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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 




07589800 



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THE 

PAROCHIAL HISTORY 

* « 

OF 

CORNWALL, 

FOUNDED ON THE MANUSCRIPT HISTORIES 

OP 

MR. HALS AND MR. TONKIN ; 

WITH ADDITIONS AND VARIOUS APPENDICES, 



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. IT. - •»• * 



LONDON: 
PUBLISHED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SON; 

AND SOLD BY 
J. LIDDELL, BODMIN; J. LAKE, FALMOUTH; Oi MATTHEWS, HELSTON ; 
MESSRS. BRAY AND ROWE, LAVNCESTON ; T. VIGURS, PENZANCE ; 
MRS. HEARD, TRURO \ W. H. ROBERTS, EXETER 5 J. B. ROWE, PLY- 
MOUTH *, AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN CORNWALL AND DEVON. 

1838. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



PARISHES OP CORNWALL. 



FALMOUTH, alias VAL-MOUTH, alias . 
VALE-MOUTH. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the 
north Budock; east, the haven or harbour of Falmouth ; 
south, the Black Rock and Pendennis Castle ; west, Bud- 
ock, and the British Channel. For the name, it is taken 
from the Vale river's mouth, which here empties itself into 
the British Ocean. And the river itself takes its name 
from its original fountain in Roach, under Haynes-burrow, 
called Pen-ta-Vale, Fenton, or Venton ; that is to say, the 
head or chief, good or consecrated, spring or well of water, 
or riverValley, from thence called the Vale river. This place, 
in Cornish, is called Val-genow, or Fal-genne; in Saxon, 
Val-mune ; in English, Vale-mouth, synonymous therewith. 

This harbour of Falmouth, as mariners tell us, is in all 
respects the largest and safest haven for ships that this 
Island of Britain affordeth. Its mouth or entrance from 
the British Ocean, between the Castles of St Mawes and 
Pendennis, situate in St. Anthony and Falmouth parishes, 
is about a mile and a half distant, the centre or middle 
thereof above a league, from the said mouth or entrance 
up the Vale river, by the Rock Island aforesaid, to Car- 
ike Road, King's Road, and Turner's Wear, south-east 
about two leagues from thence, still on the Vale river, a 

VOL. II. b 



2 FALMOUTH. 

navigable arm or channel of the said harbour, extendeth 
itself up the country, by Trejago Creek and Castle, towards 
the incorporate town of Tregony, to the Bridge Place of 
which it formerly was navigable. [See Cuby.] And it 
is overlooked on the south-east side, by St. Anthony, 
St. Just, Philley, Ruan Langhorne, and Cuby parishes. 
Within the said parishes of St. Just and St. Anthony are 
also two navigable creeks or channels. Near the castle 
and incorporate town of St. Mawes, (where formerly stood 
a monastery of Black Canons Augustine, dedicated to the 
Virgin Mary, called St. Mary de Vale, for that it was situ- 
ated on the Vale harbour or river, as its superior monas- 
tery is from the Plym river, in Devon, called St. Mary de 
Plym, whereon it is situate,) from the north-west part of 
this harbour of Falmouth, between the parishes of Budock, 
Gluvias, and Milor, another navigable channel extendeth 
itself up the country to the incorporate town of Penryn. 
And towards the north another channel or arm thereof, 
higher up, extendeth itself through the country from the 
centre about a league, and is navigable to Peran Well and 
Carnan Bridge. Further up, north-east, another arm or 
channel of Falmouth Harbour extends itself to the incor- 
porate and coinage town of Truro, and the manor of 
Moris, and is navigable there about nine miles dis- 
tance from the Black Rock, or island aforesaid. Lastly, 
another branch of this harbour extendeth itself to Tresilian 
Bridge, where it is navigable between the parishes of St. 
Erme, Probus, and Merther, about ten miles from the 
mouth of the haven, all which members or branches of the 
harbour of Falmouth are overlooked with lofty and plea- 
sant hills and vales of land, and within the memory of man 
abounding with flourishing woods and groves of timber; 
and before that time Leland the antiquary, in his Itinerary, 
tells us that this river Vale in his days was encompassed 
about with the loftiest woods, oaks, and timber-trees that 
this kingdom afforded temp. Henry VII. and therefore was 
by the Britons called Cassi-ter, or Casse-ter, viz. wood land, 



FALMOUTH. 3 

from which place and haven the Greeks fetching tin, called 
it in in their language KatnriTepos, cassiteros, stanum, and the 
island aforesaid the Cassiteridan Island. But, alas! now 
this commodity tin hath made such havock of woods and 
timber-trees, in searching for and melting the same, that 
scarcely any of them are to be seen in those places $ for, the 
woods and trees being eradicated, the hills and vales afore- 
said have submitted to agriculture, and are made arable 
lands, which abound with cattle, sheep, corn, and pastures. 
From the premises I suppose it is evident what Mr. 
Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, saith of this harbour of 
Falmouth, that 100 sail of ships may lie at anchor within 
the same, and none of them see the others main tops, by 
reason of the steep hills and long windings of the several 
channels thereof. In further praise whereof take these 
rhymes : 

In the calme south Valubia Harbour stands, 
Where Vale with Sea doth joyne its pure hands, 
'Twixt whome to shipps commodious port is shewne, 
That makes the riches of the world its owne 5 
Ike-U and Vale, the Britons' chiereat pride, 
Glory of them, and all the world beside, 
In sendinge round the riches of its tide ; 
Greeks and Pheniciens here of old have been, 
Fetchinge from thence furs, hides, pure corne, and tynn, 
Before greate Caesar fought Cassibelynn. 

The parish of Falmouth is a dismembered part of the 
old parish of Budock, taxed in the Domesday Roll 1087, 
and separated from it by virtue of an Act of Parliament 
made 15th Charles II. whereby that church is deprived of 
its rectory, the great and small tithes, as far as the boun- 
daries of this new parish extends, on the humble petition 
of Sir Peter Killigrew, of Arwinike, Knt. who by his own 
bounty, and the charitable benevolence he had begged of 
others (by leave of the King and Bishop of Exeter), had 
built on his own land a church and cemetery, at the south 
end of Falmouth town, whereof he was lord and high lord, 
for convenience of himself, his servants, and tenants, that 
were far off from Budock church. This church, so built, 

b2 



'■r5 • . 



4 FALMOUTH. 

he endowed with the tithes aforesaid, as a rectory, # and so 
became patron thereof, or had jus patronatus ; reserving to 
himself and his heirs the right of presenting to the Ordi- 
nary a Clerk to be Rector thereof when the same should 
become void; and the first Rector, as I take it, that he 
presented to this church was Mr. John Bedford. Thus, it 
is evident by what ways and means men became patrons of 
churches, viz. patronum faciunt dos, aedificatio, fundus; 
the patrons of churches were either founders, builders, or 
benefactors thereof. Jus patronatus est potestas praesen- 
tandi aliquem instituendum ad beneficium ecclesiae simplex 
et vacans. (Statute of Westminster, 13th Edward III.) 
This patronage or advowson Sir Peter Killigrew annexed 
to his manor and barton of Arwinick. 

This church of Falmouth being thus built and endowed, 
it was consecrated according to the rights and ceremonies - =._ 
for consecration of a church in England by Dr. Seth, '?' 
Ward, Lord Bishop of Exeter, 1664. Within the chancel ^T; 
of which church afterwards was laid, in a vaulted grave, f, 
the dead body of its patron and founder, Sir Peter Killi- . ■'/.' 
grew, Knt. The present incumbent Quarm. Sir Peter .-v. 
Killigrew also gave the first Rector thereof, and his sue- ." : . 
cessors for ever, a house and garden to dwell in, for profit V 
and pleasure; as also a very rich pulpit-cloth, with gold • .•••.^ ; 
fringes, whereon in needlework of gold was placed the let--" A y \ 
ters I. H. S. Whether it be a contraction of IHSOYS, Je- ■ : ^ 
sus, or to be construed as being the initial letters of Jesus • ji\f-., 
Hominum Salvator, or Servator, let others resolve. 

Ar-win-ike [I above said is] in this parish, [and signifies] 
the beloved still lake, creek, cove, or bosom of waters, 
according to the circumstances of the place ; on part of, 
which manor formerly stood the insular island Iktam, or 
Ictam, of Diodorus Siculus, before mentioned. Otherwise, 
if the name of this place be Ar-wynn-ike, it signifies the 
victorious or conquering still lake, cove, or busom of waters ; 

* The Mayor of Falmouth, by Act of Parliament, pays yearly at Michaelmas 
three pounds to the Vicar of Budock, for the small tithes. 



■&■■ 



FALMOUTH. O 

perhaps to be so construed with reference to Pendennis 
Castle, contiguous with, and built upon Arwinick lands. 

This place is the chief mansion of that ancient and fa- 
mous family surnamed de Killy-grewe, Killygreu, or Killy- 
greue, from a local place in St. Herme, called Killygrew 
barton, downs, and hill, now in possession of Jago in fee, 
where Henry, the son of Maugan de Killygrew, held three 
parts of a knight's fee of lands, and at Trewince in Ge- 
rance, 3d Henry IV. [according to] Carew's Survey of 
Cornwall, p. 44. Of this family further speaks Mr. Carew, 
p. 150. The stock is ancient, and divers of the branches 
have grown to great advancement in calling and livelihood 
by their greater deserts. 

Sir John Killigrew, knight, 1571, built the greatest part 
of the old house now standing here. He married Wolver- 
ston of Wolverston, and had by her issue John Killigrew, 
Esq.; that married Monk, who had issue by her William 
Killigrew, Esq. created the 585th Baronet of England, 
patent 22d December, 12th Charles II. 1660, with limita- 
tion to Peter Killigrew, Esq. son of Sir Peter Killigrew 
aforesaid, Knt. This Sir William Killigrew, Bart, by 
ill conduct wasted his whole paternal estate, which was 
valued at about 3,000A. per annum ; and lastly, sold this 
manor and barton of Arwinick to his younger brother, Sir 
Peter Killigrew, Krit. aforesaid, who had issue Sir Peter 
Killigrew, Bart, aforesaid, who married one of the coheirs 
of Judge Twysden, and had issue by her George Killigrew* 
Esq. that married Ann, daughter of Sir John Seyntaubyn, 
Bart, and had issue by her one daughter. 

This Mr. George Killigrew was afterwards, in a drunken 
humour, at a tavern in Penryn, slain in the chamber, in a 
duel, by Walter Vincent, Esq. barrister-at-law, who was 
tried for his life at Launceston for the fact, and ac- 
quitted by the petty jury, through bribery and indirect 
acts and practices, as was generally said; yet this Mr. Vin- 
cent, through anguish and horror at this accident, (as it 
was said,) within two years after wasted of an extreme 
atrophy of his flesh and spirits, that at length at the table 



6 FALMOUTH. 

whereby he was sitting, in the Bishop of Exeter's palace, in 
presence of divers gentlemen, he instantly fell back against * 
the wall and died* 

Sir Peter Killigrew had issue also two daughters, the 
one married to Richard Erisey, Esq. and another married 
to Martin Lister, Esq. of Liston, in Staffordshire, a cap- 
tain or lieutenant in Pendenis Castle, under John Earl of 
Bath ; upon whose issue by her Sir Peter settled much of 
his lands, on condition he should assume the name of Kil- 
ligrew, and is now in possession of this lordship. 

The country people here about will tell you, (as such are 
superstitious enough to do,) that this murder or manslaugh- 
ter of Mr. Killigrew by Mr. Vincent, whereby the male 
line of that family is extinct, was a just judgment of God; 
for that Jane Killigrew, widow of Sir John Killigrew, Knt. 
aforesaid, his great-grandmother, in the Spanish wars in 
the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, went on 
board two Dutch ships of the Hans Towns, (always 
free traders in times of war,) driven into Falmouth Har- 
bour by cross winds, laden with merchandize, on account 
(as was said) of Spaniards, and with a numerous party of 
ruffians, murdered the two Spanish merchants or factors 
on board those ships, and took from them two barrels or 
hogsheads of Spanish pieces of eight, and converted them 
to her own use. 

Now, though Fleta, Liber i. chap. iii. temp. Edward II. 
tells us that it is no murder except it be proved that the 
party slain was English, and no stranger, yet afterwards, by 
the Statute 4 Edward III. his son, chap. 4, the killing any 
foreigner under the King's protection, out of evil design or 
malice, is made murder, upon which Statute those of- 
fenders were tried and found guilty at Launceston of wilful 
murder, both by the grand and petty juries, and had sen- 
tence of death passed accordingly upon them, and were all 
executed, except the said Lady Killigrew, the principal 
agent and contriver of the barbarous fact, who, by the in- 
terest and favour of Sir John Arundell, of Tolverne, Knt. 
and his son-in-law, Sir Nicholas Hals, of Pengersick, Knt. 



FALMOUTH. 7 

obtained of Queen Elizabeth a pardon or reprieve fpr the 
said lady, which was seasonably put into the Sheriff of 
Cornwall's hands. 

This Lady Jane Killigrew afterwards gave a silver cup 
to the Mayors of Penryn for ever, in memory of some kind- 
ness in her troubles received in that Corporation, 1612. 
Sir Henry Killigrew, Knt. temp. Elizabeth, was a younger 
brother to Sir John Killigrew aforesaid, and followed the 
Court for advantage, and to raise his fortunes (according 
to the constant genius of his family). He, as Mr. Carew 
in his Survey of Cornwall saith, " after embassies and mes- 
sages, and many other profitable employments, both of 
• peace and war, in his prince's service, to the good of his 
country, hath made choice of a retired estate, and was re- 
verently regarded by all sorts, and places his principal 
contentment in himself; which to a life so well acted can 
no wise be wanting." He married Katherine, daughter 
of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Giddy Hall, in Essex, Knt. who 
had issue by her a daughter, married to Sir Jonathan Tre- 
lawny, of Poble, Knt 

This Sir Henry Killigrew, by the favour of Queen Eli-^ 
zabeth, as a boon procured Gervase Babington, Lord Bi- 
shop of Exeter, 1594, by lease and release, fine and reco- 
very, to dismember from the church and bishopric of Exe- 
ter, the great manor, barton, and lordship of Kirton, in 
Devon, worth 1,000/. per annum, rents of assize, which 
had been in the possession of the Bishops of Kirton and 
Exeter, from the time of Edulphus, the first Bishop there- 
of, anno Dom. 907, being 687 years to that time; but 
long since this manor of land is gone out of the name and 
possession of Killigrew, In like manner, about that time 
John Coldwell, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, passed the ma- 
nor of Sherburne to the Crown, by whom it was given to 
Sir Walter Ralegh, Knt. which is also long since gone out 
of his name and family. 

The arms of Killigrew are, within a field Argent, an 
imperial eagle with two necks, within a bordure Bezant^ 



8 FALMOUTH. 

Sable. Which arms and bordure seem to inform us that 
this family was indirectly descended from Richard Earl of 
Cornwall, King of the Romans, by that concubine Jane de 
Valletorta, widow of Sir Alexander Oakeston [see St. 
Stephen's by Saltash]. For that, as this bordure 
Bezant6 Sable was the proper arms of Richard Earl of 
Cornwall, viz. 5, 4, 3,2, 1, the imperial eagle was the 
cognizance of the said Earl of Cornwall as King of the 
Romans. 

Within this parish also now stands the borough town of 
Falmouth, which compound word is etymologized before. 
It was incorporated 14th Charles II. by the name of the 
Mayor and Aldermen and Magistrates of the Borough of 
Falmouth, with the jurisdiction of a Court-leet, wherein 
plea of debt and damage is tried within its precincts. But, 
alas! notwithstanding its present grandeur, neither this 
town nor its modern name is of any great antiquity, neither 
being extant 500 years past; for long since that time it was 
known by no other appellation than that of Smith-ike, that 
is, the Smith's creek, leat, or bosom of waters, from a 
smith that lived at the creek, or cove, now in the centre 
thereof. And verily, I have been tofcL by some aged per- 
sons lately living, that they remembered not above five 
houses standing in this place ; though now, I suppose, they 
are increased to five or six hundred. And for its name 
Falmouth, it was not recorded till, at the request of Sir 
Peter Killigrew, it was inserted in its charter of incorpora- 
tion as aforesaid. Which thing I do not mention to dis- 
parage this really good name, but to let the inhabitants of 
this place, and many other families now flourishing in 
Cornwall, know that many of them are mistaken in their 
antiquity and former appellations, if truly examined. 

Moreover, concerning the first buildings of this town by 
John Killigrew, Esq. In 1613, happened a notable contro- 
versy between him and the Corporations of Penryn, Truro^ 
and Helston, which suggested, by a petition to James the 
First, promoted and backed by the interest of the Bur- 



FALMOUTH. 9 

gesses thereof, viz. Sir Richard Robartes, Bart, and John 
Arundell, Esq. for Truro ; Sir Francis Godolphin, Knt. 
for Helston; Richard Penwarne, Esq. for Penryn; and 
others, '« that the erecting of a town at Smith-ike would 
tend to the ruin and impoverishing of the ancient coinage- 
towns and market-towns aforesaid, not far distant from 
thence; and therefore humbly prayed the King's Majesty 
that the buildings and undertakings of Mr. Killigrew 
might be inhibited for the future." Who, upon receipt 
and hearing of this petition in Council, ordered the Lords 
thereof, Egerton, Buckhurst, Hume, Marre, Sir Robert 
Cecil, Principal Secretary of State, and others, to write 
to Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fentongollon, Knt. then Gover- 
nor of Pendennis Castle, to be better informed of the true 
merits of this case, and to know his own particular senti- 
ments about it, Which gentleman, as soon as he received 
this, letter, made answer, that he well approved- of Mr. 
Killigrew's project for building a town and custom-house 
at Smith-ike, as being near the mouth of the harbour of 
Falmouth; and briefly, amongst many others, for these 
reasons especially : 

J. For the quick and necessary supply of such ships 
whose occasions, or contrary winds, brought them in there, 
without being obliged (as then they were) to go up two 
miles the river to Penryn, or nine miles to Truro, in order 
thereto, or to take in and out their cargoes or lading, and 
make entries at the custom-houses at such distance, by rea- 
son of which delays of time they many times lost the oppor- 
tunity of a fair wind to prosecute their intended voyages, 
longer than was for their advantage. 

2. For the speedy supplying or reinforcing the Castle 
of Pendennis, contiguous therewith, with men, ammunition, 
and provisions, in case of any enemy's sudden invasion, or 
endeavouring to take the same by storm or surprise, before 
the country militia could be raised, or recruits brought in 
for that purpose. 

3. For that other castles for the same reasons were 



10 FALMOUTH. 

built near towns, or towns erected near them, as Dover, 
Portsmouth, Plymouth, Newcastle, Gravesend, and many 
more." 

As appears more at large from the letters and reasons of 
Sir Nicholas Hals to the Lords of the Council aforesaid, 
whereof, by fees to the Clerk of the Council, or Secretary 
of State, copies were privately taken forth, at the special 
instance and request of the said Richard Penwarne, and 
other Members of Parliament then in London, who trans- 
mitted them, by the hands of Mr. Anthony Mundye, to 
the Corporation aforesaid, where the writer of these lines 
hath had a full view of them, amongst the papers and 
records of the borough of Penryn, then lodged in the chest 
of its town-hall. Whereupon King James, upon a foil 
hearing of this controverted matter between the parties 
aforesaid, and what could be alleged on either part, gave 
his opinion (with which all the Council agreed) that the 
erecting a town at Smith-ike by Mr. Kiiligrew, could in 
no sense be prejudicial to the coinage and incorporate 
towns aforesaid, they standing at such considerable dis- 
tances from it; but especially for that every man might 
lawfully do what he would for the utility and advantage of 
bis own proper goods or lands, without the licence or ap- 
probation even of the King, or any contiguous neighbour, 
who had no public or private nuisance thereby done him : 
how much more reasonable was it, therefore, when the 
owners of such lands converted them to such uses as tended 
not only to his own, but the public good and advantage of 
the king and country together. 

Whereupon Mr. Kiiligrew proceeded with his intended 
buildings, and his tenants, the inhabitants thereof, quickly 
grew rich by trade and merchandize both at home and 
abroad : so that in about twenty years* time the town be- 
came notably famous in respect thereof, and is now, for 
wealth, trade, and buildings, scarcely inferior to any town 
in Cornwall. It is privileged also with a weekly market 
on Thursdays, and with fairs upon July 27 and October 30. 



FALMOUTH. 1 1 

The chief inhabitants of this town are Mr. Russell, Mr. 
Tresahar, Mr. Corker, Mr. Hill, Mr. Gwyn. 

In this town his Majesty hath his custom-house collec- 
tor, comptroller, customer, surveyor, sea and land waiters ; 
and from this town the packet-boats from the Groyne, Lis- 
bon, and America, receive their despatches from their 
agent, to the great advantage of this place in times of peace 
and war : since, as I am informed, removed to Flushing, 
in Mylor parish, opposite thereto. 

This town also was the honorary title of Charles Lord 
Berkeley, Viscount Fitzhardinge, created Lord Bottetourt 
and Earl of Falmouth, 17th March, 16th Charles II. 1664. 
He was slain in the Dutch wars 1665, without legitimate 
issue, and gave for his arms, Gules, a chevron Ermine, 
between ten crosses patee, 6 and 4, Argent. 

Afterwards it became the honorary title of George Fitz- 
Roy, third son of Barbara Duchess of Cleveland by King 
Charles the Second, by whom he was created Earl of 
Northumberland, Viscount Falmouth, and Baron Ponte* 
fract in Yorkshire ; and giveth for his arms, the imperial 
shield of England, with a baton sinister, gobonle, Ermine 
and Azure. This Barbara Villiers was one of the daughters 
of the Lord Viscount Grandison, of the Kingdom of Ire- 
land, and was married to Roger Palmer, Esq. created Earl 
of Castlemaine, in Ireland; but afterwards, when Charles, 
the Second took a liking to this Countess, he sent the Earl 
her husband, with his own good liking, Governor of a 
Castle and Colony of the English at Surat, in the East 
Indies. His lady King Charles further created Countess 
of Southampton and Duchess of Cleveland, during life. 
After the death of George Fitz-Roy, in the year 1722, 
Hugh Boscawen, of Tregothnan, Esq. Lord Warden of 
the Stannaries, was created by King George, Lord Bos- 
cawen of Tregothnan, Baron Boscawen of Boscawen Ros, 
in Burian, and Viscount Falmouth. 

In this parish, on the lands of the manor of Arwynick 
(the Icta and Island of Diodorus Siculus aforesaid), upon 



12 FALMOUTH. 

a lofty peninsula or promontory of land, stands the famous 
and impregnable Castle of Pendennis, for which the Crown 
pays annually to the lord of the manor aforesaid, out of the 
Exchequer, about 13/. 6*. 8d. rent, as I take it. For the 
compound name Pen-den-is Castle, it is British, and signi- 
fies that it is the head or chief man's castle, viz. the King 
or Earl of Cornwall. Otherwise, if the true name thereof 
be Pen-dun-es Castle, it signifies that it is the head or 
chief fort or fortress castle. This castle of old consisted 
only of a treble intrenchment of turf, earth, and stones, 
after the British and Roman manner, upon the top of the 
highest hill in those parts, abutting upon the west side of 
the mouth or entrance of the harbour of Falmouth, and 
containeth about twenty statute acres of ground within the 
lines. Repaired and indifferently fortified by Henry the 
Eighth, in the latter end of his reign, in the French war, 
with allowance of a petty garrison, whose daughter, Queen 
Elizabeth, in her Spanish wars, raised the new fort, and 
bettered the old fortification, as they are now extant ; so 
that it is looked upon as one of the most invincible castles 
in this kingdom, having had in it above one hundred pieces 
of cannon mounted, and some thousands of foot arms. 
After Queen Elizabeth had thus fortified and munified the 
Castle of Pendennis, she placed therein a band of 100 
soldiers, and over them placed as her Governor Sir Nicho- 
las Parker, Knt. (a Devonshire gentleman, as some say, 
though his arms, a fess fretty or chequey,* differs from the 
arms of Parker of Burrington,) of whom thus speaks Mr. 
Carew in his Cornish Survey, p. 150 : " He now demean- 
eth himself no less kindly and frankly towards his neigh- 
bours for the present, than he did resolutely and valiantly 
against his enemies when he followed the wars, where- 
through he commandeth not only their bodies by his autho- 

* The arms of Parker of Rathon, in Sussex, were, Azure, fretty Or, over all 
a fess of the Second. And in the pedigree of that family Sir Nicholas Parker, 
Knt. is styled Captain of Pendennis Castle, Cornwall. Edit. 



FALMOUTH. 13 

rity, but also their hearts by his love, to live and die in his 
assistance, for their common preservation and her High- 
ness' service/' He died without issue, anno Dom. 1608, 
and lies buried in Budock church. His successor in the 
government of this castle was Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fen- 
tongollan, Knt. (a domestic servant to Prince Henry, eldest 
son of James the First,) son of John Hals, of Efford, Esq. 
in Devon, who died Governor thereof in 1637; and was 
succeeded in that dominion by Sir Nicholas Slanning, 
of Marstow, in Devon, Knt* who was slain on the part of 
his master Charles the First against the Parliament army 
at the battle of Bristol, 6th July, 1643. After his death his 
widow (daughter of Sir James Baggs, of Plymouth, Knt.) 
was married to Richard Arundell, of Trerice, Esq. son of 
John Arundell, of that place, Esq. commonly called John 
of Tilbury, for that he was an officer under Queen Eliza- 
beth when she was encamped there with her army, in ex- 
pectation of the Spaniards landing, 1588. 

Which gentleman, (John Arundell,) was by Charles the 
First made Governor of Pendennis Castle ; during whose 
command there happened a tragical siege thereof by the 
Parliament army under Colonel Fortescue; wherein the 
besiegers and the besieged showed unparalleled valour and 
conduct for about six months' space, when at length it was 
surrendered upon honourable conditions, the soldiers going 
forth with their arms mounted and colours flying, more 
consumed with sickness and famine within the walls than 
destroyed by their enemies from withont, having been 
driven to that extremity that the governor, soldiers, and 
many other gentlemen and ladies therein, were forced 
for some time to eat horseflesh, for want of other victuals • 
as being hemmed in by the Parliament frigates at sea on 
the one side, and surrounded with their army at land on 
the other, so that no relief of men or provisions could be 
brought into the garrison, whereby it was forced to capitu- 
late and surrender as aforesaid 1647, (before which time 
all other castles in England, except Ragland in Wales, 



14 FALMOUTH. 

« 

were yielded up to the Parliament,) and the hunger-starved 
soldiers of Pendennis, that came out thence, feeding too 
freely on victuals and drink, brought themselves into in- 
curable diseases, whereof many died ; so that here, as in 
many other places, it was observed that more men and 
women died by two frequently putting their hands to their 
mouths, than by clapping their hands to their swords ; as 
the Jews did on surrender of Jerusalem to the Romans, 
after the siege and famine there. 

After the surrender of this castle, as aforesaid, by Colo- 
nel John Arundell, he was succeeded in that dignity by 
Colonel Fortescue, and he was succeeded by Captain Fox ; 
as after the restoration of Charles the Second, Fox was 
succeeded by Richard Lord Arundell, and he by the Earl 
of Bath. 

One Mr. Thomas Killigrew, of this Arwinick family, 
was Jester or Master of the Revels to Charles the Second, 
who, (to give but a single instance of his wit and humour,) 
having been at Paris on business, went to Versailles to see 
the French Court for diversion ; where, being well known 
to many French courtiers who had been in England, he 
was by them introduced into Louis the Fourteenth the 
King of France's presence, who had a long time had a 
desire to see him whom fame reported the wittiest man in 
England. But at that time Killigrew was politically out of 
humour, and spoke very little, out of a desire he had to 
hear the wisdom of the French Court, and what little dis- 
course he had it was trivial and of no consequence ; where- 
upon King Louis told the noblemen that gave him such 
encomiums of his wit, that he looked upon him as a very 
dull fellow. Whereupon the courtiers told him, notwith- 
standing what his Majesty's opinion was, assuredly he was 
a most ingenious and witty man. Whereupon, soon after, 
the King resolved to make a further trial of him, and 
therefore led hira into a long gallery, where were many 
fine pictures, and asked Killigrew what they were ? -And 
amongst the rest of those draughts showed the picture of 



FALMOUTH. 15 

our Saviour upon the Cross; and then again asked Killi- 
grew if be knew what it was? To which, as to the for- 
mer demands, he pleaded ignorance, and answered, " No." 
44 Why, then," said King Louis, " Monsieur Killigrew, 
u I will tell you what they are. The picture in the centre 
is the draught of our Saviour on the Cross, and that on the 
right hand of him is the Pope's picture, and that on the 
left hand of him is my own." To which Killigrew replied, 
" I humbly thank your Majesty for the information you 
have given me, for though I have often heard that our 
Saviour was crucified between two thieves, yet I never 
knew who they were till now." Which sharp repartee 
convinced that King of his wrong opinion of Killigrew's 
wit in satire and ridicule, especially it being at the time 
when the Pope and French King grievously persecuted 
the French Protestants, and either dragooned them to 
mass or drove them out of France. 

Mr. Thomas Killigrew is further said to have put under 
the candlestick where Charles the Second supped, five 
small papers, on which he had written the word all. The 
King, on sight thereof, asked him what he meant by these 
five words of one signification. " Your Majesty's pardon 
granted, I will tell you, sir," said Mr. Killigrew; which 
being promised, he said, " The first All signified that the 
Country had sent all ; the second, the City had lent all ; 
the third, that the Court had spent all; the fourth, if we 
did not mend all ; the fifth, that it will be worse for 
us all." 

This was reflected on the royal family of William the 
Third, "That he was William Think-all ; his Queen Mary, 
Mary Take-all; Prince George of Denmark, George 
Drink-all ; and the Princess Ann, Ann Eat-all, which ill 
habit diminished her health and hastened her death." 

TONKIN. 

Sir Henry. Killigrew, Knt. married Katherine, the second 
daughter and coheir of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Giddy Hall, 



1 6 FALMOUTH . 

in Essex. Her other sisters married Sir William Cecil, 
Lord Treasurer, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Chancellor, Sir 
Thomas Hobby, and Sir Ralph Howlet, Knts. Which 
ladies were all accounted of the most learned in the king- 
dom, eminently skilled in the Latin and Greek tongues. 
To give an instance for the whole : 

Sir Henry Killigrew being appointed by Queen Eliza- 
beth, ambassador to Henry the Fourth of France, lately 
turned Papist, was not very fond of that employment, and 
would have excused himself, but knew not how : where- 
upon his lady wrote a letter to her sister Mildred, wife to 
Sir William Cecil, to try her interest with his lordship to 
get the Queen to excuse him, and that some other person 
might be appointed for that employment. The letter was 
these words : 

Si mihi quern cupto cures, Mildreda ! remitti, 

Tu mihi, tu melior, tu mihi sola sororj 
Sin male cunctando retines, vel trans mare mittes, 

Tu mala, tu pejor, tu mihi nulla soror : 
It si Cornubiam, tibi pax sit, et omnia lseta, 

Sin mare — Coecile ! nuncio bella. — Vale ! 

Which I find thus translated by Dr. Fuller, in his Wor- 
thies, though much abated of their elegancy in Latin : 

If, Mildred ! by thy care he be sent back, whom I request. 

A sister good thou art to me, yea better, yea the best ; 
But if with stays thou keep'st him still, or send'st where seas may part, 

Then unto me a sister ill, yea worse, yea none thou art $ 
If go to Cornwall he shall please, I peace to thee foretell ; 

But, Cecil ! if he set to seas — I war denounce. — Farewell ! 

Whether this letter did procure Sir Henry Killigrew's 
stay, and dismission from the intended service, I am unable 
to resolve, although well assured I am that his daughter by 
this Catherine Cooke was married to Sir Jonathan Tre- 
lawney, of Poole, Knt. Sheriff of Cornwall 36th Eliz. 

As for the harbour itself, it is agreed by all mariners to 
be one of the best for safe anchorage, large circumference, 
and good riding for ships, that this kingdom affords. The 



FALMOUTH. 17 

mouth or entrance, between the castles of Pendennis and 
St. M awes, is about two miles over. The body of the har- 
bour, from St. Mawes to Falmouth town, is about a league. 
From Falmouth to Turner's Weare, upon the river Vale, 
two leagues ; from whence an arm of it goes up towards 
Tregony, another towards Tresilian Bridge, a third to- 
wards Truro; all which places the salt water visits every 
tide. Beneath Turner's Weare, on the north, another 
channel goes by Restrongar Passage to Carnen, and St. 
Perron Arworthal. From Falmouth town goeth up an- 
other creek to Penryn. Lastly, on the south there go into 
the country two creeks towards St. Mawes and St. An- 
thony. All these members or branches of the harbour are 
overlooked by lofty and pleasant hills, and are supplied with 
deep water, so that boats, ships, barges, and lighters every 
day, one where or another, carry and recarry goods and mer- 
chandizes to the remotest parts thereof. Hence it is that 
Mr. Carew says, " a hundred sail of ships may lie at 
anchor within the harbour of Falmouth, and none of them 
see the other's topmast," because of the steep hills and 
windings of the river. • 

The Killigrews are also lords of the land whereon the 
Castle of Pendennis stands, and receive yearly out of the 
Exchequer for the same 13/. 6s. 8rf. Of all which premises 
take the following rhyme : 

In the calm south great Falmouth's Harbour stands, 
Where Vale with Sea doth join its peaceful hands ; 
'Twixt whom to ships commodious port is shown, 
That makes the riches of the world its own. 
Falmouth, or Vale, the Britons' chiefest pride, 
Glory of them and all the world beside, 
In sending round the treasures of her tide. 
Killigrew's the Lord both of the Fort and Town : 
Speak these the rest, to make them better known. 

Arwinick signifies upon the marsh ; ar being the same 
as war, upon, and winick, a marsh, exactly suitable to the 
situation of the place. 

Sir John Killigrew, of this place, ought not to be for- 
gotten ; who, seeing the Parliament Army to prevail every 

VOL. II. c 



18 FALMOUTH. 

where, with his 6wn hands set fire to his noble house here, 
that they might not find shelter in it when they came to lay 
siege to Pendennis Castle, as they did soon after : an action 
which was well rewarded by, Charles the Second; although 
the house hath not been rebuilt, a few rooms only having 
been fitted up just to receive the family, who have not 
much resided in it ever since. 

THE EDITOR. 

Falmouth Harbour, situated within thirty miles of the 
Land's End, is without all comparison the most advantage- 
ous station for packets, maintaining a regular communica- 
tion with Lisbon, the West Indies, and the Mediterranean. 
It has also been found admirably adapted for receiving 
smaller ships of war; a squadron of frigates, under the 
command of Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour, of Admiral 
Pellew, &c. cruised from hence against the French during 
a part of the great contest following the Revolution ; but, 
although the largest ship may enter the port, and anchor 
there in safety, yet it is very inferior 4or their accommoda- 
tion either to Plymouth or to Portsmouth. 

Falmouth is also a great resort of vessels coming from 
foreign countries, to receive orders as to their ultimate des- 
tination ; and this is not only owing to the western situa- 
tion of the harbour, but, in a very considerable degree, to 
the residence of a family which has maintained the highest 
reputation through a long series of years, as merchants, as 
men of integrity and of talent. They are said to be lineal 
or collateral relatives of the patriarch George Fox. On 
their first arrival in Cornwall, this family settled them- 
selves at Par, near St. Austell ; but afterwards removing to 
Falmouth, they have mainly contributed towards the pros- 
perity of the whole county, as merchants, as manufac- 
turers, as spirited and enlightened adventurers in mines, 
and in the fisheries. Among many so eminent, it would 
be absolute injustice not to mention particularly Mr. Ro- 
bert Ware Fox, who has most successfully employed his 



FALMOUTH. 19 

leisure in the philosophical investigation of geology and 
•of chemistry, in connexion with mechanics, not only by his 
own exertions, but as the judicious and liberal encourager 
of similar pursuits in others. 

Many individuals have acquired wealth in Falmouth by 
a very peculiar species of commerce, carried on with Lis- 
bon by means of the packets. The interchange of various 
commodities was legally prohibited, but at the same time 
practically allowed, by both Governments; and to such an 
extent did this half-contraband trade arise, that a Mr. 
Nowell, who kept a retail shop at Falmouth, is said to have 
made a fortune, by which his son became Sheriff of the 
county in 1787, chiefly as a carrier of these goods to and 
from London on packhorses ; and a fortune still larger has 
been made by Mr. Russell, of Exeter, by conveying in- 
creased quantities in waggons over improved roads, through 
Devonshire and Cornwall. 

It is quite impossible for such an harbour as Falmouth 
to have escaped the knowledge of the Phoenicians, when 
they came to Cornwall for tin, and strangely mistook it for 
a cluster of islands. The Greeks must also have known 
this port; and the Romans not merely encamped in vari- 
ous parts of the county, but having fixed stations within it, 
and on the very banks of the Fall, cannot have failed of 
noticing the longest and best roadsted and navigable river 
within the limits of Cornwall : but so vague and uncertain 
are all the descriptions transmitted to us either by geogra- 
phers or by the writers of itineraries, that we are utterly 
unable to discriminate most places within certain limits of 
each other except by conjecture. It is truly a matter of 
astonishment that nations having made such ample progress 
in abstract geometry, and in astronomy itself, should have 
altogether disregarded latitudes which were within their 
reach ; and even approximations towards longitudes, which 
might have been obtained through the medium of lunar 
eclipses. 

c2 



20 FALMOUTH. 

Various names derived from ancient authors have been 
applied to Falmouth. Valuba is the one most commonly 
received. The Ocrinum promontory being taken for the 
Lizard, and Bolerium for the Land's End. 

The late Sir Christopher Hawkins seems to have esta- 
blished, with the full degree of certainty applicable to such 
subjects, that the Ictis of Diodorus Siculus must have 
been St. Michael's Mount, and not the hill occupied by 
Pendennis Castle. 

The British name of Falmouth was Smithick. The last 
syllable, ick, has doubtlessly some reference to water. 

The few houses standing at Smithick before Mr. Killi- 
grew built the new town, are said to have been called Pen- 
ny-cum -quick; and an idle story is related of some old 
woman having brewed ale for a public meeting, and having 
apologized to the people when they assembled for all her 
stock being gone, by stating that foreign sailors coming to 
her house drunk the whole, and that " Pennies came so 
quick" she could not resist the temptation for parting with it. 

But the Right Hon. Charles Williams Wynn, M.P. for 
Denbighshire, has informed me that Pen-y-cwm-cuick is, in 
good Welch, the head of the contracted valley or dingle. 
Cuch signifies contracted, or knit together, as knitting the 
brows. This corresponds with the valley going up from the 
strand by the new market-house. Sir George Clark's seat, 
near Edinburgh, situated in a similar manner in respect 
to a narrow vale, is written Pen-y-cuick, and pronounced 
Pennyquick, the Celtic pkn-y being always corrupted by 
Saxon lips into penny ; as Pen-y-darran, on the Taff. 

The church at Falmouth is dedicated to King Charles the 
First, with the proud additions of Saint and Martyr. It 
evidently suited with the views and with the interest of 
those in power after 1660, to identify Charles the First 
with the Established Church, and to inculcate that he died 
in its defence. The new church at Plymouth is dedicated 
in a similar manner to St. Charles ; and in this instance 



FALMOUTH. 21 

the pleasure of outraging the feelings of their adversaries 
may have acted in aid of political expediency. 

Mr. Hals does not seem to have treated the very distin- 
guished family of Killigrew in a manner that might have 
been expected, from his attachment to aristocracy in gene- 
ral, or from his prejudices as a Cavalier. The horrible 
story of Jane Killigrew cannot possibly be true, in the 
manner or to the extent in which it is related, and the 
whole should have been omitted, were there not reasons for 
believing that it rests on some foundation. 

If the lady is exonerated from the most atrocious part of 
the tale, representing her as actually boarding the vessels 
and participating in the destruction of foreign merchants, 
and for which mere popular tradition at the interval of two 
centuries cannot form an adequate proof, we must not too 
rigidly apply the manners and feelings of our own times to 
a period so dissimilar. Many exploits performed by the 
great Sir Francis Drake, would now create very different 
impressions from those stamped on men's minds at the 
time ; and the more gentle and courteous, though not less 
brave, Sir Walter Raleigh, would now hardly escape with- 
out blame. 

No one seems to have suffered greater degradation, from 
common report, than Mr. Thomas Killigrew. He is usu- 
ally represented as the Jester, or even licensed fool, of 
Charles the Second ; and the anecdotes given by Mr. Hals 
contain much more of rudeness than of wit. 

His history is thus related in the Biographical Dic- 
tionary of 1784: 

" Thomas Killigrew, descended from the ancient Cor- 
nish family of that name, was a younger son of Sir Robert 
Killigrew, and born in 1611. He was distinguished by 
uncommon abilities. He was page of honour to King 
Charles the First, and groom of the bedchamber to King 
Charles the Second, with whom he had suffered many years 
of exile. During his abode beyond the sea, he took a view 
of France, Italy, and Spain, and was honoured by his Ma- 



22 FALMOUTH. 

jesty with the employment of Resident at the State of 
Venice. In his absence from this country he applied his 
leisure hours to poetry, and to the composition of several 
plays, of which Sir John Denham takes notice in his poem 
on our author's return from his embassy. Though Den- 
ham mentions but six, our author wrote nine plays in his 
travels, and two at London ; all which were printed, with 
his picture before them, in 1664. There is, besides, " A 
Letter concerning some Nuns in the Nunnery of Tours," 
dated from Orleans in 1635, and printed in three folio 
sheets. Mr. Killigrew died in 1682, and was buried in 
Westminster Abbey. He had been twice married. 

" He was a man of a very droll and uncommon vein of 
humour, with which he used to diyert that merry monarch 
Charles the Second ; who on that account was fonder of 
him than his best Ministers, and would give him access to 
his person when he denied it to them. It was usually said 
of him, that when he attempted to write he was nothing 
near so smart as he was in conversation : which was just 
the reverse of Cowley, who shone but little in conversation, 
although he excelled so much with his pen. Hence Den- 
ham, who knew them both, has taken occasion thus to cha- 
racterize their respective excellences and defects : 

Had Cowley ne'er spoke, Killigrew ne'er writ, 
Combin'd in one, they'd make a matchless wit. 

Another brother, Henry Killigrew, is mentioned in the 
the same work, Chaplain to James the Second while he was 
Duke of York, and a Prebendary of Westminster. He is 
there stated to have written a tragedy at the age of seven- 
teen, called " The Conspiracy," which obtained the high 
approbation of Ben Jonson. 

He had a daughter, Ann Killigrew, recorded as 

A Grace for beauty, and a Muse for wit. 

This young lady was maid of honour to the Duchess of 
York, but died of the smallpox at the early age of twenty- 
five. 



FALMOUTH. 23 

The elder brother, William, was also a poet and an 
author. The representative of the Killigrew family is Lord 
Wodehouse, in right of his late wife, Sophia Berkeley, 
niece of Lord Berkeley of Stratton. 

Falmouth has now outgrown the property of those who 
originally built the town, and is extended northward, at 
Green Bank, into the land of Lord de Dunstanville, where 
the houses have all the convenience and decoration suited 
to modern times. The older part of Falmouth, although 
it dates no further back than about two centuries, is un- 
fortunately distinguished by its narrow, crooked streets, 
and by every defect usually found in the smallest fishing- 
towns. It is, however, surrounded by beautiful villas. 

Falmouth has been associated, in 1832, with Penryn, in 
the privilege of sending two Members to Parliament 
This parish measures 621 statute acres. 
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. 8. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 : 

The parish 10,029 

The town ...*.. 11,534 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 569 1 

Population, — Tin 1801, 

Parish*? 1165 

Town ( 3684 

Total 4849 5307 , 6374 7284 

giving an increase on the population of the parish of 116 
per cent., on the population of the town 29 per cent., in 
30 years ; on both together 50 per cent in the same period. 

The latitude of Falmouth is given in the best tables at 
50° 8/. The longitude has been ascertained by Dr. Tiarks 
with the greatest care (see Philosophical Transactions for 
1824): the flag-staff at Pendennis Castle 20*. 11.5s. wes t. 
Times of high water at the new and full moon 5 h . 15'. 

Present Rector, the Hon. and Rev. W. Wodehouse^ 
instituted 1828. 



in 1811, 


in 1821, 


in 1831, 


1374 


1982 


2523 


3933 


4392 


4761 



24 ST. FEOCK. 

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

Hornblende rocks, both schistose and compact, such as 
occur near the junction of the porphyritic and calcareous 
series, constitute this little parish. The Castle Hill appears 
to belong to the latter series. 



ST. FEOCK. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and has upon the 
north St. Kea, east and south the harbour of Falmouth to- 
wards the Vale river, west Restrongat creek, or Carnan 
river. As for the name Feock, or Feighe, Veage, Feage, 
it signifies the top of a house, or high mountain, as this 
parish is on, and there is still extant the lofty local place 
called Le Feock, Le Feage. At the time of the Domes- 
day Tax, 20th William I. (1087), this parish was taxed by 
the name of Ros-carnon, now part thereof. In the Inqui- 
sition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the 
value of Cornish Benefices, Ecclesia de Sancto Feoko was 
valued xls. in Decanatu de Powdre; Vicar ejusdem xiiis. 
iiiid.; in Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Benefici- 
orum, the Vicarage of Feock was valued in 11/.; the 
patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it. The in- 
cumbent Ange ; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound 
Land Tax, 1696, 126/. 12*. 

St. Feock, thepresidual guardian of this church, in all 
probability lived at the local place aforesaid, called Le- 
Feock, i. e. Feock's place and dwelling ; but who or what 
his parents were, when or where born, &c. I must plead 
non sum informotus. 

In the glass. windows is the figure of a man in priest's 
robes, with a radiated or shining circle about his head and 
face, and under his feet written St. Feock. ; beneath whom, 



ST. FEOCK. 29 

also in the glass, were painted, kneeling and bending for- 
ward, in way of adoration, the figures of a man and woman, 
and behind them several children, out of which figurative 
man and woman's mouths proceeded a label, with this in- 
scription — " Sancte Feock, ora pro bono statu S. Trewon- 
woll et Elionorse uxoris ejus." From whence I was fully 
satisfied that he was indeed the tutelar guardian of this 
church. 

At Le- Feock aforesaid, temp. Charles II. was the dwel- 
ling, by lease, of Captain Thomas Penrose, whose father 
married Verman ; originally descended from the Pen roses 
of Penrose in Sythney. This gentleman having in his 
youth, temp. Charles I. been bred at sea, in the study and 
practice of the art of navigation, it appears from his jour- 
nal that, in the year 1650, he was by the Admiral of the 
States of England made Captain or Commander of the 
Bristol frigate or man-of-war, in which he fought, together 
with the English fleet under command of General Blake, 
near Dover, against the Dutch fleet, under their General 
Van Tromp, who was shrewdly worsted by Blake. He was 
also in the engagement against the Dutch fleet under Sir 
George Ayscough, 1652, before Plymouth, where the 
victory inclined to neither side, but great losses on both. 
He also, 28th of October, the same year, fought in General 
Blake's squadron against the General of the States De 
Witt, who was then worsted, on one side of the North 
Foreland, in the Downs. Captain Penrose was also in 
that engagement between General Blake and Van Tromp 
wherein the English Fleet was worsted, and came off with 
great loss, so that Van Tromp sailed into the Downs in 
great triumph, with a broom on his main-topmast. 

But, maugre his success, pride, and insolence, the States 
of England fitted forth their shattered ships sooner than 
was expected, to the number of eighty sail of men-of-war, 
when Captain Penrose was removed from the Bristol to 
the command of the Maidstone frigate. Then also were 
Penn and Burne discharged from command of particular 



26 ST. FEOCK. 

squadrons, and the supreme command of the fleet was put 
into the hands of General Blake, General Monk, and 
General Dean ; when soon after happened that bloody and 
tremendous sea-fight betwixt the English and the Dutch 
fleets, before Weymouth and Dungeness, wherein General 
Monk declared (upon the sudden death of General Dean, 
killed at breakfast on the deck of their ship by Monk's 
side, with a defiance gun-bullet shot at random by the 
Dutch to his destruction) that this fifth battle should put 
an end to the war one way or other, and gave forth strict 
order and command to the officers of the English fleet upon 
penalty of death, that they should neither take from nor 
give quarter to the enemy; which commands in the engage- 
ment being for a considerable time kept and observed by 
the English, the terror thereof so amazed the Dutch, that, 
after great losses of men arid ships by them sustained, they 
declined to fight, and bore or ran away with their fleet, 
leaving the victory and British Channel wholly to the 
English fleet In this fight, as appears from Penrose's 
Journal, he lost above fifty men out of the Maidstone, 
besides had many more wounded. Afterwards the English 
fleet, coasting westwards in pursuit of the vanquished 
Dutch fleet, were by cross winds forced into Falmouth 
harbour, where also for some days, as appears from Pen- 
rose's Journal aforesaid, he entertained at his house in this 
place of Le-Feock (opposite the harbour aforesaid) Gene- • 
ral Monk, General Blake, Sir George Ayscough, and 
many other officers and gentlemen of the fleet, to good 
content and satisfaction* 

Afterwards they sent him many letters concerning the 
war, fleet, and ship he sailed in, and the course he should 
take; and in particular, amongst others, thanked him for 
his great valour and conduct in the several engagements 
aforesaid. From some of which it appears General Blake 
was a better soldier than scholar, as being very badly able 
to write the letters of his name to the letters his secretary 
bad formed, as yet may be seen ; which is not to be won- 



ST. FEOCK. 27 

dered at, as I am credibly informed he was at first but a 
man of no higher education than that of a petty mechanic, 
viz. a ribbon and galloon weaver in Taunton ; whereof, at 
last, for his valour in the siege, in opposition to Charles 
the First, he was made governor thereof by the Parlia- 
ment* 

Captain Penrose fought also in the Maidstone frigate 
under General Monk, in the sixth and last engagement of 
the English at sea against the Dutch fleet, wherein Van 
Tromp their general was slain, and his fleet extremely 
shattered, sunk, and disabled, to the great terror of the 
United Provinces. Then also the Maidstone frigate un- 
derwent the loss of many seamen ; and the Captain con- 
tinued his post till the restoration of Charles the Second, 
when he was dismissed from his command, and another 
commander placed in his room ; after which he retired to 
his country-house of Le-Feock aforesaid. 

It also appears from Penrose's Journal whilst he com- 
manded the Maidstone, that she was one of the five ships 
under Sir George Ayscough that was ordered by the theii 
Parliament of England to sail into the Sound, or German 
Sea, to assist the King of Sweden against the Danes. But 
a peace being concluded betwixt those nations, soon after 
the arrival of those ships, nothing of action was performed 
by them. Nevertheless, the King of Sweden rewarded the 
five captains of those ships in this expedition, with so many 
medals and neck-chains of gold, with the King of Sweden's 
face on one side of the medal, and the several arms of those 
gentlemen on the other, weighing about eighteen ounces 
each together with the chain. Penrose's medal is yet to be 
seen with his daughter. 

In the year 1664, when another Dutch and French war 
broke out between them and Charles the Second, and able 
sea-officers were wanted for the fleet, Penrose (who as 
aforesaid for several years had been displaced) had divers 
letters sent to him from James Duke of York, and the 
Duke of Albemarle (formerly General Monk), by order of 



28 >T. FEOCK. 

Charles the Second, requesting in this time of need that he 
would come up to London, accept of the command, and 
take the charge of the Monk frigate, in the Dutch war ; 
which at length with some reluctance he accepted. In 
which post he discharged the place with such care and 
faithfulness as before he had done in the Parliament ser- 
vice. And, ^moreover, in the three sea-fights which the 
Duke of York and the Duke of Albemarle had with the 
Dutch fleets, (in all which he was commanded, though 
but a third-rate ship, to follow the admiral or general's 
ships,) he behaved himself with such prudent valour and 
conduct (though with the loss of several hundreds of his 
men) that he preserved his ship, to the admiration of all 
that saw her, from destruction, though often boarded and 
surrounded with enemies. 

In brief, those matters are so abundantly set forth in the 
several letters of thanks, after those engagements, from the 
said Dukes and their Secretaries to Penrose, that if I 
should take the pains to transcribe them, they would only 
be thought a romance, as containing in them almost unpa- 
rallelled adventures and dangers, which he most valiantly 
and successfully passed through, in the midst of seas, 
slaughter, fire, and bullets, were not the originals yet ex- 
tant, and to be seen. 

Lastly, it appears from letters, and his Journal, which 
he kept daily for eighteen years' space, which he spent at 
sea in the public service of his country, that in the year 
1667 he was by Charles the Second made Admiral of a 
squadron of ships of sixteen men-of-war, which were or- 
dered to cruise between Harwich and Newcastle towards 
the coasts of Holland, to watch the motion of the enemy. 
Where he received many letters by King Charles's order 
from the Secretaries of State, War, and Admiralty, as also 
from the Dukes aforesaid (yet to be seen), containing 
thanks for his good service, and further desiring tfre con- 
tinuance of his care, conduct, and watchfulness against the 
enemy, whensoever they should put out to sea again : in 



ST. FEOCK. 29 

the mean time to observe such further orders as should be 
sent him. 

In this kind of post he remained till his death, 1669, 
King Charles then owing him for his salary or pay above 
1,500/. of which neither he nor his heir or executor ever 
received a farthing. His death was thought to be hastened 
through grief and vexation (being scarcely fifty-six years 
old when he died), and the occasion thus : — His ship, the 
Monk, being all manned with Cornish men in those three 
last engagements with the Dutch, who for the love and 
respect they bore him, their countryman, were all volun- 
teers without being impressed for the public service ; now 
it happened that, in the year 1668, peace being concluded 
betwixt King Charles and the States of Holland, the 
greatest part of our English fleet were hauled up, the offi- 
cers, seamen, and soldiers disbanded, without satisfaction, 
wages, or pay for their service; and amongst them Captain 
Penrose's ship and squadron underwent the same fate. So 
that soon after, he happening to be at London upon some 
occasions, his disbanded company of Cornish men from the 
Monk, being far from home, were very troublesome and 
tumultuous with him about their pay, and so clamorous as 
to tell him that he, by his fair promises, had cajoled them 
into the public service, and that now they could get nothing 
for their labour and the hazard of their lives. 

The Captain answered for himself, as well as he could, 
that it was his own case, as well as many other officers' and 
theirs, at this exigence to want his money, and therefore 
desired their patience till the King was better provided 
with cash for their satisfaction. But the Cornish men 
being more and more dissatisfied with him by those delays, 
and their wants and necessities pressing hard upon them, 
they formed a petition, setting forth the premises, to his 
Majesty, and with the same came to the Captain's cham- 
ber, and endeavoured (after words would not prevail) to 
constrain or compel him in person to present it to the 
King's Majesty, which he refusing to undertake, a scuffle 



30 ST. FEOCK. 

happened at the top of the stairs between him and the peti- 
tioners; in which conflict one Lampeer, of Truro, by 
thrust of Penrose's hands, his feet and hands failing, was 
thrown over the stairs, and so much bruised with the fall 
that soon after he died. 

Whereupon Penrose was apprehended, held upon bail, 
and afterwards indicted before the grand jury of Middle- 
sex or Westminster, and found guilty of murder or man- 
slaughter, and afterwards was tried for his life, and by the 
grand and petty jury found guilty of manslaughter : that is 
to say, the unlawful killing of a man without premeditated 
malice, (which is felony, because wilful — but admits of 
the benefit of clergy for the first crime,) whereupon Pen- 
rose was condemned to death, and put into Newgate, where 
forthwith he received a reprieve or pardon of this offence 
from Charles the Second, under the broad seal of England, 
yet to be seen. Nevertheless, for the drawing, sealing, or 
procuring this pardon, the clerks and officers through 
whose hands it passed extorted from the Captain 200/. be- 
fore he could get out of their hands to show it to the* She- 
riff of Middlesex. 

This unhappy accident so troubled Penrose, that, to put 
off the thoughts thereof, he kept company more than ordi- 
nary with gentlemen and officers of the fleet and others; so 
that at length, by excess of drinking healths, and otherwise, 
he fell into a malignant fever, whereof he died, leaving 
issue one only daughter, his heir, named Martha, married 
to James Hals, of Merther, Gent. 

Tre-gew, alias Tregue, in this parish, synonymous words, 
signifying the spear or javelin town, is the dwelling of 
Henry Edmunds, Gent, originally descended from the 
Edmunds of Middlesex, whose ancestor, being a person 
well qualified for the purpose, temp. James I. was sent 
from London by the Company of Pewterers to inspect and 
try the Cornish tin, then corrupted by the blowers thereof 
before it was coined, that so the bad metal might be exa- 
mined and taxed before it was coined, proportionable to 



ST. FEOCK. 



31 



the badness* In which assay-master's office he thrived so 
well, that at length he became a tin-factor himself, grew 
rich, and bought this place, and other lands near, as also 
the manor of Truro, of Sir Bevill Grenvill, Knt. But he 
and his security failing in paying the consideration money, 
he was cast into prison, where he died without further satis- 
fation to his said creditor; notwithstanding which, those 
lands descended to his heir, now in possession thereof, ex* 
cept the manor of Truro, sold to Samuel Enys, Esq. 

The Cornish tongue was retained in this parish by the 
old inhabitants thereof, till about the year 1640. Mr. 
William Jackman, then Vicar thereof, Chaplain of Penden- 
nis Castle, at the siege thereof by the Parliament Army, 
was forced for divers years to administer the Sacrament to 
the communicants in the Cornish tongue, because the aged 
people did not well understand the English, as himself 
often told me. Now because it may not be unacceptable 
to the curious to know the Cornish words then used in 
administering the bread and wine to the communicants, I 
will here set them down, for their satisfaction : 

The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given 
An Gorfe ay agan Arluth Jesus Chrest toan fe ry 

for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto eternal life ; 

rag thy 9 gwetha tha gorfe hag eneffl, warthe Ragnaveffera; 

take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died 

kemera hag dybbery henna en predery may Chrest marnans 

for thee, and be thankful. 

rag thy 9 hag be grassylen. 

Again : 

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for 
An goyse ay agan Arluth Jesus Chrest toan the fowle rag 
thee, preserve thy body and soul unto eternal life, drink 
thy 9 gwetha tha gorfe hag eneff warthe Ragnaveffera; evah 
this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for 
henna in prederry may Chrest' s goyse be fowle rag 



32 ST. FEOCK. 

thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith and 
thay hag dybbery wot ren en tha golhm ryb creignans hag 
thanksgiving. 
grassylen. 

Mr. John Lanyon, of this parish, a sea sand-barge daily 
labourer, had a son named John Lanyon, who having had 
his education under Hugh Boscawen, Gent. Master of 
Arts, who kept a school at St. Michael Penkivell Church, 
became afterwards a steward to Trefusis, St Aubyn, Cory- 
ton, and lastly came into the service of Brook Lord Chan- 
dos, and having by these services accumulated considerable 
riches, he gave lands, and built and endowed an almshouse 
for poor people. 

TONKIN. 

Mr. Tonkin does not make any addition to the history 
of this parish, except by stating that James Hals, who 
married Martha Penrose, the only child of Captain Thomas 
Penrose, was u an elder brother of the author; and that 
their eldest son, then about fourteen years of age, was 
engaged in the pursuit of his grandfather's profession, by 
serving as one of the King's scholars, or gentlemen volun- 
teers, on board the Sunderland, Captain Tudor Trevor 
commander,receiving about 30/. per annum of his Majesty." 

THE EDITOR. 

Trelisick is now the most splendid feature of this parish. 
The situation, beautiful in all other respects, commands a 
view of the whole inland sea constituting Falmouth Har- 
bour. The House was built about the middle of the last 
century, by Mr. John Laurence, a captain in the county 
militia, during the Seven Years' War, still remembered 
for his good-nature, convivial habits, and wild eccentricities. 
It is perhaps deserving of notice that the architect was Mr. 
Davy, grandfather of the celebrated chemist. 



ST. FEOCK. 33 

The property became divided on Mr. Laurence's de- 
cease ; and it was purchased, about the year 1800, by the 
late Mr, Ralph Allen Daniell ; other lands were added to the 
domain, and the whole became a handsome seat suited to 
the natural advantages of the place. 

Still further additions and decorations have been made 
by his son, Mr. Thomas Daniell; but this gentleman 
choosing to quit Cornwall, has sold the whole to Lord Fal- 
mouth, the proprietor of Tregothnan, a still more magnifi- 
cent seat, and removed from Trelisick only a few miles 
farther up on the Truro river. 

Mr. Thomas Daniell, the grandfather, was chief clerk to 
Mr. Lemon, and having married Miss Elliott, niece of 
Mr. Allen, of Bath, he found himself enabled to take the 
whole of Mr. Lemon's great concerns off the hands of his 
executors in 1760; and soon after to build the house in 
Truro, remarkable not only on account of its being the 
largest and most decorated mansion in that very splendid 
town, but as being constructed of Bath Oolite, the gift of 
Mr. Allen, from Prior Park. 

Mr. Daniell continued throughout his whole life to con- 
duct most extensive concerns as a general merchant, as 
a tin smelter, and, above all, as a spirited adventurer in 
mines on the largest scale. He left one son and one 
daughter. 

The daughter married the Rev. John Napleton, a dig- 
nitary in the church of Hereford, and previously tutor at 
Prasenose college, Oxford ; where he is well known as the 
author of a work ("Elementa Logicse, subjicitur Appendix 
de Usu Logicae et Conspectus Organi Aristotelis") which 
has been adopted into the lectures of every college through- 
out the University. The son, Mr. Ralph Allen Daniell, 
continued most of his father's concerns, adding to them a 
large smelting-work for copper in Glamorganshire ; and so 
successful were his mining speculations, that he is said to 
have gained, in the course of a very few years, above a hun- 
dred and fifty thousand pounds from Wheal Tower alone. 

VOL. II. D 



34 ST. FEOCK. 

Mr. Daniell was twice Member for West Looe. He 
married the only daughter of the Rev. Mr. Pooley, Rector 
of Ladock, and has left a numerous family. His eldest 
son has married Miss Osbaldeston, and they have several 
children. 

Killiganoon, probably the grove by the downs, is next to 
be noticed in Feock. 

The place was entirely created by Mr. Richard Hussey. 
This gentleman was the son of an attorney at Truro, who 
died insolvent, leaving a widow with one son, and three or 
four daughters. The son is represented to have exerted 
himself with efforts proportional to the embarrassments in 
which he found the affairs of his family, and he became in 
consequence one of the most distinguished lawyers of the 
time. He had the honour of being appointed Attorney 
General to the Queen ; and he was Counsel to the East 
India Company, and Member of Parliament, J believe, for 
Michael. Mr. Hussey died in the year 1770, under sixty, 
and divided his fortune among his sisters. One had mar- 
ried the Rev. Mr. Vivian, and her grandson is the distin- 
guished officer, General Sir Hussey Vivian. Another sister 
married Mr. Walker, of Lanlivery, and left an only son, 
the Rev. Robert Walker, Vicar of St Winnow. A third 
sister married Mr. Ustick, of Penzance. 

Mrs. Mary Hussey, widow of Mr. Hussey of Truro, 
married, secondly, Mr. William Davies of St Earth, a 
half-brother of the Editor's grandfather, where she con- 
tinued to reside; and her funeral appears on the parish 
register September 18th, 1750. 

Killiganeen was sold after Mr. Hussey's decease, and 
passed into the hands of Mr. Dagge. Two brothers of that 
name wept to London from Bodmin to seek their fortunes. 
One became the manager of Covent Garden Theatre ; the 
other pursued the law, to which both were probably edu- 
cated, and ultimately retired to this place. It has since 
become the property of Admiral Spry, who improved and 
enlarged the house and the plantations ; and it belongs at 



ST. FEOCK. 35 

this time to his son, Samuel Thomas Spry, Esq. M.P. for 
Bodmin. 

A coarse part of this parish remained uninclosed till 
within a few years, and was known by the name of Feock 
Downs. The surface appeared to be more smooth and 
even than any other piece of open ground in the west of 
Cornwall ; consequently, when local political dissensions 
were at a great height, about sixty years ago, this place 
was selected by one party for establishing races, in rivalship 
of others conducted by tlieir opponents at Bodmin. These 
races fell, however, with the temporary feeling which gave 
them birth, and the ground is now inclosed, 

A small village in this parish is distinguished by the 
name of " Come-to-Good ;" a name prqoably given to it at 
first in ridicule, because there was established the earliest 
Quakers 9 meeting in that part of Cornwall. And, for some 
reason now quite forgotten, the first Sunday in August 
became designated all over that populous mining district as 
« Come-to-Good Sunday," when several thousand persons 
continued to assemble, till the very prudent Society to 
whom the house belongs, adopted the expedient of discon- 
tinuing their meeting on that particular day. 

This parish measures 2,580 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. *. rf. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . .-2871 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 457 19 

jy ! . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- | 6Q6 '| ^g'l 1093 >| 1210 > 

giving an increase of 74 per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY. 

Dr. Boase remarks on this parish, that the rocks are 
similar to those of Falmouth. 



d2 



36 



FOWEY, FOY, or FOYS. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon 
the north Giant, east the haven or harbour of Foweyv 
south the British Channel. For the name, it is taken from 
foys-fenton, i. e. the. walled well or spring of water, rising 
about Alternun, St. Cleather, or Temple Moors. 

In the Domesday Tax, 20th William I. (1087,) this 
place or parish was rated under the jurisdiction of Ty« 
wardreth. Neither was there any endowed church here 
extant at the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lin- 
coln and Winchester (1294), unless (what can hardly be 
supposed) Ecclesia de Funum appropriata domui de Ty- 
wardreth, in Decanatu de Powdre, be a corruption of 
Faoi, or Foy-town. In Wolsey's Inquisition, and Valor 
Beneficiorum, the Vicarage of Foye is rated 10/. The pa- 
tronage formerly in the Prior of Ty wardreth, who endowed 
it, now Treffry. The incumbent Trubody. The parish 
and town rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 
195/. 14«. The rectory, sheaf, or impropriation, in ... • 

In the ancient chapel at Foy, now the minister's chancel, 
was inscribed temp. Edward III. the name of Fisart 
Bagga, a famous sea commander in the then French wars, 
a native of this town of Foy. [Carew's Survey of Cornwall, 
p. 135.] This church and town I take to be under the 
tutelary guardianship of St. Catherine, whose history is 
misplaced under Lanteagles by Fowey. 

[Mr. Hals's history of St. Catherine is lost It may, 
therefore, be sufficient to give the following short statement 
of her legend. 

In the MrivoXoyiov, the Menobgy, (the Monthly Register, 
synonymous with Martyrology,) of the Emperor Basil, said 
to be composed by himself, but certainly written under his 
own inspection, St. Catherine is stated to have sprung from 
one of the families which in those times obtained a transient 
possession of the imperial throne. 



FOWEY. 37 

She was probably born at Alexandria, and suffered 
martyrdom there under the reign of Maximus the Second, 
about the year 310. 

Her learning, abilities, and zeal were so great, that, hav- 
ing been ordered to dispute with several of the most able 
philosophers, she confuted them all, and even converted 
some among them to the Christian faith. These new pro- 
selytes are said to have been instantly hurried to the flames, 
but that the Saint herself was reserved for a still more cruel 
fate, the persecutors of religion having contrived a wheel 
set round with hooks and spikes, for the purpose of tearing 
and lacerating its victim. The legends, however, go on to 
say that this horrible engine was dashed in pieces by angels, 
just as the tormentors were about to use it against the 
Saint, whom they nevertheless decapitated, unawed by the 
recent miracle, and no longer interrupted by any superna- 
tural interference. 

The body of St. Catherine was found five hundred years 
afterwards, when the Saracens had possession of Egypt, 
although it is not recorded by whom the discovery was 
made, nor how the identity was proved. A subsequent 
great event, however, placed that most important circum- 
stance beyond all doubt; for it having been resolved to 
translate the body from the immediate power of the Maho- 
metans to a monastery built on Mount Sinai by St. He- 
lena, and augmented by Justinian, a company of angels, 
probably the very same who destroyed the wheel, con- 
veyed the relics to Mount Sinai through the air. 

Some recent martyrologists have endeavoured to explain 
away the latter miracle, by asserting that angels meant 
monks, who on account of the purity of their morals, the 
sanctity of their divine duties, and the eminent utility of 
their lives, are frequently confounded with the inhabitants 
of heaven. — It is almost needless to add that St. Catherine's 
Wheel has uniformly reference to the intended instrument 
of her martyrdom, and never to a spinning-wheel, of which 
the Saint is sometimes supposed in England to have been 
the inventor. Editor.] 



38 FOWEY. 

But for the church and tower of Foy, as it now stands, 
it was built about the year 1466, towards which Richard 
Neville, Earl of Warwick, was a great benefactor ; as ap- 
pears from his badge, or cognizance, viz. ragged staves, yet 
to be seen cut in many parts of the stones of the said 
church and tower thereof* 

The town of Foys is the voke lands of an ancient lord- 
ship by prescription, which the Prior of Tywardreth held 
of the ancient Earl of Cornwall's manor of Pow-valietr- 
coyt, now Lostwithiel, or Restormel Castle, under the rent 
of . • . • ; from whom also they had their privilege 
of sending two members to sit in the Commons' House of 
Parliament. It was incorporated by Charles the Second, 
by the name of the Mayor, Recorder, Portreeve, eight 
Aldermen, and a Town Clerk. Notwithstanding which, 
by ancient custom, the members of Parliament were 
elected by the freemen, (viz. scot and lot men, that pay rates 
and taxes) and the precept from the Sheriff for the writ 
for election of them must be thus directed : Praeposito et 
Senescallo Bargi de Foy, in Comitatu Cornubice, salutem, 
&c As also the writ for removing any action at law de- 
pending in Foy court-leet to a superior court, must be 
directed to the Portreeve and Town Clerk or Steward. 

The arms of this town are, a ship in full course, with 
sails expansed, on the waves of the ocean. It is further 
privileged with a weekly market on Saturdays, and fairs 
annually, on Shrove Tuesday, May 1st, and September 10th. 
This town hath also added to its privileges some of the liber- 
ties and freedoms of the Cinque Ports, which other towns 
or harbours have not : what they are, the inhabitants there 
best know. Those privileges were first granted only to the 
ports of Hastings, Hythe, Dover, Romney, and Sandwich, in 
Kent, by Edward the Confessor; afterwards much increased 
in the days of the three Edwards, the First, Second, and 
Third : which in this place are too long for me to recite. 
Mr. Carew tells us, that in Edward the Third's days sixty 
tall ships did belong to this harbour; and that the town of 



FOWEY. 39 

Foys did assist that King with forty-seven sail of men-of- 
war and transport-ships, anno Dom. 1847, in order to the 
siege of Calais; whereupon that King granted commissions 
to the chief commanders of those Foy ships to take French 
prizes, during his wars with those people, or French nation ; 
so that in few years those Foy men were grown so rich and 
formidable, by taking French prizes, that by force and 
arms they would enter many ports of that kingdom, and 
carry with them all ships they could conquer, and what 
they could not, would use means to set them on fire in the 
places where they lay. In fine, when French prizes grew 
scarce, (I speak upon the authority of Mr. Carew,) they 
scrupled not to turn sea-robbers, or pirates, taking, plun- 
dering, and destroying all ships they could master, of 
what country soever, not sparing the sailors' lives. By 
which means the townsmen grew unspeakably rich and 
proud and mischievous, which occasioned the Lord Po- 
mier, and other Normans, to petition John, King of 
France, to grant them a private commission of marque and 
arms, to be revenged on the pirates and thieves of Foy 
town, which accordingly they obtained, and carried their 
design so secretly that a small squadron of ships, and many 
bands of marine soldiers, were prepared and shipped with- 
out the Foymen's knowledge or notice, who accordingly 
put to sea out of the river Seine, in the month of July 
1457, in 35th Henry VI. and with a fair wind sailed thence 
across the British Channel, and got sight of Foy harbour, 
where they lay off at sea till night, when they drew towards 
the shore and dropped anchor, and in the night landed 
their marine soldiers and seamen, and at midnight ap- 
proached the south-west end of Foy-town, where they 
killed all persons they met with, set fire to the houses, and 
burned one half thereof to the ground, to the consumption 
of a great part of the inhabitants' riches and treasures, a 
vast deal of which was gotten by their piratical practices ; 
in which massacre and conflagration, the women, children. 



40 FOWEY. 

and weakest sort of people, Forsook the place, and fled for 
safety into the hill country. 

But others of the stoutest men, under conduct of John 
TrefFrye, Esq. fortified themselves as well as they could in 
his then new-built house of Plase, yet extant, where they 
stoutly opposed the assaults of their enemies; whilst the 
French soldiers plundered that part of the town which was 
unburned, without opposition, in the dark. The news of 
this French invasion in the morning flew far into the coun- 
try, and the people of the contiguous parts as quickly put 
themselves in arms, and in great multitudes gathered toge- 
ther, in order to raise the siege of Foy ; which the French- 
men observing, and fearing the consequence of their longer 
stay, having got sufficient treasures to defray the charge of 
their expedition, as hastily ran to their ships as they had 
deliberately entered the town, and as privately returned 
into France as they had clandestinely come into England, 
with small profit and less honour. 

The town of Foy being thus consumed by fire, and plun- 
dered by the French soldiers and seamen, the inhabitants' 
former wealth and glory reduced to poverty and contempt, 
they politically cast themselves at the feet of Richard Nevill, 
Earl of Warwick (aforesaid), who, pitying their distressed 
condition, and being Lord High Admiral of England, 
granted some of them new commissions for privateering 
and taking French ships, on promise of their just and 
righteous proceedings, and renouncing the trade of piracy 
(for which reason their former commissions were revoked) ; 
whereupon in few years they plied their sea-business so 
effectually, that they increased their riches to such degree 
that they began to repair and rebuild their damnified 
houses, and in the stones of many of them, in memory of 
the Earl of Warwick's favour apd bounty towards them, 
there is cut his arms, badge, and cognizance, as aforesaid. 

Nevertheless (so hard it is for those to do well who are 
accustomed to do evil, as for a blackmoor to wash himself 
white) those Foy men, not content with lawful privateering, 



FOWEY. 41 

fell again to their old ttade of piracy, robbing and killing 
the seamen of all nations whose ships they could conquer; 
of which they were again detected 18th Edward IV. 1478, 
who thereupon sent a messenger or serjeant-at-arms to 
Foy, to apprehend some of those delinquents, and bring 
them up to London to be tried for those crimes, in order 
to receive condign punishment. But, instead of obeying 
the King's command and officer, in contempt of his autho- 
rity they barbarously cut off his ears, and so dismembered 
sent him back to his master King Edward; at which 
affront the King was so distasted, that soon after he sent 
down Commissioners to Lostwithie], under pretence of 
raising able seamen to go in war against the French, and 
that such amongst them as appeared most fit and able 
should have command of some of the King's best ships. At 
this news a great part of the freemen and seamen of Foy 
were drawn to Lostwithiel ; where they nb sooner came, 
but immediately they were apprehended and taken into 
custody for the crimes aforesaid, their ill-gotten goods and 
chattels seized by the Sheriff and King's officers, and one 
Harrington, a most notorious pirate, executed; and the 
chain of their harbour was removed to Dartmouth. (Ca- 
rew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 135.) 

The harbour of Foy aboundeth with deep and navigable 
waters for ships of the greatest burthen, overlooked with 
winding and lofty hills, and, though narrow, extends itself in 
several branches three or four miles up the country, and is 
navigable to Lanlivery and Lostwithiel, St Wenow and 
Laranbridge, and abounds with all sorts of fish proper to 
that country, as salmon, peal, trout, plaice, soal, millet, bass, 
eels, congers, pullocks, &c. here daily sold at a cheap rate. 
At the mouth or entrance of this harbour, are two petty 
bulwarks, or blockhouses, the Polman, or Porth-Eran on 
the Lanteglos side, the other at St. Catherine's, under Foy 
town, most famous for a fight they had with a Dutch man- 
of-war of seventy guns, doubly manned, that was sent from 
their main fleet of ships of eighty sail, that lay at anchor 



42 FOWEY, 

and cruised before this haven, 16th July, 1666, thai in 
pursuit of our Virginia fleet of eighty sail, which, escaping 
their cognizance, safely got some hours before them into 
this harbour, and, on notice given of the war, sailed up the 
branches thereof as far as they could, and grounded them- 
selves on the mud lands thereof. 

Notwithstanding which, this Dutch frigate resolved to 
force the two forts or fortresses aforesaid, and to take or 
burn our said Virginia fleet. Accordingly, it happened on 
that day, a pretty gale of wind blowing, this ship entered 
the haven, and as soon as she came within cannon-shot of 
those forts, fired her guns upon the two blockhouses with 
great rage and violence; and these made them a quick re- 
turn of the like compliment or salutation. In fine, the 
fight continued for about two hours 9 time, in which were 
spent some thousands of cannon-shot on both sides, to the 
great hurt of the Dutch ship, in plank, rigging, sails, and 
men, chiefly because the wind slacked, or turned so adverse, 
that she could not pass quick enough between the two forts 
up the river, so as to escape their bullets, but lay a long 
time a mark for them to shoot at, till she had opportunity 
of wind to tack round, turn back, and bear off at sea to 
their fleet, to give them an account of her unsuccessful 
attempt and great damage as aforesaid, to the no small 
credit and reputation of Foy*s little castles, manned out 
with gunners and seamen from the ships of the Virginia 
fleet for that purpose, who all, by reason of the walls and 
intrenchments thereof, were preserved from death, notwith- 
standing the continual firing of the cannons of the Dutch 
man-of-war upon them ; whereby the contiguous lands by 
the bullets were ploughed up, to the terror and astonish- 
ment of all beholders. 

After this engagement, the cargo of the whole Virginia 
fleet was landed at Foy, (its owners at London fearing the 
hazard of the sea in time of the Dutch war, to transport it 
there by water,) and gave opportunity to the townsmen to 
buy much tobacco at a very cheap rate, which instantly, upon 



FOWEY. 43 

the conclusion of the peace between England, France, and 
Holland, was sold in this kingdom, France, Spain, and 
Holland, at a dear rate, and much enriched the townsmen 
thereby, as Mr. Major, one of those merchants, informed me. 
The chief place in this town is Plase, m British a palace, 
which is the dwelling of John Treffrye, Esq. so called from 
some of the many local places passing under that denomi- 
nation in Cornwall, and compounded of treu or tref frye, 
synonymous words, signifying the free or manumitted 
town. He was the son of John Treffrye, of Rooke, Esq. 
that married Vivian of Truan ; the which John Treffrye 
succeeded to the patrimony or lands of the Treffrys of this 
place, more for similitude of name than consanguinity or 
affinity of blood, by the will, devise, or entail of the last 
gentleman that died without issue in this house. The pre- 
sent possessor, as aforesaid, is John Treffrye, Esq. my very 
kind friend and kinsman, Member of Parliament for the 
town of Foy, whereof comparatively he is lord and high 
lord. He married Stephens. His predecessors in this 
place were gentlemen of great fame and estates, and have 
served their country in the several capacities of Parliament 
men for this town, justices of the peace, and sheriffs of 
Cornwall ; particularly John Treffrye, Esq. was Sheriff of 
Cornwall 1st Richard III. 1482. He was a great benefac- 
tor towards building the present church of Foy, as appears 
from his arms being cut in divers places of the stones and 
tower thereof. Sir John Treffrye, Knt. (probably his son), 
was Sheriff of Cornwall 5th and 15th Henry VII.; William 
Treffrye, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 16th Hen. VII. 1501, 
when Richard Whiteleigh, of Efford, was Sheriff of De- 
von. The arms of those gentlemen are, Sable, a chevron 
between three hawthorns Argent (i. e. summer thorn, hau, 
haw, in British is summer). 

The chief inhabitants of this town, besides Mr. Treffrye, 
are Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Goodall, Mr. Major, Mr. Toller, 
Mr. Tyncombe, and others. 

In this town Philip Rashleigh, Esq, temp. Charles I. 
built and endowed a hospital with the garb or tithe sheaf 



44 FOWEY. 

of the parish of St Wen for everj towards the relief of six 
poor widow women, two of the said parish and four from 
from another parish, who receive weekly 15rf. in money, 
and suits of apparel yearly, with other privileges, but are 
prohibited from begging the country, or any parish stipend. 

[See T*WARDRETH.] 

This gentleman got great riches by trade and merchan- 
dize, and sea adventures ; more particularly by a small ship 
or frigate, of about eighty tons, bearing about sixteen can- 
nons or demi-culverins, besides small arms, and 60 men, for 
defence thereof; the commander of which ship had a com- 
mission from Queen Elizabeth as a privateer, in her wars 
with the Spaniards, to take all Spanish ships it should meet 
with at sea, and make them prizes for him, his adventurers, 
and the Queen's advantage, which said privateer, or man- 
of-war, was so successful and fortunate in its adventures at 
sea for some years, and in traffic, and merchandizes, and 
prizes, that those gentlemen accumulated and laid up great 
riches thereby ; and in remembrance and memory of this 
ship, caused the figure in memory of it to be to be perpe- 
tuated in a small ship, about five feet long, made and 
formed by a ship carpenter, of timber, with masts, sails, 
ropes, guns, and anchors, and figures of men thereon; 
which is hanged up to the roof, or planking, with an iron 
chain, in their old house in this town, of which ship those 
gentlemen have often given me ocular observation, as well 
as told me the above history of the premises, in the time of 
Charles the Second. 

TONKIN. 

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing of the least importance 
but what is copied from Mr. Hals. 

THE EDITOR. 

I have retained the whole of what is stated by Mr. Hals 
respecting the proceedings at Fowey, in the periods of its 



FOWEY. 45 

greatest prosperity and of its subsequent fall, given partly 
on the authority of Mr. Carew, (p. 313, &c. of Lord Dun- 
stanville's edition,) and in part from what he himself had 
heard. It must* however, be remembered that tradition 
always exaggerates facts, more especially such as bear un- 
favourably either on individuals or on communities, and 
that the times of Edward the Third were essentially dif- 
ferent from those of order, protection, and impartial admi- 
nistration of justice, in which we have the happiness to live; 
nor can the license or excesses imputed to some adven- 
turers at Fowey, be more abhorrent to our feelings than the 
mean artifice of a feeble government, practised to entice 
men from Fowey to Lostwithiel, under a pretence of 
enabling them to assist their country in the prosecution of 
a war, but really with the view of arresting them as 
criminals. 

The fact of this port having sent forty-seven ships, 
with seven hundred and seventy mariners, to the siege of 
Calais in 1346-7, would exceed all belief, were it not esta- 
blished by national records; and Mr. Carew relates their 
Vanquishing, in a private feud, the naval armaments of Win- 
chelsea and Rye, two members of the Cinque Ports (p. 
315). But these two ancient towns, and the Five Ports 
themselves, exhibit a contrast scarcely less remarkable than 
Fowey, between their actual appearances and the relative 
importance they must have once attained ; except that Hast- 
ings is enlarged for the temporary residence of strangers, 
and Dover from the like cause, in addition to its being 
the well-known station for packets. 

It is quite certain that the Priory of Tywardreth exer- 
cised considerable feudal authority over Fowey, which, 
however, not only fell into disuse after the general dissolu- 
tion of monasteries, but, in all probability, was greatly 
diminished by the subsequent incorporation of the town. 

The right of voting for Members of Parliament, up to the 
period when it discontinued to send any, in 1832, was 
vested jointly in resident payers of scot and lot, and in 



46 FOWET. 

copyhold tenants of the manor taken from Tywardreth by 
Henry the Eighth, and annexed by him to the Duchy of 
Cornwall. 

This manor was purchased by the late Mr. Philip Rash- 
leigh, about the year 1800, under the powers created by 
the Land Tax Redemption Act. This gentlemen and his 
ancestors had long represented Fowey, and he was suc- 
ceeded by his nephew, Mr. William Rashleigb, who sub- 
sequently sold the manor, and the whole borough property, 
to Mr. George Lucy, of Charlecot, near Stratford-upon- 
Avon. Mr. Lucy, in consequence, represented Fowey, 
and retained what he had purchased till in 1832 it became 
quite useless for all election purposes. 

Mr. Joseph Thomas Austen is the present representa- 
tive of the ancient and distinguished family of Treffry, one 
of the most spirited adventurers in mines, and of the most 
judicious and enlightened managers, that Cornwall has wit- 
nessed for many years. Mr. Austen has diverted a river for 
the use of machinery; and he has sat the first example of 
bringing a canal to mines, for the purpose of conveying 
coal and other heavy articles, from the sea-coast, and of 
taking down the ores, which are then exported from a har- 
bour of his own construction. 

Mr. Lysons gives an account somewhat different from 
that of Mr. Hals, respecting the final repulse of the French 
from Fowey. He attributes the achievement to one of 
Mr. Austen's female ancestors; and, quoting from Leland, 
adds that after this event " Thomas Treffry builded a right 
fair and strong embatded tower in his house, and embat- 
tling the walls of the house, in a manner made it a castle, 
and even to this day it is the glory of the town buildings in 
Fowey." The present possessor has, however, added con- 
siderably to the beauty of this " right fair " mansion, by 
completely restoring whatever might be defective in the 
existing parts, and by completing, or perhaps by improving, 
the original plan. 

The late Mr. Philip Rashleigh, who represented Fowey 



FOWEY. 47 

during the greater part of a long life, added to his charac- 
ter of a most respectable country gentleman, the well- 
deserved reputation of a skilful and zealous naturalist) more 
especially in the department of minerals, to which, as a 
Cornish man, his attention would be more particularly 
directed. Mr. Rashleigh led the way in Cornwall as a 
collector, on a large scale, of the interesting and curious 
products of the mines, and left at his decease perhaps the 
most valuable collection of minerals belonging to any indi- 
vidual throughout England. Geology had not acquired 
the semblance of a regular science when Mr. Rashleigh 
directed his attention to the metallic ores, and to the chrys- 
tallography, not of Cornwall alone, but of all parts of the 
known world. He has given to the public two volumes of 
coloured engravings from his choicest specimens. 

Mr. Rashleigh attained a good old age, with the satisfac- 
tion of witnessing the progress through life, in various 
lines, of the younger branches of his family, with the highest 
credit to themselves, and of leaving his ample property to a 
nephew in all respects worthy of receiving it. 

For various further details respecting Fowey, the Editor 
must refer to the recent Histories of Cornwall. 

Mr. Lysons gives an ample account of the descents or 
alienations of manors ; and a very curious letter from Lord 
Thomas Cromwell to the Prior of Trewardreth, dated on 
the 21st of May, but without the insertion of any year, 
probably, however, not long before the dissolution. See 
p. 109 of Lysons's Magna Britannia, vol. iii. Cornwall. 

A considerable property was accumulated about the 
middle of the last century by two brothers, natives of this 
town, of the name of Lamb. One filled the office of Col- 
lector of the Customs at Fowey, the other practised medi- 
cine at St. Austell ; both left their fortunes to an only sister, 
who after their deaths, and late in life, married Mr. Gra- 
ham, a gentleman from London ; through whom the pro- 
perty has passed to his nephew, Thomas Graham, Esq. 
Sheriff of Cornwall in 1806, a magistrate for the county, 



48 FARABURY. 

and resident within the limits of Fowey, where be has built 
a new and handsome house. 

The parish of Fowey measures 1,726 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as <£. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 4,856 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 473 16 

« ! . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-j H55 '| 1?19 >j U55 '| 1767 

giving an increase of 53 per cent, in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. John Kempe, instituted 1818. 

Latitude of the Windmill near Fowey 50° 20' 7". Lon- 
gitude 18 m . 30 8 . west. High water at the full and change 
of the moon 5*» 20 m . 

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish appears to be situated entirely in the calca- 
reous series, near its junction with the porphyritic; and 
thus its rocks are very similar to those at the entrance of 
Falmouth Harbour. 



FARABURY. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and has upon the 
north St George's Channel, or the Irish Sea, east Minster, 
west Trevalga, south Lantegles. For the name it is Saxon 
papa bupy, i. e. the far off hiding or burying-place, being 
a promontory of land shooting far out into the sea. Other- 
wise Fara-bury may be interpreted as a fair or beautiful 
vburying-place, (See Buryan.) 

In the Domesday Roll it was taxed either under the ju- 
risdiction of the Botterell, now Botreaux, or Tollcarne, now 



FARABURY. 49 

Minster. In the taxation of Benefices made by the Bishops 
of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Farabury, 
in Decanatu de Trigminorshire, was valued xx*. In Wol- 
sey's Inquisition, 1521, 4/. 12s. Sd The patronage for- 
merly in the Prior of Hartland, Lancells, or Minster, who 
endowed it, and passeth in presentation and consolidation 
with Minster. The patronage now in Amye; the incum- 
bent Amye; and the parish rated, together with Minster, 
to the 4«. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 98/. 7s. 4<£ ; of 
which parish, in the first Inquisition (1294), I thus read: 
Abbas de Hartiland percepit de Eccles. Farabury p v an. vii*. 
Prior de Morton (percepit) per annum in eadem vis. 

TONKIN 

thinks that this name means fare bury. The patronage 
in Edward Amy, Esq. as heir of Sir John Cotton. The 
incumbent James Amy, his brother. 



THE EDITOR. 

This is the least extensive parish in Cornwall. It pro- 
bably owes its existence to the monastic establishment in 
the adjoining parish of Minster, with which, as a benefice, 
it has long been consolidated. The church is situated very 
near to the sea, and commands an extensive view of the 
romantic cliffs forming that iron-bound coast, with Lundy 
Island in the horizon. The name is sometimes written, 
and I believe always pronounced, Fotherbury. 

This parish measures 432 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 859 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 81 10 

t> , ,. fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- | uo '| 212 '| 223 '| 358 ' 

giving an increase of 156 per cent, in 80 years. 

VOL. II. E 



50 GERANS. 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This little parish is formed by a belt of high and pre- 
cipitous hills, and is principally composed of a very in- 
teresting rock. It is of a dark colour, does not alter in the 
streak, and abounds in iron pyrites ; it is a kind of shale, 
and in the cliff, not far from the church, contains a layer of 
some carbonaceous mineral, to the intimate diffusion of 
which the colour of this rock appears to be owing. The 
section of the hill by the road side, from the church to 
Valancey Bridge, exhibits the layers of this rock convoluted 
and contorted in a most extraordinary manner; and the 
same appearance is beautifully illustrated in the cliffs at the 
entrance of Boscastle harbour. 



GERANS, GERANCE, or GERRANS. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the 
north St. Just in Rosland, east Verian, west Su Anthony, 
south the British Channel. For the modern name, Gerans, 
whether it be so called in memory of Geruncius, a king of 
the Britons, successor of King Rimo, that lived a hundred 
years before King Lud, according to Galfridus' Chronicle, 
or if from Ferint ab Erbyn, one of King Arthur's admirals 
at sea, I cannot determine; especially for that, in the 
Domesday Tax in Cornwall, 20th William I. 108?, this 
district, St Just, and St. Anthony, all passed under the 
name oi Ros-land, or Tre-gara-due, now the Bishop of 
Exeter's manor of Tregare (of which more under) and 
Elerchy. 



GERANS. * 51 

In the Taxation of Benefices in Cornwall aforesaid, 1294, 
Ecclesia de Sancto Gerando, in Decanatu de Penryn, is 
rated xl. porcionis Rectoris in eadem xlvis. viiid.; porcio- 
iiis Prioris Sancti Antonii in eadem xlvis. viiirf. From 
whence it is evident that the Bishop of Exeter, lord of Pen- 
ryn, and the Prior of St. Anthony endowed this church, 
the one half as a Rectory, the other as a Vicarage, viz. that 
of the Prior's part. For the name of this church in the 
Inquisition aforesaid, St. Gerandus, whether it may not 
possibly relate to one St. Gereon, a Roman whose feast is 
October 12. In Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, it is valued 
I5i.6s.0ld. by the name of Gerens. The patronage in 
the Bishop of Exeter; the incumbent Fowler; and the 
parish rated to the 4#. per pound Land Tax, 1696, by the 
name of Gerance, 156/. 16s. 4tf. 

Tregeare, in this parish, was the voke lands of the Bishop 
of Bodmin, now the Bishop of Exeter's great lordship, so 
called. In the Domesday Book for Cornwall, 20th Wil- 
liam I. 1087, it is named Tregara-an, id est, the town of 
the friend, or lover, of God. Concerning the possession of 
this manor, by virtue of the Bishop of Exeter's lease, there 
happened a costly and troublesome suit, both in law and 
equity, between Edward Nosworthy, Esq. then in possession 
thereof, and Hugh Trevanion, of Treligan, Esq. in the 
latter end of the reign of Charles the Second, James the 
Second, and part of the reign of William the Third (as I 
was informed). The case being thus : 

The tenure of those lands being copy of Court Roll, or 
freehold for life, the Bishop of Exeter, the lessor, grants to 
the lessee a fee-farm lease of the said manor, for three 
lives absolute : and so, by custom and law, each of these 
lives named in the said lease are entitled to the land suc- 
cessively after each other's death, and have power succes- 
sively in like manner to grant copies of court roll to the 
under-tenants of those lands absolute for three lives, to 
succeed each other. Now it happened that Trevanion 
bought the remainder of one of those lives, in reversion, of 

e 2 



52 GERANS. 

Nosworthy or some other first life named in the Bishop's 
lease ; after the death of whom, Trevanion's right by cus- 
tom commenced ; who accordingly delivered ejectments up- 
on the lands and tenements of the said manor, by consent 
and approbation of the Bishop of Exeter for the time be- 
ing, and brought down a trial at Launceston on the same, 
where the issue passed for Trevanion. 

Thereupon Nosworthy filed his bill in chancery, prays a 
writ of injunction to stop further proceedings at common 
law, and to be relieved in the premises; where, after many 
commissions for examination of witnesses, and hearing of the 
merits of the cause in favour of Nosworthy's title, it passed 
for him. The plaintiff Trevanion thereon prays that an- 
other issue at law might be directed out of Chancery to 
try this matter; which accordingly being granted, upon 
the issue it again passed for the plaintiff, and afterwards, as 
before, upon all hearings in Chancery it passed against 
him, by the universal opinion and judgment of the Lord 
Chancellors and Lord Keepers for the time being : " That 
it was contrary to equity and good conscience that any 
person, who was only named a life on the bishop's lease, to 
the farmer of the manor, or the lives named on the farmer's 
lease, or copy of court roll, to under-tenants, without ever 
paying a farthing consideration of money, should sell or 
carry away the original lessee's estate, who pays a valuable 
consideration for it, or from his heirs or assigns after his 
. death." So that, in fine, Nosworthy's title was confirmed 
by a decree in Chancery. But, as I said before, the cost 
of this controversy pro and con lasted so long, and proved 
so chargeable, as was very conducing to the ruin of both 
those gentlemen's estates, (vide Cargoll in Newland,) 
Nosworthy absconding into Holland, and Trevanion pro- 
curing himself to be made one of the Poor Knights of 
Windsor. 

It was the happiness of Cornwall, in the latter end of the 
reign of Charles the Second, to behold Mr. Justice Dolben, 
appointed for two or three Assizes one of the Judges I tine- 



GERANS. 53 

rant for this county, who so discouraged the injustice, delay, 
and frivolousness of many Cornish law-suits, and so up- 
rightly and succinctly, upon proof of matters of fact and 
law, directed the jury as to their verdict, that there was 
little or no occasion for the wrangling and jangling argu- 
ments pf counsel at the bar. He further told the people 
in general, that he admired how they should be so weak in 
judgment, as to be persuaded into so many lawsuits in this 
province, wherein was nothing but pride, heat, mistakes, or 
malice, by the advice and direction of lawyers and attor- 
nies, whose trade and occupation was only to get money, 
without regard had to the merit or success of their causes 
longer than their client could dispense with cash. Upon 
those and the like arguments of this upright and conscien- 
tious judge, the number of our Cornish trials was much 
abated, and fell from a hundred and sixty venire facias 
brought to about seventy; so that it was generally hoped 
by this means we should have had as few lawsuits depend- 
ing in this as in other countries, or that all controversies 
would be ended by references amongst ourselves, and that 
it would be said of the Court of Common Pleas by com- 
mission transmitted to Launceston, as was said of the Court 
of Chancery when Sir Thomas More was Lord Chancellor 
thereof, tempore Henry VIII., who by his upright judg- 
ment, and discouragement of trivial Chancery suits, had 
ended all causes depending therein, so that the clerks and 
counsel had no more business there to do ; whereupon one 
made this rhyme : 

When More some time had Chancellor been, 

No more suits did remain: 
The like will never more be seen, 

Till More comes back again. 

But, alas ! this good Judge Dolben soon after, by the 
attornies and lawyers of the Western Circuit all in confe- 
deracy together, as the shrine-makers of Diana at Ephesus 
against St. Paul, prompted a petition to Charles the Second 
against him, suggesting that the overhasty proceedings of 



54 GERAKS. 

this judge, and his discouraging lawsuits, tended not only 
to the damage of his Majesty's revenues proceeding from 
lawsuits in those parts, but to their great prejudice, hurt, 
and damage, in point of their support and livelihood, as 
having little else besides their profession and practice of 
law to subsist by ; which petition Charles the Second taking 
into further consideration, against the next assizes he or* 
dered the clerk to leave Judge Dolben's name out of the 
commission of oyer and terminer, and then he was never 
more seen in those parts* Since which time the judges 
that come this circuit are content to hear with great pa-* 
tience the loud, reflective, perplexed arguments of counsel 
upon trials of small moment and concern, if not to suffer 
themselves to be at some times imposed upon in point of 
law and evidence therein, by the importunate arguments of 
topping serjeants-at-law, according to the magnitude of the 
fees they receive from their clients ; so that it is become a 
proverb among those men in this province* it matters not 
what the case be so the client hath store of money* 

Tre-ligan, or Tre-ligon, in this parish, (i. e. the legate, 
nuncio, or ambassador's town, perhaps the rector's,) is the 
dwelling of the said Hugh Trevanion, Gent, a branch of 
Caryhaye's family. He married Crossman, the relict of 
Courtney of Penkivell, and had issue by her ..... Tre-* 
vanion, Gent, his son and heir, whose estate being greatly 
depressed by his father's debts and lawsuits aforesaid, hath 
sold his patrimony, and is by Hugh Boseawen, Esq. Privy 
Councillor to William the Third, promoted to be one of 
the Poor Knights of Windsor as aforesaid. 

Ros-teage, in this parish, (i. e. the valley house, or fair 
valley,) is the dwelling of Nicholas Kempe, Gent, that 
married Sprye; his father Williams of Probus; his grand- 
father Budge. Ther arms, Gules, within a bordure en- 
grailed three garbs Or. 

At Tre-wince, i. e. the under town, or town exposed to 
the weather,) is the possession of Nicholas Hobbs, Gent, 
that married Kempe ; his father Prouse ; and giveth for his 
arms, three eagles displayed Purple. 



GERANS. 55 



TONKIN. 

Most of the lands in this parish, if not the whole, are 
either part pf the manor of Tregear, or are held from it 
This hath been, ever since the first erection of the see, in 
the Bishop of Cornwall, and in the united bishopric seated 
at Exeter. It has for many ages been held by different 
gentlemen under the Bishops, on leases for lives. 

The family of Nosworthy held it for some time; the 
last of which family, Edward Nosworthy, Esq. assigned it, 
a few years before his death, to Henry Vincent, of Trele- 
van, Esq. but Mr. Nosworthy, who was the last life, dying 
suddenly at Dunkirk in 1701, it fell into the Bishop's hands, 
then Sir Jonathan Trelawny, who granted a new lease of 
it in trust for his own family, with whom it now restetlu But 
the barton was separated from the manor and granted 
apart, as it was in the time when Nosworthy held the ma- 
nor, to the Trevanions of Trelegar, between whom and the 
Nosworthys arose a great lawsuit, as is related by Mr. 
Hals. 

Near to this barton is Trewithian, that is, the town of 
peace. In this village Mr. Edward Cregoe hath lately built 
a good house. He married Sarah, the daughter of John 
Foot, of Treleyassick, Gent, and is lately dead, leaving a 
young widow and three sons, of which the eldest is chris- 
tened Friend. 

To the south of this is Trelegar, the downy town. This 
is likewise a large village, at one end of which stood the 
seat of a younger branch of the Trevanions of Carhays. 
Hugh Trevanion, who was engaged in the expensive law- 
suit with Mr. Nosworthy, . had a son, Hugh Trevanion. 
This gentleman was so reduced as to become Governor of 
.the Poor Knights of Windsor. . The father sold Trelegar, 
in the latter end of Charles the Second's reign, to Stephen 
Johns, Esq. 



56 GERANS. 

Between Trelegar and Trewithian is a double round 
Danish intrenchment, which being very high, the middle 
serves for a beacon, by which name of Beacon it is called. 

To the westward of Trewithian is Tregalravean, that is 
the small miry dwelling ; and such it really is* This place 
has recently been leased by copy of court roll from the 
manor of Tregear, to Edward Hobbs, Gent 

Roseteage. This is rightly interpreted by Mr. Hals, 
the fair or beautiful valley; and its delightful situation doth 
fairly entitle it to this appellation. 

This place, in the reign of Elizabeth, and of James the 
First, was the seat of Reginald Mohun, Esq. a younger 
brother to Sir William Mohun, of Hall, and a captain un- 
der Sir Walter Raleigh. This gentleman never marrying, 
sold the barton (which is held from the manor of East 
Greenwich, in Kent, by the payment of three peppercorns 
yearly when demanded,) with the royalty of wreck, and 
in November 1619, the 19th year of James the First, to 
Nicholas Kempe, Gent, who was the younger brother of 
Humphrey Kempe, of Lavethan, in Blisland, Esq. who is 
the chief of that name in Cornwall. 

THE EDITOR. 

Since the splendour of the Bishop's residence has disap- 
peared, if it ever existed, Roseteague has been, without all 
comparison, the leading place in this parish, and indeed 
few more beautiful situations can any where be found. It 
continued in the family of Mr. Kempe from the year 1619 
till about 1780, when Roseteague was purchased by Mr. 
Harris, of Rosewarne, in Camborne, aad given by him to 
Mr. Richard Harris, one of his younger sons; but this 
gentleman having remained single, the estate has reverted 
to the only daughter and heiress of the eldest son, William 
Harris, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall in 1773, married to 
Henry Winchcombe Hartley, Esq. of Berkshire* 



GERANS. 57 

Trewince, situated on a hill northward of Roseteague, 
and separated from it by a deep valley, is also a place well 
deserving of notice* An extremely good house was built 
here about the year 1750, by the grandson or great-grand- 
son of the gentleman who made the purchase of Trelegar 
from Mr. Trevanion, and it is now inhabited by his grand- 
son. 

The church commands an extensive prospect from an 
elevated piece of ground, and contains a splendid monu- 
ment to the family of Hobbs ; and near the church still 
exists a public bowling-green. Bowling appears to have 
been the favourite amusement of gentlemen residing in the 
county up to a later period than the middle of the last 
century. A weekly meeting used to be here numerously 
attended during the summer, but as most landed proprie- 
tors then occupied a portion of their own estates, it was an 
invariable rule to discontinue their pastime when the ap- 
pearance of a single Arrish Mow, indicated the more im- 
portant avocations connected with harvest. 

Mr. Hals has noticed that a Bishop of Exeter endowed 
this church, the one half as a rectory, the other as a vi- 
carage. This division was effected in a very unusual man- 
ner, although in one not quite without example. Instead 
of apportioning the tithe of corn to the rector, and all other 
portions, as small tithes, to the vicar, the whole has here 
been divided into equal shares; so that Mr. Johns, of 
Trewince, the lay impropriator, is entitled to one-twentieth 
of every thing titheable, and the incumbent to another 
twentieth. 

On the coast eastward of the church town is a village 
called Polskatho, or Porthskatho, the boat-harbour ; and 
here an extensive fishery is carried on, more especially for 
mackarel. This place, with the manors of Pettigrew and 
Nanquitty, belongs to J. S. Enys, of Enys, Esq. and they 
have been long possessed by this very ancient and respect- 
able family. 

. The barton of Tregeare was purchased in 1712 of the 
Hoblyns of Bradridge, by Samuel Kempe, Esq. of Car- 



58 OERANS. 

clew. In 1765 it was leased by Frederick Bishop of Exeter, 
on lives, to Nicholas Kempe, Esq. of Rosteague, of whom 
it was purchased in 1767 by his cousin Nicholas Kempe, 
Esq. of Chelsea, and it remained in 1823 ip the possession 
of John Kempe, Esq. of Newington, Surrey. The 
Kempes sold Rosteague to John Harris, Esq. in 1780. 

Trewithian is now vested in Matthew Garland Cregoe, 
Esq. who married Anna Coryton Kempe, eldest daughter 
of the late Arthur Kempe, Esq. Admiral of the White. 

The Kempes of Cornwall were derived from the knightly 
family of Kempe, of Olantigh, in Wye, in Kent; Richard 
Kempe, Esq. grandson of Sir William Kempe, Sheriff of 
Kent 20 Henry VIII. is the first of the family recorded to 
have setded at Lavethan, in Blisland. 

Gerans measures 2,460 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. 8. <L 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 3487 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 387 9 

in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 
698 I 732 | 766 
giving the unusual result of a diminution, although ex- 
tremely small, on the population, 5 on 771, or about -f per 
cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The rocks of this parish belong to the same series as 
those of St. Anthony in Powder. On the eastern side of 
Porthskatho Cove the blue slate is very much curved and 
contorted ; and is intersected by innumerable quartz veins, 
which are exceedingly irregular, and partake much of the 
same arrangement as the laminae of the slate. Here also 
occur, interstratified with the slate, beds of a compact blue 
rock, which is very hard, and effervesces with acids, occa- 
sioned by particles, and minute veins or strings, of calca- 
reous spar. In the cliff also may be seen a small patch of 
conglomerates, and red sandstone of the most recent forma- 
tion, such as is common on these shores. 



« , . fill 1801, 

Population, — < yy^ 7 



59 



ST. GERMAN'S. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Eastwellshire, and hath upon 
the eastLandrak and Saltash, north Menhynet, west Mor- 
vall, south Shevyock, and the British Channel ; as for the 
name of this parish it is derived from the tutelar guardian 
of the church, St. German, Bishop of Anticiodorum in 
Gallia, now France, anno Dom. 425. Whether this name be 
derived from the Latin Germanus, i. e. come of the same 
stock, very like or natural ; or the adverb Germaine, bro- 
ther or a very brother ; or from gapnan or gejinan, Saxon 
German, signifying altogether a man, or a complete and 
entire man ; I must leave to others to resolve. 

At the time of the Domesday Tax 20 William I. 1087, 
this district was taxed either under the jurisdiction of Abbe 
TEbne, i. e. Abbey Town, or Cudan-woord, of which more 
under. In Liber taxationum omnium beneficiorum in 
Cornubia, folio 148, Ecclesia Sancti Germani, in Deca- 
natu Sancti Germani, by the Bishops of Lincoln and Win- 
chester 1294, was valued towards the Pope's Annates 
10L; Vicar ejusdem xl*. But before the statute 15th of 
Richard the Second, against wholly impropriating vica- 
rages, the revenues of this church were wholly impropriated 
by the convent, and only 14/. per annum deducted towards 
maintenance of two vicars to serve the cure, for which rea- 
son it is not named in Wolsey's Inquisition 1521. The 
patronage formerly in the King of England, afterwards in 
the Abbat and Prior of St. German's. The incumbent 
Kendall, the rectory or sheaf in possession of Glanvill, and 
the parish rated to the 4s. in the pound land tax 1696, 
649/. 6*. 8rf. The now minister's chancel of this church 
was a chapel, founded and endowed by King Athelstan, at 
such time as he was in Cornwall, anno Dom. 930 (see Bu- 



60 st. German's. 

man and Bodman) and dedicated to St. German, of which 
fact thus speaks Roger Hoveden, a priest of Oxford, in his 
Annals of the Kings of England, anno Dom. 1200, p. 160. 

" Rex Athelstanus in potestatem Anglorum dedit unum 
mansionem Deo, ad fundandum monasterium pro monachis, 
et Sancti Germani fratribus canonicis ibi famulantibus in 
Cornubia, anno Dom. 930," i. e. King Athelstan, being in 
full possession of all England, gaue to God one mansion, 
tarrying, or abiding place, for laying the foundation of a 
monastery of monks, and for St German's canonical bro- 
thers and servants in Cornwall. He also enriched with 
jewels, money, or lands, every considerable abbey in this 
land. Baker's Chron. p. 10. 

This Abbey of St. German's was afterwards endowed 
with larger revenues by King Canute, anno Dom. 1020, who 
turned it, after ninety years continuance in monkery, to a 
collegiate church of secular canons, which might marry 
wives, converse in the world, as not tied to a monastic life, 
first introduced by St. Berinus, Bishop of Dorchester, anno 
Dom. 635; that is to say, a society or corporation of reli- 
gious men, under the government of a dean, warden, pro- 
vost, and master, to whom belonged clerks, chaplains, sing- 
ing men, or choristers. Of those men, the gloss upon the 
Canons Clementine tells us, that secular priests have no 
certain order or fashion of apparel appointed them, foras- 
much as there is no express mention made in any canon, 
neither of the colour or form thereof, by which two dif- 
ferences the other several orders of religious men and wo- 
men are distinguished or discerned. 

In this Abbey of St. German's, anno Dom. 986, Bishop 
Stidio placed the see or seat of his Cathedral Church, (for 
Bodman was before burnt by the Danes,) which he and his 
successors enjoyed till the year 1032, at which time Livig- 
nus, first a monk of Winchester, afterwards Abbat of Ta- 
vistock, then made Bishop of Kirton, by King Canutus, 
who after the death of Berwoldus, the thirteenth Bishop of 
Cornwall, prevailed with that King to annex the bishopric 



st. German's. 61 

of St. German's, thus translated there, to his bishopric of 
Kirton, and turned this college of secular priests into a 
priory of Black Canons Augustine, from whence afterwards 
Leofrick, chaplain to King Edward the. Confessor, 1049, 
by licence, consent, and approbation of that King, removed 
both those bishoprics to Exeter. And this fact of Kirton 
is more manifest from the missal or mass book of the said 
LeofHck, given to the church of Exeter. 

This Monastery or Abbey of St. German's, founded by 
King Athelstan, was as aforesaid by King Canute turned 
into a collegiate church of secular canons, over which a 
prior was governor or ruler, who, after he had endowed the 
same with lands and revenues, King Ethelred the Second 
having before given Bishop Stidio, to recompense his loss 
by the Danes, the great lordship of Cunan Boake, still per- 
taining to the Bishop of Exeter (see Prince's Worthies of 
Devon, p. 9) he ordained many good laws which sound 
thus in English: 

" We will and command that God's Ministers, the Bi- 
shops, Abbats, Priors, &c. do. in especial manner take a 
right course and live according to rule, that they call to 
Christ night and day much and oft, and that they do it ear- 
nestly : and we further command that they hearken to God, 
and love chastity; full truly they wit that it is against the 
right to meddle with women." Canute's Laws, No. 6. 

The word abbat is derived from the Hebrew abba, pater, 
for that he is the father or governor of his monks, who to- 
gether make up a spiritual society or corporation. Some 
abbats were elective by the convent, others presentative, 
and under this title also was comprehended other corpora- 
tions spiritual, as a prior and his convent, friars, canons, and 
such like ; and as there were lord abbats so there were lord 
priors, who had exempt jurisdiction, and were lords of par- 
liament, and what consecration is to a bishop, the same is 
benediction to an abbot or prior, but in different respects, 
for a bishop is not such before consecrated, but an abbat or 



62 st. German's. 

prior, being elected or confirmed, is properly such before be- 
nediction. 

Some abbats were mitred from the pope, and so exempt 
from the bishop's jurisdiction, as having granted them from 
him episcopal authority; and if either abbats or priors 
were called by the King's writ as barons to parliament, 
they were called abbats and priors sovereign ; see statute 
9th Richard II. chap. 4. But, alas ! neither this Abbat of 
St German's, nor the Prior of Bodmin, nor any other in 
this province, was either a baron of Parliament or a mitred 
man, but were all subject to the visitation and spiritual 
government of the Bishop of Exeter, till 23d Henry VIII. 
when all those orders of religious men were dissolved. 

In this abbey of St. German's, anno Dom. 1040, in the 
time of Lurginus Bishop of Kirton, lived Hucarius, com- 
monly called the Levite, as Bale and Pits, in their writ- 
ings of Britain, tell us; either for that he assisted the priest 
at the altar as the Levites of old did, and was more excel- 
lent, or did excel all others in that particular ; otherwise, 
by the appellation Levite we must understand him a priest, 
and that he was universally famous in performing his func- 
tion of preaching and divine service. Certain it is, he was a 
holy and learned man, (according to the laws of King Ca- 
nutus aforesaid,) as the 110 homilies or sermons, and many 
other books which he wrote, declare ; but whether he was 
a native of this province or not, I know not. 

This Priory of Canons Augustine was dissolved 26th 
Henry VIII. and its revenues valued per annum 243/. 8*. ac- 
cording to Speed and Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum. 

This borough town of St. German's, as Mr. Carew saith, 
mustereth many inhabitants, and sundry ruins, but little 
wealth; occasioned either by abandoning their fishing- 
trade, as some conceive, or their being abandoned of their 
religious people, as others imagine. It appears to have 
been the voke lands of a manor before the Norman Con- 
quest ; since it is rated in Domesday Roll, 20th William I. 
1087, by the name of Abbytone, i. e. abbey-town, (for that 



ST. German's. 63 

• 

before that time it was a monastery or abbey of monks,) 
and consists of a Portreeve and forty Censors; and the 
Portreeve yearly chosen, in the manor court, by the major 
part of the Censors. And the Members of Parliament are 
in like manner elected by the major part of them, and the 
precept from the Sheriff for their election, (as also to re- 
move any action at law depending in this to a superior 
court,) must be thus directed: "Praeposito et Seneschallo 
Burgi nostri de St. German®, in Comitatu Cornub. salu- 
tem," &c. Note, that in old British, reve, reeve, is rent, 
tithes, or revenues. Port-reeve is the bearer or gatherer 
of the gate or borough rent. 

The arms of this priory are only the letters G. P. 

It is further privileged with a weekly market on Friday, 
and a fair yearly, August 1. 

The history of St. German. He was a native of Gaul, 
about the year of our Lord 380, born of wealthy, rich, and 
Christian parents, by whom he was bred up and baptized 
into the Christian religion. After which he followed the 
study of the liberal arts and sciences, and so profited there- 
in that he was generally noted for a very learned man. 
But that which made him most famous was his piety and 
virtue ; wherein he so far excelled most other men of his 
time, that he could not be at rest, or have peace in himself, 
till he made known his propensions to a religious course of 
life. Whereupon he was admitted into .deacon s orders, 
then into priest's, and lastly advanced to the dignity of 
Bishop of Antiscidorum, or Auxerre, in France, anno 
Dom. 425. 

After he took upon him the office of a bishop, he dis- 
charged the same with great justice and piety, admitting 
none into orders within his jurisdiction, but such as were 
men of great learning and sound faith, but especially such 
as were neither Arians nor Pelagians. For about that 
time the Christian church was grievously pestered with 
two heretics ; the • one Arius, born and bred at Constant!* 
nople; the other an inhabitant of Britain, viz. Pelagius. 



64 ST. GERMANS. 

But the doctrines of Pelagius manifesting themselves 
throughout this land, to the great disturbance of the ortho- 
dox faith and churches thereof, after great heats and ani- 
mosities between Catholics and heretics about those doc- 
trines, it was at last agreed upon between those parties that 
a General Council of the Clergy in Britain should be con- 
vened at St Alban's, in Hertfordshire, and those tenets 
further examined and discussed. But the British Catholics, 
knowing the interest, skill, and subtlety of the heretics to 
be great, thought it not safe for religion, and the orthodox 
faith, in this convention to trust alone to their own skill 
and learning, therefore concluded on this expedient, viz. 
against the day of meeting to send for some foreign divines 
for their coadjutors or helpers in this controversy; and ac- 
cordingly applied to St German, Bishop of Antiscidorum 
aforesaid, or Auxerre, in Gallia, now France, a city situate 
upon the river Auxona, now called Le Disne, and Lupus* 
Bishop of Troyes, in that country, for their counsel and 
assistance, who gladly granted their request; and accord- 
ingly against the day, and at the place appointed, met the 
British Clergy on both sides; where the tenets and doc- 
trines being heard, and particularly examined, chiefly by 
the skill and learning of St German, were all refuted and 
condemned, according to the sense of the General Councils, 
as impious and heretical, to the great satisfaction of the 
orthodox clergy. 

After this dispute and council ended, St German, as a 
good bishop, resolved, though out of his country and dio- 
cese, whilst he stayed here, to preach the Gospel publicly, 
and to that end caused a pulpit to be set up in an open 
place at St. Alban's, (so called from St Alban, the Briton, 
martyred there under Dioclesian, anno Dom. 303,) an- 
ciently Verulam; where on set days he preached to the 
multitude there assembled, and first began to handle the 
doctrine of Pelagius against original sin, taking for his text 
the words of St. John the Evangelist : " If we say that we 



st. German's. 65 

have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in 
us." Upon which subject he shewed that the doctrine of 
Pelagius was contrary to the writings and doctrines of 
Moses and the Prophets. 

These and the like words and preachings of St. German 
seemed so angelical and full of power to the Britons, that 
generally they were convinced of Pelagius's errors, and 
abandoned their former opinions; and in testimony of their 
unfeigned respect and remembrance of him, in the very 
place where he preached at St. Alban's, they erected a cha- 
pel, and dedicated it to the honour of God, in the name of 
St. German ; which chapel was extant (and still bears his 
name) tempore James I. though misapplied to profane 
uses. (See Camden, in Hertfordshire.) After St German 
had thus preached down Pelagianism at St. Alban's, he 
travelled through Britain, Wales, and Scotland, on the same 
account, as our chronologers tell us ; and that, in the place 
where Oxford stands, he preached six months against the 
heresies aforesaid. That he was in Cornwall upon the 
same account I doubt not, since there is still extant in this 
parish whereof I treat, a large church bearing his name. 
He was in Wales, for Camden, in Flintshire, informs us a field 
bearing his name, called Mars Garman, i. e. German's field, 
in memory of a battle there obtained by the Welch over the 
Picts, on the prayers of St. German, and by crying Halle- 
lujah ! To him also is ascribed the building or augment- 
ing Landaff cathedral there, and dedicating it to St. Delyan, 
if there be not a mistake in the chronology thereof, St. 
German, as appears to me, being dead before Delyan. 

That he preached in Scotland, is evident from his meet- 
ing and converse with Patrick, born at Bluisdale, in that 
country, who became his disciple, and afterwards the 
apostle of Ireland. 

This priory-house, before its dissolution, was called 
Porth- Prior, or Port- Prior, synonymous words, signifying 
either the prior's creek, cove, or haven. It is now, after 
the name of its owner, transnominated to Port or Porth- 

VOL. II. f 



66 st. German's. 

Eliot, who derives his title thereto from Champernowne, as 
he did by a boon from King Henry the Eighth. 

These gentlemen I take to be of Scots original, and so 
denominated from the local place of Eliot, near Dundee, in 
.Scotland, and their descent of later time from the Eliots of 
Devonshire, Berkshire, or Cambridgeshire, of which last 
county one Sir Thomas Eliot, Knt. was Sheriff 24th 
Henry VIII. also in 36th. This gentleman wrote a book 
called Defensorium bonarum Mulierum, The Defence of 
good or virtuous Women. But that which made him most 
famous was, (to the disgrace of the critics and clergy that 
get their livings by the liberal arts and sciences, he being 
only a layman,) he wrote and composed the first Latin and 
English Dictionary that ever was seen in England, about 
the year 1540. Upon whose stock and foundation Bishop 
Cooper and others built and grafted all the Latin and 
English dictionaries now extant in Britain. He died in 
Suffolk, 1546 ; and upon the foundation, rules, and obser* 
vation of this my Parochial History of Cornwall, it will be 
very easy for any other person to make a better and more 
perfect History thereof. 

Those gentlemen settled here about the middle of Queen 
Elizabeth's reign, and there ever since flourished in this place 
in genteel and worshipful degree, serving their king and 
country in the several capacities of Justices of the Peace and 
Members of Parliament for their Borough of St. German's ; 
and amongst them, in particular, it were great injustice to 
forget the memory of that worthy patriot Sir John Eliot, 
Knt. for his bold asserting the prerogative and privilege of 
Parliament, the freedom and liberty of the subject, in the 
House of Commons, against the arbitrary and despotic 
power of the British Monarch, then exerted and setting up 
by the Attorney-general Noye and others, temp. Charles I. 
as before it had been done by Cecil Earl of Salisbury temp. 
"James I. : for which reasons and arguments of law he was 
committed prisoner to the Tower of London by order of 
that King, where he died, without payment of the 2,00<M» 



sT. German's. 67 

fine laid upon him, but not without suspicion of poison, 
about the year 1638. 

Edward Eliot, Esq. is now in possession of this estate. 
He married the daughter of Craggs. 

Bake, in this parish, is the dwelling of the ancient and 
gentle family of the Moyles; so called, I presume, from 
the local place of Moyle, in or about St. Minvor, who have 
flourished here for several generations in worshipful degree, 
ever since they married with the sole inheretrix of this 
came and place; originally descended, as I am informed, 
from the Moyles of Tresurans, in St. Colomb, or the 
Moyles of Bodmin. The present possessor, Sir Walter 
Moyle, Kiit. son of John Moyle, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 
22 James I. that married Morrice, giveth for his arms, 
in allusion to their name, Gules, a moyle (or mule) passant 
Argent. 

I take Thomas Moile, Esq. Speaker of Parliament 34th 
Henry VIII. 1543, ancestor of the Moyles of Oxford and 
Kent, whose name, blood, and estate is terminated in the 
Finches, to be a younger brother of this family, or those 
of his. 

Colt-dryn-ike, in this parish, i. e. dry neck lake, leate, 
or riveret of waters, (perhaps so called from some lake or 
leate that intermits its current in summer season,) is the 
dwelling of Jonathan Trelawney, Esq, one of his Majesty's 
Commissioners of the Peace, a younger branch of the Tre- 
lawneys of Poole and Trelawne houses, and therefore giv- 
eth the same arms which they do. Since the writing here- 
of this gentleman is dead without issue; and his second 
brotlier, my very kind friend, Major John Trelawney, Fort 
Major of the royal citadel of Plymouth, succeeded to his 
estate. 

Millin-ike, alias Melin-ike, i. e. the mill lake, leate, or 

bosom of waters, (so called from some river and a mill 

heretofore thereon,) was the dwelling of William Scawen, 

Esq. that died without issue. 

The name Scawen is local, and signifies a place where 

f2 



68 ST. German's. 

skawan or elder trees grow, (as I have said before,) and is 
derived from the Japhetical Greek, ox /3ie/i, sambacbus, 
ebulus, the elder-tree, who, suitable to his name, gives for 
his arms, Argent, a scawen or elder-tree Vert. This is au 
ancient and mere British family of gentlemen, as their 
name implies. 

Hendre, in this parish, (i. e. the old or ancient town,) 
is the dwelling of the gentle family of the Hancocks; par- 
ticularly William Hancock, Esq. 

Catch-French, in this parish, was the seat of the Keck- 
witches, originally descended from the Keckwitches of 
Essex, gentlemen heretofore also of considerable estates in 
those parts, now by ill conduct wasted, so that this barton 
was sold by John Keckwitcb, Esq. temp. Charles II. to 
Hugh Boscawen, Esq. who settled it upon his daughter 
Bridget, married to Hugh Fortescue, of Filley, Esq. now 
in possession thereof. George Kectwitch, Esq. of this 
house, was Sheriff of Cornwall 17th of Elizabeth, as was 
also his son George Keckwitcb, Esq. 33d of Elizabeth. 
He was also a Commissioner of the Peace temp. James 1. 
who gave for his arms, Argent, two lions on a bend Sable, 
coticed Or. 

TONKIN. 

The town of St German's lieth to the southward of Port 
Eliot, but adjoining with it, and between that and Cudden- 
beck : but as Browne Willis, in his Notitia Parliamentaria, 
has given a particular description of this town and parish, 
of which he was the most capable, having married his lady 
out of it, I shall here insert what he has said thereof: 

" Its first return of Members to serve in Parliament, was 
in the session held by proclamation in the 5th year of 
Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1562, at which time their having 
Representatives was questioned; however, Mr. Speaker 
declared in the House that the Lord Steward agreed that 
they (i. e. the two Members) should resort there with all 



st. German's. 69 

convenient speed to show their letters patent, whereby they 
be returned* In this indenture the returning officer is 
called the Mayor, but in the next, and in all other records, 
the Portreeve; which magistrate is yearly nominated and 
chosen at the lord's court-leet, held about Michaelmas by 
his steward, who impannels a jury for that purpose. As to 
the choice of Members of Parliament, all the inhabitant 
householders have votes, that have lived a year within the 
borough, the hounds of which do not extend very far, and 
only comprehend about fifty or sixty houses lying near the 
church, and not the whole vill of St. German's, great part 
of which is without the borough, as is the rest of the 
parish. It is styled in some writings Cuddenbeck Bo- 
rough ; a privilege which it might perhaps have obtained 
from Walter Bishop of Exeter, temp. Henry III. when 
Penryn seems to have been made a borough ; and from this 
example the Prior, with the assistance of the Bishop, might 
also have dignified in like manner the vill of St. German's, 
though neither of them, anno 30th Eliz. when they certified 
respecting their liberties, and claims of privilege, as of 
markets, fairs, &c. styled this place otherwise than the ma- 
nor of St. German's; nor have I met with it under any 
other denomination than till Queen Elizabeth's time, or 
seen any record mentioning its incorporation, nor any other 
charter of privileges granted thereunto; though the inha- 
bitants have a tradition that they had an ancient charter, 
which was unfortunately stolen front them by a person im- 
prisoned by the Portreeve, who is by prescription bailiff of 
the town, and may make what house he pleases within the 
borough, his prison. As to a description of this borough, 
called by Carew ' a church town,' it mustereth, as that au- 
thor tells us, sundry ruins, but little wealth." 

Browne Willis gives the following account of the Priory : 

"After the removal of the bishoprics from Crediton 

and from this place to Exeter, A. D. 1050, Leofric, the 

first Bishop of Exeter, changed the seculars of this colle* 

giate church, founded by King Athelstan, and endowed by 



70 st. German's. 

King Canute, into Black Canons, between whom, and his 
new-erected episcopal see, the manor of this town wad 
divided ; and it stood upon that establishment at the time 
of the Norman invasion, as appears from Domesday Book, 
which informs us, that the manor or parish of St German's 
consisted of twenty-four hides, whereof the Bishop of Exe* 
ter had twelve, and the Canons of that place twelve also. 
What belonged to the Bishop was Valued at 81*. per an* 
num, and what belonged to the Canons at 100*. Domes- 
day also shews us, that in this manor there was then a mar- 
ket on the Lord's Day; but it became reduced to nothing, 
by reason of that of the Earl of Morton's being very near, 
which I conceive might have been kept at Trematon, that 
Earl having privilege of a market at his castle there. That 
such was the state of this town and parish at the time of 
the Conquest, is plain from the above-stated record ; and 
the division into two manors continues to the present day, 
the Bishop's moiety being held by lease for three lives by 
Edward Eliot, Esq. proprietor of the other manor; whose 
predecessors have probably ever since the dissolution of the 
monasteries been farmers, or lessee tenants, to the See of Ex- 
eter, by virtue of which lease, as this manor is vested in them, 
so the other, belonging to the Priory, has thus descended since 
the surrender thereof, dated March the 2d, anno 30th 
Henry VIII. when Robert Swimmer, the last Prior, with 
seven Monks, yielded up the same into the King's hands 
who not long after, by letters patent dated March the 10th, 
anno regni 33, A.D. 1542, granted to John Champernoun, 
John Ridgeway, and Walter Smith. Among other lands* 
the site, 8cc. of this priory, upon partition, came to John 
Champernoun's share, whose heir sold it, about thirty or 
forty years afterwards, to Richard Eliot, Esq. my wife's 
ancestor, in which family both those manors yet continue : 
*rhich place, soon after Mr. Eliot had made the purchase, 
was named Port Eliot, since when this appellation has so 
far prevailed that Port Eliot has been inserted in maps, as 
if it was a particular vill. This family flourished for eight 



st. German's. 71 

or ten generations in Devonshire, before their transplanting 
themselves hither, and had matched into several consider- 
able families in that county, as the Sigdons, Cotlands, Bon- 
villes, Sumasters, Fitjfees, Careswells, &c. Walter Eliot 
was returned among the gentlemen of Devonshire anno 
1483, temp. Henry VI. And to this family, as it should 
seem by the arms, was allied Sir Richard Eliot, made by 
King Henry the Eighth one of the Justices of the King's 
Bench, who was, as I take it, father to the famous Sir Tho- 
mas Eliot Richard Eliot seated himself here, where he 
lived (as Carew tells us) in great hospitality. He left issue 
John Eliot, born and baptized here April 20, 1592. This 
John, A. D. 1607, became a gentleman commoner of Exe- 
ter College, Oxford, which place leaving about two or 
three years after, he went to "the Inns of Court, and May 
the 10th, 1618, received the honour of knighthood, and 
was all his lifetime after a member of the succeeding Par- 
liaments, in one of which, 3d Charles I. he was chosen 
knight of the shire for Cornwall. He was a very plausible 
speaker in the House of Commons, as his speeches pub- 
lished testify, but, being a virulent enemy to the Court, 
often suffered confinement, and died in custody in the 
Tower of London ; and, as appears by the inquisition on 
the 27th of November, 8th Charles I. A. D. 1632, leaving 
issue John, his son and heir, then twenty years old. This 
John was born at Port Eliot, and baptized October 18th, 
1612, where he died and was buried March the 25th, 1685, 
leaving an only son, Daniel Eliot, my father-in-law, who 
departed this life about the sixtieth year of his age, and 
was buried among his ancestors October 28th, 1702. This 
gentleman, in regard that he had only one daughter, named 
Katherine, bequeathed his estate, in order to keep up the 
name of his family, to Edward Eliot, grandson to Nicholas 
Eliot, fourth son to Sir John Eliot, Knight, aforesaid." 

Mr. Browne Willis then goes on to state respecting the 
remains of the monastery. 

"The Priory fronts the river, now called, as above 



72 ST. German's. 

noted, Port Eliot It is a handsome large building, con- 
taining several spacious rooms, and has a court before it, 
adorned with a strong pier by the present proprietor, 
Edward Eliot, Esq. who has much beautified the whole 
building.' 9 Since Mr. Willis wrote the above, almost the 
whole of the ancient building has been taken down, so that 
except the refectory, now called the gallery, very little 
remains. 

In the 26th year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, 
this place had an honour bestowed on it (little taken notice 
of, if not altogether forgotten), by being established by Act 
of Parliament the see of a suffragan bishop for the county 
of Cornwall, in the diocese of Exeter. 

The advowson of this church, together with the impro- 
priate rectory, late the possessions of the priory, valued at 
61/. 13*. 44. per annum, were granted by King Edward 
the Sixth to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, in 
whose hands they now continue, 

THE EDITOR. 

St. Germanus is among the most celebrated saints of 
the fourth and fifth centuries, having gained his reputation 
by furiously opposing the unpopular doctrines of Pelagius ; 
at the same time that he adopted all the brutalizing auste- 
rities, which in those days conveyed power, influence, and 
reputation to all who practised them. 

Pelagius maintained that Almighty God has been pleased 
to bestow on mankind, from their births, power and incli-* 
nation to execute his will, and to render themselves ac- 
ceptable in his sight; while the orthodox supported, on the 
contrary, a doctrine more analogous to the practices of 
earthly despots and tyrants, by declaring that' such powers 
were capriciously given, by little and little and from time 
to time, branding their opponents with an accusation, well 
suited to the understanding of those from whom distinction 
could then be obtained, namely, that Pelagius set up man 



st. German's. 73 

as independent and in opposition to Ood; forgetting or 
concealing that the free gift was and must have been the 
same in both cases, differing only in the manner after which 
it is bestowed. Perhaps the arbitrary disposition of fiefs, com-* 
mencing about that period, afforded an additional analogy 
for assimilating the practices in heaven to those on earth, 
while appeals to the capricious exercise of arbitrary power 
afforded evidently the most ample field for vehement de- 
clamation. The saint is stated in his legend to have sprung 
from an illustrious family, and, while the appellation im- 
plied a real office, to have been made Duke of a Roman 
province, and in that capacity to have been leader of the 
troops, with whom he obtained repeated victories, and ac- 
quired the just reputation of an able warrior. He also 
excelled in the chace, but neither his skill in military stra- 
tagems nor in the devices of the field, could protect him 
against falling into an ambuscade laid by St Amator, Bi- 
shop of Auxerre, who, having learnt from a dream, that the 
young Duke should succeed to the bishopric, enticed him 
into the church, and then, securing the doors and passages, 
imposed on him the tonsure, with the order of a deacon. 
Germanus appears to have submitted with perfect resigna- 
tion to this important change in the whole tenor of his life, 
and adopting the line afterwards pursued by Sir Thomas of 
Canterbury in regard to spiritual matters, and that in re- 
spect to his wife, which enrolled King Edward the Confes- 
sor in the list of saints, he soon obtained a reputation so high 
as to point him out as the most proper person, first to suc- 
ceed St, Amator, as Bishop of Auxerre, in fulfilment of the 
dream, and then to go on a spiritual crusade against the Pe- 
lagians of Britain, He accordingly embarked, accompa- 
nied by St. Lupus, in the midst of winter, and soon encoun- 
tered a violent storm, raised, it would seem, on purpose to 
evince the divine mission of these two saints, for, on their 
throwing some holy water into the sea, it immediately sub- 
sided. 

Saint Germanus and St. Lupus not only preached with 



74 ST. GERMANS. 

such power as to astonish and to convince whole congrega- 
tions, too large for any building to contain, but they gave 
sight to the blind, cast out devils, and raised the dead* St. 
Germanus was even induced to assist the faithful in the way 
of his original profession ; for a Pagan army of Northmen 
and Picts invading the Christian provinces, the saint took 
the command of such persons as he found willing to defend 
their country, and having selected a place suited to his pur- 
pose, either by naturally possessing an echo, or by receiv- 
ing it miraculously from his prayers, he there awaited the 
enemy, and on their approach shouting three times Alle- 
luiah, and the whole army joining with their utmost might, 
the divine sounds, repeated and enforced by the reverbera- 
tion on all sides, so terrified the assailants as to drive them 
into immediate flight, with the casting away of their arms, 
who were, in consequence, readily and safely pursued 
with great slaughter, through the whole space separating 
them from their fleet, none being spared but such as had 
the grace instantly to acquiesce in a method of conversion 
so clear, so powerful, and so coercive. 

St. Germanus and St. Lupus soon afterwards left Bri- 
tain, in the full confidence of having suppressed the heresy ; 
but so obstinate and perverse were the people, that it broke 
out with increased violence, the circumstance of Pelagius 
being their countryman having probably more weight with 
the inhabitants than the arguments on either side, as in 
modern times all German Protestants are followers of Lu- 
ther, as those of France are invariably of Calvin. 

On receiving this intelligence, St Germanus made a 
second voyage to Britain, armed with a small box of relics, 
suspended round his neck by a leathern string, which act- 
ing in aid of his own inherent sanctity, produced a train of 
miracles more wonderful even than those of the first expe- 
dition. Success of course attended him; and when the 
work of conversion was complete, he deposited the box of 
relics in the shrine of St. Alban, to be preserved for future 
use, if the seeds of heresy should again vegetate, taking in 



8T. GERMAN^. 75 

exchange some ashes of the British prtitomartyr. He 
then finally left Britain, returning to his diocese of Auxetre, 
on the confines of Burgundy ; but on the way he encoun- 
tered a second Pagan army, employed by die Christian 
Emperor of Rome to ravage the saint's province, in re- 
venge for some popular insurrection. The saint succeeded, 
however, in converting the general, with all his forces, and 
then proceeded to Ravenna, in Italy, to obtain a pardon 
for the offenders. In this he was also successful; but hav- 
ing now filled the measure of his earthly services, and, as 
was usual in such cases, having predicted the hour of his 
own dissolution, he expired at Ravenna, in the odour of 
sanctity, on the last day of July, A. D. 448. His remains 
were brought back to France, with all the honours due to 
the successful leader of any party, spiritual or temporal, 
and they Were finely enshrined in the oratory of St Mo- 
rice, which he had founded at Auxerre, and where an 
abbey has since been built. Various places in Britain 
were dedicated to him as to their tutelar saint. Of these the 
abbey of Selby was on the largest scale, and the priory in 
Cornwall distinguished by his own name, held the next 
place; although a chapel near the church of St. Alban, 
where he had triumphed in a general disputation with 
the heretics, became most celebrated, multitudes flocking 
there, as to St. Mary of Walsingham, for remission of 
their sins. 

The ancient Priory of St. German's has again assumed a 
new form since the time of Mr. Tonkin, in consequence of 
Mr. Richard Eliot having greatly increased his fortune by 
marrying Harriet, daughter of James Craggs, Secretary of 
State in the time of King George the First. This gentle- 
man, and still more his son, Mr. 'Edward Craggs Eliot, who 
obtained an hereditary seat in Parliament, after represent- 
ing Cornwall in the House of Commohs, added so much to 
the place, by enlarging the house, by embanking against the 
sea, and by laying out the grounds, as to make it one *>f the 
first among gentlemen's seats in the West of England. The 



76 st. German's. 

statute referred to by Mr. Tonkin, for Conferring the ho- 
nour of a suffragan see on this town, in the 26th Henry 
VIII. c. 14, passed in the year 1534, by which it is de- 
clared that Thetford, Ipswich, Colchester, Dover, Guil- 
ford, Southampton, Taunton, Shaftesbury, Molton, Marl- 
borough, Bedford, Leicester, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, 
Bristow, Penrith, Bridgewater, Nottingham, Grantham, 
Hull, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Pereth, Berwick, St. Ger- 
main's, and the Isle of Wight, shall be taken and accepted 
for sees of Bishops Suffragans, to be made in this Realm. 
This statute appears to have been very little if at all acted 
on; but two of the towns, Gloucester and Bristol, as is 
well known, became the seats of independent bishoprics. 

At Bake lived Mr. Walter Moyle, of whom Cornwall 
has reason to be proud. He represented Saltash in the 
reign of King William ; but, notwithstanding several suc- 
cessful efforts in the House of Commons, Mr. Moyle re- 
tired to his family seat, and past the remainder of his time 
in learned leisure, where he died in 1721, not having com- 
pleted his fiftieth year. Most of his works were published 
separately, but in 1727 came out in London, € * Works of 
W. Moyle that were published by himself; with some ac- 
count of his life and writings, by Anthony Hammond, Esq. 
8vo." His works were principally : 

An Argument, showing that a Standing Army is incon- 
sistent with a free Government. 

Translations from Xenophon. 

The Miracle of the Thundering Legion explained. 

A Charge to the Grand Jury at a Sessions in Liskeard. 

Letters to Dr. W. Musgrave, of Exeter, on subjects of 
Criticism and Antiquity. 

A Dissertation upon the Age of Philopatris, a Dialogue 
commonly attributed to Lucian. 

Letters to and from Mr. Moyle on various subjects. 

Remarks on Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New 
Testament. 



st, German's. 77 

Democracy Vindicated ; an Essay on the Constitution of 
the Roman Government 

Bake now belongs to Sir Joseph Copley, whose grand- 
father, a brother's son of Mr. Walter Moyle, having mar- 
ried the heiress of Copley, of Sprotborough, in Yorkshire, 
assumed her name. 

Aldwinnick is the property of Mr. Charles Trelawny, 
son of Mr. Edward Trelawny, who acquired it under the 
will of Mr. Charles Trelawny, who died in 1764, the last 
male descendant of their branch of the family. Mr. Ed- 
ward Trelawny's original name was Stephens. 

Catchfrench was till lately the residence of Mr. Francis 
Glanville, Member some time for Plymouth. This gen- 
tleman's ancestors purchased Catchfrench from the Fortes- 
cues more than a century ago. Mr. Glanville has given it 
up to his son, and on quitting the county he has carried 
with him the regret of every one in it 

Much obloquy having been cast upon Sir John Eliot, by 
a misrepresentation on the part of his political adversaries, 
of an affair in which sudden passion very probably caused 
him to act in a manner different from what would have been 
his conduct under other circumstances, I will add a nar- 
rative of the occurrence, taken from Lord Nugent's Life of 
Hampden. 

" In a letter in the possession of Miss Aikin, written by 
an ancestor of one of the most respectable families in De- 
vonshire, the cause and course of the quarrel are given, as 
described by the daughter of Mr. Moyle himself, a witness % 
not likely to be unjustly partial to Sir John Eliot. 

" Mr. Moyle having acquainted Sir John Eliot's father 
with some extravagancies in his son's expenses, and this 
being reported with some aggravating circumstances, 
young Eliot went hastily to Mr. Moyle's house, and re* 
monstrated. 

" What words passed she knew not ; but Eliot drew his 
sword, and wounded Mr. Moyle in his side. On re- 
flection," continues Mr. Moyle's daughter, " he soon 



78 8T. German's. 

detested the fact, and from thenceforward became as re- 
markable for his private deportment, in every view of it, 
.as his public conduct. Mr. Moyle was so intirely recon- 
ciled to him, that no person in his time held him in higher 
esteem." 

The editor cannot induce himself to believe that an 
English gentleman, a patriot, and ultimately a martyr in 
the cause of national freedom, could have formed and en- 
deavoured to execute a plan for deliberate assassination; 
he is, moreover, unwilling perhaps to believe it of one 
who married the heiress of his own paternal family. It 
would be unfair, however, not to state that Mr. D'Israeli,* 
-one of the most intelligent and candid of modern writers, 
and of the highest authority, has found in the course of his 
miscellaneous researches, various documents placing this 
transaction in a point of view much less favourable to Sir 
John Eliot, than would be inferred from Lord Nugent's 
account of it The editor, however, continues to hope that 
these documents are coloured, at least, by the party spirit 
of times immediately preceding civil war, when all oc- 
currences, private as well as public, receive their tincture 
from contending factions. 

St. German's measures 9,029 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £« s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 15,283 

Pool* Rate in 1831 . . . . 1,822 12 

Population - f m 1801 ' I in 1811 ' I in 1821 ' I in 1881 > 
ropuiation,— ^ 2030 j gl39 | fUM | 2fig6 

giving an increase of about 27 j- per cent, in 30 years. 

• For the extraordinary « Apology of Sir John Eliot" regarding this " hasty 
and unpremeditated act of violence," at Lord Eliot has judiciously described it, 
see Mr. D'Israeli's " Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles the 
First," vol. iv. p. 5 12. It must be also observed, that the fact was published by 
Echard, in the life-time of Dean Prideaux, who had communicated it to that 
historian. For other particulars hitherto unknown respecting the interesting 
character of Sir John Eliot, the reader may be referred to an historical pamphlet, 
entitled " Eliot, Hampden and Pym>" by the author of the " Commentaries." 



st. German's. 79 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 



This extensive parish is entirely situated within the cal- 
careous series. On the northern part it touches the ser- 
pentine of Clicker Tor; and from thence to the sea-shore 
it exhibits many repetitions of clay slate, of calcareous schist, 
and of black limestone* An extensive quarry of the latter 
rock, near Trerule Foot, shews the nature of this limestone. 
It is of a dark-blue colour, compact, and rather hard; and 
in some parts of the mass it is very glittering, in conse- 
quence of the numerous shining facets of calcareous spar 
disseminated throughout. This rock abounds also in veins 
of calcareous spar, and the whole may be traced passing 
gradually into the adjacent calcareous schist. 

In this tract beds of compact, and of schistose hornblende 
rocks, are also found, such as are common in this series of 
rocks at Saltash, at Padstow, Very on, and at various other 
places. 



80 
St. GERMOE, alias GARMOW. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and has upon the 
north St Erth ; south and east St Breage ; west St Hilary, 
In the Domesday Tax (20 Will. 1. 1087), it was rated under the 
jurisdiction of Lan-migell, i.e. Michael's Temple or Church, 
now St. Michael's Mount. In the Inquisition of the 
Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de 
Sancto Gordon in decanatu de Kerryer, is valued viii/. 
In Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, it is valued, together with 
Breock, Cury, and Gonwallow, in all 33/. The patronage 
formerly, as I take it, in the Prior of St Michael's Mount, 
who endowed them. The Incumbent Trewinard. The 
rectory or sheaf in the possession of — — ; and the parish, 
rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1694* 40/. 

In this parish stands Godolphin-Ball. This is that in- 
exhaustible mountain, or tin-work, which for some hun- 
dreds of years hath afforded its owners or lord, the Lam- 
burns, Stephens, Navas, now Godolphins, and other adven- 
turers, several thousand pounds worth of tin. 

tfONKIN. 

In this parish stands Godolphin, or Godolphin-Ball, 
from whence the lands thereof were denominated de Go- 
dolphin ; who for many ages have had a considerable aug- 
mentation of their paternal estate by the casualties of tin 
from thence issuing. The same is a barren mountain, of 
pretty large extent and great height; and, although 
wrought for tin at the least during three hundred years, 
seems still, like the widow's cruise of oil and barrel of meal, 
to increase in the using, for, notwithstanding the incredible 
quantities of tin that have been taken thence in former 
ages, it still affords employment, and pays the wages, with 



GERMOE. 81 

some overplus, of at least three hundred men throughout 
the year. 

The name of this parish is derived from its patron St a 
Germow, or Germach, said to be an Irish king, who came 
over with St. Breage. Su Germow is there buried, and 
his tomb or chair is still to be seen in the churchyard* 



THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Hals has given the history of St. Gordian at very 
great length, to whom, without the sligbest authority, he 
assumes this church and parish to have been dedicated, I 
have omitted the whole, as entirely unconnected with Corn- 
wall, and because the very existence of such a saint is at 
the least doubtful. The writers of legends now content 
themselves with stating that some one of that nariie was 
beheaded at Rome in the year 362, as appears from thq 
ancient Martyrologies; that his body lay many centuries in 
a cave, together with the remains of St. Epimachus, brought 
there from Alexandria, and that both relics are preserved 
in the Benedictine Abbey of Kempton, in the diocese of 
Ansbury. 

The tradition of St. Germoe having been a king in his 
native country, is cherished by the inhabitants up to the 
present time, and they point to his tomb or shrine in the 
ehurchyard, with an evident feeling of their being elevated 
by his dignity. 

But, on whatever grounds the ancient claims of this 
parish may rest to a canonized or to a royal patron, the 
village of Bojil has in modern times bestowed more real 
honour on the whole district, than could be derived from 
regal missionaries or from legendary saints. 

In the parish register of Breage may be seen the follow- 
ing entry: "William, the son of William Lemon, of 
Germo, was baptized the 15th day of November, 1696/' 

I have endeavoured, but without much success, to collect 

VOL. II. g 



82 GERMOE. 

information respecting this very extraordinary man* It 
appears that his father and mother, whose maiden name 
was Rodda, were in a situation of life raised above the 
common level, and that they bestowed on their son the best 
education easily attainable, who on his part became emi- 
nently distinguished among his companions. If young 
Lemon ever, therefore, employed himself in executing 
the inferior labours usually performed by mining boys, as 
some have alleged with the view of increasing the wonder 
of his subsequent progress, and others impelled by less 
laudable motives, it is clear that they must have been under- 
taken from a desire of making himself practically acquainted 
with all the details of perhaps the most delicate operations 
in metallurgy. 

His bodily strength and firmness of mind seem to have 
been commensurate with those abilities, which displayed 
themselves most conspicuously in after life. Within my 
recollection, the people of Breage and Germoe were fond 
of relating that Squire Lemon in his youth made the fore- 
most link of a living chain, which, connected only by the 
grasp of their hands, extended itself into a tremendous surf, 
and rescued various human beings from a watery grave. 

At a very early age, Mr. Lemon became one of the ma- 
nagers of a tin-smelting house at Chiandower, near Pen. 
zance; and the career which he pursued with so much 
ability and success, was traced for him at this place. 

The ancient mining of Cornwall, like that of Banka in 
the present day, had been confined for a long succession of 
ages to merely collecting diluvial deposits of tin ore, which, 
from its great specific gravity, is always found beneath 
every other debrit, and immediately incumbent on the solid 
rock, or unmoved strata, provincially called '* the Fast." 
As the first operation invariably consists in washing away 
the lighter ingredients, by agitating the whole in streams, 
which never fail of gliding through the vallies where alone 
these deposits are found, the name " stream-work " has 



GERMOE. 83 

been adopted, to distinguish these sources of tin from 
mines which descend on the lodes themselves. 

Mines invariably grew out of the stream-works, but with 
a progress so very slow as scarcely to be imagined by per- 
sons conversant only with the rapid improvements of mo- 
dern times. Pits were at first sunk on the backs of lodes, 
till the presence of water impeded the work. Shallow adits, 
or drains, were obviously used in favourable situations, and 
the windlass, with its bucket and rope, must be of great 
antiquity. To this succeeded the rack and chain pump, 
identical with those still used in large ships ; but the span 
beam and cage, moving on a perpendicular axis, by which 
the labour of horses became applicable to what Wad previ- 
ously been done by the human arm, are so very modern, 
that the Editor remembers a carpenter who used to boast 
that he assisted in making the first whim ever seen westward 
Hayle. 

A new era had, however, now commenced. The steam- 
engine, which consists essentially in a piston alternately 
sliding through a cylindrical vessel, invented by Mr. New- 
comen, of Dartmouth, had been used at least on one mine, 
called the Great Work, in Breage, when Mr. Lemon came - 
forward, gifted with the ability and the energy which en- 
abled him to anticipate, by nearly half a century, everything 
that could add to the wealth and to the prosperity of his 
native county. 

Mr. Lemon first associating himself with Mr. George 
Blewett, of Marasion, and with Mr. Dewen, commenced 
working a mine on a farm called Trowel, in the parish of 
Luddvan, the property of Lord Godolphin, and named 
Whele Fortune, where the second steam-engine was used. 
Capital was of course requisite for the undertaking, and 
that is said to have been supplied to Mr. Lemon by his 
marriage. It appears, from the register of Gulval, that 
u William Lemon and Isabel Vibert were married April 
the 22d, 1724." The Viberts were among what are termed 
the good lines in Gulval parish, and Mrs. Lemon had. re* 

2g 



84 0ERMOW. 

cently succeeded by will to the property of Mrs, Elizabeth 
Noles her godmother, and probably relation, who had 
Acquired a fortune by some business at Chiandower. 

But fortune, except perhaps for its timely supply of 
capital, was the least of Mrs. Lemon's recommendations ; 
pniform report has represented her as entirely worthy of 
the very extraordinary person to whom she was united. 

Mr. Lemon is said to have gained from Whele Fortune 
ten thousand pounds; and, thus enabled to execute more 
extensive plans, he removed to Truro, and commenced 
working the great Gwennap mines, on a scale never wit* 
nessed before, and perhaps never contemplated, in Corn-* 
wall. Cannon Adit was either actually commenced, or 
at the least was effectually prosecuted, by Mr. Lemon ; a 
work unrivalled for extent or for utility in the mines of 
England, and his exertions increasing as his means en- 
larged, Mr. Lemon soon became the principal merchant 
and tin-smelter of Cornwall. But the energies of his mind 
were not limited to these undertakings, great as they were ; 
he cultivated a taste for literature, and, what is extremely 
unusual, acquired, amidst business, and at a middle age, 
the power of reading the Classic authors in their original 
language. In the year 1742, we find his name in the list 
of Sheriffs. He became one of the magistrates of Truro, 
and might have represented the borough in Parliament. 
He obtained from Government a drawback of the duty on 
coal used in mines, when Sir Robert Walpole, then at the 
head of public affairs, complimented him on the clear and 
able manner in which he had made every statement ; and a 
present of silver plate from Frederick Prince of Wales, as 
Puke of Cornwall, is preserved in his family. 

About the same time he was mainly distinguished as 
«* the great Mr. Lemon ;" but, above all, so strongly were 
the impressions received of his abilities, his exertions, and 
general merit, that a progress so rapid and unexampled does 
not appear to have excited envy, or any of those bad 
passions which usually alloy the enjoyments of prosperity. 



GERMOW. 85 

Mr. and Mrs. Lemon had but one son, and no daugh- 
ters. Mr. William Lemon, Jun. married Ann, only 
daughter of Mr. John Willyams, of CawiaSwton, near St. 
Colomb, and sister of the late Mr. John Oliver Willyams, 
many years Colonel of the Cornwall Militia. He died at 
an early period of life, and several years before his father, 
who lived to the 25th of March 1760, and is buried in 
Truro church, where he had built by far the largest and 
most decorated house in the town. He had also purchased 
and improved Carclew, since become the family seat. 
. The younger Mr. William Lemon left two sons and a 
daughter. The elder of the sons, Sir William, represented 
the County of Cornwall in Parliament during fifty years, and 
commanded the regiment of. militia. The second son, 
John, became a Colonel in the Guards, represented Truro, 
and commanded the Miners' Militia. The daughter mar* 
ried Mr. John Buller, of Morval, near Looe. 

As instances of the respect paid to the commanding 
genius of Mr. Lemon, the people of Truro are said to have 
drawn back from' their doors or windows as he passed 
through the street And the' Rev. Samuel Walker, a re- 
spectable although a fanatical clergyman, exhorting the 
children to be circumspect in the presence of Almighty God, 
incautiously added, " Only think, my dear children, how 
careful you would be if Mr. Lemon were looking upon you." 

The parish of Germow measures 1,062 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as <£. s, d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 ♦ 1,373 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 18011 

' , ,. 1 in 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-! 629 '| 735 | sao | 1175 

giving an increase of 87 per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The geology of this parish is identical with that of Bre- 
dge, of which in fact it forms a part, occupying only a seg- 
ment of the Godolphin Hills. 



86 



ST. GENNYS. 



HALS* 

Is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and hath upon 
the north the Irish sea, west St. Juliot, east Jacobstow, 
south Otterham. 

In Domesday Roll, 20 William I, 1087, this district 
was taxed under the jurisdiction of Otterham. In the 
taxation of benefices, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and 
Winchester, 1294, into the value of benefices in Cornwall, 
Ecclesia de Sancto Genesy, in Decanatu de Trigmajor- 
ghire, is rated c.«.; Vicar ejusdem £iiii. vis. viiirf. In 
Wolse/s Inquisition and Valor Beneficiorum, St. Genis 
is taxed £8. The patronage in The incum- 

bent Crew. The rectory or sheaf in possession of 

and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 
1696, £160. 6s. 

TONKIN 

has not added any thing to the little said by Mr. Hals. 

THE EDITOR. 

It seems to be quite uncertain to whom this parish is de- 
dicated. 

There was a St. Genesius, or St. Genes, of Auvergne in 
France ; he exterminated heresies and founded monasteries. 
His festival is kept on the third of June, and he is said to 
have died in the year 662. Such were the heroes of those 
days, and therefore he may possibly have been selected as 
patron of this church. 

Mr. Lysons states that Treveeg, formerly a seat of the 
Yeos, is now the property of Lord Eliot, and that the. 



ST* GENNYS. 87 

great tithes, with the advowson of the vicarage, have passed 
to him with the priory of St. German's. 

The Yeos were persons of consequence in the north of 
Cornwall and of Devonshire ; they bore arms, Argent, a 
chevron Gules, between three birds. 

Mr. Lysons further states that the manor of St Gennis 
was for some time the property of Treise, from whom it 
passed by marriage to Morshead. It must since have 
been sold in the general wreck of that family. 

Lord Rolle has also a manor in this parish. And an- 
other manor, called Treworgy, (a name common in Corn- 
wall, and meaning a house or village on a stream,) be- 
longed to the Priory of Canons of the Order of St. Augus- 
tine, founded at Launceston by William Warlewast, Bishop 
of Exeter from 1150 to 1159, in the time of King Stephen 
and of Henry the 2d. 

Treworgy appears among the lands of this priory in the 
roll of 31 Henry VIII. preserved in the Augmentation 
Office ; where it is stated as then paying the following sums, 
£4. 13*. 7rf., £3. IT*., and 6*. 8tf. 

This is one of the manors given to the Duchy of Corn- 
wall, in exchange for the manor of Wallingford, and it has 
been held for a long time under the Duchy by the family 
of Braddon. 

One of this family, Captain William Braddon, was an 
officer of some distinction on the Parliamentary side in the 
Civil War. He is buried in the chancel of this church, 
where some verses to his memory begin with these lines : 

In war and peace I bore command, 
Both gown and sword I wore. 

Henry Braddon, his son, or grandson, has the following 
verses: 

In peace I lived, and in peace did die, 
And now translated am to peace on high ; 

Where I in peace perpetual shall remain, 
Until the Prince of Peace return again. 

This parish is said to afford an excellent specimen of the 



88 SLANT. 

romantic scenery distinguishing many portions of the north 
coast, from Cornwall, through Devonshire, to Somerset- 
shire, The cliffs are bold, and the land is intersected by 
deep narrow vallies. 

The parish of St. Gennys measures 5350 statute acres* . 

Annual value of the Real Property as <£. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 2,562 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 308 2 

Pm«nl.*i m I 111 1801 > I » 1811 > I in 1821 > 1 in 1831 ^ 

Population, - j 697 | 65g | 6g0 I 761 

giving an increase of 27 J per cent, in 30 years. 

The Rev. John Symmons, Vicar, was presented by Sir. 
W. Molesworth in 1783. 

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The whole of this parish is situated on the massive and 
schistose varieties of Dunstone, which are so prevalent In 
the northern parts of Cornwall and Devon. The Dun- 
stone is in general very silicious, and it thus constitutes 
high and barren hills. A very curious variety of this rock 
occurs at Tresparret Down. It is in a state of decomposi- 
tion, but when it is broken numerous hard rounded nodules 
fall out, having uniformly small crjytals of pyrites in their 
centres. The same rock, in an unaltered state, forms the 
cliff on the left side of Crackington Cave, near the church, 
where it is inclined at an angle of 40°, having the entire 
surface covered with projecting nodules, which give it a 
blistered appearance not unlike that of haematites. 



GLANT, GOLANT, or ST. SAMPSON'S. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the 
north Lanlivery, east part of Foye Harbour, south Foye 
town, west Tywardretln 



GLAN1V 89 

At the time Of the Norman Conquest this district was 
taxed under the name of Ty wardreth, or Lan-tine. In th£' 
taxation of benefices made by the Bishops of Lincoln and 
Winchester, 1294, in this province, the church is not 
named, probably it was not then extant, or not endowed ; 
neither is it mentioned in Wolsey's Inquisition 1521, or 
Valor Beneficiorum, so that I take it to be wholly impro- 
priated under Tywardreth. However, 24 Henry VI. St. 
Sampson's was rated to the Cornish clergy's fifteenths 35*. 
CareWs Survey of Cornwall, page 91. It was endowed by 
the prior of Tywardreth. The patronage now in Barret, 
the curate or vicar Hosken, the sheaf or rectory in Bar- 
rett. The parish of St. Sampson's was rated to the 4*. 
per pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. «£103. 2s. 

Pen-coit, alias Pen-coid, alias Pen-quite, all synonymous 
words, signifying head or chief wood, or head of the wood, 
is a name given and taken from the once natural circum- 
stances of the place, from whence was denominated an an- 
cient family of gentlemen, surnamed de Pencoit. And 
here lived John de Pencoit, temp. Henry III. and Edward I. 
who held one acre of land in Lamellyn of 5#. price, (that 
is to say a Cornish acre, consisting of 60 statute acres) for 
making and keeping the king's grey coat when he came 
into Cornwall, due out of Cabulion, from Peter, the son of 
Orger. [Carew's Sur. Corn. p. 45. See also Pengelly in 
St. Breock, Pyder, and Warliggan.] 

This barton is now the dwelling of John Barret, esq* 
Sheriff of Cornwall 3 William III. whose ancestor is said 
to have come out of Normandy with William the Conqueror, 
1066, an ensign under Colonel Henry de Ferrers, com- 
monly called Henry Earl Ferrers, son of Wakelyn ; to 
whom the Conqueror gave the castles of Tutbury in Staf- 
fordshire, and Oncomb in Rutlandshire. Sinee which 
time this gentle family of Barrets have flourished in this 
county in good fame and reputation for above twenty des- 
cents. The present possessor of Pencoit married Kendall 
of Medroff, and giveth for his arms, Gules, a bend Varry. 



gO GLANT. 

In this parish is the dwelling of Reginald Couch, gent. 
Attorney at Law, that married Vincent of Creed ; his 
father, Hawkey of St* Wenowe. 



TONKIN. 

How these names of Giant or Golant prevailed over that 
of St. Sampson I am not able to determine, unless perhaps 
it was the primitive name thereof before the parish church 
was erected, consecrated, and endowed to God under the 
name of St. Sampson. For in Cardinal Wolsey's Inqui- 
sition, and in Carew's Survey, it is called St. Sampson. 

The name Golant is obviously compounded of Gol, holy, 
and of Ian, a church. (Mr. Whitaker remarks that Y-Gol, 
by the Holy One, is still an oath in Cornwall) 

THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Hals has given a very long and uninteresting ac- 
count of St. Sampson, the patron saint of Golant, involving 
a dissertation on the antiquity of archbishops. 

He is reported to have commenced his ecclesiastical ca- 
reer by the practice of ascetic observances, in due time he 
became the chief of a monastic institution, from whence he 
was taken to be Archbishop of York ; but the north of 
England being at that time ravaged by the northern 
pirates, he was driven from thence, and going over into 
Brittany he founded a monastery at Dal, and became the 
first Bishop of that place, where a see was created at his 
request by Pope Pelegius the First, who honoured him 
moreover personally with the pallium or pale. He was 
present at the Second Council of Paris, held in 557, and 
died about the year 564* His remains were enshrined at 
Dal, but when the Normans began in the tenth century to 
invade and pillage Neustria, these barbarians, equally hos- 



GLANT. 91 

tile to the saint alive or dead, obliged his brethren to re- 
move the relics to Paris, where they are supposed to have 
been preserved up to the period of the great revolution. 

Penquite was acquired by purchase about the beginning 
or towards the middle of last century from the Prestwoods, 
by Mr. Rashleigh, of Menwhilly, by whom a perpetual 
lease was soon after granted in favour of a relation, which 
has since passed through various hands. 

Mr. Lysons says that the manor of Lentyon in this 
parish, belonged to the Montacutes Earls of Salisbury. 

It appears from Dugdale's Baronage that this property 
was seized by king Henry VIII., on his judicial murder of 
the last Plantagenet, Margaret Countess of Salisbury. It 
now belongs to Mr. William Rashleigh, who is impropriator 
of the great and small tithes, and appoints the perpetual 
curate, in right of the monastery of Tywardreth. 

A castle is said to have belonged to this manor, but no 
traces of it remain; the appellation seems indeed to have 
been very loosely applied in the latter part of our feudal 
times, so as frequently to indicate no more than the resi- 
dence of a chief. 

The village round the church, or, according to the ex- 
pression used in Cornwall, " the church town," is always 
called Golant. The houses are situated in a romantic cross 
valley, nearly where it terminates in Fowey River. 

The inhabitants boast that in this village was established 
the first boarding-school for young ladies that appeared in 
Cornwall, and they call the attention of visitors to these 
peculiarities connected with this church : — " That it has a 
fire-place within it; that a well of water flows over in the 
porch; and that a tree in the churchyard o'ertops the 
tower." 

This parish measures 1340 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £• s, d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 1874 
. Poor Rate in 1831 . 185 5 0- 



92 GLUVIAS. 

« < . riii 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831 

Population,-^ 1M '| lg6 | 24g | 314 

giving an increase of 86 per cent, in 30 years. 

The Rev. Thomas Pearse was presented to St. Sampson's 
chapel in 1815, by W. Rashleigh, Esq. 

THE GEOLOGY BY DR. BOASE. 

The rocks of this parish are intermediate between those 
of the porphyritic and calcareous series : on the northern- 
part passing into the former, which are better developed as 
they pass on towards the granite in Tywardrath ; on the 
southern part the rocks begin to assume the character of 
the calcareous series, which is complete in Fowey. 



GLUVIAS. 



HALS. 



Is situated in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon 
the north Peran-Arwothan, east Mylor, west Mabe, south 
Budock. Here was an endowed church or chapel, or 
place of jurisdiction, before the Norman conquest; for 
in the Domesday Roll, 20 William I. 1087, Gluvias is 
rated as such. In the taxation of benefices in Cornwall, 
made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, 
Ecclesia de Sancto Gluviano, in Decanatu de Penryn, is 
rated xls. In Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, it is valued to- 
gether with Budock, in 21/. 16s. 9d.; before which time it 
sterns those churches were united and consolidated by the 
Bishops of Exeter, the patrons and endowers thereof; the 
incumbent Colly er; the rectory, or sheaf, in possession of 



GLUVIAS. S3 

£nys; and the parish rated to the 4«. per pound Land 
Tax, 1696, 132/. 11*, 

Roscrow is the dwelling of Alexander Pendarves, Esq* 
that married the Lady Dorothy Burke, daughter of the Earl 
of Clanricarde, and afterwards the daughter of Colonel 
Granville ; his father Carew, his grandfather St, Aubyn, 
his great-grandfather (Roberts of Truro) ; viz. Samuel Pen^ 
darves, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall, 19th James I. who gave 
for his arms, Sable, a falcon rising between three mullets 
Or; originally descended from the Pendarves of Pen- 
darves, or Constenton, as I am informed, 

Roscrow gave name and origin to an old family of 
gentlemen surnamed Roscrow, whose heir, about the time 
of Richard II. was married to one of the Seneschalls of 
Holland, where John de Seneschall held by the tenure of 
knight's service part of a knight's fee of land, 3 Henry 
IV* (See Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 40.) from 
whence it appears also that Luke, the son of Bernard S&- 
neschallus, was by letters mandatory, or a mandamus, made 
one of the Barons of the Exchequer, by King Richard I, 
(See his arms under Gwendron.) 

Innis, Enys, Ennis, is an island or place encircled with ' 
water, in this place to be construed as a river island; where twq 
fivers in their confluence meet, and shape the land between 
them in form of a corner, or triangle ; from which placQ 
was denominated an old British family of gentlemen now 
in possession thereof, surnamed Enys; particularly John 
Enys, Esq. that married the inheritrix of Gregor of 
Truro, his father Pendarves, his grandfather Winifred, 
daughter and coheiress of Thomas Price, of Treward- 
reva ; and giveth for his arms, Argent, three water enets 
Vert, creatures frequently seen in the rivers by which those 
lands are insulated. 

A great number of places, or lands, in Cornwall, under 
the like circumstances, are from thence denominated Enys, 
Ennis, and Ennys in St. Erme, Roach, Luxsilian, Peran- 
*?and, taken some times with other words* 



94 CLUVIA3. 

Gosose river, in this parish (the slow-wood river), situate 
upon Gosose creek of the sea: from whence was denomi- 
nated Gosose tenement, the native place of Captain Henry 
Carverth (i. e. rock-strength, or car-veth, rock-grave), who 
being bred to sea affairs and navigation in his youth, was 
taken into the service of King Charles II. in the beginning 
of his Dutch and French war, 1665, to whom he gave the 
command of a frigate, in the several engagements of the 
Dukes of York and Albemarle in their sea-fights with 
those nations; wherein he demeaned himself so well in 
point of valour and conduct, that after those wars were 
ended he was chosen one of the standing Captains under the 
Earl of Ossory, for which he received about 300/. per annum 
salary, during his life, which ended about the year 1684, 
when he had a military interment in this church: who 
dying without legitimate issue, left his brother, Thomas 
Carveth, of this place, gentleman, his heir and executor, 
who giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron between three 
talbots Sable. Those gentlemen, from living at Carveth, 
or Carverth, in Mabe, were transnominated from Thorns 
to Carverth; as another family of those Thomses, from 
living at Carnsew, in the said parish, were transnominated 
to Carnsew ; and there are some deeds yet extant dated 
tempore Henry VIII. which will evidence the truth of this 
fact, as Mr. Carverth told me. 

Between the parishes of Budock and Gluvias, on a pro- 
montory of land shooting into the sea creek of Falmouth 
harbour, between two vales and hills, where the tide daily 
makes its flux and reflux, stands the ancient borough of 
Penrin, or Penryn, a name given and taken from the 
natural circumstances of the place; and by the name of 
Penrin it was taxed as the voke lands of a considerable 
manor in Domesday Roll, 20 William 1, 1087. (See Brin, 
Bryn, in Withell.) 

This place I take to be the OKptvvp (Ocrinum) of Pto- 
lemy. The town was a privileged manor, with a court 
leet, before the Norman Conquest; and in the year 1230 



King Henry III. granted a charter to William Brewer, 
Bishop of Exeter, then lord thereof, as his successors still 
are, in right of the bishopric of Bodman, or Cornwall, long 
before annexed to Exeter. (See more in Lanwhitton-) 
It was also incorporated by King James I. by another 
charter, consisting of a Mayor, Recorder, and Portreeve, 
eleven Magistrates, and twelve Assistants ; with liberty to 
send two of its members to sit in the Commons' House of 
Parliament, to be elected by the majority of those that are 
freemen, and pay rates and taxes. It is also, amongst 
many other things, appurtenanced with markets weekly, 
upon Wednesdays and Saturdays; fairs on May 1, July 7, 
December 21 ; and of old had free warren in all the King's 
lands. The arms of this town are a Saracen's head couped 
at the shoulder, and crowned, or environed, with a laureL 

The precept from the Sheriff on the Parliament writ, 
as also to remove an action at law depending in this leet 
to a superior court, must be thus directed : " Majori et 
Burgensibus Burgi sui de Penrin in Comitatu Cornubiae 
salutem," otherwise, " Proposito, Ballivis, et Burgensibus 
Burgi sui de Penryn ;" and to remove an action from the 
court leet of Penryn foreign : " Senescallo et Ballivis 
manerij de Penrin forreigne salutem. 5 ' 

But, alas ! notwithstanding all its privileges, our Cornish 
historian, Mr. Carew, in his time, tells us that on the top 
fo a creek Penrin town hath taken up its seat; rather 
passable than notable for wealth, buildings, or inhabitants. 
Though now, tempore Charles II. I take it to be much 
altered for the better in these particulars, and to be parallel 
with, or equal therein, with any other town in Cornwall. 
And, moreover, I look upon it as the most commodious,, 
pleasantly situated, and healthful borough within that pro* 
vince, it being situated upon a hill, and having continually 
passing through its streets a useful river of water, and 
through the gardens and orchards of the town, behind the 
street-houses on each side, pass two considerable mill-teats, 
or rivers of water, met daily by the flux and reflux of the sea. 



96 GLUVIAS. 

Where, on the south of this town, on one of those rivers, 
Walter Brounscomb, Bishop of Exeter, 1260, at a place 
called Glasnith, or green-ford, so named from the estuaries, 
or ebbing and flowing of the sea under it, founded and 
endowed a collegiate church of Black Canons, or Canons 
Augustine, that could not marry wives, consisting of twelve 
prebends and a dean ; " Clerici tresdecem, person® dis- 
crete," are the very words of the leger book of its foun- 
dation; and then endowed and confirmed all by a charter 
in these words, as translated from Bishop Brounscomb's ori- 
ginal Latin. 

" To give to God, the blessed Virgin Mary, and St. 
Thomas of Canterbury, in Budock, Penryn, and Glasnith 
College, and his thirteen canonical brothers and . their 
successors, all lands, woods, meadows, waters, pastures, 
jnills, laws, rents, and courts, and all things to the same 
pertaining, to possess, have, hold, and enjoy for ever. This 
agrees with the register, 

Robert Micheix, Register, 1611." 

Afterwards this collegiate church, thus founded and en- 
dowed, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Thomas 
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, received a greater 
augmentation of wealth, lands, aud revenues from John 
Grandison, Bishop of Exeter, 1358, who had persuaded all 
rich priests of his diocese to make him his heir and exe- 
cutor, in order to build and endow churches with their 
riches ; which trust, in a great measure, he performed to 
his lasting credit and renown ; so that at length, amongst 
others, this collegiate church's yearly revenues, at the sup- 
pression, 26 Henry VIII. was valued at 205/. 10s. 6cL 
according to -Speed and Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum,. 
now worth 1200/. 

This collegiate church is now entirely demolished. Since 
the beginning of this century there was one of its towers 
standing, but it is lately pulled down, and a dwelling-house 
built in the place where it stood* 



GLUVIAS. 97 

Bishop Brounscomb died 1280, and lies buried in his 
cathedral church of Exeter. 

The chief inhabitants of this town of Penrin are Mr. 
Hallamore, Mr. Worth, Mr. Hearle, Mr. Kempe, Mr. 
Bloyse, Mr. Melhuish, Mr. Vellhuish. 

The Lady Jane Killigrew, of Arwinick (see Falmouth), 
for some protection and favour shewn her in her troubles 
by the Mayor of this town, gave a silver cup and cover to 
the Mayor of this town and his successors for ever, con- 
taining about three quarts, and about 12/. value, whereon 
is this inscription: " From Mayor to Mayor, to the town 
of Penryn, when they received me in great misery. 

Jane Killygrew, 1613." (of which before). 

TONKIN. 

After transcribing, with little variation, what has been 
stated from Mr. Hals, Mr. Tonkins adds, 

Enis, in this parish, gave name to an old family of 
gentlemen from thence, denominated de Enis; that is to 
say, of this island ; for innis, ennis, enys, signify in Cor- 
nish, an island, and also a tongue of land where two rivers 
meet. 

John Enys, Esq. acquired a great flow of wealth by hi^ 
marriage with Ann, only daughter of Mr. Henry Grey* 
of Truro. His son, Samuel Enys, is the present possessor 
of the estate ; he married Dorothy, daughter of Thomas 
Willis, of London, merchant, and has lately succeeded to a 
considerable fortune by the decease of her two brothers, Sir 
Thomas and Sir William Willis, of Fen Ditton, in Cam- 
bridgeshire, Baronets, the last in the year 1733. This 
gentleman is in the commission of the Peace, and was 
Sheriff of Cornwall, 8 Anne, A.D. 1709. He has ex- 
pended large sums of money in the improvement of his seat, 
as well by enlarging the house as by making beautiful 
gardens. 

VOL. II. H 



98 GLUVIA3. 

Roscrow means clearly the valley cross; although the 
house stands on a very elevated station. 

The family of Pendarves settled herfe, have far outstripped 
all the other branches in estates, and have served their 
country as Members of Parliament, Commissioners of the 
Peace, Sheriffs, and Deputy-Lieutenants. The arms of 
Pendarves are, Sab. a falcon rising Arg. between three 
mullets, Or. I cannot refrain from making some remarks 
on Alexander Pendarves, Esq. the last of this family. 

He was Surveyor-general of the Crown and Duchy 
lands in Cornwall to Queen Anne, and a Member of 
Parliament the greatest part of his life. He married Mary, 
eldest daughter of the Honourable Bernard Grenville, 
brother of Lord Lansdowne, a beautiful young lady, but 
she did not bring him any children. He died in 1726, 
very suddenly, at his house in London, being then a 
burgess for the town of Launceston. His death was a great 
surprise to all his friends, and especially to me, with whom 
I had taken a hearty breakfast that very morning at my 
aunt Vincent's, at Chelsea. I must add, that on the Sun- 
day before he and I bore up the pall to John Goodall, of 
Fowey, Esq. buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster ; and 
that on the Sunday fortnight after, I had the misfortune to 
bear up his in St. Mary's, Savoy. He was the last male 
of the family of Pendarves in this place, which, with the rest 
of his property, has devolved to his niece, Mary, the only 
daughter and heiress of his brother, John Pendarves, 
clerk, Rector of Drews Teignton, in Devonshire, and relict 
of Francis Basset, of Tehidy, Esq. ; and this lady is now 
the possessor, paying an annuity of £.400 a-year to her 
uncle's widow. But before I leave this place I must not 
forget to give this just character of my deceased friend, 
with whom I had the honour to serve as burgess for 
Helston, in Queen Anne's last Parliament ; that for good 
humour, good sense, for a true and sincere adherence to 
the interests of his country, and for a harmless merry dis- 



CLUVIAS. 99 

position, he hath left not many his equals, and none that 
exceed him, in this county. 

This parish takes its name from the saint to whom the 
church is dedicated. 



THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Hals gives a very improbable etymology for the 
name of this parish, deriving it from the Cornish verb, 
glewas, to hear, which he quotes from the 12th stanza of 
Mount Calvary, 

An ger a Da maga del wrei neb vynno tro glewai. 

Lavar Da maga del wrei neb a vynno y glewas. 

The word (of) God feed so will do (he) who is willing to hear. 

The first line is transcribed from Mr. Hals, the second 
is the line as it stands in the MS. from which the editor 
of this work has printed Mount Calvary. 

The Editor has not been able to find any traces of St* 
Gluvias, but these may have easily disappeared amidst the 
throng of our provincial hierarchy. 

The borough of Penryn, with enlarged limits, has been 
united with Falmouth in sending two Members to Parlia- 
ment under the constitution of 1832. Of the principal 
inhabitants noticed by Mr. Hals, the Hearles had risen 
into most importance. They were the younger branch of 
a family said to have migrated into Cornwall, and to have 
settled at Prideaux, in Luxulian, and afterwards at 
Trelawn, in Pelynt, usually written Trelawny, since it 
was purchased by a gentleman of that name. The last 
Mr. Hearle, of Penryn, married the heiress of Paynter, 
of Trelisick, in St. Erth ; and having lost an only son, his 
daughters became coheiresses, who married Mr. Rodd, of 
Trebartha, the Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne, and 
Captain Wallis of the R. N. 

Enys is now the property of John Samuel Enys, Esq, 
where his family are ascertained, by authentic documents, 
to have been seated from times far back in the reign of 

h2 



100 GLUVIA8. 

the Plantagenets, and probably from periods antecedent 
to them. Samuel Enys represented Penryn in the first 
Parliament of Charles II. and they appear in every page 
of our list of Sheriffs. Mr. Enys has built an excellent 
new' house on the foundation of the old ; and very recently 
(1834) he has married Catherine Gilbert, the Editor's 
eldest daughter. 

The manor of Cosawis, or Gosose, was a part of the 
large possessions taken from the Bodrugons by Henry VII. 
and given by him to Sir Richard Edgecumbe, whose de- 
scendant, Lord Mount Edgecumbe, parted with it to the 
late Sir William Lemon. 

But a farm called Bohelland has for two centuries con- 
tinued to excite great curiosity and attention on account, 
of its having been the place where events occurred in real 
life more horrible than the most heated and gloomy ima- 
gination could well invent. Mr. Lysons refers to a small 
pamphlet of eight leaves, printed in black letter, and ac- 
companied with several wood-cuts, entitled, " News from 
Perin, in Cornwall, of a most bloody and unexampled 
Murder, &c." but not having given any clue for finding 
it, the Editor has examined several public libraries without 
success. The following narrative has, however, been ex- 
tracted from a work entitled " The Reign and Death of 
King James, of Great Britain :" 

" He had been blessed with ample possessions and fruitful 
issue, unhappy only in a younger son, who taking liberty 
from his father's bounty, and with a crew of like condition, 
that wearied on land, they went roving to sea, and in a 
small vessel southward, took boot from all they could ma- 
ster, and so increasing force and wealth, ventured on a 
Turk's man in the Streights; but by mischance their own 
powder fired themselves, and our gallant, trusting to his skil- 
ful swimming, got on shore upon Rhodes, with the best of his 
jewels about him ; where offering some to sale to a Jew, who 
knew them to be the Governor's of Algier, he was appre- 
hended, and» as a. pirate, sentenced to the gallies among 
other Christians, whose miserable slavery made them all 



GLUVIAS. 101 

studious of freedom, and with wit and valour took oppor- 
tunity and means to murther some officers, got on board of 
an English ship, and came safe to London; where his 
misery, and some skill, made him servant to a surgeon, 
and sudden preferment to the East Indies. There, by this 
means he got money ; with which returning back, he de- 
signed himself for his native county, Cornwall. And in a 
small ship from London, sailing to the west, was cast away 
upon that coast. But his excellent skill in swimming, and 
former fate to boot, brought him safe to shore; where, 
since his fifteen years' absence, his father's former fortunes 
much decayed, now retired him not far off to a country 
habitation, in debt and danger. 

" His sister he finds married to a mercer, a meaner match 
than her birth promised. To her, at first, he appears a 
poor stranger, but in private reveals himself, and withall 
what jewels and gold he had concealed in a bow-case about 
him; and concluded that the next day he intended to 
appear to his parents, and to keep his disguise till she and 
her husband should meet, and make their common joy 
complete. 

" Being come to his parents, his humble behaviour, suit- 
able to his suit of clothes, melted the old couple to so 
much compassion as to give him covering from the cold 
season under their outward roof, and by degrees his tra- 
velling tales, told with passion to the aged people, made 
him their guest so long by the kitchen fire, that the hus- 
band took leave and went to bed. And soon after his true 
stories working compassion in the weaker vessel, she wept, 
and so did he ; but compassionate of her tears, he com- 
forted her with a piece of gold, which gave assurance that 
he deserved a lodging, to which she brought him; and 
being in bed, shewed her his girdled wealth, which he said 
was sufficient to relieve her husband's wants, and to spare 
for himself, and being very weary fell fast asleep. 

" The wife, tempted with the golden bait of what she 
had, and eager of enjoying all, awakened her husband with 



103 GLUVIA8. 

this news, and her contrivance wjiat to do; and though 
with horrid apprehension he oft refused, yet her puling 
fondness (Eye's enchantments) moved him to consent, and 
rise to be master of all, and both of them to murder the 
man, which instantly they did ; covering the corpse under 
the clothes till opportunity to convey it out of the way. 

" The early morning hastens the sister to her father's 
house, where she, with signs of joy, enquires for a sailor 
that should lodge there the last night; the parents slightly 
denied to have seen any such, until she told them that he 
was her brother, her lost brother; by that assured scar 
upon his arm, cut with a sword in his youth she knew him; 
and were all resolved this morning to meet there and be 
merry. 

" The father hastily runs up, finds the mark, and with 
horrid regret of this monstrous murther of his own son, 
with the same knife cuts his own throat* 

" The wife went up to consult with him, where in a most 
strange manner beholding them both in blood, wild and 
aghast, with the instrument at hand, readily rips herself ijp, 
and perishes on the same spot* 

" The daughter, doubting the delay of their absence, 
searches for them all, whom she found out too soon; with 
the sad sight of this scene, and being overcome with horror 
and amaze of this deluge of destruction, she sank down 
and died; the fatal end of that family. 

" The truth of which was frequently known, and flew to 
court in this guise ; but the imprinted relation conceals 
their names, in favour to some neighbour of repute and 
kin to that family. The same sense makes me therein 
silent also." 

These dreadful events have been wrought into a drama 
by Lillo, the author of George Barnwell; and if terror and 
pity form the essential bases of tragedy, the " Fatal Curiosity" 
is built on a most ample foundation; the sister, of course, 
changes her character to heighten the effect, but in other 



GLUVIAS. 103 

respects the play scarcely differs from the actual course of 
events. 

The celebrated Mr. Harris of Salisbury, has given the 
following account of this drama in his last work, entitled, 
w Philological Inquiries." 

"A long lost son, returning home unexpectedly, finds his 
parents alive, but perishing with indigence. 

" The young man, whom from his long absence his parents 
never expected, discovers himself to an amiable friend, his 
long-loved Charlotte, and with her concerts the manner 
how to discover himself to his parents. 

" It is agreed that he should go to their house, and there 
remain unknown till Charlotte should arrive and make the 
happy discovery. 

" He goes thither accordingly, and having by a letter of 
Charlotte's been admitted, converses, though unknown, 
both with father and mother, and beholds their misery with 
filial affection; complains, at length, he was fatigued 
(which, in fact, he really was), and begs he may be ad- 
mitted for a while to repose. Retiring he delivers a casket 
to his mother, and tells her it is a deposit she must guard 
till he awake. 

" Curiosity tempts her to open the casket, when she is 
dazzled with the splendour of innumerable jewels. Objects 
so alluring suggest bad ideas; and poverty soon gives to 
those ideas a sanction. Black as they are, she commu- 
nicates them to her hushand ; who, at first reluctant, is at 
length persuaded, and for the sake of the jewels stabs the 
stranger while he sleeps. 

" The fatal murder is perpetrating, or at least but barely 
perpetrated, when Charlotte arrives, full of joy, to inform 
them that the stranger within their walls was their long-lost 
son. 

" What a discovery ? What a revolution ? How irre- 
sistibly are the tragic passions of terror and pity excited ? 

" It is no small praise to this affecting fable that it so much 
resembles the CEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, In both 



104 GLUVIAS. 

tragedies, that which apparently leads to joy, leads in its 
completion to misery ; both tragedies concur in the horror of 
their discoveries, and both in those great outlines of a 
truly tragic revolution, where (according to the nervous 
sentiment of Lillo himself) we see 



■ the two extremes of life. 

The highest happiness and deepest woe, 
With all the sharp and bitter aggravations 
Of such a vast transition. 

It is a very curious circumstance that the name of these 
wretched people, having been kept back at first from com- 
passion towards their relatives, it is now actually unknown. 

This parish has been peculiarly fortunate in its succession 
of clergymen. The Rev. John Penrose, who died in 1776, 
after being thirty-five years Vicar, has left the reputation of 
learning, of piety, and of all the virtues which adorn 
a clergyman. Mr. Temple bore a very high reputation 
as a man of letters ; Mr. Howell was universally esteemed ; 
and the present vicar, Mr. Sheepshanks, ranked in the 
first lists of science and of literature at Cambridge, and 
became a distinguished tutor in a college, which continues 
to support the rank bestowed upon it by the greatest of 
philosophers. 

The town, lying on the back of a sharp ridge of land 
dividing two deep vallies, has great beauty of situation, and 
deserves in other respects the praises bestowed by Mr. 
Tonkin. To travellers, however, all the circumstances 
are quite different ; the main street descending with the 
ridge is scarcely safe for carriages ; and the great road from 
London through Truro to Falmouth, passing directly across 
the ridge, has to go up and then down through streets so 
steep and narrow, and in parts so turned, as to make the 
safe-passage of the mail-coach a matter of wonder; these 
defects have been, however, completely remedied by a road 
carried round the point and accommodated with a draw- 
bridge ; thus reducing the road to a level, and preserving the 
communication by water ; this improvement was made about 
the year 1830. 



GORAN.' 



105 



This parish measures 2,2*71 statute acres. 
Annual value of the Real Property as 
returned to Parliament in 1815, 
The Parish .£.3951 
The Town 5117 
Poor Rate in 1831, 

The Parish 584 3 
The Town 1162 8 
Population,— ( in 1801, in 1811, 



0J 



o; 



d. 



9068 



1746 11 



The Parish 
The Town 



624 
2324 



714 
2713 



in 1821, 

745 

2933 



in 1831, 

969 

3521 



2948 3427 3678 4490 
giving an increase on the Parish of 55-r, on the Town 51J, 
on both 52J, — per cent, in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. John Sheepshank^ collated by 
the Bishop of Exeter in 1824. 

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The western side of this parish skirts along the boundary 
of the granite of Mabe; but it does not extend on this 
rock, with the exception of a small triangular space near 
Chy woon, at its northern corner. The rest of the parish 
lies on felspar rocks, both slaty and massive ; some of which 
contain hornblende, whence it passes into green stone. 

These felspar rocks, when they are disintegrated, afford 
a soil which is covered with luxuriant vegetation, forming 
a striking contrast with the utter barrenness of the adjacent 
granite. 



GORAN. 

HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the 
north St. Ewe, east Mevaguisey, south the British Chan- 



106 GORAN. 

nel. By this name it was taxed in Domesday Roll, 20th 
William I* 1087. Also in the Inquisition of the Bishops 
of Lincoln, &a into the value of Cornish benefices, 1294, 
Ecclesia Sancti Goran in Decanatu de Powdre, was 
valued in vi/. xiii*. iiikf. Vicar ibidem, xxvfc. viiirf. In 
Wolse/s Inquisition, 1521, it was rated by the same name 
of Qoran at 20L The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, 
who endowed it ; and when it was made a Vicarage re- 
served to him and his successors 1002. per annum rent out 
of the garb, or sheaf, which is in the possession of Rat- 
cliff. The Incumbent Shapter. And die parish Tated to 
the 4*. per pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. by 
the name of Goran, 317/. 14*. This, undoubtedly, was an 
endowed church before the Norman Conquest, or, at least, 
a privileged manor, since it appears from that time to this 
it hath not admitted of any mutation of name. 

Goran-hoane, in this parish, signifies Goran-haven, bay, 
winding of the sea, or harbour. A place much frequented 
by ships, boats, barges, and lighters, for fishing and 
carrying and re-carrying fish, goods, and merchandizes; 
and wherein is a convenient quay, or landing-place, for 
that purpose, made secure by a considerable promontory of 
land that shoots far out into the sea on the west side 
thereof, commonly called (for what reason I have not 
learned) the Dead-man; which forms a large bay, or 
winding bosom of the sea, on the east, betwixt it and Ram 
Head, twenty miles distant; and such another west, to the 
Lizard Point, at a like distance, all notable and well- 
known places, and sea-marks to such mariners as navigate 
the British Channel in those parts. In this haven town is 
still extant the ruins of an ancient free chapel, wherein 
God was duly worshipped in former ages by the inhabitants 
of the place. 

The barton of Bo-drig-ham, or Bod-rig-an, also Botrigan 
(for in British d and t are indifferently used and pronounced 
for each other) gave name and origin to an old family of 
gentlemen surnamed de Bodrigham, or Bodrigan, also 



GORAN. 107 

Botrigan, who flourished here in great fame, wealth, and 
reputation for several descents; and in particular here 
lived Otho de Bodrigan, temp. 17th Edward II. of whom 
we read in Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. §1 : viz. " Otto 
de Bodrugan peregrinatus est ad San. Jacobum licentut 
Domini Regis;" i.e. Otho de Bodrigan, by license pf our 
lx>rd the King, is gone a pilgrimage to St. James ; that is 
to say, to the apostle St. James's Church, at Compostella* 
in Spain; who had for his fellow-traveller Radolphps de 
Belloprato, " qui peregrinate est cum Ottone de Bodrigan, 
cum licentia Regis, pro se et duobus valectis;" that is to 
say, Ralph of the fair meadow, who by license of the King 
for himself and two servants, or young gentlemen, is gone 
a pilgrimage with Otho of Bodrigan. And of those it 
follows, in the same page, " isti praenominati habent 40 
libras terras et redditus per ann. ;" that is to say, held by the 
tenure of knight's servile, 

This Otho de Bodrigan, Sheriff of Cornwall, 3d Rich- 
ard II. anno Dom. 1400, gave for his arms (as appears 
yet on the door of this house), Argent, three bends or 
bendlets Gules. And as a further testimony thereof, Ni- 
cholas Upton, in his Latin Manuscript of Heraldry, written 
before printing was invented (now in my custody), said of 
his son, 1440, " Monsieur William JSodrigham port de 
Argent trois bends de Gules ;" who dying without issue, 
his two sisters became his heirs; the one married to 
Champernowpe, of Halewin, or Haleworth, who in her 
right held in this place by the tenure of knight's service, 
3d Henry IV. a Knight's fee of land (Carew's Survey of 
Cornwall). 

His other sister, as tradition saith, was married to Tre- 
nowith, who thereupon discontinued his own paternal 
name and arms, viz. in a field Argent, on a fess Sable, 
three chevrons transverse (to die dexter) of the Field; and 
assumed those of Bodrigan. He had issue by her Henry 
TrenQwith, or Bodrigham, temp. Henry VI. who married 
Jane, sixth daughter of William Herbert, Earl of Pern- 



108 GORAN. 

broke, slain 8th Edward IV. 1469, the relict of Thomas 
Viscount Lisle, and by her had issue. He was knighted 
by King Edward IV. or King Richard III. by the name 
of Sir Henry Bodrigham ; who siding with King Richard 
III. at the battle of Bosworth Field (where he, the said 
King Richard, was slain by the Earl of Richmond's sol- 
diers), he was therefore, with many others, attainted of 
treason against King Henry VII. ; and in order to shun 
justice he made his escape after the battle aforesaid, 
and secretly repaired to this place, where he was kept close 
for a season, but not so private but King Henry's officers 
got notice thereof, and at an appointed time beset the same 
in quest of him; which he understanding, by a back- 
door fled from thence, and ran down the hills to the sea 
cliff near the same, the officers pursuing so quick after him 
that he could not possibly make his escape. As soon 
therefore as he came to the cliffy about a hundred feet 
high, he leaped down into the sea, upon the little grassy 
island there, without much hurt or damage; where in- 
stantly a boat which he had prepared in the cove, attended 
him there, which transported him to a ship that carried 
him into France. Which astonishing fact, and place, is 
to this day well known and remembered by the name of 
Harry Bodrigan's leap, or jump. But notwithstanding his 
own escape beyond the seas, this lordship and his whole 
estate were forfeited and seized by King Henry VII. for 
attainder of treason ; and the greatest part thereof he 
settled upon Sir Richard Edgcumb and his heirs for ever ; 
whose posterity are still in possession thereof. This Sir 
Richard Edgcumb, not long before, on suspicion of being 
confederated with the Earl of Richmond against King 
Richard. III. (as tradition saith), was shrewdly sought 
after and pursued by means of this very Sir Henry Bod- 
rigan, in order to be taken into custody, who from his 
house at Cotehele, made also a wonderful escape thence, 
and got into France, to the Earl of Richmond ; of which 
see more in Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 114 (p. 270, 



GORAN. 109 

Lord Dunstanville's edition), so unavoidable a thing is 
fortune or destiny. 

Tradition tells us that there was great discord and vari- 
ance between the families of Bodrigan and the knightly 
family of the Haleps of Lammoran, either upon account of 
private affronts or grudges, or upon the different interests 
or factions, and wars between the houses of York and 
Lancaster, wherein they were associated and engaged 
against each other, so that as often as they met between them- 
selves and servants some combat or battle ensued, whereby 
blood was shed and the peace broken ; and they often came 
to each other's gates armed in defiance on horseback. 

At Tre-garden lived John de Tregarthyn, temp. Ed- 
ward I. how long before I know not; after which his 
posterity in this place married with the great inheritrixes 
of Pever, Chamberlayne, and Hendower, of Court, in 
Branell, by which last, by the Cornwalls of that place, 
they were lineally descended from Richard Earl of Corn- 
wall, King of the Romans, by his concubine, Joan de 
Valletort, widow of Sir Alexander Oakeston. (Vide St. 
Stephen's.) Certainly this was an ancient, rich, and 
famous family in those parts, for it appears by their seats, 
or pews, in Goran church, they had the precedence or 
right hand of the seats pertaining to the great family of 
Bodrigan, as is yet to be seen. Thomas Tregarthyn, Esq. 
was Sheriff of Cornwall, 7 Henry VII. 1492, who 
married Hendower aforesaid, and removed to Court, in 
St. Stephen's, in Branell. He had issue by her, John 
Tregarthyn, Esq. and two daughters ; Margaret, the eldest, 
married to Richard Whiteleigh, of Efford, in Devon, Esq. 
Sheriff of that county 16th Henry VII.; from whose two 
daughters and heirs the Grenvilles of Stowe, and the 
Halses late of Efford aforesaid, and Fentongallan, in Corn- 
wall, are lineally descended. Catherine, the second daughter 
of Thomas Tregarthyn, was married to John Carmenow, 
of Fentongollan, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 5th Henry VIII. 
whose posterity are extinct. 



110 GORAN. 

John Tregarthyn, Esq. aforesaid, Son of Thomas, married 
Jane, daughter of Thomas Trethyrfe, Esq. and had issue 
by her four daughters that became his heirs ; Mary married 
to Degory Grenvill, of Penheale, Esq. ; Jane to Trip- 
cony, who passed those lands to Richard Trevahion, Esq. 
(ancestor to Richard Trevanion, now in possession of this 
place) ; Margaret, married to George Tanner, of Cullumb- 
ttm, Esq. to whose share and partage the manor of Court 
and Brand], in St. Stephen's, fell; Joan married to John 
Kellaway, of Egge, in Devon, Esq. ; after his death to 
Wadham of Merryfield, in Somerset, as appears from her 
tombstone in Branscombe church, Devonshire, where is 
to be read and seen those words : 

" Here lyeth the body of a virtuous and ancient gentle- 
woman, descended of the ancient house of the Plantagenets, 
Sdme tiitie of Cornwall, namely, Joan, one of the daughters 
and coheirs of JohnTregarthin, of Tregarthyn, Esq.; she was 
first married to John Kellaway, Esq. who had by her much 
issue. After his death she was married to John Wadham, 
of Meryfield, in the county of Somerset, Esq. by whom 
she had children. She lived a virtuous and godly life, and 
died in an honourable age, in the year of our Lord 1581." 
Now because this dark phrase, " descended of the house of 
the Plantagenets," needs a clavis to unlock it, let the reader 
view the history of St. Stephen's in Branell, and St. 
Stephen's by Saltash, and he shall find one that will do it 
effectually. The arms of Tregarthin, whose name and~ 
whole family is now extinct, were, Argent, a chevron be- 
tween three escallops Sable. 

The present possessor of this barton is Richard Treva- 
nion, Esq. that married Bond, of Earth ; who had issue 
by her one only daughter, married to Peter Major, of 
Foye, merchant, now in possession thereof, whose names 
are the same as the Trevanions of Caryhayes. 

Trevtoola, Tre-wolla, or Tre-wole, gave name and origin 
to an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Trewolla ; 
who, in allusion to their names, gave for their arms, Sable, 
three owls. This estate, in the latter end of the reign of 



GORAN. Ill 

Charles II. wa$ sold to Charles Trevanion, of Cary-Hayes, 
Esq. for 9002. by John Trewolla, gentleman, attorney-at- 
law, which was the last parcel of land Trewolla had to sell 
of a considerable estate elsewhere, formerly sold by his 
ancestors; and this place was so depressed with mortgages, 
statutes, and judgments, that the whole consideration- 
money fell much short of paying his creditors, and the 
incumbrances that were upon it ; so that, in order to make 
a clear tide to the purchaser, several of Trewolla's creditor* 
came to a loss, and in particular, James Hals, of Mertbyr, 
Gent, and Martha his wife, who had a statute staple for 700/. 
on those lands, who, to comply with Trewolla's bad circum- 
stances, on Mr. Trevanion's paying them 250/. he and his 
wife levied a fine thereon, and executed a deed, then de- 
claring the uses thereof to be for the only use of the said 
Charles Trevanion, Esq. his heirs and assigns for ever. 

In this parish, at , was the dwelling of my 

very kind friend Dr. James Gibbs, third son of James Gibbs, 
Vicar of this parish, who had his education in Exeter Col- 
lege, as a servitor to his kinsman Mr. Davis, son to Dr. 
Davis late of Plymouth; where, after he had taken his 
Bachelor's degree, he declared for the study of physic in 
Oxford ; and soon after, to better his study and experience, 
went with the said Mr. Davis into France, and fixed at 
Montpelier, where he practised physic (and also surgery 
in an hospital, as himself informed me) for several years ; 
afterwards in the College of Physicians there took his de- 
gree of Doctor of that science ; and, lastly, returned to 
this place, where he practised physic with admirable care, 
skill, and success, and through multitudes of patients and 
moderate fees, hath purchased a considerable estate. Since 
the writing hereof this gentleman, to the great grief and 
loss of his country, departed this life of the hemorrhoides 
sickness ; and before his death (who for many years had 
been his patient, to the great benefit of my health, by God's 
blessing, after the endeavours of all other physicians proved 
ineffectual,) left me this legacy, — that if I myself or friends 



112 GORAN. 

were sick, and bad occasion to make use of physic, that we 
should in all distempers make use only of the common, 
plain, and natural remedies. 

Anthony Wills, of this parish, Gent, farmer of the 
sheaf thereof, having by misfortune much incumbered his 
estate with debts, quitted the same at such time as the 
Prince of Orange landed with his forces at Torbay, and 
presented himself and his six or seven sons to that Prince, 
for soldiers of war in his army ; which proposal was gra- 
ciously accepted ; and they were all posted as officers of 
command in his bands, or troops. And after the Coro- 
nation of this Prince, King William III. they followed him 
in all his Flanders and Irish wars against King James II. 
and King Lewis XIV. and discharged their trusts with 
such great care, faithfulness, valour, and conduct, that (as 
I am informed,) before their deaths they all arrived to the 
dignities of Captains, and some of them to the authority or 
commands of Majors, Colonels, and one of them to become 
a standing Major-General of the field. Who afterwards, 
about the year A.D. 1714, being made principal com- 
mander of the army and troops of horse of King George 
the First, against the Pretender's (James Henry Edward 
Stewart,) army at Preston, in Lancashire, where, after a 
furious, violent, and bloody battle with them, he obtained 
the victory over that pretended Prince's forces ; for which 
fact, and other noble deeds, he was created a Baronet of 
England, and is since made General of all the land forces 
in England next the King, his salary amounting to 7000/. 
per annum, as reported. 



TONKIN. 

For the name, I take it to be a contraction of St, Gor- 
dian, pronounced in Cornwall St. Gorian, who having 
been, like St. Paul, a violent prosecutor of the Christians, 
became a proportionably zealous convert, and was beheaded 
at Rome in the year 341. 



GORAN. 113 

A tradition in the parish, nevertheless, assigns the 
guardianship of this church to St. Gorien, or Coren, one 
of the missionaries from Ireland who accompanied St. 
Perran. 

The name of Trevennen, or Tremenen, probably the 
town of birth, in reference to its fertility, belonged to the 
Priory of Tywardrith, and formed a part of the lands given 
by Henry VIII. to the Duchy in exchange for the manor 
of Wallingford. 

Adjoining to Trevennen, and within the manor, is Tre- 
vasens, which was long the seat of a family of the same 
name, but passed to the Hoblyns of Nanswydan, in St. 
Columb, through an heiress. 

Polgorror was heretofore a country residence of the 
Provost of Glasnith College, at Penryn, to which the great 
tithes were impropriated. This place, with the great 
tithes and the advowson of the vicarage, now belong to the 
bishopric of Exeter. 

Adjoining to this is Treveor, the great town, or dwelling, 
formerly the seat of Treveors; and the parishioners still 
talk of Sir Henry Treveor, who lived here ; and a part of 
his house is yet standing. 

Pennore, or Penarth. I take nore to signify the same 
as in Saxon, a promontory ; and that it i& here applied 
to a point jutting out into the sea, namely, to the ^Dead-man, 
which is separated from the village by a double intrench- 
ment, yet pretty entire, running from cliff to cliff, and 
cutting off about an hundred acres of coarse ground. The 
intrenchment is about twenty feet broad and twenty-four 
feet high in most places; but the outer wall is the least 
high. The people call it Thica Vosa, which is the Vallum, 
and the Hack and Cast, fabling it to be the work of a giant, 
who performed the whole in one night. They show also a hole 
in the cliff which opens into a hollow below, formed by the 
sea; and the people relate that this giant growing unwell, 
applied to a physician, who, that he might rid the world of 
such a monster, bled him near this spot, and recommended 

VOL. II. I 



114 GORAN. 

him to let the blood flow into this hole till it became full. 
The giant did so, and bled himself to death, when his 
body fell over on a rock, still called the giant's house. 
The hole thus attempted to be filled with blood is deno- 
minated from the immense quantity of ivy growing round 
it. 

The church is placed very conveniently in the middle 
of the parish. It is well built, with a handsome square 
tower of hewn moor stone, with four tunable bells ; and 
by reason of its high situation this church is seen from a 
great distance. It consists of a large lofty nave, one south 
aile of the same length, and two cross ailes to the north, of 
which one is but small. In the chancel, near the north wall, 
before the communion table, is a plain marble stone, on 
which are seen the hollows where the figure of a woman 
kneeling, with arms, inscription, &c must have been in- 
laid. Tradition calls it the tomb of Lady Brannell, but 
who this Lady Brannell was is unknown, although some 
conjectures are formed of her belonging to the family of 
Tregarthen. 

Against the eastern wall, by the window, is a comely 
monument of black marble, to Richard Edgecombe, of 
Bodrigan, Esq. son of Sir Richard Edgecombe, of Mount 
Edgecombe, Knight, who died Nov. 5, 1755. 

THE EDITOR. 

The m^nor of Trevascus belongs by purchase to Mr. 
Slade Gulby, who resides on the barton of Trevenion, 
which has been in his family since the time of the Tudors. 

Treveor belonged to the late Rev. Dr. Wynne, and was 
given by him to Mr. Pendarves. On this barton may be 
seen one of those round entrenchments usually denomi- 
nated castles in the West of England. It is at least doubt- 
ful in most cases whether any permanent dwelling was ever 
connected with them. 

The barton of Bodrigan has descended in the family of 
Edgecombe since the time of Henry VII. 



GORAN. 115 

It is generally apprehended that Sir Henry Bodrigan 
was present at the battle of Bosworth Field; and that, 
having escaped from thence to Cornwall, he endeavoured 
to defend his property in a private house against Edge- 
combe and Trevenion, who, in despoiling and endeavouring 
to take his life, did no more than he would have done, had 
the fortune of arms inclined the other way ; or than what he 
actually did against Sir Richard Edgecombe a few years be- 
fore at Cotehele. Such are the effects of civil wars, when — 

Lance to lance, and horse to horse ! 

Long years of havoc urge their destined course, 

And through the kindred squadrons mow their way. 

Bodrugon's property was mainly divided between Edge- 
cumbe and Trevanion, who are also believed to have fought 
against King Richard in Bosworth Field, and then to have 
attacked Sir Richard Bodrugon near his own house after 
the defeat at that place. He effected his retreat to a vessel 
by the extraordinary effort already mentioned, and left the 
shores of England never to return. He had a brother 
settled in the north of Devon, but his line became soon 
extinct. 

Goran measures 4,596 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as «£. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 8487 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 950 

v t . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-| 1009 | 1H6 | 1203 | 12Q5 

giving an increase of somewhat less than 19i per cent, in 80 

years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. David Jenkins, collated by the 

Bishop of Exeter in 1824. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish forms a continuation of the calcareous series 
of St. Ewe. At the Deadman point the rock is for the 
most part siliceous, affording an example of the quartz 
rock of Dr. Macculloch. 

i 2 



116 



GRADE. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and has upon the 
north Ruan Major, west Mullyan, east Ruan Minor,, 
south- Landawidnick. At the time of the Norman con- 
quest this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of 
Lisart 

In the taxation of benefices in Cornwall, towards the 
Pope's annats, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and 
Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Grade in decanatu 
de Kerryer, was valued lx*. in Wolsey's Inquisition, 
1521, 1 1/. 1*. 5c?. The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter ; 
the incumbent Symons ; and the parish rated to the 4s. 
per pound Land Tax, 1696, 58/. 12*. 

TONKIN. 

This parish takes its name from its titular female saint, St. 
Grada. In the taxation of 1294, in the 20th year of Ed- 
ward I. it is valued by the name of Ecclesia Sanctse 
Gradae. 

THE EDITOR. 

The etymologies offered by Mr. Hals appear so very 
improbable that they are omitted. If any such person as 
St. Grade ever existed, she must have been among the 
tribe of early missionaries, of whom no traces are left 
except that of their names being affixed to churches. 

This parish has within its limits the manor and barton 
of Erisey, the seat of a very respectable family bearing the 
same name, who gave for their arms, Sable, a chevron be- 
tween three griffins segreant Or. The name has been 



GRADE. 117 

extinct above a century, and the barton belongs by pur- 
chase to Lord Falmouth. Several monuments of different 
members of the family remain in the church. 

The advowson of the living belongs by purchase to Mr. 
Rogers, of Penrose. The parish feast is kept on the 
nearest Sunday to St. Luke's day. The family of Lord 
Wodehouse, through his marriage with Sophia Berkeley, 
niece of Lord Berkeley, of Stratton, are supposed to re- 
present the Eriseys. 

This parish measures 2,005 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as «£. 8. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 1357 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 208 2 

Population,-}. 320 I 306 | 855 | 306 
giving a decrease of nearly 44- per cent in 30 years ; but 
with unusual anomalies in intermediate enumerations. 

Present Rector, the Rev. John Peter, instituted in 1818. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The portion of this parish around the church, and the 
various insulated portions, are situated on magnesian 
rocks ; the most abundant variety of which is serpentine. 
This rock is generally of a red colour, but this is evidently 
in some cases derived from a partial chemical change. In 
its perfect state this serpentine is generally of a dark-green, 
with shining scales of diallage, which are commonly of a 
bronze colour, and at other times of a fine green. The 
serpentine at Cadgwith may be seen to pass gradually into 
a schistose rock of a dark bottle-green, and very glassy and 
spangled on the surface of its lamellae. This slate is ge- 
nerally called greenstone, but it differs therefrom, and 
consequently requires a distinct appellation. At Cagar 
there is a quarry in the serpentine; and at Kennick Cove 
adjoining, many varieties of these rocks may be obtained. 



118 
GULVAL. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon 
the north Ludgvan, south the Mount's Bay, west Mad- 
daran, east St. Hilary. 

In the time of William the Conqueror's survey of lands, 
anno Dom. 1087, this parish, I suppose, passed in tax 
under the jurisdiction of Ludgvan. In the Inquisition and 
Taxation of Benefices in Cornwall, by the Bishops of 
Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Laneseley, in 
decanatu de Penwith, appropriata priori Sancti Germani, 
is valued lxvis. viiirf.' Vicar ibidem, xxs. At which time it 
seems it was but a Vicarage church ; the garb impropriated, 
though since restored. Neither was the name of Gulval 
then mentioned. However, in Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, 
it is rated by the name of Gulval, also Laneseley, 
61. 1 Is. 0*tf. The patronage was formerly in the Prior of 
St. German's, now in the crown. The incumbent Pen- 
hellick; and the parish rated to the 4#. per pound Land 
Tax, 1696, by the name of Gulval, 120/. 

/ This manor of Laneseley, in this parish, was, in the time 
of Richard I. and King John, the lands of the family sur- 
named De Als, now Hals, so called from the barton and 
dismantled manor of Als> now Alse and Alesa, in Buryah, 
as tradition saith, or Beer Alseton, Alston, in Devon, in 
possession of Trevanion and others, whereof they were 
lords; and in particular William de Als, in the beginning 
of the reign of King Henry III. that married Mary, the 
daughter of Francis de Bray, was possessed thereof; father 
of Simon de Alls, who lived at Halshanv in Yorkshire 
(from him denominated), that married Jane, daughter of 
Thomas de Campo Arnulpho (now Champernown), She** 
. riff of York second, third, sixth, and seventh years of King 

^ Henry III. Anno Dom. 1222, as appears from the cata- 



GULVAL. 119 

logue of those Sheriffs, and the Hals's allowed pedigree, 
1483; from which also it is manifest, by an authentic deed 
or record therein, yet legible, that the said Simon for the 
health and salvation of his soul, his wife's, his ancestors, 
and other relations, gave the said manor of Laneseley to 
the Prior of St. German's, his canonical brothers, and their 
successors for ever, in these words. 

In nomine Domini, &c. Ego Simon de Als, pro salute 
animae meae, et Janae uxoris meae, et parentum meorum, 
dono et concedo manerium de Laneseley, in comitatu Cor- 
nubiae, Priori Sancti Germani, et fratribus canonicis, et 
successoribus eorum, cum dominicis redditibus, &c. et 
omnibus ibidem appendentibus, terra, sylva, pratos, et 
aquam, &c. ut habeant, teneant, et possideant in perpe- 
tuum, &c. ; dat vicesimo sexto die Augusti, anno regni 
nostri Regis Henrici tertii post conquestum octavo. Hiis 
testibus, Thoma de Tracye, Henrico de la Pombre, 
Reginaldo de Valtorta, Roberto de Cheni, Radolpho de 
Esse. This grant, or donation, was in the year 1266. (See 
Lelant.) 

By virtue whereof the Prior of St. German's and his 
successors were possessed of this manor from that time till 
the 26th Henry VIII. 1536, when that Priory was dis- 
solved, and the lands thereof vested in the crown. At 
which time King Henry VIII. gave the lands thereof to 
Champernown, Beaumont, Barry, and others; and to 
Beaumont's and Barry's share fell this manor of Laneseley ; 
who parted with it either by purchase or in marriage with 
his daughter, to John Tripcony, about the year 1565; 
whose son, John Tripcony, having by riot and excess com- 
paratively wasted his paternal estate, mortgaged this manor 
of Laneseley to Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fentongollan, knight* % 
about the year 1620, who was lineally descended from 
Simon de Als, aforesaid, and died seised thereof about the , 
year 1637. After his decease his unthrifty son and heir, 
John Hals, became possessed thereof, who assigned the 
mortgage thereof for 500/. to one Mr. Downes, A.D. 



120 GULVAL. 

1655; and soon after, having spent' his whole paternal 
estate elsewhere, went beyond the seas, and was never 
since heard of to this day ; leaving issue, by Jane Arundel 
his wife, Major Thomas Hals, of Hals's Savana, in Claren- 
don parish and province, in Jamaica, who had issue Thomas 
Hals, Esq. his son and heir. 

After the departure of the said John Hals beyond the 
seas, the said Mr. Downes assigned over the mortgage of 
the premises to one Mr. Coll well, a scrivener of London ; 
who dying soon after, his son, Thomas Collwell, became 
seised thereof; and after his death his widow, who by her 
last will and testament (as executrix of her sa|d husband,) 
conveyed the said manor to Charles Bony thon, Esq. — Spur, 
Longeville, and others, in trust, now in possession thereof, 
1700 ; before which time, between the said Downes and 
Collwell, on pretence of the equity of redemption reserved 
in Downes, John Hals being beyond the seas, and that the 
mortgage money to Collwell was satisfied out of the profits 
of these lands; and a cross bill of Coll well's against 
Downes, alleging the contrary, and to foreclose him; hap- 
pened so many tedious and costly Chancery suits as com- 
paratively undid them both. But, maugre all their en- 
deavours, the old titles of Tripcony and Hals were fore- 
closed by a decree in Chancery, betwixt Downes and Coll- 
well, in Hillary term 1689, yet extant and to be seen. 

This manor of Laneseley, for goodness of land, juris- 
diction, court leet, fishing craft, and royalties over all that 
part of the sea of the Mount's Bay, between Longbridge and 
Chiandower, near Penzance, may equal, if not surpass, any 
other manor in those parts of its value, which is now scarcely 
worth 300/. per annum, though in former ages it was of far 
larger extent; for in the survey of Cornish acres, tempore 
Edward II. (Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 46, p. 181, of 
Lord Dunstanville's edition), it was numbered in the Ex- 
chequer to contain twenty-eight acres, that is, about six 
thousand statute acres; * every ancient Cornish acre being 

* Sorely sixteen or seventeen hundred. Ed. 



GULVAL. 121 

sixty statute acres of land ; the contents of the whole now 
not exceeding a thousand statute acres, which lies in Gul- 
val and Ludgvan. 

In Fosses Moor, part of this manor of Lanesely, in this 
parish, is that well-known fountain called Gulval Well. 
To which place great numbers of people, time out of mind, 
have resorted for pleasure and profit of their health, as the 
credulous country people do in these days, not only to 
drink the waters thereof, but to inquire after the life or 
death of their absent friends ; where, being arrived, they 
demanded the question at the well, whether such a person, 
by name, be living, in health, sick, or dead ; if the party 
be living, and in health, the still quiet water of the well- 
pit, as soon as the question is demanded, will instantly 
bubble or boil up as a pot, clear christaline water; if sick, 
foul and puddle waters ; if the party be dead, it will neither 
bubble, boil up, or alter its colour or still motion. How- 
ever, I can speak nothing of the truth of those supernatural 
facts from my own sight or experience, but write from the 
mouths of those who told me they had seen and proved 
the veracity thereof. Finally, it is a strong and courageous 
fountain of water, kept neat and clean by an old woman of 
the vicinity, to accommodate strangers for her own advant- 
age, by blazing the virtues and divine qualities of those 
waters. 



TONKIN. 

After copying from Hals, Mr. Tonkin adds of Lanistley 
manor: — It extendeth throughout the parish of Gulval 
from the Moreps to the Gundrdns ; that is to say, from 
above the sea to the Down Hills ; it extendeth also through 
a part of the parish of Ludgvan. 

At Kehneggy is the dwelling, by lease (the fee being in 
his elder brother, William Harris, of Hayne, Esq.), of 
Christopher Harris, Gentleman, an attorney-at-law, who 
married a daughter of John Foote, of Truro, Esq. His 



122 GULVAL. 

elder brother, who married the daughter of John St. 
Aubyn, Esq. of Clowance, in the parish of Crowan, is 
now in possession of Hayne, near Lifton, in Devonshire, 
having succeeded to it on the decease of Sir Arthur. Harris, 
jun. the last heir male of the elder branch. On removing 
to Hayne he leased Kenneggy to his younger brother 
aforesaid ; who, by reason of the elder brother's yet want 
of issue, is likely to become his heir. The arms of Harris 
are, Sable, within a bordure three crescents Argent. 

Mr. Edward Llwyd, in his letter to me, would have this 
parish to take its name from the inscription on the stone in 
Maddern parish, " Riolabran : Cunoval : Fil : " and that 
Cunoval is turned by corruption into Guloval, for that he 
found many such instances in Wales. 

I should be glad to agree with so great a critic, but since 
there is a saint, or bishop, whose name comes very near 
to this — St. Gun wall, whose memory the church celebrates 
on the 6th of June, I cannot forbear fancying, especially 
the humour of the country being considered, that he is the 
patron and the namer of this parish. 



THE EDITOR. 

There cannot be any reasonable doubt of St. Gunwall 
having bestowed his name on this parish, more especially 
when the prophetic well is taken into account, since saints 
scarcely ever failed of imparting some supernatural quality 
to their favourite streams. 

St Gunwall was, moreover, a Briton, and is stated to 
have been in Cornwall. 

Saint Gudwall, or Gunwall, was born in Wales about 
the year 500. Being entirely devoted to God, he collected 
eighty-eight monks in a little island called Plecit, being no 
more than a rock surrounded by water. For some reason, 
however, he abandoned this establishment, and passed 
by sea into Cornwall; and from thence he went into De- 



GULVAL. 128 

vonshire, where he betook himself to the most holy, perfect, 
and useful state of a solitary anchorite; at length, however, 
again emerging, he sailed into Britany, and there succeeded 
St. Malo, as Bishop of that see, although he is said even 
then to have dwelt in a solitary cell, and to have died there 
at a very advanced age. His relics have been widely dis- 
tributed, and various places in France have been called by 
his name. 

Mr. Whitaker explains the ancient name of this parish, 
Lanisley, by Lan and Ishei, low, or lower, the low church, 
which appears to agree very well with the situation. 

The great tithes certainly belonged to the Priory at St. 
German's, for in the returns made to Henry VIII. of the 
property belonging to them, appears — 
Gulval, decimae Garbarum, <£10. 65. 8rf. 
These tithes, since the law-suits mentioned by Mr. Hals, 
have passed by purchase into the possession of the Beau- 
champs of Gwenap, and now belong to the two daughters 
and coheiresses of the late Mr. John Beauchamp. 

The vicarage, although it has risen into one of the most 
valuable to be found in that district, in consequence of 
modern improvements, and of its being situated near Pen- 
zance, is yet rated under twenty pounds a-year in the 
King's Books, and therefore passes by the presentation of 
the Lord Chancellor. Two Mr. Pennerks, father and son, 
held this living in succession. It was then given, in 1789, 
to Mr. John Cole, afterwards Doctor in divinity and Rec- 
tor of Exeter College, and his successor is the present 
Vicar, the Rev. Robert Dillon. 

Kenegie passed from Mr. William Harris, of Hayne, 
accordingly as Mr. Tonkin had conjectured, to the family 
of his brother, Mr. Christopher Harris; and the family 
becoming extinct in the male line r by the death of this 
gentleman's gfandson in 1775, by much the largest part 
of the estate went* under the provisions of a will, to Mr. 
William Arundell, then resident at Crane,. in Camborne, 
who assumed the nariie of Harris; but his grandson 



124 GULVAL. 

choosing to fix his permanent residence at a very hand- 
some seat of his own creating near Lifton, parted with 
all his Cornish property ; and Kenegie now belongs, in 
fee, to the farmer, who had occupied it at an annual rent. 

This place having formerly belonged to the family of 

Tripcony, who bore for their arms, Argent, three rabbits 
passant Sable, and kynin and kyninger being the Cornish 
names for a rabbit, I cannot but suspect that kynneggy, or 
kenegie, must have some relation to the name of Tri- 
peney. 

Trevailer is the place next of importance in this parish. It 
has been long the residence of a very respectable family, the 
Veales. They .are said to have come from Gloucestershire, 
their ancestor having been the first Protestant Vicar of 
Gulval. The Reverend William Veale, the present 
possessor, has rebuilt the house; the second brother of his 
grandfather, Mr. George Veale, made a large fortune at 
Penzance, by the practice of the law and by success in 
mines, which became divided between three daughters who 
married Hichens, Baines, and Jenkins. Mr. William 
Veale has married the only daughter of the Rev. Richard 
Gerveys Grylls, of Helston. 

But the most beautiful place in this parish, and one of 
the greatest ornaments to the whole neighbourhood, is 
Rosemorron, the Vale of Blackberries, formed by Mr. 
George John. This gentleman having married Jane, the 
eldest daughter of Mr. Arundall, who assumed the name 
of Harris on succeeding to the large fortune of that family, 
and having been for many years at the head of his profes- 
sion in Penzance, has at length retired to this delightful 
spot in the summer months. Nor have his decorations of 
the country been confined to one situation ; he has shewn, 
by extensive plantations at Try, that the most elevated and 
barren tracts, even on a granite soil, may be rendered use- 
fill and decorative by the growth of trees. 

The lower part of the parish, adjoining to the sea, is 
fertile in the highest degree, from the village of Chian- 



GULVAL. 185 

dower (the house by the water), through Pendrea to the 
Church Town. And the vallies, abounding in trees, rival 
those of any country. Chiandower is also become a place 
worthy of the adjacent scenery, through the taste and the 
exertions of Messrs. Bolitho, who, in making ample fortunes, 
have benefited the country still more than themselves by 
promoting every species of productive industry. The parish 
feast does not certainly corroborate the supposition of the 
patron saint; it is held on the nearest Sunday to the 12th 
of November, the day of St. Martin, the first Pope of that 
name, a native of Todi, in Tuscany, and elected Pope in 
the year 649. He assembled in the same year the sixth 
council of Lateran, where the heresy of the Monothelites 
was condemned; but the schismatic Emperor, Constans, 
sent Olympius, his chamberlain, to Rome, to support the 
obnoxious sect, who arrived there while the council were 
deliberating; and failing in his attempts to divert them 
from supporting the orthodox faith, he suborned a person 
to murder the Pope, but in attempting to execute the atro- 
cious deed the assassin was miraculously struck blind. Yet, 
nevertheless, Constans persevered in his speculative errors 
and in his wicked conduct, by causing St Martin to be 
seized, and after suffering many casualties, to be banished 
to the Tauric Chersonesus, where he died in 655. 

His relics were afterwards brought to Rome, and depo- 
sited in the church of St. Martin of Tours, on the 12th of 
November, which, from thenceforward, was observed as a 
festival to his honour. 

The day of St. Martin of Tours, the popular patron of 
beggars, happens to be on the day before, and several 
parishes give their feasts on the nearest Sunday to Novem- 
ber the 11th, but Gulval alone honours the Pope and 
Saint. 

Gulval measures S950 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. *. rf. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 5170 

Poor Rate in 1881 . . 406 8 a 



126 GUNWALLO. 

PoDulation - l in 1801 > I in 1811 ' I in 1821 ' I in 18Sl > 
copulation,— | 1()76 | 1224 j 1353 | U67 

giving an increase of nearly 36£ per cent in SO years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The northern part of this parish rests on granite, which 
is for the most part a coarse crystalline rock, containing 
very large porphyritic crystals of felspar. The granite is, 
however, in some places very fine-grained, and near its 
juncture with the slate abounds in shorl. The schistose 
rocks composing the southern part of the parish, have a 
basis of compact felspar, assuming various appearances ac- 
cording as it is more or less siliceous; those rocks are often 
beautifully marked with crystalline patches and veins of 
actynolite, as may be seen in the rocks on the sea shore, 
and they are traversed here and there by beds of felspar 
porphyry, into which they gradually pass. 



GUNWALLO. 

HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the 
north the Loopoole and part of Mawgan, east Cury, 
south Mullyan, west the British Channel, or Ocean. 

At the time of the Norman Conquest this district was 
taxed either under the jurisdiction of Lisart, now Lisard, 
or Trevery. In the value of Benefices towards the Pope's 
Annates made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 
1294, Ecclesia Sancti Winwalli, i. e. the church of the 
holy, victorious, or conquering Wallo, in decanatu de 
Kerryer, was rated iiii/. iiis. iuid. In Wolsey's Inquisition, 
1521, it goes in value and consolidation with Breock, Ger- 
mo, and Cury, by the name of the Vicarage of Wynn- 
anton, i. e. the conquering, or victorious town ; all doubt- 
less referring to the conquests of King Gunwallo, or Dun- 



GUNWALLO. 127 

wallo. The patronage, I take it, was formerly in the 
Prior of St, Michael's Mount, or the Duke of Cornwall, 
who endowed it It is now in the King, or Duke; the 
incumbent Trewinard, and parish rated to the 4*. per 
pound Land Tax, 1696, temp. William III. 53i 9*. Sd. 
by the name of Gunwallo. 

The manor of Gunwallowinton, a lordship in this parish, 
claimeth the royalty and jurisdiction, by sea and land, over 
the whole parish, and was formerly the lands of Carmenow, 
now of Arundell of Lanhearne, by match with one of the 
daughters and heirs of that name. 

TONKIN. 

In this parish stands a circle of rude unwrought stones 
in the shape of a wall heaped together, and called Earth. 

THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Whi taker remarks in a note on Hal's MS. that the 
name of this parish is clearly derived from its patron saint, 
Winnwallo. 

I find that Winwallo was the son of a petty Prince in 
Wales ; who, flying with his family from the Saxons, went 
into Britany, where he acquired the habit of undergoing 
monastic austerities under the guidance of St. Budock. He 
ultimately founded a monastery called Landevenech, about 
three miles from Brest. He became the first Abbat, and 
died on the 3d of March about the year 529. His body 
was buried at Landevenech ; but in after ages, when the 
northmen extended their ravages to this part of the Conti- 
nent, his relics were removed to places of greater safety ; 
and as an effectual security against an entire loss, portions 
were preserved at St. Peter's, at Blandinberg, at Ghent, at 
Montreuil, and at other places. 

The Celtic name has given origin to various pronuncia- 
tions, and to as many corresponding orthographies; the 
G and W at the beginning of words are well known to take 



138 GUNWALLO. 

each the place of the other almost without discrimination. 
In Picardy, where he is esteemed the patron, Winwallo 
is changed into Vignevaley and Walovay; in Britany into 
Guignole and Vennole; in other parts of France into 
Guingalois. 

It is the more probable that St Winwallo may be the 
patron saint of this parish, and that he may have given it his 
name, since a parish in the neighbourhood stands in that 
relation towards his teacher St. Budock. The parish feast, 
however, is held on the last Sunday in April, although St 
Winwallo is honoured in the Roman calendar on the third 
of March. 

Mr. Lysons says that the manor of Wynyaton, or Wining- 
ton, called by Mr. Hals Gonwallowinton, was given about 
the year 1235, by Roger Earl of Cornwall, in exchange for 
Bossiney, to Gervase de Harnington ; from whom it passed 
by an heiress to the family of Trevanthians, and again in 
the same way to Roskymers. It ultimately belonged to the 
Arundells till the general sale of all Lord ArundelFs pro- 
perty in Cornwall, when this manor was purchased by Mr. 
John Rogers, of Penrose, near Helston. 

The church is situated among sandbanks, and very near 
the sea. In those banks Captain Avery, the celebrated 
buccaneer, is reported to have buried several chests of 
treasure previously to his leaving England on the voyage 
from which he never returned. So strongly has this opinion 
prevailed, that Mr. John Knill, collector of the customs at 
St. Ives, procured, about the year 1770, a grant of treasure 
trove, and expended some money in a fruitless search. 

This gentleman is still remembered on account of his 
singularities, and his having erected a pyramid on a hill near 
the town where he had long resided. 

In the churchyard of Gunwallo is a tombstone with the 
following conceit: 

We shall die all, 
Shall die all we; 
Die all we shall, 
All we shall die. 



GWENAP. 129 

The parish measures 1175 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 1,405 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 150 14 

PoDulation — / in 1801 ' I in 1811 > I in 1821 ' I in 1831 > 
1-opulation, — | 216 | 2Q6 | 262 | 284 

giving an increase of 31| per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish runs parallel with the sea shore from Pol- 
jew Cove to Loo Bar. The shore, where the land lies 
low, is covered with banks of siliceous sand, which near the 
church form an extensive down. At the Cove the rocks 
consist of a blue glassy slate, and of a compost rock of the 
same colour which decomposes into a white clay. Nearly 
the whole of the cliff is a diluvial mass ; the lower part of 
which, just above high-water mark, is consolidated into a 
conglomerate sandstone, apparently through the cementing 
medium of a solution of carbonate of iron, derived from 
the percolation of rain-water through the bed of ferru- 
ginous clay that forms the upper part of this deposit. 



GWENAP. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Keryer, and hath upon the 
north, part of Redruth, east Peranwell and Key, south 
Gluvius, west Stithians. That this church was extant be- 
fore the Norman Conquest is plain from the name thereof, 
for in the Domesday Tax, 20th William I. 1087, it is 
rated by the name of Gwenap. In the Inquisition into 
the value of Cornish Benefices made by the Bishops of 
Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Wenap 
in decanatu de Kerrier, is rated at vii/. Vicar ejusdem 

VOL. II. k 



130 GWENAP. 

xxvis. viiiJ. In Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, the Vicarage 
of Wenap is valued 16/. 18*. 9<L The patronage in the 
Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it. The incumbent 
Bishop; and the parish rated to the 4*. per pound Land 
Tax, 1696, 148/. 3j. by the name of Gwenap. The garb, 
or rectory, in Wright or Nicholls. 

Trefyns (i. e. the springs of water, or fountains town,) 
came to Beauchamp by marriage with the heiress of this 
name and land, where they have ever since flourished in 
gentle degree. The present possessor, William Beau- 
champ, Esq. that married Courtney of Trehane, his father 
Boaden, his grandfather Tregoze, giveth for his arms, 
Vairy Argent and Azure. The first progenitor of the 
tribe and name of Beauchamp came into England a 
soldier under William the Conqueror, and probably some 
of his posterity were planted in this province, from whence 
. those gentlemen are descended; especially if the name, 
Stephen de Bellocampo, 40th Henry III. who held in 
Cornwall by tenure of knight's service 15/. per annum land 
and rents, may be interpreted the same as Beauchamp 
(Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 40), for otherwise verily 
I know not from what family of gentlemen those Beau- 
champs are descended ; since none other of that name give 
the same arms as these do ; for Guy de Beauchamp, Sheriff" 
of Devon, 12th King John, gave for his arms, Gules, a fess 
between three crosses bottony Or; from whom are de- 
scended the Beauchamps of Bletsho and Hatch, in Wilt- 
shire. Beauchamp Earl of Warwick gave for his arm's, 
Gules, a fess between six cross-crosslets Or. WilHam 
Beauchamp, Sheriff of Devon 18th Henry VI. that married 
the inheritrix of Henry de Ties, lord of Alverton and 
Ty warnhayle, summoned to Parliament as a Baron temp. 
Henry IV. gave for his arms, Gules, a fess between six 
martlets Or; from whence I gather there were diverse 
families of those Beauchamps heretofore in England, no 
way related in blood to each other. Query, whether the 
arms of those gentlemen living in this place be not the 



GIVEN AP. ldl 

arms of Bochym, as I have been informed they are, which is 
Vaire Argent and Azure. 

Notwithstanding this place of Trefyns was heretofore 
denominated from springs of water abounding there in 
winter season, yet I assure you now in summer time, by 
reason of the tin-mines and subterranean adits near it 
that carry those springs of water invisibly under ground, 
water is very scarce and much wanting in those lands. 
It is also called Trevense, and Trewince. 

St. Dye chapel in this parish was heretofore a chapel 
of ease to Gwenap; the tutelar guardian whereof is St. 
Dye, of Gaul, very famous in that country for his piety 
and holy Christian living about the fifth century, who held 
the faith in opposition to Arianism and Felagianism, then 
raging in the church. And there is a church in the pro* 
vince of Lorraine still bearing his name. If it were as 
easy for the Vicar to attend and perform divine service . 
in this remote quarter of the parish where this chapel is, 
as it is convenient to his parishioners in the town of St Dye, 
it had been doubtless still applied to the end and use for 
which it was erected. 

Not far from this place is that unparalleled and inex- 
haustible tin-work called Paldys ; i. e. the top or head of 
St. Dye's Town, which for above forty years* space hath 
employed yearly from eight hundred to a thousand men 
and. boys, labouring for and searching after tin in that 
place, where they have produced and raised up for that 
time yearly, at least twenty thousand pounds worth of that 
commodity, to the great enriching of the lords of the soil, 
the bound owners, and adventurers in those lands. 

Of those miners, or searchers for metals, hath Ovid 
written elegantly in Latin verse, which sounds thus in 
English, tempore Augusti : — 

Men deep descend into the earth 
With mattock) shoul, and spade, 
And wicked wealth is digged up, 
Which mischiefs alt hath made ; 
K 2 



1S2 GWBNAP. 

Dame Nature did it hid* and put 

Where gristly ghosts do dwell; 

So that the hurtful iron and 

Hie glittering gold from hell 

Produced is, mora noisome than 

The other metal Tile, 

Through foul desire whereof for aye 

Is virtue in exile. 

Shame, truth, and faith, are put to flight ; 

Their place do those uphold, 

Both fraud, deceit, fell force, and wiles, 

And wicked lore of gold, 

For which the laws are sold. 

Meiamorph. Lib. i. p. 138—150. 

Memorandum. — On Friday, 19th September, 1707, 
about four of the clock in the afternoon, happened in those 
parts divers flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder, 
which not only terrified the inhabitants thereof, but after 
one of those cracks a ball of fire, or Jupiter's thunderbolt 
(as the Greeks called it), entered by the window into the 
house of one John Kent, a carpenter of this parish, where he 
was working, the windy force thereof instantly struck him 
dead on the place, scalded his wife and two children in that 
room, then passed out through the chimney wall, and so 
shattered the same that a great part of it instantly fell to 
the ground. 

TONKINS. 

In this parish, on the top of a lofty mountain called 
Carne-mark, are two or three stone tumuli, under which 
are doubtless interred the bodies of some distinguished 
persons. 

The right name of this parish is St. Wenep, a female 
sunt, to whom the parish is dedicated. 

THE EDITOR. 

Saint Wenep is, I believe, only remembered by the 
dedication of this parish; but St. Dye is a personage of 



GWENAP. 133 

more consequence. He was a native of France, and in the 
year 655 became Bishop of Nevres; but St. Dye hap- 
pened to live at a period when the prevalent fanaticism 
induced persons to believe that the Author of all good was 
most gratified by beholding the misery of his rational 
creatures, accompanied by their voluntary debasements 
through ignorance and solitude below the level of the brute 
creation. With this persuasion, St. Dye resigned his 
bishopric, and founded a house for monks at a place called 
Jointures, but retired himself to an anchorite cell. He 
is said to have died on the 19th of June, 680. 

The chapel, dedicated to St Dye, in Gwenap, had long 
been in ruins ; but since the eager contest has grown up 
between the Establishment and Dissenters for retaining or 
acquiring power through the media of extensive education 
and proselytism, and Chapels, Meeting Houses, and Schools 
have arisen all over England, St. Dye has seen a new 
and spacious building displace the ruins that remained 
from former times. 

The Beauchamps had removed from Trewince to Pen- 
greap ; where the family became extinct in the anale 
line about the year 1818, by the decease of Mr. Joseph 
Beauchamp, who had lost his only son a few years before, 
and the estate is now divided between the two daughters 
of his elder brother, Mr. John Beauchamp. 

Cornmarth has been already mentioned. Mr. Whitaker 
says that the true name is Cornmarke, and that it means 
the Knight's barrow. 

On the southern declivity of Cornmarth is a large exca- 
vation, supposed by some to have been made long ago for 
the exhibition of games, but by others to owe its general 
form to the accidental running together of an old mine. 
Jt is, at all events, admirably adapted to the purpose of 
enabling a speaker to address an extremely large assembly; 
and the late Mr. John Wesley has been distinctly heard by 
many thousands at a time in Gwenap pit. 



134 GWENAP. 

Scornier, which a few years since exhibited the appear- 
ance of a small village, has now become perhaps the chief 
place in this parish. Mr. John Williams, one of die most 
extensive and most successful managers and adventurous 
miners of the present time, built here an excellent house, 
and adorned it with the finest collection of Cornish minerals 
ever brought together. Mr. Williams, after making a 
large fortune, has retired at an advanced age, leaving 
several sons engaged in the same pursuits with equal ad- 
vantage to themselves and to the public; one of whom has 
added a second splendid house to the village. 

It is quite impossible for me to enter fully into a 
description of the mines, which have continued in work 
on the most extensive scale from the period when Mr. 
Leman commenced the modern system up to the present 
time. It is said that no district of the same extent in any 
part of the world ever produced so much riches. - 

Poldice was worked for tin about the commencement of 
the last century by Mr. Hearle, of Penryn. The. mine 
happened to have very little water, and this was exhausted 
by r$ck and chain pumps moved by human labour. 

Copper seldom appears near the surface, as is the case 
with tin ; but tin lodes out of granite frequently produce 
copper in depth. All the lodes in Gwenap have. done 
so, and in some places the mines have gone to the depth 
of two hundred and thirty or forty fathoms from the sur- 
face, more than two hundred fathoms under the level of 
the sea, assisted by steam engines having working-cylinders 
ninety inches in diameter and ten feet long. 

The freehold of the land containing those mines is pos^ 
sessed in undivided shares between several persons ; Mr. 
Hearle had one-third, that is now divided again into thirds 
between the descendants of three daughters, Mr. Tremayne, 
Mr. Rodd, and Mr. Stephen*. 

The church in Gwenap is large in every dimension, but, 
what is very unusual, the tower stands apart. One of our 



GWENAP. 13.5 

late historians very justly complains of what he terms the 
" mangling of modern Vandalism," in alterations of the 
church; Venetian frames have been substituted for stone 
mullions ; windows of painted glass bearing the figures of 
saints have been removed; and the screen, or rood-loft, 
of beautiful workmanship has disappeared; modern deal 
seats have been introduced throughout the church, and a 
glare of light on the white-washed walls has completed the 
overthrow of very thing venerable. 

The interior is divided into a nave, a chancel, and two 
side ailes, supported on each side by seven handsome 
columns. 

The burial-ground contains a monument of fine marble 
in memory of the Beauchamps. 

There is a tradition in the parish of monks having been 
established in the church tower, and that a house now con- 
verted to an inn, was a part of the building. No notice 
whatever is taken of such a monastery in any authentic 
work. If therefore this tradition rests on any fact, the 
house cannot have been more than an hostelry for friars. 

The parish measures 5,289 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as <£. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 18,273 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 3,329 9 

o , s fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population, — | 4594 | 5303 | 6294 | 8539 

giving an increase of 86 per cent, in 30 years, and a nu- 
merical increase of three thousand nine hundred and forty- 
five persons. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. W. Marsh, presented by the 
Dean and Chapter of Exeter in 1825. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

Gwenap has long been one of the most important mining 
districts of Cornwall. Its western part rests on the same 



136 GWENDRON. 

patch of granite as the eastern part of Cornborne, the one 
stretching to the east and the other to the west. The slate 
is also similar to that of Cornborne, and like that it is tra- 
versed by numerous beds of porphyry, some of which, in 
the vicinity of Burncoose, are of the most beautiful descrip- 
tion, containing well-defined crystals of felspar and of 
quartz. 



GWENDRON. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the 
north Camburne, south Maugan in Meneage, east Stithi- 
any, Constantine, west Sithney. 

In the taxation of benefices in Cornwall, as aforesaid, 
1294, Ecclesia Sancte Wendrone (I suppose together with 
Helston, its daughter church,) in decanatu de Kerryer, is 
valued xvii/. vi*. viiid. In Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, it 
is valued, together with Helston, at 26/. 19s. 3d The 
patronage formerly, as I am informed, in the Hospital 
and Prior, or Governor, of St. John the Baptist, at Helston, 
or the College of regular Canons at Glasnith, or Abbat of 
St. Michael's Mount ; now Jago, and the Incumbent Jago. 
The rectory, or sheaf, in Boscawen. And the parish rated 
to the 4t8. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 174/. 8s. 4dL 

Trenithike, in this parish (i. e. the town of the bridge or 
ford, leate or lake of waters). It is the dwelling of Samp- 
son Hill, Esq. one of his Majesty's Commissioners for the 
Peace, that married Callmady, the relict of Silly, and 
giveth for his arms, Or, a fess between two chevrons Sable, 
which is the coat-armour of the ancient family of the 
Seneschalls of this place, whose daughter and heir was 
married to the gentleman's ancestor now in possession 
thereof, as I am informed. 



GWENDRON. ' 137 

Query, whether these arms are not the same as given by 
Sir John Lisle, knight, one of the first founders of the 
noble order of the Garter, lord of the manor of Wilbra- 
ham, in the county of Cambridge, whose posterity enjoy, as 
I take it, those lands and his arms to this day, viz. in a 
field Or, a fess between two chevrons Sable. 

In this parish, by the post road, or highway, are set up, 
in perpendicular manner, about ten feet asunder in a line, 
nine large moor stones commonly called the Nine Maids, 
or Virgin Sisters ; probably set up in memory of so many 
sister nuns heretofore interred there. 

TONKIN. 

This church, although a Vicarage, is endowed with the 
sheaf over all the southern part of the parish, which most 
abounds in grain. It carries with it Helston in the same 
presentation. The patronage in Mr. William Iago. The 
Incumbent Mr. John Jago. The sheaf not endowed in 
the possession of Mr. Hugh Boscowen, of Tregothnan. 

At Trenithike is the dwelling of Sampson Hill, Esq. a 
Commissioner of the Peace, who married a sister of Joseph 
Colmady, of Longdon, in Devonshire, and widow of Heale 
of Battlesford. 

All the lands in this parish lie within the great duchy, 
lordship, and manor of Helston in Kerrier, as it is named 
for distinction from Helston in Trigg. The church is 
certainly called Wendron, from its female patroness. 

Bodilly I interpret the house by the church, from ilis, 
the same as eglis, a church, from which it is not far distant. 
There are two houses adjacent so called, Bodilly Veor and 
Bodilly Vear, the great and the little. Bodilly Veor was 
the seat of Thomas Tresilian, Gent, descended from the 
Tresilians of Roughtra, who, having mortgaged it to Sir 
Peter Killigrew, sold the freehold to Mr. William Glynn, 
and younger brother to Mr. Thomas Glynn, of Polkin- 
horne. 



138 GWENDRON. 

At Trenere there is an arched vault of moorstone ad- 
joining to the house, said to have been a cellar, and this 
place a hunting seat to the ancient Dukes of Cornwall. 



THE EDITOR. 

It appears that the . vicarage of Wendron, and perhaps 
the endowed portion of the great tithes, belonged to Rew- 
ley Abbey, near Oxford, founded by Edmund Earl of 
Cornwall, in compliance with an injunction of his father 
Richard Earl of Cornwall; although Richard himself 
seems to have commenced the foundation, for a manuscript 
history in the Cotton Library says, 

" Frater enim hujus regis (Henrici tertii) Ricardus pri- 
mus Comes Cornubiae, post Rex Alemaniae et Semper Au- 
gustus, fundavit Abbatias monachorum Cisterciensis ordinis 
de Royal alias Rewley Oxoniae, et de Hayles in Comitatu 
Gloucestriae, ubi honorifice est sepultus. Cor tamen suum 
Oxoniae in choro fratrum minorum, sub sumptuosa et 
mirandi operis pyramide humatum est." 
The Charter of his son Edmund begins, 
" Sciant praesentes et futuri, quod nos Edmundus, clarae 
memoriae Domini Ricardi regis Alemannii filius, et Comes 
Cornubiae, dedimus concessimus et hac praesenti carta 
nostra confirmavimus Deo, et ecclesiae beatae Mariae de 
Regali Loco in North Oseney juxta Oxon, et abbati inibi 
commoranti et quindecim monachis capellanis ordinis Cis- 
terciensis ibi professis, pro anima Ricardi quondam regis 
Alemanniae patris nostri, divino celebrantibus, et eorum 
successoribus ibidem commorantibus Deo servientibus et 
in perpetuum servituris, omnes terras et tenementa quae 
habuimus in North Oseneye prope Oxon et (inter alia) 
unam acram terrae, secundum Angliae consuetudinem 
mensuratam, de dominico nostro in terra de Bel juxta 
Roslyn, cum advocatione ecclesiae de Sancta Wen- 
drova, et aliis pertinentiis suis in hundredo de Kerier in 
Cornubia." 



GWENDRON. 139 

And in the schedule returned to King Henry VIII. 
after the dissolution of property belonging to Bewley 
Abbey, 

Com. Cornub. 

Wendromo et Stadyon, firma Rector 9 .... £.22. 
This advowson had passed through various hands till it 
was assigned by Mr. Matthew Wills, of Helston, on whose 
decease, in 1782, it came to his son, Mr. Thomas Wills. 
This gentleman, although not intended for the church, had 
received his education at Winchester and Oxford, and the 
living happening to become vacant just at the period of 
his father's death, Mr. Wills was induced to take holy 
orders, and he is now (1834) the Incumbent; but the 
advowson has been transferred to Queen's College, Oxford, 
for its Michell or new foundation ; thus returning almost 
to the very spot where it was bestowed almost six hundred 
years before. 

Tl^e barton of Trenethick is traced back to the family of 
Seneschalls, from whom it came by a marriage to the 
Hills ; the last of whom, Mr. John Hill, gave it by will, 
about seventy years since, to a family long seated in Con* 
stantine, of the same name, but, from their bearing different 
arms, probably not related. 

Nansloe, the vale leading to the lake, is beautifully 
situated • in a valley near the Loo, It has been for 
some time the seat of the Robinsons, since they removed 
there from Bochim in Cury. The last representative 
of this family in the male line was the late Reverend 
William Robinson, Vicar of Crowan. 

Trelil belonged to Mr. Rowe, steward to Lord Godolphin. 
his only daughter and eventual heiress married Mr. William 
Harris, of Rosewarne, in Camburne, Sheriff of Cornwall 
in the year 1773 ; and their only daughter, married to 
Winchcombe Hartley, Esq. of Berkshire, is its present 
possessor. 

This parish has for ages been one of the most productive 



140 GWEWDRON. 

of tin in the whole county; and before the improved 
operations of ^melting had placed all ores nearly on the 
same level as to the quality of their products, the neigh- 
bourhood of Porkellis boasted of producing the best tin in 
Cornwall. 

The church is situated nearly at one extremity of this 
immense parish, and has nothing to distinguish it but a 
monument to the memory of Warin Penhallinyk, a pre- 
bendary of the monastery at Penryn, Rector of St. Just, 
in Roseland, Vicar of Wendron and of the adjoining 
oarish, Stithyans. The Vicarage-house is a mere hovel. 
The parish feast is on the nearest Sunday to October the 
28th, St Simon and St Jude. 

Mr. Jago, Vicar of Wendron, was perhaps the last 
clergyman in the west of Cornwall supposed to exercise 
supernatural powers ; various anecdotes were current about 
him sixty years ago, and then generally believed ; all I 
apprehend to his credit, being such as laying spirits, dis- 
covering thieves, &c. mixed up, however, with frivolities, 
as seems ever to have happened in those popular legends. 
Whenever parson Jago got off from his horse he struck 
the ground with his whip, and a demon immediately ap- 
peared to hold or take care of his horse till he wanted it 
again. The Rev. Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell is 
descended either from this gentleman or from his 
father. 

This parish measures (including Helston) 12,317 statute 
acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815, Helston 

included 8870 

Poor Rate in 1831, 

Tie Parish ,£1766 8 
Helston . 889 17 



°\ 2656 5 
Of 



OWINEAR. 



141 



Population, — 
Wendron 
Helston . . 



in 1801, 
3006 
2248 



5254 



in 1811,] 
3555 
2297 



in 1821, 
4193 
2671 



5852 



in 1831, 
4780 
3293 



6869 



8073 



giving an increase on the Parish of 59, on the Town 46£, 
on both together 53£, — per cent, in 30 years. 



THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

About two-thirds of this extensive parish is situated on 
granite, which is the same as that of Camborne, Crowan, 
and Sithney adjoining; the other third, which forms the 
southern part of the parish, is composed of slate rocks, 
which near the granite are felspathic, and clearly referrible 
to the porphyritic series ; but as the sea is approached, the 
character of these slates becomes obscure, such as they 
generally are whenever the porphyritic and calcareous 
series pass into each other. 



GWINEAR. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon 
the north Gwythian, west Phelack, south Crowan and St. 
Erth, east Camburne. 

In the Domesday Tax this district passed under the 
jurisdiction either of Caerton in Crowan, Lewellen in 
Gwythian, or Hella in Camburne. In the Inquisstion of 
the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln into the value of 
Cornish Benefices, 20th Edward I. 1294, Ecclesia de 
Sancto Winer in decanatu de Penwid; was valued 
cxiii*. iiiirf. In Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, it is valued 
12/. by the same name of Winer. The patronage in the 
Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it. The Incumbent Thomas 



142 GW1KEAR. 

Paynter. The Rectory, or £arbe sheaf, in possession of 
Howell, under lease from Exeter College, Oxford. And 
the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 
14/7 L 7*. 2d. by the name of Gwiniar. 

Lanyon, in this parish, a seat of the Lanyons, the first 
propagators of this family in Cornwall, came, with many 
other French gentlemen, into England, with Isabella, wife 
of King Edward II. and settled themselves in those 
parts ; amongst which Lanyon's posterity have ever since 
flourished in gentle degree in Cornwall ; and for further 
proof of this matter, that originally they came from the 
town of Lanyon, situate upon a sea-haven, or harbour, in 
France, they give still the arms of that town for their 
paternal coat armour, viz. in a field Sable, a castle Argent, 
standing on waves of the sea Azure, over the same a falcon 
hovering with bells. The present possessor, Tobias Lan- 
yon, Gent, that married Pineck ; his father Reynolds. 

Polkinhorne, in this parish (eminent or notable iron 
head). From this place was denominated an old family of 
gentlemen surnamed Polkinhorne, who gave for their arms, 
Argent, three bars Sable ; whose only daughter and heir, 
temp. Charles II. was married to Thomas Glynn, Gent. 
a younger branch of the Glynns of Glynn, whose father 
giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron between three 
salmon-spears handled and barbed Sable, two in chief, and 
one in the base part, with points downwards. 

Coswin, in this parish (i. e. the white wood or fair) gave 
name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed 
De Coswyn, who lived reputably in this place for several 
descents, till John Coswyn, temp. Charles II. by ill hus- 
bandry, wasted his paternal estate, and sold this little barton 
to the person now in possession thereof. 

TONKIN. 

The right name of this parish is St. Wynnier, a corrup- 
tion of St. Wymer, its tutelar saint, by which name it is 
called in the Taxatio Beneficiorum, Ecclesia Sancti Wy- 
meri. 



GWINEAR. 143 

The great tithes of this parish are believed to have been 
bestowed on Exeter College, by its founder, Walter de 
Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, A.D. 1318. 

A younger brother's daughter of Coswin, who squan- 
dered the property, married Peter Pendarves, gent and 
brought Bodrigge in Thellark into that family. 



THE EDITOR. 

The parish of Gwiner has been extremely productive in 
copper. Herland Mine, usually called the manor, pro- 
duced so large a return to Mr. Hobbin, only part proprie- 
tor of the land, as paid for the building of Nansewidden 
in St. Columb, about the middle of the last century. It 
has been since wrought on a most extensive scale, and to a 
great depth. 

.Whele Alfred, Whele Trelistion, and others, have been 
very productive but at present they are all discontinued. 

The family of most consequence connected with this 
parish is that of Lanyon. 

The first syllable certainly implies an inclosed place, 
from which it has become specifically applied to a church, 
to a castle, and even to a town. Mr. Hals' conjectures as 
to the termination of the name, appear to be so utterly 
groundless that they are omitted. 

Mr. Whitaker believes that Lanyon in Normandy bears 
only a castle for its cognisance, and that the falcon has 
been added on account of the similarity in sound of Lanyer 
to Lanner, the favourite bird in falconry. 

It must be observed however that Lanyon is always in 
Cornwall pronounced La-nine. 

The Gwinear and Madern branches of the Latyron family 
were together possessed of extensive property in the adja- 
cent parishes ; combinations of unfortunate circumstances 
have diminished their possessions, but hopes may be en- 
tertained that the Lanyons, of Gwinear, who have never 



144 GWINEAR. 

lost the sense of what is due to the memory of their an- 
cestors, may again resume the former station of their family. 

The Rev. Malachy Hitchins, Vicar of St. Hilary, held 
this living for almost thirty years. 

Gwinear measures 3,882 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 5185 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 800 18 

Population,- <j 1651 >| 1952 | ^Qg | 272g ' 
giving an increase of 65 per cent, in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. John Thomas Wilgress, collated, 
by the Bishop of Exeter in 1813. 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOA8E. 

This parish, like those adjoining, Camborne and Crowan, 
has been long celebrated for its mines, but it does not re- 
semble them by reposing in part on granite, being confined 
entirely to rocks of the slate series. 

The porphyritic courses are not so common here as in 
Gwennap; but they often assume a very interesting form, 
occurring as insulated masses, which in some cases are per- 
fectly granitic, and at the same time afford every indication 
of their having been formed contemporaneously with the 
slate. The most curious geological phenomenon of this 
parish is to be met with in Relistion Mine, where one of 
the lodes, (metalliferous veins) at a considerable depth, is 
composed of rounded pedules, cemented together in a hard 
solid mass ; at first sight it would be pronounced to be a 
decided conglomerate of derivative origin ; but on a more 
close examination it is found to have the spheroidal struc- 
ture, which is common to many rocks, and which in regard 
to this mineral was probably coeval with its original forma- 
tion. 



145 



GWITHIAN. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the 
north the Irish Sea, or St. George's Channel, and that 
creek or cove called Gwithian Bay, east Illigan, west 
Phelack, south Gwyniar. 

The entry occurs, Rex tenet Canardi-tone, in the Domes- 
day tax 20 William 1. 1087. 

For in this parish is the voke lands of the great and 
privileged manor of Coner, or Conner-ton, which claims 
by prescription not only the royalties and jurisdiction within 
its limits, but also over the whole hundred of Penwith 
(id est, the head tree). Hence it is that this manor 
of Connerton is privileged not only with the jurisdic- 
tion of a Court Leet or Baron for the whole hundred of 
Penwith, within which two courts are tried all matters of 
debt and damage between party and party within the same, 
(life, land, and limb excepted,) wherein heretofore infinite 
number of causes have been depending, by reason of its 
being the most remote part of the kingdom from the Courts 
of Westminster; the steward or judge of which courts, 
(which offices commonly are vested in one person,) takes his 
deputation from the now lord of the manor, viz. Sir John 
Arundell, of Lanherne, Knight, and not from the King or 
Duke of Cornwall's stewards, as other bailiwicks do. 

For in the time of King Henry III. this manor was the 
King of England's or Earl of Cornwall's lands, who, by 
letters patent, yet to be seen at Lanherne, passed it over, 
together with the bailiwick of the said hundred, to Simon 
Pincerna, or Butler, lord of Lanherne, in consideration 
that he the said Simon had enfeoffed the said King Henry, 

VOL. II. L 



146 GWITHIAN. 

his heirs and successors, with the lordship and manor of 
St. James at Westminster, in the county of Middlesex. 
After which exchange or settlement, Pincerna and his heirs 
enjoyed this manor for several descents, till Edward Ill's 
days. At which time one of the two daughters and heirs of 
Pincerna was married to Arundell of Trenibleth, the direct 
ancestor of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Knight, now 
in possession of both those lordships. The other daughter 
to Umphravill. 

To remove an action at law depending in those Courts, 
the writ must be thus directed : " Senescallo et Ballivo 
hundredi et libertatis suae de Penwith in Comitatu Cornu- 
biae salutem." 

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Win- 
chester into the value of Cornish benefices, 1294, " Eccle- 
sia de Sancto Gwyth-ran, in decanatu de Penwidh," is 
valued cxiifo. iiita. It seems at the time of this inquisition 
this church was not consolidated into Phillack ; but before 
Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, it past in consolidation and 
value together with it, at 45/. 10s. 8tf. The patronage was 
formerly in the King of England, who endowed it ; now 
Arundell of Lanherne. And the parish is rated to the 4& 
per pound Land Tax, 1696, 58/. 2s. by the name Gwith-ran. 



TONKIN. 

This church is a rectory, daughter to Phillack, together 
with which it is rated in the King's Books, and passeth in 
the presentation. The patronage is in Arundell of Lan- 
herne, the incumbent Mr. Jasper Phillips. This gentle- 
man is since deceased, and has left the next presentation, 
held by lease under the Arundells, to his nephew Mr. 
Gregory, who has presented his brother-in-law, Mr. Ed- 
ward Collins, son of Mr. Collins, of Treworgy in St. Erm 
(great-grandfather to the Editor). 

This parish takes its name, like many others, from the 



GWITHIAN. 147 

Saint to whom the church is dedicated, called hy Mr. 
Carew, St Gothian. 



THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Hat's derivation is again so utterly improbable as 
to be omitted. 

The Arundells, being Catholics, leased the advowson of 
Phillack and Gwithian on lives, to prevent its lapsing to 
the University of Oxford, under an Act of Parliament 
On the death of Mr. Edward Collins it did so lapse, and 
the University presented Mr. William Glover, of Worces- 
tershire, first of Balliol College and then a chaplain of All 
Souls. A lease was then granted to Mr. Ho|kin, of Gwi- 
thian, and his son the Rev. Richard Hc^kin succeeded Mr. 
Glover, who on the general sale of all the Arundell pro- 
perty in Cornwall, purchased the freehold, so that his son 
is now patron and incumbent of the united parishes. 

Mr. Lysons says that the advowson of these united pa- 
rishes belonged to the Priory of St. James in Bristol, and I 
find a charter of King Henry II. 

" Henricus Dei gratia Rex Angliae, et Dux Normanniae 
et Aquitaniae, et Comes Andegaviae, Archiepiscopis, &c. sa- 
lutem. Sciatismeconcessisseetpraosenticartameaconfirmasse 
ecclesiae sancti Jacobi de Bristow omnia subscript^ quae 
Willielmus comes Gloecestriae ei rationabiliter concessit et 
dedit in perpetuam elemosinam, scilicet inter alia et omnes 
eoclesias quae sunt de feodo jam dicti comitis in Cornubia 
cum capellis et cum omnibus pertinentiis suis ; scilicet Ec- 
clesiam de Eglosrek, Ecclesiam de CONORTON, Eccle- 
siam de Eglasheil, Ecclesiam de Eglossant, Ecclesiam de 
Egloscraweyn, et Capellam de Bennartona, Ecclesiam de 
Melioton, et Ecclesiam Sancti Germoch. 

It is understood that the manor of Conorton had in some 
way been connected with the honour of Gloucester before 
the Conquest. William certainly gave it with that honour, 
to Alan Earl of Britanny. Rufiis had it again to bestow, 

i2 



148 GWITHIAN. 

and under his grant it descended to the Earls of Gloucester, 
originating in an illegitimate son of King Henry I. Wil- 
liam, the second of these earls, endowed the Priory of St. 
James. 

Mr. Lysons says that Robert Earl of Gloucester, son of 
this Robert, gave Conorton to Richard Pincerna in 1154, 
but he is clearly mistaken, for the date proves it to be done 
by the same William. Pincerna is a word used by writers 
mediae et infimae Latinitatis for butler. Qui vinum con- 
vivis miscet, a Graeco wtreiv Ktpva. Ducange. 

Mihi tapit dulciat vinum in taberna, 
Quam quod aqua miscuit Prsesulis Pincerna. 

Walter de Mapes. 

The son of this Pincerna took the name of Conorton, as 
was usual in those times, and settled at Lanherne; from 
this family it passed with Lanherne to the Arundells, by 
marriage, in whom it continued till the general wreck 
above referred to, when being reduced to a mere royalty 
it was bought by the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, and 
since his decease in 1829 the royalty has been purchased 
by an attorney, for the purpose in all probability of holding 
the courts. 

There is a tradition, supported by the authority of Ice- 
land, that a town so large as to contain two churches stood 
on this manor, which has been destroyed by sand ; but the 
tale must at the least be a very great exaggeration. 

The account given by Mr. Hals of the exchange of the 
manor of Conorton for St. James* in Westminster, can 
scarcely be made to quadrate with the above account, 
which appears to be authentic, and it is still further op- 
posed by the history of St. James's Hospital, as given by 
Tanner and Dugdale, they say : 

" At a distance from the city, in the fields near West- 
minster, some well disposed citizens of London, beyond the 
memory of man, and (as some think) long before the 
Conquest, founded a hospital for the reception of fourteen 



GWITHIAN. 149 

leprous women, to whom were afterwards added brethren, 
to minister divine service. This house was dedicated to St. 
James, and rebuilt in the time of King Henry III. 

It was under the government of a master (although the 
Abbat of Westminster claimed a jurisdiction over it) till 
King Henry VI. granted the perpetual custody of it to 
Eton College, who surrendered it to King Henry VIII. 
anno Regni 23, (A. D. 1531) when it was valued at 100/. 
per annum, in exchange for Chattisham in Suffolk. On 
or near the place where this hospital stood has been since 
built the present Royal Palace of St James. 

Mr. Lysons has been so fortunate as to obtain from the 
late rector some information respecting the inundation of 
sand, which has devastated a large portion of these two 
parishes, extending its ravages wherever the coast is low, 
throughout the whole northern space of Cornwall, from 
the Land's End to Devonshire. There has always existed 
a traditional account of this inundation, corroborated by 
the ecclesiastical valuations, which are far too high for the 
actual extent of land, and also said to be confirmed by do- 
cuments preserved in the Arundell family, carrying back 
the commencement of the evil nearly to the period of their 
acquiring the property. 

With respect to more recent inundations, Mr. Ho^kin 
stated to Mr. Lysons, that the barton of Upton, one of 
the principal farms, was suddenly overwhelmed ; that his 
great-grandfather remembered the occupier residing in the 
farmhouse, which was nearly buried in one night, the fa- 
mily being obliged to make their escape through the cham- 
ber windows ; and that in consequence of the wind pro- 
ducing a shifting of the sand, in the winter of 1808-9, the 
house, after having disappeared for more than a century, 
came again to view. 

The rector further stated that he himself remembered 
two fields lost at Gwithian, and that they are now covered 
with sand to the depth of ten or twelve feet, and that the 
church-town would have been also lost, if the parish 



150 G WITH I AN. 

officers had not promptly resorted to an expedient, which, 
simple as it may seem, has every where proved to be the 
most efficacious in arresting this gigantic evil, that of plant- 
ing rashes; these stop completely the progress of sand, 
and greatly facilitate the growth of other vegetation on the 
surface, so as to create a thin turf. The hillocks of sand 
exhibit a model in miniature of the Alps* 

This sand is entirely calcareous, being a mass of commi- 
nuted shells, and immense quantities are carried away for 
manure, more especially in the cultivation of strong clay 
lands ; but no method sufficiently cheap for practice has yet 
been invented for burning this shell sand into lime, as the 
fine powder chokes the fuel in any kiln, and a reverbe- 
ratory furnace is much too expensive. 

On the opposite coast of Cornwall the sand is siliceous. 

Godrery belongs to Lord De Dunstanville, a bold pro- 
montory distinguished by an island beyond it, and by a 
dangerous reef extending far into St. Ive's Bay. 

Other lands are much divided. Mr. Ho^kin the present 
rector, and his relations, are considerable proprietors, and 
several resident farmers live on their own freeholds, Mr. 
Veal, Mr. Phillips, and others. 

Notice has been taken of a very large fig tree growing in 
the^churchyard ; the wonder is much diminished by know- 
ing that this tree was planted by the late rector; but as 
chalk is of all soils the most favourable to figs, it is not im- 
probable that calcareous sand may participate in the same 
quality. 

The parish feast is held on the nearest Sunday to the 
first of November, All Saints Day. 

This parish measures 2,249 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815, 1,110 

Poor Rate in 1831 92 2 

Palatum J 111 1801 > I in 1811 > I in 182l > I in 1831 

Population,-j 32g >| 372 | 412 >| ^ 
giving an increase of about 64 per cent in 30 years. 



HELL AND. 151 

GEOLOGY, BY OR. BOASE. 

The rocks of this parish are well exhibited at Godrery 
Point, they consist of a fine blue and fissile slate, and of a 
thick lamellar and somewhat compact rock. They are not 
metalliferous, and resemble those of Trevaunance in St. 
Agnes. The greater part of the parish is covered with hil- 
locks of calcareous sand, as is common on many parts of 
the north coast 



HELLAND. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Trigge, and hath upon the 
north St Mabyn, East Blissland, and part of Bodmin pa- 
rish; south, Bodmin Town; west, part of St. Mabyn and 
Egleshayle. The name refers to the church, and signifies 
the hall college, temple, or church. 

That there was an endowed rectory church here before 
the Norman Conquest I make no doubt, since in the 
Domesday Roll it is taxed by the name of Henland, and also 
in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Win- 
chester into the value of Church Benefices in Cornwall, 
1294, " Ecclesia de Hellan in decanatu de Trigminor- 
shire," is valued xl#. In Wolsey*s Inquisition, 1521, 
9/. 13s. 4rf. The patronage formerly in the Prior of Bodmin, 
who endowed it; after in Heale and Bulteel; now in 
Robins, or Tress, or Trelawny ; and the parish rated to the 
4*. per pound Land-Tax, 1696, by the name of Helland, 
84i 17*. 4d. The incumbent White. 

At Bo-cuny-an, in this parish, is the dwelling of my 
very kind friend Dr. Robert Heart, who married Moles- 



152 HEIJL.AND. 

worth and Hawkey ; originally descended from the Hearts 
of Tencreek, of Mynbyniet, or St German's, and giveth for 
his arms. Gules, on a chief Argent three human hearts 
Proper. 

Note further, that whosoever is possessed in fee of the bar- 
ton of Helland, (for Bara-ton, i. e. the Bread Town lands in 
this parish,) is legal patron of the same, paying only 40*. 
to the Rector Incumbent for the time being, in full satis- 
faction for all the great and small tithes of the said barton, 
according to an ancient pact or composition made between 
the first Rector thereof and the Prior of Bodmin, who en- 
dowed it. Which sum of 40*. per annum at the time of 
the Inquisition aforesaid, was the value of the tithes of the 
whole parish. 

Note further, wherever the word barton occurs in this 
history, it being Cornish British, it must be interpreted 
either as the barred, bolted, or fenced towne, or as a con- 
traction of the word Bara-ton aforesaid, for as bara is 
bread in British, so ton or tone is a town or village, a 
manor, parish, tenement, or part thereof; the place where 
commonly the lord of the land had a well bolted or 
barred house to dwell in ; or else a town or house which 
was notable for keeping or dispensing freely of bread for 
support of man's life. 

TONKIN. 

The words Hel or Hale are at least the Cornish pronun- 
ciation of the English hall, atrium, and this word was ap- 
plied to churches as well as to gentlemen's houses in various 
parts of England, as Helldon Rectory in Norfolk Hailing, 
Kent, &c, and see the 140th stanza of Mount Calvary. 

Pylat eth yn met ay hell yn un lowarth an gero 
Pylat went oat of y e hall into a garden w** he found, 

But after all, if we may believe the parishioners, the name 



HELLAND. 153 

is a contraction for Helen's Land, the church being dedi- 
cated to St. Helena, the mother of Constantine. 

In this parish lived the old family of the GifFords, who 
married one of the inheritrixes of the Esses, or Vanstorts, . 
in the time of Henry VI. as Gilford's heiress was mar- 
ried to Nicbolls of Penrose. 



THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Whitaker has observed, in a note on what Mr. Hals 
says on the word barton, a term now almost indiscri- 
minately applied to all large farms, although in former 
times it was probably restricted to what Mr. Hals denomi- 
nates the yoke land of a manor. 

Barton in English is Bere-ton, as Berwick, and signifies 
primarily a farm-house distinguished by the corn generally 
raised, once bere, or barley ; and from the house the term 
has been transferred to the estate annexed. Baraton here 
means the same as bara, bread or com, bara pill the corn 
harbour, bara-Llan, barton (Cornish) a cornfield, and barn 
(as in English) a corn-house. 

Mr. Lysons mentions several manors in this parish, but 
they do not appear ever to have possessed any importance 
or curiosity, except that the manor of Penhargard belonged 
to the unfortunate Chief Justice Trevilian, and that the 
barton of Brades or Broads was for some time the seat of a 
younger branch of the Glynns. 

Robert Glynn, Esq. residing there, married in 1711 
Lucy Clobery, and their only son was Doctor Glynn, a 
Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, well known and dis- 
tinguished for his abilities, learning, and philanthropy, 
and in some degree also for occasional eccentricities. He 
obtained not merely one of the University prizes, but great 
reputation by a Latin Poem on the Day of Judgment, in 
the year 1757 ; and in illustration of other parts of his 
character, having attended as a physician on the family of 
some agricultural labourer near Cambridge, and restored 



154 HELLAND. 

them to health, the man's wife lamented their poverty, but 
begged of the Doctor to take a tame bird in their posses- 
sion, as the only thing in their power to bestow. Doctor 
Glynn accepted the present, but declared that he could not 
keep his bird in a college room, and that therefore they 
must keep it for him, at an allowance of half a crown a 
weeK* 

To be invited by Doctor Glynn to drink tea at his room 
was always considered as an honour by the younger mem- 
bers of the University, and the Editor remembers to have 
heard that Mr. Pitt, then at the head of the government, 
and just elected into a seat more flattering than any office 
the crown could confer, expressed himself pleased by the 
repetition of these invitations from Doctor Glynn. 

Helland measures 2,053 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 1,588 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 108 

v , . Tin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- | 221 | 223 | 264 | 2Q5 

giving an increase of 29 per cent in 30 years. 

Present Rector, the Rev, Francis J. Hext, presented in 
1817, by William Morshead, Esq. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The geology of this parish is similar to that of the 
western part of Bodmin. It is however worthy of remark 
that in the road from Bodmin to Camelford several beds of 
granitic elvan are exposed to view. The first at the top of 
die hill near Smith's, resembles a coarse granitic sandstone, 
and at its junction with the slate both rocks are perfectly 
distinct, not having any appearance of transition, which 
circumstance is in favour of its being a derivative rock. This 
subject, however, requires further examination. The other 
elvans are more compact and porphyritic, and contain 
hornblende, resembling those of Carraton Hill, near Lis- 
keard, situated within the granite. 



155 



HELSTON. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the 
east Gwendron, west Sythney and the Loopoole, south 
Maugan and Gunwallo. 

That this was a privileged place, and the voke lands of 
a manor, with court leet, before the Norman Conquest, I 
make no doubt, since the whole hundred of Kerryer, in 
King Alfred's days, was in chief denominated from it. 
Besides this testimony, in Domesday Roll 20 William I. 
1087, we read that by the name of Henliston, it was then 
taxed. Moreover, Brooke, York Herald, tells us temp. 
James I. in the Catalogue of Cornish Earls, that the privi- 
leges of this town or manor were concerted into a charter, 
and incorporated by Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Corn- 
wall, 3d son of King Henry II. surnamed Cur-lyon, from 
his lion-like heart, in the name of Helleston, as appeared 
from the charter, which he had then in his custody, to the 
seal whereof was affixed a lion rampant. It was also made 
one of the four coinage towns by King Edward I. in his 
charter to the Tinners, by the same name (See the charter 
under Luxilian). As also incorporated into the Duchy of 
Cornwall, by the same name 1336, when King Edward III. 
to his son die Black Prince promoted or translated the 
Earldom of Cornwall into a Duchy or Dukedom. 

Whereby this town is also confirmed to be the voke 
lands of the manors or stanneries of Helston and Kerryer, 
(id est, Hall, Broad Town, and Lover,) and privileged with 
a Court Leet, wherein all pleas of debt and damage, be- 
tween party and party, concerning tin matters, are tried 
by a jury of six men, before the Vice Warden and Steward 
of the Stanneries, (under the Lord Warden thereof,) life, 
land, and limb excepted. It is also privileged with a Court 






156 HELSTON. 

Leet before the tribunal of the Mayor and Aldermen, and 
Quarterly Sessions of the Peace, and sending two members 
to Parliament; markets weekly on Saturday; fairs on Au- 
gust 29, October 28, Saturday before Midlent Sunday, 
Saturday before Palm Sunday, Whitsun Monday, and two 
fairs before St. Thomas a Becket's day. Moreover, these 
privileges were confirmed and enlarged by charters temp. 
Queen Elizabeth and King Charles I. by the name of the 
Mayor and Burgesses, who consist of a Mayor (who is a 
Justice of the Peace for the Borough, the year succeeding 
his Mayoralty), and four Aldermen, who elect as many 
Common Councilmen as make their number twelve. Their 
Members of Parliament are elected by the majority of the 
freemen, and returned by the Mayor, to whom the precept 
on the writ for election must be thus directed, as well as 
that for removing an action depending in the Leet of Hel- 
ston to a superior Court : 

" Majori et Burgensibus Burgi nostri de Helleston in 
Comitatu Cornubiae, salutem." 

Not far from this town stands the ruins of an old camp, 
or intrencbment, called Castle Werre, or Wera, an old fort 
or citadel to defend it from its enemies' invasion. The arms 
of which town are Argent, a castle, or house, garreted on 
the top thereof, between two watch-towers, the Archangel 
St. Michael fighting with a dragon, or the devil. 

That King Edward I. frequented this place for delight 
or pleasure, or designed so to do, upon the death of his 
uncle Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, 
when the Earldom of Cornwall reverted to himself, in right 
of his Crown of England, Anno Dom. 1272, is evident 
from his graining lands by the tenure of grand sergeantry 
to William de Treville, on condition of bringing a fish- 
hook and a boat and net, at his own proper costs and 
charges, for the king's fishing in the lake of Helston, when- 
soever the King should come to Helston, and as long as he 
slioukl tarry there. See the copy of this enfeofment deed 
In Sythney parish. 



HELSTON. 157 

The chief inhabitants of this coinage town for tin are 
Mr. Penrose, Mr. Polkinhorne, Mr. Hooker, attorney at 
law, Mr. Williams, Mr. Rawe, Mr. Burges, Mr. Pinock, 
and others. 

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Win- 
chester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, the 
church of Helston is not named, but passed then under the 
title of its mother or superior church, Gwendron, into which 
it was consolidated, 17/. 6s. 8d. ; in Wolsey's Inquisition, 
by the names of Wendron and Helston, 26/. 19.9. 3d. ; both 
endowed, I suppose, by the Master or Governor of St. 
John's Hospital at Sythney, who were patrons thereof till 
the 6th Henry VIII. when it was dissolved, now Jago; the 
incumbent Jago ; and the town or parish of Helston rated 
to the 4*. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 181/. 9s. 4d. 

In the year 1727 happened in those parts astonishing 
claps of thunder and lightning, which in fine broke down 
and tore in pieces the greatest part of this town's church 
and tower, and did it damage to the value of two or three 
hundred pounds in repair thereof. 

TONKIN. 

This church is a Vicarage, endowed, and passeth in the 
presentation with Gwendron. 

Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, tells us that 
within this town was an hospital, but gives no further ac- 
count of it; so that it is unknown to me whether it were a 
spital erected for the relief of pilgrims from abroad, or for 
the use of sick impoverished people within the town. 
Most assured I am that near this place there was a priory 
erected to the name of St. John the Baptist. 

THE EDITOR. 

I have omitted some paragraphs from Hals and from 
Tonkin respecting several derivations of the name " Hel- 



158 HELSTON. 

stone," as all the circumstances of the place seem to point 
at one so decidedly as to exclude all consideration of the 
others. No doubt this one transgresses an arbitrary rule 
confining the themes of all derivations to a single lan- 
guage; but the instances in Contradiction are so numerous 
throughout all England, as to render this circumstance of 
no importance. 

The spot long used as a bowling-green is acknowledged 
on all hands to have been the site of an ancient castle. It 
must therefore have been the nucleus of the town ; and 
the marsh extending from the Loo Pool along the valley, 
passes under the scarped rampart of the castle. 

Hellas is well known to signify a marsh in the Celtic 
dialect used in Cornwall, and the termination Ton, the 
origin of our general word town, signified, in the Saxon, — 
more especially a walled town, or fortress; Helleston is 
therefore the fortress on the marsh. 

The first charter of incorporation given to Helston, at 
least from the supreme feudal chief, is said to have been by 
King John. It is, however, highly probable that privileges 
of guild may have been bestowed long before by the 
Princes of Cornwall, vassals from the time of Athelstan. 
Various other charters were granted, till, in the early part 
of the reign of George III. the number of corporators 
became so reduced that the remainder were incapable of 
performing any corporate act ; a new charter was in con- 
sequence obtained, and at the next general election the 
individuals named in it returned two members; but six 
persons remaining of the former party did the same : and 
so strong at that period was the feeling for chartered rights, 
in consequence of the conduct pursued by King Charles II. 
and his successor, that a committee of the House of Com- 
mons determined the right to remain in this fragment, in- 
capable of performing any other civil act. And songs were 
made on the occasion, comparing these heroes with Eustace 
de St. Pierre and his companions. 



HELSTON. . 159 

When Edward set down before Calais, 

Replete with nge and with malice, 
Not the six famous burghers 

More courage displayed 
Than the sis men of Helston. 

One, if not two more returns were made in the same 
manner, till the number being fallen down to two very old 
men, they were induced to wave their privilege, partly, it is 
said, from an apprehension entertained that the maxim of 
Roman law, tres faciunt collegiara, might be effectually 
urged against them. 

A custom had grown up at Helston, from early times, 
and by no means peculiar to that place, in compliance with 
which the patron, a well known and definite appellation, 
paid all the parochial rates; but an opinion may be 
formed of their small amount at no distant period, from the 
following statement. The Editor being on a Committee 
of the House of Commons, to consider and report on the 
poor laws soon after the conclusion of the late war, laid be- 
fore the Committee a copy of a poor rate made for a parish in 
the west of England in the year 1704 : it amounted to four 
pounds and some few shillings, while in the current year it 
exceeded six hundred pounds. 

This practise in Helston became the ground of a pe- 
tition after the general election of 1812; and, opinions 
having now changed, the matter was taken up so seri- 
ously in the House of Commons, as to induce the passing 
of a bill for disfranchising the borough. The other branch 
of the legislature, however, considered the practice, al- 
though wrong in itself, yet a delictum sine crimine, in this 
particular instance, as it most clearly appeared that some 
leading gentlemen, possessed of such influence as would 
have enabled them to make great lucrative advantages for 
themselves other ways, were benefited in so slight a degree 
by these payments, as to make it quite evident that self- 
interest had not been the motive of their conduct. The 



160 HELSTON. 

bill did not pass into a law, and the town became regularly 
assessed like other places. The well-known connection 
usual in such cases had long subsisted between this town and 
the neighbouring family of Godolphin. 

At the period of the last heraldic visitation in 1640, the 
signatures to the return of arms, &c. were, 

The mark x of John Roe William Robinson. 

Moyes. Thomas James. 

Thomas Seyntaubyn. John Herbert. 

Dated October 9, 1640. 

And the members of the corporation are stated to be, 

burgesses. Thomas Jaines. 

John Rowe Moyes. Robert Cock. 

Thomas St. Aubyn, Gent. William Penhaluwick. 

William Robinson. Daniel Bedford. 

Alexander Bolytho. " William Trewin. 

John Harbert. Patrick Eesseme. 

John Alexander. John Cock 

Thomas Godolphin, of Go- Thomas Randall, Steward 

dolphin, Esq. Record- of the said Town and 

er. Corporation. 

In the Parliament preceding that, the Editor's great- 
great-grandfather, William Noye, afterwards Attorney- 
General, represented Helston; and he himself had the 
same honour in the Parliament following the Union with 
Ireland. On the total change of the parliamentary consti- 
tution in 1832, the limits of Helston were extended so as 
to include a large portion of Wendron and the entire 
parish of Sithney. And the whole was reduced to sending 
one Member, or, according to a familiar expression, it was 
placed in Schedule B. 

On that occasion a letter was addressed to a gentleman 
of the town, in return for a present of some delicacies, so 



HELSTON. 161 

full of wit and humour that the Editor, having been favoured 
with a copy, is induced to insert it. 

" Your very obliging present made its appearance this 
day, together with your note of the 2d instant; pray, 
accept my best thanks for the same, the quality of which 
will, I have no doubt, on trial fully justify the favourable 
impression already made by their fragrance. 

" Under the melancholy circumstances of affliction in 
which your town must be plunged by the announcement of 
the intended spoliation of a moiety of its electoral privileges, 
it is most pleasing to recognise a disposition in the leading 
citizens to impart of their good things to others ; and al- 
though I should at all times have been much delighted by 
any mark of your friendly remembrance, yet it is doubly 
gratifying at a period like the present, when public em- 
barrassments might naturally be supposed to absorb every 
other feeling, and to leave little room for indulging a spirit 
of individual philanthropy. 

" Allow me, however, to express the hope, that as, when 
Hercules broke off the horn of the river god Achelous, it 
became the medium through which the golden gifts of the 
Genius of Plenty were showered down, so the ancient and 
patriotic borough of Helston, although shorn of a part of 
its long-enjoyed honours, and mutilated as to one of its 
protectors, may still flourish with a cornucopia of abun- 
dance and of prosperity. 

2671. (0ve, <j>v€, ottotoi, irairai, at, at) 2671. 

quoth the Population Return for 1821. 

" For which slight numerical deficiency, and for no earthly 
offence imputable to the inhabitants, save that of a prac- 
tical application of the principle ' non numero, sed honore 
valemus," the long-standing privileges of loyal men are 
scandalously invaded, and a body of independent electors 
declared incapable of exercising more than one half of their 
prescriptive rights. 

VOL. II. m 



162 HELSTON. 

" I seem to hear an indignant voter of Hekton exclaim, 
* Why this measure of penal severity, accompanied at the 
same time with an apparent mitigation and leniency? 
Political annihilation had been a milder doom ; extermi- 
nation from the lists of suspected corruption had been far 
better than thus to suffer mutilation from the pruning knife 
of reform, beneath the wound inflicted by which the gan- 
grene of dissatisfaction will still lurk and fester for ever. 



• Mene Iliacia occumbere campis 



Non potuisse ! 

Happier were it to have sunk amidst the ruins of Sarum, 
or to have perished in the plains of Gatton, 

Ssevus ubi ^Eacidae telo jacet Hector, ubi ingens 
Sarpedon 

than to be thus sent adrift, single-masted and disabled, on 
the doubtful sea of political adventure. They who now 
fall, 

Suiuptis apud [lion armis. 

will meet no inglorious fate ; under the banners of Peel, 
or the shield of Wetherall, it will be honourable to be 
conquered ; and the page of history will supply a never- 
dying splendour for the illustrious patriots whose destinies 
were sealed by the Parliament of 1831. But to be denied 
this noble privilege, to remain a still-enduring monument 
of the wrongs inflicted, and of the mercies awarded ! to be 
held up as an example of the wisdom of half-measures, and 
the policy of semi-destruction ! to J>e denied the consola- 
tion of despair ! and to be snatched from the gulph of ruin 
to an acuter sensation of helplessness ! 

^KXrjpoKapbios ap etrj 
'Ory Tab' ov fieXqtrel. 

The remainder of this classic dirge, or aslinon, no less 
remarkable for the purity of its diction than for the fine 



HELSTON. 163 

flow of feeling and tone of patriotism by which it is charac- 
terised, is intended to form a part of a great national work, 
to be printed at the Clarendon press, and to be sent forth 
into the world, — Iliadum lachrymas inter* justasque 
querelas. 

" But I find that I must come to a hasty conclusion ; 
trusting therefore that you will pardon my adventuring to 
meddle with any thing so sacred as a venerable borough 
in affliction, and begging you will present my unfeigned 
condolence to all parties interested to whom I have the 
honour of being known, I remain, &c." 

The old church is said by Mr. Hals to have been greatly 
injured by a thunder-storm in 1727. It appears never to 
have been thoroughly repaired ; and in 1763, Lord Godol- 
phin, the patron, built a large church and a lofty tower, 
nearly on the site of the former. The church is without 
pillars, and capable of containing a numerous congrega- 
tion ; but the whole is strongly characteristic of the bad 
taste prevalent at the period when it was erected. 

Just over the bridge leading to the westward stood the 
hospital dedicated to St. John, and founded by a member 
of the Killegrews. The spot is still marked by a large 
upright stone near the bridge, bearing the sward with its cros- 
letted hilt, the cognizance of the military order of St. John. 
Little, however, is known about it. Dugdale states that 
at the dissolution in the 26th of Henry VIII. the total 
annual revenue of the house amounted to 14/. 7«. 4d. and 
the actual receipts to 12/. 16s. 4d. 

About the year 1805 the town received a very consider- 
able improvement by the removal of the Coinage Hall from 
the middle of the principal street leading south-west from 



* " Ad old scholiast upon this passage proposes to read ineritas ; but says little 
in defence of his suggestion, beyond adverting to divers suicidal acts of the 
ultra Tories, as he calls them, which are said to have been perpetrated by them 
on various occasions." 

M 2 



164 HELSTON. 

the middle of the town. The Editor at that time repre- 
sented Helston, and had the good fortune to assist mate- 
rially in promoting the negotiation with the Duchy officers, 
in consequence of bis acquaintance with Mr. Sheridan, and 
with others whose consent was necessary to be obtained. 
The Market-house is a venerable monument of former 
times; yet, if this also could be removed, the improvement 
would equal that effected by the former. 

Helston, in great measure unconnected with trade or 
with a sea port, little of a thoroughfare before the turnpike 
road was made, surrounded by the residences of ancient, 
respectable, and wealthy families, and inhabited by gentle- 
men of a similar description, has ever been celebrated for 
the superior quality of its social manners, and at the same 
time for an easy and familiar intercourse between all the 
people in their various statipns; the inferior experiencing 
the truth of what all the histories of all nations have con- 
firmed from the earliest periods of Greece to the recent 
events of our own time, 

Ap^aiowkovruv beaworiav 7roXkrj X a P ls ' 
'Ot 8* ovwot' e\ici(ravTes 9 rj/irjtrav icaXws, 
Qjjloi re bovXots, icavra Kai wapa croft iir\v. 

And the reverse of 

Attcm &c rpayy% % otrris ay veov Kparrj, 

These circumstances account for the continuance of old 
manners and of old customs longer here than in other 
places. 

All towns appear to have adopted, on one day at least in 
the year, practices similar to the Roman Saturnalia; in 
most places, the lines of society having become broad and 
strongly impressed, their observances descended to the 
more vulgar, or rather perhaps to the vicious; and changing 
their character from harmless amusements to practices of 



HELSTON. 165 

outrage and violence, they have been discontinued or 
suppressed: but in Helston an ancient observance of 
this kind, refining with the refinement of the age, still 
continues in activity. 

The origins of all these customs are obscured or totally 
lost in their remote antiquity. That of Helston corres- 
ponded, however, precisely with its name — " a foray," locally 
corrupted into furray ; the young people rushed out of the 
town into the country early on the eighth of May, when, 
entering all houses without leave or ceremony, they ap- 
peared to seize whatever they wanted, and from the real 
nature of the transactions, whatever they wanted was sure 
of being found ; and ultimately they returned to the town 
in triumph, dancing and decorated with flowers, where the 
scenes of the morning were, in some degree, repeated. All 
these practices, however, are less and less persevered in 
from year to year, so that the whole is rapidly tending 
towards the single entertainment of a ball ; and if the ladies 
had succeeded in a classical fancy, which, some how or other, 
got possession of their minds, the very memory of this 
festival would have been lost. 

Not intimately acquainted, one may presume, with the 
true history of the patroness they had selected to sanction 
their gaieties, the goddess Flora was made to preside over 
a foray, instituted, as some assert, before the Norman con- 
quest, and in commemoration of a victory obtained over 
the Saxons, who had landed at a cove still called Perth- 
sasnac; but the utter absurdity of the substitution, and 
the popularity given to the word foray by Sir Walter 
Scott's Poems, have restored the ancient and true appel- 
lation. 

Causes similar to those which have retained the foray, 
have also kept up the practice of bowling; so that in 
Helston alone can one now see the principal gentlemen of 
the town assembled on the bowling-green, enjoying at once 
exercise, fresh air, and agreeable intercourse, free from any 



166 HELSTON. 

spirit of gambling and from the slightest indulgence of a 
habit more common and less excusable. 

The word faddy is used to express the dance, the air, or 
both, used in celebrating the foray ; the origin of this term 
is quite unknown. 

The air is preserved by Edward Jones in his Musical 
and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards. He has also 
printed some lines which were sung by the dancers ; they 
are, however, so entirely devoid of sense, or even of anti- 
quity, that I shall not transcribe them. 

The air is supposed to be a remnant of British music ; 
one very like it, if not identically the same, has been found 
in Ireland, and according to report in Scotland. It may 
therefore be justly esteemed a curiosity. 

The measurement of Helston is included in Gwendron ; 
and the value of Real Property is not distinguished in 
the returns to Parliament from the parish. 

The Poor Rates and Population have been given under 
Gwendron (Wendron), but they are here repeated. 

Poor Rate in 1831, £889. 17*. 

PoDulation l in 1801 > I in 18ll > I ' m 1821 > I m 1881 ' 
ropuiation,— | 224g | g297 | 26n | 3293 

giving an increase of 46$ per cent in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The northern part of this parish, approaching the gra- 
nite of Wendron, is composed of felspar and hornblende 
rocks; the southern so much abounds in some parts 
with siliceous varieties of rock as to form barren downs, 
which stretch from Love Bar to the vicinity of Gweek. 



167 



ST. HILARY. 

Mr. Hals begins his account of this parish with a long 
history of the patron saint, including all the controversies 
or disputed points of doctrine in which he was engaged ; 
all this, extending through many pages, is omitted. 

St. Hilary was born at Poictiers, in France, about the 
end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century. 

He was descended from an illustrious family, and re- 
ceived an education suited to his station in life, by which 
he was initiated into all the secular learning of those times ; 
but finding the Pagan mythology utterly absurd, and the 
prevalent system of philosophy quite unsatisfactory, he ex- 
amined the Christian writings, and became a convert. He 
seems never to have adopted the brutalizing austerities so 
prevalent in those ages, but to have employed his talents* 
his acquired eloquence, and his learning, against the Arians 
and in defence of the Nicene creed. Several of his works 
are extant, and have gone through many editions. The 
whole were printed by the Benedictine Monks of Paris, 
" St. Hilarii Opera omnia per Monachos Benedictinos 
edita; Gr. et Lat. Parisiis, 1693, Fol." Erasmus published 
the works of St. Hilary in 1544, and says in his Preface, 
" Quicquid ingenio, quicquid eloquentia, quicquid sacra- 
rum literarum cognitione posset ; " and his contemporary, 
St. Jerome, says of him, " Hilarius, meorum Confessor 
temporum, et Episcopus, duodecim Quintiliani libros et 
titulo imitatus est et numero;" referring to his twelve 
books on the Trinity. 

In the judgment of modern critics his style at least is 
not thought worthy of all the praise bestowed on it by St. 
Jerome ; for, although it is stated to be lofty and noble, and 
moreover beautified with rhetorical ornaments and figures, 
yet it is too much studied and lengthened in many periods, 
so as to be obscure and even unintelligible. 



168 ST. HILARY. 

The following passage on singleness of heart, has been 
cited by various authors. 

" Christ teaches that only those who become again, as it 
were, little children, and by the simplicity of that age cut 
off the inordinate affections of vice, can enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. Those follow and obey their father, 
love their mother, are strangers to covetousness, ill-will, 
hatred, arrogance, lying, and are inclined easily to believe 
what they hear. This disposition of affection opens the 
way to heaven. We must therefore return to the sim- 
plicity of little children, in which we shall bear some re- 
semblance to our Lord's humility." From his commen- 
tary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. 

St. Hilary, previous to his conversion, had married, and 
his family consisted of one daughter; he immediately 
separated himself from them ; his wife retired into a reli- 
gious society. And after the saint had been consecrated 
Bishop of Poictiers in the year 355, he learned with the 
utmost horror and affright that his daughter was about to 
take on herself the unholy bonds of matrimony. His 
prompt and impassioned remonstrances conveyed in a letter 
which is printed among his works, conjuring her by the 
God of heaven not to act so unworthy a part, were suc- 
cessful ; the marriage was broken off, and he had the gra- 
tification of seeing his daughter, a spouse of Christ, expire 
not long after at his feet. 

St. Hilary composed a treatise which might in ordinary 
times have conciliated him to every sect then in existence. 
He there maintained that errors on speculative points of 
abstruse doctrine, were more sinful in the sight of God than 
any conduct the most atrocious; but controversy ran so 
high, and St. Hilary had taken a part so violent against 
the Arians, that even this merit could not save him from 
banishment, when that equally poised division of the 
church obtained some temporary preponderance in a 
synod, or succeeded in acquiring to their party the tem- 
poral chief; who, without using the form of words, prac- 



ST. HILARY. 169 

tically evinced that he was " over all persons and over all 
causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil, within those his domi- 
nions supreme." 

The saint, however, died at Poictiers in the year 368. 
St. Augustine relates many miracles wrought at his tomb ; 
but the relics are said to have been removed to the Abbey 
of St. Denis, near Paris ; and his festival is kept on the 
14th of January, although it is not certain either that be 
died, or that* his relics were translated on that particular 
day. 

HALS. 

Hilary is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath 
upon the north St. Earth, west Gulval, [Ludgvan Editor,] 
east Germow, south and west the Mounts Bay and Peran- 
uthno. As for the name Hilary, it is derived from the tutelar 
guardian and patron of this church, viz. St. Hilary, Bishop 
of Poictiers in Gaul, the maul and hammer against the 
Arians, whose fame is eternized in the Roman agonals and 
festivals, though his memory and day is not celebrated as a 
martyr, but as one of the principal confessors of the Roman 
church ; that is to say, one of those that suffered great per- 
secution for the name and Gospel of Christ Jesus. 

In Domesday book this district, or parish, was taxed 
under the jurisdiction of Lanmigall, i. e. Michael's church 
or temple; now St. Michael's Mount and Tremarastell, 
i. e. the market hole or cell, of which more under. 

In the Taxation, or value, of Cornish Benefices aforesaid, 
made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, 
Ecclesia de Sancti Hilary in decanatu de Penwith, ap- 
propriata Priori Sancti Micaelis, is rated to first fruits 
lxxiita. iiiirf. In Wolsey's Inquisition and Valor Benefi- 
ciorum, St. Hilary Vicarage is valued 11/. 6s. Od. The 
patronage formerly in the Abbat or Prior of St. Michael's 
Mount, who endowed it. After its dissolution, 26th Henry 
VIII. it fell to the crown, and was sold to Militon, whose six 



170 ST. HILARY. 

daughters and heirs invested their husbands and purchasers 
therewith ; the patronage now alternately in Erisey, Go- 
dolphin, Buller, and others (or Roberts); the garb, or 
rectory, in possession of Pennock. The parish of St. 
Hilary was rated to the 4#. per pound Land Tax, of 1696, 
at 1202. 

Tregumbo, also Tregimbo, is the dwelling of Captain 
John Pinneck, Deputy-Governor of the Island of Scilly, 
under Sir William Godolphin, Knight, salary about 13/. 
per annum ; who married Davies. 

Treveneage, in this parish, was formerly the lands of 
Sir Thomas Arundell, of Tolverne, Knight, who sold this 
barton and manor to Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fentongallan, 
knight, whose son and heir, John Hals, sold it to Walker 
of Exeter ; from whose heirs it came by purchase to. Sir 
Joseph Tredinham, Knight, now in possession thereof. 

On the confines of this parish is situate the ancient ma- 
nor and borough of Marazion.(a) 

In Domesday Roll, 20th William I. 1087, this place 
was taxed by the name of Tremarastoll ; that is to say, the 
cell, chapel, or hole market-town; situate in a remote 
corner, vallum, or pit, upon the seashore of St. Michael's 
Mount. At which time, no doubt, the Abbat or Prior of 
St. Michael's Mount (as they were afterwards till 26th 
Henry VIII. when that Abbey was dissolved), were lords 
and high lords thereof; when it was privileged with the 
jurisdiction of a court leet ; as afterwards, temp. Henry II. 
with sending two of its members to sit in the Commons' 
House of Parliament. But, as appears from the Parliament 
Rolls in the Tower of London, after the dissolution of the 
Abbey or Priory aforesaid, this town neglected to send its 
Members, " for that it could not conveniently pay its bur- 
gesses their daily wages, propter paupertatem, which are 
the words of the record, (b) It is also privileged with a fair, 
or mart, on July 11th, November 30th, Good Friday, and 
Palm Monday ; and a market weekly on Saturdays. 



ST. HILARY. 171 

And as a further mark of its ancient grandeur, I take it 
still to be an incorporate mayor or portreeve town ; but 
more sure I am, that, as some other petty corporations' 
names in Cornwall are adjectives merged or fallen in or 
upon the parishes wherein they are situate, as Camel- 
ford, Mitchell, &c. this town is a noun substantive, and 
stands charged, by itself in the Exchequer to the 4*. per 
pound Land Tax, 1696, by the name of the borough of 
Maraszeyan, 76/. 12s. 6rf. 

In the beginning of the reign of King Henry VIII. (1514) 
when war had been proclaimed against the French King, a 
fleet of French men of war, consisting of thirty sail, with 
some marine regiments of soldiers therein, coasting in our 
British Channel, at length came into this Mount's Bay, and 
there dropped anchor ; when soon after they landed a con- 
siderable number, or quantity, of seamen and soldiers, and 
marched in hostile manner towards this town. Which the 
inhabitants observing, they forsook their houses, and fled 
to the hill country; whereby the Frenchmen became 
peaceably possessed thereof, and plundered the same for 
some days, till they understood that John Carminow, of 
Fentongollan, Esq. was coming or marching towards them, 
with his posse comitatus, to give them battle ; when instantly 
they set the town on fire, and the houses on the contiguous 
part of the country, and burnt the same totally to the 
ground, to the great loss and damage of the inhabitants, 
and forthwith fled to their ships for safety and protection ; 
and thereupon their ships hoisted anchors and put forth to 
sea again. Where they had not long been till Sir Anthony 
Oughthred, King Henry VIII.'s Admiral at sea, with a 
squadron of thirty men of war, met and gave them battle, 
to their great loss of men and some ships of war, whilst the 
rest of their fleet ran away, and fled into the haven of 
Brest for safety and protection. 



172 ST. HILARY. 



THE HISTORY OF ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT. PART I. 

So called, for that our ancestors, the Britons, appre- 
hended the appearance of the Archangel St. Michael, 
about the year of our Lord 495, was in this place, though 
the Italians say it was upon Mount Garganus, in their 
country, and the Frenchmen tell us that it was upon 
their Mount St. Michael, in Normandy ; such difference 
amongst writers is about it; and verily this matter of fact 
is worth contending for, since the etymology of Michael 
is " sicut Deus," i. e. as God, as I have shewn elsewhere 
under other churches to him dedicated. It appears from 
the history of the church of Landaff, as Mr. Camden hath 
observed, that this mount was called Dinsill, and Dinsull, 
but what those words should signify he could not tell.(c) 

Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 154, tells us, 
that beside those religious appellations that were given to 
it, it was called in British, Cara cowz in clouz, which 
he .interprets as the Grey rock in the flood, a corruption 
of Carra clo gris en an coos ; i. e. rock-clo-grey in the 
wood. (J) Of this place Mr. Carew, and Mr. Camden that 
trode in his steps, tells us, that it was the Ocrinum, Ojcptw^i, 
or Ocrinium of Ptolomy and Atticus, the Greek geogra- 
phers; and yet Camden, in another place, fixes that name 
on the Lizard Point. 

This Mount is comparatively a pyramidal crag, con- 
taining about seven acres of land in compass; at the foot 
whereof, towards the land, is a level piece of ground covered 
with grass, where there is a wharf, or key, for landing 
goods and merchandize from the sea ; also some dwelling- 
houses and fish-cellars, and a cemetery for burying the 
dead. To this Mount the sea daily makes its flux and re- 
flux, and affords safe riding and anchorage to boats, barks, 
and barges, with some winds. And that which tends more 
to the convenience and security of this place, that at low 
water it is all part of the insular continent of Britain, and 



st. Michael's mount. 173 

at full sea an island of itself. To which purpose thus speaks 
Mr. Carew out of the Cornish Wonder Gatherer : 

Who knows Dot MigelFs Mount and chair, 

The pilgrim's holy vaunt ; 
Both land and island twice a day, 

Both fort and port of haunt. 

For to this Mount and chapel of St. Michael devout 
Christians in former ages came as pilgrims from the 
furthest part of this land, with rich offerings and oblations 
to St. Michael's altar, Abbat, or Prior ; also tradition tells 
us that in former ages this mount was parcel of the solid 
lands of this parish of St. Hilary, and severed or disjointed 
from it by some earthquake, terrestrial concussion, or inun- 
dation of the sea ; and to prove this, it is alleged that in 
the Mount's Bay, after some great tempests, the bodies and 
roots of oak-trees have been discovered in the sand, broken 
up by the surges of the sea ; the like observation is made 
by Camden and Lhuyd on the sea shores of Pembrokeshire, 
and I myself, and many others, in the moors of Calestock 
Veor, Calestock Rule, Rheese, and Polgoda in Peransand, 
have seen and found, deep under ground, far from the sea, 
in the fens and turf lands, the bodies and roots of several 
oak trees, the hearts whereof were firm and solid. But 
whether those seas were formerly dry land, and the fens 
aforesaid the places where these trees grew (none in those 
parts being now to be seen there), let others resolve ; or 
rather whether they are not subterraneous trees, that grew 
or are generated there, as some philosophers hold and teach, 
under the earth. 

From the foot of Mount St. Michael you ascend the 
hill or rock through a narrow, crooked, craggy path to the 
outer portal or gate ; a considerable height on the one side, 
by the way in the rock, is a small spring of water, that falls 
into pits made in the stones to lodge the same, for the 
lower or bottom inhabitants' use ; which water never in- 
termits its currrent. Above the second gate there is an- 



174 ST. HILARY. 

other spring of water issuing out of the rocks, that makes 
a pretty confluence for six or seven winter months, and 
then intermits, which renders the portage of it upwards 
much the easier for the inhabitants 9 use in that season. After 
you pass through this second gate, betwixt a winding and 
crooked path, artificially cut in the rocks on the north side 
thereof, and follow the same, you arrive to the top of this 
Mount, where towards the north-west is a kind of level 
plain, about four or six land-yards, which gives a full pros- 
pect of the Mount's Bay, the British Ocean, Penzance 
town, Newlyn, Moushole, Gulvall, Maddarn, Paul, and 
other parishes, over a downright precipice of rocks towards 
the sea, at least twenty fathoms high. From this little 
square or plain, there is an artificial kind of ascent also 
going towards the east, which offers you a full sight of the 
outer walls of the castle, and brings you to Porth-Horne, 
(i. e. the Iron Gate) part of which is yet to be seen. This 
little fortress comprehendeth sufficient rooms and lodgings 
for the captain or governor and his soldiers to reside in, to 
which adjoining are several other houses or cells, hereto- 
fore pertaining to the monks that dwelt here ; all admir- 
able for their strength, buildings, and contrivance, on the 
top of a rock naturally fortified : so that a small number of 
soldiers, having provision and ammunition, might defend 
themselves against the greatest armies in former ages, 
though I confess now, since the art of war is grown to 
greater perfection in mischief and destruction, a few cannon 
or bombs from the opposite hills would soon shatter it to 
pieces. 

On this Mount, King Edward the Confessor, anno Dom. 
1044, founded and endowed an Abbey or Priory of Bene- 
dictine Monks, that is to say Augustines reformed, with a 
little chapel yet standing, and dedicated the same to the 
Archangel St. Michael, part whereof is now converted to a 
dwelling house, in which there is yet to be seen cut in 
stone three or four coats of arms, one of which was, as I 
remember, a Chevron between three fleurs-de-lis. 



st. Michael's mount. 175 

That it had at that time considerable revenues belong- 
ing to it I make no question, since in the Domesday 
Book, 20 William I. 1087, Lan-migell was then taxed, 
that is to say Michael's church or Temple, as aforesaid. 
But that which renders this place most famous is the pre- 
sent church or chapel and tower, cemetery, and cells cut 
in the rocks for hermetical monks of the order aforesaid ; 
built and further endowed by William Earl of Morton and 
Cornwall, yet extant and kept in good repair, with pews ; 
to whose father, Robert Earl of Morton, King William 
the Conqueror had given the lands of many rebels in those 
parts, and in particular this Mount, with its appurtenances, 
(dedicated as aforesaid) and created him Earl of Cornwall, 
whose successors held the same by tenure of Knight Service 
till temp. Charles II. Of which sort of tenures there 
were lately extant, in the hundred of Penwith, thirteen 
knight's fees. — Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 39. And in 
other hundreds three hundred more in Cornwall* 

Upon the tower of this church or chapel, for it is bigger 
than many other Cornish parish churches, is that celebrated 
place called Kader Migell, i. e. Michael's Chair, viz. a 
kind of seat artificially made or cut in the stones on the 
top of its tower, very dangerous in the access and tre- 
mendous to behold. 

Contrary to this description, Mr. Carew, in his Survey 
of Cornwall, p. 154, tells us that St. Michael's Chair is a 
bad seat, in a craggy place without the castle, dangerous 
for the access and therefore holy for the adventure ; so that 
I conceive he had this report by hearsay, not ocular de- 
monstration. In this chapel are yet to be seen the tomb- 
stones of several persons there interred, in the rocks, (with 
a small quantity of earth, though without the chapel there 
is a bank of earth, brought there by art for burying the 
dead,) but the inscriptions on those tombstones are so 
obliterated with dust and time, that I had not leisure much 
to examine them. The roof and timber of this temple is 
yet so firm and uniformly kept in repair, that no decay, 



176 ST. HILARY. 

moth, or spider's web are to be seen in the roof thereof, 
which gives occasion to a conjecture that the same was all 
built of Irish oak, which drives that poisonous creature 
the spider from it. Certes, this fabrick is not only an evi- 
dent proof of the great skill which former ages, in William 
the Conqueror's days, had in the art of architecture, but 
that many other such of much later erection can hardly 
equal the same, though it has stood firm above six hundred 
years. 

This abbey or priory of Benedictine Monks of St. Mi- 
chael, after the donation thereof by the Conqueror to his 
nephew Robert Earl of Morton aforesaid, was by him an- 
nexed and made subject for religious matters to the Abbey 
of Mount St. Michael in Normandy, under which circum- 
stance it stood till the French wars, temp. Henry V. 1414, 
when the Statute, made 1380, in the reign of King 
Richard II. was put in force, for suppressing alien priories 
(who secredy communicated the state affairs to foreigners). 
King Henry V. or VI. then gave this Alien Priory of St. 
Michael to Sion Abbey in Middlesex, under which rule 
and jurisdiction it remained till 26 Henry VIII., 1533, 
when it was dissolved ; when, I take it, it passed in value 
with Sion, since the Monasticon Anglicanum does not 
mention it separate. 

The Mount is now in possession of Sir John Saintaubyn, 
(formerly Bassett) who for melancholy retirement dwelleth 
here. It is still privileged with royalties over the Mount's 
Bay, as far north as Long Bridge in the manor of Lane- 
sely, with wrecks, anchorage of ships, quayage or wharfage 
of goods, and with keeping annual fairs on the sea shore near 
it, September 29, Monday after Midlent Sunday. Round 
this Mount, for two leagues space, is an indifferent safe 
road for anchorage of ships, when the wind is proper for 
it; and here, as Froissart saith, landed Sir Robert Knollys, 
a valiant commander of the Black Prince's in the French 
wars temp. Edward III. (who drew the traitor Sir Per- 
ducas D' Albert from the French to the English army, to 



st. Michael's mount. 177 

which afterwards he returned again most perfidiously,) 
where he had been highly instrumental in taking the forts 
of Froyns, Roach, Vandower, Ville Franck, and other 
places for the English ; from hence he went to London by 
land, was graciously received and plentifully rewarded for 
his good services by King Edward III. 



PART II. 

This Mount, from the time of King Edward the Con- 
fessor to the middle of the reign of King Richard I. for 
the space of 150 years, was a sacred nursery of religion ; 
but then, notwithstanding the sanctity thereof, and the 
guardianship of St. Michael, it was seized by one Henry 
de la Pomeray, Lord of Berry- Pomeray in Devon, and 
Tregony Pomeray in this county, being distasted at the go- 
vernment of King Richard I. as many others were, by 
reason of the Pope's request he engaged in the Holy War, 
and forsook his kingdom, leaving for his vicegerent Wil- 
liam Longchamp, a Norman Bishop of Ely ; who had ex- 
torted great sums of money from the people in his absence, 
without a Parliament ; and moreover so insulted over the 
nobility and gentry of this kingdom in his office, that he 
discontented the greatest part of them ; and to countenance 
his grandeur he seldom rode abroad with less than a thousand 
attendants. Those and others his exorbitances gave occasion 
to John Earl of Cornwall and others to fall into treasonable 
practices, and of this number it seems this Sir Pomeray 
was one, who not ontofftiformed the King beyond the seas 
of these topping, magisterial, and illegal practices of Long- 
champ at home, but that by reason thereof King Philip of 
France, in those distractions, took occasion with a great 
army of soldiers to invade Normandy, and had taken the 
town of Guisors and many other places by force and arms, 
and would reduce the whole province in short while (if not 
resisted) to his dominion. Whereupon the King, in an- 
swer, by his letters patent, deposed Longchamp from his 

VOL. II. N 



178 ST. HILARY. 

authority, and placed the Archbishop of Rouen in his place, 
when soon after Longchamp, in women's apparel, made 
his escape into his own country, but was detected and 
shrewdly beaten with rods before his departure out of 
England, by the women there. 

Longchamp, as tradition saith, having notice that de la 
Pomeray was in confederacy with Earl John, who under 
pretence of opposing his vice-government, designed the 
usurpation of King Richard's Crown, (though he had told 
him that in case his brother should die, before he returned 
into his kingdom, without issue, that the right of succes- 
sion was in Arthur Duke of Britany, his elder brother's 
son, not him,) sent a sergeant at arms to the castle of Berry 
Pomeray in Devon, where he then resided, in order to ar- 
rest and take him into custody, which he no sooner did 
but Pomeray stabbed him to the heart, of which wound he 
instantly died. Upon which tragical accident the mur- 
derer fled into Cornwall, where he had great possessions 
in lands, and besides twelve lordships. held by the tenure of 
knight service. And there cast himself upon his amicus, 
John Earl of that province, who as tradition saith secretly 
supplied him with divers men at arms to secure his person 
against his enemy the Viceroy, which accordingly they did 
till Longchamp was displaced. 

Afterwards, notice being given that King Richard was 
taken prisoner coming from the Holy War, 1194, by Leo- 
pold, Archduke of Austria in Germany, and cast into his 
prison called Trivalis, in which no man before was known 
to be put that escaped with life, this news prompted Pome- 
ray from the sin of murder to that of rebellion ; resolving 
to reduce this Mount of St. Michael to Earl John's domi- 
nion, and to place himself therein for better safety. In 
order to which he found out this expedient, to go with his 
guard of armed men that daily attended him in disguise to 
that place, under pretence of visiting a sister that he had 
amongst the religious people there ;(e) who upon discovering 
who he was, and the occasion of bis coming, had the gates 



st. Michael's mount. 179 

opened, where he entered with his followers, who soon 
after discovered under their clothes their weapons of war, 
and declared their design was for reducing the Mount to 
the dominion and use of John Earl of Cornwall, and that 
if any person opposed them therein, they would revenge it 
upon him to the loss of their lives; whereupon, he com- 
manded the Prior and his monks to deliver him the keys 
of the gates, and possession of the houses thereof for com- 
mon uses, though therein they much discommoded the 
monks with their soldiers. Nevertheless, for fear of greater 
damage, they patiently submitted to his pleasure; who 
thereupon with his soldiers fortified the place, and so made 
it comparatively impregnable, and so there lived in great 
pomp and triumph for some time, not expecting ever to 
hear that King Richard was in the land of the living, or 
delivered from prison, it being for some time reported he 
was dead. But, alas ! many times common fame is a com- 
mon liar, and all men are apt to believe such matters and 
things as they would willingly have come to pass, or stand 
well affected to. 

But contrary to the expectation of Pomeray and his 
confederates, King Richard, after fifteen months' durance 
in prison, was ransomed for one hundred thousand pounds, 
and returned safe to London ; when he found his brother 
John formidable, and making way to his crown, having 
got possession of the castles of Lancaster, Marlborough, 
Nottingham, St. Michael's Mount, and other fortresses, 
into which he had placed governors and soldiers. Where- 
upon, in order to reduce those places, King Richard raised 
a considerable army ; at the news whereof Earl John fled 
into France, and was by his brother deprived of all his 
possessions in England : notwithstanding which, the garri- 
sons aforesaid stood firm to Earl John's interest, till at the 
siege of Vernoil in Normandy, he fled from the French 
army to that of his brother, threw down his arms and sub- 
mitted to his mercy; whereupon he was restored to all 
his lands and dignities, both in Normandy and England. 

n2 



180 ST. HILARY. 

But notwithstanding this concord and agreement between 
King Richard and his brother John, the castles aforesaid 
stood out, and would not surrender for some time after, es- 
pecially this Mount, which Pomeray commanded. Where- 
upon King Richard commanded Richard Revell, then 
sheriff of Cornwall, with his posse comitates, to assist Hu- 
bert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, Chief Justice and 
Lord Chancellor of England, whom he had sent as his 
general into Cornwall to besiege St. Michael's Mount, and 
reduce Pomeray to his duty and allegiance ; which army of 
men, and bands of soldiers, no sooner approached the 
same (as Hoveden saith) and gave him summons, but the 
sight of the numerous army he was to contend with so 
affrighted Pomeray and his confederates, that forthwith, 
without resistance, he surrendered the garrison on mercy 
to the said Walter, for the use of King Richard, 1194, at 
the consideration of which and his other facts, through 
trouble of mind he soon after died, as despairing of pardon. 
Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, tells us, by re- 
port of some of his posterity, that he made his will and 
bequeathed part of his lands to the monks of St. Michael's 
Mount, others to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, to 
pray for his soul; the remainder descended to his heir 
(which we have no reason to doubt of, since Henry de la 
Pomeray, one of his posterity, 3 Henry IV. at Tregony, 
held twelve knights' fees of land in Cornwall, id. Mr. 
Carew) ; having so done, he caused himself to be blooded 
to death, to make his bequests good and valid in law; after 
his death King Richard restored the prior and his monks 
to the full possession of their cells, revenues, and chapel; 
and in de la Pomeray's fort, he placed a small garrison of 
soldiers, to defend the same against sudden invasion of ene- 
mies; and in this condition St. Michael's Mount remained 
from the year 1196 to the year 14/71, 275 years, manned 
out with carnal and spiritual soldiers. (/) 



st. Michael's mount. 181 



PART IIJ. 

Richard de Vere, the eleventh Earl of Oxford, married 
Alice, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir Richard 
Sergeaulx, knight, Lord of Collquite and Killygarth, 
widow of Guy Seyntaubyn, Sheriff of Cornwall 22 
Richard II. 1399; but she passed her lands from her 
son by her first husband, to her second husband the Earl 
of Oxford, who had issue by her John de Vere, the 12th 
Earl of Oxford, who married Elizabeth," daughter of 
Sir John Howard Knight; the which John, the 12th 
Earl, was the chief of those barons that opposed the prece- 
dence in parliament of the Lords Spiritual, temp. Henry VI. 
the which Parliament roll in the Tower of London, is thus 
endorsed : 

Memorandum. — The Lords Spiritual alleged that, for- 
asmuch as they were spiritual Barons, they ought to have 
the right of precedence of the Lords Temporal, for it was 
well known how far things spiritual exceeded carnal or 
temporal. To which this Earl of Oxford replied on behalf 
of the Lords Temporal, that whatsoever right or privilege 
they had or could challenge, [see Brooke on Oxford, Earl,] 
it came from them and their ancestors, and their alms- 
deeds, who had been the worthy founders and benefactors 
of the Lords Spiritual ; and further said it was an unseemly 
thing for masters to be inferior to their servants, who were 
descended of regal, honourable, and noble families, which 
most of the Spiritual Barons were not ; which matter being 
fully understood, and indifferently heard, the Lords Tem- 
poral, by means of the logic and rhetoric of this Earl, had 
then the precedence of place in Parliament given them. 
But, alas! this bold demand, question, and argument of 
his, at that time, was a project rather pitied than admired 
by his best friends, for though it succeeded well in one Par- 
liament, it got him many enemies in another. So that in 
the Parliament, held 2d November, 1462, tempore Edward 



182 ST. HILARY. 

IV., this Earl, and his son Aubrey, were attainted of treason 
against that King, on the behalf of Henry VI., and both 
beheaded without trial or answer.— (Baker's Chronicle, 
page 204.) 

Whereupon John, his second son, succeeded, and was the 
13th Earl of Oxford, who married Margaret daughter of 
Richard Nevill, Earl of Salisbury, who, as his father had 
done before, adhered to the interest of King Henry VI., 
against Edward IV., and was at the battle of Barnet 
Heath 1471, and had, with the Marquess Montacute, the 
command of the right wing of King Henry's horse, under 
Richard Earl of Warwick, general of his army; and when 
in the battle, it appeared the vanward of King Henry's 
horse had somewhat worsted King Edward's party, by the 
valour of the Earl of Oxford, the news presently fled to 
London that Warwick had obtained the victory ; but, alas ! 
Fama est mendax; for immediately after a strange misfor- 
tune befel the Earl of Oxford and his men in the latter 
part of this encounter. They having a star with streams on 
their liveries, as King Edward's soldiers had the sun, the 
General Warwick's men, by reason of a great mist, (raised 
as was thought by the magic art of Friar Bungey) mis- 
taking the badges, shot at the Earl of Oxford's men, which 
were of their own party, to their great hurt and destruc- 
tion ; whereupon the Earl, seeing how matters went, cried 
out treason, and forthwith fled with 800 men, whose de- 
parture gave King Edward opportunity to obtain a total 
victory over his enemies. 

Whereupon the Duke of Somerset and this Earl of Ox- 
ford fled to Jasper Earl of Pembroke, in Wales, for safety 
and protection ; from whence Oxford, and a convenient 
number of men of arms, shipped themselves from Milford- 
haven, and with a fair wind sailed down St. George's 
Channel, turned the Land's End, and came safely at an- 
chor in this Mount's Bay. Where, as soon as the Earl 
and his men had disguised themselves in pilgrims' and 
friars' apparel, under which all bad lodged a small sword 



st. Michael's mount. 183 

and a dagger, they went on shore, pretending that they 
were pilgrims that had come a long pilgrimage from the 
remotest part of this kingdom, to perform the penance im- 
posed upon them by their father confessors, and to perform 
their vows, make orisons and oblations to the altar of 
St. Michael, who presided there ; upon which pious pre- 
text the monks and inhabitants opened their gates and let 
them into the castle, where they were no sooner entered, 
but, as de la Pomeray had done before, they shewed their 
weapons, discovered their impious fraud, and made known 
who they were, and their designs to kill all persons that 
made resistance or opposed King Henry VI. for whom the 
Earl of Oxford was come to take possession of this Mount, 
and would keep it to his use ; whereupon, the monks and 
the small garrison were necessitated to comply with their 
demands, and yield them a quiet possession thereof; which 
forthwith the Earl put in better repair, and by the interest 
of King Henry and the Earl's friends and relations in those 
parts, his grandmother as aforesaid being Sir Guy St. 
Aubyn's widow and Sergeaulx's coheir, he soon got ammu- 
nition, provision, and soldiers sufficient for their defence. 

As soon as King Edward IV. heard of the surprise of 
St. Michael's Mount by the Earl of Oxford, he issued 
forth his proclamation, proclaiming him and all his ad- 
herents traitors, and then consulted bow to regain both to 
his obedience ; and in order thereto he forthwith sent to 
Sir John Arundell of Trerice, Knight, then Sheriff of 
Cornwall, to reduce and besiege the same by his posse 
comitatus ; which gentleman, pursuant to his orders, and by 
virtue of his office, soon rose a considerable army of men 
and soldiers within his bailiwick, and marched with them 
towards St. Michael's Mount, where being arrived he sent 
a trumpeter to the Earl with a summons of surrender of 
that garrison to him for King Edward upon mercy; espe- 
cially for that in so doing, in all probability, he would pre- 
vent the effusion of much Christian blood. 

To this summons of the trumpeter the Earl sent a flat 



184 ST. HILARY. 

denial; saying further, that rather than he would yield the 
fort on those terms, himself and those with him were all 
resolved to lose their lives in defence thereof. Whereupon 
the Sheriff commanded his soldiers, being very numerous 
on all parts, to storm the Mount, and reduce it by force ; 
but, alas ! maugre all their attempts (of this kind) the 
besieged so well defended every part of this rocky mountain 
that in all places the Sheriff's men were repulsed with some 
loss ; and the besieged issued forth from the outer gate and 
pursued them with such violence, that the said Sir John 
Arundell and some others were slain upon the sands at the 
foot of the Mount, to the great discouragement of the new- 
raised soldiers, who quickly departed thence, having lost 
their leader ; leaving the besieged in better heart than they 
found them, as much elevated at their good success as 
themselves were dismayed at their bad fortune. This Sir 
John Arundell, as Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, 
tells us, p. 119, had long before been told by some fortune- 
teller that he should be slain in the sands ; wherefore, to 
avoid that destiny, he removed from Efford, near Stratton 
on the sands, where he dwelt, to Trerice, far off from the 
sea-sands, yet by this misfortune fulfilled the prediction in 
another place. 

King Edward, upon news of this tragical accident, forth- 
with ordered letters patent to be drawn for making John 
Fortescue, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall, in the place of Sir 
John Arundell, slain as aforesaid ; who being accordingly 
sworn in that office, received the same commands, and 
took the same measures for reducing the Mount as the 
former Sheriff had done, by summons and assault, but was 
always, and in all places, repulsed with dishonour and loss, 
the same being as stoutly defended within as it was assaulted 
without; the fort thus appearing invincible. All which cir- 
cumstances being transmitted to King Edward by Mr. 
Fortescue, the Sheriff, the King, for prevention of further 
bloodshed, ordered him to have a parley with the said Earl 
of Oxford, and know what his designs and expectations 



st. Michael's mount. 185 

were; who thereupon sent a messenger to him for that 
purpose; from whom he received this resolute and des- 
perate answer, — that, if the King would pardon the offences 
of him and his adherents, and grant them their lives, liber- 
ties, and estates, that then he would yield up the fort to 
his use; otherwise they would fight it out to the last man. 
Which answer being sent up to the King, he granted their 
request; and forthwith ordered a proclamation of free 
pardon to be made unto them, under the broad seal of 
England ; which, with all convenient speed was sent down, 
and by Mr. Sheriff Fortescue delivered to the Earl, to the 
great quiet and content of all parties. Whereupon the 
fort was yielded to him for the King's use ; and the Earl 
of Oxford was soon after sent prisoner to the castle of 
Hamms, in Normandy, where he was continued a prisoner 
till the first year of King Henry VII. 1485, with whom he 
came into England, and led the vanward of his army at Bos- 
worth Field against King Richard III. where he was slain. 
After the death of this Earl's first wife, he married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Sir Richard Scrope, Knight, widow of 
William Lord Beaumont, by whom he had no issue; so 
that, he dying the 4th Henry VIII. left John, the son of 
George Vere his brother, his heir and successor, and 
the fourteenth Earl of Oxford, who gave for his arms, 
Gules, escartell£ de Or, le premier bris£ d'un molette de 
Argent. 

King Edward attributed this ineffectual long siege of St. 
Michael's Mount either to the cowardice or disloyalty of 
the Sheriffs and country people of Cornwall ; but there 
was no just cause for this conjecture, since Sir John Arun- 
dell and several of his men lost their lives about it: at 
other times, he would say the inhabitants were more affected 
to the house of Lancaster than that of York ; whereupon, 
when the said Mr. Fortescue went out of his office after 
four years' service, he made his brother Richard Duke of 
Gloucester Sheriff of Cornwall during life ; for that he was 
often heard to say he looked upon Cornwall only as the 



186 ST. HILARY. 

back-door of rebellion ; so that those several persons set 
down in the catalogue of Sheriffs of Cornwall after For- 
tescue, were not absolute Sheriffs, but Deputies under the 
said Duke, viz. Daubeny, Carnesew, Willoughby, Nanfon, 
Grenvill, Fullford, Treffry, Terrill, and Houghton, who 
stiled themselves Vicecomes, and their under Sheriffs Sub- 
Vicecomes. 

PART IV. 

About the year of our Lord 1496, when James IV. 
King of Scotland, upon a truce with King Henry VII. of 
England, had expulsed from Scotland that counterfeit sham 
Prince, Perkin Warbeck (the pretended Richard of 
Shrewsbury, youngest son of King Edward IV. who had 
l>efore been murdered in the Tower), to whom he had 
given in marriage his near kinswoman the Lady Katherine 
Gordon ; he, together with his wife and family, sailed from 
thence over into Ireland, to seek friendship there of the 
rebels and all others well affected to the House of York ; 
where being arrived, and fortune favouring him according 
to his expectation, news was brought him there that the 
Cornish rebels were ready to renew their former hostility, 
and venture their lives in battle upon the title of the house 
of York against that of Lancaster, had they a valiant and 
able General to lead them, notwithstanding Flammock and 
his confederates under the same engagement were defeated 
and executed in 1495. 

These tidings were very acceptable to Perkin; who 
thereupon consulted his privy councillors, Hearn, Astley, 
and Skelton, a mercer, a tailor, and a scrivener, all bank- 
rupts; these all agree, nemine contradicente, that his four 
ships of war should forthwith be rigged and manned for an 
expedition into Cornwall; which accordingly being pre- 
pared, himself with his lady, and 120 soldiers, embarked 
thereon, and being favoured with a fair wind, took his 
leave of his Irish friends, and in the month of September, 
1499, 15th Henry VII. (Carew's Survey of Cornwall, 



st. Michael's mount, 187 

p. 98,) came safely to anchor in St. Michael's Mount's 
Bay; where soon after he landed, and went up to the 
Mount) and made himself known to the monks and other 
inhabitants, publishing himself to be the true and real 
Richard of Shrewsbury aforesaid, the true heir of the House 
of York ; which the monks, greatly affected to that title, 
were so very ready to believe, that they yielded the Mount 
and garrison without resistance into his hands ; who pre- 
sently renewed the old fortifications, and put the same into 
a better posture of defence. 

Which having done, himself with a band of soldiers 
marched from thence to Bodmin (where the rendezvous of 
Flammock's rebels in those parts formerly was) in which 
place, by false words and promises, he so prevailed with the 
discontented rebels of that town and contiguous country, 
that he soon got together, without money or reward, at 
least three thousand men that could bear arms ; these he 
divided into companies, and bands, and regiments, under 
Captains, Majors, and Colonels expert in war to instruct 
them in military discipline, till at length his army grew to 
six thousand well-armed soldiers. Whereupon King Henry 
VII. having notice of Perkin's landing and formidable- 
ness in these parts, ordered Sir Peter Edgecombe, Knight, 
then Sheriff of Cornwall (whose father, Sir Richard Edge- 
combe, Knight, was one of that King's Privy Councillors, 
and had comparatively been raised to his great estate by 
his boon and favour), that he should forthwith, by virtue 
of his office, raise the country, and give battle to this coun- 
terfeit Richard of Shrewsbury and his confederate rebels. 
Whereupon, the Sheriff did as he was commanded, and 
raised an army of twenty thousand men, as tradition saith, 
and led them towards Bodmin ; but when they approached 
near, and saw Perkin entrenched at Castle Key nock, on the 
east hill of Bodmin Downs, with the body of his army, 
and divers troops of horse and bands of foot placed to- 
wards Lanhydrock and the roads from Cardenham, in 
order to resist and oppose the Sheriff, his men resolved to 



1 



188 ST. HILARY. 

march no further, but to return from whence they came 
without giving battle. Which accordingly they did (not- 
withstanding the Sheriff's threats and commands to the 
contrary), in great terror and confusion and astonishment; 
but whether this fear proceeded from the cowardice of the 
Sheriff and his men, or their disaffection to the. Lancastrian 
dominion of King Henry, is uncertain, for the like fact 
was committed two years before by the posse comitatus of 
John Basset, of Tehidy, then Sheriff, which he had raised to 
suppress Flam mock's rebellion. 

Upon news of this flight and disbanding of the Sheriff's 
men, Perkin was saluted by his soldiers and confederates 
as King of England : and soon after, not only in his camp, 
but in divers places of Bodmin town, was proclaimed by 
a trumpeter and others, King of England and France, and 
Lord of Ireland, with great shouts and acclamations of the 
people, and bonefires, by the name of Richard IV. And 
it is reported he assumed majesty with such a boon grace 
and affable deportment, that immediately he won the af- 
fections and admiration of all who made addresses unto 
him; in which art of kingship he had long before been 
educated and instructed by his pretended aunt, Margaret 
Duchess of Burgundy, sister to King Edward IV. which 
he had also acted to the good liking of all that saw him in 
Burgundian, Irish, Scots, and French courts. And, more- 
over, besides his magisterial port and mien, being an in- 
comparable counterfeit, natural crafty, liar and dissembler, 
" Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare," as the old pro- 
verb saith ; so that in short time he grew to be so popular 
and formidable about Bodmin that no power durst oppose 
him there. But, alas ! this Cornish regniculum gave him 
not content, for his pride and ambition put him upon fur* 
ther expedients, viz. to get possession of the whole king- 
dom of England, and reduce it also to his obedience ; in 
order to which, with a well-prepared army of four thousand 
men and two thousand of other sorts, he marched out of 
Cornwall into Devon, where met him also great numbers 



st. Michael's mount. 189 

of volunteers of that county and Somerset, that joined with 
his forces; the dread whereof so terrified James Chud- 
leigh, Esq. then Sheriff of Devon, and the power of his 
bailiwick raised to stop his march to Exeter, that they 
durst not give him battle or obstruct his passage till he 
came before that city, pitched his camp, and laid siege 
thereto. 

Upon whose approaches the citizens shut their gates and 
prepared to defend themselves; when soon after he sent a 
message or summons to them in the name of Richard IV. 
King of England, commanding them to surrender the same 
to him upon their allegiance : but the citizens so ridiculed 
his pretended title, and slighted his summons, that by his 
own messenger they gave him defiance ; at which time Dr. 
Richard Redman was Lord Bishop of Exeter ; William 
Burgoigne, Esq. Recorder; William Frosti Mayor; Francis 
Gilbert, Sword-bearer; John Bucknam, William Wilkin- 
son, John Doncaster, and Richard Howse, were Stewards, 
or Bailiffs ; John Clodworthy, John Bonifant, Philip Bul- 
lock, John Wilkin, Nicholas Auburne, John Atwell, Wil- 
liam York, Thomas Lanwordaby, Philip Binks, John Slugg, 
Thomas Andrews, Thomas .Oliver, and others, Aldermen. 
See Isaack's Memorials of Exeter, 1499. 

Soon after this defiance given, Perkin and his soldiers 
surrounded the city walls, and attempted to scale the same 
in several places daily for some time, but always were re- 
pulsed with considerable loss by the valour of the citizens. 
During which siege they sent to King Henry for his aid 
and assistance in this great distress ; whereupon the Lord 
Daubeny was ordered to raise forces and march towards 
Exeter therewith, in order to remove the siege thereof; 
but before he came, Edward Courtenay, sixteenth Earl of 
Devon, and the Lord William his son, accompanied with 
Sir Edmund Carew, Sir Thomas Fulford, Sir William 
Courtenay, Sir John Halwell, Sir John Croker, Walter 
Courtenay, Peter Edgecombe, William St. Maur, Richard 
Whiteleigh of Efford (Sheriff of Devon the year after), 



190 ST. HILARY. 

Richard Hals of Kenedon, John Fortescue of Vallapit, 
James Chudleigh aforesaid, and other gentlemen of those 
parts, had raised a considerable army of soldiers, with 
which they marched towards the rebels. At the sight of 
whose approach Perkin and his host were as much dispirited 
then as they were elevated before ; whereupon he called a 
council of war, in which it was unanimously agreed upon, 
that it was not advisable to give them battle, being at least 
ten thousand fighting men, but to dislodge from their 
trenches, and leave the siege of that place, and forthwith to 
march into Somersetshire, a country better affected to King 
Perkin, where he might raise more soldiers. Accordingly, 
this order of council was observed and put in practice, so 
that the night after Perkin and all his army marched to- 
wards Taunton ; where he mustered his men as if he in- 
tended to give battle ; but when, by the muster-roll, he 
saw what numbers of men had deserted him in his nightly 
march from Exeter, falling then much short of six thousand, 
and further, notice being brought him that King Henry 
was in pursuit of him with a much greater army, he foresaw 
the worst, and doubted that fortune would favour him no 
longer in his military and regal practices ; and therefore 
contrived, for the preservation of himself, with sixty horse 
troopers, to forsake his army by night, and fly to the Abbey 
of Beauley, in Southampton, as resting upon the name and 
privilege of the place, where he took sanctuary. As soon 
as King Henry understood Perkin had deserted his soldiers 
and had taken sanctuary at Beauley, he forthwith ordered 
a band of soldiers to guard and surround that Abbey to 
prevent his escape beyond the seas (from whence it ap- 
pears that at that time the privilege of sanctuary was allowed 
to traitors). So that Perkin, despairing of getting thence, 
submitted to the King's mercy, and was committed prisoner 
to the Tower of London ; from whence he made an escape, 
and fled to the Priory of Sheen, at Richmond ; where, on 
condition of making a true confession who he was, in a pair 
of stocks set before Westminster Hall door, and true an- 



st. Michael's mount, 191 

swer make to such questions as should be demanded of 
him, the Prior got the King's pardon for him. And ac- 
cordingly, he sat in the stocks a whole day before West- 
minster Hall door, afterwards on a scaffold in Cheapside, 
openly reading, declaring, and giving manuscripts under 
his own hand, wherein he told his parentage, the place of 
his birth, the passages of his life ; that he was a cheat, an 
impostor, and by what ways and means he was drawn into 
those treasonable and bloody attempts and practices, See. 
After which he was again committed to the Tower of Lon- 
don, where endeavouring to make an escape, he was after- 
wards,* with others, executed at Tyburn. 

After Perkin took sanctuary at Beauley, his soldiers from 
about Taunton and elsewhere, were all brought to Exeter ; 
where King Henry, in St Peter's church-yard, pardoned 
them all, on their promise of being good subjects afterwards. 
But some of them were not so good as their word. King 
Henry also then sent the Lord Daubeny to St. Michael's 
Mount for Perkin 's wife, the Lady Katherine Gordon, 
whom he brought to King Henry ; who commiserating her 
youth, birth, and beauty, bestowed a competent mainte- 
nance upon her, which she enjoyed during that King's life 
and long after, to her dying day. 

• part v. 

This Priory, or Abbey, being dissolved by act of Par- 
liament, and given to the King, 33d Henry VIII. 1542, 
he gave the revenues and government of the place to 
Humphry Arundel], Esq. of the Lanherne family, who en- 
joyed the same till the first year of King Edward VI. 1549; 
at which time that King set forth several injunctions about 
religion : amongst others, this was one, viz. that all images 
found in churches, for divine worship or otherwise, should be 
pulled down and cast forth out of those churches ; and that 
all preachers should perswade the people from praying to 
saints or for the dead ; and from the use of beads, ashes, 



192 ST. HILARY. 

processions, masses, dirges, and praying to God publicly in 
an unknown tongue ; and least there should be a defect of 
preachers as to those points, homilies were made and 
ordered to be read in all churches. Pursuant to this in- 
junction one Mr. Body, a commissioner for pulling down 
images in the churches of Cornwall, going to do his duty 
in Helston church, a priest, in company with Killtor of 
Kevorne and others, at unawares stabbed him in the body 
with a knife; of which wound he instantly fell dead in that 
place. And though the murderer was taken and sent up 
to London, tried, found guilty of wilful murder in West- 
minster Hall, and executed in Smithfield, yet the Cornish 
people flocked together in a tumultuous and rebellious 
manner by the instigation of their priests in diverse parts 
of the shire or county, and committed many barbarities 
and outrages in the same; and though the justices of the 
peace apprehended several of them, and sent them to jail, 
yet they could not with all their power suppress the growth 
of their insurrection ; for soon after Humphry Arundell 
aforesaid, Governor of this Mount, sided with those mu- 
tineers, and broke out into actual rebellion against his and 
their Prince. The mutineers chose him for the General of 
their army, and for inferior officers as Captains, Majors, and 
Colonels, — John Rosogan, James Rosogan, Will. Winslade 
of Tregarrick or St. Agnes at Mithian, John Payne of St.- 
Ives, Robert Bochym of Bochym, and his brother, Thomas 
Underhill, John Salmon, William Segar ; together with 
several priests, rectors, vicars, and curates of churches, as 
John Thompson, Roger Barret, John Woolcock, William 
Asa, James Mourton, John Barrow, Richard Bennet, and 
others, who mustered their soldiers according to the rules 
of military discipline at Bodmin, where the general ren- 
dezvous was appointed. But no sooner was the General 
Arundell departed from St. Michael's Mount to exert his 
power in the camp. and field aforesaid, but diverse gentle- 
men, with their wives and families, in his absence possessed 
themselves thereof; whereupon he dispatched a party of 



st. Michael's mount. 193 

horse and foot to reduce his old garrison ; which quickly 
they effected, by reason the besieged wanted provision and 
ammunition, and were distracted with the women and chil- 
dren's fears and cries, and so they yielded the possession to 
their enemies on condition of free liberty of departing forth- 
with from thence with life, though not without being 
plundered. 

The retaking of St. Michael's Mount by the general 
Arundell proved much to the content and satisfaction of 
his army at Bodmin, consisting of about six thousand men* 
which they looked upon as a good omen of their future 
success, and the first-fruits of the valour and conduct of 
their general. Whereupon the confederates daily in- 
creased his army with great numbers of men from all parts, 
who listed themselves under his banner, which was not 
only pourtrayed, but by a cart brought into the field for 
their encouragement, viz. the pyx under its canopy, that is 
to say, the vessel containing the Roman host, or sacra- 
mental sacrifice, or body of Christ, together with crosses, 
banners, candlesticks, holy bread and water, to defend 
them from devils and the adverse power ; (see Fox's Mar- 
tyrology, p. 669,) which was carried wheresoever the 
camp removed; which camp grew so tremendously for- 
midable at Bodmin, that Job Militon, Esq. then Sheriff of 
Cornwall, with all the power of his bailiwick, durst not 
encounter with it during the time of the general's stay in 
that place, which gave him and his rebels opportunity to 
consult together for the good of their public interest, and 
to make out a declaration, or manifesto, of the justice of 
their cause, and grounds of taking up arms ; but the army, 
in general, consisting of a mixed multitude of men of 
diverse professions, trades, and employments, could not 
easily agree upon the subject matter and form thereof. Some 
would have no justice of the peace, for that generally they 
were ignorant of the laws, and could not construe or Eng- 
lish a Latin bill of indictment without the clerk of the 
peace's assistance, who imposed upon them, with other 
vol. n. o 



194 ST. HILARY. 

attornies, for gain, wrong sense, and judgment; besides, in 
themselves, they were corrupt and partial in determining 
cases; others would have no lawyers nor attornies, for that 
the one cheated the people in wrong advice or counsel, 
and the other of their money by extravagant bills of costs ; 
others would have no court leets, or court barons, for that 
the cost and expense in prosecuting an action at law 
therein was many times greater than the debt or profit. 
But generally it was agreed upon amongst them, that 
no inciosure should be left standing, but that all lands 
should be held in common ; yet what expedients should b 
found out and placed in the room of those several order 
and degrees of men and officers, none could prescribe. 

However, the priests, rectors, vicars, and curates, the 
priors, monks, friars, and other dissolved collegiates, ham- 
mered out seven articles of address for the King's majesty ; 
upon grant of which they declared their bodies, arms, and 
goods should all be at his disposal, viz. 

1. That curates should administer baptism at all times 
of need, as well week days as holy days. 

2. That their children might be confirmed by the 
Bishop. 

3. That mass might be celebrated, no man communi- 
cating with the priest. 

4. That they might have reservation of the Lord's body 
in churches. 

5. That they might have holy bread and water in re- 
membrance of Christ's body and blood. 

6. That priests might not be married. 

7. That the six articles set forth by King Henry VIII. 
might be continued at least till the King came of age. 

Now those six articles were invented by Stephen Gar- 
diner, Bishop of Winchester (who was the bastard son of 
Lionel Woodvill, Bishop of Salisbury, by his concubine, 
Elizabeth Gardiner; the which Lionel was fifth son of 
Richard Woodvill, Earl Rivers, 1470), and therefore called 
his creed, viz. 



st.. Michael's mount. 195 

1. That the body of Christ is really present in the sacra- 
ment after consecration. 

2. That the sacrament cannot truly be administered un- 
der both kinds. 

3. That priests entered into holy orders might not 
marry. 

4. That vows of chastity entered into upon mature deli- 
beration, were to be kept. 

5. That private masses were not to be omitted. 

6. That auricular confession was necessary in the church 
of God. 

To those demands of the Cornish rebels the King so far 
condescended as to send an answer in writing to every 
article, and also a general pardon to every one of them if 
they would lay down arms. (See Fox's Acts and Monu- 
ments, Book ix. p. 668.) But, alas ! those overtures of the 
King were not only rejected by the rebels, but made them 
die more bold and desperate ; especially finding themselves 
unable longer to subsist upon their own estates and money, 
or the bounty of the country, which hitherto they had done. 
The general therefore resolved, as the fox who seldom 
chucks at home, to prey upon other men's goods and estates 
further off, for his army's better subsistence. Whereupon 
he dislodged from Bodmin, and marched with his soldiers 
into Devon, where Sir Peter Carew, Knight, was ready to 
obstruct their passage with his posse comitates. But 
when they saw the order and discipline of the rebels, and 
that their army consisted of above six thousand fighting 
men, desperate, well-armed, and prepared for battle, the 
Sheriff and his troops permitted them quietly to pass 
through the heart of that country to Exeter ; where the 
citizens, upon notice of their approaches (as formerly 
done), shut the gates, and put themselves in a posture 
of defence. At which time Dr. John Voysey was 
Bishop of Exeter, viz. 10th July, 1549, John Blacaler 
was Mayor, William Tothill was Sheriff, Lewis Pol- 
lard, Recorder, William Beaumont, Sword-bearer; John 
Drake, Geffery Arundell, Henry Maunder, and John 

o2 



196 ST. HILARY. 

Tooker, were Bailiffs or Stewards; Thomas Prestwood, 
John Maynard, John Webb, William Hals, Hugh Pope, 
William Hurst, Nicholas Limmet, Robert Midwinter, 
Henry Booth, John Berry, John Britnall, John Tuckfield, 
John Stawell, Edward Bridgman, Thomas Grigg, John 
Drake, Thomas Skidmore, John Bodley, and others (all 
which had before that time been Mayors), Stewards or 
Bailiffs of the city. — See Isaack's Memorials of Exeter, 
p. 122. 

Things being in this posture, the general Arundell sum- 
moned the citizens to deliver their town and castle to his 
dominion ; but they sent him a flat denial. Whereupon, 
forthwith he ordered his men to fire the gates of the fity, 
which accordingly they did ; but the citizens on the inside 
supplied those fires with such quantities of combustible 
matter, so long till they had cast up a half-moon on the 
inside thereof, upon which, when the rebels attempted to 
enter, they were shot to death or cut in pieces. Their 
entrance being thus obstructed at the gates, they put in 
practice other expedients, viz. either to undermine the 
walls or blow them up with barrels of gunpowder, which 
they had placed in the same ; but the citizens also pre- 
vented this their design, by countermining their mines and 
casting so much water on the places where their powder 
barrels were lodged, that the powder would not take fire. 
Thus stratagems of war were daily practised between the 
besieged and besiegers, to the great hurt and damage of 
each other. 

King Edward being informed by his council of this siege, 
and that there was little or no dependance upon the valour 
and conduct of the Sheriff of Devon, and his bailiwick, 
to suppress this rebellion or raise the siege of Exeter, 
granted his commission to John Lord Russell, created 
Baron Russell of Tavistock by King Henry, and Lord 
High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal, an old experienced 
soldier who had lost an eye at the siege of Montrueil in 
France, to be his general for raising soldiers to fight those 



st. Michael's mount. 197 

rebels ; who forthwith, pursuant thereto, raised a consider- 
able army and marched with them to Honiton ; but when 
he came there he was informed that the enemy consisted 
of ten thousand able fighting men armed ; which occasioned 
his halting there longer than he intended, expecting greater 
supplies of men, that were coming to his aid under con- 
duct of the Lord Grey ; which at length arrived and joined 
his forces, whereupon he dislodged from thence and marched 
towards Exeter ; where on the way he had several sharp 
conflicts with the rebels with various success, sometimes 
the better and sometimes the worse ; though at length, after 
much fatigue of war, maugre all opposition and resistance 
of the rebels, he forced them to raise their siege, and en- 
tered the city of Exeter with relief, 6th August, 1549, after 
thirty-two days' siege; wherein the inhabitants had 
valiantly defended themselves, though in that extremity 
they were necessitated by famine to eat horses, moulded 
cloth, and bread made of bran ; in reward of whose loyalty 
King Edward gave to the city for ever the manor of 
Evyland, since sold by the city for making the river Exe 
navigable. 

After raising the siege as aforesaid, the general Arundel! 
rallied his routed forces of rebels, and gave battle to the 
Lord Russell and the King's army, with that inveterate 
courage, animosity, and resolution, that the greatest part 
of his men were slain upon the spot, others threw down 
their arms on mercy, the remainder fled, and were after- 
wards many of them taken and executed. Sir Anthony 
Kingston, Knight, a Gloucestershire man, after this rebel- 
lion was made Provost Marshal for executing such western 
rebels as could be taken, or were made prisoners in Corn- 
wall and Devon, together with all such who had been 
aiders or assisters of them in that rebellion ; upon whom, 
according to his power and office, he executed martial law 
with sport and justice (as Mr. Carew and other historians 
tell us) ; and the principal persons that have come to my. 
•knowledge, over whose misery he triumphed, was Boyer 



198 ST. HILARY. 

the Mayor of Bodmin ; Mayow of Clevyan, in St Co* 
lomb Major, whom he hanged at the tavern sign-post in 
that town, of whom tradition saith his crime was not 
capital ; and therefore his wife was advised by her friends 
to hasten to the town after the Marshal and his men, who 
had him in custody, and beg his life. Which accordingly 
she prepared to do, and to render herself the more amiable 
petitioner before the Marshal's eyes, this dame spent so 
much time in attiring herself and putting on her French 
hood then in fashion, that her husband was put to death 
before her arrival. In like manner the Marshal hanged 
one John Payne, the Mayor, or Portreeve of St. Ives, on 
a gallows erected in the middle of that town, whose arms 
are still to be seen in one of the fore-seats in that church, 
viz. in a plain field three pine apples. Besides those he 
executed many more in other places in Cornwall, that had 
been actors, assisters, or promoters of this rebellion. 
Lastly, it is further memorable of this Sir Anthony King- 
ston, that in Sir John Hey wood's Chronicle he is taxed of 
extreme cruelty in doing his Marshal's office aforesaid* Of 
whom Fuller, in Gloucestershire, gives us this further 
account of him : that afterwards, in the reign of Queen 
Mary, being detected, with several others, of a design to 
rob her exchequer, though he made his escape and fled 
into his own country, yet there he was apprehended and 
taken into custody by a messenger, who was bringing 
him up to London in order to have justice done upon him 
for his crime, but he being conscious of his guilt, and de- 
spairing of pardon, so effectually poisoned himself that he 
died on the way, without having the due reward of his 
desert. 

After the death of Humphrey Arundell, Governor of St. 
Michael's Mount, executed for treason as aforesaid, King 
Edward VI. sold or gave the government and revenues 
thereof to Job Militon, Esq. aforesaid, then Sheriff of Corn- 
wall, during his life ; but his son dying without issue male, 
the government, by what title I know not, devolved upon 



st. Michael's mount. 199 

the Bassets of Tihidy, from some of whom, as I am in- 
formed, it came by purchase to Sir John St. Aubyn, Bart, 
now in possession thereof. 

In the month of July, 1676, at St. Michael's Mount, 
about four of the clock in the afternoon, came from the 
British ocean, or sea, a ball of fire, seen by the inhabitants 
and fishermen at sea, which struck against the south moor- 
stone wall of this Mount's church or chapel ; where, meet- 
ing resistance from the wall, it glanced through the stones 
thereof with some rebounds, making a path, or strake, 
through the same, in some places about four inches broad 
and two inches deep, from one end of the long side wall 
almost to the other ; and from thence, by another rebound, 
it struck the strong oak durns of the dwelling-house entry, 
and broke the same in two or three pieces, and so flew 
into the hall, where it fell to the ground, having spent its 
force and strength as aforesaid, and then brake asunder 
in pieces, by the side of Mrs. Catherine St. Aubyn, with- 
out doing her any manner of hurt, leaving a sulphurous 
smoke behind it in the room; which ball of fire then 
appeared to consist of a black-blue metally matter, con- 
gealed or melted by fire like as coal and cinders may be, as 
Sir John St. Aubyn, the elder, and other spectators told 
me. 

TONKIN. 

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing in addition to Mr. Hals, 
except an uninteresting dissertation to prove that St. 
Michael's Mount is not the Ocrinum of Ptolemy. 

WHITAKER. 

Mr. Whitaker has given several notes and comments 
on the narrative of Mr. Hals, which will here be placed, 
together with references to the passages to which they 
relate. 
. P. 170. (a) The name is Mara-zion, or zien, on the sea, I 



200 ST. HILARY. 

believe, and Market-Jew is merely a similar appellation in 
English. A Jew, in Cornish language, is Ethow, and 
Edheuon, Ethchan, are Jews. 

P. 170. (b) This corrects Mr. Willis, in ii. 3, who there 
says of the Market-Jew, and other towns expressly, " none 
of them ever sent Members to Parliament, or were ever 
summoned so to do." Yet it coincides exactly with what 
Dr. Brady remarks in his very valuable treatise on Bo* 
roughs, p. 57, 59, and adds one more to his few returns, 
and instances of very many more which might have been 
produced " if needful," p« 59. 

P. 172. (c) Sel, sil, or sul is merely a view, or prospect, 
from the Welsh sylly, to look or behold, and the Armorick 
sell, a look or sight; and din-sil, or din-sul, means only 
the hill of prospect. 

(d) The real name of St. Michael's Mount in Cornish 
is this, Carreg luz en kuz, a hoary rock in a wood. Bor- 
lase's Scilly Isles, p. 94. 

P. 178. (e) This notice, unobserved by the noticer himself 
lets us into a part of the history of this Mount, which has 
never been unfolded yet. There was plainly a nunnery here, 
as well as a monastery. Accordingly we find before what this 
circumstance alone explains, that there were two chapels 
upon the Mount. One is described before as " a little chapel 
yet standing, and dedicated to the Archangel St. Michael, 
part whereof is now converted to a dwelling-house." The 
other is thus, as " that which renders this place most fa- 
mous, the present church or chapel, yet extant, and kept 
in good repair with pews ; upon the tower of this church 
or chapel, for it is bigger than many other Cornish 
parish churches, is that celebrated place called Kader- 
Migell, i. e. Michael's chair." So distinct are these 
chapels! The monastery I apprehend to have been, 
" where, towards the north-west, is a kind of level plain 
about four or six landyards," with " a downright precipice 
of rocks towards the sea, at least twenty fathoms high." 
And where, about the greater chapel, are " cells cut in the 



st, Michael's mount. 201 

rocks for hermitical monks of the aforesaid order." And 
the nunnery I suppose to have been where, "from this 
little square, or plain, there is an artificial kind of ascent 
going towards the east, which offers you a full sight of the 
outer walls of the castle, and brings you to Porth Home 
(Hourn), part of which is yet to be seen." 

Thus do we get a glimpse of a nunnery that is invisible 
from every other point Tanner, that witness for all other 
authors upon monastic notices, gives us no intimation from 
any of them concerning this nunnery. Yet Leland con- 
firms what I have observed in Mr. Hals before, the exist- 
ence of two churches, or chapels, upon the summit of the 
Mount. " The way to the church," he says, concerning 
the ascent to the top, " entereth at the north side from half 
ebb to half flood, to the foot of the Mount, and so ascend- 
eth by steps and grices westward, and thence returneth 
eastward to the utterward of the church," or Mount. 
Within the said ward is a court strongly walled, " wherein 
on the south side is the Chapel of St Michael, and in 
the east side a chapel of our Lady. The Captain and 
priest's lodgings be in the south side of St. Michael's 
Chapel." (Itin. VII. 118.) When this Captain was fixed 
there with a garrison, as we shall soon see when he was, the 
nuns were obliged to relinquish their cells to him and them. 
For this reason we have not a hint in all the ages after- 
wards of a nunnery here. Only the chapel was continued 
for the use of the garrison, while the church itself was still 
left to the monks. Such an union as this, of a monastery 
and a nunnery upon the summit of a pyramidal hill, and 
amid the sequestrations of solitude, carries a strange ap- 
pearance with it to our Protestant suspiciousness; yet it 
was not very uncommon in the reign of popery. It seems 
to have been peculiarly calculated for that purpose for 
which both monastery and nunnery were generally calcu- 
lated, to shew the triumph of faith over the impulses of 
sense, and to shew that triumph more conspicuously, by 
the association of monks and nuns in monastic vicinity 



203 ST. HILARY. 

to each other. " This little fortress," as Mr. Hals has 
told us before, " comprehendeth sufficient rooms and 
lodgings for the Captain, or Governor, and his soldiers to 
reside in," which I have supposed above " to have been 
the original habitations of the nuns and their Abbess ; to 
which adjoining are several other houses, or cells, hereto- 
fore pertaining to the monks that dwell here, all admirable 
for their strength, buildings, and contrivance," and all 
probably therefore contemporary or nearly so. 

P. 180. (/) This account of St. Michael's Mount is in a 
strain of intelligence and judiciousness much superior to the 
general tenor of Mr. Hals's writings. To it I wish to 
add some useful notices, in accompaniment of some that I 
have given before. 

Upon the very crown and summit of this pyramidal hill, 
stands proudly eminent the church, stretching from east to 
west, and having a tower in the middle. It was built by 
Edward the Confessor, who was the first to consecrate the 
Mount to religion, and erected the church on the little plain 
at the top of it. Having done this, and erected habitations 
for the clergy attending it, he gave them, by charter still 
existing in recital, the whole of the Mount, and many lands 
beside. " Ego Edwardus, Dei gracia Anglorum Rex, 
dare volans pretium redemptionis animse meae vel parentum 
meorum, sub consensu et testimonio bonorum virorum, 
tradidi Sancto Michaeli Archangelo, in usum fratrum Deo 
servientium in eodem loco, Sanctum Michaelem," the 
church, "qui est juxta mare." He also gives them " totam 
terram deVenefire;" and proceeds "portum addere qui 
vocatur Ruminella." Romney, in Kent. Then came Ro- 
bert Earl of Mortaigne, the falsely reputed founder, merely 
to associate this church with another of the same appella- 
tion in Normandy, and to enlarge its endowments. In 
a new charter, equally as the old without a date, he, 
" habens in bello Sancti Michaelis vexillum," says, 
" do et concede Montem Sancti Michaelis de Cornubia 
Deo et monachis ecclesiae Sancti Michaelis cle Periculo 



st. Michael's mount. 203 

Maris servientibus, cum dimidia terras hida." But, as he 
adds, " postea autem ut certissime comperi, Beati Mi- 
chaelis meritis monachorumque sufiragiis michi a Deo ex 
propria conjuge mea filio concesso, auxi donum ipsi beato 
militiae celestis principi, dedi et dono in Amaneth (Quere, 
where?) tres acras terrae, Travalaboth videlicet, Lis- 
manoch, Trequaners, Carmailoc," &c. 2. And, finally, 
comes the Bishop of Exeter, in a charter dated expressly 
1085, to free " ecclesiam Beati Michaelis Archangeli de 
Cornubia," from all episcopal jurisdiction. 3. Thus erected 
and thus privileged, the church remained till the day of 
William of Worcester, and he thus notes the dimensions 
of it: " Memorandum, longitudo ecclesiae Montis Sancti 
Michaelis continet 30 steppys, latitudo continet 12 
steppys." 4. Carew also speaks of it as " a chapel for 
devotion, builded by William Earl of Morton," (Carew 
so speaking with the multitude, when he ought to have 
given the building to the Confessor,) "and greatly haunted 
while folk endured (endeared) their merits by farre tra- 
vailing." 5. Carew thus refers obscurely, perhaps uncon- 
sciously, to a particular privilege annexed to the church, 
which was given by one decree from Pope Gregory, and 
confirmed by another from Bishop Leofric. " Universis 
Sanctae Matris ecclesiee presentes literas inspecturis vel 
audituris salutem," cries the former, " noverit universitas 
vestra quod sanctissimus Papa Gregorius, anno ab incar- 
natione Domini millesimo septuagesimo," the very year, 
therefore, in which Earl Montaign gave this church to the 
other in Normandy, " ad ecclesiam Montis Sancti Mi- 
chaelis; in comitatu Cornubise, gerens eximiee devocionis 
affectum, pi^ concessit ecclesiae predicts^ [et] omnibus fi- 
delibus, qui illam cum suis beneficiis et elemosinis," (with 
alms and oblations, so that w folke endeared their merits," 
not merely " by farre travailing," but by a tax upon their 
purse,) *' exepecierint seu visitaverint, tertiam partem pene- 
tenciarum suarum eis condonari," a third of all those acts 



204 ST. HILARY. 

being remitted, which penitents were enjoined to perform, 
in order to prove the sincerity of their penitence to God, 
and to themselves. The same privilege is repeated by the 
Bishop of Exeter in 1085, thus : " omnibus illis, qui ilium 
ecclesiam suis cum benefices et elemosinis expetierint et 
visitaverint, tertiam partem penitentiarum condonamus." 
Yet, what is surprising, the privilege became nearly as 
much unknown afterwards as it is at present, and was 
therefore promulgated by the clergy of die church at the 
beginning of the fifteenth century : " Tota verba," adds 
the reciter, « in antiquis registris de novo," a litde before 
William's visit, " in hac ecclesifi. repertis, inventa," being 
then unknown to the very clergy themselves, and only dis- 
covered by the discovery of some registers equally unknown, 
" prout hie in valvis ecclesiae publice ponuntur," were 
exhibited to public view by being posted upon the folding- 
doors of the church. " Et quia pluribus istud est incog- 
nitum, ideo nos, in Christo Dei famuli et ministri hujus ec- 
clesiae, universitatem vestram qui regimen animarum possi- 
detis," all the rectors and vicars of the kingdom, " ob 
mutuae vicissitudinis obtentum requirimus et rogamus, qua- 
tenus ista publicetis in ecclesiis vestris, ut vestri subditi et 
subjecti ad majorem exoracionem devocionis attentius ani- 
mentur, et locum istum gloriosius peregrinando frequentent 
ad dona et indulgencias predicta gracios& consequenda." 
From this republication of the privilege, undoubtedly, did 
the numerous resort of pilgrims to the church begin. Then 
too was formed assuredly that seat on the tower, which is 
so ridiculously described by Carew, as " a little without the 
castle — a bad seat in a craggy place — somewhat dangerous 
for access;" when it is only a chair, composed of stones, 
projecting from the two sides of the tower battlements, and 
uniting into a seat without the south-western angle, but 
elevated above the battlements on each side. It thus ap- 
pears somewhat dangerous from the elevation or projection - 
only, is an evident addition to the tower, and was assuredly 



st. Michael's mount. 205 

made at this period for the pilgrims, that they might com- 
plete their devotions at the Mount by sitting in this St. 
Michael's Chair, as denominated, and by showing them- 
selves as pilgrims to the country round. Hence, in an 
author * who alludes to customs without feeling the force 
of his allusion, we read this intimation : 

Who knowes not Michael's Mount and Chaire, 
The pilgrim's holy vaunt ? 

We thus find a reason for the construction of such a chair, 
that comports with all the purposes of the church on the 
tower of which it is constructed, and that shows it minis- 
tered equally with this to the uses of religion then predo- 
minant ; making it not, as Carew most extravagantly makes 
it, " somewhat dangerous for access, and therefore holy for 
the adventure," but holy in itself, as on the church-tower, 
holy in its purposes, as the seat of the pilgrims, and doubly 
holy as the seat of accomplishment to all their vows, as the 
seat of invitation to all the country. And the whole church 
remains to this day, beaten by the rains and buffeted by 
the winds, yet a venerable monument of Saxon archi- 
tecture. 

This Mount appears decisively, from the charter of the 
Confessor, to have been in his time not surrounded with 
the sea during all the flood tide, and not accessible by land 
only during some hours of the ebb-tide, as it is at present. 
It was then not surrounded at all. It was only near the 
sea then. Thus the Confessor describes it expressly, as 
" Sanctum Michaelem qui est juxta mare." But as Wor- 
cestre adds, with a range back into the past that is very 
striking, yet is in general confirmed by the charter above, 
" the space of ground upon Mount St. Michael is two 
hundred cubits, surrounded with the ocean," at flood tide ; 
" the place aforesaid was originally inclosed with a very 
thick wood, distant from the ocean six miles, affording the 
finest shelter for .wild beasts." 

* William of Worcester. 
VOL. II. O 7 



306 ST. HTLART. 



THE EDITOR. 

Nothing is known with any certainty respecting the 
ancient state of St. Michael's Mount. 

It may have been the seat of a Celtic superstition some- 
what similar to that imagined and described by Dr. William 
Borlase. Sir Christopher Hawkins has adduced many 
arguments for proving this semi-island to have been the 
Ictisof Diodorus Siculus; and its situation, united to its 
sea-port, may well have recommended such a place for a 
factory to the merchants of any civilised nation engaged in 
commercial transactions with people so rude as were the 
Britons of those remote times. The universal practice in 
our days, is to establish fortified stations under similar cir- 
cumstances, since neither person or property can be effec- 
tually protected in any other way. 

The earliest definite tradition of a Christian establish- 
ment dates with the pilgrimage of St. Kenna, in conse- 
quence of the appearance of the Arch-angel at that place. 
No particular circumstances are ever related of this extra- 
ordinary vision, neither as to the occasion nor as to the per- 
sons so eminently favoured as to behold the celestial glory, 
nor as to the time, nor of the exact spot, since it could not 
have taken place on the top of the tower, that building 
having been constructed in honour of the vision itself. 

It may be ( remarked that lofty and elevated situations 
throughout Europe are dedicated to St. Michael, probably 
on account of the Archangel being uniformly painted with 
wings, and therefore tacitly imagined to have habits similar 
to birds ; and perhaps the dedication of the largest of our 
domestic fowls to the celebration of his festival, may owe its 
origin to a similar analogy. 

Saint Kenna is believed to have imparted the same iden- 
tical virtue to the chair which overhangs the tower, as she 



st. michael 9 s mount. 207 

bestowed on the celebrated well near Liskeard, and since 
no one obtains a seat in this chair without much resolution 
and steadiness of head, one may be inclined to anticipate 
the supposed effect with greater certainty from the achieve- 
ment of sitting in St. Michael's chair, than from drinking 
water from St. Kenna's well. The time of St. Kenna's 
visitation is not accurately known. She is supposed to be 
the same St Keyna, daughter of a prince of Brecknock-* 
shire, who lived a recluse life for many years near a town 
situated midway between Bristol and Bath, since called 
Cainsbara, after her name, where she founded a monas- 
tery in the beginning of the sixth century, and cleaned the 
neighbourhood from snakes and vipers by converting them 
all into Cornua Ammonis, which have abounded there 
ever since, in testimony of her sanctity and of the fervour 
of her prayers. 

The supposed ancient site of St. Michael's Mount, its 
being the hoary monk in a wood surrounded by forests, is 
deduced from arguments very similar to those which prove 
the miraculous power of St Kenna in converting serpents 
into stones. 

Trees have been found buried under the sand and silt 
in the Mount's Bay, as they are frequently found in every 
similar inlet of the sea on the southern coast of England. 
And the tradition, if a term so respectable may be applied 
to such vague conjectures, applies equally to Mount St 
Michael ; or they may have been derived from a common 
origin. See Le Grand Dictionaire Historique, par M. 
Moreri, Paris edition of 1188, with the Supplement of 
1735. In the 5th folio volume of the Dictionary, p. 193, 
and in the 2d folio volume of the Supplement, p. 261, will 
be found these passages : 

«' Saint Michel ou Mont Saint Michel, en Latin Mons 
Sancti Michaelis in periculo Maris. Bourg de France en 
Normandie, avec une Abbaie celebre et un chateau. Sa 
situation est assez particuliere, sur un rocher qui s'etend 
au milieu d'une grand greve, que la mer couvre de son re- 



208 ST. HILARY. 

flux. On dit qu' Augustin, eveque d'Avranches, qui vi- 
vait au commencement du huitieme siecle, y suit des 
chanoines apres une apparition de l'Archange Seint 
Michel. 

" Ce mont s'appelloit le Mont de Tombe a cause de sa 
figure. On pretend qu'une foret occupoit autrefois sont 
le terrain depuis le mont jusques aux Paroisses de Tanis 
et d'Ardevon; que la mer a detruit cette foret, et 
qu'elle en a pris la place ; et c'est de la, dit on, que le 
Mont Saint Michel est surnomme, ' Au peril de la mer, 9 
Mons in periculo Maris." 

The first authentic document relative to St. Michael's 
Mount is the charter of Saint Edward the Confessor, the 
original of which remained among the archives of Mount 
St. Michael. 

In the recent edition of Dugdale's Monasticon Angli- 
canum, vol. vii. p. 988 : 

Priory of St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall. — A 
priory of Benedictine monks was placed here by King 
Edward the Confessor. Before A.D. 1085, however, it 
was annexed by Robert Earl of Moreton and Cornwall, to 
the Abbey of St Michael in Periculo Maris, in Nor- 
mandy. 

The following entry relating to the property of St. 
Michael's Priory, in Cornwall, occurs in the Domesday 
Survey : 

" Terra Sancti Michaelis. — Ecclesia S. Michaelis tenet 
Treiwal, Brismar tenebat tempore regis Edwardi. Ibi 
sunt ii hidae quae numquam geldaverunt Terra est viii 
car. Ibi est i. car. cum uno villano, et ii. bord. et x. acr. 
pastures. Val. xx. solid. De hiis ii. hid. abstulit Comes 
Moriton i. hidam. Val. xx. sol." 

In Hampshire, Domesday, torn. i. fol. 43, there is an- 
other entry concerning St. Michael's Priory : 

In Basingstoches Hund. — Ecclesia S. Michaelis de Monte 
tenet de lege unam ecclesiam cum i. hida et decima M. 
de Basingestoches. Ibi est presbyter et ii. villani et iiii.- 



ST. MjeHAJ&l/s MOUNT. 209 

bord. cum i. car. etmolin. de xx. sol, et ii. acr. prati. Tot 
val. iiii. lib. et v. sol. 

Oliver, in his Historic Collections relating to the mo- 
nasteries of Devon, p. 147, gives the following list of Priors 
of St. Michael's Mount : — 

Ralph de Carteret, admitted Dec. 21, 1200. 

Richard Perer, April 11, 1275. 

Geoffrey de Gernon, July 8, 1283, 

Peter de Cara Villa, Sept. 12, 1316. 

John Hardy, Oct. 3, 1349. 

John de Volant, April 24, 1362. 

Richard Auncell, Dec. 7, 1385. 

William Lambert, Oct. 1, 1410. 

As the alien priories were suppressed by Henry V. who 
began his reign in 1413, William Lambert was probably 
the last Prior. 

Bishop Tanner says, in his Notitia Monastica : — After 
the suppression of the alien priories, this was first given by 
King Henry VI. to King's College, Cambridge, and after- 
wards by King Edward IV. to the nunnery of Sion, in 
Middlesex. At the first seizure by King Edward III. the 
farm was rated but at 10/. per annum, but at the general 
dissolution by Henry VIII. the lands belonging to this 
house, as parcel of Sion Abbey, were valued at 110/!. 12$. 
per annum. 

The charter'of Saint Edward may be thus translated ; 
" In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity. I 
Edward, by the grace of God King of the English, willing 
to give the price of the redemption of my own. soul, or of 
the souls of my parents, with the consent and attestation 
of good men, have delivered to St. Michael the Archangel, 
for the use of the brethren serving God in that place, Saint 
Michael, which is near the sea, with all its appendages, 
that is to say, with its towns, castles, lands, and other ap- 
purtenances. I have added, moreover, all the land of 
Vennefire, with its towns, villages, fields, meadows, and 
grounds, cultivated or uncultivated, with their proceeds. 

VOL. II. p 



210 ST. HILARY. 

And I have joined, as an addition to the things already 
given, the harbour called Ruminella, with all things be- 
longing to it, that is, with mills and establishments for 
fisheries and with their proceeds. 

" But if any one shall endeavour to interpose subtile im- 
pediments against these gifts, let him be made an anathema, 
and incur the perpetual anger of God. 

" And that the authority of our donation may be held the 
more truly and firmly hereafter, I have, in confirming it, 
underwritten with my own hand, which many also of the 
witnesses have done. 

Signum Regis Edwardi *Jt 

Roberti Archiepiscopi Rothomagensis *f 
Herberti Episcopi Lexoviensis ij* 
Roberti Episcopi Constantiensis >J* 
Radulphi ^ 

Vinfredi ^ Nigelli Vicecomitis. 
Anschitelli Choschet. Turstini. 
The next charter: 

" In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I Robert, 
by the grace of God Earl of Moriton, influenced with the fire 
of divine love, supporting in battle the standard of St. Michael, 
do make known to all the sons of our holy mother church, 
that for the salvation of the souls of myself and of my wife, 
also for the salvation, the prosperity, and safety of the most 
glorious King William, and for obtaining the reward of 
eternal life, do give and grant Mount Saint Michael, of 
Cornwall, to God and to the monks serving (God) of the 
church of Saint Michael in danger of the sea ; with half a 
hide of land, so unbound, and peaceable and free from all 
customs, complaints, and suits, as I hold them. And I 
appoint, the King my Lord consenting, that they may 
hold a market on every Friday. Lastly, as I have most 
certainly ascertained that a son has been given me from 
God by my wife, through the merits of the blessed Michael, 
by the prayers of the monks, I have increased the gift to 
him the blessed chief of the heavenly host. I have given 



st. Michael's mount. 211 

and do give in Amaneth three acres of land ; that is to say, 
Trevelaboth, Lismanoch, Trequaners, Carmailoc, my most 
pious Lord King William assenting, together with the 
Queen Mathilde, and their noble sons the Earl Robert, 
William Rufus, and Henry yet a boy, to be quiet and 
free from all pleas, complaints, and forfeits, so that the 
monks shall not answer in any matter to the King's justice, 
homicide alone excepted. 

" And I Robert Earl of Moriton have made this donation, 
which William the glorious King of the English, and the 
Queen, and their children, have permitted and testified. 
Signum Willielmi Regis >{< Reginae Mathildis ^ 

Roberti Comitis >f« Willielmi Rufifilii Regis ^ 

Henrici Pueri ^ Roberti Comitis Moritoni ^ 

Matildis Comitissae ^ Willielmi filii eorum ^ 

Tnis charter is ratified and confirmed in the year one 

thousand and eighty-five from the Incarnation of our Lord* 

Signum Liurici Essecestriae Episcopi ^ " 

Among several other charters there is one from Richard 
King of the Romans, granting to the Prior three annual 
fairs, to be holden near their Grange, now the Long Barn. 

" Richard by the grace of God King of the Romans, and 
always Augustus, to the Bishops, Abbats, Priors, Earls, 
Barons, and to all holding free tenures, and to others his 
lieges in the county of Cornwall, health, and every good. 
May you all know that we, by this our present confirma- ' 
tion, have granted and confirmed to the Prior of the blessed 
•Michael, in Cornwall, and to his successors, that they 
may have and hold, and for ever possess, the three fairs 
and three markets on their own proper ground in Mar- 
chadyon, near their Barn; which three fairs and three 
markets they have hitherto held by the concession of our 
predecessors Kings of England, in Marghasbigan, on 
ground belonging to others ; that is to say, on the middle 
day in Lent, and on the following day ; and on the eve of 
the blessed Michael, and on the following day ; and on the 

p2 



212 ST. HILARY. 

eve of the blessed Michael in monte tumbee, and on thefbl* 
lowing day, provided that these fairs and markets may not 
cause any damage or injury to other fairs or markets, in 
conformity with the laws and customs of this kingdom of 
England. 

" In witness of all which things we have thought fit ta 
certify this present confirmation with our royal seal." 

There is also a bull of Pope Adrian, in the year 1155, 
confirming all their possessions to the Abbat and monks of 
Mount St. Michael, and among them Saint Michael's 
Mount, in Cornwall ; which, previously to its subjugation, 
had been exempted from all episcopal interference by Liu- 
ricus Bishop of Exeter, as he states by the exhortation and 
command of his Lord, Pope Gregory, and in compliance 
with the wishes of the King, of the Queen, and of all the 
magnates in the realm. And he also grants a release from 
a third part of their penances to all such persons as may 
visit this church of St. Michael with oblations and alms. 

The Mount appears never to have received a reli- 
gious society after its suppression as an alien priory in the 
reign of King Henry the Fifth. At the period of the ge- 
neral dissolution it must have been let at an anuual rent, 
for in the abstract roll preserved in the Augmentation 
Office this entry occurs under Syon Abbey : " Cornub.— 
S. Michael, ad Montem, Firma 26/. 13*. 4d." 

The history of St. Michael's Mount since its dissolution, 
as a parcel of Sion Abbey, is very far from being clear. 
It appears to have been granted at first for terms-of years 
to different gentlemen of the neighbourhood. To Mil- 
lington, supposed of Pengersick, in Breage; to Harris, of 
Kenegie, in Gulval; and perhaps jointly with Milling- 
ton to a Billett or Bennett. A person of that name, half- 
deranged, who died about the middle of the last century, 
continued during the whole of his life to shoot rabbits on 
the Mount one day in the year by way of maintaining a 
supposed right, which, being utterly groundless, was 
humanely allowed to pass unobserved. 



st. Michael's mount. 213 

Queen Elizabeth, or King James I. appears to have 
granted the. whole in fee to Robert Cecil, created Earl of 
Salisbury May 4, 1605. But the Mount was seised into 
his own hands by King Charles I. just at the breaking 
out of the civil war, probably on account of the great 
military importance of this hold, when William Cecil, son 
of the former, having subscribed the Declaration made at 
York, on the 13th of June, 1642, left the party of which 
the King was at the head, and joined the opposite party in 
London. 

An order was soon after given to Sir Francis Basset, 
then Sheriff of Cornwall, to place the Mount in a state of 
defence, and to supply it with ammunition and provisions; 
and it is not improbable that a grant was made of the 
castle and Mount to Sir Francis Basset at once, in witness 
of his zeal displayed in the cause, and as some indemnity 
for the expenses he had incurred, the royalist party never 
having had any considerable sum of money at their com- 
mand. 

The Bassets having suffered extremely in their property 
by efforts made during the war, and by compositions after- 
wards, it was found convenient to sell St Michael's Mount 
about the year 1660 ; when it was most fortunately pur- 
chased by Sir John St. Aubyn, in whose opulent family, 
and through five John St Aubyns, it has descended to the 
present possessor of that name. 

Every individual of this family has proved himself de- 
sirous of Supporting, of maintaining, and of beautifying one 
of the most extrordinary spots in the whole world. 

Including Dartmoor and the Scilly Islands, granite 
breaks out into six large but unequal masses, which, like 
the Appeninnes of Italy, extend a narrow promontory into 
the sea. St. Michael's Mount presents a ridge of granite 
equally distihct with any of these great masses, and rises 
into a lofty cone, the base being surrounded by the killas, a 
peculiar schist, the chief metalliferous rock of Cornwall. 



214 St. HILARY. 

And here most of the curious phenomena are found 
which occur at the junction of these two rocks. 

The buildings on the summit are grand and appropriate 
to the scenery, and venerable from their antiquity. The 
church, with its tower, completing the pyramidal figure of 
the whole, are supposed to date so far back as the reign 
of St. Edward. And a modern addition of two rooms on 
the eastern part of the building, made by the late Sir 
John Aubyn about the year 1750, is in complete har- 
mony with the other parts, and adds to the general effect. 

The inside of the castle, or priory, has been much de- 
corated within a few years, and florid gothic ornaments 
have been added to the exterior ; but opinions are much 
divided as to the accordance of these new parts with build- 
ings to which Sir Walter Scott's line may be applied, 

In Saxon strength tbe Abbey frown'd. 

At the foot of the Mount a small pier existed from a 
time probably anterior to the Monastery itself, but in the 
early part of the last century a lease on lives was granted to 
Mr. George Blewett, the early associate and in some de- 
gree rival of the great Mr. Lemon. This gentleman rebuilt 
the pier on a very enlarged scale, and concentrated here 
almost the whole commerce of Penwith hundred, which 
has since his time gone to Penzance and Hayle. 

St. Michael's Mount is said to be selected as the scene 
of many strange adventures, in Italian romances ; while 
Cornwall is supposed to abound with enchanters, goblins, 
and other supernatural beings. 

An English romance, once popular with the old and with 
the young, but now banished even from our nurseries, be- 
gins- thus : 

" In the days of King Arthur the Mount of Cornwall 
was kept by a monstrous giant." ma 

Taaca Argo i Mini, e tucia Artu qui' suoi 
Erronti, che di sogni empion le cXYte. 

Marazion has certainly to boast of very great antiquity. 



MARAZION. 215 

It may have existed in the earliest times, if the Mount really 
afforded protection to the Eastern merchants, who sought 
the shores of Cornwall for its tin. 

And the names Marazion and Marketjew cannot but ex- 
cite an inclination to believe that in the Middle Ages this 
place may have been the resort of the most extraordinary 
people, who at all times have manifested a peculiar incli- 
nation for dealing in metals ; it is moreover worthy of re- 
mark that all remains of places where tin has heretofore 
been smelted in the most simple manner, are invariably 
denominated Jew's Houses. Marazion must also have af- 
forded shelter and entertainment to the crowds of pilgrims 
assembling at particular periods to adore the Shrine of St. 
Michael, and to participate in the indulgence granted by 
Liuricus Bishop of Exeter, on the exhortation of his Lord 
the Pope. 

Marazion received a charter of incorporation from Queen 
Elizabeth, but the town, although beautifully situated, has 
not kept pace in the career of improvement with many 
others, and especially not with Penzance. 

About the middle of the last century, which was the 
great epoch for the establishment of turnpike roads, as the 
beginning of this century will be considered for their im- 
provement on principles of science and of general accom- 
modation, a turnpike road was laid out from Falmouth, 
through Penryn and Helston, to the western of Marazion, 
by which a new entrance was opened from Penzance ; and 
about the year 1775 a large castellated house was built at 
the western extremity of the town, by Mr. John Blewett, 
son of Mr. George Blewett, the very considerable mer- 
chant noticed above, in imitation of the house at Tregenna, 
near St. Ive's, built by Mr. Samuel Stephens a few years 
before, under the direction of Mr. Wood, an architect from 
Bath, who had constructed most of the splendid works in 
that city. 

Mr. George Blewett, rising from the lowest origin, is 
said to have accumulated a hundred thousand pounds. On 



216 ST. HILAftY. 

the death of his only son the property went to a nephew, 
and the whole has been dissipated. 

The house was some time afterwards purchased by an* 
other Mr. Blewett, wholly unconnected with the former, 
who acquired a considerable fortune in the war : that has 
also entirely disappeared, and the house has passed into 
other hands. 

Mr. Pascoe Grenfell, Commissary to the States of Hol- 
land, resided here during a long life, although he was ori- 
ginally of Penzance ; and here was born his son Mr. Pascoe 
Grenfell, junior, well known throughout England as an 
active Member of Parliament, as a man of talent and of 
great liberality, commensurate to his almost unexampled 
success in commerce. 

From Marazion also have sprung the family of Cole* 

Captain Francis Cole would have risen to the most ele- 
vated station in the Navy if he had not been cut off by an 
early death. 

Captain Christopher Cole most justly acquired the 
highest military reputation by his capture of Banda in the 
East Indies, with a force several times less numerous than 
the garrison which he overcame; and, having taken the 
place with such an union of courage, determined resolu- 
tion, aud of prudence, as would rival the exploits of chivalry, 
he acquired still greater glory by extending a truly heroic 
courtesy to the vanquished, protecting them in their per- 
sons, in their properties, and in the exercise of their reli- 
gious and of their civil rights. Having settled, in conse- 
quence of his marriage, in Glamorganshire, he has had the 
honour of representing that county in Parliament. 

The Reverend John Cole, D.D. attained the high situa- 
tion of Rector of Exeter College, Oxford. 

And the younger brother, Dr. Samuel Cole, is now 
Chaplain-general to the Navy. 

The principal inhabitant at present is Mr. William Cor- 
nish, a very respectable merchant and a magistrate for the 



ST. HILARY. 217 

county; he married a daughter of the elder Captain Cole, 
and has a numerous family. 

Treveneage seems to have been the principal seat in this 
parish. A branch of the Godolphins resided here, haying 
acquired the property by a marriage with the heiress of an 
ancient family denominated Goverigon or Gavrigan, whose 
principal residence was in St. Colombo 

Katherine Godolphin, daughter and heiress of Francis 
Godolphin, Esq. of Treveneage, married John St. Aubyn, 
of Clowance, Esq. and was buried at St. Hilary, on the 
13th of March 1662, as appears from an inscription on a 
monument to her memory in the church. 

The barton of Treveneage was however sold, and after 
passing through Robinson, it was purchased, about the year 
1665, by the family of Tredenham, of Tredenham, or Tre- 
linham, in Probus. 

Mr. Joseph Tredinham was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1665, 
and was knighted. One of his daughters, and eventually 
his coheiress, married Scobell of Menigwins, in St. Austell; 
and from a coheiress of Scobell this barton, together with 
an extensive manor, descended to the Hawkins's of Pen- 
nance, and from them to the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, 
of Trewitban in Probus, and of Trewinnard in St. Erth. 

Tregembo, or Tregember, bears an appearance of con- 
siderable antiquity. Mr. Lysons says that it belonged to 
the family of Grosse, and that it passed by sales, through 
King to Penneck, in the year 1684. 

The Pennecks were originally of Trescow in Breage, and 
advanced themselves in the world by the stewardship and 
-patronage of the Godolphins. One of this family, the 
Reverend John Penneck, who died in 1724, was Chan- 
cellor of Exeter, and would probably have been advanced 
much higher in the church if the Marlborough and Go- 
dolphin administration had remained longer in the posses* 
sion of power. 

On this gentleman's decease, without children, his pro- 



218 ST. HILARY. 

perty devolved on the Reverend John Penneck, vicar of 

Gulval, who married Wroughton, and left two sons 

and two daughters ; John, who succeeded him in the living 
of Gulval, and Charles, bred to the law, but who quitted 
that profession for the militia during the American War. 

Mr. John Penneck died in 1789, and his brother in 
1801 ; they were succeeded by their two sisters, who were, 
Catherine, married to the Reverend William Borlase, 
son and eventually sole heir of the Reverend Walter Bor- 
lase, LL.D. of Castlehorneck ; and Ann, married to John 
Bingham Borlase, M.D. who had the honour of bestowing 
his early medical education on Sir Humphrey Davy. Each 
of these sisters left an only daughter. Ann, daughter 
of the eldest, married to the Reverend Mr. Peters; and 
Ann, daughter of the second, married to Captain Pascoe. 

The manor of Tregurtha also belonged to the Pennecks, 
having been purchased in the early part of the last century; 
but this manor, together with a large portion of their other 
possessions, were sold by the two last brothers. This 
manor was bought jointly by Mr. Carne, of Penzance, and 
the late Mr. Thomas Grylls, of Hekton. Tregembo still 
belongs to the two ladies. 

Ennis, usually called Ninnis, was for some time a gen- 
tleman's seat, although it is now become a mere farm. Mr. 
Humphrey Millett, the last resident gentleman, had been 
a member of Exeter College. He married Mary, daugh- 
ter of Mr. Sandys, of Helston, and dying early in life left 
two daughters his coheiresses. The eldest daughter, Mary, 
married Thomas Grylls, Esq. and the second daughter, 
Grace, married Charles Short, Esq. of Devonshire, Clerk 
of the Rules in the Court of King's Bench, and both have 
families. The widow married secondly George Trework, 
Esq. of Penzance. 

Trevarthen has the appearance of a place respectable 
in former times. The freehold belongs to the Duke of 
Leeds, as heir of the Godolphins ; but it was held for a long 



. ST. HILARY. 219 

period of years on a lease for lives by one of the numerous 
branches of the family of Davies, now all extinct. 

This parish has abounded in mines, especially in the 
manors of Treveneage and Tregurtha; but the most re- 
markable in its consequences was a mine called Whele 
Fortune, on Trowall or Truthwell, belonging to Lord Go- 
dolphin, as it enabled Mr. Lemon to move oft the great 
scale which afterwards so eminently distinguished him ; as 
it laid the foundation of Mr. Blewett's large fortune ; and 
brought forward Captain Dewen, whose fortune descended 
on two daughters, one married to the Rev. George 
fiorlase, Fellow of All Souls, and son of the historian ; the 
other married to Mr. Keir, a gentleman in the profession 
of medicine. 

The church is situated on a commanding elevation, and 
would be an imposing object throughout the whole neigh- 
bourhood, if it were not disfigured by an insignificant spire. 

The church and churchyard contain several monuments 
to the Godolphins, Pennecks, Milletts, Blewetts, &c. 

On a stone, now made the floor of a seat in the south 
east corner of St. Hilary church, is the following curious 
inscription to one of the Godolphins. 

Aquila quae volucres coeli supereminet omnes, 
Et Caper e summis qui carpit montibus herbam, 
Quique tuum referens Godolphin nomen in undis 
Delphinus, piscesque regit, cursuque fatigat; 
Haec bene te natum proavis insignia monstrant 
Per coelum, et terras, et vasta per aequora claris, 
Et tua te virtus cunctis majoribus aequat. 

Sic transit Gloria Mundi ! 

Et quae modo Candida Nix est, 

Phoebo splendente, liquescit. 

Et quae modo florida vigent 

Per amcenos Lilia campos, 

Citius quam dicere possis, 

Aspectu Solis eoi 

Marcescunt ; sic violentis 

Fatorum legibus omnes 

Cedunt, juvenesque senesque, 



220 8T< HILARY. 

Sic qui modo floruit inter 
Primos, generosus, et inter 
Claros; quos vexit honoris 
Summi ad fastigia virtus; 
Nulli pietate secundus, 
Godciphin morte peremptus, 
Fatis succumbit iniquis. 
Humana hinc discite quam 
Vita incerta et brevis ! 
Sic transit Gloria Mundi ! 

In connection with the church, one of those casual coin- 
cidences may be noticed, which continued to be remem- 
bered and cited for more than a century in this parish, and 
|o obtain belief or discredit, as an interposition of Provi- 
dence, according to the religious or the political opinions 
of those who heard or related it. 

It seems that a Mr. Palmer held this living previously to 
the Restoration of King Charles II. and that he was one 
among the two thousand, who in obedience to the dictates 
of their consciences, from the fear of disgrace, or from po- 
litical motives, refused, " In the church, chapel, or place 
of public worship belonging to their benefices or promo- 
tions, upon some Lord's Day before the Feast of St. Bar- 
tholomew, which should be in the year of our Lord God 
one thousand six hundred and sixty-two, openly, publickly, 
and solemnly to read the morning and evening prayer, ap- 
pointed to be read by and according to the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer, at the times thereby appointed, and after such 
reading thereof, and openly and publickly before the con- 
gregation there assembled, to declare their unfeigned as- 
sent to the use of all things in the said book contained and 
prescribed." See the Act of Uniformity, anno decimo 
tertio et quarto Caroli II. ch. 4. 

In consequence of this refusal the two thousand incum- 
bents were ejected without any provision or allowance 
whatever, so that many of them perished from actual want. 
Several thus ejected without doubt continued the exercise 



ST. HILARY. 221 

of their sacred functions among such as were desirous or 
willing to assist at them ; and for this offence Mr. Palmer 
was called before magistrates appointed by the new govern* 
ment, who ordered his commitment to prison, when the 
ejected vicar is said to have addressed Mr Robinson, of 
Treveneage, one of the magistrates, in the words of Mi- 
caiah, " If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not 
spoken by me." 

Within a short time after this vaticination Mr. Robin- 
son met his death by the goring of his own bull. 

It would be inexcusable in me if I were to leave this 
parish without noticing the late Vicar, from whose kindness 
I received information whenever it was asked, in those sci- 
ences which have afforded me uninterrupted entertainment 
and delight throughout the whole continuance of a pro- 
tracted life. 

The Reverend Malachy Hitchins was born in the parish 
of Gwenap, about the year 1740 ; possessed of hereditary 
claims to mathematical attainments as the nephew of Mr. 
Thomas Martyn, well known by his excellent map of 
Cornwall published about that time; a map then equal- 
ling if not surpassing the best county maps of England, 
and still almost unrivalled for minute and accurate topo- 
graphy, including the boundaries of parishes-— the work of 
fifteen years labour. 

I have not succeeded in acquiring any information re- 
specting Mr. Hitchins in his early years, with the exception 
of a general report of his being then distinguished by the 
ability, accuracy, and diligence conspicuous in his future 
years. 

These qualities, and probably his near connection with 
Mr. Martyn, recommended Mr. Hitchins as an assistant 
to Mr. Benjamin Donne in constructing a map of 
Devonshire, an occupation decisive of his future life, 
for at Bideford he became acquainted with Miss Hockin, 
whom he married, and acquiring with her an acces- 
sion of fortune, he proceeded to Oxford, and became a 
member of Exeter College, with the view of obtaining 



222 ST. HILARY. 

orders. But Mr. Hitchins possessed talents and acquire- 
ments that could not admit of bis remaining undistinguished 
at a place of learning. He was soon noticed by the mathe- 
maticians, and recommended to the Reverend Nevil Mas- 
kelyne, Astronomer Royal, to assist him at the Royal Ob- 
servatory ; and when Doctor Maskelyne went to St. He- 
lena, in the year 1761, to observe the transit of Venus, and 
to ascertain, if it were possible, the parallax of Sirius, Mr. 
Hitchins had the whole care of the Observatory entrusted 
to his hands. 

Another object of Doctor Maskelyne's voyage, and one 
eventually of by far the greatest importance, was to prove 
from actual experience that Longitudes at sea might be 
derived from observations on the moon. Tables founded 
on the theory of gravitation and of inertia, as laid down 
by Sir Isaac Newton, had then been constructed by 
Tobias Mayer, of Gottingen, and communicated to Dr. 
Maskelyne in manuscript, representing the moon's place 
at all times in the heavens, within narrow limits ; and the 
admirable instrument invented by Mr. John Hadley, by 
rendering the apparent contact of two objects, independent 
of all agitations of the instrument itself, enabled observers 
to ascertain the distance of the moon from the sun, or from 
a star, almost as accurately on board a ship as on the solid 
land. With these assistances the determination of a ship's 
longitude became an easy problem. The moon is con- 
verted into the hand of a clock, indicating by its distance 
from a particular star, the time at Greenwich Observatory 
made the first meridian. This distance is ascertained by 
Hadley 's sextant, and after applying certain corrections 
for parallax and refraction, the time at Greenwich be- 
comes known. The actual time at the place of observa- 
tion is then determined from the altitude of some celestial 
body, and thus differences in the longitude required. 

Doctor Maskelyne having fully verified the complete 
practicability of this method, procured throguh the Board 
of Longitude the publication of Mayer's tables, accompa- 



ST. HILARY. 223 

nied by a reward or premium, under an Act of Parliament, 
to his widow, of three thousand pounds ; and soon after- 
wards the same eminent and patriotic astronomer devised 
and executed a work absolutely necessary for enabling or- 
dinary persons to avail themselves of this important dis- 
covery, namely the Nautical Almanac, in which the sun's 
place is accurately given for the noon of each day, the 
place of the moon for noon and midnight of each day, and 
the true angular distance of the moon from the sun, and 
from certain stars for every third hour of the day and of 
the night throughout the year, together with the equation 
of time, the places of the planets, &c. : thus saving to ob- 
servers perhaps ninety-nine parts out of a hundred of the 
calculations that were previously indispensible. 

The labour of such a work must obviously require many 
hands, especially as without great care in constructing the 
original calculation, and in correcting the press, it would 
prove worse than useless. To ensure this accuracy, the 
most important parts were performed in duplicate by dif- 
ferent persons, and the whole carefully collated and veri- 
fied by the superior officer, called the Comparer, under the 
ultimate superintendence of the Astronomer Royal himself. 

In constructing the first Nautical Almanac that ap- 
peared, for 1767, Mr. Hitchins performed the office of a 
computer ; but for all the others, up to the period of his 
decease in 1809, he most advantageously, not only for this 
country but for the whole world, executed the office of 
comparer. 

The Lunar tables are now carried to a degree of per- 
fection far exceeding those of Mayer, and the Nautical 
Almanac has been enlarged and improved ; but the glory 
of devising the work remains with Doctor Maskelyne, and 
perhaps scarcely a less degree of glory with Mr. Hitchins, 
for having conducted it with unrivalled accuracy for a 
period extending through so great a number of years. 

During his residence at Greenwich Mr. Hitchins had 
received holy orders ; and, as the office of comparer did 



234 ST. HILARY. 

not confine him to any particular place, he removed to 
Exeter, and soon obtained the vicarage of Hennock, to 
hold for a minor. He did not fail however of attracting 
attention from the clergy of the Cathedral, and about the 
year 1774 Bishop Keppell collated him to St. Hilary, which 
had lapsed in consequence of a dispute between two of the 
numerous patrons claiming unsettled turns to the pre- 
sentation. Here Mr. Hitchins resided respected and ad- 
mired till the close of his life, on the 28th of March 1809 ; 
having been distinguished by the succeeding Bishop of 
Exeter, Dr. John Ross, who conferred on him the adjoin- 
ing vicarage of Gwinear. 

Mr. Hitchins had four sons and one daughter. 

The eldest, Richard, was a Fellow of Exeter College, 
and died unmarried on a college living. 

The second, Thomas, also a clergyman, married Miss 
Emma Grenfell, of Marazion; he served for many years a 
church near Plymouth, and has left several children. 

The third, Malachy, inherited his father's genius with his 
name. He filled the office for some time that his father 
had occupied in the Royal Observatory ; but ultimately 
preferring the law, he settled at Marazion, where he died 
at an early age in December 1802. 

The fourth son, Fortescue, was also in the law, and settled 
at St, Ivete. He distinguished himself as a poet and as a 
writer, having taken a considerable share in compiling a 
History of Cornwall ; but his life was also restricted to a 
narrow space. 

The only daughter, Josepha, married William Millett, 
Esq. originally of Gurlin in St. Erth, and is now a widow 
with several sons. 

Mr. Hitchins had his time too much occupied to allow 
of his composing any considerable work. He made one 
communication however to the Royal Society, and another 
to the Society of Antiquaries; besides these there ar$ 
various minor publications, some bearing his name, and 
others the signature of Vatum Ultimus, alluding to his 



ST. HILARY. 225 

which is not uncommon in Cornwall, is probably derived 
not immediately from the Hebrew Prophet, but from 
St Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, who is said to have 
died in the arms of St. Bernard in the year 1148. 

Mr. Hitchins was succeeded by the Reverend Thomas 
-Pascoe, the present vicar. 

The Parish Feast is celebrated on the Sunday nearest to 
the 13th of January, the day of the patron Saint. 

St. Hilary measures 3228 statute acres. 

And here it is right to state that all the measurements of 
parishes were made by Mr. Hitchins, from the boundaries 
laid down in his uncle's map, and that they are copied from 
a manuscript which he had the kindness to give me in 
Oct. 1805. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 3322 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 676 16 

Population — i * 1801 ' I in 1811 ' I in 1821 ' I in 1831 > 
copulation,— | 99() | 1248 | 1558 | 172g 

giving an increase of 74j- per cent in 30 years. 

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish is similarly constituted to the adjacent pa- 
rishes of St. Erth and Gwinear, being all situated on a 
line running north-east and south-west, between the large 
masses of granite of the Land's End and of Cambrea. 

St. Michael's Mount, adjoining the shore of this parish, 
is an object of great attention to the geologist as well as 
to the tourist. It is composed almost entirely of granite, 
having only two small patches of slate, one on the western 
and the other on the eastern side; at these two places, and 
more particularly at the latter, the junction of the granite 
and of the slate may be seen, the slate being intersected 
with numerous granite veins. The granite of the Mount 
is not so large-grained as that of the Land's End ; but the 
structure of the rock is no where better displayed than at 

VOL. II. Q 



226 ST. HILARY. 

this place on the southern side ; where the whole mass is 
distinctly divided into large quadrangular blocks, and is 
traversed in a direction parallel to the divisions, by quartz 
veins, which contain crystals of mica, of apatite, and of 
topaz, and also the ores of tin, copper, and wolfram, the 
latter of which is the most abundant 

One most important geological fact is here beautifully 
exhibited. That the mineral composition of granite is 
altered in the vicinity of quartz veins, whether they are 
metalliferous or otherwise; approaching these veins the 
granite becomes more and more siliceous, until at length 
it gradually passes into the quartz, which forms the body 
(or matrix as it is called) of the veins. A fact difficult to 
reconcile with the generally received opinion, which as- 
sumes all veins to have been originally fissures, subse- 
quently filled up from above or beneath. 



HILL, NORTH. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the 
north Lewanack, east Lezant, south and west Linkyn- 
horne. Under what district this parish was taxed in 
Domesday Roll I know not; however, in the Inquisition 
of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value 
of Cornish Benefices, 1294, " Ecclesia de Northill in de- 
canatu de Estwellshire " was taxed £6 ; in Wolsey's In- 
quisition, 1521, £36. 6s. 8rf. The patronage is in Dar- 
ley ; the incumbent Darley. The parish is rated to the 
4*. per pound Land Tax, 1696, ,£211. 12*. 

Trebatha, in this parish, which after the English-Cornish 
may be interpreted a town of baths, or washing fountains, 



HILL, NORTH. 227 

otherwise the town of clubs or bats, is the dwelling of an 
old family of gentlemen surnamed Spour. The present 
possessor Henry Spour, Gent, that married Rhodes, and 
giveth for his arms, Gules, on a chevron Or, a rose of the first 
between two mullets or spur rowells Sable pierced. Now 
Charles Grylls, Esq. married the daughter and heir 
of Spour, relict of Bellot, of Bochin. She surviving her 
husband, without issue, as I am informed, is married to her 
cousin Rodd, and to him and his heirs hath conveyed all 
her lands. 

Batt-in, Batt-en, in this parish, from which place was 
denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed Battin, 
whose only daughter and heir, in the latter end of Queen 
Elizabeth's reign, was married to one Mr. Vincent, a bar- 
rister-at-law, that came down the Western Circuit with 
the judges, and so together with herself brought this barton 
into his family. 

The late possessor, John Vincent, Gent, sometime Fellow 
of All Souls College in Oxford, originally descended, as I 
am informed, from the Vincents of Stoke Dabemon in 
Surrey, and giveth the same arms, viz. Azure, three quatre^ 
foils Argent. His younger brother, Mr. Matthias Vincent, 
was bound or bred an apprentice with a merchant at 
London, and having but a small fortune to begin trade 
with, yet for his care and industry was so taken notice of 
in London that he was sent by the East India Company as 
one of their factors to Surat in the Mogul's country, where 
by his skill in factorage and merchandize, but chiefly by 
marriage with a Portugal merchant's daughter and heir, he 
obtained a great quantity of riches, goods, and chattels ; 
whereupon he left his servile trade of a factor to others, 
and returned with his family and riches safely into England, 
temp. James II. by whom he was knighted, and in one of 
his Parliaments was chosen a burgess for the town of Lest- 
withell, and served in that capacity for some time, till an 
unlucky accident happened between him and his wife, or 
lady, who upon some real or feigned grounds grew jealous 

S 2 



228 HILL, NORTH. 

of his familiarity with another, privately eloped from him, 
carrying with her great quantities of his gold and jewels. 
He left issue by her two sons, lately living, though, as I 
am told, this estate for the most part is spent or consumed. 



TONKIN. 

Mr. Tonkin has not made any addition to the history of 
this parish. 

THE EDITOR. 

By far the principal place in this parish is Trebartha, 
now for three descents the residence of the very respectable 
family of Rodd. 

Mrs. Grylls bequeathed her property to Mr. Francis 
Rodd, of Herefordshire, a Captain in the Guards, not as 
her relation but as her intended third husband. This gen- 
tleman was succeeded by his son Francis Rodd, for many 
years Colonel of the Cornwall Militia. He married one of 
the three coheiresses of Heale and Paynten, and left three 
sons, Francis Heale Rodd, Esq. the present possessor of 
Trebartha ; the Rev. Edward Rodd, D.D. and Rector of 
St. Just in Roseland, heretofore Fellow of Exeter College, 
and Proctor of the University of Oxford in the year 1802 ; 
and Sir John Tremayne Rodd, an Admiral. Also two 
daughters, Jane and Harriet, the latter married to Mr. 
Fursdon, of Devonshire. 

Trebartha is in many respects worthy of being reckoned 
among the first places in Cornwall. The scenery, grand 
in other respects, is rendered still more so by the addition 
of a mountain torrent; and the house has been greatly im- 
proved by the late proprietor and the present, who has 
chiefly resided there, highly respected as a magistrate, as 
a gentleman, and as the benefactor of his neighbourhood. 
Mr. Rodd was a Fellow of All Souls, and during the war 
he served, as his father had done before him, in the defence 
of his country. 



HILL, SOUTH. 229 

Mr. Lysons says that the Lord of the Manor of Tre- 
veniel, which was passed from the Carews to the Spours, 
and from them to Rodd, claims by immemorial custom of 
the Mayor of Launceston the service of holding his stirrup 
whenever he shall mount his horse in that town in presence 
of the Duke of Cornwall ; a claim, however, difficult to prove 
by any exercise of it, even within legal memory, and now 
rendered obsolete by disusage if that effect is ever produced. 

The presentation to the living is in Mr. Rodd. The 
church is large, consisting of three entire ailes with a lofty 
tower, and placed on a commanding eminence. The in- 
terior is adorned with several splendid monuments of the 
present and former families resident at Trebartha. 

The present rector is the Rev. E. Trelawny, instituted 
in 1828. 

North-hill measures 6,815 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 5102 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 531 8 

v w . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-| 782 I 803 | 1089 | 1155 
giving an increase of nearly 4J per cent in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The western half of this parish is situated on granite, 
and the eastern half on slate belonging to the porphyritic 
series. The rocks of both resemble those of the corres- 
ponding parts of Alternum. 



HILL, SOUTH. 

HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the 
north Linkynhorne, east Stoke Climsland, south Killa- 
ton, west St. Ive. At the time of the Domesday-tax this 



230 HILL, SOUTH. 

parish, I suppose) was rated under the jurisdiction of 
Stoke Climsland or Trewollea, or Trewoolea. In the 
Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 
aforesaid, 1294, Ecclesia de Sut Hill was rated cxiii*. ivtf. ; 
in Wolsey's Inquisition <£38. The patronage in the 
King or Duke of Cornwall; the incumbent Trelawny, 
Dean of Exeter ; and the parish rated to the 4*. per pound 
Land Tax, 1696, 139/. 4*. 

Quere, whether Killington Church be not a daughter to 
or consolidated into this church ? 

Mana-ton, in this parish, gave name and origin to an 
old family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Mana- 
ton; the present possessor, Francis Manaton, Esq. Re- 
ceiver-general of her Majesty's Land Tax, that married 
Huckmore, and giveth for his arms, Argent, on a bend 
Sable, three mullets of the Field. 

TONKIN. 

It is so called from its situation in respect to North Hill, 
and its church lying on a high hill. The patronage in 
Trelawny. The incumbent Mr. Hele Trelawny, who suc- 
ceeded his kinsman Edward Trelawny, Dean of Exeter. 

Manor of Kellyland. This is the chief estate in the 
parish, it is called Conylond by Mr. Carew, through mis- 
take, in one place, as he rightly names it in another, and is 
there said to be held by the Baron of Stafford. 

The manor of Manaton, which I take to signify Stony 
Hill, as corrupted from main, a stone, and doon, a hill, has 
been ever the seat, perhaps from before the Conquest, of 
the family of that name, though the head of it Francis Ma- 
naton, Esq. has lately removed to Kilworthy, near Tavis- 
tock, which fell to him on the death of his kinsman Henry 
Manaton, Esq. of that place, and of Harwood in Calstock. 
Since his removal the house here, which was ruinous, has 
been left to fall, which I should scarce have noticed had I 
not observed the old arms of this family painted on glass in 



HILL, SOUTH. 231 

the hall there, Sable, a saltire Vairy between twelve crosses 
pattee fitchy Or, within a border Argent; which they have 
changed for, Argent, a bend Sable charged with three mul- 
lets of the Field, their present bearing. 

THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Whitaker, in a note, suggests Manach Don, or Ton, 
the Monk's House, as the derivation for Manaton. 

Mr. Lysons says that two thirds of the great manor of 
Calliland or Kalliland, passed from the baronial family of 
Stafford, by a coheiress, to Willoughby Lord Brook, and 
are now vested in Lord Clinton ; the other third was in 
the Crown, and was granted by King Richard the Third 
to John Cory ton, Esq. of Newton; that it belonged in 1620 
to the Glanvilles, and is now vested in Richard Strode, Esq. 
and that Manaton is become the property of Sir William 
Call. Lord Clinton is patron of the rectory; which was 
called St. Sampson's de Southill, in honour no doubt of 
St. Sampson already mentioned, a native of Monmouth- 
shire, and afterwards a Bishop in France. 

The church is large, and placed on an elevated situation, 
and contains memorials of the Manaton family. 

The Rev. John Trefusis, instituted in 1802, is the present 
rector. 

Southill measures 3089 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 2622 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 507 10 

T3 , ,. fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1881, 

Population,- | ^'1 466 | 534 | 53Q > 

giving an increase of 18£ per cent, in 80 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE. 

The eastern part of this parish nearly touches the gra- 
nite of Hingston Down. Like the adjoining parish of Cal- 
lington, its rocks are felspathic; and they are intersected 



232 JACOBSTOW. 

by beds of porphyry, and by numerous metalliferous veins* 
The rocks of die other parts of the parish are rather ano- 
malous, being such as occur between the porphyritic and 
the calcareous series. 



JACOBSTOW. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the 
north Poundstock, east St* Mary Wick, west St. Gennis, 
south Otterham. 

In the Domesday Tax, 1087, this parish passed under 
the jurisdiction of Pen-fon, or Pen-foun. In the inquisi- 
tion of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, 
Ecclesia de Jacobstow in decanatu de Trigmajorshire was 
valued vi/. ; in Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Be- 
neficiorum 19L; the patronage in Elliot; the incumbent 
Holden ; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land 
Tax, 1696, 113/. 14*. 

Pen-fon, now Penfowne aforesaid, i. e. head well, spring 
of water or fountain, gave name and original to an old 
family of gentlemen surnamed de Penfowne, who have 
lived here in good fame and reputation for many genera- 
tions. 

TONKIN. 

I take St Jacob to be the patron Saint of this parish, 
and not the patriarch Jacob, as some have imagined. 

The termination Stowe comes from the Saxon, and means 
a home or a dwelling. 

THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Lysons mentions some few particulars respecting 
this parish. He says that Sawacott, or Southcot, is the 



JACOBSTOW. Q83 

sole village in the parish ; and that a manor called Penhal- 
lam, having belonged to a Sir John Stowell in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth, has passed through various hands, and 
that it had been finally purchased about the year 1802 by 
the Rev. Charles Dayman. 

The barton of Berry Court has its mansion surrounded 
by a moat, indicative of ancient importance, but nothing 
seems to be known of its history. 

In Wood's Athenae Oxonienses may be found the fol- 
lowing account of a native of this parish : 

Degorie Wheare was born at Jacobstow in Cornwall ; 
retired to the habitation of the Muses called Broadgate 
Hall (Pembroke College) in the beginning of the year 
1592, aged 19; took the degrees in Arts, that of Master 
being completed in 1600 ; elected probationer fellow of 
Exeter College; and six years afterwards leaving that 
house, travelled into several countries beyond the seas, 
by which he obtained as well learning as experience. 

At his return he was entertained by the Lord Chandois, 
and by him respected and exhibited to. After his death 
our author with his wife retired to Gloucester Hall, where 
Doctor Hawley, the Principal, demised to him lodgings ; 
and there he became so well acquainted with Mr. Thomas 
Allen, that by his endeavours the learned Cambden made 
him his First Reader of his History Lecture which he 
founded in the University. 

Soon after he was made Principal of the Hall, the which 
with his Lecture he kept to his dying day; and was 
esteemed by some a learned and genteel man, and by 
others a Calvinist. 

Having entered at Oxford in the year 1592, aged, as 
his friend states, nineteen years, the date of his birth must 
be 1573 ; and it appears from the Fasti of Gloucester Hall, 
now Worcester College, that he died in 1647, aged there- 
fore 74. His chief works are, 

Praelectiones Hiemales de Ratione et Methodo Legendi 
Historias Civiles et Ecclesiasticas ; this work has gone 
through several editions, and been translated into English. 



234 ILLOGAN. 

Oratio Auspicalis ubi Cathedram Historicam primum 
ascendit 

Parentatio Historica — Commemoratio Vitae et Martis 
Gulielmi Camdeni,cum Imaginis Camdenianae Dedications 

Lord St. German's (Eliot) is patron of the living, and the 
present rector is the Rev. John Glanville, instituted in 1822. 

Jacobstow measures 4,206 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property! as £.8. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 2098 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 270 6 

, . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- 1 ^ | 4g9 | W1 | ^ 

giving an increase of 47 f per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish is entirely situated on the Dunstone rocks, 
mentioned under the heads of Boyton and St Gennys. 
To the cursory observer few opportunities offer themselves 
here for studying the nature of the rocks; but perhaps 
many quarries or similar excavations may be known to 
those who are resident. 



ILLOGAN. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the Hundred of Penwith, and hath upon 
the north the Irish sea, west Gwithian, south Camburne, 
east St. Agnes. 

In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winches- 
ter 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Illogani was valued to first fruits 
«£8. In Wolsey's inquisition 1521, by the same name, 
£22. 7*. 5d.; the patronage in Basset, the incumbent 
Basset ; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax 
1696, by the same name, £191. 16*. 



ILLOGAN. 235 

The lordship of Ty-hiddy, alias Ty-lud-y, in this parish, 
hath from the time of Henry the Third, how long before I 
know not, been the seat of the ancient and knightly family 
of the Bassets, whose first ancestor came out of Normandy 
with William the Conqueror 1066, and was posted in 
those parts a soldier under Robert Earl of Morton and 
Cornwall, of whose posterity (an officer or soldier 17th 
Edward II.) was William Basset, who was then possessed 
of SAO per annum in lands and rents in knight service. 
Carew's Surv. Corn. p. 51. William Basset, of Ty-hyddy, 
3 Henry IV. held in that place and Trevalga, one knight's 
fee of Morton, (idem liber) ; John Bassett was Sheriff of 
Cornwall 28 Henry VI. when John Chudleigh was Sheriff 
of Devon ; John Basset was Sheriff of Cornwall 13 Henry 
VII. when Peter Edgecomb was Sheriff of Devon ; John 
Basset, Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall 13 Henry VIII. 
when William Courtenay was Sheriff of Devon. The pre- 
sent possessor, Francis Basset, Esq. that married the relict 
of Sir William Gerrard, Knight, and after her decease 
Fendarves, of Roscrowe family ; his father Lucy, the inhe- 
ritrix of Heale, of Bradinge ; his grandfather, Sir Francis 
Basset, Anna, daughter of Sir Jonathan Trelawney, Knight. 
Sir Francis Basset's two younger brothers were bred sol- 
diers; and in the unhappy wars between King Charles I. 
and his Parliament, were, for their valour and good conduct 
in his service, knighted, but by the unfortunate end and 
success of that Prince and his wars, afterwards lived and 
died under the pressure of misfortune. 

And here I take it worth remembrance that Sir Fran- 
cis Basset, Knight, aforesaid, in the beginning of the 
reign of King Charles II. in the morning about ten o'clock 
on Ty-hyddy downs, himself or his falconer let fly a gos- 
hawk or tassell to a heathpolt or heathcock, which they had 
there sprung or started on the wing, which birds of game 
and prey in a short while flew eastwards, over St. Agnes 
parish, and quite out of sight, so that they despaired of 
ever finding them again; but, the next day, before 



236 ILLOGAN. 

twelve o'clock, to their wonder and amazement, a person 
sent from the Mayor of Camelford, brought both to Ty- 
hyddy to Sir Francis ; the hawk well and alive, with his 
varvells on his legs, whereon his owner's name aforesaid 
was inscribed, but the heathpolt was dead ; which messen- 
ger gave this further account of this rare accident, that 
the day before, as near as could be computed, about a quar- 
tes or half an hour after ten o'clock in the morning, the 
said hawk, in the midst of Camelford town, struck down his 
game dead upon the spot; so that by computation their 
flight straight forward, only in half an hour's space, was at 
least thirty-two Cornish miles. 

For what reason Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, 
gives such a slighting relation of this famous family, I 
know not ; his words be these : p. 154, Beyond Nants Mr. 
Basset possesseth Ty-hyddy, who married Godolphin, his 
father Coffyn, and giveth for his arms as aforesaid. 

In this parish, at , liveth Reginald An-gove, Gent. 

i. e. Reginald the Smith, a sirname assumed in memory of 
his first ancestor, who was by. trade and occupation a smith. 

And of this sort of sirname in England, thus speaks 
Verstegan, 

From whence came smith, all be it Knight or 'Squire ? 
But from the smith that forgeth in the fire. 

This Reginald Angove is that subtle crafty tinner, whom 
common fame reports to have gotten a considerable estate by 
labouring, adventuring, and dealing in tin, both in the 
mines below and blowing houses above ground, by indirect 
arts and practices ; for which, about the 8th of William 
and Mary, he was indicted before the jury of tinners 
(whereof the writer of these lines was summoned for one) 
amongst other things, for putting hard heads of false metal 
and lead in the midst of slabs of tin, melted and cast in 
his blowing-house, in testimony whereof some pieces or 
slabs thereof was cut in pieces, and the fallacy detected; 
whereupon the Grand Jury returned the bill of indict- 



ILLOGAN. 237 

ment, indorsed, Billa Vera. But on bis trial there was 
given a verdict of acquittal. 

Carne Bray. Upon the top of a very high rocky moun- 
tain in this parish, which takes a large view over the land 
from the north to the south sea, that is to say, from St. 
George's channel to the British ocean, and also towards the 
Land's End and Scilly islands, stands Castle Carne Bray, 
erected long before the art of guns was invented. It is 
situate upon the summit of a large, lofty, and tremendous 
rock, built four-square of lime and stone, about forty feet high 
and twenty feet square; wherein, as appears from the beam 
holes, windows, and chimneys, were two planchins, besides 
the leads of the top thereof, though now there are not to 
be seen either leads or beams, only the walls, windows, 
chimneys, and garrets thereof are still extant and uniform, 
which, maugre all the force of wind and weather, are likely 
to stand firm till the final consummation of all things. It 
hath but one way of access or entrance into it, through a 
little hole artificially cut in the rock, under the foundation 
of its wall, about four feet high ; the other parts thereof 
being surrounded with inaccessible rocks, carnes, and down- 
falls. Some such castle or fortification Caesar mentions in 
his Commentary at Uxelodunum, for Uchell-dun-en, i. e. 
the lofty fort or fortress [in Gallia]. I take this castle to 
be the Watch Tower mentioned by Orosius, opposite to 
such another in Gallicia ; which Mr. Carew and Mr. Cam- 
den conjecture stood near St. Ive's. Near this castle, on 
the top of this mountain, are divers circular walls or forti- 
fications, made of rocks and unwrought stones, after the 
British manner (see Gonwallo) ; and a never intermitting 
spring, or fountain of water, for the use of the inhabitants 
thereof. Probably this castle was built by some of the 
Brays of Cornwall, or those that came into England with 
William the Conqueror of that name, otherwise so called 
from the natural circumstances of the place, Carne. 

In this parish also I take it stands another mountain, 
though of less magnitude, called Carne- Kye ; but this place 



238 ILLOGAN. 

is much more famous and notable for the great quantities 
of tin that have been for many ages, and are still found and 
brought to land from the bottoms thereof, than for its 
appellation, to the great enriching its lords of the soil and 
adventurers. 

There is no tradition or memory of the person who built 
this costly and tremendous castle aforesaid, or tower ; or 
for what use it was made other than to dwell in it, compa- 
ratively above the middle region of the air in those parts, 
more than what is expressed in the name thereof, Bray's 
Castle, Undoubtedly whatever human creature it was 
that dwelt in it and possessed the same, he was a person 
that had unparalleled confidence in the strength thereof, 
for his safety and protection, such as never any person 
after his quitting ever attempted to enjoy for the pleasure 
of his five senses. 

TONKIN. 

Tehidy ; this lordship of Tehidy has been for many ages 
in the possession of the ancient, famous, and knightly 
family of Bassets, whose ancestors came out of France with 
William the Conqueror, and were posted among the stand- 
ing troops in this county under Robert Earl of Morton. 

Most certainly they were possessed of this lordship some 
short while after the Conquest; and from hence have 
sprung many noble and famous men in their generation. 

Then, after copying Mr. Hals, Mr. Tonkin goes on to 
say, 

At Carnekye is a considerable tin-work, chiefly pertain- 
ing to the Bassets, out of which has been raised above a 
hundred thousand pounds worth of tin, to the no small 
profit of the adventurers and of that family. 

At Nants or Nance (the valley) was the dwelling of an 
old and well-regarded family of gentlemen, the Trengoves 
of Warlegan, the name from Gove, a smith. 

These gentlemen have returned to their ancient habita-> 



ILLOGAN. 239 

tion of Trengoff, in the parish of Warlegan ; and the pre- 
sent possessors are denominated Nance from the place, 
giving for their arms, Argent, a cross Sable. 

Mr. Tonkin then adds, 

Tehidy. The first owner that I meet with of this noble 
lordship was Dunstanville ; and then Basset, who was his 
grandson or nephew. Reginald de Dunstanville was a 
Baron of the Realm in the time of King Henry the First, 
and I take him to be the person meant in Testa de Neville ; 
ever since which this lordship has been in this ancient and 
noted family. I shall only add, that the family now resid- 
ing here, are descended from George Basset, the third son 
of Sir John Basset, of Umberly in Devonshire, and of 
Tehidy, who had Tehidy for his portion. 

Leland saith, " Basset hath a right goodly lordship 
called Tehidy by the Cornish. There was some time a 
park, now defaced." And well he might call it a right 
goodly lordship, since it hath the advowsons of three large 
parishes, this parish, Camborne, and Redruth, with the 
royalties of wrecks, &c. thereto belonging. 

The present lord of the manor is John Pendarves Bas- 
sett, Esq. a minor, and at present a Gentleman Commoner 
of Queen's College, Oxford, who is heir in expectance to 
his mother of all the estate of Pendarves of Roscrow, and 
is likely to come into the estate of the greatest of his an- 
cestors in this county, by means of this accession, and of 
a rich copper mine called the Pool, within this manor, 
which has been and is still productive of tin and copper 
very rich in the ore. 

The arms of Basset are, Or, three bars wavy Gules; but 
sometimes these bars are Dancette and the field Argent, as 
they are painted in the church windows of Camborne and 
Redruth. 

The castle and park wall are still standing ; and I have 
been informed by several old men, particularly by the late 
Mr. Udy West, of Redruth, that all the rocky grounds 
under Carnbray Castle, and from thence to Porth-Treth, 



240 ILLOGAN. 

were covered with stout trees in their remembrance; so 
that squirrels (of which there were many) could leap from 
one tree to the other all the way. These were mostly de- 
stroyed in the Civil Wars, and the rest were cut down by 
the old Lady Basset, who had it in jointure, so that now 
there is not the least sign of any trees ever having grown 
there. 



THE EDITOR. 

All the attempts at etymology in relation to this parish 
have been omitted, on the ground of their not bearing even 
the slightest resemblance to probability. 

It has been conjectured that Il-luggan may have some 
reference to St. Luke, as the parish feast takes place on the 
nearest Sunday to St. Luke's day, October the 18th. 
But Luggan, indicating an uncultivated or uninclosed tract 
of ground, would seem to bear a near relation to the state 
of this district at no remote period. 

Mr. Whitaker adheres to Saint Illuggan on account of 
the parish being designated as Ecclesia Sancti Illogani by 
the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester in 1294; and 
by Cardinal Wolsey. It has been already remarked 
that many of the missionaries from the learned and zealous 
Convents of Ireland, have left no other trace of their ex- 
istence than the names of parishes where they are usually 
honoured as Saints ; in the sense probably of Holy, and 
without implying the technical deification of the Church 
of Rome, borrowed from ancient Mythology. Saint Il- 
luggan may have been one of those who converted the 
Celts of Cornwall ; but in the total absence even of tradi- 
tion, this must be a mere conjecture, and the name does 
not seem to bear any analogy to others established by un- 
questionable authority. 

Every attempt to decipher Tehidy has utterly failed. 
Mr. Angowe, who has been brought forward by Mr. Hals 
in a manner not likely to acquire for him much respect 



ILLOGAN. 241 

from posterity, resided at Trevenson, and left a son, 
Mr, Abel Angowe. This gentleman was for some time a 
^student at Oxford, but ultimately preferred the law as an 
attorney. He married Jane, daughter of Mr* Henry Phil- 
lips, of Carnequidden in Gulval, who lived but a very 
short time; and Mr. Angowe died in consequence of a 
fall from his horse about the year 1767. His large pro- 
perty became divided among a great many distant relations, 
and has almost entirely disappeared. The Angowes held 
Trevenson on lease Sm lives; the freehold being in the 
families of Basset and Praed. Mr. Thomas Kivell, steward 
to Lord Dunstanville, built a very excellent house there 
about the year 1800, which has been still further improved 
by his successor in the stewardship, Mr. Reynolds. 

Menwinnion existed for centuries as a second house and 
appendage to Tehidy ; but it is now reduced in size, and 
converted to a farm. 

Few parishes in Cornwall have flourished in an equal 
degree with Illogan. It has abounded in the most produc- 
tive mines of copper ; the dense population consequent to 
these great sources of employment has covered the tracts 
formerly waste, with houses, with gardens, and with cultw 
vated fields ; and a safe harbour has been constructed at 
Portreath, for the reception of vessels engaged in the reci- 
procal trade of exporting annually more than a hundred 
thousand tons of copper ore to Swansea, and of bringing 
to Cornwall a still larger quantity of coal. 

And lastly, on the 25th of October 1809, when a jubilee 
was held all over England, on the epoch of King George 
the Third commencing the fiftieth year of his reign, Lord 
Dunstanville laid the first bar of an iron tram road, for 
extending far into the country the facilities afforded by this 
harbour and port, which has since been done; notwith- 
standing a most illiberal attempt by persons interested in 
the trade on the opposite coast, to convert a local Act of 
Parliament for improving turnpike roads, the sole object of 
which must be to render the conveyance of individuals and 

VOL. II. a 



I 



242 ILLOGAN. 

of property less expensive and more commodious, into the 
means of obstructing this great improvement See the 
Journals of the House of Commons for the year 18 IT, and 
particularly on the 16th of May. 

But these, and all other improvements in Illogan, and 
its general prosperity, are mainly owing to the con- 
tinued residence, during six centuries, of one of the most 
distinguished among those families, which, having entered 
England in hostile array, assimilated themselves to its laws, 
its customs, and its institutions ; and have been found, in all 
succeeding ages, the foremost defenders of its liberties and 
of its independence. 

The family of Basset appears to have taken root in 
various parts of its adopted country. Some branches were 
probably Barons from the earliest times, some attained 
that dignity in subsequent periods ; others were distin- 
guished in the law, and all in arms; and what must not be 
omitted, the signature of Basset is found in the great 
charters of our liberties, at the ratification of Magna 
Charta more than six hundred years ago. 

Mr. Hals brings down the family of Tehidy to Mr. 
John Pendarves Basset, whom he leaves a Gentleman Com- 
moner of Queen's College, Oxford. This gentleman mar- 
ried Ann, the only daughter and heiress of Sir Edmund 
Prideaux, of Netherton in Devonshire, by Ann Hawkins, 
daughter of Mr. Philip* Hawkins, of Pennance, and died 
of the small-pox in 17f9, at the premature age of twenty* 
five. His brother, Mr. Francis Basset, then took posses- 
sion of the estate ; but, unexpectedly to all parties, the 
widow proved to be with child, and a son was born, who 
lived to be sixteen, when the uncle came a second time into 
possession. During this interval, the guardians of young 
Mr. Basset finished the splendid house at Tehidy, commenced 
by his father; but, notwithstanding this large expenditure, 
so great was the product of the mines, and so considerable 
were the rents of the estate, that Mrs. Basset is said to have 
acquired above a hundred thousand pounds from her son's 



ILLOGAN. 243 

personal effects ; all of which was naturally left by her 
among her own relations. 

Mr. Francis Basset then settled principally at Tehidy; 
married Margaret, daughter of Sir John St. Aubyn, and re- 
presented Penryn in Parliament. Mr. Basset had three 
sisters; one married to the Rev. John Collins, afterwards 
presented to the rectory of Redruth; Lucy, the second 
daughter, married Mr. John Enys, of Enys, where his great 
grandson John Samuel Enys, is now the representative of 
that ancient family; the third married Nicholas Sweet 
Archer, of Trelaske and of Truro. 

Mr. Basset died in 1769, having only completed his fifty- 
fourth year, leaving two sons, the eldest called after his own 
name ; and John, who became a clergyman, held the family 
living of Illogan, married Miss Wingfield, and has left 
one son. 

There were also four daughters ; one married Mr. John 
Rogers, of Penrose, the other three remained single. 

Having now arrived at the period when Sir Francis Bas- 
set, jun. came into possession of the family estate, the 
Editor would have found it his most pleasing task to trace 
an outline, however slight, of this distinguished person, in 
his splendid career through public and through private 
life. If the topics for his commendation had been in the 
least degree doubtful, the Editor would, indeed, have dis- 
trusted his own power of discrimination in reference to one, 
whom he is proud to claim, as the most liberal, generous, 
warm-hearted, and disinterested friend that it has been his 
fortune to obtain in the whole course of a pilgrimage 
through life, now exceeding sixty-seven years ; but recent 
events have made recollections painful, which used to be 
associated with every thing most agreeable to the human 
mind. 

Mr. Basset received the earlier part of his education at 
Harrow; but about the period of his father's decease, he 
removed to Eton, where, in addition to useful and orna- 
mental learning, these principles of honour and liberality 

r 2 



244 ILLOGAN, 

identified with the character of a true English gentleman, 
are imbibed, practised, and wrought into habit at the early 
age when sincerum est vas. After which, one can truly say 

Yon may break, yon may ruin the vase if you will, 
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still* 

After a residence of five years, from twelve to seventeen, 
at Eton, Mr. Basset became a member of King's College, 
Cambridge ; and after taking a degree, proceeded on the 
usual tour through France and Italy, accompanied by the 
Rev. William Sandys, who, being the son of a former 
Steward, had received his education for the express pur- 
pose of becoming tutor to Mr. John Pendarves Basset, who 
is stated above to have died at sixteen. 

On his return to England, Mr. Basset found himself in 
possession of abilities, joined to energy of mind; of a large 
estate, accompanied by great accumulations from the mines ; 
and in addition, of a local influence assuring his introduc- 
tion to Parliament. Thus circumstanced, it was natural 
for him to take an active share in the politics of his country, 
especially at a time when party spirit had acquired a height 
never to be attained but in the midst of civil commotions. 

The two first Princes of the German line had remained 
firmly united with the Whig aristocracy, to whom they 
mainly owed what was then denominated their legitimate 
or lawful crown, as distinguished from others acquired by 
conquest or usurpation, or derived from a succession 
founded on no other title than a mere continuance of pos- 
session ; but the victory of Culloden having finally ex- 
tinguished all hopes in those maintaining, or rather, one 
may suppose, professing to maintain, indefeasible heredi- 
tary right, and having apparently established the Whigs 
and the legitimate crown, proved nevertheless to be the 
cause of their separation, and of the removal of the Whig 
aristocracy from power at the next accession. 

A mutual feeling naturally grew up, that time must 
transfer rights, popularly termed indefeasible, from one 



ILLOGAKT. 245 

race to another, when no prospect of restoration remained; 
and the advisers of a young monarch might easily per- 
suade him, that new friends, holding such tenets, would 
prove more acceptable supporters of their adopted crown 
than those who originally bestowed it on principles of limi- 
tation. Hence the parts imputed to Lord Bute and others, 
the re-action led by Mr. Wilkes, the letters of Junius, and 
the final separation of America. 

From combinations of these and of other causes, Mr. 
Basset found Lord North first Minister of a Tory admi- 
nistration, and engaged in war with America, and with 
France, Spain, and Holland; he eagerly joined that party, 
and was subsequently hurried with it into the most fatal 
measure that had occurred up to that period, the well 
known and well remembered coalition. 

But previously to this time, an event had taken place 
locally connected with Cornwall, equally honourable to 
him who conducted a large of body of miners to the relief 
of Plymouth, and to the miners themselves who volun- 
teered their services. 

In the latter part of August 1779, the combined fleets of 
France and Spain most unexpectedly steered into Ply- 
mouth Sound, and anchored nearer to the shore than the 
base of the present Breakwater. 

After the splendid successes of the Seven Years' War, 
marine fortifications had been wholly neglected as utterly 
useless, as never to be wanted in future times ; but in the 
sixteenth year after the peace of 1763, the course of events 
demonstrated, that a naval force may be re-established with 
much less effeet, and in a shorter space of time, than had 
been fondly imagined; and perhaps it also proved, that 
military navies are not necessarily based on those used for 
mercantile purposes. 

A well-founded alarm spread immediately throughout 
the whole country, that Plymouth was incompetent to sus- 
tain an attack ; when instantly the Cornish miners, worthy 
of the reputation long enjoyed by their predecessors, 



246 ILLOGAN. 

rushed from all directions, and offered themselves as volun* 
teers to assist in defending Plymouth, and to exert their 
skill and labour in perfecting the works ; and Mr. Basset, 
acting as his ancestors had done before, immediately placed 
himself at their head. Thus a large and efficient force was, 
in the course of a few days, added to our most important 
western arsenal. 

On this occasion a patent was conferred on Mr. Basset, 
creating him a Baronet ; a gift rendered honourable by the 
cause for which it was bestowed. 

Since the nautical events of this period have attracted 
but little attention from general historians, as they failed of 
producing any decisive result, it may be well to state the 
most prominent facts. 

The English fleet had been detained at home by various 
causes, and especially by the court martial which honour- 
ably acquitted Admiral Keppel. It sailed, however, at 
last to prevent a junction of the French and Spanish fleets, 
but that junction had been effected; and the combined 
fleet appeared in Plymouth Sound, while the fleet of Eng- 
land was cruizing near Ushant, or in the Bay of Biscay. 

Plymouth was undoubtedly open to their attack; and the 
individual having the civil government of the dock-yard, is 
said to have actually deliberated about taking the last des- 
perate measure, for depriving the enemy of every advantage 
to be derived from acquiring such stores as might be con- 
sumed by fire* 

The Ardent, a sixty-four gun ship of the line, arrived 
from Portsmouth ; and not suspecting that a hostile fleet 
could appear upon our coast, and still less occupy our har^ 
bours, continued its course into the midst of the ships, and 
became a prize; but not without making a brave resistance, 
and endeavouring to escape by running ashore. 

The combined fleet, instead of attacking Plymouth, 
sailed in quest of the adverse fleet, having manifestly taken 
their original course with the view of giving battle ; and 
what must be mentioned to their honour, not a single act 



JLLOGAN. 247 

of wanton hostility was committed on any part of the 
coast. 

Every thing remained in suspense ; watch and ward was 
established at all points. The gentlemen in every parish 
assembled, such as had arms, to take hasty instructions in 
military evolutions, while no one ventured to whisper the 
extent of his apprehensions to others, or even to avow them 
in his own mind; when, on the last day of August, both fleets 
appeared between the Land's End and the Lizard. In the 
night, or in a fog, the fleets had passed each other; and 
the Editor remembers seeing the English fleet collected 
together in a close mass, making its way up the channel, to 
the amount of about forty sail of the line, pursued by the 
combined fleet of nearly double that number, in what is 
termed, line of battle a-head. 

An action now seemed to be inevitable ; but for some 
unknown cause, the combined fleet discontinued the pur- 
suit and returned to Brest, while the English fleet anchored 
in Tor Bay. 

On the dissolution of Parliament in 1784, Sir Francis 
Basset exerted himself to the utmost, and made large sacri- 
fices of money in support of the unpopular coalition minis- 
try, and he remained stedfast with that defeated party till the 
whole political hemisphere became changed in every aspect, 
by an event manifested in one country alone, but originat- 
ing from causes long in action, and imperceptively working 
throughout an entire change of ancient institutions, with 
the very form and shape perhaps of civilized society as it 
previously stood. 

The conflict of opinion which gave rise to die French 
Revolution, has but one parallel in the history of mankind $ 
in the mental agitation, almost amounting to phrensy, 
which accompanied and urged forward the great change of 
religion three centuries before. That agitation and con- 
flict still divides Europe, although with diminished vio- 
lence ; and possibly, therefore, an equal period may elapse 
before the questions, relative to civil government and social 



248 ILLOGAN. 

order, shall have received their final settlement, if, indeed, 
the period is ever to arrive. 

Most of those in the dawn of youth possessed of eager 
minds and liberal sentiments, were borne along by the tor- 
rent of passions, excited by new systems, promising universal 
happiness, with increased wisdom and virtue ; founded on 
plans for reconstructing human society, derived, it was said, 
from philosophical investigation, to be substituted in the 
place of patched and mended institutions, originating witb 
savages in the forests of Scandinavia. 

But Sir Francis Basset had the advantage of several 
years passed in active experience with the world. He had 
learnt that the human faculties are unequal to the formation 
of systems a priori, but must submit to follow the more 
humble course of adaptation, tentative experiment, and 
induction ; and it was manifest that the new political rea- 
soners had entirely omitted to consider the real nature of 
the ifXtf a/ieTaxeipivTv forming the wide basis of society ; or 
that they were devising plans not suited to the actual state 
of things, but to one which they fondly imagined was about 
to be. 

Every page of history, moreover, might prove to those 
willing or desirous of obtaining information from what 
has actually past, that the crisis of change is invariably 
bad ; and that objects, attained by the sacrifice of an exist- 
ing generation, have very frequently proved of less value than 
those for which they had been substituted. Parties, from 
their very natures, are known to run into extremes ; it is 
probable, therefore, that the leaders opposed to Mr. Pitt 
professed much greater admiration of the new principles 
than they really felt; such professions were, however, 
made ; and Sir Francis Basset concurring in opinion with 
many of the wisest, the best informed, and of those most 
deeply interested in the welfare of the country, that the 
safety of the state was at issue, added his weight to what would 
now be termed the Conservative scale. 

Sir Francis Basset, so distinguished by personal quali- 



ILLOGAN. 249 

ties and attainments, by the antiquity of bis family, by the 
achievements of his ancestors, and by fortune, had long 
been designated in public opinion as a person proper to be 
placed in the House of Peers; and accordingly, on the 17th 
of July 1796, an hereditary seat in Parliament was be- 
stowed on him by the King, together with the nominal 
Barony of Dunstanville, so called after Barons of that 
name, in the time of Henry the First, Henry the Second, 
Richard Coeur de Lion, John, and Henry the Third, who 
were equally connected with his family and with the reign- 
ing family of Plantagenet. 

A second creation took place on the 7th of November 
in the following year, of Baron Basset, with a special 
remainder to his daughter in failure of male issue. 

Lord Dunstanville has from this period continued to 
support the genuine character of a dignified English gen- 
tleman; discharging his parliamentary duties in the manner 
deemed most useful to the interests of his country; exe- 
cuting the office of a magistrate to the benefit, and to the 
entire satisfaction, of his neighbourhood ; setting an exam- 
ple most worthy of general imitation, as the possessor of 
an extensive landed estate, and as a most liberal proprietor 
of mines. Kind and benevolent to every one, esteemed in 
the highest degree by his private friends and relations, and 
certainly placed by general acclamation, in regard to all 
these qualities and circumstances taken together, as by far 
the first man in the county which he has benefited and 
adorned. 

The Editor has written this imperfect and inadequate 
sketch of Lord Dunstanville with a heavy heart; for 
although his countenance brightens at the presence of a 
friend, and memory still presents some images of things 
past by, and reason continues to discriminate the ideas 
brought into view, yet such are the ways of Providence, 
leading, as we hope, believe, and trust to universal good, 
that a wreck only remains of what used to excite our admi- 
ration, our respect, and our esteem* 

Lord Dunstanville married, May the 16th 1780, Frances; 



250 ST. JOHN'S. 

Susanna, daughter of Jobn Hippesley Cox, Esq. of Stone 
Easton in Somersetshire, who has left an only daughter, 
the Hon, Frances Basset He married secondly, Harriet, 
daughter of Sir William Lemon. 

Illoggan measures 8,028 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 11,334 

Poor Rate in 1831 1887 

T3 ! . /in 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- | 2395' | ^g' | 5170 ' | 6072 ' 

giving an increase of 110 per cent very nearly, in 30 years. 
The present rector, the Rev. George Treweeke, pre- 
sented by Lord de Dunstanville in 1822. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This extensive parish resembles that of Camborne in its 
geological structure. Its southern portion rests on granite, 
which at Carnarthen abounds in shorl; and at Carnkie 
it contains a bed of porphyry, with crystals of felspar and 
of shorl ; and at the same place another bed, the basis of 
which more resembles compact shorl rock than it does com- 
pact felspar. Near Portreath, and from thence to Perth 
Towan, the slate appears to differ from that of Camborne; 
and at Perth Towan it contains short irregular veins of 
calcareous spar, as at Porthalla in St Kevern, and at 
other places on the borders of the calcareous series. 



ST. JOHN'S. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the 
north Anthony, east Maker, west Sheviock, south the 
British channel. The modern name John is derived from 
the tutelar guardian and patron of the' Church, St John 



st. john's. 251 

the* Evangelist. In the Domesday tax this parish was rated 
under the district or manor of Makertone. In the Inqui- 
sition into the value of Cornish benefices, made by the 
Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia Sancti 
Johannis, in decanatu de Eastwellshire, is valued xl*. viiirf. 
In Wolsey's Inquisition 12L 4s. 44 ; the patronage in 
, the incumbent Tarr. The parish is rated 
to the 4s. per pound Land Tax 1696, 72/. 0& 8dL 

TONKIN. 

The manor of Insworth, 

A Peninsula on whose neck, says Mr. Carew, standeth 
an ancient house of the Champernons ; and descended by 
his daughters and heirs to Fortescue, Monck, and Trevi- 
lian, three gentlemen of Devon. The site is naturally 
both pleasant and profitable ; to which the owner, by his 
ingenious experiments, daily addeth an artificial surplusage. 
Mr. Tonkin then adds, this estate (as I am better informed) 
being in the parish of Maker, I shall there treat more fully 
of it. 

Sir Richard Champernon, of Madberie in Devon, Knt. 
had by Catherine his wife, daughter of Ralph Daubeney, 
Knt. two sons, Richard and John. He died in 14l8,«and 
gave this place to the said John, who lived here, and left 
only one son, a Richard Champernon, who by his wife, the 
daughter and heir of Sir John Hamley, Knt. left three 
daughters, one of whom married Humphrey Monck, of 
Potheridge in Devon, Esq. 

The said Sir John Champernon was Sheriff of Cornwall 
24 Henry VI. 1445, as his son Richard in the first year of 
Edward IV. 1461. 

THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Hals has not gone into any particulars respecting 
this parish ; but he has occupied several pages with the 



252 st. John's. 

real and with the legendary histories of the Evangelist, to 
whom the Church is dedicated ; these are omitted as un- 
suited to a local history. 

Mr. Lysons says, that the manor of Tregenhawke, 
situated partly in this parish and partly in Rume, and 
feudatory to the manor of East Anthony, did belong to the 
family of Eliot, by whom it was alienated in 1635 to 
Richard Treville, merchant; and that from the Trevilles it 
passed by coheiresses to the families of Cross and Trelawny. 
The whole now belongs to Lord Graves, who has also the 
manor of Withroe, called in this parish Winnow. 

The right of presentation is appendant to the honour of 
East Anthony. 

An excavation in the cliff at Whitsand Bay is noticed as 
having been made by Mr. Luggan, the proprietor of a 
farm called Freathy, by way of exercise and amusement. 

The church is, perhaps, of less dimensions than any other 
in Cornwall, being no more than fifty-six feet long by 
eighteen in breadth ; it bears the appearance of antiquity, 
and is decorated by some monuments, one to the family of 
Beel, with their arms, Azure, three griffins* heads erased 
Argent. 

This parish measures 872 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. d. s 
returned to Parliament in 1815, 1,016 

Poor Rate in 1831 108 19 

Pnnnlot . n fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831 
Population, -j 110 >| 148 | 178 »| 15Q 

giving an increase of about 36 per cent in 30 years. 

Present rector, the Rev. William Rowe, instituted in 
1808. 

Dr. Boase says of the geology of this little parish, that its 
rocks are precisely similar to those of East Anthony, to 
which it adjoins ; and may almost be considered as forming 
apart. 



253 



ST. ISSEY. 



HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Pedyr, and hath upon the 
north the channel of Padstow habour, south and east St* 
Breoch and part of St Colomb, west little Pedyrick. Ir: 
Domesday roll 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed 
either under the jurisdiction of Polton or Burge, now Bur- 
gus (i. e. Turris). In the Inquisition of the Bishops of 
Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish bene- 
fices, Ecclesia de Sancti Issei, in decanatu de Pedyr, is rated 
iiii/. wis. viiirf. Vicar ejusdem xlvis. viiirf. In Wolsey's In- 
quisition 9/. ; the patronage in the Dean and Chapter of 
Exeter ; the incumbent Harris, the rectory in Wright. The 
parish is rated to the 4*. in the pound Land Tax 1696, 
161/. 

There hath been for many ages in Cornwall, a certain 
sort of unlearned men called attornies, who have taken 
upon them to solve all questions, debts, damages, and dif- 
ficulties whatsoever, by exciting or increasing them, under 
pretence of friendship and good council, who are often 
called upon to the assistance of men of lazy or weak under- 
standing to their undoing. 

For instance thereof, I well remember in this parish of 
St. Issey there had lived two brethren of the surname of 
Warne, who having some small disputes or controversies 
one with the other, not determined, concerning a tenement 
of land in fee, containing about fifty acres, at a place 

called ; they appealed to two attornies, viz. Joseph 

Hawkey, of St. Colomb, and Degory King, of St. Breock 
in Pider, who run this their controversy so far in law and 
equity, that they were not able to pay the cost thereof as 
punctually as those attornies expected; thereupon they 



254 ST. ISSEY. 

brought actions at law against their clients for the same, 
and at length obliged the two brothers of the Warnes afore- 
said, to sell the inheritance of their lands aforesaid to their 
attornies, the one half thereof to Hawkey and the other 
moiety thereof to King, now in quiet possession thereof. 

The inhabitants of this parish will tell you by tradition, 
that the tutelar guardian of this church is one St Giggy, 
who in a place so called in this parish, hath yet extant a 
walled consecrated well, or spring of water, where hereto- 
fore he heard and judged cases of conscience for the cure 
of souls ; but all further history of him is wanting, save 
that they tell me St. Iasey is only a corruption of Giggy. 

Hale-wyn in this parish (or Hall-wyn, the fair or 
white hill, as Hal is a hill, and Wyn or Gwyn white 
or fair. Goon wyn in Lelant the fair downs; Hale 
is a moor. Whitaker.) This lordship was from Ed- 
ward the Fourth's days one of the dwellings of the 
Champernons, of Intsworth, near Saltash; and in this 
place they had a great and magnificent house, as ap- 
pears from the walls and ruinous rubbish and downfalls 
thereof yet to be seen, as also their domestic chapel and 
burying place ; in the glass windows of which chapel was 
lately to be seen this inscription : " Orate pro anima Do- 
mini Ricardi de Campo Arnulphi ; " and beneath the same 
his paternal coat armour, viz. Gules, a saltire Varry, be- 
tween twelve cross-crosslets Or ; which shews that he de- 
rived his blood and bones from the Champernownes, of 
Clyst Champernowne in Devon. For the Champernownes 
of Umberleigh and North Taunton, near Modbury, gave 
for their armes, the one Gules, a saltire Varry ; the other, 
Gules, a saltire Varry between twelve billets Argent. [The 
name is originally Latin, De Campo Arnulphi, then formed 
by the Norman French into Champernulph, and finally 
formed by them, or by the Cornish, into Champernown. 
Whitaker.] 

Cannall-Lidgye in this parish is the voke lands of a con- 
siderable manor, now in several persons 9 hands; much of 



ST, ISSEY. 255 

those lands being in possession of Boscawen as I take it; 
the high rents are in Hart. As part of the same, is the pos- 
session and birthplace of my very kind friend and neigh- 
bour Thomas Carthew, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, who by his 
indefatigable study and labour, first in the inferior prac- 
tice of the law under Mr. Tregena, without being a per- 
fect Latin grammarian, always using the English words for 
matters or things in his declarations, where he understood 
not the Latin ; who was at length, by a mandamus from 
the Lord Keeper North, called to the bar, and the gene- 
rous practice of the law for some years, when afterwards in 
the latter end of the reign of King William the Third, he 
had a call for being made a Sergeant-at-Law, under which 
circumstance he grew into such great fame and reputation 
that he is likely to make a considerable addition of riches 
to his paternal estate. 

He married North, a relation to the Lord Keeper North 
aforesaid ; his father, Baker, of Lanteglos, by Fowey ; his 
grandfather Lawry; and giveth for his arms, Argent, a 
chevron Azure, between three ducks Proper. The name 
is local, compounded of Car-dew, or Car-thew, i. e. Rock 
Black in this parish. Long since the writing hereof, those 
his lands of Canaligye are all sold by Mr. Carthew's son 
and heir to two of the brothers of Trebilliocks. 

Trevance in this parish, i. e. the town upon the rising or 
advanced land, is the dwelling of Richard Harris, Gent, 
that married Vivyan, ofTollskidy; his father Moyle. 

Tre-vor-ike in this parish, [Pryce, in his Archaeologia 
Cornu-Britannica says, Ick 1 take to signify either a creek, 
rivulet, or brook, as Trevorick, the town or the brook. 
Whitaker.] is the dwelling of William Cornish, Gent, 
that married Cornish, his father Tonkyn; originally de- 
scended from one William Cornish that settled here tem- 
pore Queen Mary, a Welshman. To this place belongs a 
sea-mill, a healing or slate stone quarry, and a lime kiln, 
commonly made in jointure to those gentlemen's wives, to 



256 ST. ISSEY. 

win whom in marriage this argument amongst others was 
commonly used, 

She that will this Squire marry, 

Shall have (he mill, the kill, mad the quarry j 

now all spent and wasted by ill conduct, and those lands 
sold to a relation of his surnamed Cornish, or some other. 

At Carthew, or Legarike, in this parish, is a considerable 
lead or copper mine in the lands of Bearford or Bond ; 
wherein many labouring tinners are much employed as 
miners, and reap much benefit thereby, as well as the lords 
of the lands or soil thereof. 



TONKIN. 

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing in addition to what is 
transcribed from Mr. Hals. 



THE EDITOR. 

The church of this parish is called in some ancient 
writings, Eglos-Crock and Nansant. The Dean and 
Chapter of Exeter are impropriators of the great tithes, and 
patrons of the vicarage. The church is very old, but deco- 
rated with a lofty tower; there are monuments to Mr. 
Thomas Carthew, and to some of the vicars. The church 
town is the largest village in this parish, and lies nearly 
midway between Padstow and Wade Bridge. Mr. Ly- 
sons says that the manor of St. Ide, extending from this 
parish into the adjacent parishes of Little Petherick, St. 
Ervan, Breock, Padstow, and Mawgan, belonged succes- 
sively to the families of Hiwis, Coleshill, and Arundel], and 
at a later period to the Morices. It was purchased by the 
late Mr. Thomas Rawlings, of Padstow. 

And Mr. Lysons adds that, Blayble, a small farm in St* 
Issey, now belonging to Mr. Richard Williams, who occu- 



st. ives. 257 

pies it, was at an early period the seat of a branch of the 
Arundell family. 

This parish measures 3,932 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. *• rf. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 2,050 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . 508 13 

Population -l in 1801 ' I in 18U ' I in 1821 ' I ' m l831 > 
copulation, ^ 522 | 63g | 66Q | 72Q 

giving an increase of 38 per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BV DR. BOASE. 

Dr. Boase says, that St. Issey has the same geological 
structure as the adjacent parish of St. Breock. 



ST. IVES. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the 
east and north the Irish Sea, south Leland, west Tywed- 
nick; as for the modern name, it is taken from the tutelar 
guardian of the Church, which, as. Mr. Camden tells us 
(upon what authority I know not) was one Iia, an Irish 
woman that preached the Gospel here. In the Domesday 
Tax, the 20th of William I. 1087, both the town and 
parish were taxed under the jurisdiction of Ludduham, 
now Lugian-lese manor, still extant here, formerly per* 
taining to the King or Earl of Cornwall, now to the Duke 
of Bolton, of whom the town of St. Ives' privileges are 
held ; and the same manor is held, as I take it, of the Earl 
of Cornwall's Castle of Lancaster under certain rents. 

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Win- 
chester into the value of the Cornish benefices 1294, " ec- 
clesia de Lelant in decanatu de Penwith/' is only taxed 
xxii/. xviii«. iiiirf. without mention either of St Ives or Ty- 
wednick, probably at that time they were neither erected 

VOL. II. s 



258 st. ives. 

or endowed; in Wolsey's Inquisition 1521, Ewny juxta 
Lelant and St. Ives are rated together 22/. 1 Is. lOJd. ; St. 
Ewny, that is to say Tywednike, and St. Ives being con- 
solidated in their mother church Lelant, did pass in pre- 
sentation with it; the patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, 
who endowed them ; the incumbent Hawkins, now Polkin- 
horn, the rectory in possession of Pitz ; and the parish 
rated at 4*. per pound Land Tax 1696, 158/. 13s. 4rf. 

This town, as Mr. Camden saith, was formerly called 
Pendenis or Pendunes, the head fort, fortress, or fortified 
place; probably from the little island here, containing 
about six acres of ground, on which there stands the ruins 
of a little old fortification and a chapel, betwixt which island 
and the bending shore, or sea cliff, stands an indifferent 
safe road for ships to lie at anchor with some winds, which 
gives opportunity of trade and merchandize to the towns- 
men (whose town is situate thereon) and also for fishing, 
whereby they have much enriched themselves of late years. 

The manor of Ludduham, formerly comprehending the 
parishes of Ludduham, Lelant, Tywednick, and St. Ives, 
now so many districts, is a lordship of great antiquity, and 
was privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet before 
the Norman Conquest, . for under that name it was then 
taxed (as aforesaid) though its now transnomwiated to 
Luggyan Lese ; in which stands the borough of St. Ives, 
which claims the privileges thereof by prescription and 
tenure, all which are confirmed by a charter of incorpora- 
tion from King Charles I. afterwards by another from King 
James II. by the name of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Bur- 
gesses, which consists of a Mayor, ten Aldermen, and 
eleven Common Councilmen ; the Members of Parliament 
elected by freemen, alias scot and lot men free there, who 
sign the indenture ; the arms of which borough is a cluster 
and branch of grapes or pomegranates; and the precept oh 
the writs for electing Members of Parliament from the 
Sheriff, or removing any action at law depending in the 
court leet of St. Ives, the writ must be thus directed : Pre- 



st. ives. 269 

posits et Burgensibus Biirgi sui de St. Ives in Com. 
Cornub. salutem. 

The chief inhabitants of this town are, Mr. Hitchins, Mr. 
Beer, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Hickes ; in which town is held 
a market weekly on Saturdays, and a fair annually on 
Saturday before Advent Sunday. 

Sir Francis Basset procured their first charter of in- 
corporation, who, being a Burgess, gave a silver cup of 
5/. value to this coiporation for ever, with this inscription, 

If any discord doth arise, 
Within the borough of St. Ives, 
Tis my desire this cap of love, 
An instrument of peace may prove. 

Trenwith in this parish, was the voke lands of a con- 
siderable manor, privileged with a court leet before the 
Norman conquest, that heretofore extended itself over divers 
parishes; for by that name it was taxed in Domesday 
book, 20 William I. 1087, from which place was transno- 
minated an ancient family of gentlemen, now in possession 
thereof, from that of Bayliff now to Trenwith, who have 
flourished here in good fame and reputation beyond the 
memory of man, since Henry VIII. The present posses- 
sor is Thomas Trenwith, Gent, that married Lanyon ; and 
giveth for his arms, Argent, on a bend cotised Sable, three 
roses of the Field. 

Those lands of Trenwith were of old pertaining to the 
Earls or Kings of Cornwall, afterwards to the Kings of 
England ; and were held by the tenure of knight service by 
such as possessed them, if not from King Arthur's days, (see 
Dundagall) yet from William the Conqueror's, who, in 
imitation of him, gave bartons, manors, fields, large terri- 
tories of land to his favourites, under the tenures of vil- 
leinage and knight service in capite, by means of which 
knight service those tenants were obliged to do him any 
necessary service, either in wars or to his royal person, for 
the performing whereof he took their oaths in public 
courts, both of homage and fealty ; and by reason of this 



260 ST. IVES. 

tenure he disposed of the bodies of their heirs in marriage 
as he listed, and retained in his custody and wardship their 
whole inheritance till they accomplished the age of twenty- 
one years ; and by those examples other men of great pos- 
sessions did the like. Those lands of Trenwith, tempore 
Henry IV. were held by that tenure in capite by Edmund 
Plantagenet, alias Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset, grand- 
child to John Duke of Lancaster, 21 Henry VI. 1442, con* 
sisting of four knights' fees, 3 Henry IV. (See Carew's 
Survey of Cornwall, p. 39). He was slain at the battle of 
St. Alban's 1450, on the part of Henry VI. against 
Richard Duke of York ; as also was his son Henry on the 
same part after the battle of Hexham, and his brother Ed- 
mund after Tewkesbury 1471, beheaded by King Edward 
IV. and his whole estate confiscated to the Crown; from 
whence BaylifF, now Trenwith, purchased part of those 
lands, which still pays high rent to the Kings of England. 
In like manner Humphrey Plantagenet, fourth son of King 
Henry IV. held by the same tenure in Conerton, Biner- 
ton, Drineck, and Ludgian, four knight's fees of land in 
those places. He was impeached of treason at the Parlia- 
ment held at St. Edmund's Bury in Suffolk ; afterwards 
mqrdered; and those and all other his lands confiscated. 

TONKIN. 

This church is a vicarage, valued in the King's books, 
together with Lelant and Towednack, with which it passeth 
in presentation, at 22/. lis. 10£<&; the collation in the 
Bishop of Exeter; the late incumbent Mr. Hawkins, now 
Polkinhorne. The sheaf in possession of Edward Nose- 
worthy, Esq. 

The town of St. Ives, in Mr. Carew's days, was of 
small value or consequence for wealth, buildings, or inha- 
bitants ; although it now be much altered in these particu- 
lars, and equals several other fellow corporations. Of old 
it hath been privileged by the Earls of Cornwall with the 
jurisdiction of a Court Leet, and with sending two Mem- 
bers to Parliament; also with fairs and a weekly market. 



ST. IVES. 261 

On the island (or peninsula) north of St Ives, standeth 
the ruins of an old chapel, wherein God was duly wor- 
shipped by our ancestors the Britons, before the church of 
St. Ives was erected or endowed ; betwixt which island and 
the shore is an indifferent roadstead with some winds for 
ships to lie at anchor. 

This town is particularly famous for the art of catching 
fish ; in which trade or occupation of late they have been 
attended with good success, to the great advancement of 
their wealth and reputation. The chief inhabitants of 
which place were Mr. Hitchins, Mr. Trevilion, Mr. Beare, 
&c. In this port his Majesty hath his Custom House 
collector, surveyor, comptroller, and waiters, both for sea 
and land. 

Trenwith, in this parish, is the seat of an old family of 
gentlemen, from thence denominated de Trenwith. 

THE EDITOR. 

St. Ives has grown, since the time of Mr. Carew, into a 
place of considerable importance, participating in the gene- 
ral prosperity of the whole country ; and deriving great 
local advantages from the extension of its fisheries, from the 
construction of a pier, and from the extraordinary increase 
of trade at the adjacent port of Hayle. 

Fish of almost every kind, frequenting the coast of Corn- 
wall, are taken at St. Ives ; but the fishery absorbing all the 
others in its magnitude is the taking of pilchards. 

Pilchards are taken in two different ways quite distinct 
from each other. 

The first, most ancient, most certain, and therefore of 
greatest importance to the inhabitants of the neighbour- 
hood, is called drifting. 

Boats sail in the open sea, drawing after them a great 
number of nets appended to each other, provided with 
small leads and corks at the opposite sides, and extending 
in all to a very great length. The meshes of these nets 
are made of such a size as to admit the head of a pilchard 



262 st. ives. 

to pass through them, but not the body ; in consequence 
such fish as strike against the net ore retained suspended by 
their gills, acting in the nature of a barb* 

The second method is on a much more extensive scale, 
uncertain as to success ; but occasionally giving fortunes to 
those concerned in carrying it on, by the gain of one pros- 
perous year. 

This method is founded entirely on the habit common 
to all the clupea genus of congregating in large shoals, and 
coming occasionally near the shore into shallow water, and 
into places where the ground is free from rocks ; this latter 
circumstance is peculiarly favourable in the St. Ives Bay, 
and the ground is moreover covered to the depth of seve- 
ral feet by a fine sand, composed entirely of shells, re- 
duced almost to a state of powder. 

All the most favourable stations are occupied during the 
proper season of the year by large boats, having nets on 
board measuring four hundred and forty yards in length by 
twenty-seven yards in breadth, capable therefore of covering 
nearly two and an half statute acres. These nets are provided 
with very heavy weights at one of their sides, so as to sink 
them firmly on the ground, and with large corks to make 
them buoyant on the other. Two large boats and one smaller, 
as an attendant, are appropriated to each net ; and when a 
shoal is discovered approaching, by a well-known change of 
colour and a ripple on the water, these boats, sometimes 
directed also by signals from the shore, move in opposite 
directions, extending the immense net to intercept the fish, 
and then to close it behind them. In this way a quantity suf- 
ficient to fill a thousand casks, after being pressed, have been 
frequently secured at one time, and on some occasions much 
more. The casks are hogsheads of fifty-four gallons, and 
* contain about two thousand five hundred pilchards, so that 
the thousand hogsheads make two millions and a half 
secured by one net 

The fish are taken out of the sea by raising them to the 
surface of the water in smaller nets, used within the great 



st. ives. 263 

net forming an artificial pond ; and finally they are dipped 
up in baskets. The first net, called a seyne, frequently 
remaining in its original position for several days, or per- 
haps gently slided towards the shore. 

Pilchards are preserved for exportation in the following 
manner : they are laid in regular heaps along the sides of 
walls sheltered by roofs to a height easily reached, and to 
a depth suited to the ordinary length of the arm, where 
they are almost concealed by the great quantity of salt 
strewed with them ; three hundred and thirty-six pounds, 
or three great hundred weight of salt, being allowed for 
each pressed hogshead. In this state they remain thirty- 
six days, while oil continually oozing from them is received 
in pits; they are then rinced in water, and laid with great 
care in casks made purposely with open joints, where they 
receive a strong pressure through the medium of a long 
beam and weights ; more oil is then collected, and the casks, 
closed up, are fitted for sale. Nine of these packages, in- 
dependent of the wood, are said to weigh two tons; so that 
in their final state, the quantity of a thousand hogsheads, 
not unfrequently caught at one time, must weigh above 
two hundred and twenty tons. 

The quantity of oil is very considerable, varying from 
two to five gallons from each hogshead, but of inferior 
quality. Pilchards thus cured are called fumados, which 
seems to imply their having been originally smoked like 
red herrings ; their chief consumption takes place in Spain 
and Italy. 

The pilchards used for home consumption are invariably 
picked; these are opened and washed, and then rubbed 
with salt, about seven pounds to the hundred, and pre- 
served in jars or troughs. 

The herring, pilchard, sprat, anchovy, and several other 
species, are arranged by icthyologists under the genus 
chipea ; the herring and pilchard being adjacent to each 
other. The pilchard is rather less in size than the herring, 
has larger and firmer scales, and contains much more oil. 



264 st. ives. 

There is one discriminating circumstance quite obvious; 
the pilchard, suspended by its dorsal fin, remains in equi- 
librio, while the herring, under similar circumstances, dips 
towards its head. 

The pier was built under the authority of an Act of Par- 
liament passed in the year 1767, after a personal survey 
and a report from the celebrated Mr. Smeaton, which is 
printed in his works. This shelter from every wind has 
equally tended to improve the fishery, to increase the 
general trade of the place, and to protect vessels bound for 
Hayle ; but the fishery is indebted in a still greater degree 
to another Act of Parliament, carried through the legisla- 
ture by the late Mr. Humphry Mackworth Praed, who 
had the honour first of representing this place, and then 
the county, 

A c aution had existed time of mind, by which any boat 
provided with a seyne net, having taken possession of one 
of the favourable stations or stems, might retain it till the 
net had been used to inclose a shoal, or, according to the 
technical expression, had been shot; and this right ex- 
tended from one season to another : persons in possession 
of a stem were therefore unwilling to lose it, except for a 
considerable prize, and small shoals were generally allowed 
to escape. By Mr. Praed's Act, so great and so beneficial 
a change was made, that, arranging the succession in an 
equitable manner, it allowed each boat to hold its stem but 
for twenty-four hours, and consequently every shoal, how- 
ever small, was eagerly secured. 

The nets are preserved for a long succession of years by 
steeping them in a decoction of oak bark as frequently as 
they are used; and, what would scarcely have been ex- 
pected, the fish oil without this preservative, would destroy 
the twine in a very short time. 

It seems that these nets must have been originally intro- 
duced from Dungarvon in Ireland, since they are still said 
to be braided according to the Dungarvon mesh, but no 
similar fishery is remembered at that place. Fish, how- 



ST. ives. 266 

ever, of all kinds not only migrate through distant seas, 
but without any known cause, frequently leave one part 
of a coast and resort to another, returning after uncertain 
intervals to their former haunts. 

There is one custom at St. Ives, of which the origin and 
specific meaning are entirely lost. So soon as shoals of 
pilchards are discovered in the bay, all the people, and more 
especially the children, run round the town shouting, 
Heva ! Heva ! with all their might. 

St. Ives was distinguished in the last century by the 
birth and residence for some years of a very eminent scho- 
lar, the Rev. Jonathan Toup. His father, who died in 
1721, was lecturer of that Town, as the church being a 
daughter church to Lelant, is entitled to service from 
the vicar only once in three weeks ; his mother was the 
heiress of the family of Busvargus, long settled at Busvar- 
gus in St Just. 

He was born in 1713; and it is apprehended received 
the rudiments of classical learning from his father* He 
became a Commoner of Exeter College, Oxford, and 
having taken the usual degree of Bachelor of Arts, obtained 
Holy Orders in 1736. He was Curate of Philleigh in 
that year, and of Burian in 1738. He continued to pursue* 
with extraordinary diligence, the study of Greek. He 
became Rector of St. Martin's, near Looe in 1750, through 
some private interest ; but the Vicarage of St. Merran 
and a Prebend in the Cathedral of Exeter in 1714, were 
procured from the Bishop of Exeter by his literary friend 
Doctor William Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester. 

Mr. Toup took his Master of Arts degree at Cambridge 
in 1756, when he had advanced towards the middle of life* 
and apparently as a qualification for his second living. 

His chief work is, perhaps, a Emendationes in Suidam; 
in quibus plurima loca Veterum Graecorum, Sophoclis et 
Aristophanis in primis, turn explicuntur turn emaculantur." 
These were printed in three parts, which came out in 
three volumes in the years 1760, 1764, and 1766; and 



266 st. ives. 

were followed in 1775 by " Appendiculum Notarumin Sui- 
dam." All these have since been reprinted at Leipsic in 
four volumes octavo ; and the whole has been recently in- 
corporated into a most splendid and learned edition of 
Kusteriis' Suidas, by the very Reverend Thomas Gaisfbrd, 
D. D., Dean of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of 
Greek in the University of Oxford. * 

Mr. Toup gave also to the world by far the best edition 
that has appeared of Longinus. He also assisted the cele- 
brated Mr. Thomas Warton in his edition of Theocritus ; 
and added, " Cures posteriores, sive Appendicula Notarum 
atque Emendationum in Theocritum, Oxonii nuperrime 
publicatum." He also published a letter to Bishop Warbur- 
ton under the title of, " Epistola Critica ad Virum cele- 
berrimum Gulielmum (Warburton) Episcopum Gloces- 
triensem." 

Nothing in particular is remembered of Mr. Toup's 
private life. He died unmarried at the Rectory of St. 
Martin's in 1785 ; and the delegates of the Oxford press, 
in regard for so eminent a scholar, and in return for a pre- 
sent of MSS. made by his niece and executrix, have erected 
a monument to his memory in St. Martin's Church. 

Another gentleman, although not a native of the town, 
may be noticed here. 

Mr. John Knill was born in the eastern part of Corn- 
wall, and served his clerkship as an attorney in Penzance, 
from thence he removed to the office of a London attorney, 
where having distinguished himself by application and intel- 
ligence, he was recommended to the Earl of Buckingham- 
shire, who at that time held the political interest of St. 
Ives, to be his local agent. 

After residing for some time at St. Ives, Mr. Knill was 
sent on a mission to the West Indies, highly honourable to 
his abilities and to his character, with an authority for in- 
specting all the custom-houses and their establishments; 
and, if sufficient cause should appear, with power to sus- 
pend any one, however high, from his office. 



st. ives. 267 

Having executed the functions thus delegated with inte- 
grity and moderation, he returned to the collectorship at 
St. Ives, and engaged in a very anomalous undertaking, 
at that time sanctioned and encouraged by the government, 
which consisted in equipping small vessels to act as pri- 
viateers against smugglers. In this species of warfare he is 
said to have been very successful ; and on the breaking out 
of the Dutch war in the war with America, these vessels 
were ready to act their part in a practice most disgraceful 
to a civilized nation, and which every good, honourable, 
and humane man must hope will never again be repeated. 
In this way vessels laden with private property, wholly un- 
prepared for resistance, utterly unacquainted with the 
nations being at war, were plundered and robbed of what- 
ever they contained, and unoffending passengers were ex- 
posed to insult and violence. 

Mr. Knill was hurried by the force of circumstances, 
contrary to his inclination and habits, and to his deep sub- 
sequent regret, into doing what others did, and participat- 
ing in these unhallowed gains. The Editor understands, 
however, that he showed every kindness in his power to 
some objects of compassion who were made prisoners ; and 
that he restored several articles of their more valued pro- 
perty at his own individual loss. 

Soon after this time Mr. Knill took up the singular 
fancy of erecting a triangular pyramid on a hill overlook- 
ing St. Ives, with the intention of his being buried in a 
proper receptacle hollowed in the base ; and he invested a 
sum of money in trust for the support of some half ludi- 
crous and half serious dances and processions, to be re- 
peated every fifth year. 

He however, removed, to London, resided in Gray's Inn, 
was called to the bar, and became a bencher ; and having de- 
parted this life on the 29th of March 1811, was buried, by the 
direction of his last will, in St Andrew's church, Holborn. 
The monument is ornamental to the country, for on one side 
of the pyramid are inscribed the words, " John Knill ; " on a 



268 st. ives. 

second, "I know that my Redeemer liveth ; " and on the 
third the word " Resurgam." 

The monument stands on the Editor's land, and pays 
him sixpence a-year, secured on a farm of some value, 
with a power of distress. 

Mr. Knill was undoubtedly a man of considerable talent 
When the Earl of Buckinghamshire took the office of 
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he selected Mr. Knill for 
his private secretary; but not liking the bustle, nor per- 
haps the responsibility of this situation, he returned to St 
Ives. His philanthropy and general kindness were known 
to all ; but a variety of idle fancies and singularities, un- 
worthy of his talents and experience in the world, are re- 
membered, while the estimable qualities of his heart are 
perhaps forgotten. 

An extraordinary event took place at St. Ives on the 17th 
of Feb. 1780. 

Some time in the month of December preceding, a large 
body of troops had been embarked at New York for the 
attack on Charlestown in South Carolina ; and in a public 
dispatch from Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, dated March the 
9th, he says, " only one ship is missing, having on board a 
detachment of hussars ; and supposed to have borne away 
for the West Indies." The Editor has ascertained by par- 
ticular inquiries, that the vessel alluded to in this dispatch 
nearly reached Charlestown, the place of its destination, hav- 
ing about two hundred and fifty German soldiers on board 
with provision suited to so short a voyage, when being run 
foul of by a ship of war in a gale of wind, and injured in the 
masts and bowsprit, the vessel could sail no other way than 
before the westerly wind, then blowing with violence ; most 
fortunately the direction of the wind continued steadily in the 
same direction, and the passengers arrived safe, but nearly 
famished, at St. Ives on the day above-mentioned. St 
Ives and the neighbourhood contended with each other in 
efforts, not merely to relieve the distress of these unfortu- 
nate persons, but to make them comfortable and happy ; 



st. ives. 269 

the best attainable lodgings were provided for the private 
men, and the officers were daily invited to gentlemen's 
houses. Their sufferings as foreigners on behalf of Eng- 
land, had excited general compassion, heightened by the 
reflection that they were not engaged in maintaining any 
cause in which their country had an interest, that they were 
not volunteers, but had been purchased by this nation from 
an individual entrusted with unlimited power, for the good 
of a portion of mankind, which he had most basely abused 
for the sake of private gain, in a manner that must commit 
his name and memory to infamy, and to the execration of 
mankind ; nor can the administration be freed from blame 
that hired these human beings at so much a-day, and 
agreed to give the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel a certain sum 
for every one killed, or missing, or lamed. 

Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin have enumerated several 
names of families at St. Ives. In recent times, that of Ste- 
phens has acquired an undisputed superiority. 

That family, although merchants up to the decease of Mr. 
John Stephens in 1764, bad been long in possession of 
landed property in St. Ives ; and the Editor has seen the 
original of the following receipt given at the accession of 
King James the First. 

xxii° die Octobris, An° Dom* 1603. 

Received of John Stephens of the Burrough of St. Ives 
in the Hundred of Penwith, within the county of Corn- 
wall, Gen*, for his composition with his Ma ie * Commissioners 
for his not appearing at the Coronation of our said Souv- 
raigne Lord the King, for to receive the Order of Knight- 
hood, according to his Highness' proclaymasion in that be- 
halfe, the sum of sixteen pounds. 

I saye received - xvi K 

Fra. Godolphin, Coll. 

Mr. John Stephens married Mary, one of the three 
daughters of Mr. Samuel Phillips, of Pendrea in Gulval. 

This gentleman appears to have been very successful in 
his various concerns of merchandise and fisheries, as he 



270 ST, IVES. 

added largely to his landed property by purchases in the 
immediate neighbourhood of St. Ives, and also in the 
parishes of Newlyn and St. Enoder. He acted for many years 
as agent to the Earl of Buckinghamshire in managing the 
political concerns of the town ; but at last broke off the 
connection by getting his son, Mr. Samuel Stephens, 
returned on a vacancy. 

Mr. John Stephens had a numerous family; his eldest 
son went to Holland, according to the practice of those 
times, with the view of continuing his father's mercantile 
concerns ; and the next son, Samuel, became a member of 
the University of Cambridge to prepare himself for the 
church, and probably with the expectation of obtaining 
Lelant and St. Ives, but the death of his elder brother 
caused this to be relinquished. He married Anne, daugh- 
ter of Mr. Seaborn, of Bristol; and on his father's de- 
cease about the year 1764, he disposed of every thing con- 
nected with the trade and fishery of this place, and hav- 
ing abandoned the sect of Presbyterians, to which all his 
family and relations had been strongly attached, he went so 
far as to pull down the meeting-house, and to withdraw his 
support from its minister ; proceedings well remembered 
to his disadvantage on subsequent occasions. 

About the year 1774, Mr. Stephens commenced build- 
ing his new house at Tregonna ; and in that and in a subse- 
quent year proved unsuccessful at a poll, and on a petition, 
for the representation of St. Ives. He died in March 
1794, leaving three sons, John Stephens, Rector of Ludg- 
van ; Samuel, to whom he devised a large portion of his 
estate ; and Augustus, all of whom have died in the pre- 
sent year (1834) ; also three daughters, Anne, Maria, 
and Harriet. Mr. Samuel Stephens, the second son, mar- 
ried Betty, sole daughter of Capt. Wallis, the discoverer of 
Otaheite, and coheiress of the families of Hearle and Payn- 
ter. He represented St. Ives in two Parliaments, and died 
February the 25th, 1834, leaving five sons, and one daugh- 
ter, married to the Rev. Charles William Davy. 



ST. IVES. 271 

Previously to the Act of Parliament of 1832, St. Ives 
sent two Members to Parliament ; and the right of voting 
rested in persons paying scot and lot throughout the 
parish. It now sends one member in conjunction with 
Lelant and Towednack. The present representative is 
Mr. James Halse, probably related to the historian : this 
gentleman is among the most enterprising and successful 
adventurers in mines of the present day. 

The situation of the town would seem to be most salu- 
brious, and perhaps it is so in ordinary times ; but few 
places have suffered more from occasional epidemics. 

The Editor remembers to have heard dreadful tradi- 
tionary accounts, of the plague in 1647. No market was 
kept in the town for a considerable space of time; but 
instead of it, supplies were brought to the edge of two 
streams of water at Polmanter and at Longstone Downs, 
where provisions were deposited with their prices affixed, 
which the inhabitants took away, leaving their money in 
the streams. It it said, however, that the Stephens family 
having retired to a farm called Aire, which they possessed 
just out of the town, and having ther<> «ut off all communi- 
cation with others, entirely escaped, although 535 died in 
the course of one summer, out of a population which could 
not at that period have exceeded treble the amount. In 
the spring of 1786, a fever raged with great violence, to 
which the reverend Mr. Lane, then lecturer, and Mrs. 
Lane fell victims within a few days of each other. 

The whole inscription on the cup given by Sir Francis 
Basset is as follows : 

If any discord 'twixt my friends arise 
Within the borough of beloved St. Ives, 
It is desired this my cup of love, 
To everie one a peace-maker may prove ; 
Then am I blest to have given a legacie, 
So like my harte unto posteritie. 

Francis Basset, A° 1640. 
The arms of the town are, Argent, an ivy bush over- 
spreading the whole field Proper, evidently in allusion to 
vol. 11. S 8 



272 ST. IVES. 

the name ; but this bearing has afforded an obvious joke 
throughout the neighbouring parishes at the expense of 
the Mayor. 

The church is unusually large and handsome, with a 
fourth aile at the eastern end, and a lofty tower ; and few 
prospects are equally beautiful with that of the town and 
bay from the hill near Tregenna. 

The parish feast is celebrated at the same time as that 
of Lelant the mother church ; and Lelant, Redruth, and 
Crowan, are said to honour St. Eury by holding their feasts 
on the nearest Sunday to her day, February 1st, but no 
trace of any such saint can be found. 

The parish measures 1524 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as <£\ *. d. 

returned to. Parliament in 1815 . 5,560 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . 1,174 O 

PrnmlotSnn 5 in 1801 > I lli 1811 > I Ifl 1821 ' I in 1831 ' 

Population, -J 27U | 32gl | 3526 | 4m 
giving an increase of 76 per cent in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The north-eastern part of this parish is composed of 
compact and slaty felspar rocks, like those of St. Just in 
Penwith ; the other part is situated on granite. Both these 
rocks are traversed by metalliferous veins, which have been 
for many ages the objects of mining speculations. 



ST. IVES. 267 

Having executed the functions thus delegated with inte- 
grity and moderation, he returned to the collectorship at 
St. Ives, and engaged in a very anomalous undertaking, 
at that time sanctioned and encouraged by the government, 
which consisted in equipping small vessels to act as pri- 
viateers against smugglers. In this species of warfare he is 
said to have been very successful ; and on the breaking out 
of the Dutch war in the war with America, these vessels 
were ready to act their part in a practice most disgraceful 
to a civilized nation, and which every good, honourable, 
and humane man must hope will never again be repeated. 
In this way vessels laden with private property, wholly un- 
prepared for resistance, utterly unacquainted with the 
nations being at war, were plundered and robbed of what- 
ever they contained, and unoffending passengers were ex- 
posed to insult and violence. 

Mr. Knill was hurried by the force of circumstances, 
contrary to his inclination and habits, and to his deep sub- 
sequent regret, into doing what others did, and participat- 
ing in these unhallowed gains. The Editor understands, 
however, that he showed every kindness in his power to 
some objects of compassion who were made prisoners ; and 
that he restored several articles of their more valued pro- 
perty at his own individual loss. 

Soon after this time Mr. Knill took up the singular 
fancy of erecting a triangular pyramid on a hill overlook- 
ing St Ives, with the intention of his being buried in a 
proper receptacle hollowed in the base ; and he invested a 
sum of money in trust for the support of some half ludi- 
crous and half serious dances and processions, to be re- 
peated every fifth year. 

He however, removed, to London, resided in Gray's Inn, 
was called to the bar, and became a bencher ; and having de- 
parted this life on the 29th of March 1811, was buried, by the 
direction of his last will, in St. Andrew's church, Holborn. 
The monument is ornamental to the country : on one side 
of the pyramid are inscribed the words, " John Knill ; " on a. 

VOL. II. s 6 



268 8T. IVES. 

second, " 1 know that my Redeemer liveth ; " and on the 
third the word " Resurgam." 

The monument stands on the Editor's land, and pays 
him sixpence a-year, secured on a farm of some value, with 
a power of distress. 

Mr. Knill was undoubtedly a man of considerable talent. 
When the Earl of Buckinghamshire took the office of 
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he selected Mr. Knill for 
his private secretary ; but not liking the bustle, nor perhaps 
the responsibility of this situation, he returned to St. Ives. 
His philanthropy and general kindness were known to all ; 
but a variety of idle fancies and singularities, unworthy of 
his talents and experience in the world, are remembered, 
while the estimable qualities of his heart are perhaps for- 
gotten. 

An extraordinary event took place at St. Ives on the 
17th of Feb. 1780. 

Some time in the month of December preceding, a large 
body of troops had been embarked at New York for the 
attack on Charlestown in South Carolina ; and in a public 
dispatch from Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, dated March the 
9th, he says, " only one ship is missing, having on board a 
detachment of Hessians ; and supposed to have borne away 
for the West Indies." The Editor has ascertained by par- 
ticular inquiries, that the vessel alluded to in this dispatch 
nearly reached Charlestown, the place of its destination, hav- 
ing about two hundred and fifty German soldiers on board 
with provision suited to so short a voyage, when being run 
foul of by a ship of war in a gale of wind, and injured in the 
masts and bowsprit, the vessel could sail no other way than 
before the westerly wind, then blowing with violence ; mos t 
fortunately the direction of the wind continued steadily in 
the same direction, and the passengers arrived safe, but 
nearly famished, at St. Ives on the day above-mentioned. St. 
Ives and the neighbourhood contended with each other in 
efforts, not merely to relieve the distress of these unfortu- 
nate persons, but to make them comfortable and happy ; 



ST. JULYOT. 273 



ST. JULYOT. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and hath upon • 
the north St. Gennis, west St. George's Channel, south 
Lesnewith, east Otterham. As for the modern name, 
it is so called from its tutelar guardian and patron 
thereof, St. Julius, Pope of Rome and Confessor. In 
Domesday Tax, 20 William I. (1087), it was rated under 
the jurisdiction of Lesnewith or Otterham. In the taxation 
of benefices made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Win- 
chester in Cornwall, 1294, ecclesia de Sancta Juliot, in 
decanatu de Major Trigshire (id est, before Stratton was 
dismembered from it) is rated xii/. Again, Capella de 
Sancta Julyot, xxvis. viiirf. ; but where this latter Church 
or Chapel now stands, I am wholly ignorant ; for in Wolsey's 
Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, both are for- 
gotten or omitted ; the patronage is in Molesworth, and 
the parish rated to the 4*. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 
66L 16*. 

TONKIN, 

This parish is a donative, the patrons Sir John Moles- 
worth and Mr. Rawle. The name is from St Juliet, a 
virgin saint and martyr. 

THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Whitaker agrees in assigning to St. Juliet the honour 
of giving her name to this parish. 

There seems to be some confusion in Mr. Hals' narrative 

VOL. II. T 



274 8T. JULYOT. 

between the appropriations of the Rectory and of the 
Vicarage, which Mr, Whitaker endeavours to explain in 
the following note. 

" Mr. Hals has confounded himself by the identity of 
names. The Rectory of St. Julyot is placed by the first 
Valor in the Deanery of Trig Minor, and the Chapel of 
St. Julyot is placed by it; and by the second in that of Trig 
Major* The former too is rated so high as 12/., while the 
latter is only 26*. Sd. even at a period so much later. The 
former therefore is the only large living of Trig Minor 
that is unnoticed in the first Valor, Lanteglos, correspon- 
dency valued in the second at 34/. 11*. 3d. And the 
latter is the present St Julyot, not a Rectory, but a mere 
Chapel in the first Valor, a mere Curacy Parochial in the 
second, once appropriated to the Abbey of Tavistock, and 
therefore having only 15*. certified value at present, the m 
old allocation settled upon it by the Abbey." 

Mr. Hals has given a very long history of Julius, Pope 
or Bishop of Rome, from the year 343 to 358, which is 
omitted. 

Nor is there anything worth relating in the history or 
legend of St. Julyot. She is said to have suffered death, 
having been accused by a violent and wicked person who 
had previously taken from her by force some ample pos- 
sessions. There is extant a sermon of St. Basil in praise 
of this saint, who is commemorated in the Rituale Ro- 
manum on the 30th of July. 

The family of Rawle, settled for some time at Leskeard, 
are said to have originated from Hennot, in this parish. 
They, together with Molesworth of Pencarrow, are joint 
impropriators, and alternately nominate the perpetual 
curate. 

St. Julyot measures 22T6 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815. . 1784 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 143 18 



ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND. 275 



in 1821, I in 1831, 
263 271 



^ , . fin 1801, I in 1811, 

Population,— | 199 ' | 20g 

giving an increase of 36 per cent., in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. John Russell, instituted in 1810 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The rocks of this parish are nearly allied to dunstone, 
into which they pass at Tresparret Downs; some of them, 
however, more nearly resemble the dark-coloured pyritous 
rocks of Forrabury. 



ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND. 

HALS. 

» 

Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the 
north King's Road and other parts of the Sea of Falmouth 
Harbour, east Phillery, south Gerans, west Anthony ; the 
modern name of this parish and church is taken from the 
name of the saint to whom the same is dedicated, viz. 
St. Just ; for in the Domesday Tax it was rated under the 
jurisdiction of Egles-ros, now Philley, or Tregarada, now 
Tregare in Gerance, both contiguous therewith. In the 
Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into 
the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, ecclesia de Sancto 
Justo, in decanatu de Powdre, was rated at iiii/. vis. viikt 
This church was partly endowed by the Dean and Chapter 
of Exon, who received an annuity out of the same of xxx#., 
as appears from that Inquisition; and partly by the Prior and 
Convent of St. Mary de Val, or Vale, contiguous therewith, 
and St. Mary de Plym, its superior, who received annually 
out of it xiii*. ivrf. In Wolsey's Inquisition it was valued 
at 37/. The patronage was formerly in the Prior of St. 
Mary de Val, now Antony (in right of their manor of 
St Mary's, now St. Maws), annexed since the dissolution 
of that Priory, 26 Henry VIII., to the manor of Tolverne, 

t2 



276 ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND. 

afterwards in Arundell of Tolverne, now Tredinham ; the 
incumbent Bedford. The parish rated tp the 4«. per pound 
Land Tax, 1696, 172/. 13*. 4rf. 

In this parish, upon a cove or creek of Falmouth Har- 
bour, stands the borough of St. Mawes, also St. Mary's, 
so called from the manor of land on which it is situate, 
heretofore pertaining to the Canons Regular of the Priory 
of St Mary de PlynTin Devon, both dedicated to the 
blessed Virgin Mary, and thence from her denominated 
St. Mary's. It is the voke lands of two ancient manors, 
named Tolverne and Bohurra, privileged time out of mind 
with the jurisdiction of court leets, held before the 
Steward or Portreeve, who governs the same, and is 
annually chosen by the majority of the homage or tenants 
of the manor of Tolverne Court; the lords of which 
formerly were the Priors aforesaid, afterwards Arundell of 
Tolverne, now Tredinham as aforesaid. It sendeth two 
Members to sit in the Lower House of Parliament, who 
are chosen or elected by the freeholders or freemen of the 
said borough. It hath a weekly market, and an annual 
fair on Friday next after Luke's day; and giveth for its 
arms, a bend lozengy of six pieces ermine, between a castle 
in the sinister chief and a ship rigged without sails in the 
dexter. 

The writ to remove an action at law depending in this 
Leet to a Superior Court, and the precept for election of 
Members of Parliament, must be thus directed : Praeposito 
et Senescallo ville sue de St. Mawes alias St. Mary's in 
Com. Cornub. salutem. ^ 

At the north end of this borough, upon a well advanced 
promontory, stands the Castle of St. Mawes, alias St. Mary's, 
first built, fortified, and supplied with a small garrison of 
soldiers, by King Henry VIII. in his French wars, for 
defence of the harbour of Falmouth, against invasion of 
enemies ; having now about thirty cannon, demy cannon, 
and culverins pertaining thereto (but scarcely so many 
soldiers of war). The Captain and Keeper whereof hath 



ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND. 277 

from the King 54/. 15*.; his Deputy 27/. Is. 6d.; three 
Gunners, in all 72/. 

After the dissolution of the Priory of St. Anthony, 26 
Henry VIII., 1535, this Castle and the land whereon it 
stands, together with the government thereof, as I am in- 
formed, was given by that King to Sir Robert Le Greice, 
Knight, an Arragonist or Spaniard, whose son, in Queen 
Elizabeth's reign, sold the inheritance thereof to Hanniball 
Vyvyan, Esq. of Trelowarren, who thereupon was made 
Governor thereof; as some say after his decease, Sir 
Francis Vyvyan, Knight, his son; after his decease Sir 
Richard Vyvyan, Bart., his son ; after his decease Sir Vyell 
Vyvyan, Bart., who was so far imposed upon by John Earl 
of Bath, by licence of King Charles II., as to sell the in- 
heritance of the lands whereon this Castle stands, to him for 
500/.; who forthwith transferred it over to Sir Joseph 
Tredinham, Knight, who then became Governor thereof, 
but was displaced by King William III., and the govern- 
ment thereof given to his Privy Councellor, the Right 
Honourable Hugh Boscawen, Esq., now in possession 
thereof at the writing of these lines. 

There was a great controversy in Parliament, 4 James I., 
between Cotterell and Legrice, about Legrice's lands. See 
the Memoirs of Parliament, page 68, and modus tenendi 
Parliamentum. 

During the interregnum of Cromwell, Sir Richard Vyvyan, 
as a person dissaffected to his government, was displaced 
from the gubernation of this Castle, and one Captain Rouse 
put in his place, which gentleman, as I have been informed, 
before the war broke out between King Charles I. and his 
Parliament, was of such low fortune in the world that he 
lived in a barn at Landrake, and lodged on straw, till he 
got a commission to be a Captain in the Parliament Army 
under the Earl of Essex, which brought him into money 
and credit ; so that at length he was posted the Commander 
or Governor of this Castle, who behaved himself so very 
proud, grand, severe, and magisterial towards the neigh- 



278 ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND. 

bouring gentlemen of the royal party, that it gave occasion to 
John Trefusis, Esq., to make this short description of him 
in verse ; which the Cavalier party, when they met to drink 
the King's health, would commonly sing in derision of the 
Governor, and called it their passado, viz. : 

In wealth Rouse abounds ; 

He keepeth his hounds, 

Full fourteen couple and more. 

When he lived in a house 

With an owl and a mouse, 

Oh ! they say he was wondrous poor. — Oh! they say. 

Part of this barn aforesaid, tempore William III., as I 
am informed, was converted to a dwelling house, the other 
part was made a Presbyterian meeting-house, by Mr. 
Robert Rouse of Wootton, son of the gentleman before 
mentioned, who with his family commonly on Sundays 
met there with great numbers of people of that profession, 
to hear the predicaments of their Priest. This Mr. Robert 
Rouse married Harrington of Somersetshire, and resided 
there during his father, the Governor, Rouse's life, with his 
wife, during which stay there he had by her one or two 
sons ; and after his father's death, he came down to Wootton 
in this county. 

As the Captain or Keeper of St. Mawes Castle hath a 
salary as aforesaid, so the Governor of its opposite Castle 
of Pendenis, hath yearly from the Crown 182/. 10*. ; his 
Lieutenant-Governor 73/. ; the Master Gunner 36/. ; and 
two other Gunners 36/. each ; and the like payments are 
made to the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor and 
Gunners of Scilly Castle and Islands. 



TONKIN. 

The patronage of this parish is in Sir Joseph Treden- 
ham, in right of his manor of Tolvern. 

A great part of this parish is included in the manor of 



i 



ST. JUST, IN ROSJSLAND. 279 

Tolvern, but as the capital place is in Philly I shall there 
treat of it 

Treveres ; the town in the ways or roads, veres being 
the plural of ver or vere, a road, way or lane. 

This place has been for several generations, by lease 
from the Arundells and the succeeding lords of Tolvern, 
the seat of the Jacks, the last of whom, Richard Jack, Esq. 
dying without issue, Jeft this estate to his sister's only 
daughter, heiress of William Hooker, of Trelisick, in St 
Ewe, Esq. and married to John Pomeray, Clerk. 

Near this place lies Rosecossa, the woody valley, which 
I am told was formerly the seat of Sir John Rosecossa, who 
had here a large house and a chapel, but lately demolished. 
He left two daughters coheiresses, married to Trefry and 
Woollcumbe. This estate, with another called Tolcarne, 
that is the stone with a hole bored in it, have descended 
to Roger Woollcumbe, of Langford Hill, Esq. the present 
possessor of both. 

THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Hals has given a long history of St. Just, the com- 
panion of St. Austin, and his successor in the See of Can- 
terbury, all of which is omitted. The parish is supposed 
to be under the patronage of St Just, or Justus Archbishop 
of Lyons, about the year 350. This Saint, already a 
Bishop, began his career towards beatitude, by assisting 
St. Ambrose in his furious hostility against the Arians, and 
completed it by retiring into the deserts of Egypt, to pre- 
pare himself for the society of superior beings, through 
the favour of Him who is the author of all wisdom, of all 
knowledge, and of all benevolence, to be obtained by 
discarding or stupefying in solitude every kind affection, 
and every faculty of intelligence bestowed on him by the 
Almighty. 

He is commemorated in the Roman Calendar on the 
second of September. 

St. Mawes and its castle are by fair the objects of greatest 
curiosity in this parish. 



280 ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND. 

The shelter afforded for boats must at all times have 
rendered this place a resort of fishermen, but it acquired 
more importance and a name by the residence of St 
Mawes, who seems to have come from Ireland with the 
other missionaries. 

Accounts respecting him are extremely various. Some 
assimilate his history to that of St. Just, stating that he 
attained the episcopal dignity, and then, in compliance 
with the taste of that age, retired to an ascetic solitude ; 
other legends represent him as a schoolmaster, and in early 
paintings he may be seen with the well-known emblem of 
scholastic authority in his hand. 

The castle at St Mawes was undoubtedly built by King 
Henry VIII. but a tradition universally believed in Corn- 
wall is much less certain. 

It is said that the King came to view the situation of 
his two projected castles of St. Mawes and Pendennis; that 
he passed two nights at Tolvorn, then a seat of the Arun- 
dells ; and that he crossed the river from thence to Feock, 
at a passage that has ever since gone by his name. There 
is not, however, any trace of this journey to be found in 
histories of the times, nor in any public document 

The privilege of sending Members to Parliament was 
given to this village by Queen Elizabeth, in pursuance, 
probably, of the Tudor policy noticed under Michell ; and 
if the creation of a close borough were the object really 
intended, it proved invariably successful up to the general 
disfranchisement of 1832. 

This right of sending Members to Parliament, accom- 
panied by the pageantry of maces and sergeants-at-arms, 
and combined with various personal advantages, could 
not fail of exciting feelings of envy and ridicule. In this 
instance the -village of St. Mawes, extending in a single 
line of houses in the direction of the beach, has readily 
presented a topic, which was, to inquire whether the new 
mayor lived on the same side of the street as his prede- 
cessor. 



ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND. 281 

Corrack Road, the best anchorage for large vessels in 
all Falmouth harbour, lies off this parish, called by 
Mr. Hals King Road, but the popular appellation is 
St. Just, or Sainteast, Pool. 

Mr. Lysons gives the following inscriptions, said to have 
been written by Leland, and cut in the castle walls. 

" Henricus, Octavus Rex Angliae, Franciae, et Hiberniae 
invictissimus, me posuit presidium reipublicae, terrorem 
hostibus. 

Imperio Henrici naves submittite vela, 
Semper honos, Henrice, tuus laudesque manebunt; 
Edwardus fama referat factisque parentem, 
Gaudeat, Edwardo duce nunc, Cornubia felix. 
Semper vivat Aia Regis Henrici Octavi, qui 
anno XXXIVo sui regni hoc fieri fecit. 
Honora Henricum Octavum AngHae, Franciae, et 
Hiberniae Regem excellentissimum. 

The advowson of this parish has passed by succession 
from Tredinham, through Schobells, to Hawkins. The 
present incumbent is Edward Rodd, D.D. of Trebartha, 
late Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and Proctor of the 
University in 1802. 

St. Just in Roseland measures 2340 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as <£• s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 : . 4714 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 817 8 

T5 t . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,— j MW | 1639 | 1648 | 1558 

giving an increase of. 10 per cent in 30 years ; there being 
a decrease of 90 in the last 10 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE. 

This parish, which forms the eastern shore of Falmouth 
harbour, is composed of the same rocks as the adjoining 
parishes of Filley, Gersons, and St. Anthony. 



282 



ST. JUST, near Penzance. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the 
north-east Morsa, west St. George's Channel and Sennan, 
east Saneret, south Buryan. For the modern name, it is 
taken from the tutelar guardian to whom this church is dedi- 
cated, viz. St. Just the Roman, first Bishop of Rochester, 
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. 

At the time of the Norman Conquest this district passed 
in tax, either under the jurisdiction of Buryan or Alverton. 
In the taxation of benefices made by the Bishops of Lin- 
coln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 
1294, ecclesia Sancti Justi in decanatu de Penwith is 
rated viii/.; in Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, 11/. 11*. Of d.; 
the patronage in the Crown ; the incumbent M illet ; the 
rectory in possession of Borlase, and the parish rated to 
the 4>s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, by the name of St. 
Just, 133/. 7«. ; which name is derived from the Latin words 
jus, Justus, right, just, lawful, righteous, well-meaning, 
upright. 

At Pen-dene, or Pen-dayn, in this parish, is the dwel- 
ling of John Borlase, Esq. Commissioner for the Peace, 
who married Lydia Harris, of Kenegye, and giveth the 
same arms as the Borlases of Borlase in St. Wenn and 
Newland; this gentleman's father greatly advanced his 
wealth by tin adventures, and is descended from the Bor- 
lases of Sy thney, as I am informed. 

Bray in this parish, situate on the Irish sea coast, gave 
name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed 
de Bray who by the tenure of knight service, held in this 
place two parts of a knight's fee of land, 3 Henry IV. 
Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 39. • 

I take the Lord Bray of Hampshire to be descended 
from this family. This place is now in the possession of 
that well-known quaker, John Ellis, Esq. 



ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 283 

On the south side of this parish, upon a lofty hill, stands 
Chapel Came Bray, that is to say Bray's spar-stone Chapel, 
and suitable to its name it is situate upon the top of the 
most astonishing burrow or tumulus of Carnes, or spar 
stones, that ever my eyes beheld ; artificially laid together 
perhaps upon the bodies of human creatures, interred upon 
the mountain before the fifth century ; on the top of which 
burrow of stones, which is about fifteen feet high from the 
ground, stands the chapel itself; which riseth about ten 
feet higher, well built with moor-stone and lime, with a 
window in the east, and a durns, or door, on the south of 
the same stones; the roof all well covered or arched over 
with large flat moor-stones, wrought with the hammer and 
strongly fastened together. The chapel being about ten 
feet broad and about fourteen feet long (as that on Roach 
Rock) on the outside; and round this chapel may be seen, 
the downfalls of many sparstone-stairs and walks, by which 
heretofore the people ascended to this chapel, and diverted 
themselves with a full prospect of the contiguous country 
by sea and land — St. George's Channel, the British Ocean, 
and the Atlantic Sea towards the Stilly Islands, of which 
from hence in fair weather you may have a full view ; which 
lands of Scilly seem to stand in equal height with this 
chapel, though the ground towards the Land's End, in St. 
Leucan and St. Lennan, on the sea-shore towards it, are at 
least eighty fathoms lower, or under it, as is the sea itself, 
betwixt that and the Scilly Islands. Such another chapel 
as this, though not built upon a burrow of stones, is to be 
seen on Mountague Hill, in Somersetshire, and dedicated 
to St. Michael the Archangel, for half a mile ascended up 
the hill upon stone stairs, embowed or arched over head 
right artificially. (See also Camden in Somerset) Thus it 
appears that this tribe of Bray were heretofore men of great 
wealth, fame, and renown in those parts ; since their name 
adheres not only to two local places in this parish, but 
divers others, as Castle Came Bray in Luggan, Bray in 
Morvall, and many other places. * 



284 ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 

In this parish also was formerly St. Ewny's Chapel, 
now dilapidated ; see Redruth and Lelant for more of this 
St Ewny. 

Those spar-stone monuments of Carne Bray Castle, and 
Chapel Carne Bray aforesaid, will I suppose perpetuate 
the name and memory of those Brays till the final con- 
summation of all things, as aforesaid. Bray, in Battle 
Abbey Roll, is recorded to have come into England with 
William the Conqueror ; but by the names of those local 
places and the fabrics aforesaid, it is probable they were 
here long before. 

In this parish is a large flat stone, on which, as tra- 
dition says, seven Saxon Kings at one time and day, 
dined thereon, at such time as they came into Cornwall to 
see the Land's End thereof, and of Great Britain ; which 
Kings are said to have been : 1. Ethel bert, 5th King of 
Kent; 2. Cissa, 2nd King of the South Saxons; 3. Kingills, 
6th King of the West Saxons; 4. Sebert, 3d King of the 
East Saxons; 5. Ethelfred, 7th King of the Northumbers; 
6. Penda, 5th King of the Mercians; and 7. Sigebert, 5th 
King of the East Angles; who all flourished about the 
year 600, and were all crowned heads, as Samuel Daniell 
in his Chronicle tells us. * 

TONKIN 

Has not any thing in addition to what is stated by Mr. 
Hals, except a description of Mayne Scriffer, or the " in- 
scribed stone," which he ends by saying is really not in this 
parish, but in Madders, where he purposes to give a more 
full account of it. 

THE EDITOR. 

Pendeen claims the first attention of any place in this 
parish. It was for some ages the residences of the Bor- 

* This is said by modern tradition to have happened at Mean, in the ad- 
jacent parish of Sannen. Edit. 



ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 285 

lases, since removed to Castle Horneck, near Penzance. 
At Pendeen resided in the early part of his life Mr. Jjhn 
Borlase, sometime member for St. Ives. Here were born 
his two sons the Rev. Walter Borlase, LL.D. Vice Warden 
of the Stannaries ; and the Rev. William Borlase, LL.D. 
by diploma from the university of Oxford, the justly cele- 
brated writer of the Antiquities and of the Natural History 
of Cornwall. 

Pendeen exhibits an excellent specimen of the large but 
comfortless houses, inhabited by gentlemen two centuries 
ago. 

Near the house may be seen one of those very ancient 
excavations called vaus or faus. See Borlase's Antiquities, 
p. 293, 2d edit. 1769. They are conjectured to have been 
made for places of refuge in times when predatory descents 
on the coast were of frequent occurrence, and always causes 
of alarm. Yet the entrance could not be concealed, and 
the five kings of the Amorites had left an example, con- 
firmed at no remote period by the cruel fate of a northern 
clan, proving the utter insecurity of such a retreat. 

On the sea-shore below the house is a small cove, where 
boats and nets are kept for fishing ; but so small is the 
shelter on this iron-bound coast, that the boats are drawn 
up by ropes or chains, and kept suspended during the 
winter, on the sloping surface of a steep cliff. 

Some miles westward of Pendeen, and near the sea, is 
Botallock, the seat of the Usticks; one among the many 
families that resided for centuries in this remote peninsula, 
moderately endowed with gifts of fortune, but possessed of 
the honour and feelings of gentlemen. 

This parish has been productive of tin from the most 
early periods; and Botallock would have elevated its pro- 
prietors in the scale of wealth, but times and manners had 
changed, so that the last Mr. Ustick of that place having 
spent his estate, and then got it redeemed by a productive 
mine, sold it at last to Admiral Boscawen, to whose grand- 
son the property now belongs. The veins or lodes of tin 



286 ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 

having been wrought within the last fifty years to depths 
unattainable before the introduction of improved steam- 
engines, copper has, in very many instances, been found 
under the tin; and this has occurred at Botallock, where 
situated on the edge of a cliff, the workings with the steam- 
engines, whims, &c. present a spectacle more unique and 
more imposing than any other in Cornwall. 

Further from the shore is Busvargus, the seat of an 
ancient family of the same name, the heiress of which was 
the mother of the Rev. Jonathan Toup, whose eminence as 
a scholar has been noticed under St. Ives. He died with- 
out issue in 1785; and the estate of Busvargus, having 
been settled on the children of his half-sister, is now the 
property of his niece, Mrs. Nicholas of Looe, the present 
representative of the Busvargus family. 

The families of most distinction in latter times, inhabit- 
ants of St. Just, were Allan and M odder n, but both names 
are now extinct. 

The great tithes appertained to the monastery of Glaseney, 
in Penryn. They now belong to Borlase. 

The vicarage is in the presentation of the crown, and was 
held for many years by Doctor William Borlase, the his- 
torian. 

And here perhaps the Editor may be allowed to mention 
the name of one whom he esteemed and admired, although 
his connection with Cornwall was so little permanent as to 
consist only of his serving the curacy of this parish. 

The Reverend John Smyth, Fellow of Pembroke Col- 
lege, Oxford, received his title for deacon's orders from 
Doctor William Borlase, as vicar of St. Just, where he re- 
mained about six or seven years, till Cornwall lost one of 
its greatest ornaments. 

Leaving St. Just, after Doctor Borlase's decease, he be- 
came the friend and assistant of the Reverend Sir Richard 
Kaye, Dean of Lincoln, and through his recommendation 
made the tour of Europe with Mr. Langley, a gentleman of 
Yorkshire. He then went back to College, and on a vacancy 



ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 287 

became tutor, and succeeded to the Headship; return* 
ing from a visit to Penzance, in 1809? he died in conse- 
quence of some local complaint at Exeter, where a monu- 
ment has been placed to his memory in the Cathedral 
Church, with the following inscription : 
Juxta conditur 
Joannes Smyth, S. T. P. 
Magister Collegii Pembrochiae 
apud Oxonienses, 
Qui Academiam remeans, hac in Urbe, 
vi morbi grassantis, cito abreptus est, 
die 19 Octobris, A.D. 1809, aetatis suss 66. 
Grata recordatione ejus in Collegiam beneficentiae, 
in amicos comitatis et benevolentiae, 
imo in omnes QikavOpuyirias, 
hoc marmor posuere 
Successor ejus et Socii. 
There is also a cenotaph in the Cathedral at Gloucester, 
a prebend of which church is annexed to the mastership of 
Pembroke College, by the liberality of Queen Anne. 

Few men were ever more universally esteemed, or were 
more deserving of being so. His abilities and learning 
commanded respect; kindness, generosity, and benevolence 
endeared him to every friend ; whilst good nature and con- 
vivial manners made him the favorite of each casual ac- 
quaintance. 

To him the Editor is indebted for his good fortune in 
being himself a member of Pembroke College. 

The parish feast is celebrated on the Sunday nearest to 
All Saints, November the first ; but the church is known 
to claim for its patron St. Just, the companion of St. Aus- 
tin, Bishop of Rochester, and afterwards Archbishop of 
Canterbury. Little is handed down to posterity of St. 
Just, but that little is entirely to his praise ; at the com- 
mand of Pope Gregory the Great, he undertook the 
perilous but successful service of converting the Eng- 
lish Saxons ; he attained the highest ecclesiastical dignity 
from the suffrages of those who had been brought by the 



288 ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 

labours of St. Austin and of his followers, within the pale of 
the church ; and he obtained deserved commendation from 
Pope Boniface, either the third or fourth, who with one 
intermediate Pope, were the successors of St Gregory, 
when the apostolic confirmation of his appointment to the 
metropolitan see was given, and himself honoured by the 
investure of a pall. He is stated in the Rubrics to have 
died on the 10th of November in the year 627. 

Nothing seems to be more obvious, or to be more con- 
genial to the human mind, than an annual celebration of 
particular events. Nature has completed in twelve months 
the most distinctly marked of her cycles. The seasons 
are renewed in the same order ; and, if experience did not 
soon convince us of the contrary, we might be induced to 
think that our own existence in this world was destined to 
tread the same perpetual round. 

Birth-days appear to have been celebrated in honour of 
living persons from times the most remote, either by nations, 
provinces, or private families, in proportion as their claims 
to attention were more or less wide. After the decease of 
those who have been supposed to confer benefits on man- 
kind, " Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo," and 
more especially of those to whom nations owed their spi- 
ritual light and hopes, the days of such persons leaving this 
scene of trial, of sorrow, of anxiety, and of disappoint* 
ment, to obtain their reward in Heaven, became epochs 
for uniting religious observance with joy and gladness. 
Churches were, therefore, dedicated to their memories and 
festivals instituted ; but in England at least this instinctive 
propensity received the aid of a policy similar to that which, 
in still earlier periods, had fixed the Christian festivals on the 
very days previously occupied by the celebration of ancient 
superstition. Bede has preserved the following letter from 
Pope Gregory to St. MeHitus, who led a second band of 
missionaries into England, after the successful preaching of 
St. Austin, and became the first Bishop of London, where he 
is said to have founded the two Cathedrals, and finally to 
have attained the Archbishopric of Canterbury. 



ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 289 

Histories Ecclesiasticae Gentis Anglorum Libri Quinque, 
autore Sanctx> et venerabili Baeda. Lib. 2, ch. 30. 

Exemplar Epistolae quam Mellito Abbati Britanniam 
pergenti misit Sanctus Gregorius. 

Abeuntaibus autem prsefatis legatariis misit post eos 
beatus Pater Gregorius litteras memoratu dignas, in qui- 
bus aperte quam studiose erga salvationem nostras gentis 
invigilaverit ostendit, ita scribens: 

Dilectissirao filio Mellito Abbati Gregorius Servus 
Servorum Dei. 

Post discessum congregationis nostrae, quae tecum est, 
valde sumus suspensi redditi, quia nihil de prosperitate ves- 
tri itineris audisse nos contigit. Cum ergo Deus Omni- 
potens vos ad reverendissimum virum, Fratrem nostrum 
Augustimim Episcopum perduxerit, dicite ei quod diu 
mecum de causa Anglorum cogitans tractavi ; videlicet quia 
Fana Idolorum destrui in eadem gente minime debeant, sed 
ipsa quae in eis sunt Idola destruantur; Aqua benedicta 
fiat; in eisdem Fanis aspergatur; Altaria construantur; 
Reliquiae ponantur, quia, si Fana eadem bene constructa 
sunt, necesse est ut a cultu Daemon um in obsequio Veri 
Dei debeant commutari, ut dum gens ipsa eadem Fana 
sua non videt destrui, de corde errorem deponat, et Deum 
Verum cognoscens ac adorans, ad loca quae consuevit 
familiarius concurrat. Et quia boves solent in sacrificio 
Dcemonum muttos occidere, debet eis etiam, hac de re, aliqua 
sollemnitas immutari; ut Die Dedicationis, vel Natilitii 
sanctorum Martyrum, quorum illic Reliquice ponuntur, Ta» 
bernacula sibi, circa easdem Ecclesias, qua ex Fanis commu- 
tcUcB sunt, de ramis arborumfaciant 9 et Religiosis convivis 
sellemnitatem celebrant. Nee Diabolo jam animalia immo- 
lent ; et, ad laudem Dei, in esu suo animalia occidant, et 
Donatori omnium de satietate sua gratias referant ; ut dum 
eis aliqua exterius gaudia reservantur, ad interiora gaudia 
eonsentire faciliiis valeant. Nam duris mentibus simul 
omnia abscindere impossibile esse non dubium est ; quia et is 
qui summum locum ascendere nititur gradibus vel passibus, 

VOL. II. u 



290 ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 

non autem saltibus elevatur; sic Israelitico populo in 
JEgypto Dominus re quidem innotuit ; sed tamen eis sacri- 
ficiorum usus, quae D abolo solebat exhibere, in cultu pro- 
prio reservavit, et eis in suo sacrificio animalia immolare 
praeciperet, quatenus cor mutantes, aliud de sacrificio arait- 
terent, aliud retinerent ; ut etsi ipsa assent animalia quae 
efierare consueverant, vero tamen Deo haec et non Idolis 
immolantes jam sacrificia ipsa non essent. 

Haec igitur dilectionem tuam praedicto Fratri necesse 
est dicere, ut ipse in praesenti illic positus perpendet, qua- 
liter omnia debeat dispensare. 

Deus te incolumem custodiat, dilectissime Fili ! Data die 
decima quinta kalendarum Juliarum, imperante Domino 
nostro Mauricio Tiberio piissimo Augusto, anno decimo 
novo; post consulatum ejusdem Domini anno decimo 
octavo; Indictione quarta. A. D. 601. 

It may be presumed that the Jesuit missionaries to China 
and to Paraguay were not unacquainted with this letter 
from the Pope. 

St. Just in Penwith measures 6,984 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 7776 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 817 8 

Population - i iD 1801 > I in 1811 > I in 1821 > I in 1831 > 
ropuiation, ^ 2Tr9 | 305T j 3666 | 4667 

giving an increase of 68 per cent in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. John Buller, presented by the 
Lord Chancellor in 1825. 

This parish is called St. Juest as a distinction from the 
name of the parish in Roseland pronounced St. Jeast. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOA8E. 

This parish, with the exception of a narrow band of slate 
which skirts the coast from Pendeen Cove to Cape Corn- 
wall, is situated entirely on granite. It has been long cele- 
brated for its mines, which generally are placed on or near 



ST. JUST, NEAR PENZANCE. 291 

to the junction of the granite and the slate ; and in conse- 
quence of the narrow limits of the latter rock, their work- 
ings often extend under the sea. Botallack mine is a noted 
instance of this description ; and its steam engine and ma- 
chinery, perched on the side of a steep rocky cliff, present 
one of the most picturesque objects in the country. St. 
Just has afforded specimens of by far the greater number 
of British minerals. Its slate has a basis of compact fel- 
spar, and exhibits many interesting varieties of this rode ; 
but the most rare is that which abounds with disseminated 
garnets at Botallack. The principal lodes of this parish 
exhibit some peculiarities in their direction, and the little 
coves are generally covered with beds of diluvium, some of 
which are composed of large granitic pebbles and boulders, 
which appear to have once formed a beach, although at 
present they are elevated above high-water mark. St. Just 
abounds with so many interesting objects as to make it im- 
possible to enumerate them in these short notices. Ample 
details may be found of all these productions in the Trans- 
actions of the Geological Society of Cornwall. 



ST. KEYNE. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of West, and hath upon the 
east Leskeard and the Loo river, south Dulo, west Lanreth, 
north St. Pynnock ; at the time of the Norman Conquest 
this district passed under the jurisdiction of Leskeard, and 
so in the Domesday Tax as part thereof. In the Inquisi- 
tion into the value of Cornish benefices made by the 
Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, ecclesia de 
Kayne in decanatu de Westwellshire was rated xx/. In 
WcJsey's Inquisition, 1521, hi. 18*. 6d. The patronage 
in ; the Incumbent Doweringe; and the parish 

u2 



292 ST. KEYNE. 

rated to the \s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 53/. 16s. by 
the name of St. Kain. 

The presidual guardian of this church is one of those two 
holy women mentioned by writers as famous for their piety 
and supernatural facts ; the one of the British blood, the 
other of Saxon race. That of the British is St. Kayne* 
daughter of Braghan, king and builder of the town of 
Brecknock in Wales, who flourished about the year 500 ; 
the which King Braghan had issue also twenty-three other 
daughters, all for the like reasons aforesaid entered into the 
catalogue or calendar of saints ; and also two sons, St. Ca- 
nock and St Caddock, to whose honour and memory a 
chapel in Padstow parish was erected; and still, though 
disused from divine service, bearing his name. The other 
St. Kayne was born about the seventh century, upon the 
river Avon in Somersetshire, at a place which after her 
decease sprung up a town, still flourishing in fame and 
wealth, from her denominated Kainsham, i. e. Kain's house, 
home, habitation, or dwelling. She is famous amongst 
agonal writers for miracle working, particularly for turn- 
ing serpents into stones wheresoever she saw them, so that 
they had not power either to hurt man or beast ; a woman 
very much wanted now in Cornwall, where adders or ser- 
pents abound to the great hurt of man and beast. 

She is also highly praised by John Capgrave in his 
book of the English Saints, for her purity, piety, and 
chastity. 

To one of these two women is also dedicated the vicar- 
age church of Cainham, in Holderness hundred in York ; 
as also Caynham vicarage church in Ludlow hundred in 
Salop. 

In this parish at lived some of the Coplestons 

of Colbrook in Devon, as I take it ; which place descended 
to them by some of the heirs of Flemmen, Berkley, Tur- 
vey, Courtney, Bonvill, Pawlet, Chichester, Bridges, Graas, 
Hawley, Huish, Wiedbury, Fitzwalter, or some others, 
which they married with successively; and thereby obtained 



ST. KEYNE. 293 

such a mighty estate in Cornwall and Devon that* they were 
generally distinguished by the name of the " great Cople- 
stons." But, alas ! maugre all their great riches and wealth, 
the last John Great Coplestone, tempore Elizabeth, for kil- 
ling his natural son and godson in discontent, was indicted at 
the assizes at Exeter, tried and found guilty of wilful mur- 
der, and sentenced to death for the same ; and lay in gaol 
till he sold thirteen manors of land in Cornwall to obtain 
a reprieve or pardon ; and left of legal issue only one son, 
named John, who had issue only two daughters that became 
his heirs ; married to Bamphield and Elford, in whom the 
estate, name, and blood of those Coplestons is terminated, 
who gave for their arms, Argent, a chevron Gules, be- 
tween three leopards' faces Azure. These gentlemen were 
hereditary esquires of the white spur, who, together with 
the Champernowns and the Carmenows, possessed and en- 
joyed the profits of their private estates in Devon and Corn- 
wall, to that great degree, in former ages, that the like great 
riches was not then to be found in any other family for 
value in those counties, though now I know not of any 
lands in Cornwall remaining in those tribes, or any of those 
names now extant there. 

TONKIN. 

Camden, in Somersetshire, mentions Keine as a devout 
British Virgin, whom many of the last age, through an 
over credulous temper, believed to have changed serpents 
into stones, because they find sometimes in quarries some 
such little miracles of sporting nature. She is said to have 
been born on the banks of the river Avon in that county, 
at the place where after her decease sprung up a town, from 
her denominated Keynesham. She is famous among the 
agonal writers for her purity, piety, and charity, as also for 
many miracles, particularly for turning serpents into stones. 

There was one other St. Keyne famous among the Bri- 
tains of Wales, daughter to Brechanus, King, and namer 



294 ST. KEYNE. 

of Brecknock Town. He had twenty-four daughters and 
two sons, all Saints. 

It is possible, however, that both these St. Keynes may 
be one and the same. 



THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Lysous says, that the ancient name of this parish 
was Lametton, and that the manor still exists. 

This manor he further states was the property of Sir 
Robert Tresilian, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 
attainted in the reign of King Richard the Second, by 
whom this portion of his property was bestowed on John 
Hawley, of Dartmouth, supposed to have married a daugh- 
ter of the Chief Justice. His daughter and heiress brought 
it to the Coplestones. 

In the reign of James the First it belonged to the Har- 
risons of Mount Radford in Devonshire, and from them it 
passed by marriage to the Rashleighs. 

Mr. William Rashleigh, of Menabilly, is now the pro- 
prietor of the whole or nearly the whole of this parish, 
and in it of the celebrated well, which Mr. Carew notices 
in the following manner, p. 305, Lord Dunstanville's edit. 

" Next I will relate to you another of the Cornish na- 
tural wonders, viz. Saint Keyne's Well ; but lest you make 
wonder, first at the Saint before you notice the well, you 
must understand that this was not Kayne the ManqueUer, 
but one of a gentler spirit and milder sex, to wit, a woman. 
He who caused the spring to be pictured added this 
rhyme for an explanation : 

In name, in shape, in quality, 

This Well is very quaint; 
The name to lot of Kayne befell, 

No over holy Saint. 



ST. KEYNE. 295 

The shape, four trees of divers kind, 

Withy, oak, elm, and ash, 
Make with their roots an arched roof, 

Whose floor this spring doth wash. 

The quality, that man or wife, 

Whose chance or choice attains, 
First of this sacred stream to drink, 

Thereby the mastery gains. 

Mr. Tonkin quotes this passage from Carew, and adds : 

" Did it retain this wondrous quality, as it does to this 
day the shape, I believe there would be to it a greater 
resort of both sexes than either to Bath or Tunbridge; for 
who would not be fond of attaining this longed-for sove- 
reignty?" And Mr. Tonkin adds further, "since the 
writing of this the trees were blown down by a violent 
storm ; and in their place Mr. Rashleigh, in whose land 
it is, has planted two oaks, an ash, and an elm, which thrive 
very well ; but the wonderful arch is destroyed." 

For a most interesting account of St. Keyne's Well, and 
of all that portion of Cornwall, the reader is referred to 
Mr. Bond's " Topographical and Historical Sketches of 
East and West Looe, and of the Neighbourhood," 1 vol. 
8vo. 1823, printed by John Nichols and Son, No. 25, Par- 
liament Street, Westminster. 

Mr. Bond says that the trees were blown down by the 
great storm of November 1703, and that Mr. Philip Rash- 
leigh, who succeeded his father in the property about that 
time, planted soon afterwards the trees which have now 
acquired their full growth, and probably equalled those 
which stood there before them. 

Mr. Bond has also printed the beautiful as well as hu- 
morous lines composed by Mr. Southey, and referred to 
other verses on the same subject in the Gentleman's Ma- 
gazine for June 1822, vol. xcii. i. p. 526. 

Mr. Southey's lines cannot be too frequently reprinted. 



296 ST. KEYNE. 

SAINT KEYNE'S WELL. 

By Robert Southey. 

(From Carew's History of Cornwall. J 

A well there is in the West Country, 
And a clearer one never was seen ; 

There is not a Wife in the West Country, 
But has heard of the Well of St. Keyne. 

An oak and an elm tree stand behind, 
And beside does an ash-tree grow ; 

And a willow, from the bank above, 
Droops to the water below. 

A traveler caine to the Well of St. Keyne ; 

Pleasant it was to his eye, 
For from cock-crowing he had travelling been, 

And there was not a cloud in the sky. 

He drank of the water so cool and clear, 

For thirsty and hot was he ; 
And he sat down upon a bank 

All under the willow tree. 

There came a man from the neighbouring town, 

At the Well to fill his pail; 
So on the well side he rested it, 

And bade the stranger hail. 

" Now art thou a bachelor, stranger ?" quoth he, 

" For if thou hast a wife, 
The happiest draught thou hast drank to-day 

That ever thou didst in thy life. 

" Or has your good woman, if one you have, 

In Cornwall ever been ? 
For, and if she have, I '11 venture my life 

She has drank of the Well of St. Keyne." 



ST. KEYNE. 297 

" I left a good woman who never was here," 

The stranger he made reply, 
" But that my draught should be better for that, 

I pray you answer me why." 

" St. Keyne," quoth the countryman, " many a time 

Drank of this crystal Well ; 
And before the angel summon'd her hence, 

She laid on the water a spell : — 

" If the husband of this gifted Well 

Shall drink before his wife 
A happy man thenceforth is he, 

For he shall be master for life. 

" But if the wife should drink of it first, 

God help the husband then ! " 

The stranger stoopt to the Well of St Keyne, 

And he drank of the water again ! ! 

" You drank of the Well, I warrant, betime? n 

He to the countryman said : 
But the countryman smiled, as the stranger spoke, 

And sheepishly shook his head. 

" I hasten'd, as soon as the wedding was done, 

And left my wife in the porch ; 
But i' faith ! she had been wiser than me, — 

For she took a bottle to church." 

It is almost unnecessary to observe, that the stones said 
to originate from serpents petrified at the intercession of 
St. Keyne or St. Kenna, and supposed by Mr. Tonkin, ac- 
cording to the philosophy of his day, to be Lusus Natura, 
are the shells of extinct Nautili, called Coroua Ammonis, 
from their resemblance to the horns sculptured on the 
statues of Jupiter Ammon, found in abundance throughout 
the neighbourhood of Kainsbam, and in most of the for- 
mations intermediate between the iron sand and red marie. 

Transforming serpents into stone, seems to have been an 
achievement as appropriate to Saints as was the encounter- 



298 ST. KEYNE. 

ing of dragons to knights errant. St. Hilda cleared her 
favourite Island from these venomous reptiles; and St. 
Patrick, more powerfully gifted, swept them from the whole 
of Ireland at once. 

It was at last observed, with no small degree of wonder, 
that those metamorphosed snakes invariably wanted a head, 
and the times of fabricating legends having passed by, this 
phenomenon never received a solution from the cloister. 

St. Brechan, the British Saint and King, the happy 
father of twenty-six children, all sainted like himself, is 
represented in the second plate of St. Neot*s Church, in 
what is called the Young Women's Window, displaying 
these twenty-six Saints, small in stature, within a fold of 
his kingly robe. 

This parish measures 769 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815, . 1,017 

Poor Rate in 1831, . . . 68 12 

« 1 . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-| 139 f | 1OT '| US I 201 

giving an increase of 44J per cent, in 30 years. 

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This little parish is situated entirely on rocks of the cal- 
careous series, like those of Dulo, one of die adjacent pa- 
rishes. 



KEY, or KEA. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the 
north Kenwyn and Truro, and the sea channel thereof 
south the Vale River and sea, west Feock. As for the mo- 
dern name Keye, it signifies in British a hedge or mound, 



KEA. 299 

against sea or land, as sepes in Latin ; from whence we 
have our English words key or keys, wharfs for exportation 
and importation of goods and merchandize over seas ; no 
improper appellation to the circumstances of this place, 
where are several of that sort. It was taxed in the Domes- 
day Book, 20 William I., 1087, by the name of Landegey, 
(and from thence the manor of Lan-digge in this parish, 
contiguous therewith, and surrounding the same, is deno- 
minated ; now corrupted to Lansagey, alias Keye.) From 
whence it is plainly evident that before the Norman Con- 
quest here was an endowed rectory church that received 
tithes or tenths, of the profits of the earth, predial or 
otherwise, towards the maintenance of the worship and 
service of God, and doubtless invested with that benefit 
by the Bishop of Bodmin or Cornwall, before that was 
united to Kirton and Exeter. 

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Win- 
chester into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, ec- 
clesia de Landigh in decanatu de Powdre was rated 
viii/. vis. viiidf. Vicar ejusdem xxs. In^ the grant of fif- 
teenths, granted by the clergy to the King, the 24th 
Henry VI., 1447, the parish and church of Landege was 
rated £2. 7*., Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 90. In 
Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, Landegge was then rated to- 
gether with Kenwyn, «£16. ; the patronage formerly in the 
Bishop of Cornwall that endowed them, now the Bishop 
of Exeter ; the late incumbent Mitchell, now Borlase ; and 
the parish rated to the 4*. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 
.£171. 8*. 

Nansa-Vallan, in this parish, is the dwelling of Charles 
Boscawen, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, second brother to the 
Bight Honourable Hugh Boscawen, of Tregothnan, Esq. who 
for many years hath retired himself in this place in great 
esteem and respect of all that know him ; doing good to all 
those that, for his counsel, hospitality, friendship, or cha- 
rity, make addresses unto him ; though he hath hitherto 
lived a bachelor's life, and whilst he lives I suppose ever 



300 KEA. 

will, with a kind of abhorrence of women and marriage. 
I take this place either to be part of or the voke lands of 
the manor of Blanchland, i. e. white land, formerly the 
lands of Albalanda, now Boscawen's of Tregothnan, the 
waste lands of which lordship is not only abounding in tin 
and tin mines, but for about twenty years last past hath 
yielded its owner about twenty thousand pounds out of its 
coppermines, though the waste or down lands in which it is 
found, is in many places scarce worth eighteen pence per 
acre. 

Guddarne in this parish, part of Blanchland manor, by 
lease is the dwelling of Reginald Bauden, Gent that mar- 
ried Pendarves, his father Paynter, his grandfather Tre- 
woolla. 

In this place of Guddarne, in my youth, I was showed 
by Mr. Bauden a brass or iron crock, containing about 
eight gallons; wherein, as he said, his father found by 
virtue of a dream of one Hendra, under Key Cross, in a 
tempestuous night of wind, thunder, lightning, and rain, so 
vast a quantity of gold and silver as not only advanced 
him from the rank of rack-renter to that of a freeholder, 
but from the distinction of a plebeian to that of a gentle- 
man. 

Kelleho, Kellyow, Killeyow, synonymous words in this 
parish, id est Hazell Copps, a place it seems heretofore 
notable for those sort of nut trees called hazells, one of 
the sweetest and best sorts of nuts this island affordeth, if 
left to grow full ripe and well saved. This place is the 
dwelling of John Hawes, Esq. that married Sprye, his 
father Vosper, and giveth for his arms, Azure, a fess wavy 
between three lions passant Or. 

Trelogas, in this parish, is the dwelling of Robert White, 
Gent, that married Philips, of Poughill. 

From this family was descended Mr. John White, linen- 
draper in London, who having got much money by trad- 
ing in tin, settled lands of ten pounds per annum beyond 
reprizes for ever, to be divided into four equal parts, be- 



KEA. 301 

tween the poor inhabitants of the four ancient coinage 
towns in Cornwall, viz. Leskeard, Lestwithell, Truro, and 
Helston ; to be distributed by the ministers and church- 
wardens of those churches on St. John's day yearly ; the 
remainder, being forty shillings, to be divided into four 
equal parts between the four ministers of those churches, 
who on that day in their respective churches annually are 
to preach an anniversary sermon in remembrance of him 
for ever, of which elsewhere (see Truro.) 

In this parish of Kea on the open downs, by the high- 
way or street, are situate the four burrows, i. e. the four sepul- 
chres, tumuli, or graves, after the British-Roman manner, 
to put those travellers that passed by in mind of mortality 
and death; one of them is called Burrow Bel-les, i. e. the far 
off, remote, broad or large burrow or sepulchre, (viz. on 
the confines of this parish) and suitable to its other names 
it is one of the broadest or largest burrows in those parts ; 
into which some tinners, temp. William III. in hopes of 
finding money, pierced a hole or adit into the centre 
thereof, where, though they missed their expectations they 
found in the same two of the broadest and flat moor-stones 
as a cover, supported by three perpendicular stones of 
suitable strength or bigness, that they had seen in the ad- 
jacent country. In the vacant space, vault, or arch under 
those stones, they found decayed or broken pieces of the 
urn or ossilegium, and about a gallon of black matter 
and ashes, which doubtless was the gleanings or remains of 
that once famous human creature, before the fifth century 
interred here, with many thousands others, doubtless of 
less degree in the contiguous lands thereof, who had not 
money to raise such troublesome, laborious, and costly fu- 
neral monuments as those four burrows were, and still are. 

Cur-Lyghon in this parish is now transnominated to 
Carlyon ; and here for many descents lived the family from 
thence denominated Curlyghon, who were gentlemen of 
considerable fame, lands, and revenues in those parts, as 
appeared to me from several old Latin deeds, some bear- 



302 KEA. 

ing date 6 Henry V. (see Truro) ; from whence it came 
by marriage, descent, or purchase to Burleigh, and from 
him to Hawes, as I was informed. 



TONKIN. 

I take the name to be a corruption of Cains ; and that St. 
Caius, Pope and kinsman to the Emperor Dioclesian, who 
suffered martyrdom under the said Emperor in 296, is the 
tutelar patron of this church, which is a daughter to Ken- 
wyn, and passes in the same presentation, beiqg valued 
with it in the King's Books at 162. The patronage in the 
Bishop of Exeter. The incumbent Mr. Mitchell, the 
oldest clergyman now living in this county ; who though 
aged, and his churches three miles apart from each other, 
regularly serves them both every Sunday ; he is since dead, 
in 1731, and has been succeeded by the Reverend Walter 
Borlase, LL.D. and vicar of Maddern. 

In this parish lies the extensive manor of Blanchland, 
latinized into Albalonda. This manor gave name to a 
considerable family, in which it continued for many de- 
scents. The last of them, Otho de Albalonda, had only 
one daughter and heir, Johanna, married in his lifetime to 
John Boscawen, of Tregothnon, in the 31st year of Ed- 
ward III. and carried this rich inheritance into chat family; 
in which it hath ever since continued, to their very great 
advantage, having within these fifty years brought them 
more money for copper than almost all the other mines in 
the county together, if the last twenty years are excepted, 
during which time great discoveries have been made in 
various other places. Neither are the wastrels of this 
manor destitute of good mines of tin ; one of which, called 
the White Works, occasioned a law-suit between Mr. 
John Mayo, of Truro, owner of the tin bounds thereon, 
and Mr. Hugh Boscawen, lord of the soil, towards the 
latter end of the reign of Charles the Second. 

Mr. Mayo claimed the farm or toll of the copper-ore, 



KEA. 303 

as well as of the tin, in right of his bounds ; but the suit 
was very justly determined in favour of Mr. Boscawen, 
as Lord of the Soil, for that the right of the tin as bounder 
was only by the custom of the Stannaries, and that no such 
custom could be pleaded for copper ore. 

This one suit put an end to all disputes between the 
lords of the soil and the bounders, which otherwise 
would have been endless, and very much to the discou- 
ragement of copper mines; and there have not been 
wanting some designing people of late, who made applica- 
tion to King George II. then Prince of Wales, falsely re- 
presenting that much tin ore was carried into Wales with 
the copper ore, and there separated from the copper, to his 
great loss of duties. 

Guddern. This place hath been for several generations 
the seat, on lease from the family of Boscawen, of the Bow- 
dens ; perhaps ever since the Albalonda's time, although 
they were possessed of fair estates in fee elsewhere. 
Reginald Bowden, Esq. is the present possessor. 
Nansavallan. Avallan is an apple-tree, and the name 
signifies the valley of apple-trees. This I take to have 
been the chief seat of the Albalondas, as it hath been since 
of some of the Boscawens ; and particularly of late years 
that of Charles Boscawen, Esq. a younger son to Hugh 
Boscawen, -Esq. and sometime Member of Parliament for 
Tregony, and a Justice of the Peace. The arms of Alba- 
londa were, Gules, three bends Argent; Mr. Bowden 's, 
Azure, a chevron between seven griffins' heads couped 
Or, each head transfixed by a dagger, the pommel Or, the 
blade Proper. 

Adjoining to Nansavallan is Kelliou, the groves, this 
name being the plural of Kelli, a grove. It was once the 
seat of a family of the same name, but whether they were 
of the same stock with the Kellios of Lanleke and Rosi- 
line I am yet to learn. By a daughter and heir, this place, 
if I am not mistaken, came to Edward Vivian, Esq, a 
younger son to Vivian of Trenoweth, by whom he had only 



304 KEA. 

one daughter and heir Jane, married to John Howeis, of 
Redruth, whose great-grandson Reginald Howeis, Esq. is 
the present owner of it. He was Sheriff of Cornwall in 
the tenth year of George I. 1724, and hath married Su- 
sanna, the eldest daughter and coheir of Edward Harris, 
Esq. ; and his brother Edward Howeis, Jane her younger 
sister, and both have issue. The family of Howeis, give 
for their arms, Azure, a fess wavy between three lions pas- 
sant Or, armed and langued Gules. 

Trevoster. This place is very pleasantly situated on 
Truro river, facing the town, from which it is but two 
miles distant by water. This was a seat of a younger 
branch of the Trevanion family, for here lived John 
Trevanion, youngest son of John Trevanion, of Carhays, 
Esq. which John Trevanion had by his wife, the daugh- 
ter of Holland, Esq. of Devonshire, a son 
of the same name, who married Marianne, the daughter of 
John Somaster, of Painsford, in Devon, Esq. by whom he 
had three daughters and coheiresses. Mary, married to 
Richard Trefusis, of Trefusis, Esq.; Joan, to William 
Bligh, of Botathon, Esq.; and Alice to Nicholas Bos- 
cawen, of Tregothnan, Esq. 

Since that, Trevoster has been held on lease by one of the 
family of Davies, and now Mr. Howeis, of Killion, has a 
lease of it on lives. 

All these estates before mentioned, I take to be within 
the manor of Blanchland, and I have passed by one place 
in it to the north-west of the Great Works, called Kelly 
freth : this was for several generations the seat, in lease from 
the Boscawens, of the Winters, a younger branch of that 
eminent family in Gloucestershire, and the family remained 
here till very lately, giving for their arms, Sable, a fess 
Ermine. 

I don't know whether it be worth while to take notice 
of a place to the south of it, called Chase Water, which 
being on the great road between Truro and Redruth, and 
very near the Great Works, hath now several nouses built 
in it. 



KEA. 305 

The manor of Key, alias Landegay. 

I take this to be the same with that called by Mr. Carew 
Landegy. I find this parish called Ecclesia de Landigay. 

This manor was forfeited by Francis Tregion, Esq, with 
the rest of his estate, as may be seen in Probus. 

About the 8th or 9th Charles I. this manor was given or 
sold for a small sum by the King to William Coryton, of 
Newton, Esq. in whose family it hath remained ever since. 
On the commons belonging to Guddern is a large barrow 
called Guddern Barrow, near which are several large 
moorstones ; and also at no great distance is another bar- 
row, called Craig Vrause, or the large barrow, remarkable 
for giving name to some good mines of tin and copper 
near it 

THE EDITOR. 

All the legends of this parish concur in claiming for their 
patron Saint Kea, one of the great company of missionaries, 
and as the ludicrous, almost from a species of fatality, ap- 
pears to have blended itself with these ancient tales, a large 
block of granite, hollow on one side, which happened to lie 
near the bank of the river, was for centuries pointed out as 
the boat used by St. Kea to waft himself from Ireland to 
the Cornish shore; and so currently was this story re- 
peated, that, if persons went to sea in a vessel not adequate 
to the service, it was observed they might as well have 
made a voyage with St. Kea in his moorstone trough* 

Mr. Hals having used a strange orthography for Nansa- 
vallan, and given as fanciful a derivation of the word ; both 
are omitted, since Nans or Nance is known to be a vale ; and 
Avallan may be proved to be the Celtic name of an apple, 
by referring to the History of Glastonbury. This seat of 
the Albalandas presented within fifty years one of the most 
venerable specimens in all that neighbourhood of the dwell- 
ings used by gentlemen of consideration in former times. 
It was entirely surrounded and sheltered by large trees, 

VOL. XI. x 



306 KEA. 

and at some little distance stood a wood more extensive 
than any one west of it ; and both were conspicuous and 
pleasing objects from the whole district round Truro; but 
the auri sacri fames has swept away the whole, and the place 
is now become very little preferable to an open down. The 
Editor expresses himself with some feeling on this subject, 
having passed at Nanceavallan many happy weeks of his 
childhood ; and fancied the wood an exact counterpart of 
that in which the favourite objects of infantine compassion 
perished from want of food, and were painfully covered 
over with leaves by the little bird, doubly consecrated by 
this effort of his kindness. 

In the hands of the proprietor, the farm of Nanceavallan 
is however now improving, by extensive drainages, and by 
a system of husbandry, that cannot fail of extending the 
benefit derived from example to all the neighbourhood. 

Killiow is now the seat of Mr. Robert Lovell Gwatkin, 
where he has built an almost entirely new house with ex- 
tensive gardens and plantations, improved the land, and 
made the whole into a handsome modern residence. 

To this gentleman the parish is also mainly indebted for 
a removal of the church. 

Either cultivation began on the banks of the river, or a 
strong feeling of veneration was entertained for the spot 
where St. Kea landed from his granite trough, but so 
it happened that the church stood at one extremity of the 
parish, and that by far the least populous. Mr. Gwatkin 
led the way, and contributed largely towards constructing 
a new church much nearer to the great mass of the inha- 
bitants ; in this he was followed by other proprietors, and 
a spacious church is now in use for divine service between 
Killiow and Nanceavallan. Prayers, with a sermon suited 
to the occasion, were first given, after reading the Bishop's 
license, on the 3d of October 1802, being the feasten Sun- 
day, to a congregation so large as almost to fill the church- 
yard as well as the church itself, which is decorated by 
Mrs. Gwatkin, niece of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with paint- 
ings which that great artist could not have failed to admire. 



KEA. 307 

The tower alone remains to point out the site of the for- 
mer church. 

Mr. Reginald Haweis, mentioned as the possessor of 
Killiow by Hals, received his education as a Gentleman 
Commoner of Exeter College ; but he spent the whole 
of the remainder of his life in retirement. One Oxford 
anecdote he used to relate with peculiar pleasure. It 
seems that he was selected to recite some Latin verses in 
the theatre, commemorating the victory of Blenheim, an 
event without parallel in the modern history of Europe 
till the year 1815. In the verses occurred this apostrophe, 
Quo, Tallarde! ruis? and as Mr. Haweis was actually 
pronouncing these words, the Duke of Marlborough with 
Marshal Tallard entered the theatre, amidst thunders of 
applause. But possibly the entrance of Marshal Tallard 
may be a mistake. 

Mr. Reginald Haweis and his brother Edward, both 
stated to have families, died childless; and the estate de- 
volved on Mr. David Haweis, the grandson of an uncle. 

That uncle had been a beneficed clergyman, but was 
deprived with the two thousand turned out to poverty and 
to suffer persecution (see St. Hilary parish) on St. Bartho- 
lomew's day 1662 ; a day ill chosen by those who might 
recollect what happened on the same festival ninety years 
before. 

This gentleman having a family, and being without sup- 
port, found himself obliged to dispose of them in any way 
to procure their own maintenance, and his eldest son sub- 
mitted to become a barber. His son was apprenticed to 
the same trade; and on him the estate devolved. He mar- 
ried a gentlewoman, Miss Kempe, of Roseland ; but per- 
severing in low habits of intemperance, the peculiar vice 
of that time, he died at an early age, leaving the property 
to his widow for her life, with the remainder to his sisters. 
They were married, and in stations not more elevated than 
his own ; their husbands were ready to pursue a line of 
conduct similar to that which had cut short the 'squire's 
life ; and in consequence, the whole reversionary interests 

x2 



308 KEA. 

were soon dissipated, with the exception of one subdivided 
portion, transmitted by a sister's daughter, who died early 
in life, to her only daughter, Mary Ann Jenkins, of whom 
it may be sufficient to say, that if the whole estate had de- 
volved on her, it would have been in hands worthy of her 
Best ancestors. 

On the banks of the river, directly opposite to Tregoth- 
nan, the magnificent seat of Lord Falmouth, is a farm 
called Trelease, belonging to the Editor; for beauty of 
natural situation and for command of prospect, scarcely in- 
ferior to Tregothnan itself. 

But if ancient romances could be relied on as authori- 
ties, the place most deserving of regard in this parish, or in 
the whole county, after Tintagell Castle, would be Carlian, 
since Thomas of Erceldowne, the celebrated northern 
poet of the twelfth century, universally known by the 
appellation of Thomas the Rhymer, describes Carlian as 
the birth-place of the renowned Sir Tristrem, Knight of 
the Round Table, companion of Arthur and the chief 
hero of chivalry, where all exceed not merely the prowess, 
but whatever the imagination can create in these degene- 
rate times. Yet perhaps the armies and fleets of England 
may say, 

Taccia Argo i Mini, e Uccio Artu che tuoi 
Erranti, che di aogni empion le carte. 

Chase Water is now grown almost into a town. A 
chapel has recently been built there for the accommodation 

of a dense population ; but in such wretched taste as to 
burlesque the worst imitation of Gothic. 

The parish of Kea measures 7382 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 4306 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 1254 7 

„ , . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- | ^ | 2766 j 3U2 '| 3837 

giving an increase of 57 per cent, in 30 years. 

In 1821 and in 1831 the population of Tregavethen is 
subjoined, 66—59. 



KELLINGTON, OR CALLINGTON. 309 

* The present Vicar of Kea is the Rev. George J. Cornish, 
collated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1828. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The southern part of Kea is formed of the same rock as 
the adjoining parish of Feock; the northern part runs 
towards the granite, and is similar to the corresponding 
part of Gwennap; and, like it, has been much explored by 
mines. 

Baldue, the Black Work, about a mile east of Chase 
Water, has produced great quantities of the sulphate of 
zinc, called by the miners Black Jack. 



KELLINGTON, or CALLINGTON. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Eastwellshire, and hath upon 
the north Stoke Clemsland and South Hill, east St Domi- 
nick, south St. Mellin, west St. Eve. 

At the time of the first inquisition into the value of 
Cornish benefices by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winches- 
ter, anno Dom. 1294, this church had no endowment, 
neither was it then consolidated into South Hill ; but be- 
fore Wolsey's inquisition 1521, they were both united, and 
were then valued for revenues at 38/. per annum; the 
patronage in the Duke of Cornwall, who endowed it; the 
incumbent Trelawnye ; the town and parish rated to the 
4*. per pound Land Tax 1696, 120/. 16*. 

This church or chapel town bailiwick is now known by 
the name of the town, manor, and borough of Killiton, 
i. e. chapel town, privileged with the jurisdiction of a 
Court Leet, and sending two Members to sit in the Com- 
mons' House of Parliament, which are chosen by the 
tenants of the said manor that are freeholders; as also by a 



310 KELLINGTON, OR CALLINGTON. 

jury chosen out of them, is elected the Mayor or Portreeve 
that governs the said borough yearly; the arms of which 
are in a field, a wreathed flourish. This borough is also 
privileged with a weekly market on Wednesdays ; and fairs 
yearly on April 28, September 8, and November 1. 

The writ to remove an action at law depending in this 
town Court Leet, as also the precept for electing Members 
of Parliament, must be thus directed : Preposito et Bur- 
gensibus Burgi nostri de Killiton in com. Cornubise salu- 
tem; and for the same purpose, to remove an action at 
law depending in the Hundred Court Baron of this Baili- 
wick, the writ must be thus directed : Senescallo et Ballivo 
Hundredi et Libertatis nostri de Eastwellshire in com- 
itatu Cornubise salutem. 

Near this place is situate Hengiston Downs, the place 
mentioned by Roger Hoveden in his Latin Chronicle, 
which says, that in the year of our Lord 806 a great fleet 
of Danes arrived in West Wales, which some conjecture to 
be Cornwall, not North or South Wales (in all thirteen 
shires) ; especially for that he says, the Welsh joined in 
insurrection with them against Egbright thirteenth King of 
England or the West Saxons, by whom they were all over- 
thrown at a place called, Hengij-ton-bun, i. e. Hengis-ton- 
dun; that is to say, Hengist's fenced, fortified or camp 
town, which some take to be Hengiston Downs aforesaid, 
which place in former ages so abounded with tin that it 
gave occasion to those rhimes, (neither is it at present alto- 
gether destitute thereof) 

Hengiston Downe well ywrought, 

Is worth London towne dear ybought.-— Carew. 

In this town or borough of Killington, for retirement 
and delight, lived Sir Edward Bray, Knight, originally 
descended, as tradition says, from the Bf ays of Bray, in St. 
Just in Cornwall, that came into England with William 
the Conqueror, otherwise from Ralph de Bray, Sheriff of 
Hampshire, third of King John. 



KELLINGTON, OR CALLINGTON. 311 

The Bray's arms were, in a field Argent, a chevron 
between three eagles' legs erased at the knees Sable. He 
gave also in a field Varry Purple and Argent, three bend- 
lets Gules. 

Sir Reginald Bray, Knight Banneret and of the Gar- 
ter, Privy Councillor to King Henry VII. and Speaker of 
the House of Commons in his eleventh year, is noted to 
have made the usual protestation for himself to that King, 
without any petition for the liberty of the Commons, as 
is to be seen in modus tenendi Parliamentum : he was a 
brother of the Lord Bray, or descended from the same 
family. (See Camden in Hampshire.) Others will not 
allow those Brays to be of British, but of French de- 
scent, from the province of Bray in that country, and that 
they came into England with the Conqueror, and that the 
many places in Cornwall distinguished by the name of Bray 
were denominated from them after their coming into Eng- 
land : but of this query. 

A Knight Banneret was made in the field or camp 
of war, under the King's standard, who was per- 
sonally present, by cutting off the point of his standard, 
and making it a banner ; after which they might display 
their particular arms in a banner in the King's army, and 
take place of Knights Bachelors. 

TONKIN. 

As for the name of this parish, which is a daughter 
church to South Hill, and has for its patron saint St. Ni- 
cholas, Bishop of Myra in Lycia, I take it to be Killy- 
Ton, the town in a grove of trees. 

Then follows a long conjectural account of the lords 
of this manor, which is wholly uninteresting, and there- 
fore omitted. 



312 KELLINGTONj OR CALLINGTON. 



THE EDITOR. 

Mr. Tonkin does not state on what authority he has 
assigned the town and parish to the care of St. Nicholas. 
The popularity of this saint is now, and always has been, 
so great as to render the fact of his being the patron very 
probable. He is held in the highest veneration throughout 
Russia* 

St. Nicholas ran through the ordinary course of those 
days. He became a monk, succeeded to the abbacy of his 
convent ; and when the clergy of Myra assembled to elect 
a Bishop, and almost agreed in their choice, they were 
divinely instructed to wait till the next day, and then to 
choose the person who first offered himself to their notice, 
on their opening the church-door. They obeyed ; and in 
the morning St. Nicholas was led to the spot by an irre- 
sistible impulse. He assisted in overthowing the Arians, 
under the direction of Constantine, at the Council of Nice. 
All these, however, were matters of frequent occurrence. 
The fame of St. Nicholas rests on something more unusual; 
and if the tale is of a date sufficiently early, it may have 
been the cause of his subsequent advancement, and of his 
having obtained an influence so great as to effect the change 
of his simple bishoprick into a metropolitan see, with 
thirty-six suffragans. 

So very early was the prcecox ingenvum of this saint di- 
rected towards observances, then deemed most acceptable 
to the Divinity, that when an infant in arms he rigidly ab- 
stained, every Wednesday and Friday, and on all other 
days kept as fasts by the church, from touching his nurse's 
breast; for this truly wonderful ascetic achievement he has 
been deservedly accounted the peculiar patron of children, 
and more especially the preserver of their health. 

He died in 342, and was buried in the Cathedral at 
Myra; but in the year 1087 his relics were forcibly taken 
from a country no longer Christian, and were enshrined 



KELLINGTON, OR CALLINGTON. 313 

in the Cathedral of St. Stephen at Bavi in Italy, where 
pilgrims have ever since resorted in great numbers to wit- 
ness or to experience miraculous cures effected by his in- 
tercession with Almighty God. 

His festival is kept on the 6th of December, and on this 
day the ludicrous or profane ceremony of the Boy Bishop 
used to be exhibited in most Cathedrals. At Salisbury a 
boy is represented on a monument, dressed in the habit of 
a bishop including the mitre; and this is said to have been 
occasioned by the lad dying in his mock pontificate. 

Mr. Lysons states, that the manor of Callington has 
passed through various families, Ferrers, Champernowne, 
Willoughby, Dennis, and Rolle. 

The heiress of Samuel Rolle brought it to Robert 
Walpole, Earl of Orford, son of Sir Robert Walpole; 
and on the death of his son George Walpole in 1791, 
sine prole, this property passed to Mr. Robert George 
William Trefusis, of Trefusis in Cornwall, together with 
the barony of Clinton, created by writ of summons to Par- 
liament in the reign of Edward the First. 

George Walpole, Earl of Orford, executed a deed 
by which, after reserving a life interest to himself, and a 
power of revocation never acted on, he settled the re- 
mainder in fee of all such property as came to him from 
his maternal relations, on the right heir of Samuel Rolle, 
son of Robert Rolle and Arabella Clinton, his ancestor, 
from whom the Barony had descended ; but his legal ad- 
viser forgot a most important distinction between deeds 
and wills; a will not coming into action till after the tes- 
tator's death, when Mr. Trefusis would have been the 
undoubted heir of Samuel Rolle; but the deed, being 
effective from the instant of its execution, vested the 
remainder in Mr. George Walpole himself, the then 
heir of Samuel Rolle; and on his decease carried the 
property which had vested in him by act of law, although 
in direct opposition to his wishes and intention, from the 



314 KELLINGTON, OK CALLINGTON. 

maternal line to that of his father. Fortunately, however, 
in this instance, the whole was under mortgage, which 
brought the cognizance of the affair into Chancery. Mr. 
Trefusis took possession unopposed; and proceedings 
to obtain the property in consequence of the mistake, 
were not commenced till after twenty years, when a solemn 
decision of the House of Lords declared that the inter- 
ference came too late for disturbing matters in equity. 

It is obvious that Mr. George Walpole should have set- 
tled the remainder in fee on such person as would be the 
heir of Samuel Rolle after his own decease, or perhaps in 
trustees for such person. Mr. Trefusis (Lord Clinton) 
has since disposed of the Callington property to Mr. Alex- 
ander Baring. 

This town or village received a Tudor charter in the 
27th year of Queen Elizabeth, and continued to fulfil 
the duties, for which the corporation was instituted, till 
1832, when the privilege of sending Members to Parlia- 
ment ceased to exist 

Callington parish measures 2387 statute acres. 

Value of the Real Property, as returned £. s. d, 
to Parliament in 1815 . . . 4142 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 950 17 

■d , . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,— | 819 | 938 | 1321 | 1388 > 

giving an increase of 69 per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The north-eastern part of this parish extends to the foot 
of Kitt Hill, the most elevated point in Hingston Down, 
which is composed of granite. The slate adjoining thereto 
resembles that which occurs in similar situations in the 
parishes of St. Austell and St. Blazey ; and it has also 
been the scene of mining speculations. As the town of 
Callington is approached, the slate becomes of a darker 



KENWYN. 315 

blue, and passes into hornblende rock, which prevails in 
the other parts of this parish ; but where quartz predomi- 
nates, the land is barren. This rock, however, does not 
possess here a very marked character, nor is it frequently 
exposed to view ; near St. Eve it appears to graduate into 
the calcareous series. 



KENWYN. 

HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon 
the north Peran Sabulo, and St. Allen, east St Clement's, 
south Truro, west Kea. 

In the Domesday tax 20 William I. 1087, this district 
was rated under the jurisdiction of Edles. In the Inquisi- 
tion of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the 
value of Cornish benefices, 1294, there is no such church as 
Kenwen named then in the hundred of Powdre; if it were 
then extant, at that time it had no endowment ; however, I 
find in the 15th granted by the Clergy, the 24th Henry VI. 
1447, the parish of Kenwen in Powdre was rated 2/. 19*. ; 
in Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, Landegge or Keyewis con- 
solidated into Kenwen (the elder church into the younger) 
and rated as aforesaid 16/. The patronage in the Bishop 
of Exon, who endowed them ; the incumbent Mitchell, and 
the parish of Kenwen rated to the 4*. per pound Land 
Tax 1696, 196/. 14*. 6d. 

Near Edles, or Ideless, i. e. narrow breadth (formerly 
the voke lands of a considerable manor, taxed in Domes- 
day Book as aforesaid, privileged then with the jurisdic- 
tion of a Court Leet) is yet to be seen the ruins and down- 
falls of St. Clare's consecrated and walled well ; chapelwise 
built, by the Nuns of the nunnery-house of Poor Clares in 
Trurow, called An-hell, i. e. the hall ; but yet, alas ! as tra- 



316 KENWYN. 

dirion saith, they were not so poor as their rule obligeth 
tfiem to be, for in the walls of this well they had deposited 
or hid away considerable sums of money, which, by tradi- 
tion or some dream, was discovered tempore James II. to 
some of the inhabitants of this parish, who one night pulled 
down the walls and totally defaced this chapel-well in quest 
thereof, and probably succeeded in their design and under- 
taking, for soon after some poor labourers in agriculture 
became rich farmers and landed men, and others. From 
this place was denominated a family of gentlemen, surnamed 
de Idless, whose heir was married to Hamley, tempore 
Edward III. 

Trega-veth-an, in this parish, the grave town or dwell- 
ing, so called from the cemetery and free chapel yet extant 
hei*e, of public use before the church of Kenwen was 
erected; which barton and manor for several descents was 
the lands of a Welch family of gentlemen surnamed de 
Langhairons ; i. e. holy or sacred laws ; till the latter end 
of the reign of King Charles II. when Mr. Langhairne 
sold this barton to Walter Vincent, Esq., barrister at law, 
and the manor to Mr. Bawden and others. The arms of 
Langhairne were Azure, a chevron between three escallops 
Or. 

Chyn-coos in this parish, i. e. the wood-house, formerly 
surrounded with woods, is the dwelling of Thomas Hawes, 
Gent., that married Hawes of Kea, and Paynter; and 
giveth the same arms as the Hawses of Kea. 

TONKIN. 

The manor of Tregavethan. 

This signifies the dwelling in the meadows, vethen being 
the same with bither, a meadow; and whoever sees the 
place will be soon convinced of the truth of this etymology. 

Tregedick was lord of the manor and sometimes dwelt 
here, but having only one daughter and heir, the barton 
passed with her to — Langhairne, Esq., but the father having 



KENWYN. 317 

reserved the manor, he in consequence of some difference 
sold it. The Langhairnes, however, continued to reside on 
the barton in much esteem till the great Civil Wars, in 
which this family suffered so much as to be compelled to 
sell it ; and it came at last into the possession of Henry 
Vincent, Gent., of Tresinsple, who let out the barton in 
leases to several tenants, so that it is now become a village, 
and little of the mansion or house left standing. 

To the west of Tregavethan, or the high town, on the 
confines between this parish and those of St. Agnes and 
Perran in the Sands, are three great barrows, called the 
Three Barrows; and about a mile to the westward of these 
on very high ground are four barrows, one belonging to 
this manor and the other three to Lambourn in Perran. 
These barrows give name to the downs, and the great road 
from London to the Land's End passes between them. They 
were doubtless the burying places of some principal com- 
manders, and probably Danes. To the left of Tregavethan 
and within the manor, is Roseworth, the Green Valley. 
This was once a seat of the family of Cosens; and here 
lived Nicholas Cosens, Esq. who was Sheriff of Cornwall in 
the year 1660. He dying without issue left it to his 
widow, and after his death it became the property of 
Samuel Enys, Esq. by purchase. 

THE EDITOR. 

Kenwyn may be said to include the old part of Truro, 
which occupies the mere extremity of a point or tongue of 
land stretching from this parish and enclosed between two 
rivers. The land immediately round the town is fertile, in 
a high state of cultivation, and decorated by trees and vil- 
las ; but towards the Four Barrow Down and Chasewater, 
nothing can be more desolate than the barren commons 
studded with heaps of rubbish from deserted mines. 

In this parish are situate two of the earliest establish- 
ments for smelting tin by means of coal, and on the largest 
scale of any in the county, Calenick and Cavedras ; but 



318 KENWYN. 

of late years this business has taken an entirely new cha- 
racter; tin ores are sold, like those of copper, by public 
tender or ticketings, and smelting houses are constructed 
in some cases for the use of particular mines. 

The manor of Newham formed part of the Bodregan 
property, and after the despoiling of Sir Henry Bodregan 
by King Henry VII. it was given to Trevanion, of whom 
it was purchased by the late Mr. Ralph Allen Daniell, 
sometime member for West Looe, by whom a handsome 
house has been built on the side of the river, half a mile 
below Truro ; Bosvigo is also a gentleman's seat. 

And at Comprigney, near Bosvigo, the Editor appre- 
hends that several ancestors in succession of General Sir 
Hussey Vivian resided. Kenwyn church and tower, with 
an excellent glebe house adjacent, built about the year 
1780, are very conspicuous objects, and command themselves 
a fine view of the town and river. The church is provided 
with a set of bells said to surpass all others in the country; 
and to have been placed there when ringing was a favourite 
amusement with the neighbouring gentlemen. 

This parish measures 8,094 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 13,296 

Poor Rate in 1831 2133 1 

„ - . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-| 40n | 50(M) '| 6221 >| g492 ' 

giving an increase of 111 per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This large parish does not appear to offer anything 
peculiar in its geology, as Doctor Boase merely remarks 
that Kenwyn lies entirely on slate, which is of the same 
nature as that of St Allen and St. Clement's. 



ST. KEVERNE. 319 



ST. KEVERNE. 

HALS. 

Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the 
north St. Martin's, east St. Anthony, west Ruan Minor, 
south the British Channel. As for the modern name, 
whether it be derived from the Saxon gejropon, jejupan, 
geuopan, i.e. Geferon, Geforan, Geuoran, synonymous words, 
signifying a fraternity, seers, equals, fellows, inspectors, 
with reference to the six, eight, or twelve men of this 
parish, who as a body politic, corporation, or fraternity, 
govern the same in joint or equal manner ; or from the 
British Keveren, as schism, separation or division in 
church matters or religion (see Lhuyd upon Schisma) ; or 
from Kieran, a famous Bishop amongst the Britons about 
the fifth century, who perhaps was born in this place, and 
is the tutelar guardian and patron of this Church ; and to 
him also is dedicated St. Kieran rectory, in decanatu 
Christianitatis in Exeter : of which every man may think 
as he please. 

In the Inquisition made into the value of Cornish Bene- 
fices by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, 
ecclesia Sancti Kierani, in decanatu de Kerryer, xxii/. 
viii*. iiiW. Vicar ejusdem iiii/. vi*. viiirf. In Wolsey's 
Inquisition, 1521, 18/. 11*. 4rf. The patronage in Bulteel; 
the Incumbent Gerry; the Rectory in possession of Heale; 
and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 
by the name of St. Keverne, 310/. 16s. 4rf. 

Part of this new parish of St. Keverne, at the time of the 
Norman Conquest, was rated in the Domesday Book, 1087, 
under the jurisdiction of Treleage (i. e. Physician or Sur- 
geon's Town, or the Law Town) ; it is now the possession 
of Robert Buggin, Esq. (id est, Bacon) who married Pru- 



320 ST. KEVERNE. 

dence, daughter of John Arundell of Trethall, Esq. ; his 
father, Jane, the daughter of Sir Francis Vyvyan, Knight, 
a younger branch of Gatcomb House in Devon, originally 
descended from Zacharias Boggan, Gent., Mayor of Tot- 
ness, A.D. 1550, whose ancestors were merchants of that 
town, and gave for their arms, Sable, a cocatrice displayed 
Argent, membered and taloned Gules. 

Note further, that as ker, kerr, kyr, kir, signifies dear, 
beloved, choicely aifectioned, in British, Cornish, and the 
Armorick languages, answerable to dilectus in Latin; so 
from thence proceeds Kerryer, a lover, or one dearly 
aifectioned. See Floyd upon dilectus. 

Tre-land in this parish (either the temple town, or a 
town notable for land) was another district or manor, taxed 
in Domesday Roll ; and I take it, there are yet extant two 
tenements here called Tre-land Vear, and Tre-land Vean ; 
i. e. the greater and less Tre-lands. One of those places, 
as I am informed, is the dwelling of John Hayme, Gent. 
(Saxon, i. e. a house, home, or covering; see also Verstegan 
upon this word) that married Tregose ; his father Boggans. 

In this parish is situate Condura and Tregarne, manors 
formerly pertaining to Condura, Earl of Cornwall. 

Lanareh, also Lan-arth, in this parish is the dwelling of 
Sampson Sanns, Gent., that married Cood, which tene- 
ment or barton was formerly the lands of Kensham, who 
sold it to the present possessors. 

This Mr. Sanns died without legal issue about the year 
1696, and left his estate to his brother's son, John Sanns, 
that married Hamley of St. Neot, now in possession thereof, 
who in the month of January, in the afternoon, in the year 
1702, with seven other persons, men and women of this 
parish, coming by sea from Falmouth town and harbour 
towards their own homes in a fishing boat of about five 
tons burden, without deck or covering, on a fair day ; and 
having got off at sea about a league beyond the said harbour, 
and within two leagues of their dwelling to the west; sud- 



ST. KEVERNE. 321 

denly there happened to arise a high and mighty storm of 
wind against them, which rose the rapid waves of the sea 
to that degree, that the boatmen or oar men, with all their 
skill or strength, were not able to put the boat further 
forward without its being filled with water or swallowed up 
with the raging sea. 

Whereupon, despairing of getting home to St. Keverne, 
they all resolved if possible to return back to Falmouth 
harbour before this tempestuous storm of wind that blew 
that way, or to run on shore on any other part of the 
country as they could. But, alas ! they no sooner at- 
tempted those expedients, and turned their boat, but 
instantly the wind turned and thwarted their design. In 
this extremity they knew not what to do ; both wind and 
water being thus outrageous against them : and that which 
added more to their calamity was, that, through their long 
toiling at sea, the light of the sun was past and night 
approached. 

Then .every person present being at their wit's end, 
called upon his God for pardon of their sins, and mercy 
upon their souls, as despairing of the preservation of their 
bodies from the merciless element of the seas; when at 
length, after much fervent prayers, tears, and cries, the 
watermen proposed, all other their endeavours failing, that 
the boat must be left to drive before the wind and sea, to 
such port or place as God in his infinite mercy and pro- 
vidence should guide it. 

This course was taken, and the boat forthwith, by letting 
loose its helm, in a dark long night and most tremendous 
storm or hurricane, followed the current of the wind and 
waves all night ; the passengers every minute casting out of 
the boat such water as the outrageous seas cast in upon 
her, least she might thereby be overwhelmed or filled 
therewith. At length the glimpse of daylight appeared, when 
they beheld themselves environed with the billows of the 
great ocean, without sight of either sun, moon, stars, or land. 
The storm still continuing all that day and the night after, 

VOL. II. Y 



322 ST. KEVERNE. 

also the third day and the night after, the boat and mariners 
in the same condition as aforesaid, when afterwards the 
fourth day in the morning, the wind and seas being some- 
what abated of their fury and violence, about ten of the 
clock they discovered land, and forthwith rowed and 
steered the boat to the sea-shore thereof, where they 
arrived with the boat safely ; which happened to be, as I 
was informed, on the coast of Normandy in France, about 
a hundred leagues distance from the place the boat first 
was driven off at sea. Which happened to be at such 
time as Queen Anne had wars with the French King. As 
soon as Mr. Sanns and his companions stept on land, they 
were met by three or four men with fusees, demanding 
what they were (as they judged, for they understood not 
French), to which they replied they were English ; which 
one of them that understood the English tongue hearing, 
demanded the occasion of their coming there, and by what 
expedient they came over ; the particulars of which hearing, 
as aforesaid, they were all astonished to hear of their 
hazardous passage, miraculous preservation, and to behold 
the boat, the instrument thereof next Providence. 

Upon which discourse, a gentleman of the company asked 
Mr. Sanns what part of England he was born in, to 
which he replied Cornwall ; and further interrogated him 
whether his name were not Sanns, to which he replied that 
it was ; * Why then,' said the gentleman, ' I know your per- 
son, and well remember the kindness you shewed me in my 
distressmany years si nee at your house, when the ship in which 
I was, was cast away and lost on the coast of St. Kevern ; • 
understanding which, after they embraced each other. Then, 
he demanded their arms and money, if any ; whereupon 
Mr. Sanns having with him forty guineas that he had 
received at Falmouth for pilchards, the day before his boat 
was driven off at sea, he forthwith delivered it to his friend, 
who told him he and his companions must yield themselves 
prisoners of war; which accordingly they did, and Mr. 
Sanns was taken home to the gentleman's house. After 



ST. KEVERNE. 323 

which they were all examined concerning the premises 
before a justice of the peace, who finding matters as afore- 
said, ordered that they should not be kept in custody as 
prisoners of war, bat be all permitted ta go at liberty and 
beg the alms of the people ; whereupon they found extra- 
ordinary charity and favour amongst them, since they were 
not enemies, but persons by fate or Providence, brought 
there after an especial manner, and preserved from the 
violence of the seas by the great Maker and Protector of all 
things. 

The news whereof forthwith not only flew over the 
country, but was transmitted to the cognizance of King 
Lewis XIV., who thereupon ordered that by the first 
transport ship for prisoners of war, they should all be 
sent home freely into England; which happening soon 
after, Mr. Sanns took his leave of his kind landlord, in 
whose house he had been dieted and entertained, and was 
content to leave the forty guineas aforesaid with him, as his 
recompence ; but contrary to his expectation the gentleman 
gave the same to him again, saying he would take nothing 
of that kind at his hands, since God in such a wonderful 
manner had preserved him and his companions from the 
great danger of the seas. Whereupon, he presented five 
or six guineas to his wife, who after some reluctancy ac- 
cepted thereof, and so they parted and went on board a 
transport ship, and safely landed at Portsmouth ; and in 
about eight weeks after their departure from England, 
returned safe to St. Keverne, to the great joy and astonish- 
ment of their friends and relations, who concluded them all 
drowned long before. 

And that the reader may not think those people's sub- 
sistance three nights and four days in their dangerous sea 
voyage, was as supernatural as their preservation, it must 
be remembered, that one of Mr. Sanns* companions being 
a woman that was an inn- keeper, had bought at Falmouth 
town before they departed thence, for to sell to her 
customers, twelve pennyworth of white bread and three 

y2 



324 ST. KEVERNE. 

or four gallons of brandy, which proved the material sup* 
port of their lives. Matthew of Westminster, our Chrono- 
loger, tells us that about the year 900, Dusblan, Machreu 
and one Maxlium, in a boat made of one ox skin and a half, 
with seven days provisions, in two days and a night arrived 
miraculously into Cornwall from Ireland, at the Mount's 
Bay. 

TONKIN. 

Mr. Tonkin does not add any thing to Mr. Hals's nar- 
rative, except the single observation, 

It takes its name from the famous St. Keven. 



THE EDITOR. 

St. Keverne's fame does not extend out of Cornwall. He 
must have been one of the Irish missionaries who crossed 
the seas in granite troughs, or in skiffs made of bullocks' 
hides. Tales were in circulation about mutual visits from 
St. Perran and St Kevern, but they contain only vulgar 
incidents of modern fabrication. 

The extraordinary escape of the passengers from Fal- 
mouth, is retained at the full length in which Mr. Hals 
relates it, as the narrative bears evident marks of authen- 
ticity, and the incidents are creditable to all the parties 
introduced. 

This parish is amply provided with small harbours or 
coves affording shelter to boats, and the shore admits of 
using seine nets for taking pilchards. The principal of 
these harbours, Coverack, has been long noted for an 
extensive trade, still more lucrative than fishing ; the other 
two are Porthoustock (Proustock) and Porthalla (Praia). 

About seventy years since a large shoal of pilchards came 
into the cove at Porthoustock, while the seine boats were 
on the outside. One of these extended its net across the 
entrance and shut in the whole ; but salt in sufficient quan- 



ST. KEVERNE. 325 

tity could not be procured for saving them, when the 
fishermen resolved on the hazardous expedient of sailing 
to France for a supply; the weather continued fine till 
their return, and they are reported to have prepared for 
exportation above a thousand hogsheads. The Church is 
situated on the highest ground in this whole district, having 
the addition of a spire instead of the lofty tower usual in 
Cornwall. The existing spire is of recent date, although 
probably on the model of that which was destroyed by 
lightning on the 28th of February 1770. 

For a very accurate and able account of this thunder 
storm, which occurred during divine service, and seems to 
have been one of the most violent on record, see a 
paper in the 61st vol. of the Philosophical Transactions, 
p, 71, art. 8, 1771 ; (and vol. 13, p. 98, of the Abridgment,) 
by the Rev. Anthony Williams, then Vicar. 

The spire was rent in pieces. The roof of the church 
almost entirely destroyed ; large stones scattered over the 
floor, and small stones on the outside carried to a distance 
little short of a quarter of a mile. Mr. Williams himself 
was rendered insensible, the whole congregation, with very 
few exceptions, fell on the ground deprived of all recol- 
lection ; but no life was lost, nor did any sustain a serious 
injury; about ten were slightly hurt. 

In the church are several monuments ; and in the church- 
yard stands a large sarcophagus, having sculptured on it 
the representation of a shipwreck, and military emblems, 
with the following inscription. 

To the memory of Major-General H. G. C Cavendish, 

Capt S. C. Duckenfield, Lieut, the Hon. E. Waldegrave, 

Sixty-one non-commissioned officers and privates 

of the regiment, 

who in returning from Spain in the Despatch transport 

unhappily perished in Coverack Cove, 

the 22nd of December 1809. 



326 ST. KEVJERNE. 

The ship was known to be very old and in bad repair ; 
bat, although the wind blew with some violence, it would 
have been a matter of no difficulty whatever to clear the 
Mein Egles, or Manacles Rocks. Seamen have therefore 
conjectured that the Captain kept near the shore for the 
purpose of stranding his vessel, to obtain the exaggerated 
value contracted for with the Government; and that in 
attempting this fraud, he fell on the rocks which caused the 
loss of every one on board. 

Mr. Cavendish was a son of Lord George Cavendish, of 
East Bourn, Sussex, afterwards cneated Earl of Burlington. 

The great tithes of this parish have been sold to the va- 
rious proprietors of the land. 

The tithes of fish belonged, however, to Mr. Matthew 
Wills of Helston, in right of his marriage with the only 
daughter of Mr. Tonkin of Trenance near Forthoustock. 
For some years they were of considerable value, but as all 
tithe of fish is allowed to be in this country the mere 
creature of custom, the custom then acted on was attacked 
at law, and after a trial, on which the celebrated Mr. Dun* 
ning attended by a special retainer, it was overturned. 
Trenance and the other property in St. Kevern are now pos- 
sessed by his son, the Rev. Thomas Wills, Vicar of Wen- 
dron, for about fifty years. 

Kilter, in this parish, was the birthplace and probably 
belonged to the individual of that name, who with Humphry 
Arundell and others, excited the common people to take 
arms against the government of King Edward VL in 1549, 
by holding out those unattainable objects which have 
misled the ignorant to their own destruction in all ages 
and nations, in union with others certainly of a different 
description ; one of which was the re-establishment of the 
Bloody Statute, or the Six Articles, by which every person 
refusing to acknowledge the King's supremacy over the 
church was adjudged to be hanged; and every one con- 
scientiously disbelieving the real presence of Christ's body 
in consecrated bread and wine, was condemned to be 
burnt alive. 



ST. KE VERNE. 327 

Lanarth has been for a considerable time the residence 
of the Sandys family. The Rev. Sampson Sandys lived 
there to a very advanced age. He was probably grandson 
to the gentleman whose wonderful escape to the coast of 
France is detailed by Mr. Hals under the name of Sanns, 
which the editor remembers to have beard was the original 
appellation of their family, till they adopted the name and 
cross-crosslets of the Sandys of Ombersley. 

Mr. Sampson Sandys was succeeded at Lanarth by his 
nephew, Mr. William Sandys, a colonel in the army of the 
East India Company, who rebuilt the house, and greatly 
improved the place. 

The rectory was, before the Reformation, appropriated 
to the Abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire, founded by King 
John. 

In the schedule of the property returned to King Henry 
the VIII. on its surrender, are the following entries, which 
may be found in the Augmentation Office. 
Com. Cornub. 

St. Kivion — Redd. Assis. lib. ten. 

Redd, et Firm. ten. ad volunt' 
Terr, dominie. 
Tregonon, firma molend. 
Opera autumpnaT 
Perquis' cur' . 
Firma rector* . 
Helston redd, annual' 
The reasons assigned for King John founding this magni- 
ficent Cistercian Abbey of Beaulieu, or De Bello Loco, are 
so curious, and so illustrative of the profligacy and weak 
superstition united in forming his character, that the 
Editor thinks it right to insert the following original, with 
a translation. 

Anno sexto Regis Johannis idem Rexconstruxitquoddam 
Coenobium ordinis Cisterciensis in Anglia, et Bellum Locum 
nominavit; quod quidem Coenobium tali occasione nar- 
ratur ab eo factum. Quia enim idem Rex versus Abbates, 



2 


15 


10 


8 


2 


4 


1 


16 


8 


1 


2 


6 





1 


6 


1 


7 


2 


. 57 


4 





6 


3 


4 



328 ST. KEVERNE. 

et alias personas ordinis Cisterciensis prsenominatas, supra 
modum, sine causa, est iratus, et eosdem non mediocriter 
per ministros suos gravaret, ad quoddam Parliamentum, 
quod ipse apud Lincolniam tenuit, Abbates dicti ordinis 
venerunt, si quo modo Regis ejusdem gratiam et favorem 
potuissent aliquatenus invenire. Quibus visis, sicut crudelis 
animi erat, praecepit suis ut dictos Abbates sub pedibus 
equorura viliter eonculcarent ; Regis vero injustum tarn 
facinorosum et inaudituin hactenus mandatum ab aliquo 
principe Christiano, perficere nolentibus, hii Domini Ab- 
bates, jam fere desperantes de Regia benignitate, ad sua 
hospitia festinanter accesserunt. Nocte vero sequenti, cum 
idem Rex Johannes in lecto suo dormiret, ei quod coram 
quodam Judice, praedictis Abbatibus illuc assistentibus, 
ductus fuerit : qui eisdem Abbatibus jusserat dictum regem 
supra dorsum suum cum flagellis et virgis verberare: 
quam quidem verberationem, mane vigilans, se sensisse 
dixit. Sompnium vero suum cuidam personae ecclesiastics 
de curia sua narravit, qui dixit ei, quod Deus erga eum 
supra modum esset raisericors, qui eum tarn ckmenter et 
patern& in praesenti seculo dignatus est corripere, et eidem 
sua misteria revelare ; et consul uit Regem ut pro Abbati- 
bus dicti ordinis velociter mitteret, et ab eisdem de reatu 
suo veniam hu mi liter imploraret. 

Rege siquidem acquiescente, pro eis, ut ad Regem veni- 
rent, missum est. Quod audientes per nuncium Regis, pu- 
taverunt se ab Anglia fore exterminandos ; Deo tamen, qui 
suos non deserit, aliter disponente, cum nunc ad conspec- 
tum Regis venissent, indignationem suam quam ergo eos 
habuit Rex remisit. 

"In the sixth year of his reign King John founded a cer- 
tain monastery of the Cistercian order in England, and 
gave it the name of Beaulieu ; and the following account is 
given of the cause which induced the King to found this 
abbey. 

" The King, without any just cause of offence, having taken 
the most violent and unbounded anger against the Abliats 
and others of the Cistercians, and having immoderately op- 



ST. KEVERNE. 329 

pressed them through the medium of his officers, the 
Abbats of the said order came to a Parliament which the 
King held at Lincoln, to try if they might be able by some 
means to obtain a small share of the King's grace and 
favour. But when the King saw them, he became so cruelly 
disposed towards them, as to order that the said Abbats 
should, in the most disgustful manner, be trodden under 
the horses' feet ; but his people being unwilling to execute 
a command so unjust, so atrocious, and hitherto unheard- 
of from any Christian prince, those Lord Abbats, now 
despairing of any kindness on the part of the King, hastily 
retired to their hostels. But in the following night, as the 
said King John lay sleeping on his bed, it seemed to him 
that he was brought before some judge, these Abbats stand- 
ing by, whom the judge ordered to scourge him on the 
back with whips and rods ; and when the King awoke in 
the morning, he declared that he actually felt the scourging. 
Having related his dream to a certain ecclesiastic of his 
court, this person assured him that God had been merciful, 
to him beyond measure, by deigning thus kindly and pater- 
nally to correct him in this present life, and by revealing to 
him his mysteries ; and he advised the King to send imme- 
diately for the Abbats of this order, and humbly to implore 
from them the pardon of his offence. 

" The King consenting, a message was sent to them that 
they should come to the King ; which they hearing from 
the messenger, thought that they should be banished from 
England: but God, who never deserts his servants, dis- 
posed things otherwise ; so that when they came into the 
King's presence, he put away the anger which he had en- 
tertained against them." 

There is not any trace of the advowson of the vicarage 
having belonged to this splendid abbey, which afforded 
sanctuary to Queen Margaret and Perkin Warbeck. It is 
now possessed either by Mr. Pascoe, the present incumbent, 
or by his family. 



330 ST. KEVERNE. 

Mr. Lysons has given the descents and alienation of 
various manors or farms of little general interest. 
St. Keven measures 8792 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as «*'.«. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 10,433 

Poor Rate in 1831 . 1,310 17 

« , ,. C in 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- J 2104 >| 2242 >| 2505 | ^ 

giving an increase of about 16 per cent, in 30 years. 

The Rev. James Pascoe was instituted to the vicarage in 
1817. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

There are few spots that have excited greater geological 
interest than the serpentine tract of the Lizard, and no part 
of it will be found more instructive than this parish. 

By far the greater part of St. Kevern rests on magnesian 
rocks; but north of a line drawn from Porthalla, nearly 
due west to Goonhilly Downs, the rocks belong to the calca- 
reous series. The latter rocks may be seen on the coast 
from Porthalla to the Nare Point, and will be found to 
resemble the series between Gorran and the Dodman 
Point. On the left side of Poulkalla Cove the blue slate 
abounds in veins and in irregular nodules .of calcspar; and 
at low-water-mark a more compact variety is exposed, 
which evidently forms the passage into the black limestone, 
loose fragments of which are sometimes found on the shore. 
In a small creek within the Nare near Bostowda, is a large 
patch of conglomerate, the pebbles and fragments of which 
have been derived from the rocks which line the banks of 
the river Hellas as high up as Gweek; but which bear no 
resemblance to the rock of the immediate vicinity. This is 
the most decided instance of a fragmentary rock in Corn- 
wall. 

The hollow occupied by the little stream which dis- 
charges itself at Porthalla divides the calcareous shale from 
a rock of totally different nature, videlicet serpentine, 



ST. KEVERNE. 331 

several varieties of which form the neck of land stretching 
thence to Dranna Point. 

At Porthoustock a glossy lamellar rock, already noticed 
as joining the serpentine at Cadgwith, forms each side of 
the cove ; but here, on proceeding to the Manacles Point it 
may be seen passing into diallage rock : the latter extends 
so far as Coverack, and also inland to the foot of Goonhilly 
Downs. At Coverack the diallage rock appears to pass 
into serpentine ; but here again, as at Porthalla, the junc- 
tion is a concrete. The varieties of serpentine near 
Coverack Pier are numerous, and several of them may be 
seen passing into each other, which in other parts of the 
lizard district form large and apparently independent 
masses. From Coverack to Kennick Cove the cliffs are 
very bold, and display different kinds of serpentine and 
diallage rocks, and at Blockhead a large stratum of indu- 
rated steatite, beautifully marked with brown arborescent 
figures on a yellow ground. At Kennick Cove, red and 
olive green serpentine, abounding in scales of diallage, and 
traversed by numerous veins of asbestos, talc, and calcare- 
ous spar, are exposed to view on a grand scale ; and at 
G winter, a little north oijhe cove, diallage rock is accom- 
panied by layers of beautiful violet-coloured jade, or com- 
pact felspar, containing large plates of diallage as metalloide 
as at Coverack. 

It may be noticed here, that all the uncultivated land 
extending over serpentine formation, is clothed with the 
most beautiful of European heaths; the Erica Vagans of 
Linnaeus, so named on account of its being found in various 
parts of the world on particular spots. Hudson named it 
" Multiflora " from its splendid inflorescense; and Dr. Wi- 
thering, with some others, didyma, with reference to double 
antherae on each flower. This heath bounds itself almost 
within a yard to the limits of the magnesian earths* 



332 ST. KEW. 



ST. KEW. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the 
north Endellyan, east St. Eath, south St Mabyn, west 
Egleshayle and Minver. In the Domesday Tax, 20 Wil- 
liam I. 1087, this parish was rated by the name of Lan- 
guid or Lan-cuit ; that is to say, the Church or Temple 
Wood, or a church or temple in a wood ; not unsuitable 
to the former circumstances thereof, surrounded with copse 
trees and oak woods; from whence it appears here was an 
endowed church or temple of that name before the Nor- 
man Conquest, implied in the word Lan. In the Inqui- 
sitions of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the 
value of Cornish benefices 1294, it was rated by the name 
of Lan-owe, i. e. my Church or Temple, or the Egge 
Church or Temple, for owe is an egg, in decanatu de 
Minor Trigshire viii/. xiiw. iiiid. Vicar ejusdem xta. In 
Wolsey's Inquisition 1501, by the name of St. Kuet, i. e. 
holy, sacred, or consecrated wood, 19/. 10*. The patronage, 
formerly in the priory of Bodman, who endowed it, now 
Tregagle. The incumbent Nation ; the rectory or sheafe 
in possession of Tregagle ; and the parish rated to the 4s. 
per pound Land Tax 1696, by the name of St. Kewe 
356/. 15*. 10c/. 

The manor and barton of Lanew in this parish, was for* 
merly the lands of the Beavills of Gwarnack or Killy- 
garth ; by one of whose heirs, as I am informed, it came in 
marriage to the Grenvills of Stowe ; and was entailed, 
together with the barton of Bryn, and other lands, upon 
the issue of the said Beavill, by Grenvill to be begotten. 

Now it happened, tempore Charles I., that Sir Bevill 
Grenvill, being much encumbered with the debts of his ances- 
tors, in order to free the same, sold for a valuable considera- 
tion this manor of Lanow and barton of Bryn to William 



ST. KEW. 333 

Noye, Esq. Attorney-general to King Charles I. the which 
William Noyeandhisheirsquietly enjoyed the same for about 
thirty years' space, till King Charles II. returned from his 
exile beyond the seas, and was restored to his dominions 
1660; at which time Sir John Grenvil], Knt. afterwards 
created Earl of Bath, (son of the said Sir Bevill Grenvill) 
then also in exile with the said King beyond the seas, came 
back to his native country with the said King; and some 
time after delivered leases of ejectment, on writs of ejec- 
tion, firme formedon, or right, to the tenants of Hum- 
phrey Noye, Esq. then in possession thereof, son of the 
said Attorney-general Noye, and brought down a venire 
facias and trial for the same, at Lanceston assizes, where, 
on the issue, the verdict passed for the said Earl of Bath ; 
and after judgment was entered up and recorded thereupon, 
writs for possession were sued forth, and his lordship be- 
came seised of those lands, and forced the tenants thereof 
to double their accustomed rent, on condition of holding 
their leases. Afterwards Noye's son aforesaid, files his bill 
in chancery, suggesting the wrong he had received by this 
verdict at law, whereby he lost his lands and purchase 
money, which matter coming to a hearing on bill and an- 
swer, an issue was directed out of Chancery to try once 
more this title at common law, on which Noye proved Sir 
Beavill Grenvill to be tenant in tail for those lands, and 
that he levying a fine thereon, come ceo qui il eit de son 
done, according to due form of law, with deeds declaring 
the same to be for the use of the said William Noye, his 
heirs and assigns for ever, that was a sufficient dock of the 
entail, and bar to the son and heir of the said Sir Beavill 
Grenvill, whereupon the sense and judgment of the Court 
then was, that according to law the verdict must be for 
Noye; as accordingly it then passed. Notwithstanding 
which, a cross bill was filed by the Earl of Bath against 
Noye, about the premises, praying a writ of injunction for 
stopping further proceedings at common law ; whereupon 
his lordship still kept possession, and Noye grew weary of 



334 ST. KEW. 

this controversy, who, otherwise, was a man much depressed 
with debt, and therefore an unequal contester with the 
then great Earl of Bath ; wherefore he sold his title to those 
lands in dispute to Mr. Christopher Davies, of Burnewall 
in Buryan, who revived Noye's drooping case and title to 
the premises, and delivered ejectments to the Earl of 
Bath's tenants, then in possession thereof, and accordingly 
brought down a trial at Lanceston upon that plea and de- 
mise, tempore James II., when it was manifest his lordship 
relied more on his privilege as a Peer or Baron of this 
Realm than the right or justice of the merits of his case, 
for he served all the council, officers, and attornies of the 
court at that assizes with writs of privilege ; so that no per- 
son was permitted to speak or act publicly on the part or 
title of Noye or Davies ; but the case or trial was immerged 
or was swallowed up without due course or form of law, so 
that Mr. Davies was only permitted to plead his case him- 
self, which he did with so much judgment, sense, law, and 
equity, as the Court admired at it, being no lawyer. But, 
alas ! he wanted instruction in the grand point in such cases, 
to have cried out a merger or emerger, and the verdict 
must have been for him or Noye the second time. 

After which bad success, and for that Mr. Davies was 
threatened to be sued on the statute of scandalum magna- 
turn, for words said to be spoken by him reflective on his 
lordship's honour and reputation, he was terrified into a 
composition or agreement with the said Earl, by the end of 
Hilary term then next ensuing, for the consideration of 
500/. to levy a fine sur cognizance de droit, with proclama- 
tion on those lands, with deeds declaring the uses thereof 
to be only to the proper use and behoof of the said Earl of 
Bath, his heirs and assigns for ever, as accordingly was 
performed, and so this controversy ended. But, alas! 
when too late it appeared further, that when Mr. Davies 
had sold his title to this manor of Lanow as aforesaid, that 
there were two tenements of Mr. Noye's paternal estate 
whilst he was in possession thereof, after his purchase from 



ST. KEW. 335 

GreiaviU, that he had annexed to the said manor, situate in 
this parish, and worth 900/., which Mr. Davies ignorantly 
debarred himself of, to his greater loss. See Withell parish 
for Bryn, the lands of Bevill and Grenvill. 

Bo-Kelly in this parish was the dwelling of the genteel 
family surnamed Carn-sew, i. e. dry, sterile, or barren spar- 
stone, or rock; perhaps so called from the local place of 
Carnsew in Mabe, altogether under such circumstances; 
otherwise Mr. Carew tells us the name of those gentlemen 
was Carn-deaw, i. e. black spar-stone or rock. William 
Carnsew of this house was sheriff of Cornwall 18 Ed- 
ward IY.; William Carnsew was Sheriff of Cornwall 3 
Henry VIII. 

Richard Carnsew, Esq. afterwards knighted, was Sheriff 
of Cornwall 17 Charles I. 1642, whose heir George Carn- 
sew, as I am told, sold it to Tregagle, and is now by lease 
in possession of John Nicholls, of Trewane, Esq. The 
two only daughters and heirs of Sir Richard Carnsew, of 
Tregarne, were married to Prideaux, of Fewborough, and 
Godolphin of the younger house, whose arms were, Sable, 
a goat passant Argent, attired Or. 

Tre-havar-ike, alias Tre-ar-ike, gave name and origi- 
nal to an old family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed 
de Trehauarike, whose sole inheritrix was married to 
Cavall, tempore Henry VII. who, out of a supposed allu- 
sion to this name, as appears from the glass windows of 
this house, gave a calf for their arms, viz. Argent, a calf 
passant Gules; whereas Leugh is a calf in British-Cornish, 
and Cavall is a bee-hive, cradle, or flasket. They gave 
also, Azure, three sails of a ship Argent ; for that, as tradi- 
tion saith, one of this family was admiral of a squadron of 
ships at sea, under King Henry VI. against the French; 
finally, about the year 1612, the two sole daughters and 
heirs of those Cavalls were married to Vivian, of Trenowth 
in St. Colomb, and Here of Trenowth in St. Ewan. Upon 
the division of Cavall's lands, this barton and manor fell 
to Vivian's share, whose grandson Thomas Vivian, Esq. 



336 ST. KEW. 

sold this barton to John Peter, of Treater, gentleman, for 
2,100/.; and the manor to other persons, now in posses- 
sion thereof, about the year 1700. 

At the top of those lands is a field called the Dower 
Park, i. e. the water field, where a spring or pool of water 
commonly stands, which gives the spring, or original of the 
aforesaid riveret of water, from whence Trehavarike is de- 
nominated. 

At Tregeare in this parish, and Resurra in St. Minver, 
was the seat of the Penkivells, gentlemen of ancient de- 
scent, and heretofore of great revenues, now comparatively 
extinct. 

Pen-pons in this parish, now Pen-pont, synonymous 
words, signifies the head bridge, or the bridge at the head 
or top of the sea in this place, according to the natural and 
artificial circumstances thereof, which was the voke lands 
of an ancient and extensive manor, privileged with the 
jurisdiction of a court leet before the Norman Conquest ; 
for by the name of Penpont it was rated in the Domesday 
Tax 20 William I. 1087; from whence was denominated an 
ancient family of gentlemen now extinct, surnamed Pen- 
pons, whose sole inheritrix was married to Arundell of Tol- 
verne, tempore Queen Mary, from whose heirs and assigns 
it came to Cole and Arscott of Devon, and others, now in 
possession thereof. By the inquisition 12 Edward III. it 
was rated for twenty-one Cornish acres, before the judges 
Solomon de Ross and others, at Lanceston, that is to say, 
1260 statute acres. I take the tenure of this manor to be 
either customary or copyhold lands ; near which is still ex- 
tant Chappell Amble, or Ambhull, i. e. the dull, blockish, 
or ignorant chapel or chaplain, a free chapel, where the 
Bishop never visited. 

In this parish at Middle Amble is the dwelling of Jona- 
than Webber, Gent, (id est, in Saxon, a weaver, so called 
from his first ancestor, who was of that trade or occupa- 
tion,) who married Williams, and giveth for his arms, 
Gules, on a chevron engrailed Or, charged with three an- 



ST. KEW. 337 

nulets or round plates Azure, pierced in the middle, Or, 
between three round plates or platters, two in chief and 
one in the base, Argent. This family, as it branched down- 
wards to the year 1640, had married with Mathew of the 
said parish of St Kew, who gave for his arms, Sable, a 
crane Argent, legged and beaked Gules ; also with Prew- 
body and Polwhele. This arms of Webber, consisting of 
four colours in its field and in its charge, is a ridiculous or 
contemptible bearing, as heralds tell us all such bearings are. 
Note further that Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Corn- 
wall, A. D. 1602, tells us, p. 55, that John, the son of 
Thomas, living at Pendarves, took up the name of John 
Thomas Pendarves, and that Richard his younger brother 
took up the name of Richard Thomas Pendarves; and 
that Trengone, living at Nance, took up the name of 
Nance ; and Bonython, living at Carclew in Milor, took 
up the name of Carclew ; and for the same reason two bro- 
thers of the Thomases, living at Carnsew in Mabe, another 
at Roscrow in Milor or Gluvias, took up the names of 
Carnsew and Roscrow; as did also one of them living 
at Caweth in Mabe, take up the name of Caweth; and 
in further testimony thereof, give one and the same 
coat armour as Thomas did, viz. in a field Argent, a 
chevron between three talbots Sable, though Pendarves 
gives a different arms from that of Thomas. See Cam- 
bourne. Query, whether Carnsew of Bokelly does not de- 
rive his name from Carnsew? i. e. dry rock, in Mabe parish. 



TONKIN. 

This parish takes its present name from the patron saint 
Kew, which, says the author of the English Dictionary, 
8vo. London, 1691, is certainly the same with Kebius the 
Briton. The impropriator of the sheaf and patron of the 
vicarage, is at present Robert Croker, Esq. by purchase 

VOL. II. z 



338 ST. KEW. 

from Mr. John Tregeagle. The incumbent, Mr. Edward 
Stephens, Mr. Croker's nephew. 
The ancient name of this parish was Lanow. 



THE EDITOR. 

If Saint Kebius is really the patron of this parish, and 
has given it his name somewhat disguised in the sound of 
St. Kew, he has the unusual felicity of being honoured in 
his own country. Doctor Borlase states, on the authority of 
Archbishop Usher, (Antiquities of Cornwall, 2d ed. p. 369.) 
" About the middle of the fourth century, Solomon Duke 
of Cornwall seems to have been a Christian ; for his son 
Kebius was ordained a Bishop by Hilarius, Bishop of Poic- 
tiers, in France; and afterwards returned into his own 
country to exercise that high function.*' 

Saint Kebius, however, stands in the Roman Calendar 
on the 26th of April ; but the parish feast is kept (I be- 
lieve) on the nearest Sunday to the 25th of July, the day 
of Saint James the Apostle. 

This parish is one of the most fertile in Cornwall, as well 
for corn as for grass. The church is situated in a pleasant 
valley; and near it is Skinden, for many years the residence 
of Mr. Joseph Bennet, a clergyman, but without prefer- 
ment; and after his decease, of Mr. Clode, a native of Ca- 
melford, who having risen to the situation of a major in the 
East India Company's army, returned with a fortune, and 
purchased this place; it now belongs to his sister Mrs. 
Braddon. 

The principal seat in St. Kew was in former times Tre- 
wane, the residence of an ancient and opulent family the 
Nichollses. The house, partly converted into a farmhouse 
and partly in ruins, appears in a style of grandeur quite 
unusual in the houses of this county. It is believed to 
have been built before the Civil Wars. These four de- 
scents are recorded in the Heraldic Visitation of 1620. 



ST. KEW. 339 

John NichoJls — His son and heir, John Nicholls, mar- 
ried Catharine, daughter of John Trowbrigge, of Trow- 
bridge in Devon. — Their son John Nicholls married to Eli- 
zabeth Fortescue, of Fallowpit in Devon; — and their son, the 
fourth John Nicholls, aged seven years, with other children. 
The granddaughter, or great-granddaughter, from these last 
recorded, became an heiress possessed of the whole pro- 
perty, and married Mr. Glynn, of Glynn ; but being left a 
widow, and childless by the death of her only son, she de- 
vised her estate in certain portions, to Mr. Glynn, of Hel- 
ston, with the whole of Trewane ; and to Mr. Bennet her 
steward, father of the Rev. Joseph Bennet, who built or 
improved Skisden. The arms of Nicholls, of Trewane, 
were, Sable, three pheons Argent. 

The rectorial tithes of this parish belonged to the priory 
of Plympton in Devonshire, and now belong to Moles- 
worth of Pencarrow. The advowson has passed by pur- 
chase with their other property, from Mahon to Pitt and 
Glanville. 

The church contains some monuments and painted glass. 
Mr. Hals has given the details of a law suit, which may 
tend to reconcile the admirers of olden times to those in 
which they live ; nor can the Editor, who is the descend- 
ant and heir-at-law of Attorney-general Noye, and of his 
son Colonel Humphrey Noye, be supposed to entertain 
much respect for the memory of the Earl of Bath. 

St. Kew measures 6343 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 8598 

Roor Rate in 1831 .... 1029 6 

x> , . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-j 1095 | 1H8 ■ | 12l8 >| 18M ' 

giving an increase of 20 per cent, in 30 years. 

The Rev. John Pomeroy was presented to the vicarage 
in 1777 by W. Pitt, Esq. 



z 2 



340 ST. KEW. 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 



Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that the 
northern part resembles Endellion, and that the southern 
part is similar to Egloshale and Helland. 



KILKHAMPTON. 



HALS. 



Is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the 
north Morwinstow, west St. George's channel, south Strat- 
ton and Poughill, east part of the county of Devon. For 
the modern name, it is derived from the church, compound 
of Saxon-British Kirk or Kilk-hampton, i. e. church home 
or habitation town, answerable to church town in English. 
In the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. (1087), this district 
was taxed under the jurisdiction of Orcett, of which more 
under. In the Inquisition made into the value of Cornish 
Benefices, in decanatu de Major Triggshire, ecclesia de 
Kilkhampton was rated xiiii/. xiii*\ viiidf. In Wolsey's 
Inquisition, 1521, 26/. 3*. lOfrf.; the patronage in the 
Earl of Bath ; the incumbent Corringdon ; and the parish 
rated to the 4*. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 352/. 10s. 

Stowe for many ages hath been the seat of that famous 
and knightly family now Earls of Bath. 

[Mr. Hals goes on with a long account of this family in 
the early Norman times, apparently without much autho- 
rity, and quite unconnected with Cornwall. 

I shall therefore select particular passages, more especially 
as a genealogy in sufficient detail is given by Mr. Lysons.] 



KILKHAMPTON. 341 

It appears that the Grenvilles settled near Bideford, 
where they are stated to have held knights* fees under the 
Crown, and also under the honour of Gloucester; and 
Sir Theobald Grenville in the latter part of the reign 
of King Edward the Third, was the principal founder 
and promoter of building the bridge at Bideford; John 
Grandison was then Lord Bishop of Exeter, who caused it 
to be proclaimed in his Cathedral, and throughout all other 
churches in Devon and Cornwall, that all persons whatso- 
ever that would promote or encourage such a work should 
partake of all spiritual blessings for ever. Sir Richard 
Gurnard or Gurney was then parish priest of Bideford, 
who it seems was admonished in his sleep to undertake this 
work, as Bishop Bronscomb was to build Glasney College 
in Cornwall; the Goldneys, Octanetts, and most other 
families of note in Cornwall and Devon (as Risdon's Manu- 
script informs us) were benefactors to this work, which 
bridge was finished tempore Richard II., assisted by a bull 
of indulgencies from Rome. 

John Grenvill of Bideford, that married Burgher t, was the 
first Sheriff of Devon of this family, 15 Richard II., son of 
Sir Theobald. Thomas Grenvill, that married Gilbert, was 
the first Sheriff of Cornwall of this family, 21 Edward IV., 
1480, also the first of Henry VII., 1485, and probably the 
first of those gentlemen that settled at Stowe, for at such 
time as he was Sheriff of Cornwall, 21 Edward IV., one 
George Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon. 

One Robert Grenvill was Sheriff of Cornwall the 2nd, 
10th, and 14th Henry VIII. Richard Grenvill was Sheriff 
of Cornwall 36 Henry VIII. Richard Grenvill was 
Sheriff of Devon 18 of Elizabeth. Bernard Grenvill was 
Sheriff of Devon 38 of Elizabeth. 

Roger, younger son of Sir Richard Grenvill that married 
Bonvill of Killigarth, who in the Mary Rose frigate, 37 
Henry VIII., 1545, commanded by Sir George Carew, 
Knight, with more than four hundred men besides, after 



342 K1LKHAMPTON. 

they had for several days fought the French fleet off the 
Isle of Wight under the command of the Lord Dambolt, 
Admiral of France, with great victory and success, unfortu- 
nately afterwards as the said ship passed out of the harbour 
of Portsmouth into the sea, by the neglect and carelessness 
of the gunner and mariners, one of which had left the 
cannon or ordnance untrigged or chained, and the latter 
having left the under port or gun-holes open, by means 
whereof, when the ship turned upon her lee, the guns fell 
all on that side of the ship and bore the port-holes under 
water, so that the sea in an instant abundantly flowing in 
through those port-holes filled her with water, whereof she 
sunk into the deep (in the sight of King Henry himself), 
whereby the captain and all his men were suddenly and 
violently drowned in the sea. 

Of his father, Sir Richard Grenvill, the elder, thus 
speaks Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, " he interlaced 
his home magistracy with martial employments abroad, 
whereof the King testified his good liking by his liberality." 
Again, his son, the second Sir Richard, after his travel and 
following the wars under the Emperor Maximilian against 
the Turks, for which his name is recorded by sundry 
foreign writers, and his undertaking to people Virginia and 
Ireland, made so glorious a conclusion in her Majesty's 
ship the Revenge, of which he had charge as Captain, and 
of the whole fleet as Vice- Admiral, that it seemed thereby, 
when he found none other to compare withal in his life, he 
strived through a virtuous envy to exceed it in his death ; 
a victorious loss for the realm, and of which the Spaniard 
may say, with Pyrrhus, that many such conquests would 
beget his utter overthrow. Lastly, his son John took hold 
of every martial occasion that was ministered him, until, in 
service against her Highness' enemies, under the command 
of Sir Walter Raleigh, the ocean became his bed of honour. 
Thus Mr. Carew, page 62. See also Baker's Chronicle in 
the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 



KILK HAMPTON. 343 

Sir Beville Grenvill, son of Bernard, by Beville's heir 
of Killigarth in Talland, was a gentleman of such urbanity, 
valour, and integrity in those parts, that my commendations 
cannot make the least addition thereto, nor I think that of 
a more florid or abler pen ; who, as his duty obliged, en- 
gaged himself, his life and fortune, on the part and behalf 
of King Charles I. ; and being first a horse Colonel in the 
militia for this County, was afterwards obliged to head or 
lead those soldiers he had raised in Cornwall, by virtue of 
the King's Commission, under command of Sir Ralph 
Hopton, Knight, his General in the west, from Laun- 
ceston into Somersetshire, at a place called Lansdowne, 
five miles from Bristol, where Hopton with the King's 
army met and gave battle to the Parliament forces under 
command of Sir William Waller; in which engagement 
Sir Beville Grenvill, Knight, charging boldly in the head of 
his troop, was unfortunately slain, the 5th of July 1643. 

Orcot, now Orchard, in this parish, was the jurisdiction 
under which Kilkhampton was taxed in Domesday Roll, 
1087; from which place, I take it, was denominated the 
family surnamed de Orchard, now in possession thereof; 
particularly Charles Orchard, gentleman, steward to Sir 
John Rolle of Stevenston. This gentleman was sheriff of 
Cornwall about the year 1703. 

Mr. Hals' concluding part of this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Mr. Tonkin has merely copied from Mr. Hals. 

THE EDITOR. 

The following extract from Mr. Lysons's Cornwall is the 
best account that the Editor can give of the distinguished 
family of Grenville. 

The manor of Kilkhampton is supposed to have belonged 
to the Grenville family from nearly the time of the Con- 



344 KILKHAMPTON. 

quest; Dugdale says, that they were seated here in the 
reign of William Rufus. Richard de Grenville, who came 
over with William the Conqueror, is said in the pedigrees 
of the family to have been a younger brother of Robert 
Fitzhamon, Earl of Carbill, Lord of Thurigny and Gren- 
ville, in France and Normandy, and to have been lineally 
descended from Rollo, Duke of Normandy. It is on re- 
cord that Richard de Grenville held certain knights' fees at 
Bideford* in Devonshire, in the reign of Henry II. We 
have not found any record of the Grenville possessions at 
Kilkhampton of an earlier date than the quo warranto roll 
before mentioned ; but it appears that it had at that time 
been long in the family : they continued to reside at Stowe, 
in this parish, for many generations, and frequently served 
the office of sheriff for the county. William Grenville, or 
Grenfield (as the name was at that early period generally 
written), son of Sir Theobald, became archbishop of York, 
and distinguished himself as an able statesman : he died in 
1315. Sir Richard Grenville, son of Roger, (who was 
himself a captain hi the navy, and lost his life, as Carew 
tells us, in the unfortunate Mary-Rose) was a celebrated 
military and naval commander in the reign of Queen Eli- 
zabeth. He first distinguished himself in the wars under 
the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, for which his 
name is recorded by several foreign writers. In the year 
1591, being then Vice- Admiral of England, he was sent in 
the Revenge, with a squadron of seven ships, to intercept 
the Spanish galleons ; when, falling in with the enemy's 
fleet, consisting of fifty-two sail, near the Terceira Islands, 
he repulsed them fifteen times in a continued fight, till his 
powder was all spent ; his ship, which sunk before it arrived 
in port, was reduced to a hulk, and himself covered with 
wounds, of which he died two days afterwards, on board 
the vessel of the Spanish commander. Sir Richard's grand- 
son was the brave and loyal Sir Beville Grenville. This 
distinguished officer was one of king Charles's generals in 



KILKHAMPTON. 345 

the West, and shared the glories of the successful compaign 
in Cornwall, in the autumn of 1642; in the summer of the 
following year he lost his life at the battle of Lansdowne, 
near Bath. Sir Richard Grenville, who had been created 
a Baronet in 1631, was, after his brother's death, made 
General of all the King's forces in the West. He was an 
active and zealous officer, and so particularly obnoxious to 
the Parliamentary party, that he was perpetually the sub- 
ject of abuse to their journalists, who seldom spoke of him 
but by the appellation of Skellum Grenville, During the 
dissensions between the civil power and the military in 
1645, Sir Richard Grenville was superseded and impri- 
soned by the advice of Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl 
of Clarendon. That noble author gives a very unamiable 
character of Sir Richard, who is represented as having 
been in the highest degree oppressive, tyrannical, and un- 
principled ; but other writers attribute much of this to the 
personal enmity which subsisted between them. Sir Rich- 
ard Grenville died, in reduced circumstances, at Ghent, in 
the year 1658, leaving no male issue; the title became ex- 
tinct. Sir John Grenville, son of the brave Sir Beville, 
succeeded to the Kilkhaijroton estates : at a very early age 
he bad a command in his father's regiment, and was left for 
dead in the field at Tewkesbury. He was appointed Go- 
vernor of Scilly Islands when they revolted from the Par- 
liament, and was one of the chief instruments in effecting 
the restoration of King Charles II. He gave the living of 
Kilkhampton to Nicholas Monk, and employed him to in- 
fluence his brother (the General) in favour of the exiled 
Monarch ; having succeeded in his negociations, he had the 
satisfaction of being the bearer of the King's letters to 
General Monk and to the Parliament. In April 1661 
Sir John Grenville was created Lord Grenville of Kilk- 
hampton and Bideford, Viscount Lansdowne, and Earl of 
Bath. On the death of his grandson, under age, in 1711, 
these titles became extinct ; and the Kilkhampton estates 



346 KILKHAMPTON. 

passed to his aunt and coheiress Grace Grenville, who 
married George Lord Carteret, and was afterwards (being 
then a widow) by King George the First created Countess 
of Granville, with remainder to her son John, who inhe- 
rited that title and the Kilkhampton estate. On the 
death of Robert the second Earl of Granville, in 1776. 
that title became extinct, and the Kilkhampton estate 
passed, under his will, to his nephew Henry Frederick 
Thynne, second son of Lord Viscount Weymouth, who 
had married his sister Louisa. Mr. Thynne was created 
Lord Carteret in 1784, and is the present possessor of 
Kilkhampton ; the remainder of which, as well as the title 
of Carteret, is vested in Lord George Thynne, second son 
of the Marquis of Bath. 

John Grenville, Earl of Bath, in the reign of Charles 
II. built a magnificient mansion at Stowe in this parish, of 
which scarcely a vestige remains. It stood on an eminence, 
overlooking a well- wooded valley ; but not a tree near ifc 
says Dr. Borlase, to shelter it from the north-west. That 
writer speaks of it as by far the noblest house in the west 
of England, and says that the kitchen-offices, fitted up for a 
dwelling-house, made no contemptible figure. It is a sin- 
gular circumstance, that the cedar wainscot which had 
been brought out of a Spanish prize, and used by the Earl 
of Bath for fitting up the chapel in this mansion, was pur- 
chased by Lord Cobham at the time of its demolition (the 
house being then sold piecemeal), and applied to the same 
purpose at Stowe, the magnificent seat of the noble family 
of Grenville in Buckinghamshire, where it still remains. 
Defoe, in his Tour through Great Britain, speaking of 
Stowe in Cornwall, says that the carving of the chapel 
was the work of Michael Chuke, and not inferior to Gib- 
bons 

Ilcombe, now a farm-house belonging to Lord Car- 
teret, is described by Norden as the residence of a younger 
br&nch of the Grenvilles. 



KILKHAMPTON. 347 

Alderscombe, formerly a seat of the Orchards, is the pro- 
perty of the Rev. Thomas Hooper Morrison, nephew of the 
late Paul Orchard, Esq. of Hartland Abbey. 

Elmsworthy, some time a seat of the Westlakes, is now 
a farm house, the property of Mr. Galsworthy, of Hartland. 
The last of the Westlakes died in very indigent circum- 
stances about the year 1772, having been reduced to the 
situation of a parish pauper. It is a singular circum- 
stance, that he was twice pricked for Sheriff after he was an 
inhabitant of the poor-house. In the parish church are 
monuments of the Grenville family, and memorials of the 
Orchards of Alderscombe, the Westlakes of Elmsworthy, 
and the Waddons of Tonacombe in Morwinstow. On the 
monument of Sir Beville Grenville, which is surrounded 
by military trophies, is the following inscription : " Here 
lyes all that was mortal of the most noble and truly valiant 
Sir Beville Grenville, of Stowe in the county of Cornwall, 
Earl of Corbill and Lord of Thorigny and Granville in 
France and Normandy, descended in a direct line from 
Robert, second son of the warlike Rollo, first Duke of 
Normandy; who, after having obtained divers signal victories 
over the Rebels in the West, was at length slain with many 
wounds at the battle of Lansdowne July 5, 1643. He 
married the most virtuous lady, Grace, daughter of Sir 
George Smith, of the county of Devon, by whom he had 
many sons, eminent for their loyalty and firm adherence to 
the Crown and Church; and several daughters, remark- 
able examples of true piety. He was indeed an excellent 
person, whose activity, interest, and reputation was the 
foundation of what had been done in Cornwall, and his 
temper and affection so public that no accident which hap- 
pened could make any impressions on him, and his example 
kept others from taking any thing ill, or at least seeming to 
do so ; in a word, a brighter courage and a gentler dispo- 
sition were never married together to make the most cheer- 
ful and innocent conversation. Vide Lord Clarendon's 
History of the Rebellion. 



348 KILKHAMPTON. 

11 To the immortal memory of his renowned grandfather 
this monument was erected by the Right Honorable George 
Lord Lansdowne, Treasurer of the Household to Queen 
Anne, and one of Her Majesty's most Honorable Privy 
Council, &c. in the year 1714. 

" Thus slain thy valiant ancestor did lye, 
When his one bark a navy did defy, 
When now encompass'd round the victor stood, 
And bath'd his pinnace in his conquering blood, 
'Till, all his purple current dried and spent, 
He fell, and made the waves his monument. 
Where shall the next famed Granville's ashes stand? 
Thy grandsire fills the seas, and thou the land. 

Martin Llewellin." 
Vide Oxford University Verses, printed 1643. 

Sir Beville Granville was forty-eight years of age at the 
time of his death, as appears by the following record of his 
birth in the parish register at Kilkhampton : 

" Bevell, the sonne of the worshipful Bernarde Greyn- 
ville, Esquire, was borne and baptized at Brinn in Corn- 
wall, Ao. Dni. 1595." 

In the margin, " Marche 1595, borne the 23d day, bap- 
tized the 25th day of Marche." 

His brother Sir Richard's baptism is thus entered, 
" Richard, the son of Barnard Granevile, Esq. baptized 26 
June 1600." 

Lord Carteret is patron of the rectory of Kilkhampton. 
In the registers of the see of Exeter, mention is made of a 
chapel at Brighdey in this parish, dedicated to St. Ca- 
tharine. — Thus far from Mr. Lysons. 

All the accounts and traditions of Sir Beville Granville 
represent him as a hero bordering on romance, as the rival 
of Sir Philip Sidney, and of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. 
He fell, however, into all the political errors of that age, by 
attaching himself to the existing form of Government, not 



KILKHAMPTON. 349 

because it appeared, on the whole, to prove most conducive 
to human happiness, but from some fanciful, superstitious, 
or blasphemous analogy it was supposed to bear with the 
Divine administration of the universe. Then he concurred 
with those who thought it expedient and right to destroy 
the resemblance, by limiting that which, on the supposition, 
should exist without restraint or control ; and entertaining 
that opinion, he nevertheless endeavoured to prove by argu- 
ments, and still more powerfully by his arms at Stratton and 
at Bath, that no resistance could in any case be lawfully 
exercised against the individual who happened to hold the 
chief magistracy from the accident of his birth. Such glar- 
ing inconsistencies were, however, almost obscured by the 
splendour of undaunted courage, of disinterested generosity, 
and, by adherence to principles honestly entertained, how- 
ever erroneous or contradictory. 

It would be unfair to the memory of Sir Beville Gran- 
ville not to insert his letter to Sir John Trelawny, recently 
printed in the Memorials of John Hampden, 2 vols. 8vo., 
by George Grenville Nugent Temple, Lord Nugent, vol. 2, 
p. 195. 

Most Honourable Sir, 

I have in many kinds had trial of your nobleness, but 
in none more than in this singular expression of your 
kind care and love. I give also your excellent Lady humble 
thanks for respect unto my poor Woman, who hath been 
long a faithfiil much obliged servant of your Ladyes. 
But Sir! for my journey, it is fixed. I cannot contain 
myself within my doors, when the King of England's 
standard waves in the field upon so just occasion. The 
cause being such as must make all those that die in it 
little inferior to martyrs. And for my own part, I desire 
to acquire an honest name, or an honourable grave. I 
never loved my life or ease so much as to shun such an oc- 
casion ; which if I should, I were unworthy of the profes- 
sion I have held, or to succeed those ancestors of mine, 
who have so many of them in several ages sacrificed their 



350 KILKHAMPTON. 

lives for their country. Sir, the barbarous and implacable 
enemy, notwithstanding His Majesty's gracious proceedings 
with them, do continue their insolences and rebellion in the 
highest degree, and are united in a body of great strength; 
so as you may expect, if they be not prevented and mastered 
near their own homes, they will be troublesome in yours, 
and in the remotest places ere long. 

I am not without the consideration, as you lovingly ad- 
vise, of my wife and family ; and as for her, I must ac- 
knowledge, she hath ever drawn so evenly in the yoke 
with me, as she hath never prest before, or hung be- 
hind me, nor ever opposed or resisted my will. And yet 
truly I have not, in this or any thing else, endeavoured to 
walk in the way of power with her, but of reason ; and 
though her love will submit to either, yet truly my respect 
will not suffer me to urge her with power, unless I can con- 
vince with reason. So much for that, whereof I am willing 
to be accomptable unto so good a friend. 

I have no suit unto you in mine own behalf, but for 
your prayers and good wishes ; and that if I live to come 
home again, you would please to continue me in the number 
of your servants. 

I shall give a true relation unto my very noble friend 
Mr. Moyle, of your and his Aunt's loving respects to him, 
which he hath good reason to be thankful for. And so I 
beseech God to send you and your noble family all health 
and happiness, and while I Jive I am, Sir, 

Your unfeigned loving and faithful servant, 

Beville Granville. 

With the death of Sir Beville Granville, in the moment 
of victory at Lansdown, the splendour of this family seems 
to have fallen under a temporary eclipse. 

His brother is represented by Hyde, the partial histo- 
rian of these civil wars, as unworthy of the character sup- 
posed to distinguish Cavaliers. 

. John Grenville, his eldest son, created Earl of Bath, 
appears to have been rapacious and oppressive. 



KILKHAMPTON. 351 

But all this was amply compensated by the subsequent 
conduct of his son and heir Charles Grenville, who served 
with honour in the continental wars, and participated 
with John Sobieski in the preservation of Christendom 
under the walls of Vienna in 1683. 

George Grenville, son <ff Barnard Grenville, brother to 
the first Earl of Bath, is known to every one by his lite- 
rary attainments and by his talents for poetry. This gen- 
lteman had the honour of being elected member for the 
county of Cornwall, with Mr. John Trevanion, after the 
great contest of 1710, amidst shouts of 

Grenville and Trevanion as sound as a Bell, 
For the Queen, the Church, and Sacheverel : 

In the following year an hereditary seat in Parliament 
was bestowed on him, with the appellation of Lord Lans- 
down, and he was succeeded in the representation of Corn- 
wall by Sir Richard Vyvyan. 

Lord Lansdown suffered imprisonment after the acces- 
sion of George I. and retired from public life. His ge- 
nuine works in prose and verse were collected in 2 vols. 4to., 
London 1732. He died, sine prole, in 1734. 

The old house at Stowe was taken down by John Gren- 
ville the first Earl of Bath, and a superb mansion erected in 
its place, partly, as it is said, at the national expense ; having 
the internal decorations suited to the size and magnificence of 
the exterior ; but soon after the decease of his grandson 
in 1711, when the property passed into a female line, 
this house was taken down and the materials of all kinds 
sold. 

It used to be said that almost every gentleman's seat in 
Cornwall had received embellishments from Stowe, Mr. 
Prideaux* house at Padstow received an entire staircase, 
and some carved wainscot has, by a singular fate, found its 
way to Stowe, in Buckinghamshire. 

Alderscombe, in this parish, was for many years held on 
lease for lives by the family of Cottell. 

Mr. Alexander Cottell, about the year 1720, having 



352 KILKHAMPTON. 

served his clerkship in Penzance, as an attorney, married 
Sarah Phillips, one of the daughters of Mr. Samuel Phil- 
lips, of Pendrea. There is a monument to her memory in 
the church, stating her decease on the 7th of August, 1727, 
in her thirtieth year, with the arms of Cottell, Or, a bend 
Gu. This gentleman married again and dissipated his whole 
property. 

The church is one of the finest in Cornwall, containing 
splendid monuments; and under, is a most spacious vault 
belonging to the Glanville family. 

It is perhaps worth noticing that here, while he served the 
curacy, Mr. Hervey composed his Meditations among the 
Tombs. 

Kilkharapton measures 7,234 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. rf. 
returned to Parliament in 1815, 3,959 

Poor Rate in 1831 792 5 

« i ♦• fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831 

Population,- 1 808 | g52 | lfi2 l\ M26 

giving an increase of 39 per cent in 30 years. 

Present Rector, the Rev. John Davis, presented by 
Lord Carteret in 1810. 

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE. 

Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that 
Kilkharapton is entirely situated on the dunstone, which 
forms the substratum throughout the north-eastern part of 
Cornwall. 



LADOCK, COMMONLY PRONOUNCED LASSICK. 
HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost 

TONKIN. 

Ladock is in the hundred of Powder, and confines on 



LADOCK. 353 

the west to St. Erme, on the north to St. Enodor, on the 
east to St. Stephan's in Branwell, on the south to St. 
Probus. 

This parish takes its name from Saint Ladoca, whom I 
take to be an Irish Saint; and probably she came over with 
St. Breage. 

This parish is a rectory, valued in the King's Books at 
£\8. The patronage in Kelland Courtenay, and Thomas 
Pitt, Esqrs. Governor Pitt, grandfather of Mr. Thomas 
Pitt, purchased this alternate right of the Lady Mahon, 
together with all the Mahon property in Cornwall. The 
incumbent Mr. Wm. Wood. 

The manor of Nansoath, in this parish, signifies the fat 
(i. e. fertile) valley, the name being compounded of nans, 
a valley, and soath or soa, fat, tallow, &c. 

To the north of Nansoath is Hay. This was the seat of 
the Randyls, and was sold to Mr. William Tregea, of 
Lambrigan, who did not keep it long, but parted with it 
to Richard Bone, Gent, who dying without being ever 
married, left it by will, with several other estates, to his 
kinsman Richard Bone, Gent, who now lives there, and 
hath married Anne, the daughter of Mr. John Andrew, of 
Trethurfe, by whom he has issue. Mr. Randyll's arms 
were, Gules, on a cross Argent, three mullets pierced Sable. 
Mr. Bone's are, Ermine, a fess indented Sable. 

Joining with Hay is Boswaydel, usually called Boswidle, 
which I take to signify a house in an open place, or one 
easy to be seen from. 

The manor of Bedocke or Bessake. Francis Tregian, 
Esq. forfeited this manor, with his other lands (see Pro- 
bus). To the east of this is the church and rectory house ; 
and the manor of Trethurfe or Tretherf. This was an- 
ciently, perhaps before the Norman Conquest, the seat of 
a very eminent family of the same name, who gave for their 
arms, Azure, a buck's head cabouched Argent. John Tre- 
therfe was one of the Knights returned to Parliament 
for this county in the 15th year of King Henry VI. Regi- 

VOL. II. 2 A 



354 LA DOCK. 

nald Trethurf married Margery, the second daughter and 
coheir of John St. Aubyn, Esq. by Catharine his wife, the 
daughter and heir of Sir Robert Challons, of Challons Legh 
in Devonshire, as appears by a bill in the Treasury, of 7 
Henry VI. 

THE EDITOR. 

In the Taxation of Ecclesiastical Benefices by the 
Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, under the authority of 
Pope Nicholas, will be found : 

T&xatio. Deciouu 

Ecclesia de Soncto Ladoca ..£6 12 
In Wolsey's Valuation, Ladocke 18 1 16 

Besides the church town there is one considerable vil- 
lage in this parish called Bedeck or Besock, after the manor 
of which it forms a part 

Mr. Pitt not only acquired the alternate presentation to 
this rectory by purchase from the family of Mahon, as is 
stated by Mr. Tonkin, but also the manor of Ladock, 
which had previously belonged to the Carminows and 
Courtenays. The barton of Trethurfe has passed by the 
heiresses of Kelland Courtenay to the families of Poyntz 
and Boyle. The barton of Nansaugh is the property and 
the residence of Mr. Andrews. 

Hay, noticed by Mr. Tonkin as belonging to Mr. 
Richard Bone, came by purchase to the Hearles of Penryn, 
and in the division of the lands belonging to that family, 
it has fallen to Mrs. Stephens, of Tregenna. 

The manor of Bessake was acquired by Mr. Francis 
Tregian, son of the gentleman from whom it had been 
seized, but soon afterwards it passed by sale to the Arundells, 
from them by gift to the Moncktons, who have added the 
name of Arundell; and finally Robert Monckton Arundell, 
Viscount Galway, sold it in 1780 to the late Sir Christo- 
pher Hawkins. 

The Rev. John Eliot, rector of this parish, and of Truro, 



LA DOCK. 355 

who died in 1760, founded two exhibitions at Exeter Col- 
lege for young men from Truro school. 

The vale, extending from north to south quite across this 
parish, is one of the most beautiful in Cornwall : it was, 
however, little known beyond the immediate neighbour- 
hood, till the line of road forming the great communica- 
tion from Falmouth, and the whole western part of the 
county, with London, was carried through it in the year 
1830. The church and tower, which are handsome in 
themselves, stand on a commanding situation, and are seen 
to great advantage from the new road. 

Ladock measures 4,859 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 4,566 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 310 2 

Population -4 in 1801 ' I in 1811 > I in 1821 > I in 183I > 
ropuiation, ^ 54g | 651 | 8Q6# | 761 

giving an increase of 40 per cent, in 30 years. 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish is entirely situated on rocks belonging to the 
slate series ; its northern corner, however, approaches very 
near to the boundary of the granite. 

Its different kinds of slates are the same as those of the 
adjacent parishes of St. Enoder and St. Erme ; the rocks 
of its northern and eastern boundaries resembling those of 

* This parish presents a very singular anomaly in respect to its Population 
Return. It would obviously occur that the 8 might possibly have stood for a 7 
in the place of hundreds in the return for 1821 j but that return at large, as 
printed by the House of Commons, has 
F.milie, employed F.n,Hies employed Other M p 

in Agriculture. in Trades, &c. families. 

90 19 15 418 888 806 

This gives however 6$ for each family. 

If the rate of increase had continued for the last ten years, as it did in the 
former twenty, the final number would have been 983, with an increase at the 
rate of 81 per cent, in 80 years. 

2 a2 



356 LAMORAN. 

St Enoder, the southern part corresponding to those of 
St. Erme. 

Most of the Tallies have been excavated for stream tin, 
and these have yielded some of the largest pieces of gold 
that have been found in Cornwall. 



LAMORAN. 



HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lamoran is in the hundred of Powder, and hath on the 
west and north St. Michael Penkivell; on the east Cor- 
nelly ; on the south the river Fale, between it and Ruan 
Lanyhorn. 

The right name of this parish is Lan Morun, the 
church of St. Morun, to whom it is dedicated ; but as to 
who St. Morun was I must plead ignorance, except that I 
believe him to have been one of those who came from Ire- 
land in the fifth century. 

This parish is a rectory, valued in the King's Book at 
«£6. The patronage is in Sir John Molesworth, in right 
of the manor of Lanmoran, to which it belongs. 

The incumbent Mr. Samuel Ley. 

This litde parish hath but one manor in it, and that is 
called by its own name. 

THE EDITOR. 

In the valuation of Pope Nicholas the taxation is £1, 
the tenths nothing. 



LAMORAN. 357 

This parish has but two villages, the Church Town and 
Tregenna. 

The manor of Lamoran, including the whole parish, has 
passed through various families ; Halep and Trevenor, from 
that family by coheiresses to Roscarrack and Chamond, 
then Vermans and Sparks, and Molesworths, from whom 
by purchase, it passed to Boscawen. The advowson is an 
appendage to the manor. 

The church is said to be most curiously situated on the 
edge of the river, and with a tower more venerable than 
itself, at a certain distance from it. 

The church has some monuments to the Vermans. Their 
old manor house is fallen into decay. 

This parish measures 1130 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 895 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 25 3 

o i f . (in 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, 

Population,- | 78 | 94 | 93 

giving an increase of 23 per cent in 30 years. 



in 1831, 
96 



THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The geology of this little parish is precisely the same as 
that of Filley, of the lower part of Kea, and of other pa- 
rishes situated around the numerous creeks communicating 
with Falmouth harbour. 

Present Rector, the Rev. William Curgerven, pre- 
sented in 1803 by the Earl of Falmouth. 



LENDAWEDNACK, or LANDEWEDNACK. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 



358 LANDEWEDNACK. 



TONKIN. 

Landawednack lies in that part of the hundred of Ker- 
rier which is called Meneage. It hath to the west, south, 
and east, the English Channel, to the north Ruan Major 
and Grade. 

The name signifies the church of St. Wednack, or Wyn- 
nock; (although Mr. Carew, I know not on what authority, 
calls it St. Landy,) to whom is likewise dedicated Towed- 
nack, in the hundred of Pen with, and St Winnow. It is 
a rectory, valued in the .King's Book at JB11. 16*. 8d. 
The patronage in the heirs of^ George Robinson, Esq. 

The manor of Lizard, so called froitt .the famous Point of 
that name, which is a part of it. This manor was one of 
those given to the Earl of Morton. 

X 

THE EDITOR. \ 

This parish has but two villages. The Church ToV n 
and an assemblage of small houses near the Point, ana 
called Lizard, or Lizard Town. 

Mr. Lysons says, that the very extensive manor of Tre- 
theves, Lucies, and Rosswick, extends over a great part of 
this parish, and into Ruan Minor and Grade: it belonged 
to the Carminows, then to the Reskymers, and to Robinson, 
by whom it was sold in 1768 to Mr. Thomas Fonnereau, 
after whose death it was purchased by the late Sir Chris- 
topher Hawkins. 

Mr. Fonnereau came into Cornwall as an adventurer, 
and chiefly for the purpose of constructing Lighthouses on 
the Lizard Point, under one of the improvident grants 
which were frequently made in those times.- 

A single lighthouse stands on St. Agnes Island at Scilly, 
and three, forming a triangle, on the rocks of Guernsey. 
Two towers were therefore built on the Lizard, that each 
Point might be distinct from the others, and experience 
has proved their utility to be very great. For many years 
after their construction the Ugbts consisted of coal fires, in 



LANDEWEDNACK. 369 

each lantern, after the manner of a smith's forge, and 
urged in a similar way by bellows ; but the blowing could 
not be always maintained, and when that had been inter- 
milted for a short time the lights nearly disappeared. 

Since the expiration of the grant made to the first pro- 
jector, the affairs have been under the intelligent, scientific, 
and liberal management of the Trinity House. They have 
substituted large Argand lamps, each placed in the focus 
of a parabolic mirror, plated with burnished silver ; and 
these cast a continued and steady light, visible in clear 
weather to the extremity of the horizon. 

Latitude of the Lizard flagstaff 49<> 57' 55".8 ; longi- 
tude west from Greenwich 5° 11' 17".7. From the Trigo- 
nometrical Survey. 

In Mr. Lax's Table, the Western Light House is 
slated to have latitude 49° 57' 44", and longitude 5° If 5\ 

This parish measures 1,843 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £* s. d 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 1,187 

Poor Rate in 1831 126 4 

jy , .. fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, | in 1831, 

Population,- | 244 '| 303 | 387 | 406 ' 

giving an increase of 66 per cent, in 30 y^ars. 

Present Rector, the Rev. H. T. Coulson, presented in 
1827 by Henry Coulson, Esq. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

By far the greater part of this parish is composed of ser- 
pentine, which is generally of the red variety, with dark- 
coloured and shining scales of diallage. 

South of a line drawn east and west, a little north of the 
church, across the peninsula of the Lizard, the rocks are 
for the most part schistose, and are covered with a deep 
soil, which is exceedingly productive. 

The cliffs around this part of the parish are very inte- 
resting, and if minutely scrutinized would probably throw 
some additional light on the nature and position of the 



360 LANDEWEDNACK. 

serpentine. To this end it would be necessary to make the 
survey from the sea, which could only be effected occa- 
sionally, and under very favourable circumstances. 

At Perranbonse Cove, near the church, the slate is a 
variety of schistose diallage rock, such as has been already 
described at Cadgwith. 

Near the lighthouses the cliff is formed of a glossy de- 
composing talcose slate, which has been called by some ge- 
ologists Micaceous schist, but talc appears to be the cha- 
racteristic mineral, as it is present in a distinct form 
throughout the veins, with nodules of quartz abounding in 
this slate. 

At Hensall Cove the blue slate is much intermixed with 
calcareous spar in various forms, resembling the slate ad- 
joining the calc shists, and blue limestones at Veryan, Pad- 
stow, and some other parts of Cornwall. 



The Editor would take the liberty of adding that in this 
parish veins of steatite run through the serpentine forma- 
tion ; and that considerable quantities have been raised by 
the late Mr. Wedgwood from some veins larger than the 
others, and near the cliff. The soft and unctuous qualities 
of this substance gave it the popular name of soap rock. 
Thin veins of native copper traverse also the serpentine 
formation; but never in sufficient quantities to bear the 
expense of mining. In some places specimens of semi- 
transparent serpentine are found shot through by branches 
of native copper, forming what has been termed dendrites. 

At Kynans Cove the assemblage of rocks possesses such 
an extraordinary degree of beauty and magnificence as to 
render it one of the spots most worthy of attention on the 
whole coast. The interest excited by the general effect is 
heightened, on a more close inspection, by natural caverns, 
and the intervals between the rocks are perpetually varied 
in their appearance by the swell and by the subsidence of 
waves from the sea. 

This spot possesses further interest to a botanist by the 
production of some rare plants. The asparagus officinalis, 



LANDRAKE. 361 

the beta maritima, the carduus acoulis, rare in Cornwall, 
and some others. 

Doctor Borlase records some instances of great longevity 
in this parish, but such generally occur in all dry and un- 
confined districts, more especially when they are somewhat 
elevated above the ordinary level of alluvial countries. 

A manufactory has been recently established for produc- 
ing ornamented trifles from the beautifully coloured and 
variegated serpentine of this district, and with so much suc- 
cess that vases have been turned in lathes, exceeding a foot 
in height, and they hope to polish chimney-pieces on a 
large scale. 



LANDRAKE. 



HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this perish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Landrake is situate in the hundred of East, and hath to 
the west St. Germans ; to the north Quethiock ; to the east 
Pillaton, Botus Fleming and St. Stephan's; to the south St. 
Erney. 

This church, in A. D. 1291, the 20th Edward I., is 
valued at £A. 13s. 4d. being then appropriated to the 
Priory of St. Germans; the vicarage at £10. 

The vicarage is valued by Wolsey at £18. 12s. 4d. The 
patronage in Lord Hobart, as heir to Sir John Maynard. 

The manor of Lanrake, as the parish should also be 
written, is reckoned to be the very best in the county. It 
was valued in the 1st year of Edward I. at £100, which no 



862 LAN DRAKE. 

other estate came up to but Sheviock and Pawton, which 
last however was valued at £120. 

THE EDITOR. 

There seems to be but little of importance connected 
with this parish. The extensive manor of Lanrake is said 
by Mr. Lysons to have belonged at an early period to the 
family of St. Margaret, and in the seventeenth century to 
have belonged to Sergeant Maynard, from whom it passed 
by marriage to the family of Hobart, and from that to 
Edgecumbe. This manor includes the advowson of the 
vicarage; and the impropriation of the great tithes be- 
longed also to Sergeant Maynard, having been a part of 
the endowments taken from the Priory of St. Germans. 

The church town is rather a large village, and the 
church and tower are of the form and size common 
throughout Cornwall. The church contains several mo- 
numents. 

In this parish is another village, called Wotton Cross, 
and part of a third called Tidiford, where a small river, 
navigable for barges, and communicating with the Tamar 
at Hamoaze, divides Landrake from St. Germans. 

The facility of water communication has established 
some trade at Tidiford, but it is chiefly remarkable by the 
great quantities of Plymouth limestone burnt there for 
manure. 

The system of using time in agriculture does not date 
further back in this district than the early part, or per- 
haps than the middle, of the last century ; and it is sup- 
posed at the least to have doubled the value of all the land, 
and in consequence to have increased the population, im- 
proved the country, and largely added to all the sources of 
honest industry and employment. 

Wotton, as a seat of the Courtenays, must have been in 
former times a place of some consequence. It belonged to 
the family of Blake, the heiress of which family has mar- 
ried Francis Dogherty, Esq. 



ST. ERNEY. 363 



St. Erney. 

The little parish of St. Erney, being in fact a part of 
Landrake, except that its church still exists as a chapel 
supported by a local rate, is not noticed by Mr. Hals under 
the letter E, and his account of it is therefore lost, with 
this part of his manuscript. 

TONKIN. 

St. Erney, St. Erna, or St. Erne, stands in the hundred 
of East, and hath upon the north Landrake, upon the south 
St. Germans Creek, upon the west St. Germans, upon tl\e 
east Botus- Fleming. 

San Erna in the Cernawish tongue signifies holy hour, 
with reference to, I apprehend, the time set apart for the 
celebration of divine service. In the Saxon and Kerna- 
wish combined, San Erna is an holy or sacred eagle ; and 
if so, I take it, the name must be construed as relating to 
the person that officiates at divine service, who, as an eagle, 
ascends up to heaven for metaphysical or supernatural mys- 
teries — as St. John the Evangelist, whose similitude is an 
eagle. In this sense we have Eagle vicarage in Graffo 
hundred, Lincolnshire. 

This is a daughter church to Landrake. 

TfcE editor. 

Mr. Lysons notices the manor of Trelugan, of which 
Wotton in Landrake seems to be the barton ; and also 
the manor of Markwell, which he says belonged to Thomas 
Earl of Lancaster, attainted in the reign of Edward II. 
Then to the Bodrugans, and after the attaint of Henry de 
Bodrugan, in the reign of Henry VII. it was granted to 
Sir John Paulet, and descended to the late Duke of Bolton. 

Mr. Lysons states, that this being a daughter church to 
Landrake, is entitled to service but once a month ; it is 



364 ST. ERNEY. 

probably entitled once in three weeks, which is the general 

custom or canon. 

Landrake measures . . 2217 ) A ^ 

« -n. M . > statute acres. 

St. Erney . . . 881 J 

3098 

Annual value of the Real Property in both £. s. d. 

parishes as returned to Parliament in 1815 5818 

Poor Rate in both parishes 1831 . 459 2 



*j 



in 1821, 
841 



in 1831, 

872 



Population of \ in 1801, I in 1811 

both parishes. J 613 | 768 
giving an increase of 42 per cent in 30 years. 

Rector of Landrake, the Rev. Wymond Cory, pre- 
sented in 1802 by the Countess of Mount Edgecombe ; 
of St Erney, the Rev. H. Molesworth, presented in 1823 
by Lord de Dunstanville. 

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE. 

St. Erney consists principally of a blue slate or calca- 
reous schist, and it probably also contains limestone, as is 
the case in St. Germans, the two parishes being separated 
only by a small creek. 

Landrake. This parish is entirely constituted of rocks 
belonging to the calcareous series, like those of the adjacent 
parishes, St. Erney and St. Germans. 



LANDULPH, or LANDIL1P. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 
tonkin. 

Landulph is in the hundred of East To the west of it 
is Pillaton and Botus- Fleming, to the north St. Dominick, 
to the east and south the river Tamar. 



LANDULPH. 365 

This signifies the church of Dilp. 

It is a rectory, valued in the King's Books at £20. 3s. 6d. 
The Duke of Cornwall patron. 

This church was valued in the time of Pope Nicholas at 
£4> 9 having never been appropriated, the prior of St. Ger- 
mans receiving out of the rectory a pension of i>8 ; and if 
I understand the entries rightly, the same did the abbat of 
Tavistock. 

THE EDITOR. 

The church of Landulph is situated almost on the margin 
of the shore, and looks directly down the river. It contains 
monuments of the Lowers, but it has one monument of 
extraordinary interest, to the memory of Theodore Pa- 
leologus, descended from the last Emperors of Greece, or 
as they styled themselves in the single city of Constanti- 
nople, Emperors of Rome. 

A very ample account of all that can be collected with 
respect to this personage, has been given by the present 
learned and ingenious rector Mr. Francis Vyvyan Jago 
Arundell, in a communication to the Society of Antiquaries, 
in 1815. 

" In the parish church of Landulph, in the eastern ex- 
tremity of Cornwall, is a small brass tablet fixed against 
the wall, with the following inscription : — 

< Here lyeth the body of Theodore Paleologus, of Pe- 
saro in Italye, descended from y e Imperyal lyne of y e last 
Christian emperors of Greece, being the sonne of Camilio, 
y e sonne of Prosper, the sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of 
John, y e sonne of Thomas, second brother of Constantine 
Paleologus, the 8 tl4 of that name, and last of y* lyne y t 
rayned in Constantinople until subdued by the Turks, 
who married w* Mary, y e daughter of William Balls, of 
Hadlye in Souffolke, Gent, and had issue 5 children, The-* 
odore, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy ; and de- 
parted this life at Clyfton, ye 21»* of Jany, 1636.' 

" Above the inscription are the imperial arms proper, of 



366 LANDULPH. 

the empire of Greece — an eagle displayed with two heads, 
the two legs resting upon two gates ; the imperial crown 
over the whole, and between the gates a crescent for dif- 
ference as second son. 

" The Paleologus dynasty were descended from the 
imperial race of the Comneni ; and the first of the family 
was Michael Paleologus about 1270; to whom succeeded 
Andronicus the First and Second, John I., and Emmanuel, 
who died 1425, leaving six sons. The eldest, John II., 
who was associated with his father in the government 
during his lifetime, succeeded him. Andronicus, the se- 
cond son, had the principality of Thessalonica, and died of 
a leprosy soon after the sale of that city to the Venetians. 
Some fortunate incidents had restored Peloponnesus, or 
the Morea, to the empire ; and in his more prosperous days 
Emmanuel had fortified the narrow isthmus of six miles 
with a stone wall and 153 towers. The wall was over- 
thrown upon the first blast of the Ottomans ; the fertile 
peninsula might have been sufficient for the four younger 
brothers, Theodore and Constantine, Demetrius and 
Thomas, but they wasted in domestic contests the remains 
of their strength, and the least successful of the rivals were 
reduced to a life of dependance in the Byzantine palace. 
On the death of John II., who survived four years the 
Hungarian crusade, the royal family by the death of An- 
dronicus, and the monastic profession of Isidore (or Theo- 
dore), was reduced to three princes, Constantine, Deme- 
trius, and Thomas. Of these, the first and last were far 
distant in the Morea ; but Demetrius, who possessed the 
domain of Selybria, was in the suburbs qt the head of a 
party. His ambition was not chilled with the public dis- 
tress, and his conspiracy with the Turks and the schismatics 
had already disturbed the peace of the country. He would 
have supplanted his brother, and ascended the throne, but 
for his mother and the great men, who prevented him. 
His younger brother, the despot Thomas, also accidentally 



LANDULPH. 367 

returning td the capital, asserted the cause of Cottstantine, 
who was crowned emperor- 

" Demetrius and Thomas now divided the Morea be- 
tween them ; but, though they had taken a solemn oath 
never to violate the agreement, differences soon arose, and 
Thomas took up arms to drive Demetrius out of his pos* 
sessions ; Demetrius hereupon retired to Asan, his wife's 
brother, by whose means he obtained succours from Amu- 
rat, and compelled Thomas to submit the matters in dis- 
pute to the emperor's (Constantine's) arbitration. But 
that prince refusing to deliver to his brother the territories 
that fell to his share, Mohammed ordered Thuraken, his 
governor in the Morea, to assist Demetrius, and demolish 
the wall that shut up that country. Hereupon Thomas 
gave him the city of Kalamata, in lieu of the territory of 
the Skortians, which he detained. Immediately on this 
event, Mohammed besieged and took Constantinople, in 
defence of which Constantine was slain. 

" The dissensions of the two brothers may be considered 
a principal cause of the fall of the Greek empire. 

" After the capture of Constantinople, Mohammed 
makes war on Demetrius and Thomas, under pretence of 
recovering the tribute due to him from them as despots of 
the Morea; but he is obliged to retire, and soon after 
comes to agreement with them. At this time the Alba- 
nians, Thomas's subjects, revolt, and attack Pattras, a city 
of Achaia, where Thomas resided, but are repulsed ; they 
would have been, however, ultimately successful, had not 
Mohammed sent his general Thuraken to their assistance. 

" The two brothers again falling out, and endeavouring to 
supplant each other, Mohammed takes advantage of it, and 
in 1458 sends an order to the despots of the Morea to pay 
three years' arrears of ten thousand ducats tribute, or quit 
the country. In spring following, he marched to attack 
the Morea, and reduced Corinth, without using force. At 
the first news of his appearance, Thomas, one of the des- 
pots, retired to Italy with his wife and children ; and De- 



368 LANDULPH. 

metritis, the other, submitted of his own accord to the Sol- 
t&n, who carried him away to Constantinople. 

" Such is the account given in the Universal History from 
Dukas. The relation of Khalcondylas in the same work 
is more particular, as well as more favourable to the charac- 
ter of Thomas : ' Prince Thomas having retired from 
Pylos, repaired to the island of Korfu, where he left his 
family, and set sail for Italy; at the same time he sent an 
ambassador to know if Mohammed would give him a great 
extent of country along the sea coast in exchange for the 
city of Epidamnum. The Soltan, by way of answer, put 
the envoy in irons, but soon after sent him back. Thomas 
arriving at Rome 1461, was lodged in the Pope's palace, 
and had a pension of three thousand livres for his other 
expenses/ 

" Rycaut, in his History, gives a still higher character 
of Thomas : * Thomas getting into the castle of Salme- 
nica, defended the same against the infidels a whole year, 
when, despairing of relief, he escaped into Italy, where the 
Pope allowed him a pension till the day of his death/ Of 
him Mahomet gave this character: « That he had found 
many slaves, but never a man in the Grecian province 
besides Prince Thomas/ 

" But Gibbon has a very contemptible account of the 
ultimate fate of this unfortunate family. He says, that 
Demetrius died at Constantinople in a monastic habit, and 
abject slavery ; that the misery of Thomas was prolonged 
by a pension of six thousand ducats from the Pope and 
cardinals; that he died leaving two sons, Andrew and 
Manuel, who were educated in Italy; that Manuel the 
younger returned to Constantinople, where he was main* 
tained by the Soltan, and died, leaving a son, who was lost 
in the habit and religion of a Turkish slave. The elder 
brother, Andrew, contemptible to his enemies, and bur- 
thensome to his friends, was degraded by the baseness of 
his life and marriage, and sold his title to the empires of 
Constantinople and Trebizond to Charles VIII. in 1494, 



LANDULPH. 369 

who assumed the purple and title of Augustus. And in a 
note he says, from Du Cange, that the Palaeologi of Mont- 
ferrat were not extinct till the next century, but they had 
forgotten their Greek origin and kindred. 

" So degrading is the account this historian gives us of 
the remains of this celebrated family. It is a grateful task 
to endeavour to prove his representation in some respects 
incorrect and undeserved ; as we shall then be authorised 
to hesitate upon what he tells us as to the rest, and to put 
a more liberal construction upon the whole. 

" From the inscription at Landulph it is clear Thomas had 
three sons : the third, called John, whose family, though we 
have no particular mention of them, remained in Italy, at 
Rome probably, and Pesaro, till the time of Theodore. 
From the inscription it is also certain that this family was 
not extinct in 1636, and perhaps some of the descendants 
are still living in England at this moment. 

«' The imputation thrown on the Montferrat Paleologi 
certainly does not apply to this branch, that they had for- 
gotten their Greek origin and kindred ; on the contrary, 
the inscription proves, from the accuracy of the pedigrees 
and the arms with the difference of second brother, that 
the family of Theodore Paleologus, had neither forgotten 
their Greek origin nor high descent, but still gloried in 
them, and were scrupulously exact in perpetuating the same. 

" The names of Theodore and John occurring in this pe- 
digree, and continued in the family of Theodore, are still 
stronger evidences. Camillo, Prosper, and Ferdinando, 
were probably acquired on their connection with Italian 
families. 

"It would be absurd to make any conjectures as to the 
history of Theodore's predecessors, as we have no docu- 
ments to warrant any conjecture. If we hazard any 
opinion at all, we may suppose, that when, in 1464, the 
Venetians under Vetorio Capelli warred against the Turks 
and attacked Pattras, Thomas's former residence, he pro- 
bably joined them, perhaps fell there ; and in the frequent 

VOL. II. 2 B 



370 LANDULPH. 

wars which afterwards occurred between those powers, John, 
Theodore, Prosper, and Camillo, were probably not idle 
spectators, but joined against the common enemy, as well 
from a recollection of former wrongs, as a hope to regain 
some part of their ancient possessions. Indeed, their settle- 
ment at Pesaro might have been whilst the duchy of Urbino 
belonged to the Venetians, and in consideration of the 
part they took in those wars. 

" Theodore Paleologus was born, we may infer from the 
inscription, at Pesaro. Of his mother we know nothing ; 
his father was called Camillo. The time of his birth is also 
uncertain; though, from his marriage in 1615, then a 
widower, we may suppose him to be then about forty, 
which carries back his birth to 1575. 

" Theodore's removal from Italy, and settlement in Eng- 
land, must have been either compulsive or voluntary. If 
the former, it was probably either on account, 

u 1. Of his religion; or, 

" 2. From other causes. 

" As to the first, the Paleologus family, from the time of 
John II., were reconciled to and in union with the Latin 
church ; and to this circumstance is probably to be attri- 
buted the protection afterwards afforded to Thomas by the 
Pope, perhaps through the interest of Cardinal Isidore, 
the resident nuncio at Constantinople. But the Greek 
church still differed very materially in many points from 
the Latin; and though Gregory X11I. founded a college 
at Rome for the education of the Greek children in the 
sciences and religion, (and here perhaps Theodore was 
educated), yet we find him opposing what he called the 
errors of the Greeks ; and in particular, on his alteration of 
the calendar he is much incensed against them for refusing 
to receive it. And again, in the pontificate of Clement 
VIII. we find him particularly anxious to reform the Greek 
church, and much enraged at being imposed on by a pre- 
tended embassy from the metropolitan of Russia, which 
proved to be a forgery. If Theodore, as is most probable, 



LANDULPH. 371 

was still of the Greek Church, these circumstances might 
have induced the Pope to withdraw the protection and 
support hitherto afforded to the family. — But if, 

2. To other causes, is to be attributed Theodore's de- 
parture from Italy, it was perhaps from the rigid decree 
of Sixtus the Fifth, (about the year 1585), prohibiting 
foreigners from living at Rome, unless they brought a 
certificate that they were able by some trade or profession 
to maintain their families. If Theodore's family were then 
at Rome, and in dependance on the papacy, perhaps Sixtus 
might enforce this decree to rid himself of a family whose 
high descent he possibly regarded with a jealous eye, 
recollecting the meanness of his own origin* Or, the 
severe famine, which in 1590 afflicted all the ecclesiastical 
state, might oblige Theodore, among others, to emigrate to 
another country. 

«' If, on the other hand, Theodore's departure from Italy 
was voluntary, as is most probable, it might be from having 
formed some acquaintance, either with natives of this 
country, or with foreigners who were coming hither. 

"A bout the same time that the Greek college was founded 
at Rome, (and where we may imagine Theodore to have 
had his education), another was founded called the Scotch 
college, for children of refugees from Scotland and England. 
Here we may suppose Theodore to have had some acquaint- 
ance; nor is it unlikely that when the jubilee in 1601 
attracted a vast assemblage of persons from all countries to 
Rome, some one of these might have prevailed on Theodore 
to return to England with them. In the same year 1601, 
the Duke of Braciano, a neighbouring state to Pesaro, 
came to England, or rather Scotland, on a visit to the 
King of the Scots his relation. Did Theodore accompany 
him ? Again, we may suppose him to have volunteered in 
the war against the Turks under Rodolph II. in whose 
army were many Englishmen, and in particular Sir Thomas 
Arundel, whose namesake, and probably friend, Thomas 
Arundel, resided at Clifton, the subsequent residence of 

2b2 



372 LANDULPH, 

Theodore. Did he come over with him? If not, we may 
lastly imagine he came here through Sir Henry Killigrew, 
ambassador about this time to the Venetians or Genoese. 
The connection between the Arundel, Killigrew, and 
Lower families, give the most plausibility to the two last 
conjectures. 

*' But whatever may be our conjectures as to Theodore's 
removal from Italy, we know that in 1615 he was actually 
in England, at Hadley in Suffolk, and (then a widower) 
married Mary, daughter of William Balls, of that town. 
No traces of the Balls family remain at present, either from 
tradition or otherwise, except the register of Theodore's 
marriage ; and even here, Mr. Wilkins, the minister, who 
has favoured me with a copy of this register, says that it is 
too mutilated and imperfect to decipher accurately the 
name of Paleologus. 

" The issue of this marriage, as the monument tells us, 
were five children, Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, 
and Dorothy, all of whom must have been born before 
Theodore left the eastern part of the kingdom; for the 
register of Landulph, perfect till the year 1629, makes no 
mention whatever of the name. He could not therefore 
have settled at Clifton in Landulph earlier than 1622 or 
1623. 

"Clifton, a few years before this, in 1 600, was the mansion 
of the Arundels; but in 1630, Sir Nicholas Lower, a 
Cornish gentleman, who married Sir Henry Killigrew's 
daughter, was living at Clifton. Between these two dates 
Paleologus must have come here ; and what is more parti- 
cular, he died at Clifton in 1636, at the very time that 
Clifton was the residence of Sir Nicholas Lower. 

" I have made repeated inquiries of the old people of 
the parish, but not the slightest tradition remains respect- 
ing him ; and here again conjecture must supply the place 
of fact. When Theodore came to Clifton, he came with his 
family, for by the register it appears one of his daughters 
.married in the parish, and the other died here unmarried. 



LANDULPH. 373 

There must then have been some connection either be- 
tween the Arundel or Lower families and himself. 

" As to the first supposition, if it is probable he came 
into England with Sir Thomas Arundel from the battles in 
Hungary, we may suppose Sir Thomas recommended him 
to Landulph, as from its vicinity to the sea and warmth of 
climate, more nearly resembling the climate and situation 
of Pesaro than any other place in the kingdom. In this 
case we may suppose him to have taken Clifton for a term, 
and as the house appears to have been originally divided 
into two, the subsequent occupier, Sir Nicholas Lower and 
Paleologus, might be both living at Clifton at the same 
lime, unconnected with each other. 

" The more probable supposition, however, is, that he 
settled at Clifton from the connection that subsisted be- 
tween Sir Henry Killigrew (who, I feel strongly inclined 
to believe, brought him to England) and Sir Nicholas 
Lower. Sir Nicholas Lower married Sir Henry's daugh- 
ter, and as they were now advanced in life, without any 
family, the society of Paleologus and his children might 
be desirable to them ; particularly when we recollect that 
this was the time when the Greek language was so much in 
fashion in England, that even ladies studied it most zea- 
lously ; that Lady Killigrew was one of the learned daugh- 
ters of Sir Anthony Cooke, celebrated for her literary 
attainments, and particularly her knowledge of Greek; 
and it is reasonable to suppose her daughter, Lady Lower, 
wife of Sir Nicholas, was brought up with the same fond- 
ness for the classic languages ; and where could she ex- 
pect to find so able an instructor as a descendant of the 
first family in the Greek empire ; or what place could be 
more suited to classical pursuits than the retirement of a 
country mansion, such as Clifton. 

" On the 21st of January 1636, as appears by the monu- 
ment, Theodore Paleologus died at Clifton, Sir Nicholas 
and Lady Lower being still alive ; of whom the latter died 
in 1638,' and Sir Nicholas in 1655. 



374 LANDULPH. 

" The Landulph register, perfect from 1540 to 1628, 
has then a great chasm till the year 1649; and during this 
interval all the entries that would have been probably most 
interesting to our inquiries were made. 

" Some little time since 1 examined the duplicates of 
parish registers, deposited in the room of archives in Exe- 
ter cathedral ; and after a laborious search among the regis- 
ters of two centuries, thrown promiscuously together with- 
out arrangement as to either parishes or dates, and those 
for the most part obliterated by the damp, I had the good 
fortune to recover the Landulph register for the year 1636, 
which had the following entry : 

" * Theodore Palleologus was buryed the 20th daye of 
October.' 

" By the monument Theodore is said to have died the 
21st of January 1636 ; from the register it appears he was 
buried October 20, 1636. It can hardly be supposed the 
body was kept from January till October, and the difficulty 
is increased from the knowledge, that by the mode of cal- 
culation in use at that time, the year commenced at Lady- 
day; so that, if he died January 21, 1636, the 20th of 
October following must have been in 1637. 

" The body, if it remained any considerable time unin- 
terred, would have been inclosed in a lead coffin ; but this 
was not the case, for about twenty years ago, when the 
vault was accidentally opened, the coffin of Paleologus was 
seen, a single oak coffin ; and curiosity prompting to lift the 
lid, the body of Paleologus was discovered, and in so per- 
fect a state as to ascertain him to have been in stature much 
above the common height, his countenance of an oval 
form, much lengthened, and strongly marked by an aque- 
line nose, and a very white beard reaching low on the 
breast. 

" Of the five children left by him, no traces remain of 
two sons, John and Ferdinando. Whether they joined the 
brothers of Sir Nicholas Lower, who were distinguished 
cavaliers on the king's side in the unhappy wars that dis- 



LANDULPH. 375 

tracted the country soon after the death of Theodore, and 
in which Major Lower gallantly fell; or whether the miser- 
able state of England induced them again to re-visit Italy, 
cannot be ascertained. 

"Theodore was a sailor, and served on board the 
Charles II. Captain Gibson. He died at sea 1693, as 
appears by a will and power in the Commons, obligingly 
communicated to me by Francis Townsend, Esq. Windsor 
Herald. This is dated August 1, 1693, and solely in 
favour of his wife Martha. If he had any children they 
are not named in it. The signature is Theodore Paleo- 
logey ; and though described simply as mariner, it should 
seem he was possessed of landed estate, as there are four 
witnesses, Charles Gibson, commander, J. Wright, John 
Corneth, Richard Roberts. 

" Mary Paleologus died at Landulph unmarried in 1674 ; 
and her sister Dorothy was married in 1656 to William 
Arundel, the grandson probably of Alexander Arundel, of 
Clifton. This marriage is registered at Landulph and St. 
Mellion, as solemnised in both parishes ; the entry at the 
latter is, c Dorothea Paleologus de stirpe Imperatorum.' 
Soon after their marriage they settled in St. Dominick, an 
adjoining parish, the registers of which having been acci- 
dentally destroyed, it is impossible now to determine if 
they had any issue, though it seems highly probable. They 
were both buried at Landulph;, Dorothy in 1681, and her 
husband in 1684 ; and as some years after, a Mary Arun- 
del was married to Francis Lee, the imperial blood per- 
haps still flows in the bargemen of Cargreen ! " 

The manor of Landulph is traced back to the family of 
D'Alneto, from whom it passed to the Courtenays, and fell 
to the Crown on the attainder of Henry Courtenay, Mar- 
quis of Exeter, in 1539, soon after which it was annexed 
to the duchy of Cornwall. 

The manor of Glebridge has passed through various 
families, and is now the property of Mr. Bluett. 

But the principal place in this parish was Clifton. Sir 
John Arundell is said to have built the house about the 



376 LANDULPH, OR LANDILIP. 

year 1500. It is believed to have afterwards belonged to 
the Killigrews, as it passed in succession to Sir Nicholas 
Lower and Sir Reginald Mahon, who married the daugh- 
ters of Sir Henry Killigrew. The former died without issue ; 
and it was ultimately sold with the other property of the 
Mahons to Pitt. 

The Lowers had their principal seat at St Winnow, 
and were eminent during several successions. Some of this 
family were distinguished by their proficiency in science, 
and by their friendships with scientific men. This has been 
very recently made prominent in a work that cannot re- 
ceive too much commendation, either for the accuracy, the 
ability, or for the industry displayed by its author. The 
Life of Dr. Bradley, by Stephen Peter Rigaud, M.A. 
Savilian Professor of Astronomy in Oxford, and Director 
of the Radcliffe Observatory, 1 vol. 4 to. 1832. 

Landulph measures 1564 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 3596 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 363 

t, „ , .. /in 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population, -{ 629 J 39Q '| 670 'J 57Q 

giving an increase of not quite 8 per cent, in 30 years. 

Present Rector, the Rev. F. V. Jago, F.S.A. presented 
by the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall in 1805. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that 
it is situated like the last on the calcareous series, and that 
its rocks are similar. 



LANEAST. 

. HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 



LANEAST. 877 



TONKIN. 

Laneast is in the hundred of East. To the west of it is 
St. Clether, to the north Egloskerry, to the east Trewren, 
to the south Alternun. 

This parish taketh its name from its situation to the east 
of St Clether. 

It is an impropriation, belonging formerly to the Priory 
of Launceston. The great tithes are at present in the 
hands of the Earl of Radnor (Robarts) ; and the small 
tithes, out of which seven pounds a-year are paid for the 
supply of the cure, are in the possession of Mr. Arthur 
Squire and Mr. King. 

THE EDITOR. 

This parish contains three villages, the Church Town, 
Badgall, and Trespearn. 

The principal or only seat is Tregeare, belonging to the 
family of Baron. 

The late Mr. Jaspar Baron either rebuilt or greatly im- 
proved the house. This gentleman was for some time a 
member of Pembroke College, Oxford, but did not proceed 
to a degree. He died in early life, leaving a son and a 
daughter. The son became a member of Wadham Col- 
lege, Oxford. He died unmarried, and still earlier than 
his father. The sister, heiress of the very considerable pro- 
perty possessed by this family, has married a son of the late 
Mr. Christopher Lethbridge, of Madford in Launceston. 

The great tithes now belong to Mr. George Bennett, 
and the impropriate vicarage to Mr. Baron and Mr. Cook. 

This parish measures 2111 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815, . . 851 

Poor Rate in 1831 148 19 

, . fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831 

Population,- 1 m I 149 J 229 I 279 

giving an increase of 56 per cent, in 30 years. 



378 LAN EAST, 

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The geology of this parish is precisely similar to that of 
the adjacent parish of St. Clether. 

The northern part is situated on that range of downs 
which extends from Launceston to the British Channel 
These downs consist principally of varieties of dunstone, 
which are sometimes felspathic; but in general they are 
very siliceous, and even quartzoze. They are interesting in 
an economical point of view, as containing extensive depo- 
sits of the ores of manganese. A mine of this substance has 
been long worked at Letcot in Laneast. The ores occur 
in a lode or cross course of capel, running north-east and 
south-west ; the lode is about twelve fathoms in width, and 
is composed of siliceous materials, or rather varieties of 
compact felspar, in which silex greatly predominates. The 
ore is arranged throughout the substances of the lode in 
veins and branches. In the latter form it was originally 
discovered, not many feet below the surface, and in such 
abundance that it was obtained at a very trifling cost, for 
the hardness and tenacity of the capel permitted the ore to 
be followed in all its ramifications without needing support: 
and the result of these operations has been to produce a 
large chasm, with curiously irregular and indented sides. 



LANHIDROCK. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lanhidrock is in the hundred of Pider ; hath to the west 



LANHIDROCK. 379 

Lanivet ; to the north Bodmin ; to the east Fowey river, 
between it and St. Winnow ; to the south, Lanlivery. 

This parish takes its name from St Hidrock, and is the 
church of St. Hidrock. 

This probably may be the manor that in Domesday is 
called the Lanredock ; and if so, it is one of the manors 
given by William the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Mor- 
ton, with the Earldom of Cornwall. 

In the year sixteen hundred and . . . • John Lord Robarts, 
being disgusted on some occasion or other with the town of 
Truro, left his barony-house there, and new built a large 
one in this place, quadrangidarwise, to which he added after- 
wards a noble gate-house, and enclosed a very handsome 
park, well-wooded, and watered by the river Fowey. 

This noble lord was afterwards, in 1662, made Lord 
Privy Seal, in the place of William Lord Say, deceased. 
In Sept. 1669 he was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 
but continued there no longer than the May following ; and 
about this time he received the honour of being made Cus- 
tos Rotulorum of Cornwall. In 1679, July 20, he was 
created Earl of Falmouth and Viscount Bodmin, but he 
kept the title of Falmouth only six days, when he got it 
changed to that of Radnor. In October of the same year 
he was made Lord President of the Council, in the room of 
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. He was 
twice married, 1st. to the Lady Lucy Rich, daughter of 
Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, by whom he had issue 
Robert Lord Viscount Bodmin. He married, secondly, a 
daughter of John Smith, Esq. of Kent, a lady of great 
beauty, who, it is said, was to have married his eldest son 
the Lord Bodmin ; for which reason there was never a 
good understanding between the father and son. By her he 
had several children, the eldest of which was Francis Ro- 
barts, a very ingenious man, and a great mathematician, 
author of several small works. He was twice married, 
first to Penelope, daughter of Sir Courtenay Pole, of De- 
vonshire, by whom he had no issue ; secondly, to the Lady 



380 LANHIDROCK. 

Ann Fitzgerald, daughter of the Earl of Kildare, and widow 
of Mr. William Boscawen, of Tregothnan. The said John 
Robarts, Earl of Radnor, died at his house in Chelsea, 
very aged, July 17, 1685, and was brought to Lanhidrock, 
where he had constructed a vault for himself and family, 
and was succeeded by his grandson Charles Bodville Ro- 
barts. 

Robert Robarts, Lord Bodmin, his father, was much 
esteemed by King Charles the Second, for his bright, lively 
parts and ready wit. He was sent Ambassador to the King 
of Denmark in July 1679-80, but died soon after his 
return. Charles Bodville Robarts, second Earl of Rad- 
nor, married Mary, the daughter and heir of Sir John 
Cutler, by whom he acquired a great accession of fortune, 
but no issue. He succeeded the Earl of Bath as Lord 
Lieutenant of Cornwall, and he was also Lord Warden of 
the Stanneries. He was succeeded by his nephew Mr. 
Henry Robarts. 

Trefry, that is, the house on the hill, (for bre, bray, vre, 
fray, are synonymous terms, indicating a hill or a moun- 
tain,) adjoins Lanhidrock, and was formerly a barton be- 
longing to the Trefrys of Fowey ; although they took not 
their name from this place, but from Trefry in Linkin- 
horne. It now belongs to the Earl of Radnor, who keeps 
it as a domain to Lanhidrock. The Earl of Radnor's arms 
are, Azure, three estoiles, and a chief wavy Or ; the crest, 
a lion rampant Or, holding a flaming sword Proper, the 
pommel Or; supporters, two goats Argent, with a ducal 
coronet round their necks Or; the motto, "quje supra ;" 
which coat was thus given by John Robarts Earl of Radnor, 
but for what reason I cannot tell, since the arms of the 
family granted to Sir Richard Robarts, afterwards Baron 
Truro, by the celebrated William Camden, Clarencieux 
King-at-Arms, were, Azure, on a chevron Argent three 
mullets Sable, as may be seen in their house at Truro, and 
also in the church. 



LANHIDROCK. 381 



THE EDITOR. 

Henry Robarts, the third Earl of Radnor, in possession 
of the property when Mr. Tonkin wrote, was succeeded by 
his cousin John Robarts, son of Francis Robarts, youngest 
son of John Robarts, the first Earl of Radnor ; and with 
him, who died in 1764, the family became extinct in the 
male line; and the estate reverted to a sister's son of 
Henry Robarts, who had married Thomas Hunt, Esq. of 
Mellington in Cheshire. 

Mr. George Hunt, the eldest son of this marriage, re- 
sided occasionally at Lanhidrock, and represented Bodmin 
in several Parliaments. This gentleman never married, 
and he was succeeded by his brother's daughter, Anna 
Maria, now (1834) the widow of the Hon. Charles Bag- 
nal Agar : left with an only son, who has assumed the 
name of Robarts. * 

It is obvious that all families, to whatever degrees of ele- 
vation they may afterwards ascend, must at some period or 
another have emerged from the ordinary fortunes of man- 
kind. At the time of the Norman Conquest, hundreds 
started forth at once by successful warfare and confiscation ; 
others have risen or fallen by the chances of civil war, 
favouritism, marriages, adventures, or speculation in 
foreign countries, by professions, or commerce; these last 
have recently been more efficacious for ordinary indi- 
viduals and families than force of arms. 

The family of Robarts, illustrious as it has since been, 
derives its origin entirely from trade, and that too con- 
ducted in the town of Truro, now indeed, and for a century 
past, a place of opulence, and connected with a productive 
mining district, where several ample fortunes have been 
acquired ; but in the reign of the Tudors it could have been 
no more than an obscure place in a remote province. 

There is nothing known of any particularly fortunate oc- 
currence which might have heaped wealth on this family; 



382 LANHIDROCK. 

they probably accumulated patiently through several gene- 
rations from father to son, when the rate of interest on 
all capital gave a facility to the increase of wealth unknown 
at the present day. That the family made their progress 
in the world after this manner, is evinced by the nature of 
the possessions transmitted to their heirs. Extensive on 
the whole, but instead of being made up of large masses, 
like those acquired in feudal times, it mainly consists of 
small pieces of land scattered over the country, on which 
the successful merchant or dealer lent his superfluous 
money on mortgage, and afterwards entered into possession 
or foreclosed. 

The first Lord Robarts, created a Baron through the 
influence of George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, with 
King James the First,* who emerged from Truro, and 
built or improved the house at Lanhidrock, and planted 
in all probability the magnificent avenues, must have been 
a man worthy of his high fortune. 

The editor remembers the house, a complete square, 
with a superb barbican in front, united to the house, or 
rather castle, by two lofty walls. 

These walls were first taken down, and then the front, by 
Mr. George Hunt, which he replaced by green palisades. 
This gentleman had the reputation of being a classical scholar, 
and he travelled into the south of Europe, where Taste once 
fixed her abode, and where she still lingers or loves often 
to return ; but according to all the opinions now enter- 
tained, he never met her in his walks, nor profited by the 
contemplation of her works. Perhaps in his youth the pre- 
judice had not disappeared which confined all the elegance 
and beauty of architecture to upright pillars with horizon- 
tal cornices, and esteemed the word Gothic as of the same 
import with barbarous, and inviting destruction wherever 
it was applied. 

This parish was heretofore a complete impropriation to 
the priory at Bodmin, in respect to small tithes as well as 
the great ; and being situated so near the monastery, it was 

* See Nichols's Progresses, &c. of King James, iii, 980. 



LANHIDROCK. 383 

probably served from thence, and considered as exempt 
from the canon enjoining the residence of some spiritual 
person on all benefices, and it has continued a donative to 
the present time. Mr. Tonkin conjectures that the parish 
is dedicated to a Saint Hydrock, or Hidrock. No such 
name is to be found ; but it may belong to the list of mis- 
sionaries. 

The Editor remembers to have heard as facts, from an 
old lady of Bodmin, who died many years before the 
words 'political economy/ were pronounced in England, 
that the last Lord Radnor kept house at Lanhidrock in the 
style of ancient baronial magnificence ; that a bullock was 
killed every week, and a sheep every day ; and that what- 
ever remained over-night of meat, of broken bread, or of 
certain allowed quantities of beer, were on the morning 
distributed at the gate ; and that in consequence the whole 
neighbourhood became idle, depraved, and vicious, to such 
a degree as to force itself on the notice of every one, and 
to produce a full conviction of the utter destruction that 
must ensue if it were possible that such mistaken liberality 
could be common. 

The manor of Lanhidrock belonged in former times to 
the Glynns, of Glynn. Mr. Lysons says that it passed from 
them as a marriage portion to the family of Lyttleton, and 
from them by a heiress to Trenance ; and that in the year 
1620 Lyttleton Trenance, Esq. sold it to Sir Richard Ro- 
berts, afterwards created Lord Truro. Mr. Tonkin has 
stated that this gentleman built the house ; but the whole 
place has the appearance of much greater antiquity : that 
he improved and decorated the building, and perhaps added 
the barbican and the connecting walls, is very probable. 

Lanhidrock measures 1659 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 1213 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 137 6 

„ , # . /in 1801, | in 1811, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,-| 187 '| 235 '| 251 | 239 

giving an increase of 28 per cent, in 30 years. 



384 LANHIDROCK. 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The south-western corner of this parish touches on the 
granite ; the rest is composed of rocks belonging to the 
porphyritic series, being principally varieties of compact 
and schistose felspar rocks, containing mica or home- 
blende, or a mineral of an intermediate nature, not easily 
discriminated. 



LANIVET. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lanivet, in the hundred of Pider, hath to the west Wi- 
thiel, to the north and east Bodmin and Lanhydrock, to 
the south St Roach, Luxilian, and Lanlivery. 

This parish is a rectory, valued in the King's books at 
24/. The patronage in Kelland Courtenay, Esq. and the 
heirs of Anthony Nicholl, Esq. of Penrose, alternis vicibus. 
The incumbent Mr. Vasnoom. 

A. D. 1291, 20th Edward the First (the valuation of 
Pope Nicholas) this Church is rated at 8/. having never 
been appropriated. 

In treating of the estates of this parish, I shall begin 
with Tremere, the great town, called in Domesday 
book Tremer, being one of the numerous manors in this 
county given by William the Conqueror to his half brother, 
Robert Earl of Morton, with the Earldom of Cornwall. 
Mr. Carew calls it Tremore. 

It had formerly owners of the same name, who, I sup- 
pose, held it in vassalage under the Earls of Cornwall ; 



LANIVET. 385 

they gave for their arms, Argent, three reap-hooks con- 
joined in the blades Sable. The last of whom was John 
Tremere, Esq. of this place, who left two daughters and 
heirs ; Alice, married to Geoffrey St. Aubyn, of Clowance, 
Esq. which Alice, as appears by the inscription on her hus- 
band's tomb-stone in Crowan church, died the 1st of 
May 1400. 

And 

This place hath been for several generations the seat of 
the Courtenays, whom I take to be a younger branch of 
those of Trethurfe, to whom they have at length been 
heirs; for the present owner's grandfather, Humphry 
Courtenay, Esq. during many years, and up to his de- 
cease, Representative in Parliament for the borough of 
Michell, married the daughter of Sir Peter Courtenay, of 
Trethurfe, and eventually sole heiress to her brother Wil- 
liam Courtenay. 

Their son, William Courtenay, married the daughter of 

Kelland, of Peynsford in Devonshire, and their son 

Kelland Courtenay, Esq. is the present possessor, 1734; 
Member of Parliament for Truro; he has two daughters, 
both as yet unmarried. 

THE EDITOR. 

On the decease of Mr. Charles Courtenay, son of the 
last-mentioned Kelland Courtenay in 1761, all the pro- 
perty devolved on his two sisters ; one of whom married 
William Poyntz, Esq. of Berkshire, and the other Ed- 
mund Boyle, Earl of Cork. 

Tremere, with much of the other property, has been 
sold ; and Mr. William Stephen Poyntz has acquired the 
Boyle share of what remains. 

This extensive parish contains several villages. The 
Church Town, Bodwanick, Bokiddick, Lamorick, St. In- 
ganger, Trebell, Tregullan, Tremoore, and Woodly, with 

vol. n. 2 c 



386 LANIVET. 

a part of St. Lawrence, the locality of an ancient incor- 
porated lazar-house. 

The church and tower may be considered as handsome 
models of western ecclesiastic architecture, where all are 
superior to the average of other districts. This tower, as 
well as the adjoining one of Roach, are without the usual 
ornament of pinnacles. 

In the church are some monuments; one to the me- 
mory of Mr. Richard Courtenay and Thomasin his wife, 
dated in 1632, is remarkable for its simplicity and quaint- 
ness of its inscription : 

They lived and died both in Tremere, 
God hath their souls, their bones lie here ; 
Richard with Thomsen his loved Vife, 
Lived sixty-one years— then ended life. 

The advowson of this parish was purchased about the 
middle of the last century by Mr. Phillipps, a substantial 
yeoman of Roach ; and the Editor has heard for a thou- 
sand pounds. It now belongs to his great-grandson, the 
Reverend William Phillipps, who is the Rector. 

This parish possesses the curious and interesting re- 
mains of a convent or female monastery, dedicated to St. 
Bennet 

Very little is known of its history. The remote, and in 
former times almost inaccessible, situation of Cornwall, and 
perhaps the frequent insurrections during the reign of 
Henry the Seventh and of Edward the Sixth, have in- 
volved the history of its religious institution in a greater 
obscurity than what hangs over any other part of England. 

This nunnery is believed to have been a cell to some 
foreign convent; and it is not certainly known whether it 
was entirely suppressed by Henry the Fifth, or whether, as 
some have conjectured, it became attached to the priory of 
Bodmin, and remained a parcel of that house till the gene- 
ral dissolution. 

It belonged for a considerable period to the Courtenays 



I.ANIVET. S87 

t>f Tremere, and in a state of repair, for there is a tradi- 
tion of its having made some defence in the great Civil 
War, till cannon were used against it. 

It was sold in the year 1710; and about ten years after- 
wards became the property of Mr. Grose, a farmer of the 
parish. His son or grandson, about the year 1775, built a 
new house on the farm, when some remains of a beautiful 
cloister, which the Editor faintly remembers, afforded a 
ready supply of materials. It is said, that Mr. George 
Hunt, of Lanhidrock, more impressed by the elegance of 
these ruins than by the splendour of his own house, inter- 
fered to the extent of remonstrance for their preservation; 
but when the proprietor replied that he would willingly 
spare them, if the difference of expense for getting stone 
from a neighbouring quarry were paid him, nothing fur- 
ther was done. 

The mere site of the building has been purchased 
within twenty years by the Rev. Francis Vyvyan Jago 
Arundell, Rector of Landulph ; and in the present year 
this sequestered spot — scarcely visible in any direction at 
the distance of half a mile, inclosed in a deep vale, and 
surrounded by trees more lofty than its half-ruined tower ; 
the appropriate retreat of those who choose their lot — 

The world forgetting, by the world forgot, 

Where round some mould'riug tow'r pale ivy creeps, 

And low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deeps; 

— is by the progress of recent improvement laid open to 
public view, and above all to the inspection of strangers. 
A hill so steep as to be dangerous for carriages, and ex- 
tending to a mile in length, has been avoided, by conduct- 
ing the London road through this valley, which, after an 
interval, perhaps, of a thousand years from the time when 
it was devoted to superstitious observances, directly op- 
posed to the benevolence inseparable from the Author of 
all Good, and congenial only to the demon of evil, has at 
last become subservient to general utility. 

This parish is possessed of certain lands, some within its 
2c2 



388 LANIVET. 

own limits, but others at considerable distances in other 
parishes. These are held by twelve feoffees, called the 
twelve men of the parish, a species of select vestry, which 
existed in all large parishes in Cornwall down to the early 
part of the last century, till it was tacitly done away by 
those improvident or insane acts of the legislature, made no 
doubt in conformity with the existing prejudices of the 
times, which have generated a rapidly increasing tribe of 
lazzaroni, threatening, if their progress cannot now be 
checked, most infallibly to reduce this once flourishing 
country, the favoured seat of arts, of science, of morals, 
and of legitimate refinement, to a state of vice and of de- 
gradation, worse than that of savages in their primeval con- 
dition of wandering hunters. 

The rents are applied to the support of a school, and 
to some specific charities, and the surplus given in aid of 
the poor rate. 

Mr. Lysons says, that these lands belonged to Credys 
in Padstow, a cell to St. Bennet's. This does not, how- 
ever, seem to be very probable, considering the nature of 
St. Bennet's foundation. It is more likqly that the lands 
were the immediate possession of this convent ; and no such 
place as Credys is noticed by Tanner. 

The history of Lanivet would here close, but the Edi- 
tor hopes that he may be allowed to bestow a few lines on 
the Reverend John Lake, Rector of this parish more than 
thirty years ; possessed of learning, piety, and benevolence, 

In wit a man, simplicity a child. 

He was educated in Truro, according to a custom evi- 
dently derived from Catholic times, in the acquirement of some 
classical knowledge, and then placed in an inferior line of bu- 
siness at Leskeard, where at that period resided Mr. Hey- 
don as schoolmaster, an ornament to his country by every 
species of learning and of acquirement. Here Mr. Lake, 
forgetful of his having married early in life, and of a 
growing family, devoted his time to assisting Mr. Heydon, 
and in obtaining knowledge from his conversation, till on 



LAN I VET. 389 

a sudden he found himself deprived of his wife, left with 
two daughters, and his business failed. 

Thus circumstanced, Mr. Lake placed the two daughters 
with his father; and having collected a hundred and thirty 
pounds, he proceeded to Oxford, became a member of 
Magdalen Hall, and contrived, on this scanty supply, to 
keep terms and to obtain orders. He then returned into 
Cornwall, served the curacy of Roach, and there married 
the daughter or sister of Mr. Phillipps, who had purchased 
the advowson of Lanivet ; and a vacancy occurring in the 
course of a few years, he obtained the rectory. 

Here he again became a widower, and married a third 
time Miss Bridget Hoblin, of Bodmin, by whom he had 
two sons. The eldest became a Fellow of Wadham, and 
the other of Exeter College. Both his daughters were 
dead; and in May 1805, Mr. Lake departed this life, hav- 
ing completed his 76th year, in peace with all men, hav- 
ing been pious without fanaticism, and to the utmost of his 
power, a practiser of the good doctrines which he taught. 

His widow was left with a competence ; and his sons 
were advanced by their merits and their talents into situa- 
tions at once honourable and lucrative; but permanent 
happiness in this world was not to be their lot. William 
went to sea, and was lost with Admiral Reynolds in a first 
rate ship of the line; and the second, after struggling with 
a consumption, expired in his mother's arms. 

Lanivet measures 4690 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. ? ~>, \d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 4086 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 375 12 

Population - f in 1801 ' I in 1811 > I in 1821 ' I inl831 > 
copulation,- | 513 | 6gT J g03 | 922 

giving an increase of 80 per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOA8E. 

The southern part of the parish reposes on granite ; and 
proceeding northward, the next portion is composed of 



390 LAN I VET. 

rocks of the porphyritic series, which are again succeeded 
by those of the calcareous series. The middle portion is 
by far the most extensive, the other two occupying only a 
narrow part, on the extreme southern and northern parts 
of the parish. The middle, or porphyritic series, presents 
the most interesting phenomena. 

Lanivet Hill is covered with large boulders and pro- 
jecting torrs of massive rock, which have the appearance of 
granite ; but on examination it proves to be a felspar rock. 
The greater part of this hill is composed of lamellar and 
slatey varieties of the same kind of rock, as may be seen in 
the rubbish of the numerous shafts that occur on the side 
of this hill. On the road to Bodmin, near the boundary of 
the parish, is a very interesting elvan course. The upper 
part of it is completely decomposed, resembling a mass of 
prepared China clay ; the perfect rock is a greenish yellow 
compact felspar, with disseminated grains of quartz ; it 
bears the same relation to the porcelainous granite of this 
and of the adjoining parishes, that the hard porphyritic 
elvans do to the common Cornish granite, near which they 
generally occur. 



LANLIVERY. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lanlivery is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath 
to the west Luxilian, to the north Lanivet and Lanhidrock ; 
to the east Lestwithiel and the river Fowey ; between it and 
St. Winnow, to the south, Ty wardreth and Golant 



LANLIVERY. 391 

The name Lanlivery signifies the church of bucks; for 
livrou in Cornish is the plural of levar, or livar, a buck; 
but for what reason I cannot so much as guess. This pa- 
rish is sometimes called Lanvorch, the church of St.Vorch, 
to whom it is dedicated. 

It is a vicarage, valued in the King's books at 13/. 6s. 8tf. 
The patron, Walter Kendall, of Pelyn, Esq. ; the incum- 
bent, his father, Mr. Archdeacon Nicholas Kendall. 

In 1291, the 20th of Edw. I. this church was valued at 
9/. lis. 8d. for the rectory, and the vicarage at 15s. being 
the appropriate to the priory of Trewardreath. 

Since the writing of the above I have thought upon ano- 
ther etymology, which I believe to be the true one ; that 
this name is no other than a softening of Lan-le- Vorch, 
St. Vorch's church-place, which is a very easy and natural 
alteration. 

THE EDITOR. 

The church and towjr of Llanlivery are very conspicu- 
ous objects for miles round, and especially from the Ply- 
mouth or great southern road. 

The church contains various monuments to the family of 
Kendall. This family were originally of Treworgy, in the 
parish of Dulo, but have long resided at Pelyn, in this 
parish. The house is beautifully situated in a small 
wooded valley, joining in a transverse course the river 
Fowey, about a mile below Lestwithiel. There appears to 
be a vague tradition of some religious establishment having 
existed here, dedicated to St. Chad, or Ceada, the patron 
of Lichfield, Worcester, and Shrewsbury. No trace, how- 
ever, can be found of any such establishment; and it is 
probable that these tales frequently rest on no more solid 
foundation that the casual residence of some monk or an- 
chorite, or perhaps on the dedication of a domestic chapel. 
There still exists at Pelin a small summer house, consi- 
dered as under the protection of this saint; and an inscrip- 
tion records the festivities and friendly meetings of four gen- 



392 LAN LIVERY. 

tlemen annually on the 2d of March, to commemorate the 
day, when, according to the legend, this Saint expired 
amid a company of angels, singing hymns for the solace of 
his dying moments, and for joy of such an accession to the 
heavenly mansions. 

The inscription is as follows, under a portrait of the 
Saint: 

Friend, within these walls St. Chad you see, 
A place made sacred to his memory ; 
For here four friends did meet upon this day, 
And heads, and hands, and hearts together lay ; 
And never dying friendship's knot to tye, 
And call this place St. Chad's Society. 

March S, 1694. 

The glory of this parish, however, is Restormel Castle, 
but these buildings have been so amply described by almost 
every writer on Cornish antiquities, that it would be idle to 
repeat what has been so often done. It presents one of the 
finest objects in the whole country. 

Richard, King of the Romans* is believed to have kept 
court here, and in his more commodious habitation at 
Lestwithiel, and he was the last who exercised even the 
semblance of independent authority. The earldom and 
dukedom of Cornwall have, since his time, done no more 
than afford a revenue and bestow a name, like the shadows 
of a shade, with which the private gentlemen, holding here- 
ditary seats in Parliament at the present time, continue to 
decorate themselves, by assuming the verbal denominations 
of offices extinct above three centuries, and which habit 
alone enables us to pronounce, as applicable to them, with- 
out a smile; but which offices, like the ancient earldom of 
Cornwall, while they had any existence, conferred real feudal 
sovereignty, proportionate to their different degrees. 

The palace at Lestwithiel has degenerated into a prison 
for the stannary courts ; and that town no longer witness- 
ing the county election, nor holding any of its own, may 
still boast of its being in some degree at the head of a duchy 
jurisdiction. 

There is a handsome seat almost at the foot of Restor- 



LANREATH. 393 

mel Hill now called Restormel, but formerly Trinity. It 
seems to have been built after leases of the park were 
granted by the Crown. It has passed through various hands, 
and finally into those of the Edgecumbe family, who have 
been supposed desirous, up to very recent times, of acquir- 
ing all species of property, and, most of all, gentlemen's 
residences, situated near Lestwithiel. 

The late Mr. Francis Gregor lived here in 1790, when he 
was first elected member for the county, and it is at present 
held under Lord Mount Edgecumbe by Mr. Francis Hext, 
a gentleman of ancient family and ample fortune, and uni- 
versally esteemed. 

This parish measures 5,951 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. 8. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815, . 5,232 

Poor Rates in 1831 . . . . 622 17 

P^mii.ri m / k 1801 > I in 1811 > 1 in 1821 > I in 1831 
Population,-! 7re '| 965 | lj318 | 1>687 

giving an increase of 117 per cent in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. Nicholas Kendall, instituted in 
1815. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

A gently undulating line, drawn north and south through 
this parish, a little to the eastward of the church, would 
divide it into two parts; of which, the western is the larger, 
and rests entirely on granite; the eastern division on 
schistose rock. Both of which exactly resemble those of 
St Blazey, already described. 



LANREATH. 



HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 



SJH LANREATH. 

TONKIN. 

Lanreath is situate in the hundred of West, and hath to 
the west St. Veep, to the east Duloe, to the south Pelynt 
This parish, in the taxation of Pope Nicholas, is called 
Lanraithow, by Mr. Carew Lanrethon, and the same in 
the King's book. 

Rhaith is in old British a law; Rhaithow the law; so 
that it signifieth the church of laws, or of the laws, accord- 
ing to this etymology, which I will not venture to say is a 
true one, but it is the best that I can give at present. 

This church is a rectory, valued in the King's book at 
32/. The presentation in John Francis Buller, Esq. by 
purchase from the late Charles Grills, Esq. The incum- 
bent, Mr. Richard Grills, only brother of the late patron. * 

As I take Court to be the head place of this manor, from 
whence it is so called, to have been the chief seat of these 
Seriseauxes, I shall here insert what I find of them. 

Richard de Seriseaux or Cereseaux, junior, was one of 
the men-at-arms who had 40/. in rent of lands 17th Ed- 
ward II. (Carew, p. 139, Lord Dunstanville's edition). 

Richard de Cereseaux, 1 suppose father to the former, 
was one of those that had 20/. per annum of lands or rent, 
or more, 25 Edward I., and was summoned to attend the 
King, and to go into parts beyond sea. 

Richard Sargeaux, son, I believe, of the former, was 
Sheriff of this county the 12th of Richard II. A.D. 1389. 
This I take to be the same person with that Richard de 
Seriseaux who sold his estate in the 3d of Henry IV. He 
held lands also in Kelland and Kilkoid in the hundred of 
Trigg. Carew, p. 126.f 

* Mr. Grills dying in 1735, has been succeeded by Mr. Heal Trelawney, on 
the presentation of Mr. Butler. 

The parish is printed Laurayton in the Taxatio Ecclesiastic* Papse Nicho- 
lai ; but the u and n may have been easily mistaken in the manuscript. 

It is rated in the Taxation 61. 6s. Bd. Decimse 18*. Bd. 

t Carew says, p. 125 of Lord Dunstanville's edition, Richard de Seriseaux ten 
3 paiT. fcod. de Mort. in Lanrethan, Kilgather, et Lansalwys. The Editor. 



LANREATH. 395 

This Sir Richard Ceriseaux or Sergieaux, for he was 
knighted, had one only daughter and heiress, called Alice, 
who first was married to Sir Guy St. Alban, Knt. and 
secondly, to Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford ; and, thirdly, 
to Sir Nicholas Throwley, Knt. By the first she had issue ; 
and the last Earl of Oxford of the Veres, Aubrey de 
Vere, who died in 1702, quartered her arms, Argent, a 
saltire Sable, between twelve cherries slipped Proper ; from 
whence I guess that Sergiaux was only by way of abbre- 
viation, their coat alluding to his name, cerise being in 
French a cherry. This Sir Richard Ceriseaux must have 
lived to a great age, since his great-grandson, Geffrey St. 
Aubin, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall but ten years after 
him, in 22d Richard II. A.D. 1399, or, 1 rather suppose, 
that this Sir Richard Ceriseaux may have left a son, who 
was the Sheriff, and that upon his death, without issue, 
Alice his sister became the heir. 



THE EDITOR. 

It appears from Mr. Lysons's researches, that the manor 
of Lanreath, with the barton of Court, passed from the 
Seijeaux to Pashleys, Chudleys, and Chamonds, from 
which last they were carried by heiresses to Trevanion and 
Grylls. 

William Grylk, of Tavistock, is said in a pedigree of 
that family to have married the widow of Knight, and to 
have settled at Court in Lanreath ; perhaps this lady was 
the coheiress of Chamond. 

Their son, Charles Grylls, bred to the higher depart- 
ment of the law, married Agnes, daughter of Charles 
Tubb, Esq. and by this marriage a very considerable pro- 
perty was acquired in the parish of St. Neot, where one of 
the painted windows, the sixth, had been given by the 
Tubbs; but where their descendant the Reverend Richard 
Gerveys Grylls has, with equal taste and munificence, 
raised the splendid decorations of this church to a degree 
of perfection exceeding that of their original state, although 



396 LANREATH. 

they are some of the most curious and beautiful specimens 
of the arts and of the piety of former times, that have 
escaped the fury of passions excited by great changes in 
religion and in civil government. See Mr. Hedgeland's 
coloured prints of the sixteen windows, with descriptions of 
each, and the life of St. Neot, from Capgrove, 1 vol. 4to. ; 
printed for the Author, No. 6, Claremont-place, Brunswick- 
square, and sold by Nichols and Son, Parliament-street, 
London, price 2/. 2s. 

The church, which is a fine one with a lofty tower, yet 
almost obscured by trees, has a monument recording the 
decease of Charles Grylls, Esq. on the 2d of March 1612, 
and of Alice his wife on the 13th of June 1607. 

Their son, John Grylls, took a part in the Civil War, 
as indeed every Cornish gentleman was obliged to do, on 
one side or the other ; for in Cornwall, which might well 
have been conjectured likely to remain almost free from 
actual conflicts, two considerable armies were routed in 
pitched battles, and two still larger were forced to capi- 
tulate. 

This gentleman was knighted by King Charles the 
First on the field of battle. He married Grace, daughter 
and coheiress of William Bear, Esq. A monument in 
Lanreath church testifies that he was buried there on the 
30th day of September 1649. 

Their eldest son, Charles, resided on his estate in this 
parish, and married a lady of the family of Mahon. 

John, his son and heir, resided also at Court ; he mar- 
ried Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Richard Ger- 
veys, Esq. 

Charles, their eldest son, married Mary, daughter of 
Edmund Spoure, Esq. of Trebartha, but died without 
issue. This gentleman sold the manor of Lanreath, with 
the barton of Court and the advowson of the living ap- 
pended, to Mr. Buller, of Morval. His brother, the 
Reverend Richard Grylls, held the living till his decease 
in 1735; and succeeded his elder brother as heir of the 
family property. 



LANREATH. 397 

His son, Richard Grylls, settled at Helston, where he 
married Cordelia, daughter, and eventually heiress, of 
Thomas Glynn, Esq. descended from the Glynns, of 
Glynn. 

Their son is the Reverend Richard Gerveys Grylls. It 
would be presumptuous in the Editor to attempt any par- 
ticular praise of this gentleman, universally esteemed and 
respected. 

The manor of Botelett is stated by Mr. Lysons to have 
belonged at an early period to the family of Botreaux, 
the last of whom, Lord Botreaux, died in the year 1462, 
leaving an only daughter, who married Robert Lord Hun- 
gerford. 

It has in more recent times belonged to the families of 
Roberts and Treville. It became divided by coheiresses 
of the latter between Trelawny and Cross ; and the latter 
half has passed to the family of Lethbridge in Somerset- 
shire. The manor of Treyer is also stated by Mr. Lysons 
to have been the joint property of Rashleigh and Glynn ; 
but in consequence of an exchange to be now Mr. Glynn's 
solely; and that Trewen, a seat of the Dandys, and 
Trecan, a seat of the Lowers, are now farm-houses. 

Lanreath measures 4353 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 3110 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 485 8 

t> , . fin 1801, I in 181 1, I in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,- | 478 I 54Q ' | 629 | 651 

giving an increase of 36 per cent, in 30 years. 

Present Rector, the Rev. Stephen Puddicombe, pre- 
sented by John Buller, Esq. in 1827. 



GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish is entirely situated within the calcareous 
series; its rocks are similar to those of Boconnock and 
Duloe. 



398 
LANSALLOS. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lansallos is in the hundred of West, and hath to the 
west Lanteglos juxta Fowey, to the north and east Pelynt 
and Tallant, to the south the English Channel. 

This church is a rectory, valued in the King's book at 
18/. The patronage in Thomas Long, Esq. as heir to the 
Speccots. The incumbent Cummin.* The church was 
valued for Pope Nicholas in 1291 at 5/. 6s. 8d. and the 
tenths 10*. Sd. under the name of Lansalewys, having 
never been appropriated. 

Richard de Seriseaux held (3 Henry IV.) three small fees 
de Mort. in Lanrethon, Kilgather, et Lansalwys. (See 
Carew, p. 125, Lord de Dunstanville's edition, quoted in 
Lanreath). But however this may be, it is quite certain 
that the family of Boligh had been possessed of property 
here long before that time, for here lived John Boligh, 
who married the daughter of Killigarth. He was suc- 
ceeded by his eldest son William] Boligh, who by 
Avice, the daughter of Richard Pentine, had issue a 
son, of his own name, which last William, by Isabel, 
the daughter of William Bodrigan, afterwards married to 
Ralph Vivian, had issue one sole daughter and heir, mar- 
ried to John Kelliow, who brought with her this manor, 
which continued the principal seat of this family, although 
they have sometimes lived at Lanleke in South Pederwyn, 
and sometimes at Rosesilian in St. Biazey. Here they 
flourished in good esteem, having married the heiresses of 

* Died in 1730, or a few years afterwards. 



LANSALLOS. 399 

Leveddon, Trehawke, and Trefusis of Landed, and 
matched into several considerable families of this county, 
until such time as Christopher Kelliow, of Lanlake, Esq. 
having first mortgaged it to pay the debts of the family, at 
last sold the property outright to John Speccot, of Pen- 
heale, Esq.; and this is gone with the rest, or with the 
major part of Col. Speccot's estate, as he devised it by 
will, to Thomas Long, of Penheale, Esq. who is the pre- 
sent lord of this manor. 

The arms of Kelliow, Or, a chevron between two 
cinquefoils and a mullet pierced Sable. 

This manor is one of those given by William the Con- 
queror to the Earl of Morton. 



THE EDITOR. 

This church is situated on very high ground ; and one 
of the stations for the great trigonometrical survey was 
chosen immediately by it. When the latitude and longi- 
tude were determined, latitude, 50° 20' 25.7"; longitude, 
4° 32' 45.7 / ; in time, 18m. lis. west of Greenwich. Be- 
sides the church town, this parish contains three villages, 
Tregavethick, Tregou, and Trenewan. 

The manor of Lansallas has been traced by Mr. Tonkin 
to Mr. Thomas Long, of Penheale. 

Mr. Long left three daughters, as has been noticed under 
Egloskerry. One of these ladies married Mr. Charles 
Phillipps, of Camelford, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Corn- 
wall Militia, and Member for Camelford. Neither of the 
sisters had any family ; and on a division of the property, 
this manor came to Mr. Phillipps, who left it jointly to his 
two brothers, Jonathan Phillipps, a Captain in the Militia, 
and the Reverend William Phillipps, Rector of Lanteglos 
by Camelford. The former gave his share of this manor 
to his sister's daughter, married to her relation Mr. Wins- 
loe, directing them to take the name of Phillipps ; the 
latter gave his portion to his sister's son, Mr. John Phil- 



400 LANSALLOS. 

lipps Arpenter, of Mount Tavy, from whom the shares 
have respectively descended to Thomas Phillipps, Esq. of 
Landue, and to John Carpenter, Esq. of Mount Tavy. 

Mr. Lysons mentions the manor of Raphe], formerly 
Rathwell, which belonged to the family of Hywis, and was 
sold to Speccot; and has followed the great manor of Lan- 
sallas, to which the rectory is appended. 

The manor of Tregavithick belonged to the family of 
Avery, but has been purchased by the Rev. Joshua Howell. 

The manor of Polvethan belongs to Mr. Rashleigh, of 
Menabilly. 

The most remarkable place, situated partly in this parish, 
is Polperro, a small town lying on a cove, rendered secure 
for coasting vessels by a double pier, and affording an ad- 
mirable staking for the fisheries. It was also distin- 
guished for a precarious trade, occasionally heaping great 
wealth on individuals, but in general taking it away more 
rapidly than it accumulated. 

Hioc apicem rapaz 
Fortune, cum stridore acuto 
Sustulit, hie posuisse gaudet. 

Quem dies vidit veniens superbum, 
Hunc dies vidit fugiens jacentera. 

This is, however, at an end, or greatly diminished. The 
situation of the place is romantic and wild, so that an ex- 
cursion from Fowey, along the cliffs to Looe, through Pol- 
perro, is one of the most interesting on the whole coast of 
Cornwall. 

This parish measures 2774 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . 3218 

Poor Rate in 1831 .... 616 18 

^ , . fin 1801, I in 1811, 1 in 1821, I in 1831, 

Population,— | 847 | 804 j 880 | 88 4 

giving an increase of little more than 4 per cent, in 30 

years. 

Present Rector, the Rev. William Rawlins, jun. insti- 
tuted in 1822 ; son of the Vicar of Padstow. 



L ANTE G LOS, JUXTA CAMELFORD. 401 



THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

The rocks of this parish belong to the calcareous series. 
A little north-west of the church a copper mine has been 
worked ; among the rubbish of which a fine blue slate is 
very abundant, but which appears to differ from the rocks 
at the surface, merely by those having acquired a red co- 
lour from further oxidation of the iron. The strata near 
the coast dip landward at an angle of about 45°, being 
broken here and there by narrow gorges, through which 
the rivulets flow into the sea. At Polperro the scenery is 
very fine ; and the narrow entrance into the harbour, which 
seems to indicate some great catastrophe, is an object of 
much interest to the speculative geologist. 



LANTEGLOS, juxta CAMELFORD. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lanteglos by Camelford is situate in the hundred of 
Lesnewith ; and hath to the west St. Teath ; to the north 
Tintagell; to the east Davidstow; to the south Advent 
alias St. Anne, and Michaelstow. 

This parish is a rectory, valued in the King's Book, 
together with Advent, at 34/. lis. 2rf. The patronage in 
the Duke of Cornwall. The incumbent Dr. Lombard. 

This parish is wholly within the manor of Helstone in 
Trigg, so termed to distinguish it from that in the west 

VOL. II. 2 D 



402 LANTEGLOS, JUXTA CAMELFORD. 

called Helstone in Kerrier, they both having the same 
lord, that is the Duke of Cornwall. This parish is now 
said to be in the hundred of Lesnewith ; yet formerly, 
when the three northern hundreds of Trigg, Lesnewith, 
and Stratton composed but two, Trigg Major and Trigg 
Minor, it was in the hundred of Trigg Minor, in which 
deanery it is still reckoned as to the ecclesiastical juris- 
diction. 

The manor takes its name from its once chief place, 
though now but a village, about a mile to the west of Ca- 
melford. Here, I suppose, the Duke had a castle; for 
there were two parks, which, though now disparked, do 
still retain the name. They are adjoining to this village ; 
the one called the Deer Park, and the other Hellesbury 
Park, the walls of which are still standing; and the latter 
of the two is of large extent, formerly well wooded, and 
watered by the river Alan, being a place exceedingly well 
fitted for country sports ; and no doubt, when the Earls of 
Cornwall held their Court at Tintagel Castle, this place 
was in much repute, not being five miles distant from it. 

These two parks are now held by a lease of three lives 
from the Duke of Cornwall, by Mr. Nicholas Dennithorne 
of St. Agnes. 

I next come to the town of Camelford, so called from 
the ford here over the Alan ; "called also," saith Mr. Cam- 
den, " Comb Alan and Camel from its winding channel, for 
Cam with*them implies as much." 

At the head of this river Alan is seated Camelford, other- 
wise written Galleford, — a little village, formerly called 
Kambton, in the opinion of Leland, who tells us that Ar- 
thur, the British Hector, was slain here. For, as he adds, 
pieces of armour, rings, and brass furniture for horses, are 
sometimes digged up here by the countrymen ; and, after so 
many ages, the tradition of a bloody victory in this place 
is still preserved. There are afeo extant some verses of a 
middle age poet, about " Camels" running with blood after 
the battle of Arthur against Mordred. 



LANTEGLOS, J (J XT A CAM EL FORD. 403 

In the mean time, not to deny the truth of this story 
concerning Arthur, I have read in Marian us, mentioned 
also in the Saxon Chronicle, of a bloody battle here be- 
tween the Britons and Saxons in the year 820, so that the 
place may seem to be sacred to Mars, And if it be true 
that Arthur was killed here, the same shore both gave him 
his first breath and deprived him of his last, Harrison 
also saith, that to this day- men that do eare (till) the ground 
there, do oft plough up bones of a large side, and great 
store of armour; or else it may be (as I rather conjecture) 
that the Romans had some field or castra there about, for 
not long since (and in the remembrance of men) a brass pot 
full of Roman coins was found there, as I have often heard. 

To these Mr. Carew adds (p. 288, Lord de Dunstan- 
ville's edition) " Camelford, a market and fair, but not fair 
town, fetcheth his derivation from the river Camel, which 
runneth through it, and that from the Cornish word Cam, 
in English crooked, as Cam from the often winding stream. 
The same is incorporated with a mayoralty, and nameth 
burgesses to Parliament; yet steppeth little before the 
meatiest sort of beroughs for store of inhabitants, or the 
inhabitants' store. Upon the river of Camel, near to 
Camelford, was that last dismal battle stricken between lh£ 
iioble King Arthur and his treacherous nephew Mordred, 
wherein the one took his death, and the other his death- 
wound. For testimony whereof, the old folk thereabouts 
will shew you a stone, bearing Arthur's name, though now 
depraved to Atry." Then follows what is before quoted out 
of Mr. Camden. 

Mr. Willis, in his Nefckia Parliamentaria, says, Camel- 
ford was created a borough by Richard Earl of Cornwall, 
who, when King of the Romans, by his charter made this 
place a free borough, and granted the burgesses a Friday 
market, and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of St. 
Swithin, all which liberties were confirmed by his brother 
King Henry the Third, by his charter, dated at Westmin- 
ster June the 12th, 1259, and in the 44th year of his reign, 

2d2 



404 LANTEGL09, JUXTA CAMELFORD. 

as appears from an inspeximus in Queen Mary's time, of 
confirmation of liberties to Camelford, in whose reign this 
poor borough was encouraged to send burgesses to Par- 
lament, which it had begun to do in the preceding reign 
of Edward the Sixth. The present charter of incorpora- 
tion is said to be granted by King Charles the First; and 
the manor of the borough to be held by the corporation of 
the duchy of Cornwall to which it belongs. It is governed 
by a mayor and eight burgesses or aldermen, who with ten 
freemen, elect the members of Parliament 

The corporation, which is doubtless ancient, enjoys the 
tolls of the markets and fairs, with an estate also of 15/. 
per annum, which helps to support the dignity of other- 
wise a very mean magistracy. All these revenues are re- 
puted worth about 80/. per annum. The seal of arms pre- 
tended to by this town, seems to be in imitation of the 
device of Oxford, for as the arms of that city are an ox 
passant over a river, so this has a camel.* 

Here is only one street of ordinary building, of not above 
fifty or sixty houses, all of which are in the parish of Lan- 
teglos ; to the church of which place, distant about a mile, 
the inhabitants repair to hear divine service. There was 
formerly a chapel, which is reported to have been con- 
verted into a dwelling-house ; it is not known to what saint 
this chapel was dedicated. 

Dodridge's History of the Duchy of Cornwall tells us, 
that the chief rent payable to the said Duchy by this 
borough, is 4/. 5s. 4>d. 

THE EDITOR. 

The manor of Helston in Trigg is ol very considerable 
extent. Mr. Lysons says, that the ancient site or barton 

• The device used for arms by the City of Oxford, has evidently been derived 
from a corruption of Ouse Ford into Oxford, which has also given rise to the 
tale of the Empress Matilda escaping from thence on an Ox's back. 

The Saxons or Normans, unacquainted with the Celtic language, mistook 
cam oi camel for the name of ua animal of which they had read in the Gospels. 



LANTEGLOS, JUXTA CAMELFORD. 405 

of the manor is supposed to have been at Michaelstow 
Beacon, called St. Syth's, where vestiges remain of a 
camp. Besides the town of Camelford, this parish 
abounds in villages : Fenterwarson, Fooda, Helston, Tre- 
frew, Treegoodwell, Tremagenna, Trevia, and Trewalder. 

At Fentonwoon in this parish was born Capt Wallis, 
celebrated for his voyage round the world and the disco- 
very of Otaheite. 

The right of voting for members of Parliament having 
been declared by a Committee of the House of Commons, 
reported on the 10th of November 1796, " to be in the free- 
men, being inhabitants and paying scot and lot; and that the 
capital burgessess as such, have not the right ;" it became 
important to acquire as much as possible of the property 
within the borough to secure political influence; and after 
various sales and transfers, Lord Darlington at last suc- 
ceeded in acquiring the whole. 

The civil corporation hold the manor, mentioned by Mr. 
Tonkin to have been given by Charles the First, in the 
capacity of lord of the manor ; but the freemen are per- 
sons presented by the homage in the Lord's Court. It is 
almost needless to add that, when the whole property came 
into a single hand, and that residence with the payment of 
scot and lot were requisite to complete the power of voting 
in one presented by the homage, the Borough became 
what is well understood by the term " quite close," and 
that it continued so till its extinction in 1832, since which 
the property has been sold in parcels. 

When Mr. Thomas Pitt, of Boconnock, received in 
1784 the grant of an hereditary seat in Parliament, and 
it became necessary, according to the established custom, 
to create an imaginary office for the purpose of bestowing 
on him a new appellation, Camelford was feigned to be a, 
barony, 

Mr. Macpherson, the author, editor, or paraphraser of 
Ossian, represented this borough in several Parliaments. 
This gentleman made a considerable figure in his day, 
and excited universal attention, chiefly from his publishing 



406 LAKTBGLO?, JUXTA CAMEUTORD. 

what are called the Poems of Ossian. He is now perhaps best 
remembered by his correspondence with Doctor Johnson, 
who argued with the force always exerted by his mighty 
genius, against the authenticity of this work ; and Mr* 
Macpherson, probably unable to meet the reasoning, at- 
tempted to establish his case by recurring to a practice 
almost as obsolete as the achievements of his supposed 
heroes, which was by reviving the ordeal or wager of bat- 
tle, as the best mode of ascertaining truth ; and with this 
view, according to the modern phrase, he wrote a chal- 
lenge to Doctor Johnson, and obtained the following 
answer : 

" Mr. James Macpherson, 

" I have received your foolish and impudent letter. 
Any violence offered me I shall do my best to repel ; and 
what I cannot do for myself, the law shall do for me. I 
hope I never shall be deterred from detecting what I 
think a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian. What would 
you have me retract? 1 thought your book an imposture, 
and I think so still. For this opinion I have given my 
reasons to the public, which I here dare you to refute. 
Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, 
are not so formidable ; and what I hear of your morals, 
inclines me to pay regard, not to what you shall say, but 
to what you shall prove. 

" You may print this if you will. Sam. Johnson/* 

The living was held for many years by the Rev. William 
Philltpps, whom the Editor recollects residing at Camelford, 
and universally respected for his placid manners and bene- 
volent disposition. A handsome monument has been 
placed to his memory in the church, by John Phillipps Car- 
penter, Esq, of Mount Tavy, his nephew and devisee, 
which records his decease on the 20th day of April 1794, 
aged 70. 

Mr. Phillipps's immediate predecessor was Daniel Lom- 
bard, Doctor of Divinity, sou of a Protestant clergyman 



LANTEGLO&, JUXTA CAMELFORD. 407 

in France, one of those who were constrained to abandon 
their country by the persecution raised in the name of 
Lewis the Fourteenth by a Jesuite Confessor to the King 
and his mistress, the widow of a buffoon. He received the 
early part of his education at the Merchant-Taylors' School in 
London, and proceeded from thence to St. John's College, 
Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship, and took his degree of 
Doctor in Divinity. But Lombard never assimilated him* 
self to the manners nor the society of England. He spent 
much time abroad, and especially in Germany, where he 
became known either to King George the Second, or, 
what is more probable, as a scholar and a divine to Queen 
Caroline : from them he obtained this living. 

In Germany he most fortunately became acquainted 
also, with a Cornish gentleman, then serving with distinc 
tion in the army, but distinguished still more by his abilities, 
learning, and taste. This gentleman (Mr. Gregor) fre- 
quently received Doctor Lombard at Trewarthenick, and 
carried on with him a correspondence on literary subjects, 
which is still preserved, and appears to have been his chief 
friend and main support in a situation of complete banish- 
ment from all other associates of his studies or of his amuse- 
ments; for it appears, from one of his letters, that in 
former times, he had been admitted a member of what 
would now be termed a club, with several branches of the 
reigning family at a German court. 

All accounts agree in representing Doctor Lombard as a 
man of profound ecclesiastical and school learning; but at 
the same time wholly unacquainted with the ways of the 
world in which he was destined to live, or with die disco- 
veries of modern science. Innumerable anecdotes were 
current about him half a century ago; of these two may 
serve as specimens. 

He proceeded from London to take possession of hi? 
parish, mounted on one horse himself and his servant on 
another, driving a third laden with such articles as appeared 
to be indispensible in a country where he supposed nothing 



408 LA NT EG LOS, JUXTA CAMELFORD. 

could be procured ; thus attended, he followed the greai 
road, then passing through Camelford, but inquiring in a 
foreign accent for Lan-te-glos juxta Camel-ford, he pro- 
ceeded nearly to the Land's End without obtaining the 
least information as to where his parish lay. 

The other evinces that he had not condescended to pay 
any attention to the general classifications of Natural His- 
tory, although Aristotle or Pliny might have communi- 
cated a sufficient store of knowledge in respect to animals, 
without his recurring to modern authors. Having observed 
a hen surrounded by a large brood of chickens, Doctor 
Lombard expressed his utter astonishment and surprise that 
so small an animal could possibly afford milk in sufficient 
quantity for the sustenance of such a numerous offspring. 

He died at Camelford Dec. 14, 1746 ; and left a valuable 
library for the use of his successors. 

This parish measures 3562 statute acres. 
Annual value of the Real Property, as <Jt'. s. rf. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . 4,141 
Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 662 14 

Pooulation i in 1801 ' I in 1811 ' I in ,821 ' I in 1831 > 
copulation, £ 912 | uoo | 1256 | 1359 

giving an increase of 49 per cent in 30 years. 

Present Rector, the Rev. Coryndon Luxmoore, presented 
in 1794, by the Prince of Wales. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

This parish no where rests on granite, although it ap- 
proaches very near to it. Its southern part is composed of 
massive schistose rocks like those of Advent, and is also tra- 
versed by beds of elvan, which very nearly resemble gra- 
nite. Its northern part consists of rocks of the calcareous 
series, among which are slates of an excellent quality for 
roofing. 



LA NT EG LOS, JUXTA FOWEY. 409 

LANTEGLOS, juxta FOWEY. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost 

TONKIN. 

Lanteglos, near Fowey, is situate in the hundred of West; 
and hath to the west Fowey Harbour, to the north St. 
Veep, to the east Plynt and Lansallas, to the south the 
English Channel. 

It is a vicarage, valued in the King's books at 14/. 7s. 6rf. 
The patronage in Mr. Thomas Pitt (late Mohun). The 
incumbent was the Rev. Mr. Henry Sutton, lately deceased. 

The first place of note in this parish is the manor of Hall. 
Hall signifies a moor, as Mr. Carew truly observes ; and 
so by its situation it seemeth formerly to have been. This 
place was for many generations the seat of the Fitz- Wil- 
liams, a family of special note in this county. Gervasius 
filius Willielmi Fitz- William, held five knights' fees in the 
reign of Richard the First. 

Robertus, filius Willielmi Fitz- William, impotens Miles, 
Coronator Domini Regis, (Carew, p. 139, Lord Dun- 
stanville's edition, Edw. II. A.D. 1324), an office much 
regarded in those days. 

Sir John, son of William Fitz- William, and Robert, I 
believe his brother, were two of those who held 20/. per 
annum of land as rent or more, 25 Edward I. ; and had 
summons to attend the king in parts beyond the sea. 

Sir John Fitz- William, mentioned above, had only one 
daughter and heir, Elizabeth, married to Reginald de Mo- 
hun, fourth son to John Lord Mohun, of Dunster Castle 
in Somersetshire, whereof some of his ancestors had been 
Lords, which John Lord Mohun died in the fourth year of 
Edward the Third, leaving his grandson John de Mohun 
his heir ; so that I take John de Mohun, named among the 



410 LANTEGLOS, JUXTA FOWEY. 

knights 17 Edward the Second, to be the same with him 
married to Elizabeth Fitz- William, and the dates agree. 

They say that this Sir Reginald de Mohun, coming into 
Fowey harbour with a company of soldiers bound for Ire- 
and, landign there, let fly a hawk at some game, which 
killed it in the garden of Hall, where Sir John Mohun 
going for his hawk, and being a very handsome personable 
young gentleman (qualities which his descendants retained 
to the last) the young lady fell in love with him ; and having 
a great fortune, the match was soon made up between 
them by the consent of their friends on both sides. I shall 
add no more of this place, than that it continued to be the 
chief seat of the Mohuns till the reign of King Charles 
the First, when they removed to Boconnock ; some time 
after whicli, Warwick Lord Mohun sold the barton only to 
Mr. Kekewich, whose seat it has been ever since. Peter 
Kekewich, Esq. his son, took to wife the daughter of Wil- 
liam Williams, of Bodenick ; and dying soon after 1720, 
'eft a son, now residing at Hall. The arms of Kekewich 
are, Argent, two lions in bend passant Sable, cotised 
Gules. The arms of Fitz- William were, Or, three bends 
Azure. 

The manor of Hall continued in the family of Mohun 
till the general sale to Mr. Pitt; and Mr. Thomas Pitt 
is the present lord of this manor. 

Hall, from its pleasant situation, has been called View 
Hall; but as this was an addition of latter years, so is it 
now lost, and the place has returned to its ancient plain 
name. Mr. Carew hath a long description of the walk 
here (P. 310), which is still in being, but much neglected; 
and also of a remarkable fagot, or rather a piece of wood, 
belonging to the Earls of Devon, and carefully kept here; 
hut this fagot is, I suppose, now lost. There is but little 
left of the old house, which I believe was destroyed in the 
Civil Wars, which may have inclined the Lord JVfohun to 
part with it. 

Under Hall, and adjoining to it, is Bodenick ; that is, 



LANTEGLOS, JUXTA FOWKY. 411 

the house on the water, suitable to its situation. It is 
but an indifferent place, consisting of one long street on a 
very steep hill, through which is the highway, and at the 
bottom of it the passage over the river to Fowey. There 
is but one good house in the place, and in that the late Mr. 
William Williams lived, and got a good estate by mer- 
chandizing. 

The manor of Lamellin, that is the Mill Place, from a 
mill there, lies on the side of a creek between Bodenick and 
Polruan. " At the head of this little Pill," says Leland, is 
a chapel of St. Wilow, and by it is a place called Lamel- 
lin, lately belonging to Lamelin, now to Trelawney by heir 
general. John Trelawney, of Pool, Esq. married Margery, 
only daughter and heir of Thomas Lamellin, Esq. ever 
since which this manor hath been in this family, who some 
time resided here. The present lord of this manor being 
Sir John Trelawney, Baronet. 

The arms of Lamellin were, Argent, a bull's head pas- 
sant Sable, the horns and hoofs Or. 

THE EDITOR. 

The church is situated between hills* and therefore but 
little seen ; it contains monuments to the Mohuns and to 
others. It was rated in the valuation of Pope Nicholas at 
101. 13s. 4£ 

There is a popular tradition, that in the year 1644, just 
before the surrender of the infantry commanded by Lord 
Essex, King Charles the First was walking on the ter- 
race at Hall, described by Mr. Carew, when a shot was 
fired, which missed him, but killed a fisherman almost by 
bis side. The tradition adds, of course, that the ball was 
aimed at the King by some one who knew him, but that 
must be uncertain. 

Polruan, a place in this parish, having some pretensions 
still to be called a town, has been wholly omitted by Mr. 
Tonkin, and probably was so by Mr. Hals, from whose 



412 LANTEGLOS, JUXTA FOWEY. 

work the greater part of Mr. Tonkin's manuscript is 
copied. This place is without doubt of great antiquity ; and 
seems in former times, when vessels required much less 
depth of water than they do at present, to have been the 
principal station in Fowey harbour. Pol means exactly the 
same as the English word pool, and may possibly be the 
original theme; Ruan has been ascertained in several in- 
stances to signify Roman. Polruan is, therefore, in all 
probability, the Roman pool or haven. This place, with a 
small district round it, forming in some respects a hamlet 
within the parish of Lanteglos, shared in the elective fran- 
chise of Fowey, where all residents paying scot and lot were 
entitled to vote till the act of 1832 swept it all away. 

Tales are related of Polruan having been an inde- 
pendent corporate town, and of its having sent Members 
to Parliament, while Fowey was a mere village ; but such 
traditions are prevalent in all places under similar circum- 
stances, and they have not here any sanction whatever 
from authentic sources. 

In the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Papae Nicholai, the three 
adjacent parishes, printed Lansalewys, Lanteglos, and St. 
Wepy, have this, App'a. Hosp. de Brugg. want.; and 
Mr. Lysons states, that this church was given by Robert de 
Boyton, in the reign of Edward the First, to the hospital of 
St James at Bridgewater. 

The name is inadvertently wrong; for in the Valor 
Ecclesiasticus, 26 Henry VIII. preserved in the Augmen- 
tation Office, is the following entry in the return from the 
Hospitale Sancti Johannis de Brugwalter* 

Lanteglos, rector 20/. 

The great tithes and the presentation to the vicarage, 
came into the possession of the Mohuns, and were sold 
with their other property to Pitt. 

There is also extant the appropriation of this church to 
the hospital by Peter Quiril, Bishop of Exeter from 1280 
to 129.2. 

" Omnibus, &c. Petrus miseratione divina Exon. Episco- 
pus salutem, &c. Ecclesiam de Lanteglos, juxta Fawy, 



Launcells. 413 

cum capella S. Salvatoris, juribus et pertinentiis omnibus; 
quae quidem ecclesia cum prsedicta capella de advocatione 
Magistri et Fratrum praedicti Hospitalis existit; praefatis 
Magistro et Fratribus ac eorum successoribus, ad pauperum 
et infirmorum sustentationem, capital i nostri praedicti una-* 
nimi accedente consensu, apprdpriamus, &c. 

" Dat. Exon. in crastino S. Marcae Evangelistae, anno 
gratiae mcclxxxiiii et consecrationis nostrae anno quarto." 

Lanteglos by Fowey measures 2773 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815: . 4146 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . . 548 13 



Population, — < 



in 1801, 
678 



in 1811, 
859 



in 1821, 
973 



in 1831, 
1208 



giving an increase of 78 per cent, in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. W. Hocker, instituted in 1806, 

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE. 

The geology of this parish is the same as that of the 
southern part of the parish of Fowey. 



LANCELLS, LAUNCELLS, LAWNCELLS. 

HALS. 

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lancells is situate in the hundred of Stratton, having to 
the west Stratton, to the north Kilkhampton, to the east 
the river Tamar, running between it and Devonshire, to 
the south Marham church and Bridgerule. This church 
is so called from its being a cell to the abbey of Hartland 
in Devonshire. The patronage in Paul Orchard, Esq. by 
purchase from Francis Basset, Esq. 

It is a vicarage valued in the King's Book at 10/. 10*. 8rf # 



414 LAUNCELL8. 

The incumbent) Mr. Thomas, brother-in-law to Mr. 
Paul Orchard. 

In 1291, 20th of Edward I. this church was valued for 
Pope Nicholas at 71. 1 5s. for the rectory, 15*. for the 
vicarage, and 15*. 6rf. for the tenths; it being then appro- 
priated to the abbey of Hartland, as was 

The manor of Lancelk. After the dissolution of Hart- 
land abbey, this estate came to Sir John Chamond, who 
made it his chief residence. Mr. Carew says, he was a 
man learned in the common law, and knighted at the Se- 
pulchre (that is of our Saviour at Jerusalem). He had a 
park of fallow deer at this place, which Norden notices, as 
I suppose the abbats of Hartland bad before him. It seems 
to have been to Sir John Chamond a country seat and a 
place of retirement. He was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 
20th year of Henry VIII. and again in the 28th year. 

His son, Richard Chamond, Esq. was three times She- 
riff of Cornwall, 35th of Henry VIII. 2d of Edward VI. 
and 4th of Elizabeth. He received, says Mr. Carew, 
at God's hands, an extraordinary favour of long life. 
He served the office of a justice of tlie peace almost 
sixty years; he knew above fifty several judges of the 
western circuit. He was uncle and great-uncle to at least 
three hundred; wherein yet his uncle and neighbour, Mas- 
ter Greynville, parson of Kilkhampton, did exceed him. 
He married one of the daughters and heirs of Trevenner, 
and by her saw five sons and two daughters, the youngest 
oustepping forty years. 

This Mr. Chamond was knight of the shire 14th Eliza- 
beth, as also before in the 2d and 3d of Philip and Mary. 

He had an elder brother, called Thomas, whose two 
daughters and heirs carried part of the lands to Tripcony 
and Trevanion, with whom they matched. Master Cha- 
mond beareth, Argent, a chevron between three flowers- 
de-luce Gules. And so far Mr. Carew ; where note that 
part of the lands so carried off, contained those in the 
parish of St. Gorran, lately in the possession of Charles 
Trevanion, of Tregarthyn, Esq. 



LAUNCELLS. 415 

THE EDITOR. 

Here was a cell of Austin Canons, dependent on the 
abbey of Hartland, distant from it but a lew miles, although 
in the county of Devon. 

The following entries are found in the Augmentation 
Office, in the roll 32d Henry VIII. : 

Payment from LanceUs to the Abbey of Hartland. 

£. s. d. 
LanceUs— Redd* liber' ten' . . 5 18 4 
Custom' ten' . 16 8 5f 
Perquis' cur' . . 18 

0^22 8 Of 



Nothing seems to be known about the foundation of this 
small religious establishment. 

Hartland is said to have been founded before the Con- 
quest, for secular priests, by Githa, the wife of Earl God- 
win ; but in the time of King Henry the Second, Geoffrey 
de Dinam, by the authority of that King, and of Bartho- 
lomew Bishop of Exeter, and by the assistance of Richard 
Archdeacon of Poictiers, changed the establishment of 
Seculars into an abbey of Austin Canons. 

The patronage of this abbey remained in the family of 
the founder, Geoffrey de Dinam, till the general dissolu- 
tion ; and the abbats were accordingly named alternately 
by Fitzwarren, by Touche, by Carew, and by Arundell, 
in consequence of their having married the four daughters 
and coheiresses of the founder. 

Mr. Lysons gives a very ample detail of the descent of 
property in this parish. 

The barton of Lancells was leased by King Henry VIII. 
to John diamond, and became the seat of that family. The 
freehold has been for a considerable time in the family of 
Orchard. It is now the seat by lease of Mr. Joseph Haw- 
key, in right of his wife, widow of the Rev. Cadwallader 
Jones. 



416 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

The manor of Norton Rolle has the bailiffry of the 
hundred of Stratton annexed as an appendage. 

This manor has passed from the Rolls to Trefusis. 

The manor of Yellow Leigh is the property and the 
residence of Mrs. Mary Harris. 

The manor of Thorlibear belonged to the Arundells of 
Trerice, and has passed by inheritance to Acland. 

The manor of Mitchell Morton, extending into several 
other parishes, belonged to a family of Smith, and became 
divided among coheiresses. 

Two thirds, having passed through different hands by 
purchase, became the property of Wrey J'Ans, Esq. and 
have descended to his daughters. The remaining third, 
with the barton and the advowson of the living, having 
been for many years in the family of Orchard, now belong 
to the Reverend F. H. Morrison, heir of the late Mr. 
Paul Orchard. 

Tre Yeo, said to have been the ancient seat of the Yeos, 
is now the property and residence of Robert Kingdon, Esq. 

The church stands in a vale, about a mile and a half 
from Stratton. It has a handsome marble altar-piece and 
several monuments; one of considerable size, and deco- 
rated, to the memory of John Chamond, who died in 1624. 

Scarcely any traces are to be seen of Lancells House, 
the splendid residence of the Chamonds. 

This parish measures 5610 statute acres. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. s. d. 

returned to Parliament in 1815 . . . 3920 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . 637 13 

„ , . fin 1801, I in J811, I in 1821, I in 1831 

Population,- | 647 | 672 | g91 | 84g 

giving an increase of 31 per cent, in 30 years. 

Present Vicar, the Rev. Henry Bourchier Wrey, pre- 
sented by L. W. Buck, Esq. in 1825. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE* 

This parish is situated entirely on the dunstone of the 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 417 

northern parts of Cornwall and Devon ; for a more parti- 
cular account of which, reference has already been given 
under the head of Boy ton. 



LANCESTON, or LAUNCESTON, 

ST. MARY MAGDALEN PARISH, 
HALS. 

The manuscript relating to Lanceston is lost. 

TONKIN. 

Lanceston is situated in the hundred of East, and is 
bounded to the south by South Pederwyn, as likewise to 
the west, to the north by St. Thomas, to the east by St. 
Stephan's and Lawhitton. 

It is well known that this town and parish took their 
name from an ancient priory and church here, now demo- 
lished, dedicated to St. Stephan, being called by the Cor- 
nish Lan Stephadon, the church of Stephan. 

The present church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, 
and is not valued in the King's Book. 

As for what Mr. Carew says, that the Cornish men 
called it Lesteeven, that is no other than an abbreviation of 
Lan Stephan. 

But before I go on with the account of this town and 
parish, it will be necessary to observe, that, although Nor- 
den (whose authority is indeed of no great weight, even in 
the description of those things which he had seen himself, 
and gives draughts of, which for the most part are very 
erroneous) with many others, call this town, or rather 
castle, here Dunhevet; yet it is mast certain that the ancient 
town of Dunhevet stood at about half a mile distance to the 
south-south-west of the present town of Lanceston, in a 
moorish piece of ground facing the west, at the bottom of 

VOL. II. 2 E 



418 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

the hill on which Mr. Samuel Line has built his pleasure 
house and inclosed a bowling-green, (from whence is a 
a very pretty prospect of the vale under it to the east, and 
the course of the river Tamar) being parcel of the com- 
mons belonging to the freemen of Lanceston. I went on 
purpose to view the ruins of the said town this present 
year 1731, having before this been led aside by the vulgar 
opinion, of which every boy I found in the town could 
satisfy me to the contrary. On the place where the said 
ruins appear are three wells, which I suppose are from the 
same spring, being pretty close together ; and are, (as I 
take it) the head of that small river which runs by Tres- 
morrow, Lanleke, Landew, &c. below which it hath a 
handsome stone bridge, and soon after falls into the Tamar. 
So that the said town had, in this respect, the advantage of 
the new one, as being well supplied with water, which is 
much wanting in this last. By the ruins it doth not ap- 
pear to have been of very considerable bigness; though 
indeed there be no judging well of it, by reason that all the 
stones of any value have been fi-om time to time carried off 
to build the present town, and the rest employed to make 
small inclosures of meadows there. 

This place fell to decay, I suppose, on William Earl of 
Morton building a castle, or rather repairing the old one 
and putting it in the present form, in the beginning of the 
Norman times ; for, by tradition, this castle has been, from 
remote antiquity, a seat of the Princes of Cornwall. This 
William Earl of Morton being also Earl of Cornwall by 
descent from his father Robert, who was half-brother by 
his mother to William the Conqueror, drew over the in- 
habitants of Dunhevet to this place, by granting great pri- 
vileges to this his chief seat in this county. 

But before we go on with the history of this town, let 
us see what Leland, Camden, and Carew say of it. 

Leland. — " After that I had passed over Aterey, I went 
up by the hill through the long suburbs until I came to the 
town wall and gate, and so passed through the town, as. 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 419 

cending the hill until I came to the very top of it, where be 
the market-place and the parish church of St. Stephan, lately 
re-edified. The large and ancient castle of Launceston 
standeth on the knappe of the hill by south, a little from 
the parish church. Much of this castle yet standeth ; and 
the moles that the keep standeth on are large, and of a 
terrible height ; and the arx of it having three several 
wards, is the strongest, but not the biggest, that ever I saw 
in any ancient work in England. There is a little pirle of 
water that serveth the high part of Launceston. The 
priory of Launceston standeth in the south-west part 
of the suburb of the town, under the root of the hill by 
a fair wood side ; and through this wood runneth a pirle of 
water coining out of a hill thereby, and serveth all the 
offices of the place. In the church I marked two notable 
tombs, one of Prior Horton and another of Prior Ste- 
phan; one also told me that Mabilia, a countess, was 
buried there in the chapter house; one William War- 
wist, Bishop of Excester, erected this priory, and was 
afterwards buried at Plympton priory, that he also erected. 
Warwist, for the erection of Launceston priory, sup- 
pressed the collegiate church of St. Stephan, having Preben- 
daries ; and gave the best part of the lands to Launceston 
priory, and took the residue himself. There yet standeth 
a church of St. Stephan, about half a mile from Launces- 
ton, on a hill, where the collegiate church was. Gawen 
Carew hath the custody of the priory. There is also a 
chapel by west-north-west, a little out of Launceston, de- 
dicated to St. Catharine ; it is now profaned." So far 
Leland. 

Mr. Carew is more particular (p. 274 Lord Dunstan- 
ville's edition). "Those buildings, commonly known by the 
name of Launston, and written Lanceston, are by the 
Cornish men called Lesteevan (Lez in Cornish signifieth 
broad, and these are scatteringly erected) and were an- 
ciently termed Lanstaphadon, by interpretation Saint Ste- 
phen's Church : they consist of two boroughs, Downe- 

2e2 



420 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

vet and Newport; that, perhaps, so called, of down- 
yielding, as having a steep hill ; this, of its newer erection. 
With these, join the parishes of St. Thomas and Sl Ste- 
phan. The parish church of Launceston itself fetches its 
title of dedication from Mary Magdalen, whose image is 
curiously hewed in a side wall, and the whole church fairly 
built 

" The town was first founded, saith Mr. Hooker, by 
Eadulphus, brother to Alpsius Duke of Devon and Corn- 
wall ; and by its being girded with a wall, argueth in times 
past to have carried some value. 

" A new increase of wealth expresseth itself in the inha- 
bitants' late repaired and enlarged buildings. They are 
governed by a mayor and his scarlet-robed brethren ; and 
reap benefit by their fairs and markets, and the county as- 
sizes. The statute of 32d Henry 'VIII. which took order 
touching sanctuaries, endowed this town with the privilege 
of one ; but I find it not turned to any use. 

" To the town there is adjoinant in site, but sequestered 
in jurisdiction, an ancient castle, whose steep rocky-footed 
keep hath its top environed with a treble wall; and in re- 
gard thereof, men say, was called Castle Terrible. The 
base court compriseth a decayed chapel, a large hall for 
holding the shire assizes, the constable's dwelling-house, 
and the common gaol. 

" About sixty years past (i. e. about 1540) there were 
found certain leather coins in the castle wall, whose fair 
stamp and strong substance till then resisted the assault of 
time as they would now of covetousness. 

** A little without the town were founded a friary, and 
anno 1128 an abbey, furthered by Reginald Earl of Corn- 
wall." Thus far Mr. Carew. 

Having now done with what former writers have said of 
this place, I come to give my account of it ; and herein I 
shall begin with 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 421 

THE CASTLE. 

This is seated to the west-south-west of the town, so that 
you have a full prospect of it from the western road. Below 
the wall is a large and deep grafF, which formerly sur- 
rounded it, and is still very visible on the western side ; the 
rest being taken up partly by the highway, and partly by 
gardens and buildings, which on the eastern side come 
home along to the castle walls. The west gate is in a man- 
ner all in ruins ; neither are there any remains of the 
chapel, the hall, or the constable's house, there being now 
no other building remaining therein but the house which 
now serveth for the common gaol ; whereas the old one, as 
the townsmen say, was over the north-east gate, which is 
still kept in good repair, though no one lives in it. 

At the north-east end stands the keep, on a high ta- 
pered mount, which I once thought was artificial, though 
I am now satisfied to the contrary, there being a quarry of 
stones almost at the very top of it ; though there has been 
some art used nevertheless to bring it to the form that it 
now has. A covered way formerly led you by steps of 
stone of an easy ascent, to the top of it, which steps are 
now carried off as well as the roof, and the whole in a 
ruinous condition ; and truly it moveth compassion to see 
the woful plight of this so pleasant a seat, accommodated 
with a fine park, formerly well wooded, with a small rivu- 
let of water running through it. The whole being now 
held for lease on lives by Hugh Piper, Esq. who by virtue 
thereof is likewise constable of the castle and keeper of the 
gaol, the which was granted to his grandfather Sir Hugh 
Piper, Knt. together with the lieutenant-governorship of 
Plymouth by King Charles the Second, as a reward for his 
sufferings and exemplary bravery in the Civil Wars, in 
one of the battles during which the said Sir Hugh Piper 
was left for dead in a field for a whole night; being found 
the next morning, he was put into a warm bed, and care- 
fully looked to. He lived after this to a good old age, as 



422 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

may be seen by the inscription on his monument in the 
church. 

I had forgotten to say anything of Mr. Willis's account 
of this borough, which I shall therefore now insert. 

Robert Earl of Morton, and his successors Earls of 
Cornwall, having their chief residence at this castle, the 
town increased much in buildings and riches, and had cer- 
tain privileges and liberties conferred upon it. 

There were burgesses inhabiting or belonging to the castle 
of this town in the reign of King Henry the Second, and the 
reign of King Henry the Third. The town was by its then 
lord, Richard Earl of Poictiers and of Cornwall, the King's 
brother,* made a free borough, who granted to it by his char- 
ter, without date, power to choose their own bailiffs, who were 
to answer the farm of the borough, which was to himself 
100/.; to the prior of St. Stephan 65*. 10tf.; and to the 
lepers of St Leonard, of Lanceston, 100s. of his alms. 
He granted them also to erect a guild of merchants in the 
said borough to hold of him and his heirs, which privi- 
leges (as may be seen by divers charters and letters patent 
of the Kings of England, reciting by inspeximus) were 
frequently confirmed, and with additional liberties. And in 
the 10th year of Richard the Second, upon the petition of 
these burgesses, complaining that the last assizes and ses- 
sions had been detained from them and held at Lostwithiel, 
the King grants that these should be kept no where else 
in the county of Cornwall but at Launceston. 

This Prince's father* had, on his being created Duke of 
Cornwall, inter alia, the castle, borough, and honor of Laun- 
ceston, assigned to him and the heirs of his body, eldest 
sons of the Kings of England, in whom accordingly this 
manor has been vested ever since ; and is now held in fee 
farm by the heir-apparent to the Crown of England, being 
by birth Duke of Cornwall. 

The corporation consists of a mayor, recorder, and eight 
aldermen, who, with the free burgesses, being in number 

* King of the Romans. Eo. f The Black Prince. Ed. 



? *?, : ; LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 423 

..::■•';*•?;*•.•/•: 
: - .v*apij&ut /130, elect the members Qf Parliament. lis present 

V V.j^tablishment of incorporation is owing to a charter of 

" ";;.- T.ijpiBieti Mary, A. D. 1555. At the last Visitation of the 

. -y ; ' ? Betafe&, held on the 27th,of Sept. 1620, the entries were, 

".*:*; : /;-$hpmas Morton, mayor, Sir Anthony Rous, Knt. recor- 

•> "/j-tfer* John Genis, Richard Estcot, Arthur Pinard, Nicholas 

'**{ 'Bak^fr Hugh Vigures, Henry Cary, George Hext, Or- 

~a - : 'y wald^Cooke, aldermen ; and Philip King, town clerk. 

V" ■?"* • -Mfr Willis goes on to say, That this was an ancient market 

: V ...town, may be seen by the Pipe Rolls in King John's time, 

. "\z'V- in whose reign the men of Launceston gave a fine of five 

•:•■ * marts to change the market from the Lord's Day, whereon 

i -'.". itwas formerly kept, to Thursday, although it hath since 
/: \ undergone a second alteration, and is now kept on Sa- 

V" \. tiirdays. 

•7- •.(.."■; THE EDITOR. 

•/-. . No one can approach Launceston, and more especially 
- '.from the eastward, without being struck by the magnifi- 
cent remains of the ancient castle. 
>'' :•? : ,Mr; Edward King, in the third volume of his Muni- 
•. V nterita Antiqua, treats much at large of the fortresses 
• erected in remote times throughout Cornwall ; and he par- 
:*^.: : «:>l.ticularly dwells on this at Launceston, assigning to it the 
J!^V -■: raost remote antiquity on account of its not bearing any 
resemblance to castles built by the Romans, Saxons, Danes, 






XJrV^.v, or Normans, an d f rom its agreement with various of the 
■^MvK'^ Phoenician, Syrian, and Median castles, and especially with 
vthose in Asia Minor. 

I. Mr. King says, the keep (unlike all Norman keeps) in- 
stead of being of great diameter and spacious, is very small, 
.although there was evidently space enough on the top of the 
rock to have made it as large as Norman magnificence could 
demand, had it been erected, as some have hastily conjec- 
tured, by that people. It is only eighteen feet and a half 



*•. 



424 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

in diameter within, and it is quite round. On the con- 
trary, Trematon, in the same county, which may with good 
reason be concluded to have been built by Robert Earl of 
Morton, is a true Norman structure ; and there cannot be 
a greater contrast than there is between it and Launces- 
ton. Like Tunbridge castle, it is placed, not on a high 
natural rock, but on an artificial mound, and is no les 
than sixty feet in diameter on the inside. See Dr. Borlase's 
Antiquities, 2d ed. p. 354. 

The wall of the keep at Launceston is exceedingly strong, 
being at least ten feet thick; and within its thickness is a. 
staircase, ascending up from one side of the passage of the 
doorway, without any winding, excepting that of the mere 
curvature of the wall itself. 

The present height is thirty-two feet, the upper part 
being somewhat broken down; and it contained, as its 
only apartments, a sort of dungeon on the ground, which 
had no light at all, and two rooms over it, one above the 
other. The lowermost of these, or the room immediately 
above the dungeon, was nearly as dismal and dark as the 
dungeon itself, and appears obviously, therefore, to have 
been intended merely to be used as a place for store, or a 
sort of treasury ; but in the uppermost apartment there 
appear to have been two large windows (now broken 
down) commanding a most extensive view, one to the east 
and another to the west; and also a fire-hearth, with a 
passage for the smoke carried up through the thickness of 
the wall towards the north, all which plainly indicate this 
room to have been intended as a sort of state apartment 
for the actual residence of the chieftain. 

Such is this tower ; and its close surrounding works are 
no less extraordinary, for we find it encompassed by a se- 
cond munition still stronger than itself. 

About six feet, or a little more, from its outside, is an 
encircling wall twelve feet thick, and nearly equal in height 
with the floor of the uppermost apartment of all. 

Beyond this second wall is again a second surrounding 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 425 

area in like manner with the first, only six feet wide, and 
which was further inclosed by a third encircling wall, form- 
ing a sort of parapet. 

Beyond all these was an external wall with a deep ditch. 

Mr. King then goes on to compare this castle with an- 
cient descriptions of those in the east, and satisfies himself 
of their identity. 

Respecting the name, Dun or Doon, is unquestionably 
a hill, and thence derivatively a fortress ; but no plausible 
conjecture has been formed in regard to the second syl- 
lable. 

A similar observation may be made respecting the name 
of the town. Lan occurs as a prefix, in the sense of indi- 
cating a church, eleven times in Cornwall ; but it seems dif- 
ficult to derive " ceston" from Stephan. Yet if the Cel- 
tic pronunciation of Stephan was really Staveton, Lan- 
staveton may have easily glided, through Saxon pronun- 
ciation and misapprehension of the terminating syllable into 
Lanceston. 

The priory # of Launceston appears to have been a foun- 
dation of no small magnitude. The list of its possessions, 
in the Augmentation Office, exhibit a considerable revenue; 
and Leland describes its church with handsome monu- 
ments : not a trace remains. No one more sincerely rejoices 
at the downfall of superstition, originating in ages of darkness, 
than the Editor of this work, and above all at the approach- 
ing annihilation throughout Europe of monastic institu- 
tions, promised by the regular and steady current of events; 
but the sudden and indiscriminating devastations of the six- 
teenth century, sweeping every thing before them like whirl- 
winds, destroying for the mere sake of wanton destruction, 
or at the very best — from a desire of obliterating all former 
remembrances ; these stamp on the mind very different im- 
pressions ; and when it is felt that the storm was urged for- 
wards by the fury of an individual, by the avarice of those 
occupying the highest stations, and by the purposely 
inflamed passions of the multitude, it is impossible not 



426 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

to experience the forebodings of Scipio on the fall of Car- 
thage ; and to exclaim with him 

Effffercu ty/iap brav itot oXwXrj IXtos Iprj, 
Kai Upiapos, icai Xaos evpeXtto Uptafioto. 

The registers and cartularies of this monastery have dis- 
appeared ; for these were systematically destroyed. Frag- 
ments, however, exist in ancient transcripts; some, for- 
merly in the possession of William Griffith, and referred to 
by Bishop Tanner, are now preserved in the Lansdowne 
Collection. Among these the following document may be 
found relative to the foundation of the priory by William 
Warlewast, Bishop of Exeter, from 1150 to 1159: — Noscat 
prsesentis temporis astas, quod Radulfus Ecclesias sancti 
Stephani de Launcestone decanus decanatum mihi Wil- 
lielmo Episcopo reddidit. Et ego canonicis regularibus, 
quos in eadem constitui, totum dedi. Testes sunt, 

Osbertus, Abbas de Tavistoca. 

Gofridus, Prior Plymptonias. 

Will, de Augo, Archidiaconus Cornubias. 

Clarenbaldus, Capellanus Regis. 

Magister Odo. 
The charter from King Henry the Third, also extant, is 
a fair specimen of the times, and contains some local descrip- 
tions of property : — 

Henricus Rex Angliae, 8tc. salutem. Inspeximus cartam 
Domini Johannis Regis Patris nostri in haec verba. 

Johannes Dei gratia Rex Angliae, &c. salutem. Sciatis nos 
concessisse, dedisse, et hac presenti charta confirmasse Deo 
et Ecclesiae Sancti Stephani de Lanstaveton et canonicis 
ibidem Deo servientibus, pro salute animae nostras, et pro 
anima Henrici Regis Patris nostri, et pro animabus om- 
nium antecessorum et successorum nostrorum, viginti soli- 
datas terrae in manerio nostro de Climerston, et preterea 
viginti nummatas terrae in eodem manerio. Scilicet, dimi- 
diam acram, quam Eggerus de Holrode tenet. Has autem 
sunt metae terrarum illarum. Scilicet, a termino terras 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 427 

Radulphi Pitlenam sicut rivus descendit in magnam aquam 
de Eny, et usque ad terminum terrae praedicti Eggeri de 
Holrode, ex parte orientis et meridiei. Item ex parte oc- 
cidentis et septentrionis a Wideslade, sicut rivus currit et 
descendit in magnam aquam de Eny in terram de Climer- 
ston et terram de Treuris. Et preter hoc dimidiam acram 
terrae in Norton quam Warinus tenet. Confirmamus etiam 
eisdem canonicis omnia subscripta, sicut eis rationabiliter 
data sunt. Scilicet, ex dono Richardi de Raddon unam 
virgatam terrae, quae vocatur Trewenta, quietam et liberam 
ob omni servitio, praeter quindecim denarios, quos reddere 
debet ad Tidlaton, de quadam consuetudine, quae vocatur 
Motiled. Et ex dono Roberti filii Alkitilli, concessu co- 
mitis Reginaldi domini sui, terram quae vocatur Trenchi- 
cot. Et ex dono comitis Reginaldi partem Hamelini pres- 
biteri de Capella de Castello, cum omnibus libertatibus et 
rebus parti illi pertinentibus. Et quadraginta solidos per 
annum de firma de Castello de Dunheved, et Ecclesiam 
Sancti Andreae de Stratton, cum pertinentiis suis; et 
unam carucatam terrae de dominico manerii de Stratton, 
uxta alteram terram ejusdem ecclesiae, cum quadam area 
Salmarii Elfordiae, salvo dignitate capellae nostrae de Cas- 
tello de Lanstaveton ; et Molendinum quod est sub Castello 
de Dunheved, cum eisdem pertinentiis, et consuetudinibus, 
quas habebat dum erat in manu Comitis Reginaldi ; et ter- 
ram de Karnedon, quae est membrum de Kidlacton. Itaqui- 
dem quod de reliqua parte ipsius manerii de Kidlacton per- 
ficiatur eis tantum ; quod bene et plenarie habeant centum 
solidatas terrae, sicut Comes Baldewinus de Redevers eis con- 
cessit et assignavit, et carta sua confirmavit; etex dono Osberti 
de Bikesleya viginti solidatas terrae in manerio de Treuris, 
scilicet villam quae vocatur Tregof, et terram quae fuit Luffe, 
et terram Warniij uxta pontem; et unam acram in villa 
quae vacatur Carsbroc, cum hominibus et omnibus quae ad 
praefatas terras pertinent; et partem nemoris apud orien- 
tem, sicut via dividit usque ad aquam ; et ex dono Ber- 
nard! Clerici duas acras terrae, quas tres homines tenent et 



428 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

reddunt Deo et Ecclesiae Sancti Stephani, inde quinque 
solidos annuatim, quae sunt subtus viam Trebursi; et ex 
dono Willielmi de Henemerdon totam terrain de Pech. 
Haec quidem omnia cum omnibus pertinentiis suis conces- 
simus eis et oonfirmavimus dum essemus Comes Moreton, 
sicut ea rationabiliter possident, et sicut cartas Donatorum 
suorum testantur. 

Datum per manum H. Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi can- 
cellarii nostri, vigesiroo octavo die Junii, apud Aurivallem 
anno regni nostri primo (1199). 

Nos igitus has donationes, &c. confirmamus, &c. 
Insuper concedimus et confirmamus eisdem canonicis et 
eorum successoribus, pro nobis et haeredibus nostris, dona- 
tionem quara Reginaldus Regis Filius, consul Cornubiae, 
eis fecit in incrementum Ecclesiae suae de Lanstaveton, de 
Ecclesia de Leskeret, et de Ecclesia de Lankinhorn, in 
die translation^ Reliquiarum et canonicorum ipsius Eccle- 
siae de villa de Lanstaveton ad vadum, sicut carta ipsius 
Reginaldi Regis filii, quam inde kabent, rationabiliter tes- 
tatum 

Hiis testibus, 

H. de Burgo, comite Kantii, Justiciario Anglise. 

Philippo de Albiniaco. 

Thoma Basset. 

Willielmo Basset. 



VALOR ECCLESIA8TICUS 26 HEN. VIII. 

Prioratm de Launceslon. 

Unde Willielmus Warmest, quondam Episcopus Exon. 
est Fundator. 

Summa Valoris tam Spiritualium quam £. $. d. 
Temporalium Prioratus praedicti - 392 11 2£ 

Reprisa - - - - 38 10 3 



Valet clare ultra repris' per aim' «£554^0 Hi 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 



429 



ABSTRACT FROM THE AUGMENTATION OFFICE. 



Nuper Prioratus de Launceston. 








Cam. Cornub. 






£. 


£. 


d. 


Launceston. 


Scit' cum Terris d'nicalibus 15 


19 


6 


Launceston lande 


cum Burg' de Newporte 










Reddit' assis* 


- 


118 


5 


7 


Launceston lande. 


Redd' Lib' Ten' 


- 





3 


5 




Firm' - 


- 


10 








Bradford. 


Redd' Lib' Ten* 


- 





14 


7 




Co'ven' Ten' - 


- 


6 


8 


1* 




Perquis' Curiae 


- 





3 


6 


Canedon Prior* 


Redd. Lib' Ten' 


- 


3 


9 


n 


• 


Co'ven' Ten' - 


- 


12 





6 




Perquis' Curiae 


- 


1 


11 


">i 


Clymysland. 


Redd' Lib' Ten' 


- 





8 







Conven' Ten* - 


- 


6 


13 


9 


Treworthgy. 


Red' Lib' Ten'- 
Ten' custom' quam 


con- 


4 


13 


7 




ven't Ten' - 


- 


3 


IT 







Perquis' Curiae - 


- 





6 


2 


Stratton. 


Red' Lib* Ten' 


- 


1 


2 







Conven* Ten' - 


- 


6 


5 


8 




Perquis' Curiae 


- 





3 


3 


Tottysdone. 


Redd' Lib' Ten* 


- 





9 


5 




Conven' Ten' (Lib' 


cum') 


1 










Perquis' Curiae 


- 


3 


12 


8 


Estwaye. 


Redd' Lib' Ten' 


- 


2 


10 







Cust' et Con' Ten' 


- 


0~ 


9 


7 




Perquis' Curiae 


- 


1 


8 


4 


Boyton. 


Redd' Lib' Ten' 


- 


1 


3 


11 




Co'ven' Ten' - 


- 


6 


16 


5 


Bradryche. 


Terr' d'nical' - 


- 


8 


11 





Boyton. 


Perquis' Curiae - 


- 





7 


2 


Buclawrenbucke. 


Red' Lib' Ten' - 


- 





1 


G 




Conven' Ten* - 


- 


19 


15 


H 




Perquis' Curiae - 


- 





2 


20 



430 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 







£. 


8. 


d. 


Bonealvey. 


Red' Lib' Ten' - 


1 


6 


11 




Conven' Ten' - 


6 


4 


6 




Perquis* Curiae - 





6 


2 


Halgh land. 


Red' Lib' Ten' 


1 


6 


9 




Ten' ad val' 





3 


5 




Perquis* Curiae 





9 


8 


Treworell. 


Red' Lib' Ten' - 


1 


4 


10 




Conven' Ten' - 





2 





Beyworthye, 


Pensio - 





10 





Ayssheby. 


Pensio - 





2 





Deweston. 


Pensio - 





5 





Loffyngeo. 


Pensio - 





2 





S. Egid' 


Pensio - 





2 





Tresmare. 


Pensio - 





1 


8 


South Siddenham. Pensio - 





1 





Lyskerde. 


Pensio - 


5 








Talland. 


Pensio - 


2 








Bridgeruell. 


Pensio - 





3 





Lynkinhorne. 


Pensio - 


1 


6 


8 


Lanest. 


Pensio * 





3 


4 


Lescard. 


Decim' - 


25 








Talland. 


Decim* - 


10 








Wulryngton. 


Rector' 


21 


9 


4 


Egloskery. 


Rector* 


21 


8 





Poughill. 


Rector* 


7 








Stratton. 


Rector* 


11 








S. Genefre. 


Rector* 


11 








Lawanyke. 


Rector' 


10 








Launceston. 


Rector* S' Thomse 


6 








Lanest. 


Rector* 


5 





o. 


Inlett. 


Rector' 


6 








Lankynhorne. 


Rector' 


18 








Launceston. 


Rector' B. Mar' Magd' 


3 


13 


4 


S' Steph' cum 


Tresmore. Rector' 


13 








Tynnyherne. 


Portio X me 





6 


8 



Tamerton. Rector* 



9 13 4 



LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 431 

Launceston, defended by its Acropolis, and important 
as a frontier town, probably remained in all respects the 
capital of Cornwall so long as that little state retained its 
separate existence. Lestwithiel afterwards became the 
residence of its nominal Earls, took from Launceston the 
sheriffs' court, and acquired the technical appellation of the 
county town. 

The assizes, however, continued at Launceston, and 
the quarter sessions were opened there ; and then, for the 
convenience of the western population, adjourned to Truro. 
Here also was the only county gaol ; till at last the incon- 
venience and expense became so great, that about the 
year 1780, a new, extensive, and commodious gaol, with 
every recent improvement, was constructed at Bodmin, 
where the summer assizes had been removed under the 
authority of an act of Parliament 1st Geo. I. c. 45, ren- 
dered necessary by the charter of King Richard II. 

But Launceston, only two miles from the boundary of 
Cornwall, and so remote from the mining districts, which 
comprehend the great masses of population and of litigible 
property, as to render a journey there in one day impos- 
sible, has been long considered wholly unfitted for the hold- 
ing of any court having jurisdiction thoughout the county ; 
while on the other hand judges and counsel feared to extend 
their winter's progress over the bad roads and hills of 
Cornwall. The roads are now improved, and the hills 
are avoided ; and in this year ( 1834) an order has been 
made for holding both assizes in future at the town adja- 
cent to the prison, nearly in the centre of the county, and 
where an increased inducement will be afforded for pro- 
viding the accommodation requisite on such occasions. 

Launceston itself has received more improvement than 
almost any other place as a thoroughfare; the great London 
road crossing it from east to west, and one of considerable 
importance from north to south. 

The exit from the east gate was about ten years ago made 
safe/and even convenient, from being dangerous in a very high 
degree; and in the present year (1834) a road from the north 



432 LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON. 

has been wound round the castle at a very easy ascent, and 
avoided altogether a hill so steep as almost to prohibit the 
use of wheeled carriages* 

Launceston not only sent two Members to Parliament : 
but the long street, or suburb extending from the foot of the 
hill at the north gate, sent two members more under the 
name of Newport. By the act of Parliament of 1832, they 
are both included in a district, returning one member. 
Launceston is so amply described by recent writers of 
the county history, that it would be useless to repeat what 
they have given. The general view of the place is mag- 
nificent ; and especially from the new iron bridge, com- 
pleted this year, across the Tamar at Polston. 

The parish of St. Mary Magdalen measures 1090 statute 
acres. The present Minister is the Rev. John Rowe, ap- 
pointed by the Corporation in 1 808. 

Annual value of the Real Property, as £ . s. d. 
returned to Parliament in 1815 . . 3900 

Poor Rate in 1831 . . . 736 

r> i ^ fin 1801, I in 1811, I in 1821, I inl831, 

Population,- | U83 | 1T58 '| 21Q3 | 2231 

giving an increase of 50 per cent, in 30 years. 

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 

Doctor Boase observes on the geology, ^ that clayslate, 
calcareous schist, limestone, and other rocks belonging to the 
calcareous series, constitute the substrature of this parish. 

It is quite obvious that the conical mound supporting 
the keep, as well as the whole extent of the bass court, are 
composed of eminences favourable for defence but im- 
proved by art, being scarped in some places and elevated 
in others. 



END OF VOLUME II. *yr 



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