in which last places he was a factor for several years; afterwards as merchant he went in an East India ship into Africa, Persia, Arabia, India, and China, where he died about the year 1710, without issue.
As also Nicholas Hals, bred a scholar, who died at Leskeard, and lies buried in the minister’s chancel of that church, 1682.
As also Grenvill Hals, that married Martha, daughter of Reginald Hawkey, Gent. attorney-at-law, of Trevego, but died also without issue, 1718, and lies buried in Fentongollan Isle, in St. Michael Penkivell church, near his father and mother’s graves.
As also Henry Hals, bred a merchant, who for several years was a factor at Constantinople and Alexandria. But coming back into England to marry the only daughter and heir of one Doctor Cooke, at London, to whom long before he had been contracted, he sickened of the small-pox, died there, and lies buried at Stepney or Whitechapel, 1689.
Anne, married first to William Roscorla, of Roscorla in St. Austell; and after his death to Thomas Penrose, of Nance, in St. Martin’s in Kerryer, but hath issue by neither. She died in the year ――――, and lies buried in the north isle or chapel of St. Wenn church, in Cornwall.
At Trewortha Vean, in this parish, that is the little higher town, by lease, is the dwelling of Joseph Halsey, clerk, Master of Arts, and some time Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge, and rector of St. Michael Penkivell church, in this county; lineally descended from the Halseys of Huntingdonshire, whose arms are Argent, a pile between three griffons’ heads erased Sable, out of a supposed allusion to their name, derived from Alce and Sey. He married Mary, daughter of Henry Vincent, of Tresimple, Gent. attorney-at-law, by whom he had issue Joseph Halsey, practitioner in physic, who took the degree of Doctor beyond the seas, at Leyden in Holland I take it. He now resideth at London, where he married ――――, and hath got himself considerable wealth and reputation in his profession. He had also issue Nathaniel Halsey, bred a merchant, and is now a factor for the East India Company, at Bombay or Bengal in India; also Edward Halsey, of the same occupation, now a factor for the said Company at Surat, or some other part of India; also a daughter, married to Bromley, of Lefeock, a Presbyterian priest.
This Mr. Joseph Halsey being ordained priest, was made rector of the parish aforesaid, in the interregnum of Oliver and Richard Cromwell, after the discipline of Calvin, or Geneva.
TONKIN.
This is a daughter church to St. Probus, with which and Cornelly it is valued in the King’s Book.
The vicar of Probus names the curate, but cannot remove him afterwards. The present curate, who holds both this and Cornelly, is Mr. Jonathan Daddoe.
The manor of Fentongollan comprehends a great part of this parish, but the mansion house is in St. Michael Penkivell.
THE EDITOR.
Trevilian bridge is the most remarkable spot in this parish. It is situated in a beautiful valley, with a fine stream navigable for barges from Falmouth, which conveys large quantities of limestone from Plymouth, and of coast sand dredged in Falmouth harbour.
In consequence also of the new line of road, completed about four years ago from Bodmin, and therefore from London to Truro, through Ladock valley, the Earl of Falmouth has made a private road to his own house, from the eastern end of this bridge, equal perhaps in beauty to any drive of an equal extent in the whole county. Some fairs are annually holden at this place, and it is recorded in history as the place where the treaty was agreed on for the surrender of the army of about five thousand men, commanded by Lord Hopton, then lying in Truro, to the troops of General Fairfax, on the 14th of March 1646.
The church is very small, and, what is quite unusual in Cornwall, has a wooden edifice, it cannot be called a tower, to contain its single bell.
Merthyr measures 1,492 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2103 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 230 8 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 305 | 350 | 370 | 411 giving an increase of 35 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
This parish is composed of the same rocks as St. Clement’s, from which it is divided by one of the streams communicating with Falmouth harbour.
MEVAGISSEY, OR MENA-GUISE-Y.
HALS.
Mena-guise-y vicarage is situated in the hundred of Powder, and hath upon the north St. Mewan, east St. Austell, south the British Channel, west Gurran. For the modern name it may be interpreted either the hill custom; otherwise, Mena-gusseg, after the Welsh, is the hill and waves or surges of the sea.
I know Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, (contrary to this etymology) tells us that this church is called Menaguisey from its two tutelar guardian Saints, Meny and Isey; query who they are or were, for in the Agonal, or Legend, I can find no such Saints; besides, in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of benefices in Cornwall, 1294, Ecclesia de la Mor-ike, in decanatu de Powdre, (which must be this church) that is to say the church of the sea cove, lake, or creek place, is valued at 40_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is called Menage-zey church, with the appellation of Saint, and rated £6. The patronage formerly in Bodrigan, now Edgecumb; the incumbent Mitchell; the rectory I take it in Edgecumb; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, £151. 13_s._
In the Domesday Book, 1087, this district or parish was taxed either under the jurisdiction of Pentewan, or Goran, now on the east and west side thereof.
Penwarne in this parish heretofore, if not now, the voke lands of some manor, (as I take it still it is,) gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, surnamed de Penwarne; whose daughter and heir, together with herself, carried those lands to Cosowarth, by whose heiress it passed to Otwell Hill, Esq. that married Denham, descended from the Hills of Lancashire; who gave for his arms, Gules, a chevron between three garbs Ermine; from whose heir it passed, by sale or descent, to John Carew, merchant, that married Hellman, who by her had issue only five daughters: 1. married to Lewis Tremayne, of Halligan, Esq.; 2. Candia, to Hugh Trevanion, of Treligan, Esq.; 3. Grace, the youngest daughter, was married to Robert Hoblyn, of Nanswiddon, Esq.; 4. to his second brother Richard Hoblyn, of Antron, Esq. barrister-at-law; 5. to Edward Hoblyn, of Bodmin, attorney-at-law.
The which gentlemen, in order to raise their marriage fortunes, sold those lands to Arthur Fortescue, of Filleigh, in Devon, Esq. lineally descended from Sir John Fortescue, Knight, Lord Chief Justice and Lord High Chancellor of England, temp. Henry VI. 1442.
Tre-levan, or Tre-lauan, was formerly the lands of Trewoolla, of Trewoolla, in Gorran; it is now the dwelling of Henry Vincent, Esq. barrister-at-law, and member of parliament for the borough of Truro.
TONKIN.
The church, which is a very indifferent low building, consists of a nave only, with one north aisle and a cross aisle to the south. There was formerly a square tower at the western end with three bells, which being something out of repair, they pulled it down in the rebellious times, and sold the bells, which turned (as all such sacrilegious actions ought to do) to the utter undoing of all those concerned in it; there remaineth however one bell in that part of the tower which is standing, even in height with the roof of the church.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Tonkin has written much more on this parish than on most others, but the details relative to families, and to individuals long since forgotten, and never of any distinction, are quite uninteresting.
Mr. Lysons has abridged it to the following effect, intermixed with additions of his own.
Tonkin says that Mevagissey, lately a poor fishing village, contained in his time two hundred houses; that a pier had been constructed at the expense of the Trewolla family; that it was the most convenient place on the coast for the pilchard fishery; that on an average twelve thousand hogsheads were cured annually. The present number of houses is about 370. The eastern part of the town, which in old deeds is called Porthilly, belongs to the Hoblyns; the middle part to the Grenvilles, of Stowe in Buckinghamshire, as parcel of the manor of Trelevan; the western part is included in Mr. Tremayne’s manor of Penwarne.
Ships of 100 tons burden may ride securely in the pool. The fishing cove of Porthmellin is partly in this parish.
The manor of Trelevan belonged for several generations to the family of Trewolla, of Trewolla in St. Goran. It was by them sold, about the year 1667, to Walter Vincent, Esq. of Truro, who in 1680 was appointed one of the Barons of the Exchequer, but died on his way to London before he had been sworn into that high office. His grandson Nicholas Vincent, who died in 1726, mortgaged this estate, the manor of Tregavethan in Kenwyn, and the greater part of his property, to John Knight, Esq. of Gosfield Hall in Essex. This gentleman’s widow married Lord Nugent, whose only daughter and heiress carried the whole to the Grenvilles, now Dukes of Buckingham.
The barton of Trelevan was successively the seat of the families of Croome and Stevens, as lessees under the Trewollas. The Vincents, having bought in the lease, made it their residence; and, after the decease of the last of the Vincent’s, Mr. Tonkin resided there for some time, being the heir-at-law, but the property was too much incumbered for him to retain the freehold.
The manor of Pentuan was the property and its barton the chief seat of the Pentires, after they removed from Pentire in Endellion. The heiress of Pentire married Roscarrock, from whom this estate passed by a marriage to the Darts, of Dart Ralph in Devonshire, who sold it to Robarts, of Lanhidrock; and the last Earl of Radnor bequeathed it to Mr. James Laroche, a merchant of Bristol, afterwards created a Baronet. This gentleman becoming insolvent, sold the manor, together with a large property scattered over Cornwall, to a friend, who soon afterwards dying restored the whole by his will; but in a little while, and as it would seem with the intention of guarding against the possibility of a similar occurrence, the estate was sold a second time in parcels; when this manor of Pentire was purchased by the late Mr. Tremayne, of Heligon, and the barton, which was reserved by Mr. Dart when he sold the manor, has descended to Mr. Tremayne from that family.
The manor of Penwarne belonged to an ancient family of that name. Vivian Penwarne, who died in the reign of Henry the Seventh, left three daughters, coheiresses, married to Cosworth, Penhallow, and Penwarne, of Penwarne in Mawnan. The elder daughter inherited this manor, which passed in marriage with the heiress of Coswarth to Alan Hill, Esq. There is a monument in the church to his son Otwell Hill, of Penwarne; after his death the estate passed to a nephew, Mr. John Carew, second son of Richard Carew, of Anthony, the Historian of Cornwall.
Mr. John Carew distinguished himself at the siege of Ostend, in 1601, where he lost his right hand by a cannon ball. His only son John died in 1640, leaving five sisters, one of whom married Fortescue, in whom this property continued till within recent times: it is now, however, sold in lots.
The barton of Trewincy, sometime a leasehold seat of the Sprys, is now a farmhouse, the property of Mr. Tremayne.
The vicarage is endowed with the great tithes of about one third part of the parish. The remainder of the great tithes has gone with the manor of Treleven to the Grenvelles. The patronage of the vicarage belongs to the Edgcumbe family, of Mount Edgcumbe; the whole were formerly appropriated to the college of Glaseney at Penryn.
Mevagissey is one of the principal stations for taking of pilchards by seine nets, if it is not the very first. The bay is sheltered, free from rocks, and of a depth which allows the leads on one edge of the net to rest on the smooth sand at the bottom, while the other edge is raised to the surface by corks.
All fish are by custom in this parish liable to tithes, which are payable to the vicar, and amount in some years to much more than the ordinary income of the living.
The vicarage house is very pleasantly situated in a valley rising from the town, and the whole glebe received great improvements from the late vicar, Doctor Lyne, a gentleman of much respectability, but most distinguished by his singularities; among other fancies, he entertained such strong apprehensions and fear of contagion, as not to touch even gold coin till it had been flung into water; but this caution seems to have been compensated by a subsequent attachment to the precious metal, as several thousand pounds in specie were found in his house.
A market is held in Mevagissey on Saturdays.
This parish measures 1222 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 4,589 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 1,383 6 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 2052 | 2225 | 2450 | 2169 giving an increase of not quite 6 per cent. in 30 years. But there appears an extraordinary decrease of population in the last ten years. In twenty years the increase was 19½ per cent. very nearly, which, continued for thirty years, would have given 30½ per cent. Present Vicar, the Rev. John Arscott, presented in 1824 by the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The geological structure of this parish is the same as those of the adjacent parishes St. Eve and Gorran.
ST. MEWAN.
HALS.
St. Mewan rectory is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath upon the north St. Stephen’s and Roach, east St. Austell, south Mevagissey, and south-west Creed.
In the Domesday Book this district was taxed either under the jurisdiction of Branell, Tybesta, Towington, or Refishoe, perhaps now Lefisick. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, Ecclesia de St. Mewany in decanatu de Powdre, was rated 40_s._; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £10. The patronage in Hamley, formerly in the prior of Tywardreth, who endowed it; the incumbent Mitchell; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. £91. 6_s._ 4_d._
Pol-godh, Pol-goth, is in this parish. Out of which mine hath been taken up, in less than forty years’ space, about five hundred thousand pounds weight of tin; to the great enriching the labourers, adventurers, bond-owners, and lords of the fee or soil; the same lying for the most part in coarse wastrell ground, therefore boundable, in a valley between two lofty hills. Sir John Arundell, of Lanherne, knight, one of the lords of the soil, did for about twenty years space receive alone one thousand pounds per annum free to his part, as the fifth dish of black tin there made, and other lords proportionable quantities of tin or money, as interested in the lands thereof.
Lefisick in this parish, which I take to be that Refishoc taxed in the Domesday Book, is the dwelling of ―――― Edwards, Gent. that married Bedford.
TONKIN.
The patronage of this parish is in John Hawkins, D.D. for two turns in four; in Lewes Tremayne, of Heligan, Esq. for one turn; and in Robert Hoblyn, of Nanswiddan, Esq. for the other. The incumbent Mr. William Hambly; since Mr. May; who dying in this present year, 1732, has been succeeded by Mr. Paget, at the presentation of Mr. Hoblyn, whose turn it happened to be.
The manor of Trewoone. This signifies the dwelling in the downs, or croft, a name suitable to the situation of the place, and of the pretty large village which has grown up in this manor.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Hals has given several etymologies of the word Mewan, but so little probable as not to merit attention. It may be the name of a missionary, as is the case in so many other parishes.
The church does not present any thing remarkable, except a pleasing appearance among trees at a short distance north of the turnpike road leading from Truro to St. Austell, just where a hill has been lowered, and a valley raised within these few years, to the very great improvement of the line of communication westward from Plymouth. A son of our eminently distinguished countryman Doctor William Borlase, was presented to this living by Mr. Christopher Hawkins, of Trewinnard. His grandson is now at the head of that ancient family.
The object of most curiosity in this parish is Polgeoth mine, one of those wrought through the greatest length of time, and with the greatest produce of tin, in the whole county.
Pol-gooth is in Cornish the old pit or mine. Mr. Hals mentions, as a matter of astonishment, its having produced above five hundred thousand pounds weight of tin in less than forty years, and that it paid a fifth dish or share to the proprietor of the soil. Nothing can more clearly evince the enlarged scale of working in modern times; 500,000 pounds weight of tin in forty years would give an average of 12,500 pounds weight for each year, and at the recent price of four pounds sterling for a hundred weight of tin, about £2,200 a year. In some of the later workings perhaps thirty or forty thousand pounds have been expended in an outfit, or what is called bringing the mine into a course of working, in the purchase of steam engines, and of various other elaborate machines; and instead of paying a fifth part of whatever minerals are raised, free of expense to the proprietors of the soil, an eighteenth or perhaps a twenty-fourth share is all that can reasonably be demanded or afforded after such an outlay of capital, which small share, however, usually amounts to a greater value than did the fifth or sixth part received in former times.
The manor and village of Burngullo belonged to the Robarts’s, of Lanhidrock, and have descended to Mrs. Agar.
The manor of Trewoon belongs partly to the family of Hawkins, and partly to Tremayne and Hoblyn.
St. Mewan measures 2,240 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 1633 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 322 18 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 780 | 626 | 1174 | 1306 giving an increase of 67 per cent. in 30 years. The fluctuations in amount of population in this parish are owing to the occasional working or discontinuance of Polgooth mine. Present Rector, the Rev. William Hocker, jun. instituted in 1801.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The northern part of this parish extends over the central mass of granite, in the form of a long narrow stripe, the base of which is about one mile north of the church. All the remainder of the parish consists of compact and schistose felspar rocks, traversed by beds of porphyry, and intersected by numerous veins of tin and copper, more particularly of tin. On the whole, this parish bears a very close geological resemblance to St. Austell.
See p. 401 of this Volume.
ST. MICHAEL CARHAYES.
HALS.
St. Michael Cary-hayes rectory, is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath upon the north Creed and St. Ewe, south the British Ocean, east Goran, west Verian.
In the Domesday Tax, 1087, this parish was taxed under the names of Cari-crougi. At the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, this church was not endowed, if extant; afterwards it was, by the Cornwalls, Hendowers, or Tregarthins, of Court in Branell, and dedicated to God in the name and honour of St. Michael the Archangel; which gentlemen afterwards wholly impropriated or appropriated their churches of St. Stephen’s in Branell, and St. Denis, to the rector of this St. Michael Carhayes; the patronage now in Tanner; the incumbent Tanner. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, the rectory of those three churches was valued at £27. 10_s._ 6½.; the vicarages £14. This parish was rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, temp. William III. 1696, by the name of St. Michael Cary-hayes, £64. 8_s._
Tre-vanion, alias Tre-vanyon, in this parish, which place gave name and original to an old British and knightly family of gentlemen, surnamed de Trevanyon, now in possession thereof, and also of Cary-hayes aforesaid; which latter came to those gentlemen’s ancestors by marriage with the daughter and heir of Arundell, lord thereof, temp. Edward III.; since which time they have flourished, at Cary-hayes and Trevanion in great fame, wealth, and reputation in their country. Who have also had bestowed upon them, as tradition saith, by their princes, for their good services, the lands of several rebels and traitors, forfeited by attainder of treason, in those parts; in the York and Lancaster wars, and Flamock’s, Arundell’s, and other Cornish rebellions.
Of this family was Witte, or William, Trevanion, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 17 Henry VII. 1503; Witte, or Sir William, Trevanion, knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall the 8th of Henry VIII. 1517; Hugh Trevanion, esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 19 Henry VIII.; Sir William Trevanion, knight, that married Edgcumbe, was Sheriff of Cornwall 23d of Henry VIII. He had issue Hugh Trevanion, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 34th of Henry VIII. 1543; he had issue Hugh Trevanion, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 6th of Elizabeth, 1564; who had issue Charles Trevanion, esq. that married the daughter and heir of Witchalse, descended from Benet Witchalse, Steward of Exeter 1440, Sheriff of Cornwall 37th of Elizabeth, 1595; he had issue by her Charles Trevanion, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 9 Charles I. and by him knighted; who had issue John Trevanion, esq. that married Anne, daughter of John Arundell, of Trerice, esq. slain on the part of King Charles I. at Lansdown; by whom he had issue Amey, married to Joseph Sawle, esq. and Charles Trevanion, esq. Member of Parliament for Tregony, that married one of the coheirs of Sir William Drummond, knight, by the daughter and heir of Sir Nicholas Lower, of St. Wenow, knight; by whom he had issue John Trevanion, esq. twice chosen one of the Shire Knights for this county in Parliament, now living, that married Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Blake, knight. Charles Trevanion, esq. had also issue a son, educated beyond the seas, who entered into Holy Orders after the doctrine and discipline of Rome, as I am informed.
The arms of these gentlemen are, in a field Argent, a fess Azure, charged with three escallops Or, between two chevronels Gules; which arms I suppose heretofore were the arms of two distinct families, and for some peculiar reason united.
TONKIN.
This parish has its name from the Archangel, conjoined to that of the principal place in it.
THE MANOR OF CARHAYES.
The name of this place is derived from caer, a castle, a house, or dwelling, and hay a hazel hedge, as the situation does plainly make out; and did much more so before the great alterations which Mr. Trevanion hath lately made here.
I have reason to believe that this place was part of Carminow’s lands, and that it came into the Arundell family on the match with Jane, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Carminow, in the reign of Edward the Third. Of this family, in recent times, Col. John Trevanion was killed in his father’s lifetime, at the head of his regiment before Bristol, whose character may be seen in Clarendon. His father, Sir Charles Trevanion, was a very worthy honest gentleman, and suffered much for the king’s cause, to the great detriment of his estate, and dying before the Restoration, lived not long enough to have those amends made to his family, which his own merits and their losses deserved. Col. John Trevanion married Anne, daughter of John Arundell, of Trerice, esq. by whom he had a numerous issue, and among the rest Richard Trevanion, a famous sea commander, under King Charles the Second, and King James the Second, with which last he went to France, and died there in exile. The said Anne, his mother, was afterwards remarried to Sir John Arundell, of Lanherne, by whom she had not any issue.
Sir Charles Trevanion was succeeded by his grandson, of the same name, who first married the daughter and coheir of Sir Adam Drummond, by the heiress of the Lowers of St. Winnow, and had two sons. He died on the night of the great storm, Nov. 26, 1703; being succeeded by his eldest son, John Trevanion, who first married Anne, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir Francis Blake, of Ford Castle in Northumberland, by whom he had no issue; and secondly Barbara, the daughter of William Lord Berkeley of Stratton, by whom he has one son William, and two daughters, all very young. Mr. John Trevanion has been three times elected knight of the shire for this county, in the 9th and 12th of Queen Ann, and in the 1st of King George the First.
He has bestowed a great deal of money in buildings, gardens, &c. on this place; but as there is nothing of regularity observed, it may more properly be called a pleasant romantic seat than a complete habitation; and although it faces the south, yet it lies too much under an hill, and is therefore cold and damp in winter. The house anciently stood to the north of the present, towards the brow of the hill, according to my opinion in a far better situation. The place where it was built is still called the haller, that is the hall; but the odd desire of our ancestors to settle in our vallies, and to get, as they called it, in the luthe, inclined one of the Arundells to remove the house to where it now stands, and that was done so long since that nothing remains but the name to point out this ancient dwelling.
Trevanion, formerly written Trevagnion, that is, the town or dwelling in an hollow, gave name and was the ancient inheritance of this very eminent family, which they left on their marriage with Arundell’s heiress, for Carhayes. The house at Trevanion is now so wholly destroyed, that it would be hard to guess where it stood, had not the footsteps of two or three ways leading towards it pointed out the former situation. The park is at this place, and not at Carhayes, being well wooded, and having a fine river flowing through it. A portion of the park is in the parish of Gorran, called by the name of Porown Berry, and paying a quit-rent to the duchy manor of Trevennen, out of which it plainly appears to have been taken.
Hurris, or Herys, was formerly the seat of a knightly family, of which family I believe was Henricus de Herys, mentioned by Carew to have held a knight’s fee in the reign of Richard the First.
Near to this place is Treberrick, the fruitful or fertile town. Treberrick in this parish (for there is another place of the same name in St. Ewe) carries with it not only the advowson of St. Michael Carhayes, but also of St. Stephen’s, and St. Dennis in Branwell. It was sold by John Tanner, esq. to Charles Trevanion, of Carhayes. This place is now the seat, under lease, of Simon Slade, gent. a younger brother of the late Mr. William Slade, of Trevennen. Mr. Simon Slade was twice married, first to one of the daughters of Mr. Thomas Hancock, of Pengelly in Creed, and not having any surviving children, he married secondly the daughter of Stephen Thomas, of Tregamena in Verian, gent. by whom he has two sons and two daughters.
The church is but small: being seated however on a hill, it is a good sea mark. This church consists of a nave, a south aisle extending about half its length, a north cross aisle, and a small confessionary to the north of the chancel. The tower is low and without pinnacles, provided with three bells.
A broken flat stone in the chancel has this inscription round its margin:
Here lyeth the bodie of Mr. Zacharie Hooker, of this parish rector, who was buried yᵉ XXV day of Nov. 1643.
On the middle of the stone,
Si genus aut nomen quæras, insignia monstrant: Si vitam, aut mortem, sat pia facta docent. Non opus est tumulo, cujus tot viva sepulchra Commemorant meritum, terra quot ora tenet.
At the end of the verses is an achievement, containing the arms of Hooker, with several quarterings.
THE EDITOR.
The ancient and respectable family of Trevanion, like all others able to trace themselves back, in influential situations, to remote periods, has experienced the vicissitudes arising from civil dissensions. In those times it is quite clear, that love of plunder, and eagerness after confiscations, must have been the sole motives of action on either side; since, trifling as have been the causes of domestic as well as of foreign wars, no one can believe that, in the absence of all contested political principles, men could be found who would deluge their country with blood for the sake of seating on the throne an individual whose name was Edward instead of another designated as Henry, on the frivolous pretence, that, had England been a farm, and its inhabitants farm stock, one of the parties possessed a claim through females superior to the other, if it were not defeated by legal fiction, or by the lapse of time.
In such a conflict three families at the least from Cornwall were engaged, Bodrigan, Trevanion, and Edgecumbe; and when Richard the Third obtained sovereign power, on the division which then look place in the York faction, Bodrigan endeavoured to seize the property of Edgcumbe, with little respect, as it would seem, for the life of the possessor; but in the final struggle at Bosworth Field, where Henry Tudor put an entire end to this contest for power under the guise of property, by seizing the whole to himself, Trevanion and Edgcumbe had the good fortune to appear on the winning side, and subsequently availed themselves to the utmost of belligerent rights against Bodrigan, as he had attempted to do before against them. The last of that family was driven from his home, and seems to have perished in exile. His property was divided between the two families opposed to him, and after the lapse of three hundred and fifty years continues to form a large portion of their respective possessions.
At a subsequent period, when wars were levied in support of principles, and when men of honour and of virtue engaged on either side, as their early prejudices, investigations, or accidental experience induced them to believe that one or the other would prove most conducive to the public good――the Trevanions were less successful. They asserted their conviction in arms, that the country would be best governed by concentrating hereditary power in a single man; and Mr. John Trevanion, bearing a Colonel’s commission, shared in the military glories of the western army, and fell under the walls of Bristol. His father experienced the mitigated fate of those who were vanquished in this contest, by compounding for his estate; and when, after a long interval, his friends came again into power, and succeeded in placing at the head of affairs the son of their former chief, those immediately surrounding the seat of government possessed but slender means, and still less inclination, to risk their own safety by indemnifying those at a distance, who had suffered in the Good Old Cause.
The grandson obtained however the popular reward of representing Cornwall in parliament; and the Editor has in his possesssion a letter addressed by Mr. John Trevanion to his great uncle Mr. Henry Davies, a hundred and twenty-five years ago, declaring his readiness to spend his fortune and to shed his blood, as his ancestors had done, in support of the same cause. This gentleman died in 1740, leaving William Trevanion his son and heir, and two daughters, the eldest of whom married John Bettesworth, LL.D. Dean of the Arches, and the younger married Admiral John Byron, well known in his younger days by a narrative of the disastrous expedition of the Wager Store ship, commanded by Captain Cheep, as a part of the fleet conducted by Commodore Anson round the promontory of South America, in the year 1740, and of his own adventures after the ship was wrecked on the coast of Patagonia, the dead reckoning giving them an erroneous longitude of fifteen degrees to the west, till his return in 1746. Admiral Byron is now better known as grandfather to the most popular of recent poets.
William Trevanion served in parliament for the borough of Tregoney, and died in 1767 without children, when the male line of this family became extinct. He was succeeded by Mr. John Bettesworth, his sister’s son, and his son John Trevanion Purnel Bettesworth Trevanion, esq. is now the possessor of Carhayes, where he has substituted a magnificent gothic castle, after a plan of Nash, the architect of Buckingham Palace and of Regent Street, for the house described by Mr. Tonkin.
Mr. Trevanion married early in life, and was left a widower with several children. He has for his second wife Miss Burdett, daughter of the individual to whom the country mainly owes the great alteration in the constitution of its government, on the ultimate effects of which no one is yet qualified to form even a conjecture, still less an opinion.
The family of Bettesworth have been settled on the manor of Fyning, a part of Rogate parish in Sussex, since about the year 1570; and a pedigree of nine descents is given in Dallaway’s History of the Rape of Chichester, ending with Thomas Bettesworth, who assumed the name of Bilson in 1740, and died in 1754, aged 58. This gentleman bequeathed a life interest in his property to Thomas Bettesworth, of Chithurst, and after his decease gave it to Henry Legge, fourth son of William Legge, first Earl of Dartmouth, on condition of taking the name of Bilson.
Mr. Henry Bilson Legge married Mary Stawel, daughter and heir of Edward Stawel, Lord Stawel, and was in consequence himself created Lord Stawel in 1760. They were succeeded by their son Henry Stawel Bilson Legge, who died in 1820.
The parish of Rogate is situated between Petersfield and Midhurst, on the bank of a small river, which (after watering Selborne, a name made familiar to every one by the admirable work of its vicar, Mr. White,) flows into the county of Sussex, and joining the Arun, finally reaches the sea through Arundale, a name mistaken by the Normans for that of a swallow.
The manor of Fyning belonged to a monastery of Premonstratensian Canons, founded at Dureford, an adjacent parish, about the year 1160, by Henry Hosatus, or Husey, and augmented three hundred years afterwards by Henry Guldeford. It was surrendered to King Henry the Eighth, by John Simpson, the last superior. Temporary grants were made of the lands, till they were finally bestowed in fee on Sir Edmund Merwyn, a gentleman of Sussex, from whose descendants they passed to the Bettesworths.
In the church of St. Michael Carhayes are several monuments to the Trevanions, and pieces of armour, the trophies of former days; also a sword, believed to have been the very one used by Sir Hugh Trevanion at Bosworth Field.
Etymologies, deceptive at all times, become so in a tenfold degree when they are sought in the varying pronunciations of an unwritten language. But car, caer, &c. are known (like Rocca in the Italian) to mean a fortress, a castellated house, a dwelling; and hay, running colloquially into hayes, is an enclosed fence or yard. Carhayes may therefore signify the castle surrounded by a basse court or enclosure.
Although Carhayes is several miles detached from the two adjoining parishes of St. Stephen and St. Dennis, yet it forms with them one united benefice, purchased by Mr. Pitt, with the other Mahon property. This more than usually improper association cannot by possibility escape the attention of those, who are engaged in reforming such abuses as may have crept into our Church Establishment.
This parish measures 815 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815, 1,114 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 188 9 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 86 | 104 | 174 | 197 giving an increase of 129 per cent. in 30 years. Present Rector, the Rev. Charles Trevanion Kempe, presented in 1806 by Arthur Kempe, esq.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is composed of the series of rocks extending over the adjoining parishes of St. Ewe and Gorran.
ST. MICHAEL PENKEVIL.
HALS.
St. Michael Penkevil rectory is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath upon the north and east Merther and Lammoran, and is otherwise wholly encompassed with the sea arm of Falmouth harbour, that extends towards Tregony, Truro, and Tresilian bridges. At the time of the Norman Conquest there was an endowed church extant in this place, for then this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Penkevil, of which more under. Neither had it any other appellation at the time of the Inquisition into the value of Cornish Benefices, so often mentioned, 1294, than Ecclesia de Penkevill, in decanatu de Powdre; and was valued at 40_s._ Which probably was extant, as aforesaid, before the Norman Conquest, and held its name to that time; but afterwards, when the present church was rebuilt or augmented in the place thereof in the form of a cross, and was one of the quarter cathedrals of the Cornish diocese, it was then dedicated to God in the name of St. Michael the Archangel, and is commonly called St. Michael Penkivell church, as under. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it was valued for its first fruits £9. 14_s._ 0½. The patronage formerly in Tregago, Trenowth, Carmenow, Hals, now Boscawen; the incumbent Hillman; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1596, temp. William III. £83. 8_s._ by the name of St. Michael Penkivell. This church of St. Michael was endowed by the Fentongollans, or de Tregagos, lords of the manor of Fentongollan, upon whose lands it was built (out of which is since taken the manor of Tregothnan), who also at their own proper cost and charges, built the south chapel or aisle thereof, as a peculiar to them and their families, and obliged those lands for ever to repair the same, (both over and under) as they still do. Besides this they founded in this church a chantry, together with a convent house in the churchyard still extant, for the chanter’s residence; and endowed the same with competent lands for their subsistence, to pray for the souls of them and their ancestors, that after death they might be delivered from the flames of purgatory, and transported into heaven; now these funeral songs or offices for the dead are commonly called obits.
By the statute 27 Henry VIII. also 1 Edward VI. all chantrys, colleges, free chapels and hospitals, were given to the king; at which time John Carmenow, esq. obtained by gift or purchase the grant of this chantry from the crown, and annexed it, together with its lands and revenues, to the manor of Fentongollan, out of which at first it was taken; all of which at length John Hals, esq. lord of the manor, together with the patronage of this church, sold to Hugh Boscawen, esq. temp. Charles II.
Fenton-gollan, Venton gollan, was and is the voke lands of a considerable manor, which heretofore comprehended the whole parishes of St. Michael Penkevil and Merther; except the tenements of Penkevill, Tregothnan, (Treganyan, Penhell, Eglesmerther, and some others,) now as above subdivided into the manors of Tregothnan and Fentongollan; which latter had heretofore upon its lands many large and commodious houses, as halls, parlours, and dining rooms, a notable tower and bell, three stories high, and a chapel adjoining thereto for divine service, and two large gatehouses at each end of the town, which fabric the writer hereof hath often seen in his youth, when his grandmother lived in it, and enjoyed the same lordship, together with the manor of Bohurro, alias St. Anthony, as her jointure or freehold for life. But now, alas! since her death, those lands have been sold and transferred to several persons by her son John Hals, and those houses are all pulled down, and the chief stones thereof carried to build the gates and houses of Tregothnan.
This lordship, as I have been informed, soon after the Norman Conquest passed from the family from thence denominated de Fentongollan, to that of Tregaga, or Tresaga aforesaid, who for many generations were gentlemen of great fame and wealth, and in all probability were so denominated from Tregaga, or Tregage, house and tower, or castle, yet extant at Ruan Lanyhorne.
In the rector’s chancel or chapel of this church is yet to be seen a marble tombstone, with this inscription on it: Here lieth the body of John Trembraze, Master of Art and Law, and sometime rector of this church, who departed this life 12 November 1503, upon whose soul Jesus have mercy. Trembraze is a place in Leskeard parish.
This church, as I said before, being a quarter cathedral to the Bishop of Exeter, the old bells in this tower of St. Michael Penkevil were baptized, as appears from their names subscribed in them, St. Michael and St. Mary; the manner of which baptizing bells was thus: After the bell was cast and set up in the tower, the suffragan bishop called the chief inhabitants of the parish together to be godfathers and godmothers of the bell; who all holding the rope in their hand after prayers, the suffragan demanded the name of the bell of them, which being given he sprinkles water upon him or it, saying, “Michael, I baptise thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; be thou henceforth efficacious in driving thunder, lightning, evil spirits, and tempest, from the living and the dead in this place;” whereupon the gossips toll the bell; having prepared a new white garment, then put it upon the bell (as was used to be done amongst new baptized Christians of the primitive church) afterwards a great banquet is prepared by the gossips for the suffragan, his chaplains, and ministers, who are there fed and rewarded. Now it is a doubtful question amongst the canonists whether the gossips to such bells may marry with each other afterwards by canonical law. (See also to this purpose Fox’s Acts and Monuments, temp. Henry VIII. p. 84.)
TONKIN.
St. Michael Penkevil is in the hundred of Powder, and is surrounded to the west and south by branches of the river Fale.
This parish hath the adjunct of Penkivell from Penkivell therein, although I should think it ought rather to have had that of Fentongollan, since that always, till of late, hath been the principal place in this parish, and the patronage of it belonged thereto. I shall therefore in the first place treat of the manor of Fentongollan.
The name of this manor does not bear the meaning assigned to it by Mr. Carew, but it signifies the holy well. The Saint’s well of the parish being on the barton. But note that a part of the barton, and the greater portion of the manor, are in the adjoining parish of Merthyr; but as the house is wholly in St. Michael Penkevil, this is the most proper parish wherein to treat of it.
Fentongollan has been the seat of several considerable families; the first that I meet with as lord of this place is John de Trejago, or Trejano, Sheriff of Cornwall in the time of Edward the Second, whose son Stephen Trejago left an only daughter Jane, married to John Trenoweth, of Trenoweth, in whose posterity it continued, and was their principal residence till about the middle of the reign of Edward the Fourth, when John Trenoweth, of this place, left four daughters and coheiresses.
Philippa, married to John Carminow, who obtained with her this place.
Maud, married to Thomas St. Aubyn, of Clowance.
Catherine, married to John Raynwood, and secondly to Edmund Stradling, of Dunlery.
Margaret, to John Godolphin, of Godolphin; and between these his large inheritance was divided.
But this lordship, with many adjacent estates, came entire to Philippa, his eldest daughter and coheir, the wife of John Carminow, esq. whose posterity lived here in great splendour, and went by the name of the great Carminows.
John Carminow, of Fentongollan, was Sheriff of Cornwall in the fifth year of Henry the Eighth. His son, Thomas Carminow, was a gallant courtier and gentleman of the privy chamber to the same king; but his grandson, Oliver Carminow, put a final end to the greatness of his family, having squandered away a vast estate, no less it is said than eight thousand pounds a year of actual receipts, leaving two daughters coheirs to what remained.
Ann, married to William Salter, of Devonshire.
Margaret, to Philip Cole, also of Devonshire, who sold this lordship to one Mr. Holcomb, in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The Carminow family was, however, continued through George, younger brother to Oliver, who lived at Polmawgan, in St. Winnow, as his posterity did at Trehanick, in St. Teath, where the last male of this family died, in the reign of King Charles the Second.
Mr. Holcomb sold this place in the reign of James the First to Sir Nicholas Hals, who resided here. His son John Hals, parted with it to Ezekiel Grosse, esq. whose daughter carried this, together with sixteen other manors, to the family of Buller, of Shillingham; and Francis Buller sold it in King Charles the Second’s reign to Hugh Boscawen, esq. who pulled down this noble old mansion, the lofty tower and fine chapel, and carried the stones to build his new house at Tregothnan, so that not a footstep is to be seen of this once magnificent place, and a poor farm-house is built for a tenant in its stead.
Under Fentongollan is a passage or ferry boat to go to Truro, and likewise to Kea, which is called Mopas; this place was formerly famous for oysters, which are now spoiled by the vessels that carry off the copper ore, which vessels, lying generally at this place, and pumping up the poisonous water from the ore, let in by leakage, have infected them with a strong brassy taste, so that eating a few of them will make any one ill; and yet, what is very remarkable, the oysters themselves grow large and fatten as well as ever.
Adjoining to Fentongollan is Treganyan, which I take to be a contraction of Tre-gan-ythan, the fursy town on the downs: however, its present plight may be better. This was anciently the seat of the family of Sayer.
To the south of Treganyan is the church town and rectory house, and near to them is Tregothnan, which signifies the old town in the valley, a name suitable to the situation of the old house, although not of the new one. This place was anciently the seat of a family of the same name, till Johanna, the daughter and heir of John Tregothnan, by her marriage in the 8th year of Edward the Third, 1334, with John Boscawen, of Boscawen Rose, in the parish of St. Burian, brought Tregothnan to this family, whose principal seat it hath been ever since, now just upon four hundred years; who have greatly enriched themselves, as well as ennobled their blood, since that time, by marriages with the heiresses of Albalanda, Trenoweth, &c. and by matching themselves into the most eminent families of the county.
By a bill indented, bearing date the 4th of July 20th of Henry the Seventh, Thomas Hobbs, clerk, witnesseth to have received for the king’s use, of Richard Boscawen, esq. five pounds of lawful money, in full of his fine to be released from the dignity of Knight of the Bath, at the creation of Prince Henry.
Sir John Arundell, of Trerice, knight, late Sheriff, acknowledges to have received of Hugh Boscawen, esq. four marks of lawful money of England to their Majesties’ use, for that he repaired not to the Queen’s coronation to receive the honour of knighthood, dated January the 18th, the 1st and 2d of Philip and Mary. This is the gentleman said in “the Bayliff of Blackmore,” to have been a wise man, learned in the laws of the realm, who yet was outwitted, or rather cheated, by a family of Truro, of which he tells a long story.
Hugh Boscawen, esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall the 10th of King Charles the First, and was grandson to the above Hugh Boscawen, through his eldest surviving son Nicholas Boscawen and Alice his wife, one of the daughters and coheirs of John Trevanion, of Trevoster.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Hals has very naturally been induced to give the history of this parish, particularly of Fentongollan, and of every one connected with it, at great length; but he has done this in a manner so diffuse and incoherent, that the Editor has thought it expedient to omit nearly the whole, and to substitute a short abridgment made by Mr. Lysons from Hals and Tonkin, although this will include some repetition from the latter.
LYSONS.
The manor and barton of Penkevil belonged in the reign of Edward the First to the family of De Wen, from whom Hals supposes it passed in marriage to the Penkevils; it is however quite as probable that the property remained in the same family, they assuming a new name from the place of their abode. This family, says Hals, flourished for several descents in a genteel degree, till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when Penkevil was given or sold to George Courtenay, gent. whose great-grandson alienated it to Hender Molesworth, esq. by whom it was conveyed to Hugh Boscawen, esq.
The manor of Fentongolland, which extends into the parish of Merther, is said to have belonged at an early period to a family of the same name, from whom it passed by a succession of female heirs, to the families of Trejago and Trenoweth. John Trenoweth, who died in 1497, left four daughters, coheirs. The eldest, Philippa, brought this manor to John Carminow, of Resprin, (a younger branch of the Carminows, of Carminow,) who became, in consequence of this match, as Mr. Hals says, “more famous for his wealth than any other of his name or house, or than any other family in Cornwall.” Thomas, son of this John Carminow, was gentleman of the privy chamber to King Henry the Eighth. Hals, speaking of the hospitality of John Carminow, the grandson, says, “That he kept open house for all comers and goers, drinkers, minstrels, dancers, and what not, during Christmas time; and that his usual allowances of provisions for these twelve days were twelve fat bullocks, sixty statute bushels of wheat, thirty-six sheep, with hogs, lambs, and fowls of all sorts, and drink made of wheat and oat malt proportionable, for at that time barley malt was little known or used in those parts.”
Oliver Carminow, son of this John, is said to have squandered away the greater part of his very valuable estates. He left two daughters, married to Salter and Cole, by whom this manor was sold, in the year 1600, to the Holcombes. Sir Nicholas Hals purchased this estate in 1603, and made Fentongollan his residence; his son sold it to Ezekiel Grosse, whose daughter and heiress brought this and several other estates to Francis Buller, Esq. of Shillingham. It was purchased of that family about the year 1676, by Hugh Boscawen, Esq. who soon afterwards pulled down the fine old mansion-house of the Carminows, with its lofty towers and chapel. A farm-house now occupies the site.
Tregothnan, the seat of Lord Viscount Falmouth, came to the Boscawens in marriage with the heiress of Tregothnan in the fourteenth century.
Treganyan, or Tregonian, formerly the seat of a family bearing the same name, passed by successive female heirs to the Haleps and Sayers; by bequest from the latter to Trevelyan; and by a coheiress of Trevelyan to Rowe. It was purchased of the Rowes by Mr. George Simmons, who conveyed it to Lord Falmouth. The barton-house is now occupied by a farmer.
Nancarrow, in this parish, was also the property of a family to whom it gave its name.
* * * * *
The family of Boscawen is unquestionably of very great antiquity, of Norman or British origin, having either imparted their name to Boscawen Rose, in St. Burian, or received it from that place.
The peninsula west of the Mount’s Bay, little frequented in former ages, and scarcely accessible to strangers, abounded, as all similar districts have been found to do, with long settled possessors of landed property; who, content with the small fortunes transmitted from their ancestors, lived on in succession the protectors, the benefactors, and the paternal governors of their neighbourhoods. Such were the Boscawens, Vyvyans, Levelas, Trevilians, Noyes, and perhaps Usticks, Davieses, Kegwins, and some others, all inhabitants for centuries of this remote portion of Cornwall, and all arranged on similar scales of property and influence. The Boscawens however emerged in the fourteenth century, and pursued with great perseverance and success the only path then leading to advancement in the world. They married heiress after heiress, and acquired extensive properties in various parts of the county.
The Boscawens were among the few Cornish gentlemen in the western division, who took what may now be called the liberal side in the Civil War, and they continued to oppose the arbitrary principles of the faction, having at its head the two last brothers of the house of Stuart――and assisted in the glorious Revolution which secured us from civil and religious despotism, by placing the Prince of Orange on our vacant throne.
Hugh Boscawen married Margaret Clinton, eventually coheiress of the Earl of Lincoln, by whom he had a numerous family, all of whom died before him, with the exception of Bridget, married to Hugh Fortescue, ancestor of Earl Fortescue; and with this lady, Mr. Hals states that Mr. Boscawen gave lands and money to the value of a hundred thousand pounds; he died in 1701, and was succeeded by his relation of the same name. This gentleman is understood to have possessed very considerable talents, and powers of exerting them. He continued ably to support the Revolution government, and brought to it a powerful aid arising from the peculiar feature which distinguished Cornwall up to the year 1832.
In 1714, on the German accession, hopes, fears, expectation, and party violence, burst forth with all the fury that had driven them into action thirty years before. Vigorous proceedings were therefore demanded, and may be justified by the exhortation at Salamis, Νυν ὑπερ παντων Αγων. Yet in moments of cool reflection, and at the distance of a hundred and twenty years from this agitated period, one cannot refrain from thinking that Mr. Boscawen was carried beyond the limits of duty to his country, or zeal for his associates embarked in the same cause, when he undertook and executed the task of arresting his countrymen, and probably his former friends, on the suspicion of their entertaining opinions more favourable than his own to monarchical power, and to what in modern phrase might perhaps be termed conservative principles.
Sir Richard Vyvyan was seized at Trelowarren, conveyed by water to Pendennis Castle, and from thence to the Tower. Mr. Basset, of Tehidy, would also have been arrested if he had not left his house; and other proceedings were taken of equal violence.
These acts, however necessary at the time, produced their moral effects of creating feuds and permanent irritations, so that while the principal agent was admired by one party, and received the reward of an hereditary seat in parliament, as was industriously propagated, in return for these services, the opposite party detested his name, and usually joined to it an epithet drawn from the inferior apparitors of the common law.
This gentleman, created Viscount Falmouth in 1720, married Charlotte, daughter and coheir of Charles Godfrey, Esq. and his wife Charlotte Churchill, sister of the great Duke of Marlborough. They had a very numerous family; the eldest son, Hugh Boscawen, succeeded of course to his father’s estate and hereditary seat in parliament; very little is remembered about him. He is believed to have been kind and benevolent in private life, and the Editor is anxious to avail himself of this opportunity for acknowledging an act of generous and feeling liberality exercised by this gentleman to the benefit of a near relation, about fourscore years ago. In ability he probably fell much below the usual standard of his family, for he is known to have been cajoled into marrying a kept mistress; and idle tales are circulated of his mistaking “Optat ephippia Bos” for the Latin of his own name, and Horace Walpole for the Roman poet. It is probable these mistakes never literally happened, but such anecdotes are usually characteristic of the individual; if however they really were made, the credit of the family has been amply redeemed by a nephew, who has given to the public one of the best translations of Horace extant in any language.
Of his various brothers very little also is known or remembered, excepting of one, and that one is Admiral Boscawen, the glory not of Cornwall but of his country, the Nelson of his time.
Edward Boscawen went early to sea, expecting (as the Editor has heard from one to whom he related the circumstances) to be advanced almost immediately through family interest and connection to the station of a Lieutenant; when the order was suddenly made for subjecting all midshipmen to a service of six years at the least. “To this order,” he was accustomed to say, “I owe all my knowledge of seamanship, and to this order the British Fleet is mainly indebted for the superior knowledge and skill of its officers.”
The young man was properly advanced as occasions offered themselves; and from the period of his commanding a ship, his whole career was one of glory and of deserved success. Besides engagements with single ships, and their capture, his achievements are recorded at Porto Bello, Carthagena, Cape Finisterre, the East Indies, the Coast of Spain, and above all at Louisbourgh Harbour, in Cape Breton, where he effected a conquest most gallant in itself, and essential to the subjugation of Canada by General Wolfe; and what may equal the spolia opima of Rome, he three times made M. Hoquart, the French commander, a prisoner in the course of one war.
Admiral Boscawen was beloved throughout the navy for his care and attention to the health, the comfort, and the happiness of every one under his command, to as high a degree as he was admired for skill, for prudence, and for valour; throughout Cornwall he was adored. So that, notwithstanding the rule observed in that county, of considering every gentleman who obtains a seat in the Upper House of Parliament, as relinquishing for himself of course, and also for his family, in favour of other gentlemen, all claim to the county representation, Admiral Boscawen, standing completely on his own personal merits, and founding a new branch from an ancient family, was invited to accept the situation of member for Cornwall. The general election arising from the accession of George the Third was approaching, when a fever closed the life of this great man, on the 10th of January 1761, in the 50th year of his age.
Admiral Boscawen married Frances, daughter of William Evelyn Glanville, a lady possessed of every quality that could adorn the highest station, or that could render her amiable in domestic life.
They had several children:
The eldest, called after his father’s name, died at Spa in Germany, in early life, on the 17th of July 1774.
The second son, William Glanville Boscawen, having engaged in the sea service, anxious to emulate the splendid example given by his father, and having become a Lieutenant, was most unfortunately drowned in Jamaica, on the 21st of April 1769. On this melancholy occasion the following elegy was composed by Doctor John Walcot.
This gentleman was bred to the medical profession under an uncle at Fowey, where he afterwards practised, but standing high in the estimation of Sir William Trelawny, appointed Governor of Jamaica, Doctor Walcot, provided with a medical degree, went out with him as his physician; and in times when propriety and decorum were less attended to than at present, he was also admitted into holy orders, and thus became qualified for holding a living in the Island, one of which he actually obtained; but having returned to England after the Governor’s decease, he relinquished the preferment, which could not be held without residence, and abandoned the character of a clergyman.
No one can read this poem, somewhat perhaps too nearly resembling an ode of Collins, nor many other of his more elegant productions, his sonnets set to music by Jackson, &c. without regretting the change of style and of subject which he afterwards adopted under the assumed name ―――― Pindar.
Along the twilight vale I rove My sorrows o’er the youth to shed, Where Honour wraps the silent grave, That darkling seems to mourn the dead.
And oh! tho’ far from thee I stray, Remembrance oft shall haunt the gloom, Her tear bedew thy lonely clay, Her hand with roses strew thy tomb.
On Fancy’s ear shall swell the sigh By blooming virgins breath’d in vain, On Fancy’s ear the knell shall die, That sadden’d all the weeping plain.
Tho’ forced from thee I wander far, Thy fate shall cloud my rising Morn; And oft with Evening’s silent star I’ll hover o’er thy distant urn.
And when to Melancholy’s sigh The Muse her sorrowing voice shall join, Thy hapless fate shall fill her eye, And melt with woe the tender line.
And oft shall memory impart The smile that shone on Albion’s brow, When kindling in thy youthful heart She saw the beams of valour glow.
How few the sighs of Virtue mourn; How few, alas! the friends she knows; But here she comes, a pilgrim lorn, To bid thy gentle ghost repose.
With sculpture let the marble groan, Let Flattery mock the lifeless ear; How nobler far the nameless stone Bedew’d by Pity’s generous tear.
Mr. George Evelyn Boscawen, third son of the Admiral, succeeded his uncle as third Viscount Falmouth in July 1782, and married two years afterwards Elizabeth Anne, daughter of John Crewe, esq. Their eldest son, Edward Boscawen, advanced to the dignity of an Earl, married in August 1810, Ann Frances, daughter of Henry Bankes, esq. repeatedly member for Corfe Castle, and for the county of Dorset; they have an only son, who with the double portion of honour that invests young men who apply themselves to learning or science, without the ordinary stimuli of pecuniary benefit, or of advancement in the world, obtained the high distinction at Oxford in 1832 of being included in the first class of literary merit.
Tregothnan, from its bold and elevated situation, commanding an extensive view, intersected by various branches of the Falmouth river, and of the harbour, from the abundance of its trees and woods, and from the integrity of its surrounding property fenced in by natural boundaries, must be considered as the first gentleman’s seat in Cornwall, with the exception perhaps of Mount Edgcumbe. The house standing there till within these few years, bore the appearance of considerable antiquity, and harmonized with the surrounding scenery; the ruins of Fentongollan could not have been used for building this house, as Mr. Hals relates: they may have supplied materials for repair, or for additional offices.
The present proprietor has taken down the old house, and replaced it by a new one, that may compete with the best in England for real utility, and for decorations harmonizing with its bold situation and surrounding landscape.
The old parish church, and its massive tower, supported by immense buttresses, form altogether a venerable and impressive group, visible for a great distance in almost every direction. The advowson of the living was acquired with Fentongollan.
This parish measures 961 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815: 847 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 84 3 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 154 | 178 | 167 | 179 giving an increase of 16 per cent. in 30 years. Present Rector, the Rev. Granville Leveson Gower, presented in 1818 by the Earl of Falmouth.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is entirely situated in the calcareous series, and consists of the same rocks as Lamoran, and the eastern part of the parish of Kea.
MICHAELSTOW.
HALS.
St. Michaelstow rectory is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and hath upon the north Lantegles by Camelford, south Brewer, west St. Udye, east Advent. For the name of this parish, it is taken from the church dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel.
At the time of the Norman Conquest this district was rated under the jurisdiction either of Lantegles or St. Vaye. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, it was rated by the name of Ecclesia de Sancto Michaelstow, 40_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £10. 13_s._ 8_d._; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. £72.
In this parish formerly lived the genteel family of Michaelstow, that married one of the heirs of Gifford, of Fewborough in Devon, and had issue by her a daughter named Mary, married to Wollacomb, of Devon, temp. Henry VI. (Prince’s Worthies of Devon, in Wollacomb).
TONKIN.
This parish, named Michaelstow, which signifies Michael’s Place, is a rectory. The patronage in the Crown: the incumbent Cloak.
THE EDITOR.
There is little deserving of remark in this parish, except some doubtful remains of military antiquities. Mr. Lysons says, that the great duchy manor of Helston in Trig, extends over the greater part of this parish, and that what was formerly called Helsbury Park, is possessed by the Duke of Bedford, under a lease; and that just without the former boundary of the park are extensive earthworks, which Mr. Lysons conjectures to be the spot described as a castle by William of Worcester, and probably of great antiquity. The church has a few monuments to the Lowers and others. The only village in this parish, in addition to the church town, is called Treveighan.
Trevenin was a seat of some branch of the Lower family, now all extinct; and Tregone, heretofore belonging to the Mayows, is now the property of Mr. Hockin.
The advowson is in the Duke of Cornwall. Mr. Tonkin says in the Crown; but much confusion seems to have existed in former times between the claims of these two corporations sole, and if such a subject were worthy of investigation, it is probable that many inaccuracies might still be discovered.
The present Rector is the Rev. Edward Spettigue, presented in 1818 by the King as Prince of Wales.
Michaelstow measures 1,338 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 1564 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 141 11 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 158 | 181 | 216 | 215 giving an increase of 36 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish skirts the northern boundary of the granite of St. Breward, reposing on rocks belonging to the porphyritic series, the most interesting of which is a kind of micaceous schist, that occurs near the granite, and may be traced through the parishes of St. Breward and Blisland, and Cardenham.
MYLOR, OR MILOR.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Mylor lieth in the hundred of Kerrier; it has to the west Gluvias, to the north St. Perran Arworthal, with Carnan and Restronget creeks, to the east and south Mylor Pool and Falmouth harbour.
The Saint that gives name to this parish is Meliorus, son of Melianus, Duke of Cornwall.
In the valuation by the Bishop of Lincoln this parish is valued at £6. 13_s._ 4_d._; being about that time appropriated to the College of Glasseney.
The church is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Books at £16. 15_s._. The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter; the incumbent Mr. Francis St. Barbe; the impropriation of the sheaf in Robert Trefusis, esq.
I shall begin with the barton of Carclew. I find the name of this place anciently written Crucglew. Cruc is a barrow, and also clew I apprehend to be an inclosure; so that the whole signifies the inclosure of barrows, or by barrows, of which there are several in the adjoining commons. The first owner of this place that I can meet with is Dangeros, or Dangers, who married Margery, the daughter of Bartholomew Serischall, whose arms were the same with the Seriseaux: Argent, a saltire Sable, between twelve cherries slipped Proper; in the reign I believe of Henry the Second.
Robert de Cardinan, by a very ancient deed, without date, which I have seen, gave Crucgleu and Pengaer to Richard Dangeros and his heirs.
This family, who by their matches seem to have been gentlemen of considerable note, continued at this place till the beginning of the reign of Henry the Fourth, when James Dangero left two daughters and coheirs:
Margaret, married to David Renaudin, of Arwothal; and Isabella, married to Richard Bonithon, second son of Simon Bonithon, of Bonithon.
This barton fell to the share of the said David Renaudin, but he and Margaret his wife dying without issue, their portion of the whole inheritance, said to be worth £500 per annum, came to Richard Bonithon and Isabella his wife. The last male descendant of this family, Richard Bonithon, esq. a very worthy gentleman, died July the 31st 1697, in the 45th year of his age, leaving by Honor his wife, daughter of Sir Thomas Heale, of Fleet, one daughter and heir, Jane, married to Samuel Kempe, of Penryn, esq.; which said Samuel Kempe died without issue, October the 20th 1728, leaving the said barton of Carclew, and some small part of the ancient lands, (for he had sold off the rest in his lifetime,) to his widow, who now resideth there; a lady who, for her many virtues, bounty, and other accomplishments, deserveth a much better fortune, in every respect, than she has had the luck to meet with.
The said Mr. Kempe built a noble house here, which he did not live to finish, and had laid such a plan for avenues, gardens, &c. as when brought to perfection would have made it one of the pleasantest seats in the county.
There hath been much tin on this barton, and perhaps it would turn to good account if a deep adit were brought in to unwater the shafts in depth. There is also a pretty good lode of antimony not wrought, and perhaps not worth working.
The arms of D’Angers, or Dangeros, as they were painted in the old glass windows at Carclew, were Sable, a chevron between three flowers-de-luce Argent.
Arms of Bonython: Argent, a chevron between three flowers-de-luce Sable. But they likewise gave them, as appear in the old hall, as above, with three pelicans feeding their young ones in the nests, Argent, added.
THE MANOR OF RESTRONGET.
This manor joins with Carclew. It was formerly written Restrongas, and I take the sense of the word to be Res, Ros, Rose, a valley; trong, a nose, used in the same sense as we use ness, from the French, for land jutting into the sea; and gas, or guys, deep; so as to signify altogether, the valley with the deep promontory or point of land. William de Bodrigan was lord of this manor in the 12th of Henry the Fourth. And that family possessed it till the beginning of the reign of Henry the Seventh, when, on the attainder of Bodrigan, it was given to William Trevanion, in which family it still continues, John Trevanion, of Carhayes, Esq. being the present lord thereof. In the village of Restronget have lived in lease for several generations a younger branch of the Leys of Ponacumb.
There is a passing boat kept here, it being the post road, and by much the nearest cut from Falmouth to Truro and the east, called Restronget Passage.
A part of the Bishop’s manor of Penryn extends into this parish.
MANOR OF TREFUSIS AND TREGOSE.
Trefusis, saith the Editor of Camden, in the Additional Part, p. 22, signifies a walled town, or fortified place. This hath been the seat of an eminent family of the same name ever since the Conquest, if not before. The present possessor hereof is Robert Trefusis, Esq. a young gentleman of great hopes, who is yet unmarried. These gentlemen, led away by a false notion, (with many others) of being of French extraction, have given, in allusion to the supposed meaning of their name in the language of that country, for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three fusees, or wharrow spindles, Sable.
The house is extremely pleasant by its situation, and would be much more so were it built a little higher up. To the south of the house is a fine grove, and a walk, at the end of which is a pleasure-house, built by this gentleman’s father, from whence there is a very beautiful prospect.
Adjoining to Trefusis is Nankersy, that is the winding valley, from ceirsie, to twist or wind about. This place, by a lease from the Trefusises, has been for two or three generations the seat of a younger branch of the Littletons, of Lanhidrock; the late owner, William Littleton, Gent. died a bachelor in the year 1734, and by his decease the estate is fallen into the lord’s hands. The arms of Littleton are Argent, a chevron between three escallops Sable.
On this Nankersy hath been lately built by the Dutchmen a considerable town, called by them Flushing, after a town of the same name in Zealand, by which name it is now generally known. And had these Dutchmen had the continuing of this town, they would have made it in some measure to resemble its namesake, by digging a canal to discharge all sorts of merchandise through the middle of it, there being a large marsh adjoining, that seemed by nature to have been placed for that purpose; but as it is, though there are some good houses here, the whole is without any order, contrivance, or regularity. The late Samuel Trefusis, Esq. was at no small expense in levelling the place, the buildings, quays, &c. for loading or unloading the vessels; and could he have settled the packet boats here, for which it lies far better than Falmouth, the water being deeper, and they all lying before it, Flushing would soon have been a place of great resort; but, having failed in that, the town is now falling to decay, and many of the houses of which it consists are uninhabited.
THE MANOR OF MYLOR.
A small lordship which takes its name from the parish, and in which the church is situated, so that probably the churchyard and the glebe were taken out of it by the gift of some former proprietor, although the fact is now forgotten. The present lord of this manor is Martin Lister Killigrew, Esq. an adopted heir to Sir Peter Killigrew.
The church is situated at the south-east end of the parish, near that branch of Falmouth haven called Mylor pool. It is but a small building, consisting of a nave, one aisle of the same length, with a handsome north cross aisle, belonging to Carclew; and a little distance from the west is a low square campanile covered with slate, in which are three bells.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Tonkin seems to have fallen into an error respecting the valuation of this living in the taxation of Pope Nicholas; which he says was £6. 8_s._ 4_d._ But no name in the least degree resembling Milor, can be found under Kerrier hundred in the parliamentary publication of that record, nor is any parish rated at that sum.
The church contains several monuments. The most interesting is one of marble, placed there to the memory of her father, mother, and husband, by Jane, the heiress of the Bonithon family, and widow of Samuel Kempe, who built the house at Carclew, and died on the 20th of October 1728, in the 59th year of his age.
There is also a monument to Francis Trefusis, who died in 1680, decorated by handsome sculpture. And one to the memory of Edward Baynton Yescombe, esq. who fell while he was bravely defending the King George, Lisbon packet, against the enemy, in August 1803. And another executed by the celebrated artist Mr. Westmacott, to the memory of Reginald Cocks, youngest son of Charles Cocks, Lord Somers, and Anne his wife, sister of the late Mr. Reginald Pole Carew.
Carclew was devised by Jane Kempe to her relation Mr. James Bonithon, of Grampound, from whom it was purchased by Mr. Lemon in 1749, who immediately began to finish the house, and to complete the whole as a family residence on the scale appropriate to every thing that he undertook. Here Mrs. Lemon resided after she became a widow, and here the family have resided ever since. Mr. and Mrs. Lemon had an only son William Lemon, who married Anne, daughter of Mr. John Willyams, of Carnanton. Both died in early life, leaving three children.
William, born Oct. 6, 1748, who succeeded his grandfather in 1760, married Jane, daughter of James Buller, of Morvall, esq. was elected member of Penryn, on the decease of Mr. Francis Basset in 1769, and at the general election of 1774 succeeded in a contest to represent the county, which, universally esteemed and respected, he continued to do by ten subsequent unanimous elections, during a period of fifty years, up to his decease on the 11th of December 1824. This gentleman was created a Baronet, and commanded for several years the county militia.
John, the second son, became a colonel in the army, commanded the militia of Cornish Miners, served in parliament for the borough of Saltash, and four times for Truro. He died unmarried in 1814, at Polvellan, a place that he had created with great taste on the southern side of the lake, loch, or loo, formed by the two rivers above East and West Looe, and close on the margin of a large salt water pond, made to retain the sea water at high tide, afterwards to give motion to the machinery of grist mills, from whence Mr. Lemon named his new place Pol-Vellan, in Cornish the mill-pool.
Colonel Lemon was such a proficient in music as to perform extemporaneous voluntaries; and several psalm tunes and chants of his composition have been printed.
Anna Lemon, the sister, married Mr. John Buller, of Morval.
Sir William Lemon greatly improved Carclew, and added most materially to the extent of the property round his seat, by purchasing from Mr. Trefusis the manor of Restronget, which had been acquired some years before from Mr. Trevanion.
He is most worthily succeeded by his son Sir Charles Lemon, now member for the county, to whom the house at Carclew is indebted for still further improvements made in the best taste; the grounds and gardens have also been enlarged and beautified, and further arrangements and other decorations are still in progress. It is a very curious circumstance that several acres of ground at Carclew have been recently found covered with the eria ciliaris, not known before as an English plant.
Of his eight sisters three have married Cornish gentlemen. Harriet, married to the late Lord de Dunstanville. Caroline, to John Heale Tremayne, esq. late member for the county. Jane, to her double cousin-german Mr. Anthony Buller, Barrister-at-law, and knighted on his going to India as a judge.
The family of Trefusis can now scarcely be considered as connected with Cornwall, Robert George William Trefusis having succeeded, on the death of George Walpole, Earl of Orford, to the barony in fee of Clinton, created by writ of summons in the year 1299, the 28th of Edward the First, and under a deed of settlement, made by the same Lord Orford, having succeeded also to a very large estate, chiefly in Devonshire; and finally, in consequence of their having alienated by far the greater part of their possessions in this county.
This gentleman having married Marianne Gaulis, a lady of Switzerland, and died in 1797, has been succeeded by his son Robert Cotton St. John Trefusis. He married one of the daughters of William Stephen Poyntz, Esq. and niece of Mark Anthony Browne, last Lord Montague, of Cowdray Castle, in Sussex; but having died without issue, he is succeeded by his brother Charles Trefusis. The widow is recently married again to Colonel Horace Seymour.
The situation of Trefusis is very beautiful, the whole jutting into Falmouth harbour, with Penryn river on the south and Milor river to the north.
Mr. Tonkin has given a picture of Flushing, very far from corresponding with its present features: instead of falling into decay it has grown up to be an elegant town, although the packet station has not been fixed there, nor is it in all probability suited to that purpose.
If the word Gas, or Guys, which Mr. Tonkin says means deep in Cornish, should also, as in some other languages, bear the correlative sense of lofty, his explanation of Restronget would be more complete.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Edward Hoblyn, collated in 1823 by the Bishop of Exeter.
This parish measures 3,463 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 6724 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 951 12 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 1665 | 1897 | 2193 | 2647 giving an increase of 59 per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The eastern part of Milor appears to belong to the calcareous series, but the rocks of the western part correspond with those of Gluvias.
MINSTER.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Minster, a rectory in the hundred of Lesnewith, is bounded to the west by Trevelga, to the north by Farrabury, to the east by St. Juliot, and to the south by the parish of Lesnewith.
In the taxation of Pope Nicholas this parish is named Talkarn, and is valued at £5. In Wolsey’s valuation it is taken at £22. 17_s._ 10_d._ The patronage in Edward Amy, Esq.; the incumbent Mr. James Amy his brother.
THE EDITOR.
Near the church are some ruins still to be seen of a monastic establishment, said by Mr. Lysons, on the authority of Doctor William Borlase’s manuscript collections, to have been a priory of Black Monks called Minster, or Tolcarne, founded by William de Botreaux, as a cell to Tywardreth, itself subject to the abbey of St. Sergius and Bacchus, in Angiers. Tywardreth, however, after having been seized into the King’s hands, as an alien priory, was made independent and denizen, and continued till the general dissolution by Henry the Eighth. Probably therefore Minster remained as a parcel of Tywardreth up to the same eventful period.
Tanner, however, calls it merely an alien priory to the abbey of St. Sergius and Bacchus at Angiers, without any notice of Tywardreth.
In Dugdale’s Monasticon is the following addition to Tanner: Minster Prior, alienigena habet in proprios usus Ecclesias de Minster et Bodecastell; and in a note there is a reference to muniments in Exeter Cathedral, and to MS. collections in the British Museum, vol. XL. p. 39, for a resignation of this priory by the abbot and convent de Valle, or Vale Royal, in Cheshire; from which it would seem that this house was not restored to Tywardreth after the sequestration of both.
The manor of Pollifont, in Lewannick, (see that parish) which formerly belonged to this priory, is now an appendage to the living, so that the rector of Minster is lord of the manor of Pollifont; and the customs of the manor are said to be, that on the accession of a new rector, after the decease of the former, but not otherwise, the tenants pay him thirty pounds and one penny, raised according to some ancient schedule among themselves.
Several small fees are due on surrenders and on admissions at the manor courts, and on the death of each tenant a heriot becomes due to the lord, which is either his best beast or six guineas, and in addition to these, there is an annual payment of four pounds.
Minster church lies in a deep valley, surrounded by trees, giving the strongest impression of its forming the quire of a sequestered monastery. It contains several monuments to the Henders, Cottons, &c. One has a Latin inscription, with the curious pedantic device of certain letters standing prominent among others in the different words, and indicating, as Roman numerals, the various dates. Four lines on William Cotton, son of William Cotton who held the see of Exeter from 1598 to 1621, and on Elizabeth his wife, daughter and coheir of John Hender, have been frequently transcribed, on account of their extreme simplicity:
Forty-nine years they lived man and wife, And what’s more rare, thus many without strife, She first departing, he a few weeks tried To live without her, could not――and so died.
This church is one of the very few in Cornwall that want the decoration of a tower, and strange legends are circulated to account for this defect, probably of a more ancient date than the Reformation. The bells are said to have arrived in a vessel almost to the spot where they would have been landed, when an expression of the captain, implying confidence in the powers which God had given him, construed into blasphemy by Anthopomophites of all religions, is supposed to have caused the immediate destruction of the ship, with every one on board; but when the ground seas roll with their accustomed violence on this iron-bound coast, the bells are still fancied not only to ring a peal, but to indicate by particular sounds the cause of this reputed miracle, intended to convince mankind that they are bound to neglect and to render vain whatever gifts the Almighty may have bestowed on them, and thanklessly to employ their time in imploring more.
This place was in feudal times the residence of a baronial family, bearing the name of Botreaux, which they imparted to a manor, or, as the Court Rolls would testify, to an honor, having manors dependent, and enclosing the town of Botreaux Castle, dignified by the appellation of a borough; a term, it may be observed, that had not in ancient times any reference to the privilege of sending members to parliament.
Mr. Lysons says, that William Lord Botreaux, the last of this family, fell in the second battle of St. Alban’s, leaving an only daughter, married to Sir Robert Hungerford.
The honour of Botreaux, and the manor of Worthyvale, went with the heiress of Hungerford to the family of Hastings, by whom this property was sold to John Hender, esq. in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
John Hender appears to have had four daughters and coheiresses: Katharine, married to John Molesworth; Frances, to Richard Robarts, of Truro; Mary, to Ellis Heale, of Devonshire; and Elizabeth, to William Cotton, son of the Bishop; Boscastle and Worthyvale came as a portion to the last.
Sir John Cotton, probably the grandson of William Cotton, resided here, and died in 1703, without a family; he gave the property to his sister’s son, Mr. Amy, Sheriff of Cornwall in the year 1714, whose father had the living of Minster. His son, Cotton Amy, esq. married one of the two daughters and coheiresses of Samuel Gilbert, of Tackbear, in Bridgerule, and had two daughters: Grace, married to Mr. Jonathan Phillipps, of Camelford, a Captain in the Cornwall Militia. This lady had several children, who all died at early ages; and her sister never married, having continued in a state of derangement at Botreaux Castle for many years.
Sir Jonathan Phillipps (for he had been knighted on the occasion of presenting an address from Camelford, when a female offering a petition to King George the Third, was observed to have a knife in her hand,) left his share of this property, with the remainder of his own estate, to Mr. Thomas Winslow, the son of his sister, on his taking the name of Phillipps, which he did, and was succeeded by his son, who now resides at Landue, in Lezant, but having purchased that place and lands about it, Mr. Phillipps has parted with much of the estate at Botreaux Castle to Mr. Avery, a gentleman who carries on a very considerable trade there, and seems likely to raise the place into greater opulence and importance than it can have experienced since the fall of its feudal grandeur.
An elevated piece of ground, rendered steep by artificial scarping, is pointed out as the site of the castle, which gave a termination to the honour of Botreaux. This castle had, however, disappeared before the time of Carew; and the dwelling of Sir John Cotton, probably constructed after the castle had become a ruin, which used to be called The Great House, was scarcely habitable fifty years ago, and has now disappeared.
The port of Botreaux Castle admits coasting vessels in fine weather, and considerable trade is carried on there by exporting the excellent slatestone with which that neighbourhood abounds, and by importing coal and lime, in addition to such articles of commerce as the adjacent country may require.
It is generally believed that the harbour might be rendered safe and commodious for a sum much within the limits of private expenditure. Ponderous articles might be raised to any required level by the power of water wheels, and from the summit of the acclivity, a flat plain extends to the distance of many miles inland; so that a possibility at the least seems to exist, of Botreaux Castle becoming the site of an extensive commerce.
The advowson of the living belongs jointly to Mr. Thomas John Phillipps, representative through his great uncle of Miss Grace Amy, and the representatives of her sister. The late incumbent was the Rev. R. Winsloe, uncle to Mr. Phillipps.
The manor of Worthyvale was sold to Mr. Hugh Boscawen in the early part of the last century, and was used as a hunting seat; it has again been sold by one of his descendants, and it belonged some years since to a gentleman of the name of Farnham.
The single stone laid over a stream, having some letters cut on its lower surface, and which is believed to have marked the exact spot where Arthur received his death wound, is nearly in front of the house at Worthyvale.
This parish measures 2838 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2089 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 253 19 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 311 | 396 | 425 | 497 giving an increase of 25½ per cent. in 30 years. Present Rector, the Rev. Charles Woolcombe, presented in 1825 by the Rev. R. Winsloe.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The geological structure of this parish is similar to that of Lesnewith, except that at its northern extremity it contains pyritous and carbonaceous rocks like those of Farrabury.
ST. MINVER, OR ST. MYNFER.
HALS.
Minver, or St. Mynfer, vicarage, is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the north and west the Irish sea cliff and Padstow harbour, south Egleshayle, east St. Endellyan.
In the Domesday Book this parish was taxed by the name of Ros-minver. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish benifices, 1294, Ecclesia de Mynfred, or Mynfer, in decanatu de Minor Trigshire, was rated £7, vicar ejusdem 20_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £13. 10_s._ 1_d._ The patronage, formerly in the Prior of Bodmin, who endowed it, now Prideaux, of Netherton; the incumbent Lewellen; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. £385. 13_s._
At Trevill-va, alias Trevellva, there is yet extant an ancient free chapel for divine service, kept in good repair by the lord of this place, furnished with an old English Bible, heretofore made use of in this chapel.
This barton is the dwelling of William Silly, Esq. commissioner for the peace temp. James II. and one of his corporation regulators. He married Kekewich, of Trehawke; and had issue Hender Silly, his son and heir, that died without issue; after her death he married Honour, one of the coheirs of Carter, and hath issue by her also; his father married Cotton (sister to Sir John Cotton, of Botreaux Castle). His grandfather, John Silly, gent. attorney-at-law, of St. Wenn, married Marks, of that place, where he got a great estate by the inferior practice of the law, and altered his name and arms from Ceely to Silly, for what reason I know not; in testimony whereof he and his posterity ever since gave the arms of Ceely, viz. in a field Azure, a chevron between three mullets Or.
King James the Second’s regulators of corporations in Cornwall, were Humphrey Borlase, esq. of Treludrow, Sheriff, William Silly, esq. aforesaid, William Cood, of Pensiple, esq. Mr. Edward Vincent, of Truro, and Edward Noseworthy, esq.
Here Mr. Hals’ manuscript is deficient, and several subsequent parishes are lost.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has merely copied a few of the introductory sentences from Mr. Hals.
THE EDITOR.
The great tithes of this parish, and the presentation to the vicarage, were parts of the possessions belonging to the priory of Bodmin at the dissolution.
In the taxation of Pope Nicholas the rectory and vicarage are assessed:
Ecclesia Sancte Minfrede Rec. £7 0 0 Vicar ejusdem 1 0 0
In the returns made to First Fruits officers for King Henry the Eighth, of the Ecclesiastical and temporal property belonging to this house, is this entry:
Mynfrey Decimæ Garbæ £14 13 6
The manor of Bodmin was bestowed by the King on the well-known poet Mr. Thomas Sternhold, for his translation of The Psalms, which may fairly be considered as a very adequate reward; but almost all the ecclesiastical possessions were given to the Prideauxes, and were finally sold about fifty years ago, soon after the decease of the last representative of the Devonshire branch of that family. Both the appropriated rectory and the vicarage were purchased by the Rev. William Sandys.
Mr. Sandys distinguished himself at Oxford, and was in consequence elected a Fellow of All Souls. He travelled through the south of Europe with Mr. Francis Basset, afterwards Lord de Dunstanville, and held the living of Illogan till Mr. John Basset, a younger brother, received priest’s orders. He married Miss Mary Praed, of Trevethow; and dying in 1816, he left the larger part of a handsome fortune to Mr. William Warren, a sister’s son, who married Miss Marshall, another sister’s daughter, and their son having taken the name of Sandys, is now the possessor, and resides at St. Minver.
A presentation to the vicarage was given by Mr. Sandys to the Rev. George Treweeke, the son of a third sister, who has also the rectory of Illogan.
Mr. Sandys, in consequence of some incident or of some allusion now forgotten, but not in diminution of the respect most justly due to his talents and his learning, acquired the appellation of Cardinal, perhaps from his having worn a scarlet dress at Rome, on some public occasion.
A monument is placed in the church to Mrs. Sandys, with the following inscription:
M. S. Mariæ fil: sec: H. M. Praed de Trevethow in hoc Agro, et Gul. Sandys, A.M. olim Col: Om: Anim: Oxon: Soc. Deinde hujus Parochiæ Vicarii Uxoris dilectissimæ. Quæ ob. 4^{to} die mens: Aprilis A.D. MDCCCIX ætatis LX. Amoris ergo et desiderii Maritus superstes heu! et mœrens H. M. P. C.
Mr. Lysons says that the manor of Penmear was given by the Black Prince to Sir William Woodland, usher of his chamber, but that it reverted again to the Duchy.
Trevernon, or Trewornan, belonged in the reign of king James the First, to Thomas Clifford, D.D. It afterwards became the seat of the Howes; from whom it passed, with an heiress, to the Darells. It is now the residence of the Rev. Darell Stephens, their representative.
There is a monument to Thomas Darell, esq. who died in 1691.
Pentire Point in this parish is the boldest promontory on the southern side of the Bristol Channel. The barton of which this headland forms a part, belonged to a family of the same name, till it passed with an heiress to Roscarrock, and from them by an heiress to Tremayne; and it belongs at present to John Hearle Tremayne, esq. of Heligon.
Trevelver, once a seat of the Arundells, belongs now to the family of Yeo.
This parish is divided on the eastern side from St. Kew, by an estuary dangerous to passengers, and where lives were not unfrequently lost, till Mr. Sandys took the lead in constructing a bridge across the ford, which he effected after much exertion, and at a considerable expense to himself.
Although St. Minver is strictly one entire parish, yet there are two ancient chapels still remaining with districts assigned to them, out of which some of the parish officers are annually chosen.
The parish church, with its more appropriate division, is called Highlands, and the remaining part annexed in some degree to the chapels, is called Lowlands, subdivided into north and south. One of the chapels, according to Mr. Lysons, is dedicated to St. Michael; which, if the fact is so, must be a very unusual circumstance, as the wings of the archangel appear to have associated his habits, in popular opinion, with those of birds, which led him to delight in elevated situations; the other chapel has for its patron St. Enodoc or St. Gwinnodock.
One of these chapels happening to require repair about the middle of the last century, the vestry or the parish officers sold the bells to reimburse the expense, notwithstanding their being tenfold consecrated by the inscription:
ALFREDUS REX.
It is perhaps too much to assume that they were given by the Great Alfred, although his visits to St. Neot must have brought that most illustrious of our kings into this neighbourhood.
The baptising of bells, and their dedication, have so much prevailed, that these were in all probability cast long since the time of Alfred; but his name should have been their protection, if other protection were wanted than their consecrated use.
The following monkish lines not unfrequently appear on bells made prior to the reformation:
Laudo Deum verum――Populum voco――Congrego clerum Defunctos ploro――Fugo fulmina:――Festa decoro.
Great Tom of Oxford, (called Thomas Clusius) while it remained at Oseney Abbey, and before it was re-cast for its present station in 1670, had this curious legend:
In Thomæ laude resono BIM BOM sine fraude. It weighs 17,000 lbs.
St. Minver measures 6604 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 8,354 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 834 17 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 788 | 851 | 1028 | 1110 giving an increase of 41 per cent. in 30 years. Present Vicar, the Rev. George Treweeke, also Rector of Illogan, presented by William Sandys, esq. in 1817.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The part of this parish which lies parallel with Endellion, resembles it in geological composition; but one part of it extends further north, and contains a compact rock of the same nature as that of Trevose Head in St. Merryn.
MORVA.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Morva is situated in the hundred of Penwith, and is bounded to the west by St. Just, to the north by the sea, to the east by Zennor, to the south by Sancred and Maddern. It is a daughter church to Madderne, the vicar of which performs divine service, and preacheth in the morning on the first Sunday in every month. The said vicar hath the small tithes.
Morva signifies Locus Maritimus, a place near the sea, as this parish is. The name is sometimes written Morveth, implying much the same sense.
The chief place, and almost the only one of note in this little parish, is Tregamynyon, that is, the stony dwelling, which was for several generations in the family of Lanyon, and the residence of a younger branch thereof ever since the 30th of Queen Elizabeth; for in Trinity term the 31st year of her reign was a fine passed at Westminster between William Lanyon, gent. and Richard Lanyon, esq. and John Lanyon, gent. of three messuages, ten acres of meadow, sixty acres of pasture, one hundred and fifty acres of furze, one water-mill, &c. in Tregamynyon. Here his posterity flourished in good repute till the reign of Queen Anne, when John Lanyon, of this place, gent. and John Lanyon, jun. his son and heir, joined in the sale of this estate to John Borlase, of Pendeen, esq. who is the present possessor thereof. The said John Lanyon, jun. married to his wife Frances Brydges, sister to James Lord Chandos, and aunt to the Duke of that name, who is since dead without issue, being well stricken in years when he married, and twice a widower before. John Lanyon, the father, married ―――― Borlase, of Pendeen. His grandfather was commonly called the Golden Lanyon, as having gotten great riches by tin, which he divided among his numerous issue; but before I quit this place I must relate for the benefit of my readers what Mr. Lanyon, sen. told me respecting the covering of his house, as it may be of great use to persons building in high and exposed places. That not being able to keep his house here in good repair, it being rifled and uncovered by every storm, he at last resolved to plaster it with lime and hair on the lathes within, where the stones are fastened; after which he had not the least stripping of his healing for thirty years. This same thing was tried with the same success by Mr. Hector Trelevant, of St. Agnes; and it is, I verily believe, a certain and cheap prevention of damage.
THE MANOR OF CARVOLGHE, OR CORVAEGHE.
This manor was one of those forfeited by Francis Tregian, esq. (See Probus).
It appears by an inquisition taken in the fifth year of King Charles the First, that the manor then belonged to Ezekiel Grosse, of Comborne, gent.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this parish has been recently new built with the assistance of the parliamentary grant. Its situation near the sea adds much probability to Mr. Tonkin’s interpretation of the name. The great tithes are appended to those of Maddern, and belonged to the family of Nichols, now Le Grice.
This parish has to boast of an ancient military work, more curious perhaps than any other in the west of England. It consists of two inclosures nearly circular; the inner 174 feet in diameter, the inner wall 12 feet thick, and still remaining from 10 to 12 feet high; outside this is a vacant space 30 feet wide, and then the second wall, having a diameter of almost 230 feet, and built like the other, but less solid and not so high. The stones are all laid after the Cyclopian manner, unhewn and without cement; yet, by great labour and repeated trials, so adjusted as to form a close, even, and apparently smooth front. All round the interior surface of the inner wall are traces of rooms resembling in their situation modern casemates, and near it appear the simple remains of an ancient town. A description and plan of this most interesting ruin called Castle Chiowne, or Chioune, contracted into Choon, which is well known to mean the house in a croft, have been given by Doctor Borlase, in his Antiquities, p. 346 of the 2d edition. There is also a description by Mr. Britton in the second volume of the Beauties of England and Wales; and a very accurate plan and section, with a full description, may be found in the Archæologia published in 1829, volume the 22d, p. 300, by William Cotton, esq. M.A.
It is to be hoped that the proprietors of the soil will take care to prevent any further destruction of this most ancient and curious fortress, by effectually prohibiting a practice which has disfigured even Rome itself, that of recklessly removing the materials for domestic purposes.
At about 500 yards to the south-west of the Castle, is a cromleigh noticed by Doctor Borlase, p. 232.
Morva also contains, either in the whole or in part, the most romantic granite hill of the western formation. Carn Galva is entirely covered with blocks of the largest size; and being deep in the granite district, they have escaped that destruction of natural grandeur which inevitably accompany the useful or beautifying improvements effected by the hands of men.
Morva measures 1060 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 775 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 18 1 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 282 | 273 | 325 | 377 giving an increase of 33½ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is entirely situated on granite, which presents the same varieties as the granite of Madron, of which indeed it is a continuation, the granite of both parishes belonging to one and the same mass.
MORVAL.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Morval lies in the hundred of West, and has to the westward the rivers Looe and Duloe, to the north St. Kayne and Leskeard, to the east St. German’s, and to the south St. Martin’s.
In the year 1291, the 20th of Edward the First, (if, at least, I am right in taking this to be the church there called Capella de Lamana,) it was valued at £1. 10_s._ being then appropriated to the Priory of St. German’s.
Morval, a vicarage, stands in the King’s Book at £6. 14_s._ 9_d._
The name of this parish signifies the Sea Valley, it being written anciently Morevale; not that I would from thence insinuate that the sea came up formerly to this place, though the same be not impossible. But as Morval may be interpreted the Mory or Fenny Valley, I rather take that to be the right.
THE EDITOR.
It is with much diffidence that I venture to approach the subject of etymologies, but it seems at least to be clear that Mr. Tonkin is mistaken. Val or Vale is not Cornish for a valley, but an inclosure. More, in its original signification is great, large, vast, whence figuratively it has acquired the substantive meaning of a widely extended tract of land; as the Sea is in English, called the Deep. I conjecture, therefore, that Morval may be The Enclosed Sea, in reference to the Loch, which gives names to the towns of East and West Looe; or, if the substantive and adjective are inverted, and More resumes its primitive sense, it may be The Large Inclosure.
Mr. Bond states, in his History of Looe, and of the neighbourhood, that the principal seat in this parish, and a place of the same name in Cumberland, belonged to Sir Hugh de Morville, “a foul disgrace to knighthood’s fair degree,” one of those villains who murdered Becket at the altar in Canterbury Cathedral; but the honour of Cornwall is not stained by the assassin’s birth. The manor of Morval passed in early times to the family of Glynn.
Mr. Bond has also preserved a very curious memorial of the lawless and unsettled state of Cornwall, and probably of all England, during the contests for plunder, glossed over by the fiction of adverse rights between two branches of the Plantagenets.
In the year 1471, John Glynn, esq. was barbarously murdered at Higher Wringworthy, in this parish, by several ruffians, employed by Thomas Clements, whom he had superseded in the office of Under-steward of the Duchy. In the preceding year he had been assaulted and grievously wounded in the face by the retainers of Clements as he was holding the King’s Court at Leskeard, and thrown into Leskeard prison, where he signed a compulsory obligation not to prosecute. Some months preceding the murder, the retainers of Clements went to Morval, and plundered the house and premises of goods and chattels to the value of two hundred pounds and upwards, as then estimated. All this appears from the petition of Jane Glynn, the widow, to Parliament, which sets forth, that she could have no redress for these terrible outrages in the county of Cornwall, by reason of the general dread of the malice of Clements and his lawless gang; she prayed, therefore, that her appeal might be tried in London by a Cornish jury; and that, in default of Clements appearing to take his trial, he might be dealt with as convicted and attainted. Her petition was granted.
The words of Jane Glynn’s petition to Parliament are:
“The said Thomas Flete &c. then and there, at four of the clock in the morning, him feloniously and horribly slew and murdered, and clove his head in four parts, and gave him ten deadly wounds in his body; and when he was dead they cut off one of his legs and one of his arms, and his head from his body, to make him sure; and over that, then and there his purse and twenty-two pounds of money numbered, and a signet of gold, a great signet of silver in the same purse contained, a double cloke of muster-de-viles, a sword, and a dagger, to the value of six marks, of the goods and chattels of the said John Glynn, feloniously from him they robbed, took, and bore away.”
The following enumeration of the particulars, as contained in the schedule annexed to Jane Glynn’s petition, may perhaps be thought interesting, as giving some idea of the furniture and stock of a gentleman’s mansion in the reign of Edward the Fourth.
“Fourteen oxen, ten kien, a bull, eight hors, sixty bolokis, four hundred shepe, ten swine, six flikkes of bacon, three hundred weight of woll, three brasynpannes, everych containing sixty gallon, ten pair of blankets, twelve pair of sheets, four matres, three fether beddes, ten coverletys, twelve pillowes of feders, four long gounes, six short gounes, four women gounes, two drought beddes, a hanging for a chamber, three bankenders, twelve quyssions of tapsterwork, four cuppes of silver, three dozen of peauter vessell, two basons counterfet of latyn, two other basons of latyn, two dozen of sylver spoons, a saltsaler of sylver, two basons of peauter, two saltsalers of peauter, three pipes of Gascoyn wine, a hoggeshede of swete wyne, two pipes of sider, four hoggeshedes of bere, four hundred galons of ale, three folding tabules, two feyre long London tabules, four peyre of trestell, a pipefull of salt beef, a hundred of milwell and lyng drye, a quartern of mersau’te lynge, a hundred weight of talowe, forty pounds of candell, two hundred hopes, ten barrell, fyve large pypes, eight keves, ten pots of brasse, fourteen pannes of brasse, four pettys of yron, four andyeris, two knedyng fates, a hundred galons of oyle, six galons of grese, three hundred pounds of hoppes, two hundred bushell of malt, forty bushell of barly, sixty bushell of oyts, four harwyis, ten oxen tices, two plowes, ten yokk, ten London stolys, four pruse coffers, and three London coffers within the same conteyned, four standing cuppes covered, whereof one gilt, dyvers evidences and muniments concernyng the possession of the said John Glynn.” See also Mr. Lysons.
In the very early part of the sixteenth century, Richard Coade, esq. married Thomasine, daughter and heiress of John Glynn, with whom he acquired Morval, and in this family the manor continued till Anne, the daughter and heir of John Coade, carried it by her marriage to John Buller, second son of Francis Buller, of Shillingham. Their grandson, John-Francis Buller, married Rebecca, daughter and coheir of Bishop Trelawny; and on the death of his relation James Buller, of Shillingham, he succeeded to the family estate, very greatly increased by a marriage with the heiress of Grosse, a family from Norfolk, which settled first at Leskeard and afterwards resided in the parish of Camborne and Trescobays in Budock.
James Buller, son of John-Francis Buller and Rebecca Trelawny, represented the county in Parliament, and died in 1765.
Mr. Buller married twice, and left Morval, with a considerable portion of his estate, to John, the eldest son of his second marriage with Jane Bathurst, daughter of Allen Bathurst, esq. created one of the twelve Peers by Queen Anne in 1711, and an Earl sixty-one years afterwards by King George the Third, in 1772. Their second son, Francis, became one of the Judges of the King’s Bench; and a third son, Edward, having married a Miss Hoskin, of Looe, lived and died at Port Looe, in the parish of Tallend. Their eldest daughter, Jane, married Sir William Lemon, during fifty years member for the county of Cornwall.
The eldest son of his first marriage settled at Downs, near Crediton in Devonshire, a property that he acquired by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of William Gould, of that place, which is now the residence of his grandson James-Wentworth Buller.
Mr. John Buller resided at Morval, represented Exeter, Launceston, and West Looe in Parliament; and married Ann Lemon, only sister of Sir William Lemon. He has left a numerous family, and is succeeded by his eldest son, John Buller, this year (1835) Sheriff of the county.
Arms of Buller: Sable, on a cross Argent, pierced of the Field, four eagles displayed of the First.
Coode: Argent, a chevron Gules, between three moorcocks Sable.
Glynn: Argent, three salmon-spears Sable.
Grosse: Quarterly Argent and Azure, on a bend Sable three martlets Or.
The manor house at Morval is situated in a beautiful valley surrounded with trees; and it exhibits a good specimen of a gentleman’s residence of about two centuries old. The whole place has been very much improved within the last thirty years.
The seat next of importance in this parish is Bray. And Mr. Bond says of it, “Bray, Bre, Brea, in Cornish signify a hill; and this place is situated on the side of Bindown Hill. Bray commands very beautiful prospects.”
The manor of Bray, then held under the Vyvyans, as of their manor of Treviderow, was in the reign of Charles the Second in the family of Heles, who were succeeded by the Mayows, of which family was Dr. John Mayow, an eminent physician in the reign of Charles the Second, who contributed some papers on Respiration, and other subjects, to the Philosophical Transactions. Bray is now the property and occasional residence of Philip-Wynill Mayow, esq.
Another account which I have met with states, that Philip Mayow, of Looe, purchased in the sixth of Elizabeth (anno 1504) the manor of Bree or Bray, in the parish of Morval, of Christopher Copplestone, of Warleigh, esq. These accounts, therefore, vary; and which is right I cannot ascertain.
This Philip Mayow, of Looe, is buried in St. Martin’s church, and has the following epitaph:
Here lyeth the body of Philippe Mayowe, of East Looe, Gentleman, who deceased this lyfe the 27th day of August in the year 1590, being then of the age of 72 years.
Here under this great carved stone Is Phillippe Maiow entombde, Who in his life for merchandice Was through this land renown’d; His trade was great, his dealins just, The poor did feel his bountie, Great cost he put for sea and land, In buildyng verye plentie.
Dr. John Mayow, mentioned by Mr. Bond, and who has been noticed under St. Martin’s, must have been a very extraordinary man, worthy of being ranked with the first chemists or philosophers of any age.
In the forty-first number of the publications made by the Royal Society previous to the regular series of the Philosophical Transactions, anno 1668, p. 833, will be found an account of two works by John Mayow, LL.D. and M.D. Tractatus duo. Prior de Respiratione, Alter de Rachitide (the rickets); see also the Abridgment, vol. i. p. 295, where the authors say in a note, “As an account of the life and opinions of Dr. Mayow was published only a few years ago by a physician now living, we deem it unnecessary to insert in this place a biographical notice of this distinguished chemist and physiologist. We shall only remark, that in his writings are to be found the primordia of some of the most important theories and experiments of modern chemical philosophers.”
The physician alluded to was Thomas Beddoes, of Pembroke College, Oxford, and afterwards of Clifton, near Bristol, whose life has been given to the public by Dr. John Edmonds Stock, in one vol. 4to, printed for Murray in 1811; and his pamphlet is entitled, “Chemical Experiments and Opinions extracted from a Work published in the Last Century. Printed at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1790.”
Doctor Beddoes here bestows on Mayow the praise he most justly merits, and to be praised by Doctor Beddoes is laudari a laudato viro. Few persons ever displayed more genius or power of invention; and to him we mainly owe the preparation of Humphry Davy for his splendid philosophical career, after a most fortunate introduction by the Editor of this Work.
Anthony Wood gives the following particulars of Mayow:
“John Mayow descended from a genteel family of his name, living at Bree in Cornwall; was born in the parish of St. Dunstan in the West in Fleet-street, London, admitted scholar of Wadham College the 27th of September 1661, aged sixteen years; chosen Probationary Fellow of All Souls College soon after, and upon the recommendations of Henry Coventry, esq. one of the Secretaries of State; where, though he had a legist’s place, and took the degrees in the civil law, yet he studied physic, and became noted for his practice therein, especially in the summer time in the city of Bath; but better known by these books, which show the pregnancy of his parts. De Respiratione, Tractatus Unus. Oxon. 1668-69, 8vo. De Rachitide, Tractatus Unus.――Ibid. De Sale Nitro et Spiritu Nitro Acerbo.――Oxon. 1674, in a large octavo. De Respiratione Fœtus in Utero et Ovo.――Ibid. De Motu Musculari et Spiritibus Animalibus.――Ibid. And all the five were printed again at the Hague in 1681.
“He paid his last debt of nature in an apothecary’s house in York-street, near Covent-garden (having been married a little before, not altogether to his content) in the month of September 1679, and was buried in the Church of St. Paul, Covent-garden.”
Mr. Bond adds, with respect to this parish, that Polgover, sometime a seat of the Mayows, still belonging to that family; and Lydcott (about a mile from thence) a seat of the family of Hill, now the property of Mr. Braddon, are both farm houses.
A manor, or reputed manor, called Wringworthy, belongs to the Copleys of Bake.
The only place of trade in this parish is a small village, situated at the spot where the Looe River ceases to be navigable for barges at high water. There are several kilns for burning lime, which is used to a great extent throughout all the neighbourhood as a manure; but the modern name of Sand Place indicates a recent origin. Here the canal to Leskeard terminates.
The church is in the same beautiful vale as the manor house. It contains several monuments in memory of individuals belonging to the families of Mayow, Kendall, Coode, &c.
The great tithes belonged to the priory of St. German’s; and in the Valor Ecclesiasticus in the time of King Henry the Eighth, preserved in the First Fruits Office, they are rated,
Morvall, decimæ garbæ - £10.
The great tithes now belong to Mr. Buller.
The presentation to the vicarage is in the Crown; and the present Vicar is the Rev. Stephen Puddicombe, presented by Lord Chancellor Eldon in 1803.
Bindon is the prominent feature in all this country. It commands a most extensive prospect over Plymouth, and to the range of the Dartmoor hills; in the other direction the view extends to the high lands near St. Austell, southward it is bounded by the horizon of the sea, and it almost reaches St. George’s Channel to the north. The elevation cannot be less than eight or nine hundred feet; yet strange to say, the road from Looe to Leskeard still continues to pass very nearly over the summit of this hill.
Morval measures 2925 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 3910 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 415 10 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 533 | 574 | 615 | 644 giving an increase of 21 per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
The rocks of this parish all belong to the calcareous series, and are similar to those of the adjoining parish of Duloe.
MOREWINSTOW.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Morewinstow is in the hundred of Stratton, and has to the west the sea, to the north part of Devon, to the east the river Tamar and part of Devon, to the south Kilkhampton.
This parish is so called from the son of St. Morwen, to whom Marham church is dedicated.
It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Books at £10. 8_s._ 6_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter.
In the year 1291, the 20th of Edward the 1st, this church was valued at £13. 6_s._ 8_d._ having since been appropriated to the hospital of Bridgewater in Somersetshire.
THE EDITOR.
At the general dissolution, the tithes of this parish were valued at £5. 6_s._ 9½_d._ being a part of the ecclesiastical possessions of the hospital of St. John at Bridgewater.
The great tithes now belong to the family of Trefusis, through those of Walpole and Rolle.
This parish forms the north-eastern extremity of the county, and gives origin to the river Tamar, (Ta-more, the great water,) which flows to the south coast, there forming the superb harbour of Plymouth. The portion of Morewinstow adjoining to the Irish channel, partakes of the rugged grandeur common to this district. The church stands near the cliff, commanding a fine view of the sea. The building is large, containing several fine specimens of gothic architecture. It is also decorated by monuments to the Kempthornes, Waddons, &c. Mr. Lysons states, that the principal villages in this parish are Coumbe, Crosstown, Eastcot, Gooseham, Hallabeer, Woolford, and Woolley.
He also states, that Stanbury, a seat and manor in this parish, belonged to a family of the same name, and gave birth to Richard Stanbury, Bishop of Hereford, who died in 1471. But Mr. Lysons seems to have fallen into an error respecting the Christian name of this individual, and also as to the year of his decease.
John Stanbury was confessor to King Henry the 6th, and made by him the first Provost of the College, which that unfortunate king founded at Eton in the 19th year of his reign, 1440-41. He was made Bishop of Bangor, May 4th, 1448, and translated from thence to Hereford, on the 7th of February, 1453, and died May the 11th, 1474. Little more seems to be known of this prelate, although he must have been a man of learning and of much consideration in his time, and one who may fairly be reckoned among the distinguished persons of the county. The property of the Stanburys passed to the family of Mannings, and has been subdivided among heiresses. The great tithes of this manor, and of some other lands in the parish, have been endowed on the vicarage.
Tonacombe belonged to a family said to have changed their name from Lea to Kempthorne, although the reason of their doing so is not known. The family resided there during several descents, till it passed by an heiress about a hundred and fifty years ago to the Waddons. It has again passed by a female descent, and is now the property of William Waddon Martyn, esq.
There is also a farm in this parish called Lea, belonging to George Thynne Carteret, son of Henry Frederick Thynne, second son of Thomas Thynne, and Louisa Carteret, daughter of Grace Granville, daughter and coheir of John Granville, created Earl of Bath by King Charles the 2d.
George Thynne Carteret is Baron Carteret, by a creation, dated Jan. the 29th, 1784, granted to his father.
This farm may have caused the double names of Kempthorne and Lea.
Cleave house is said to be pleasantly situated; and Chapel house, a modern building, was the residence of the Hammetts, a family from Carmarthenshire, and bequeathed to Zachariah Hammett Drake, by his maternal uncle. It is now by purchase the property and residence of Thomas Troad, esq.
Morewinstow measures 7038 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 4201 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 707 7 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 874 | 940 | 1091 | 1102 giving an increase of 26 per cent. in 30 years. The Rev. Denis Young died Vicar of Morewinstow in 1834, having held the living from 1807.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
Like the adjoining parish of Kilkhampton, Morewinstow is entirely confined to rocks of the calcareous series, known in Devonshire by the name of Dunstone. The schistose and compact varieties of this rock are extensively exposed on the shores, and in the precipitous cliffs of Stanbury Creek, where they may be seen curved and contorted in the most intricate manner.
MULLION.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Mullion is in the hundred of Kerrier, in that part of it called Maneage, bounded to the west by the Channel, to the north by Cury, Gunwallo, and St. Mawgan, to the east by Ruan Major, and to the south by Grade.
This parish has its name from St. Melina, and is dedicated to her. It is a vicarage valued in the King’s Book at £9. 4_s._ 4_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter. The incumbent Mr. Wills. The great tithes belong to the Chapter of Exeter, with the exception of an endowment to the vicar made by Robert Lyddra, sometime Provost of Glassney College, as may be seen in the registry of Exeter.
In the valuation of Pope Nicholas anno 1291, the 20th of Edward the First, this church is valued at £8; but since it is there called Ecclesia Sancte Melanie, and that in Usherde Brit. & Eccles. Primordiis, pp. 145 and 146 (I presume Archbishop Usher De Christianarum Ecclesiarum, in Occidentis præsertim partibus, Successione et Statu, London, 1613, 4to. Hamburgh, 1658, London, 1687, with a continuation. Edit.) the famous St. Malo is called St. Mellonus, St. Melanius, and Meloninus Britannus, I rather take him to have been the patron of this church, and to have given his name to the parish.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this parish has the appearance of antiquity, and the windows contain some remains of painted glass, exhibiting the arms of several families heretofore connected with the parish, the De Ferrers and the Eriseys. There is a marble monument to the Rev. T. Flavell, on which he is stated to have received his education at Tiverton school, and to have been a member of Trinity College, Oxford; and that in addition to this vicarage he had the rectory of Ruan Major, and that he held a prebend of Exeter Cathedral. He died in 1682.
At the foot of the inscription, which is in Latin, was the following:
Earth take mine earth, my sin let Satan have it, The World my goods, my soul my God, who gave it; For from these four, Earth, Satan, World, and God, My flesh, my sin, my goods, my soul I had.
The tower was built by Mr. Robert Luddra, probably an inhabitant of the parish, in 1500.
The great tithes do not form a part of the general funds belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, but they are specially appropriated to support the vicars choral of the Cathedral Church.
The manor of Pradannack is said by Mr. Lysons to have belonged to the family of Serjeaux, and to have passed from them by a coheiress to the De Veres, Earls of Oxford. It is now divided into Higher and Lower Wortha and Wollas, one belonging to Mrs. Agar, heir of the Robartes family, the other to the Vyvyans of Trelowarren, and the manor of Clahar to the family of Boscawen.
The parish feast is held on the nearest Sunday to November the 4th; St. Malo’s day is November the 15th, just with an interval of eleven days, but in the wrong direction for reconciling the difference by our change of style. St. Melina is not noticed in the Roman calendar.
The Rev. T. L. Bluett died Vicar of Mullion in 1834.
This parish measures 4663 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 2478 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 299 13 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 529 | 571 | 692 | 733 giving an increase of 38½ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
By far the greater part of this parish rests on serpentine, the nature of which is beautifully displayed in Kinance Cove, where many rocks are highly polished by the action of the waves, exhibiting a mottled and variegated surface not unlike the skin of a serpent, from which resemblance the rock derives its name.
Between Pradanack and the sea, and between the church and the sea, bounded on the south by the rivulet which flows to Mullion Cove, there are two patches of hornblende rocks, both massive and schistose. These rocks are not of the same nature as the greenstone which occur near the granite, but resemble those of Porthoustock, Cadgwith, Landowednack, and other places near the serpentine: it is therefore very probable that the analysers may detect magnesia in both the hornblende and the felspar, of which these rocks are composed. North of a line drawn from the church to about the middle of Bolerium Cove, the rocks appear to belong to the calcareous series.
* * * * *
The Editor cannot pass by the mentioning of Kinance Cove without remarking on the extreme beauty and elegance of its appearance.
Whenever the granite reaches the shore, and it does so only with some interruptions for a few miles round the Land’s End, the cliffs are composed of angular blocks piled on each other, seeming with masculine strength to defy the utmost strength of the ocean. At Kinance, on the contrary, the whole scenery appears feminine. The rocks are rounded, smooth, polished, and variegated with beautiful colours; and although they are of large dimensions, yet every face and every turn is elegant; the very sand that lies between them is of the most fine and shining texture. No one desirous of viewing the beauties of Cornwall should neglect to visit this Cove. The serpentine formation, one of the most rare, is highly interesting to geologists, with its accompanying diallage, and veins of asbestos and of steatite, frequently shot through by native copper in the form of dendrites. Here too the botanist will find various plants besides the Erica Vagans, peculiar, in Cornwall at least, to this formation, among which one of the most rare is the Asparagus Officinalis; and, lastly, the serpentine of Kinance is now turned in lathes, and made into some of the most pleasing ornaments for chimney pieces or cabinets.
ST. NEOT.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
St. Neot is situate in the hundred of West, and is bounded to the west by Cardinham and Warleggon, to the north by Alternun, to the east by St. Clair, and to the south by St. Pinnock and Leskeard.
This parish takes its name from, and is dedicated to, the famous St. Neot, whose fabulous miracles are painted in one of the windows of this church.
It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Book at £9. 11_s._ The patronage in Mr. John Pomeroy, the widow of Mr. John Robins, and Mr. Jonathan Randill, for one turn, and in Mr. Christopher Grylls, for the other; all in right of the manor of St. Neot, to which the great tithes are annexed. The incumbent Mr. John Parsons.
In 1291, the 20th Edward I. on the taxation of Pope Nicholas, this church is valued at £10, being then, or since, appropriated to the priory of Montacute, in Somersetshire; and the vicarage at twenty shillings.
THE MANOR OF ST. NEOT.
This in Domesday Book is called Neoteston, that is Neot’s Place, and it was one of the manors given to the Earl of Morton.
In p. 49 of Carew’s History, St. Neot is printed by mistake St. Wot. (This error is corrected in Lord de Dunstanville’s edition, p. 135. Ed.)
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Tonkin has not stated with his general accuracy the value assigned to the vicarage of St. Neot in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas. The entry in the parliamentary publication stands thus:
Ecclesia Sancti Rufati (Neoti) £10 0 0 Vicar’ ejusdem 6 13 4
The following entry occurs in the valuation of property belonging to the priory of Montacute, at its surrender to the king, preserved in the First Fruits Office.
Sanctus Neotus.――Valet in exit’ x^{mar’} [~p]dial’ ꝑsonal’ cum al’ casual’ i[~b]^m cõib; annis £14. ult^a 13_s._ 4_d._ in feod’ Jo[~h]s Calwey, ball’ i[~b]^m, ꝑ annu’ clare £13. 6_s._ 8_d._
Mr. Lysons gives a very detailed account of the different manors in this parish, and of the descents and alienations of each, but wholly uninteresting to any others than the proprietors.
The principal manor and advowson of the church, which had been both divided, are most fortunately again united in the Rev. Richard Gerveys Grylls, since we are indebted to the taste and to the liberality of this gentleman, for more than restoring the beautiful decorations of the church to their original splendour.
The church is situated in a pleasing and retired vale, watered by a branch of the Fowey river, and abounding with trees; while the country surrounding it, on almost every side, is even now little cultivated, and must in former times have been a desert. No situation could be more adapted for the retreat of an anchorite; and monkish legends inform us that St. Guevor, or Guervier, or Guerer, fixed his abode at this place; and in after times, the sound of his name being found to somewhat resemble the French verb Guerir, to heal, tales were invented of his performing miraculous cures; and in particular of his having enabled King Alfred to sit on a horse at the precise moment when his presence in the field became indispensably necessary to oppose the pagan Danes.
If St. Guerir ever resided here at all, he must have very opportunely made way for St. Neot, since it is well ascertained that he also occupied this retreat in the reign of his brother or relation the Great Alfred.
St. Neot, having withdrawn from the Abbey of Glastonbury, founded by St. Joseph of Arimathea, retired into this solitude; where he adopted the singular penance of plunging himself daily into a well of cold water, and there remaining immersed to his neck till he had repeated the whole Book of Psalms. The miraculous powers however bestowed on him by the Almighty, in recompense for conduct so conducive to the happiness and well-being of his creatures, forbad St. Neot to remain secreted. Multitudes flocked to him from all parts; he founded a monastery, and repaired to Rome for a confirmation and for blessing at the hands of the Pope: these were readily obtained. He returned to his monastery, where frequent visits were made to him by King Alfred, on which occasions he admonished, instructed, and informed the great founder of English liberty; and finally quitted this mortal life on the 31st of July, about the year 883, in the odour of sanctity so unequivocal, that travellers all over Cornwall were solaced by its fragrance. Nor did the exertions of our Saint terminate with his existence on earth; he frequently appeared to King Alfred, and sometimes led his armies in the field. But if the tales of these times are deserving of any confidence, the nation is really and truly indebted to St. Neot for one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed on it. To his advice, and even to his personal assistance as a teacher, we owe the foundation by Alfred of the University at Oxford.
The relics of St. Neot remained at his monastery in Cornwall till about the year 974, when Earl Alric, and his wife Ethelfleda, having founded a religious house at Eynesbury, in Huntingdonshire, and being at a loss for some patron saint, adopted the expedient of stealing the body of St. Neot; which was accordingly done, and the town retains his name, thus feloniously obtained, up to the present time. The monastery in Cornwall continued feebly to exist after this disaster through the Saxon times; but having lost its palladium, it felt the roiner’s hand; and almost immediately after the Norman Conquest, it was finally suppressed; yet the memory of the local saint is still cherished by the inhabitants of the parish and of the neighbourhood, endeared perhaps by the tradition of his diminutive stature, reduced in their imaginations to fifteen inches of height; and to these feelings we in all probability owe the preservation of the painted glass, the great decoration of this church, and one of the principal works of art to be seen in Cornwall.
The church itself is of the best description, having a nave and two aisles of equal length, with a square tower at the western end, and with the rare addition of an embattled parapet towards the south, but probably not older than the fifteenth century, with the exception of some parts of the walls near the chancel, which seem to have been a part of the former church. Soon after the new building had been completed, individuals in some cases, and associations in others, as the unmarried men of the parish, the unmarried women, and the wives, contributed a window, either in honour of the local saint, or of their particular patrons; and the peculiar attachment felt for the little saint seems to have preserved these fragile materials at the two important periods of our modern history, the time when the great change of religion took place, and at that of the Civil Wars. It may however be recollected that no violent change occurred here, the monastic institution having been dissolved by the Earl of Morton, half brother of the Conqueror; and no place could be more retired from the observation of strangers, or from the passage of fanatical armies.
From the time of the Reformation, however, all care about maintaining these decorations ceased, and the whole in a few years more would have fallen into utter decay, if Mr. Grylls had not nobly stepped forwards, not to support or repair, but to renew these gems; which he has most effectually done, at an expense not short of two or three thousand pounds. The church has now sixteen windows entirely filled with painted glass of the most beautiful colours and designs; about half of the whole consisting of the old glass most carefully preserved, and the new added in a style completely harmonizing with the former: all executed in London by Mr. J. P. Hedgeland, an eminent artist, to whose work, with sixteen coloured plates, the reader is referred for a full description of each window, and of the various subjects it contains:
“A Description of the Splendid Decorations recently made to St. Neot’s Church, in Cornwall, by J. P. Hedgeland, price £2. 2_s._ To which are added some Collections and Translations respecting St. Neot, &c. by Davies Gilbert, M.A. F.R.S. F.A.S.” Printed for the Author in London, 1830, and sold by Messrs. Nichols.
This parish contains a natural curiosity which must not be omitted.
On an elevated part of the uncultivated lands which extend for many miles to the north and east of St. Neot Church Town, there happens to be a depression without any channel leading from it; the hollow is, of course, filled with water, and resting on the granite soil of these moors, the margin all round is covered by a white siliceous sand, one of the constituent parts of this compound rock.
Most marvellous stories used to be current respecting this little lake; no lead could sound the depth of the water, which rose and fell with the tide, &c.:――but the depth nowhere exceeds two or three fathoms, and any consent with the tide is obviously impossible. A tale of a very different nature, connected with this lake, was as universally repeated, and more than half believed, sixty years ago.
Tregagle is the name of a family not long extinct. Mr. Lysons says Tregagle, of Trevorder, in St. Breock; arms, Argent, three bucks passant Or. One of this family having, for some reason, become unpopular, the traditions respecting a mythological personage have been applied to him. The object of these tales of unknown antiquity was, like Orestes, continually pursued by an avenging being, from whom he could find refuge only from time to time, by flying to the cell or chapel on Roach Rock; till at last his fate was changed into the performance of a task, to exhaust the water from Dozmere, with an implement less adapted, if possible, for its appropriate work, than were the colanders given to the daughters of Danaus:
Hocc’, ut opinor, id est, ævo florente puellas, Quod memorant, laticem pertusum congerere in vas, Quod tamen expleri nulla ratione potestur.
Tregagle is provided simply with a limpet shell, having a hole bored through it; and with this he is said to labour without intermission; in dry seasons, flattering himself that he has made some progress towards the end of his work; but when rain commences, and the “omnis effusus labor” becomes apparent, he is believed to roar so loudly, in utter despair, as to be heard from Dartmoor Forest to the Land’s End.
The name of this small lake, about a mile in circumference, has excited much curiosity, remaining still unsatisfied. I approach etymology with diffidence, proposing nothing but as a conjecture. On the second syllable of Doz-mere indeed there has not been a doubt, it is understood on all hands to mean a lake; now Doz is said in our glossaries to agree with the English verb to come, but that joined with water it means the tide; may not Doz-mere then represent the currently received opinion of these waters ebbing and flowing, and mean literally the tide lake? The English termination, utterly destructive of its dignity or importance, is at all events unnecessary to the sense.
St. Neot measures 12,789 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815: 4635 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 701 18 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 906 | 1041 | 1255 | 1424 giving an increase of 57 per cent. in 30 years. Present Vicar, the Rev. Richard Gerveys Grylls, instituted in 1793.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
A line drawn N. W. and S. E. about half a mile north of the church town, will divide this parish so into two unequal parts, that the northern, by far the most extensive, will be found to rest on granite, forming a barren waste for several miles in extent; its valleys, however, have afforded stream tin in considerable quantities, and of the very best quality, rendering it therefore probable that this valuable and rare metal may exist in the granite more than has generally been supposed. The other portion of the parish is situated on slate, resembling that of the parishes of Cardinham and St. Clear, immediately in the vicinity.
NEWLIN, OR ST. NEWLIN.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Newlin is in the hundred of Pider, and joins to the west with St. Piran in the Sands and St. Cuthbert, to the north with Crantock and Lower St. Columb, to the east with Little Colan and St. Enador, and to the south with St. Allen.
This parish takes its name from, and is dedicated to, a female saint, Sancta Newlina. It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Books at £16. 13_s._ 4_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter. The sheaf appropriated to the Chancellor of Exeter, and held under lease by Richard Arundell, esq. uncle and heir presumptive to the present John Lord Arundell, of Trerice. The incumbent Mr. Reginald Trenheale.
The manor of Cargaul, or Cargol, which signifies the holy town, as having been for a long time, ever since the settling of the Bishop’s see at Bodmin, part of the lands belonging to the bishoprick still appertaining to the Bishop of Exeter. I take this to be what in Mr. Camden is called Caeling, or I do not know where else you will find that place. There are many ruins at Cargol, which show that it must have been once a considerable place. A large prison is still standing there, although now scarcely used, and a barn of the same size; both show something of its pristine glory, although as to the rest it be but a sorry village of three or four poor houses.
Treluddero, or Treludra, which is not far from Cargol, and is held from it.
Humphrey Borlase, esq. of this place, was Sheriff of Cornwall in the third and fourth years of King James the Second, in the commission of the peace and lieutenancy, and also a member of parliament; but following the fortunes of that king, (by whom it is said that he was created Baron of Mitchell, at St. Germain’s,) he ran out a large estate, and died a prisoner for debt in the Fleet; and soon after his decease, this place, with several other lands, were sold under a decree in chancery, to Sir William Scawen, and the lease of the manor of Cargol held under the Bishop to Philip Hawkins, esq. to whose son, the Rev. John Hawkins, D.D. it at present belongs. From hence originated the well-known apple, the Treludra or Borlase’s pippin; but the place is so much fallen to decay that no traces remain of the house, nor even of the orchard. [The small dwelling of a farmer, and a few stumps of trees, alone mark the spot. Ed.]
To the south of Treludra, just in from the downs, stands the borough of Mitchell, the best part of which being in this parish, as the rest is in St. Eroder, Mr. Browne Willis thus describes it: “Mitchell is a small hamlet, scarce containing thirty houses, all cottages save one, which is a public inn, not long since erected, which is the only healed (slated) house in this poor borough. Concerning the antiquity of this borough, and when it was created so, I have little to say; but that it first sent members to parliament in the sixth year of Edward the Sixth, in which return it is called villa Mychell, as it is in all the ancient indentures, styled burgus or villa Mychell, Mitchell, or Modishole. Mr. Carew calls it Meddleschale, the name Mitchell never occurring till in modern times.
The manor of this place is still in possession of the ancient family of Arundell, of Lanherne, whose ancestor, Ralph de Arundell, purchased the same in the time of Henry the Third, by whose interest, I presume, with Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, this little town obtained the privileges of a market and fairs. In anno the thirtieth Edward the First, John de Arundell (grandson of the aforesaid Ralph, who had been Sheriff of Cornwall in the forty-fourth of Henry the Third,) certified his claim to a market and fair in his manor of Modishole, which he challenged by hereditary descent from Ralph de Arundell, his ancestor, and pleaded that the said Ralph purchased this manor of Piers de Ralegh, heir of Walter de Ralegh.
The manor of Degembris was one of those forfeited by Francis Tregian, esq. (see Probus). It was either given or sold to John Arundell, of Trerise, esq. by King Charles the First.
In this manor Pallamaunter, or Palmaunter, was formerly a gentleman’s seat, and gave name to an ancient family since removed to Trevyrick, in St. Columb Minor.
The manor of Tresulion. Here it is said was born Sir Robert Tresulion, or Tresilian, Lord Chief Justice of England under Richard the Second, though some say he was born at another place. It certainly however belonged to a family of that name, till it went, or rather the barton, with a female heir, to a branch of the Carnes of Glamorganshire. The manor went probably, by purchase, to the Arundells. But in the year 1599, Thomas Davies, of Canon Teign, in Devon, esq. seized the barton under a mortgage, and his descendant, Mary, widow of Sir George Cary, of Clovelly, in Devonshire, sold it to ―――― Gully, gent. who settled himself there, from whom, having lost all his children, it devolved on his nephew Samuel Gully, esq.
The manor of Treworthen was the seat of a very considerable family, of which Walter de Treworthen, or Treworden, was Sheriff of Cornwall 7th of Henry the Third, as was Sir Otho de Treworthen 4th Henry the Fifth, and Sir John de Treworthen was knight of the shire 21st Richard the Second. The arms of Treworthen were Argent, three boar’s heads couped Sable, armed Gules. This manor, now reduced nearly to the barton, is the property of Wills, of Wivelscomb, a minor.
MANOR OF TRERICE.
Mr. Carew says, in Edward the Third’s reign Ralph Arundell matched with the heir of this land and name, since which time his issue hath there continued, (not so, for their chief seat was at Efford, Carew, p. 119, till the reign of Edward the Fourth,) and increased their livelihood by sundry like inheritors, as St. John, Jew, Durant, and Thurlebear.
John Arundell, mentioned by Mr. Carew, p. 146, and his father-in-law, lived to a very great age, being the same who was called “the Tilbury,” and “John for the King.”
The arms of Arundell of Trerice were, Sable, three chevrons Argent, but of later times the same as Arundell of Lanherne.
THE EDITOR.
In the taxation of Pope Nicholas, Newlin is valued:
Ecclesia S’ce Neweline £9 Vicar ejusdem 1
The Great Tithes are held on lease by John Hawkins, esq. having been purchased by him.
The church stands on an elevated ridge, and is conspicuous, with its lofty tower, from great distances; both are built with stone common in that district, which is hard, and capable of forming permanent structures; but the laminated surface of the stone, and its colour, approaching to olive, are quite unfavourable to exterior beauty. The inside of the church consists of two long aisles, extending east and west, with a short cross aisle on either side; the north cross aisle being appropriated to the manor of Cargol, and that on the other side to Tresilian. The old carved work of this church has not been destroyed, and therefore much decoration may be seen on the seats, presenting the arms of various families, figures, monograms, &c.
Under the eastern part of the church remains a vault appropriated to the Arundells of Trerice, and against one of the walls over it is a handsome monument to Margaret Arundell, wife of John Lord Arundell, and daughter of Sir John Acland, who died in 1691. From this connection, and from various settlements and arrangements growing out of it, Trerice, with a considerable estate annexed, has devolved on Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, late member for Devonshire.
There is also a monument to the Rev. Henry Pooley, the late vicar, who departed this life in Sept. 1821, esteemed as a clergyman, as a gentleman, and in his domestic relations. On his decease Doctor William Carey, then Bishop of Exeter, bestowed the living on the Rev. Richard Polwhele, in consideration of his eminence in almost every department of literature.
MANOR OF CARGOLS.
The leasehold property of this manor, purchased by Mr. Philip Hawkins, remained in his family till his great grandson, the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, acquired the freehold in the year 1804 or 5, under the authority of parliament, for redeeming the Land Tax from the See of Exeter.
The other portion of the Borlase property, sold to Sir William Scawen, has not remained so permanently in the possession of any family. Treludra, and its appendages, had certain incorporeal rights, which made them objects of peculiar attention. Mr. Scawen, who inherited this property from the original purchaser, sold it to Mr. Basset, afterwards Lord de Dunstanville; and about the year 1798 it was finally sold to Sir Christopher Hawkins, who thus united again the Borlase property in this neighbourhood.
It is now needless to investigate the constitution of the little borough of Michell, further than to state that the right of voting for Members of Parliament had been determined to reside in five individuals, holding certain nominal tenures within the borough, and denominated mesne lords, and in such persons living within the borough, as paid scot and lot. These last were in latter times reduced to four, so as to constitute the five mesne lords a majority.
Nothing could primâ facie appear more absurd, or bear more the appearance of a childish mockery of representation. But in point of fact, this and other close boroughs had nothing to do with representation at all, in the sense usually applied to that word: they were fortuitous contrivances giving weight to property, and restraining an assembly partly delegated, and thereby possessing a strong spirit of freedom, within such bounds as allowed distinct branches of government to co-exist with this otherwise all powerful body. They are now swept away, and new institutions seem fast arising; but whether these shall prove advantageous to the happiness and to the welfare of mankind, or the contrary, our posterity will be more able to decide. They may perhaps discover that the apparent obstacles in our Constitution, really contained the secret springs which gave a regulated motion to the British Government, when it was esteemed the wonder and the admiration of the world.
A large extent of waste ground, belonging to the Treludra purchase, having been enclosed, and efforts made to bring it into cultivation by various methods, and among these by folding sheep, it received the name of Shepherds. The late Sir Christopher Hawkins continued with eagerness what he found commenced; and trying the expedient of ploughing deep, to remove the stratum of shattered siliceous spar, which occurs immediately under the peaty turf of all such lands throughout Cornwall, lead ore was brought to the surface; when this spirited individual, who is said to have expended five thousand pounds a year in wages for a considerable length of time, began a mine at his own expense, and encouraged by its first efforts he brought in an adit, erected more than one steam engine, and wrought the mine to a very considerable depth. The quantity of lead raised from the mine proved sufficient to pay all the expenses, and in addition, the lead was found to be rich in silver, much above the general average of such as are usually tested.
All the operations were conducted on the place. The ores were smelted, silver to the amount of some tens of thousands of pounds value was extracted from the lead, and the litharge again revived.
In all these matters Sir Christopher Hawkins was mainly assisted by one whose name I am happy to record.
His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani Munere.
Mr. John Giddy was born in January 1760, and having received the common school education, he found himself compelled to waste the greater part of his life in an inferior situation at a tin smelting house. He had however the advantage of much leisure, which he employed in the cultivation of his mind and in the acquirement of knowledge; and without any apprehension of my judgment being warped in favour of one, whom I have esteemed more as a brother than a relation, throughout a period exceeding fifty years, I will venture to say that in matters connected with chemistry and practical science, few excelled him; that in honour and integrity he was excelled by none; and that in more recondite studies, even in the acquirement of foreign literature, his progress much more resembled what might be expected from persons having every artificial advantage in life, than from him who had been in a great measure deprived of them all. He never married, and died suddenly in last January (1835), at Shepherds, having just completed his seventy-fifth year.
I am myself approaching the age of man, and but that children, and grandchildren, carry our views forward and enliven old age, I should acquiesce in the sentiment of Juvenal:
Hæc data pœna diu viventibus, ut renovata Semper clade domus; multis in luctibus, inque Perpetuo mœrore, et nigra veste senescant.
And, darker as it downward bears, Is stained with past and present tears.
Mr. Lysons says that a manor, called the manor of Newlyn, belonged to the other branch of the Arundells――that of Lanherne. It may, however, be remarked that a manor bearing the name of a parish is frequently limited to a very small part of that with which it would seem to be co-extensive: in such cases the manor probably derives its name from the church having been built on it.
Sir John Arundell, who was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 10th year of Edward the Fourth, lost his life in an attack on St. Michael’s Mount, then recently seized by Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford. This gentleman had removed his residence from Efford, on the coast near Stratton, and amidst the sands, to Trerice; and these circumstances gave origin to one of the thousand idle tales invented on such occasions, and which the diffused intelligence of the present time has scarcely yet eradicated,――that some foreteller of future events had warned him of dying in the sand, that he went from Efford to counteract the will of fate, which became accomplished however at the foot of St. Michael’s Mount.
The Sir John Arundell, mentioned by Mr. Tonkin as known by the name of “John for the King,” and as living to a great age, defended Pendennis Castle with the utmost bravery, after he had passed his eightieth year; and his son, Sir Richard Arundell, distinguished himself at several battles in the Civil War. This gentleman, soon after the Restoration of King Charles the Second, was created Lord Arundell, of Trerice; his grandson, the last heir male, died in 1773.
The house retains the appearance of a splendid mansion in times passed by. The south-western wing has been repaired and beautified internally by Sir Thomas Acland.
Tresilian, improved of late years into a handsome seat, is now the residence of Richard Gully Bennet, Esq.
The parish feast is kept on the last Sunday in April.
Newlyn measures 7683 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 6,663 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 451 9 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 735 | 798 | 1045 | 1218 giving an increase of 65½ per cent. in thirty years. Present Vicar, the Rev. Henry Pooley, collated by Bishop Pelham in 1815.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
This parish is composed of the same kind of rocks as the neighbouring parishes of Cubert, Colan, and St. Columb Minor. It is entirely placed within the calcareous series. At Trevemper bridge is a bed of compact limestone, similar to that which is so common in many parts of Cornwall, and is provincially known by the name of black lime. This rock has been noticed under the head of St. Germans, and it is very abundant at Rock Ferry, in St. Minver, opposite Padstow.
* * * * *
It may be proper to add that Newlyn, west of Penzance, grown to be in reality a town of some importance, is legally no more than a village in the parish of Paul, without any separation whatever.
OTTERHAM.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Otterham is in the hundred of Lesnewith, and is bounded to the west by St. Juliot, to the north by St. Gennis, to the east by Jacobstow, to the south by Davidstow and Warbstow.
This church, in the taxation of Pope Nicholas, 1291, was valued at £2 by the name of Otham. It is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book at £6. 14_s._ The patronage in John Saltren, Esq. The incumbent Mr. Crewys.
There is the manor of Otterham. In Domesday Book it is called Othram, being one of the 288 manors in this county, which were given by William the Conqueror to his half brother the Earl of Morton. Mr. Carew says, “3 H. 4, Will. de Campo Arnulphi held in Otterham 1 fee,” p. 40.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Lysons states that the manor of Otterham belonged in the reign of Edward the Third to the Champernownes, that it came afterwards to the family of Copleston, that John Saltern died possessed of the manor and the advowson in 1639, in whose family it continued for about a hundred years. The manor belongs at present to George Welch Owen, Esq. and the advowson to Mr. William Chilcott, of Tiverton. Mr. Lysons adds, that a barton in this parish, sometime the property and the residence of a family called French, is now the property of Charles Chichester, Esq. The church is said to be small, and not to contain any thing worthy of attention.
Otterham measures 2694 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 1,186 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 67 0 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 141 | 176 | 212 | 227 giving an increase of 61 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is of the same structure as Lesnewith, in its vicinity, being both situated on the Dunstone and other rocks of the calcareous series.
PADSTOW.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to Padstow is lost.
TONKIN.
Padstow, in the hundred of Pider, is bounded to the west by St. Merrin, to the north and east by the sea, its own harbour, and the river Alan, to the south by Little Petherick.
Leland (Itinerary, vol. ii. fol. 75), speaking of the town here saith, “this town is ancient, bearing the name of Lodenek in Cornish, and in English after the true and old writings Adelstowe, Latin, Athelstani locus, and the town there taketh King Adelstane for the chief giver of privileges unto it.” In Tax. Benef. 20 Edw. I. it is also called Eccles’ de Aldestowe, and valued――the rectory in 106_s._ 8_d._ and the vicar in 13_s._ 4_d._ being appropriated to the priory of Bodmin. Notwithstanding which I take it that it has its name from the famous St. Petrock, an abbreviation of Petrockstow, St. Petroc’s Place, to whom this church is by all allowed to be dedicated, and who most probably was born here; as more certain it is that he was buried in St. Petroc’s church in Bodmin, as you may see there.
But Fuller (Worthies in Wales, p. 13), from Bale calls Petrok, a Welsh-Irish-Cornish man, as having his birth in Wales, his breeding in Ireland (according to the custom of that age), from whence after twenty years’ studying he came into Cornwall, and fixed himself at Petrok’s-stowe, now corruptly Padstowe, from a small oratory so called from him; that he wrote a book of Solitary Life, whereto he was much addicted, and flourished anno 560; but Collier from Harpsfield, whose authority I prefer, makes him to go from Cornwall into Ireland, so that as I said before we may claim the honour of his birth.
This church is a vicarage, valued at £11. 3_s._ The patronage in Edmund Prideaux, Esq. the impropriation of the sheaf in Sir John Prideaux, of Netherton in Devon, Bart.; the present incumbent Mr. Charles Guy.
THE EDITOR.
The most probable opinion respecting the name of Padstow seems to be, that St. Petroc originally fixed his hermitage or his monastic establishment at this place, from whence he afterwards removed to Bodmin.
At the taxation of Pope Nicholas this parish stands, Ecclesia de Aldestowe £5. 6_s._ 8_d._; Vicarius ejusdem 13_s._ 4_d._
In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, 26th of Henry the Eighth, preserved in the First Fruits Office, among the property belonging to the monastery at Bodmin, the following entries occur with respect to Padstow:
£. s. d. Padistowe, Decimæ garbæ 14 9 6 Decimæ piscatoriæ 4 0 0 Oblac’ 2 0 0 Reddita et Firmæ Temporalium 10 7 5
Leland says, that the name of this Athelstow indicates its being founded by Athelstan on his conquest of Cornwall, but this appears mere conjecture, unsupported by the slightest authority; in contradiction to the orthography used in the Valuation by the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln in 1291, where the name is Aldestowe, not Athelstowe; and Athelstan’s conquest took place more than three centuries and a half after the death of St. Petroc.
Mr. Whitaker conjectures that the original monastic establishment of this Saint occupied the spot, since inhabited by one of greater learning, and we may fairly presume imbued with a more deep infusion of real piety, the well known and respected author of the Connection of The Old and New Testament, and of a variety of other works, all evincing his profound erudition, strong abilities, and goodness of heart.
The Prideauxes are understood to have held this property before the Reformation under a lease for lives from the priors of Bodmin, who appear to have been high lords, at least, of the whole town.
Mr. Carew, after noticing Padstow, and referring to a charter of incorporation which unquestionably never had any existence, says, “Mr. Nicholas Prideaux, from his new and stately house thereby, taketh a full and large prospect of the town, haven, and country adjoining, to all which his wisdom is a stay, his authority a direction. He married one of Viel’s coheirs; and, though endowed with fair revenues in Devon, maketh Cornwall beholden to his residence. He beareth, Argent, a chevron Sable, in chief a file with three lambeaux Gules.” P. 144; 340, Lord de Dunstanville’s edit.
This family appears to have been greatly benefited by the confiscations of those times, since the Devonshire branch acquired all the ecclesiastical possessions of Bodmin Priory, and what had been held under lease from the monastery about Padstow, became converted into freehold; and soon after the possession could be considered as assured, Mr. Nicholas Prideaux built this house, which continues to be one of the most handsome and imposing of all the gentlemen’s houses in Cornwall. The exterior retains its original appearance, the interior has received various and recent improvements; a splendid staircase is understood to have been brought from Stowe in Kilkhampton. The late Mr. Charles Prideaux went into holy orders during the life of his elder brother; and afterwards assumed the name of Brune in addition to Prideaux on his succeeding to the estate of that family. He married Miss Patten, sister of Mr. Peter Patten Bowles; they have left one son, who is married to Miss Glynn, and three daughters, the eldest married to Mr. Sawle, of Penrice.
The church is handsome and spacious, and is said to have been built by Thomas Vivian, Prior of St. Petroc’s, Bodmin, and titular Bishop of Megara in Greece. It contains several monuments to the Prideaux family, and to others.
The town is not large, and the harbour is so surrounded by rocks and obstructed by sand, that vessels even of a small size are unable to find shelter there when the wind blows on the shore, and security is much wanted. Plans have been suggested for constructing a mole from the eastern side of the harbour, near its entrance, so as to greatly narrow the opening, and by so doing give power to the very extensive back-water to deepen the channel, and this work, with the removal of some rocks, would, it is believed, make Padstow a safe place of refuge for all ships navigating St. George’s Channel or the Severn sea; but the expense must far exceed all that could be contributed to a private undertaking, and therefore no hope can be entertained of such an improvement being made, unless the forming of a safe harbour in such a situation should be deemed worthy of becoming a national work.
A considerable trade was brought to this part about the middle of the last century by Mr. William Rawlings, who, emerging from a shop at St. Columb, raised himself, and conferred benefits on all around him by an union of talent, industry, and integrity. He was succeeded by his son Mr. Thomas Rawlings, who served the office of Sheriff in the year 1803, and built a large house just out of the town, named Saunder’s Hill; but various concerns having proved less successful in the latter part of his life, and leaving a large family, the property has been sold, and the house taken down.
It is a curious and singular occurrence respecting the tithes of this parish, that they have been split; probably in consequence of leases granted by the priory of St. Petroc. The Prideaux family have continued to possess the tithe of fish, and some other advantages, while the general tithes of the parish belong to a gentleman of the name of Hall.
There are said to have been several chapels in the parish; one dedicated to St. Sampson, not to the Jewish Hercules, but to a native of Glamorganshire, born in the fifth century, who after spending years in solitude, converting whole nations, performing miracles, and in Britany raising a man from the dead, founded the splendid abbey of Dole in Franche Comté, where he died on the 6th of July in 564. This chapel is believed to have been built on the ruins of St. Petroc’s monastery, destroyed by the Danes in 981, and therefore on the spot now occupied by Mr. Prideaux’s house, which would be called Padstow Place, but for the alliteration.
Another chapel stood in a direction from the town, now distinguished by one of the most beautiful walks any where to be seen, when the high water overflows the sand of this extensive estuary.
This chapel, called St. Saviour’s, in common with various others in similar situations, was dedicated by navigators to our Lord, in a capacity very limited with respect to that of the Redeemer of the whole world from the destruction caused by original sin; they made it only as a votive offering in return for their own temporal preservation from shipwreck.
An account is given in a black-letter pamphlet, written by G. Classe, of Torrington in Devonshire, of a most melancholy domestic tragedy which took place in this town early in the reign of King James the First, arising entirely from the violent spirit of fanaticism then raging in men’s minds with ten-fold fury in consequence of recent persecution and existing intolerance. The details had better be forgotten.
The latitude and longitude of St. Minver spire are given in the Trigonometrical Survey. Lat. 50° 33′ 31″, long. 4° 51′ 28″; in time 19m. 26s. west of Greenwich; therefore, Trevose Head will be in latitude 50° 32′ 52″, longitude 4° 57′ 16″; Pentire point in latitude 50° 35′ 15″, longitude 4° 55′ 16″.
Stepper Point, forming the mouth of the harbour, is about a sea mile south of Pentire Point, and less than half as much to the west. The time of high water at the change and full of the moon must be between half past four and five o’clock.
This parish measures 3073 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 6934 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 1004 0 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 1332 | 1498 | 1700 | 1822 giving an increase of nearly 37 per cent. in 30 years. Present Vicar, the Rev. William Rawlings, instituted in 1790.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The rocks of this parish are somewhat similar to those of St. Mervyn, which is already stated to belong to the calcareous series. The rocks are well exposed on the shores of Padstow harbour, and therefore they merit a more particular description.
The southern part of this parish consists chiefly of a blue slate, which in some strata is very fissile, and in other strata it separates into thick lamellar pieces, and passes in the adjoining strata into calcareous schist. This slate at Dinah’s Cave contains a bed of black limestone, which may be a continuation of that on the opposite side of the harbour at Rock ferry. At the latter place, the transitions between the blue slate and the limestone are beautifully displayed.
The limestone is of the same nature as that in Veryan on the south coast. Proceeding towards Slepper Point, at the entrance of the harbour, after passing the town of Padstow, the cliffs consist of alternate beds of compact and of schistose greenstone; these continue to line the shore with broken rocks for more than a mile, and they are succeeded by red and greenish slates, which are lamellar, of a fine texture, and rather hard, resembling the mineral called novaculite or hornestone; and connected with this slate occurs a compact crystalline rock like that of Trevose Head in St. Mervyn, consisting of small crystals of glossy felspar, and of a scaly pulverulent mineral of a greenish colour, the nature of which is not very apparent. This singular rock may be the equivalent of diallage rock, a member of the serpentine series, as its position bears a great resemblance to that of the Lizard magnesian rocks.
At Penniscen Bay, on the north side of the parish, the cliff exhibits many alternations of limestone and slate; this limestone is more crystalline than the black limestone of Rock Ferry, approaching nearer to the Plymouth limestone in its appearance; but organic remains have not yet been discovered in it.
The slate between the beds of limestone is a calcareous schist, and is of a white colour, and earthy where it has been weathered; but when perfect it is found, especially near the limestone, to be of a blue colour with broad diagonal bands or stripes of brown, precisely like the calcareous slate which occurs in Werrington, near Yealm Bridge, where it is extensively quarried for chimney-pieces, and for other domestic or ornamental purposes.
PAUL.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Paul is in the hundred of Penwith, and is bounded to the west by St. Burian and Sancreed, to the north by Maddern, to the east and south by the Channel and Mount’s Bay.
This parish is dedicated to the famous St. Paulinus (and not the apostle Paul, as it is commonly thought), who was sent by Pope Gregory the First in 601 from Rome, with St. Justus, to accompany St. Austin the Monk for the conversion of the Saxons. In 625 he accompanied the Princess Ethelburgha, daughter to Ethelbert King of Kent, when she married Edwyn King of the Northumbrians, where he laboured so effectually that he converted that king and the greatest part of his people,[7] so that he was consecrated the first Archbishop of York, and Pope Honorius sent him the pall about the year 630; but, Edwyn being killed in battle in 633 by Cadwallo King of the Britons, and Penda King of Mercia, he was forced to fly back into Kent with Queen Ethelburga and her children, where her brother Eadbald, King thereof, receiving them with all kindness, made Paulinus Bishop of Rochester, where he ended his days on the 10th of October 644.
This church is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Book at £13. 11_s._ 6_d._; the Patronage in the Crown; the Impropriation of the sheaf and tithes of fish in William Guavis, esq.; the Incumbent Mr. Henry Pendarves.
In anno 1291, 20 Edw. I. this church was valued at £9. 6_s._ 8_d._ being then appropriated to the Abbey of Hailes, in Gloucestershire. To this abbey the tithes of corn and fish were appropriated, and so became lay-fees at the dissolution of the abbey.
THE EDITOR.
It is universally understood that this parish is not dedicated to the great apostle of Tarsus; and it is rather a curious circumstance that the word saint, so generally used as a prefix to the names of parishes in Cornwall, should invariably be omitted in this instance.
The honour of protecting the parish of Paul has been given by conjecture to St. Paul de Leon, a native of Cornwall, celebrated as a founder of monasteries, as a zealous and successful champion of the faith in converting the Pagans of Britany, where he was made the first bishop of the town, since called from him St. Pol de Leon; but, not satisfied with the services that he might render to God and man, in this important station, amidst newly converted Christians, he endeavoured to make himself more useful by retiring into a solitude, where he died on the 12th of March, about the year 573, and nearly in the hundredth year of his age.
The parish feast is celebrated on the nearest Sunday to October the 10th; and although this saint is generally commemorated on the 12th of March, the day of his decease, yet in his own city of Leon the very 10th of October is consecrated to his memory: which, together with his being a Cornish man, seems to fix St. Paul de Leon as the Patron Saint, in opposition to St. Paulinus the first Archbishop of York, who was sent by Pope Gregory the Great into England shortly after the mission of St. Austin; his festival is held on October the 12th.
This church and that of Breage were attached to the mitred abbey of Hailes in Gloucestershire, as founded by one of the greatest promoters of monastic establishments on record, Richard King of the Romans and Earl of Cornwall. He began the building in 1246; and in 1251, when he had expended ten thousand marks in finishing the monastery, he had the church dedicated to St. Mary on the 9th of November, in the presenee of the King and Queen, thirteen Bishops, most of the Barons, and above three hundred Knights, all of whom he entertained with incredible state and plenty, letting fall this generous and devout expression: “I wish it had pleased God that all my great expenses in my Castle of Wallingford had been as wisely and soberly employed.”
Edmund Earl of Cornwall, son and heir of Richard the founder, having, in his travels through Germany with his father, obtained a relic considered to be blood of our Saviour, gave a third part to this monastery in 1272, thereby causing a great increase in the number of people resorting to it.
In the return made to King Henry the Eighth, preserved in the Augmentation Office, of the property belonging to this monastery, are these entries:
£. s. d. Com. Cornub. Paulyn firma rectorie 41 0 0 S. Breac firma rectorie 47 0 0
This reign, more unsettled, and more disturbed by domestic wars throughout its whole extent than any other, was nevertheless most fertile in the production of monasteries; and the honour and castle of Wallingford, accidentally united with the Duchy of Cornwall in the person of Richard Plantagenet, King of the Romans, remained so till it was taken in exchange by Henry the Eighth for certain manors and lands in Cornwall, known as the new Duchy holdings.
A great part of the lands surrendered by the Abbey of Hailes are in possession of the Tracy family; but the impropriated tithes of Paul belonged, in the early part of the last century, to the family of Gwavas, since which time they have passed with two coheiresses to Veale and Carlyon.
The church is placed a little beyond the brow of a lofty ridge ascending from the sea, so that it is not much seen, but the tower rising above the ridge is visible from a great distance. The church is large, and contains several monuments to members of different families,――Godolphin, Pendarves, Hitchins, &c.
In this parish are situated Mousehole and Newlyn, two towns of pretty considerable size, although, being very near to Penzance, they have not any regular market.
MOUSEHOLE, formerly called Porth Enys, the Island Port, on account of a small island close in upon the shore, had in remote times not the privilege merely, but the actual possession of a market and fairs, but having been destroyed by a predatory invasion of some Spaniards in July 1595, and Penzance rising fast into importance, the practice of holding them has been discontinued ever since.
Mr. Carew, p. 156 (p. 381 of Lord de Dunstanville’s edition), gives a detailed account of this invasion, which is said to have occasioned the capture of Cadiz by a combined English and Dutch squadron in the ensuing year. In Paul church is the following inscription, recording the savage conduct of these invaders:
“The Spanyer burnt this church in the year 1595.”
And the parish register commences with this notice:
“Register of St. Pawle in the countie of Cornwall, from the 23 daye of Julie, the year of our gracious Lord God 1595, on which daie, soon after the sun was risen, the church, tower, bells, and all other things pertaining to the same, together with the houses and goods, was burned and spoiled by the Spaniards in the said parish, being Wensdaie the daye aforesaid, in the 37th year of the raigne of our Soveraine Ladie Elezabeth, by the grace of God of England, France, and Ireland Queene, Defender of the Faith, &c. “Per me, JOH’NEM TREMEARNE, Vicarium.”
Entries, 1595:
“Jenken Keigwyn, of Mousehole, being killed by the Spaniards, was buried the 24th of Julie.
Jacobus de Newlyn occisus fuit per inimicos, et sepultus est 26 die Julie.
Similiter Teek Cornall, et sepultus the 26 Julie.”
The cannon ball which caused the death of Mr. Keigwyn, the principal inhabitant of the place, is still preserved; and to within these few years an implacable hatred was entertained against the very name of a Spaniard.
There is said to have been a chapel at Mousehole; and another, on the island dedicated to St. Clement, served probably for St. Michael’s Mount, as the island is understood to remain an appendage to that place.
No satisfactory account has ever been given of the change of name from Porth Enys to the ludicrous one now in use; there is indeed a cavern at some distance beyond, spacious, lofty, and strewed with large rocks, therefore as unlikely to suggest the name as any thing that can well be imagined. It most likely arose from some trifling circumstance now forgotten.
NEWLYN is somewhat larger than Mousehole, having annexed to it a collection of houses called by a mixture of English and Cornish, “Street Nowan,” the New street.
Both the towns are provided with a pier capable of sheltering small vessels, and above all of protecting the immense assemblage of boats employed in the seine fishery, and in driving for pilchards, mackarel, and herrings; from which large supplies, especially of mackarel, are sent in the spring to London, and pilchards exported to the amount of several thousand hogsheads.
The principal family of this parish in early times was probably Keigwin. To Mr. John Keigwin, born in 1641, we are indebted for the Translations of Mount Calvary, and of the Creation of the World with Noah’s Flood, both of which have been printed by the Editor of this Work, with the original Cornish on the opposite pages; he died about the year 1710. The affairs of the Keigwins got entangled in family disputes, accompanied by protracted litigation in the Court of Chancery, which occasioned their estates to be sold in parcels, and thus gave rise to the extraordinary number of freeholders in the parish of Paul.
Mr. Lysons gives the history of several manors, but they do not contain any thing curious.
The younger branch of the Godolphins, which settled at Treworveneth, having acquired it by a marriage with the daughter and heiress of John Cowling of that place, became extinct by the death of Col. William Godolphin in 1689.
Trungle was the seat of Mr. Hitchens, and afterwards became the residence of Capt. Clutterbuck, a gentleman from Kent, who came into Cornwall as commandant of the garrison at Scilly. He married a Cornish lady, and settled there. His son practised the law at Marazion.
The late Mr. John Price commenced the formation of a pretty retreat in a small declivity near the ridge of this parish, at a place called Chi-owne, the house in a croft. Trees were found to flourish there, and the whole promised so much that his son Mr. Rose Price began to lay the foundation of a handsome seat on an adjoining farm; and he went so far as to construct an immense mound to act as a shelter for trees, and also to give them an elevation on its slope, a work which the country people named “The Chinese Wall:” the whole was, however, discontinued for want of sufficient space, which was afterwards afforded in the adjacent parish of Maddern by the purchase of Trengwainton.
It is not easy to imagine a more beautiful view than the one obtained from the summit of the hill above Newlyn; the ascent is, however, extremely steep, and in consequence a new line of road has been projected; but the great value and subdivision of land will probably defeat the execution of a plan having more for its object the decoration of the country than any facility of communication, although that would be found important.
Not far from the top of this hill is erected a small stone monument by the late Mr. John Price, to commemorate a circumstance scarcely deserving of such attention, which was no more than the finding of a gold ring with the motto on it, “In hac spe vivo.” Mr. Price indeed conjectured that it had belonged to some gentleman engaged in the remote Plantagenet Civil Wars, and with much ingenuity contrived a series of adventures to suit the occasion and the sentiment.
Another curiosity, discovered much about the same time, is far more deserving of regard. Of this Mr. Lysons has given an engraved plate with the following description:
“In 1783, one of the ancient British ornaments of gold, in the form of a crescent, with a narrow zigzag pattern slightly engraven on it, and weighing two ounces, four penny weights, and six grains, was discovered near the remains of one of the circular earthworks in the neighbourhood of Penzance. This curious relic is now in the possession of Rose Price, esq.”
Gold ornaments, similar if not identical with this very curious remnant of remote antiquity, have been found in other parts of this island, and also in Ireland. One very like it in bronze, taken from a stream pool in 1802, is in the possession of Mr. William Rashleigh at Menabilly.
Objects so interesting have not failed of exciting investigation and conjecture; and they have been fancied to be a decoration of the chief priest among the Druids, worn round his head, and indicating by the crescent shape the exact age of the moon best adapted for ensuring the greatest possible virtues to the holy misletoe, which was then to be severed from its parent oak.
Paul measures 2,865 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 7,464 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 785 7 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 2937 | 3371 | 3790 | 4191 giving an increase of 42½ per cent. in 30 years. Present Vicar, the Rev. C. G. Ruddock Festing, presented by Lord Chancellor Eldon in 1826.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
A narrow belt of slate, belonging to the porphyritic series, bounds this parish on its eastern side, as far south as the village of Mousehole; it consists for the most part of hard massive and schistose varieties of compact felspar, occasionally spotted or intimately blended with actynolite and hornblend, or with some mineral intermediate between them. The rest of this parish is situated on granite, exhibiting the same varieties as that of Burian and St. Levan. At Mousehole the slate and granite may be seen in contact with each other, the granite occurring as veins in the former rock.
[7] He was consecrated a Bishop by Justus, then Bishop of Rochester, before he went.
PELYNT, OR PLYNT.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN AND WHITAKER.
Pelynt, vulgo Plynt, lies in the hundred of West, and joins to the west with Lantegles and Lansallas, to the north with Lanreath, to the east with Duloe and the river Loo, to the south with Tallant. In Domesday Book this parish is called Pluwent.
This church is a vicarage, valued in the King’s Book at £17. 18_s._ 6_d._; the patronage in John Francis Buller, esq. the incumbent Mr. Howell.
This church, in anno 1291, 20 Edward I. was valued, (Tax. Benef.) viz. the rectory at £8, being then appropriated to the abbey of Wilton, in Wiltshire; and the vicarage at 40_s._
The manor of Plunent, vulgo Plynt. By Domesday Book it appears that this was one of the two hundred and eighty-eight manors given by William the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton, when he made him Earl of Cornwall. In the extent of Cornish acres, 12 Edward I. (Carew, fol. 49,) Plenynt is valued in nine.
THE EDITOR.
This parish is named in the valuation of Pope Nicholas, Pleymut or Palemyt. It paid at the general suppression of religious houses, £4. 15_s._ a year to the priors of Wilton.
The church is spacious, although it has only two principal aisles, with two family aisles, standing across the other on the south side.
There are various monuments in the church. A very large monument to Francis Buller, esq. ornamented with the figures of himself and of his wife in an upper compartment, and of twelve children below, besides other figures, and numerous coats of arms. This gentleman died in 1615. There is also a monument to Edward Trelawny, a barrister, much noted on account of its quaint and singular inscription, said to have originated from his never having practised his profession, except once gratuitously, to vindicate an individual suffering under some oppression:
Edward Trelawny. Ana: We wander, alter, dy.
O what a bubble, vapour, puff of breath, A nest of worms, a lump of pallid earth, Is mud-wall man; before we mount on high, We cope with change, we wander, alter, dy.
Causidicum claudit tumulus (miraris) honestum. Gentibus hoc cunctis dixeris esse novum.
Here lyes an honest lawyer, wot you what? A thing for all the world to wonder at.
June the 7th, 1630.
There are memorials to William Achym, Esq. as far back as 1589; to a de Bodrigan; and several to the Trelawnys.
William of Worcester states this church to have been the burial place of St. Juncus, a holy personage not recorded in the Roman calendar. But Mr. Whitaker, without citing any authority, gives the patronage of the church and parish to St. Nunn, the mother of St. David, the Apostle of Wales, the first Archbishop of Menevia, since called after his name, and according to romance writers the champion, who having distinguished his levies by a leek as a cognizance, defeated the Saxons in a night attack, and drove them beyond the confines of his province.
This church belonged to the Cistercian abbey of Newenham, in Devonshire, founded by Reginald de Mohun, lord of Dunster, about the year 1241.
In the return made to King Henry the Eighth, and preserved in the Augmentation Office, occur these entries:
£. s. d. Plenynt Redd. lib. ten. 1 15 4 Redd. tam cust’ quam convent’ ten’ 21 5 7 Redd. Firma Rector’ 14 0 0 Redd. Perquis. cur’ 0 11 10 ――――――――――――― £37 12 9
The site of this monastery was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, but sold by one of his sons to Sir John Petre, in whose family it continued till so recently as the year 1824. It was then sold to James Alexander Frampton, esq.
The manor of Pelynt, with the privilege of a fair on Midsummer day, parcel of this abbey, have travelled by some other channel to Colonel Frederick William Buller; and the manor of Hall, the great tithes, and the advowson of the living, belong to Mr. John Buller, of Morvall.
On the barton of Hall are some remains of ancient military works.
But the place of greatest note in this parish is Trelawn, for more than two centuries the principal seat of the Trelawnys; but, notwithstanding the great similarity of the two names, not having any connection one with the other, although, by a temptation too strong to be withstood, the place has recently been known by the name of its proprietor.
THE HISTORY, AS GIVEN BY MR. BOND.
This place, at an early period, belonged to the Bodrigans. Sir Henry de Bodrigan gave it as a marriage portion with his daughter to Henry Champernowne. The heiress of this branch of the Champernownes married Polglass Herle. Sir John Herle the younger, who died without issue, settled the reversion of Trelawn on Sir William Bonville, the last of an ancient Devonshire family (summoned to Parliament Sept. the 23d, in the 28th year of Henry the Sixth, as Baron Bonville, which barony in fee became forfeited by the attainder of his great-grandson Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, in the first year of Philip and Mary. Ed.) It was a very remarkable circumstance attending this family, that the havoc of Civil War annihilated three generations within the space of two months. At the battle of Wakefield Lord Bonville witnessed the death of his son Sir William Bonville, and of his grandson William Lord Harrington, who enjoyed that title according to the custom of those days, as having married Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Lord Harrington, of Harrington, possessed of a barony in fee. This battle took place on the last day of December 1460. And in the month of February following the aged grandfather, Lord Bonville himself, was taken prisoner at the second battle of St. Alban’s, and although his life had been promised, he was beheaded by the order of Queen Margaret, who bore resentment against him, as being one of those who had custody of the king’s person after the battle of Northampton. Elizabeth Lady Harrington, after the accession of Edward the Fourth, had a large dower assigned her out of Lord Bonville’s estates in Cornwall. Her only daughter by Bonville brought Trelawn, and other estates, to Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset. On the attainder of his grandson Henry Duke of Suffolk, they were seized by the Crown. Queen Elizabeth, in the 42d year of her reign, sold the manor of Trelawn and the lands of Hendersich and Portello, in Talland prrish, to Sir Jonathan Trelawny. The old and famous family of Trelawny take their name from the barton of Trelawny, in the parish of Alternun. The arms of this family are Argent, a chevron Sable, sometimes charged with three oak-leaves Proper.
It is said that Sir John Trelawny was so eminent in the wars of France, that King Henry the Fifth, on the 27th of September, in the seventh year of his reign, at Gison in Normandy, granted him £20 yearly for life, as a just recompense for his signal services; and that Henry the Sixth was pleased to confirm it to him in the first year of his reign, and granted to him an augmentation to his arms, the three oak-leaves. He was certainly the first of this family who bore that addition. Under the picture of Henry the Fifth, which stood formerly on the gate at Launceston, was this rhyme:
He that will do aught for me, Let him love well Sir John Trelawnee.
There was an ancient saying in Cornwall, That a Godolphin was never known to want wit, a Trelawny courage, or a Glanville loyalty.
Mr. Lysons says, Lord Bonville built a castellated mansion at Trelawny, a part of which, with two towers, remain on the eastern side of the present house. Sir John Trelawny nearly rebuilt the house, soon after his purchase of the estate. It was again nearly rebuilt by Edward Trelawny, esq. Governor of Jamaica, after a fire, which happened about the middle of the last century. There are several family portraits in the house, two of the Bishop of Winchester; he built a chapel there, on the site of a former one, and the following inscription remains:
“This Chapel was consecrated by the Right Rev. Father in God, Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bart. Lord Bishop of Exeter, on Monday, 23d day of November, Anno Dom. 1701.”
Without adverting to ancient times, two members of this family have been distinguished in times more recent, Doctor Jonathan Trelawny, and one of his sons, Edward Trelawny, esq.
Of the first Wood says, in his Athenæ Oxonienses:――
Jonathan Trelawny, son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, of Trelawny, in Cornwall, Baronet, was born, as I have been informed, at Pelent, or Pelynt, in the same county, educated at Westminster School, entered into Christ Church in Michaelmas Term 1668, aged 18 (born therefore in 1650); and in the year following was made student thereof. Afterwards he took the degrees in arts, holy orders, and one or two benefices in his own county, conferred upon him by his relations.
In 1680 his eldest brother died, and thereupon, though the title of baronet and the paternal estate of his family were to come to him after the death of his father, yet he stuck to his holy orders, continued in his functions, and upon the translation of Doctor John Lake to the see of Chichester, was nominated Bishop of Bristol by his Majesty, (King James the Second, Nov. 8, 1685,) whereupon, after he had been diplomated doctor of divinity, he was consecrated, November the 8th 1685, in the Archbishop’s Chapel at Lambeth, and introduced into the House of Lords with Dr. Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, on the 11th day of the same month. On the 8th of June 1688 he was one of the six Bishops, besides Doctor Sancroft the Archbishop, that were committed prisoners to the Tower of London, for the alleged offence of contriving, making, and publishing a seditious libel against his Majesty and his government; that is for subscribing a petition to his Majesty, wherein he and the rest of the said Bishops showed the great averseness that they found in themselves to the distributing and publishing in all their churches his Majesty’s late declaration for liberty of conscience, &c. Where continuing till they were publicly tried in Westminster Hall for the same, they were, to the great joy of the true sons of the Church of England, released thence on the 15th of the same month. Subsequently, however, the see of Exeter was conferred on him by King James, vacant by the translation thence to York of Doctor Lamplugh; and about the 7th of April following, his Majesty King William the Third was pleased to give his royal assent for him, the said Doctor Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol, to be Bishop of Exeter, in the place of Doctor Lamplugh, beforementioned.
From the Fasti it appears that Jonathan Trelawny, of Christ Church, was admitted Bachelor of Arts on the 14th of May 1672, and Master of Arts April the 29th, 1675. And on October the 26th, 1685, Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bart. Master of Arts of Christ Church, the nominated Bishop of Bristol, was diplomated Doctor of Divinity.
As this gentleman was made Bishop of Bristol by King James the Second, and after his commitment to the Tower and acquittal, accepted from him an appointment to the bishopric of Exeter, almost the last act of that king’s government, which appointment was almost immediately confirmed to him by King William on his joining in the Revolution, one may apply in his case the observation made by the most philosophical writer of English history, on the Duke of Marlborough, when he led over Queen Anne to the Prince of Orange.
“This conduct was a singular sacrifice to public virtue of every duty in private life, and required for ever after the most upright, disinterested, and public-spirited behaviour to render it justifiable.”
He was further advanced by Queen Anne, being again translated, on the 14th of January 1707, to the see of Winchester. He died on the 21st of June 1721.
He married Rebecca, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Hele, esq. of Boscome, in Devonshire, and left a numerous family, but none of his sons left families, and only two of his daughters; Letitia, who married her cousin Henry Trelawny; and Rebecca, married to Mr. John Buller, of Morvall.
Few men ever obtained so great a share of popularity among all ranks and degrees in his own country as did the Bishop, when he protested against the insidious declaration of King James the Second, and sustained persecution in consequence of the support he had given to the Church of England. Fears were entertained, or apprehensions were industriously circulated, of extremities never contemplated; and the prompt acquittal of the Bishops seems alone to have prevented Cornwall from rising in arms.
A Song was made on the occasion, of which all the exact words, except those of what may be called the burden, were lost, but the whole has recently been restored, modernized, and improved by the Rev. Robert Stephen Hawker, of Whitstone, near Stratton.
The strong sensation excited throughout England, by that decisive act of bigotry, tyranny, and imprudence, on the part of King James the Second, by which he committed the seven Bishops to the Tower, was in no district more manifestly displayed than in Cornwall, notwithstanding the part taken by that county in the Civil War. This was, probably, in a great degree occasioned by sympathy with this respected Cornish gentleman, then Bishop of Bristol. The following Song is said to have resounded in every house, in every highway, and in every street.
A good sword and a trusty hand, A merry heart and true; King James’s men shall understand What Cornish men can do.
And have they fix’d the Where and When? And shall TRELAWNY die? Then twenty thousand Cornish Men Will know the reason why!
Out spake the Captain brave and bold, A merry wight was he, Tho’ London Tower were [8]Michael’s Hold, We’d set TRELAWNY free!
We’ll cross the Tamar, land to land, The Severn is no stay; And side by side, and hand in hand, And who shall bid us nay!
And when we come to London Wall, A pleasant sight to view, Come forth! come forth! ye cowards all; Here are better men than you.
TRELAWNY he’s in Keep and Hold; TRELAWNY he may die!―――― But twenty thousand Cornish bold Will know “The Reason Why.”
The song may be sung to the tune of “Auld lang syne.”
The seven Bishops were:
William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury; consecrated 1678; deprived 1690-1; ob. 1693.
William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph; consecrated 1680; translated to Lichfield and Coventry, 1692; and to Worcester 1699; ob. 1717.
Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells; consecrated 1683; deprived 1690-1; ob. 1710.
Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely; consecrated 1683; deprived 1690-1; ob. 1700.
John Lake, Bishop of Chichester; consecrated 1682; suspended at the Revolution, but died 1689.
Thomas White, Bishop of Peterborough; consecrated 1685; deprived 1890-1; ob. 1698.
Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol; consecrated 1685; translated to Exeter in 1689, to Winchester in 1707; ob. 1721.
Bishop Trelawny has left at Christ Church a very valuable, esteemed, and appropriate memorial of himself, and of the Founder. Over the south-east gate of the great quadrangle, leading to the staircase of the hall, is a fine statue of Cardinal Wolsey, with the following inscription:
Eminentissimo Cardinali Thomæ Wolseio, viro inter hæc menia semper memorando, P. Reverendus in Christo Pater Jonathan Trelawny, de Trelawny, in comitatu Cornubiæ Baronettus, hujusce Ædis olim Alumnus, Wolseii in Episcopatu Wintoniensi successor, et Wolseianæ erga hanc Domum munificentiæ æmulus, A. D. M.DCC.XIX.
Edward Trelawny, esq. one of the Bishop’s sons, had the honour of being made Governor of Jamaica; and most fortunately for the Island, besides many other prudent and judicious acts, he pacified a formidable body of revolted negroes, who had long sustained a savage independence, held the fastnesses belonging to the chain of mountains which divides Jamaica throughout its whole length, and maintained a predatory war against all the settlers. The treaty with these people, called Maroons, was in itself so equitable that it continued to be observed up to the period when the whirl of political opinions in Europe, mingled with others of fanatical enthusiasm, extended to these people, and in consequence they were all either exterminated or sent to perish in distant countries.
Sir William Trelawny, the sixth Bart. great-nephew of Edward Trelawny, was also Governor of Jamaica, in less trying times, and the period of his service was cut short by a premature death in 1772, when the property descended to his only son, Harry Trelawny, then a boy at school.
The career of this individual, though extraordinary and eccentric, need not be given in any detail. He appears to have been a man of naturally a strong understanding, but having imbibed the spirit of fanaticism in early youth, it carried him in all directions, as fancy guided, with equal facility; but in general directly against the consent of modern opinions, which have repudiated implicit confidence in traditions, in the decrees of councils, and in the dicta of ancient fathers, or of popes, substituting in their place the exercise of private judgment; guided no doubt in practice by the teacher who happens to carry with him the fashion of the day.
Sir Harry Trelawny commenced preaching at Westminster school. He proceeded to Oxford, where in consequence of nonconformity he could not obtain a degree. He then took orders in the church of Scotland, and began a course of preaching in various meeting houses, especially in one of his own erecting at West Looe. In the course of a few years, after the novelty had worn away, he complied with the requisite observances at Oxford and was admitted to a degree. He then received orders as a clergyman of the Church of England from Doctor John Ross, Bishop of Exeter, and soon afterwards the living of St. Allan, which he exchanged with his relation Dr. William Buller, the succeeding Bishop, for Egloshayle. This living he ultimately resigned on becoming a Roman Catholic, and died in Italy, February the 25th, 1834, having, as it is said, received the nominal honour from the holy See of being appointed a Bishop in Partibus Infidelium. He married Anne, daughter of the Rev. James Brown, of Somersetshire, and has left a large family.
An event connected with the death of this gentleman, and which occurred about a year afterwards, roused the scorn of the whole parish, and of the neighbourhood, more than any thing that has taken place there within the memory of the oldest person.
Several priests arrived from the continent, bringing with them an empty coffin, and the various apparatus used in Catholic services, when masses were said and requiems sung at Trelawny for the peace of this individual’s soul, who had died and was buried in Italy, where it would seem that these pageants should have been celebrated, on the double supposition of their being really efficacious, and that the Almighty is incapable of hearing them from any other than a single spot. For if the latter supposition were not admitted, they might as well have been performed in France, from whence it is apprehended the priests embarked, unless indeed we suppose of these as of other histriones, that Μονον αργυρον βλεπουσιν; and in regard to such a subject, we may fairly go on to add, without want of charity, Απολοιτο πρωτος αυτος ὁ τον αργυρον φιλησας.
His eldest son, Sir William Lewis Salusbury Trelawny, married Patience, only daughter of John Phillipps Carpenter, esq. of Mount Tavey, near Tavistock, and is now one of the members in parliament for Cornwall, residing for the present at Harewood, on the banks of the Tamar.
Pelynt measures 4,170 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. returned to Parliament in 1815 4,732 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 594 19 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 630 | 708 | 750 | 804 giving an increase of 27½ per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The rocks of this parish resemble those of Lanreath and Duloe, the adjoining parishes; and belong, therefore, to the same calcareous series.
[8] St. Michael’s Mount.
ST. PIRAN, OR PERRAN ARWORTHALL, IN KERRIER.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN AND WHITAKER.[9]
The manor of Arworthal (which signifies, upon the noted river,) giving the name of distinction to this parish, and taking in the greatest part of the lands thereof, I shall begin with it.