VOLUME IV.

P. 36, line 10, _for_ Polbenro, _read_ Polperro. P. 41, line 10, _read_ Horningcote. P. 44, line 2 from bottom, _for_ Mr. _read_ Mrs. P. 45, line 2, _for_ Dinnavale, _read_ Dellabole; line 6, _for_ Treveares, _read_ Treveans; line 14, _for_ brother, _read_ brothers. P. 46, line 19, _for_ an entire, _read_ a complete. P. 54, line 7 from foot, _after_ ecclesiastical, _read_ and Duchy. P. 67, line 19, _read_ from whom it has descended. P. 74, line 11, _for_ Ballivor, _read_ Ballivo. P. 93, line 20, _for_ he, _read_ she. P. 114, line 6 from foot, _for_ Trevilyan, _read_ Tresilyan. P. 138, line 17, _for_ bold, _read_ bald. P. 139, line 14, _dele_ (S. T.) P. 161, _add to the note_, and the name should be Trewren.

HISTORY

OF THE

PARISHES OF CORNWALL.

ADVENT, ALIAS ST. ANNE.

HALS.

Advent is situate in the hundred of Les-newith, i. e. new breadth, extent, or division.[2] It hath upon the north Lantegles; east, Altar Nun and St. Cloather; south, Brewer; west, Michaelstow. In the Domesday (Roll or) Tax, 2d of Will. I. 1068, this district was rated either under the names of Tegleston or Helleston, manors contiguous therewith.

For the modern appellations of this parish, they were taken from the church after its erection and consecration (which goes in presentation and consolidation with Lanteglos), and is called Advent, from Advent Sunday, (on which probably it was consecrated and dedicated to God, in the name of St. Anne, by the Bishop of Exon,) viz. the nearest to the feast of St. Andrew, and refers to the coming of Christ,――Advent pro adveniant, coming.

This church is consolidated in Lanteglos, and goes in presentation with it; the patronage in the Duke of Cornwall, who endowed it.[3]

This parish of Advent alias St. Anne was rated at the 4_s._ per pound land tax,[4] ann. Dom. 1696; at which time the author of this work, with other commissioners at Bodmin, settled the respective charges or sums upon all the parishes or towns in Cornwall for all future ages.

TONKIN.

The right name of this parish is St. Alhawyn, by abbreviation Advent.

The place of chief note in this parish is Trethym. In the time of the Usurpation, Sir Henry Rolle, of Honiton, retired here, as being a pleasant seat (especially in summer) for hunting; and soon after it was the seat, by lease from him, of Matthew Vivian, Gent. a younger brother of John Vivian, Esq. of Truan, and as noted a cavalier as his brother was a partisan on the other side. Mr. Matthew Vivian had several daughters, one of whom being the first wife of ―――― Beale, of St. Teath, brought him this barton, which he gave to her eldest son, Matthew Beale, Gent. whose widow now enjoys it (1715): of whom see more in St. Teath. [From them it passed to the Gwatkins, by which family it was held until the year 1814, when it was sold by Robert Lovell Gwatkin, Esq. to Mr. Allen Searell. _Hitchins._]

WHITAKER.

Ridiculing the etymology of Advent suggested by Hals, Mr. Whitaker says, “The appellation is merely personal, and that of the church’s saint,” Adwen. This was one of a numerous family of saints, whose history, as they have left their names to several parishes and churches in Cornwall, it may be desirable to detail in this place, as it is quoted by Leland from the Life of St. Nectan, who was the eldest brother. “Brechan, a petty king of Wales, from whom the district of Brocchanoc (Brecknock) derived its name, had by his wife Gladwise twenty-four sons and daughters, whose names were: Nectan, John (or Ivan), Endelient, Menfre, Dilic; Tedda, Maben, Wencu, Wensent; Merewenna, Wenna, Juliana, Yse; Morwenna, Wymp, Wenheder, Cleder, Keri; Jona, Kananc (or Lalant), Kerhender, _Adwen_, Helie, Tamalanc. All these sons and daughters were afterwards saints, martyrs, or confessors, leading the life of hermits in Devon and Cornwall.” The same story is related by Giraldus Cambrensis and William of Worcester. Whitaker’s Cathedral, vol. II. pp. 91, 98.

LYSONS.

Advent contains the small villages of Treclogoe or Trelogoe, Pencarow, and Tresinny. Most of the estates in this parish are parcel of the duchy of Cornwall, being held as free and customary lands of the manor of Helston in Trigg. The manor of Trelagoe, Treclegoe, or Trenelgoe, after having been for some descents in the family of Phillipps, was bequeathed by the late Rev. William Phillipps, Rector of Lanteglos and Advent, to his nephew John Phillipps Carpenter, of Tavistock, Esq. whose son is the present proprietor.

THE EDITOR.

Advent contains 2,844 statute acres. Annual value of the real property, as £. _s._ _d._ to Parliament in 1815 1,396 0 0 Poor Rates in 1815 115 1 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 170 | 219 | 229 | 244. or 43½ per cent. increase in thirty years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The eastern part of this parish consists of granite, forming a portion of an extensive group of this rock, in which are situated Roughtor and Brown Willy, the highest hills in Cornwall. This granite is of the ordinary kind, large grained, and often porphyritic. It contains beds of fine-grained rocks, in some of which crystalline felspar, quartz, and mica, constitute the entire mass; but in others these minerals are embedded in a basis of compact, or rather of granular felspar, which is itself apparently a compound of felspar and quartz. The junction of the granite with slate is concealed by a large track of marsh and bog; adjoining to which is a dreary waste of common, resting on an irregular bed of quartzose gravel, derived from the granite hills, and evidently of diluvial origin. This eastern part is sterile, merely affording a scanty subsistence to cattle during the summer. The remainder of the parish is composed of felspar and hornblend rocks, traversed here and there by courses of granitic elvan, a rock in every respect similar to that occurring in the granite. One of these courses may be seen by the road side near the rivulet of Pencarrow. Here the country is wooded and cultivated, exhibiting some picturesque scenes of hill and dale; so characteristic of the hornblend rock near granite.

[2] See Mr. Whitaker’s remark on this etymology, hereafter under the parish of Lesnewth.

[3] Jewell contra Harding, p. 582.

[4] In the Exchequer 61_l._ 17_s._

ST. AGNES.

HALS.

St. Agnes is situate in the hundred of Pyder.

At the time of the Conqueror’s tax there was no such parish or district as Saint Agnes; but the same passed in rates under the jurisdiction of the Earl of Cornwall’s manor, now Duchy, of Twarnhayle; together with Peransand: which now parish of St. Agnes was taxed to the four shillings in the pound land-tax, 9th William and Mary, 1696, 137_l._ 5_s._

The present church of St. Agnes was of old only a small free chapel dedicated to her, without endowment, till the same was augmented and rebuilt, of three roofs, as it now stands, by charitable collections, and the proper charge and cost of the inhabitants thereof, in 1484; consecrated and dedicated to the honour of Almighty God, in the name of St. Agnes, as a daughter church to Peransand, by Dr. Peter Courtenay, then Bishop of Exon.[5]

St. Agnes was a Roman by birth, anno Dom. 285, descended of noble ancestors, and being beautiful of body and mind, at 13 years of age was courted in marriage by the son of Sempronius, then governor of Rome; but because he was no Christian she utterly refused his address, who complained thereof to his father; that immediately he sent for Agnes, and renewed the proposals of marriage made to her by his son, making larger offers for her advantage, which altogether proving ineffectual, Sempronius asked her whether she would adore and sacrifice to the Roman gods, and abandon the superstition of the Christians, but she, proving constant to her religion, utterly refused to do that also; whereupon she was committed to prison, from thence, after much hard durance, sent among persons of ill fame, where her innocence and purity were miraculously preserved, till at length, by the Governor’s order, she was committed to the flames, which immediately parted asunder, and did her no harm; whereupon the Governor, and Auspitius his agent, commanded her to be taken out of the fire, and forthwith to be beheaded by the common hangman, 20 January, anno Dom. 304, in the latter end of the reign of Dioclesian, or in the beginning of Constantius and Galerius. St. Ambrose wrote her life. St. Isidore, St. Augustine, Demetrius, and Prudentius, with Aloysy Lessomanus, Bishop of Seville, have all written very commendable things of her. In the glass windows of this church I remember to have seen written the remains of a broken inscription,――“in carcere serat Agnes,”――referring, I suppose, to her sowing or preaching the Word in the prison, jail, or hold, to which she was confined as aforesaid. The parish feast is holden on the Sunday following St. Agnes’ Day.

In this parish stands Carne Bury-anacht, or Bury-anack, synonymous words, only varied by the dialect; id est, the still, quiet, spar-stone grave, or burying-place, where, suitable to the name, on the natural, remote, lofty circumstances thereof, stand three sparstone tumuli, consisting of a vast number of those stones, great and small, piled up together, in memory of some one notable human creature before the 6th centuary interred there.

This is that well-known place called St. Agnes’ Ball, that is to say, St. Agnes’ pestis, or plague, so named from the hard, deep, and dangerous labour of the tinners there, out of which mountain hath been digged up, for at least 150 years’ space, about ten thousand pounds worth of tin per annum; which keeps daily employed about the same 1,000 persons, who for the most part spend their time in hard and dangerous labours as aforesaid, in order to get a poor livelihood for themselves and families, in the pursuit of which, here and in other places, many of those poor men yearly by sad accidents lose their lives.

The natural circumstances of this Ball is a subject as worthy the consideration of the most sage virtuosos, or natural philosophers; for, though it be a stupendous and amazing high mountain, abutting upon the Irish sea, or St. George’s Channel, rising pyramidally from the same at least 90 fathom above the sea and contiguous lands, yet on the top thereof, under those spar-stone graves, or burying-places, is discovered by the tinners, five foot deep, good arable land or earth; under that, for six foot deep, is found a fine sort of white and yellow clay, of which tobacco-pipes have been made; beneath this clay is a laying of sea-sand and nice totty-stones. Two or three hundred fathoms from the sea, and about eighty fathoms above it, under this sand, is to be seen for about five foot deep, nothing but such totty-stones as are usually washed on the sea-shore, and in many of them grains of tin. Under those stones the soil or matter of the earth, for five or six feet deep, is nothing to be seen but _carne-tyer_, id est, spar-stone land or earth, under which spar-stone earth appears the firm rock, through which tin-loads are wrought or pursued by the tinners fifty, sixty, and seventy fathoms deep. This Ball, or lands containing this diversified matter or soil, contains about eighty acres in circumference; which amuseth most men how the earth, clay, sand, totty-stones, or spar-stone land, should yet be so high above the solid rocks to the top of this mountain, unless Noah’s flood was universal, and reached to this island, as the labouring tinners believe and tell us. More sure I am, from ocular demonstration, that a quantity of the white sort of sand in this Ball, or hill, washed in a stream or river of clear water, will instantly turn the same water into a milk-white colour, and not to be discerned from milk, as long as you continue to pour the said sand into the river; but this is to be understood only of such clean white sand as is made use of and prepared for writing sand-boxes.

* * * * *

The manor of Mithi-an, i. e. of whey, a notable grange for cows and milk (otherwise, if the name be compounded of my-thyan, Saxon, my servant or villain by inheritance) was formerly the lands of Winslade of Tregarick, in Flint, an hereditary esquire of the white spur, who forfeited the same, with much other lands, by attainder of treason, tempore Edward VI.; so that that King or Queen Mary gave those lands to Sir Reginald Mohun, of Hall, knight, or his father, who settled them upon his younger son, by which conveyance it lineally descended to my very kind friend William Mohun, of Tenervike, Esq. now in possession thereof. In this manor is an ancient free chapel, now converted to a dwelling-house, wherein God was duly worshipped in former ages by the tenants thereof. [William Mohun, Esq. the last heir male of this family, bequeathed this estate to his wife Sibella, (who was afterwards married to John Derbyshire Birkhead, Esq.) and his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Prowse. Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart., who is the present proprietor of the whole, bought it in 1777; one moiety of Mr. Birkhead, and the other of Matthew Grylls, brother and heir of Robert Grylls, who had purchased it in 1758 of the devisees of Mrs. Prowse. _Lysons._]

Treu-ellis, i. e. the son-in-law by the wife’s town; otherwise, if the word be compounded of Tre-vell-es, it signifies the well or spring of water town; is the dwelling of Michael Crocker, Gent. that married Gwynn, and giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron engrailed Gules between three crows Proper, originally descended from the Crockers of Ireland. Croker, after the English Saxon, is a crock-maker or seller. [It belonged afterwards to Mr. Joseph Donnithorne,[6] and is now the property of Mr. Chilcot. The mansion is occupied as a farm-house. _Lysons._]

Tre-vaw-nanes, i. e. the town of the boys’ valley, alias Tre-vawn-nanes, i. e. the town of the fanning or vawning valley; where continually great numbers of boys, or human youths, are employed about washing, cleansing, or vanning tin in the rivulets thereof, is the dwelling of Thomas Tonkin, Esq. that married Kempe, his father Vincent, his grandfather Bawden, his great-grandfather Guye; and giveth for his arms, by virtue of a late record taken forth of the College of Arms tempore William III. in a field Sable, an eagle displayed Or. The name Tonkin, alias Tankin, synonymous words, signifies a person or thing in the tank or tonk, viz. an artificial cistern, pool, pond, or fountain of water.

TONKIN.

This being the first parish in the hundred of Pider, I take the opportunity of stating my opinion, that the name clearly imports the fourth,――Perwith, Kesrier, Powder, and Pider, all of which meet in one point, where the four parishes of Redruth, Gwennap, Kenwyn, and St. Agnes, actually touch; and the spot is called Kyvere Ankou, the place of death, on account of the frequent burial there of felones de se, or persons who have destroyed themselves.

Trevannence I believe to mean the town in a valley of springs. This barton has belonged to my family upwards of five hundred years, so that we have used the name de Trevannence, by customary inheritance of the manor of Tywarnhails. But in 1559 Henry Earl of Rutland, then Lord of the Manor, sold the fee of his right in Trevannence to Richard Carne the younger, of Camborne, Gent. who reconveyed it the same year to John Jeffry; and he conveyed it, in 1593, to Thomas Tonkin.

[This estate was the property and the seat of Thomas Tonkin, of Trevaunance, Esq. who made large collections for a parochial History of Cornwall. Mr. Tonkin enjoyed his estate but a few years; he died in 1742. His two sons, who did not long survive him, successively inherited his estates, which, after their death, were for a while in the possession of Thomas Heyes, Esq. who married the daughter and heir of his son James, but left no issue; the only child of his daughter, who married Foss, having died unmarried, they descended to the representatives of the three daughters of Thomas Tonkin, who died in 1672; which daughters had married into the families of Jago, Cornish, and Ley. Mr. John Jago, and Mr. Hugh Ley, the immediate descendants of two of the daughters, are now possessed of two thirds of the manor of Trevaunance, and of such portion of the manor of Lambourn as extends into this parish, and was part of the Tonkin estate (except some lands sold to J. Thomas, Esq. of Chiverton). The other third part has been subdivided. Mr. Thomas has one half of it by purchase, the other is divided between Mr. Geach, a descendant of the family of Cornish, and Mr. Paul Clerk.[7] Trevaunance House was taken down a few years after the death of Mr. Tonkin; there is now a cottage on its site. _Lysons._]

The above-named Richard Carne gave for his arms (as appears by his seal) a pelican in her nest, with wings displayed, feeding her young ones, which coat is still to be seen in Trevannence seats, and in the roof of St. Agnes’ church. He was descended from the Carnes of Glamorganshire, in Wales, who derive their pedigree from Ithal, King of Gwent, whose direct ancestor was Belimaur, the father of Cassibelan; which Carne settled in Cornwall, as we have it by tradition, upon his ancestor’s marriage with the heiress of Tresilian, of Tresilian in the parish of Newlyn.

Westward of Breanis riseth with a gentle ascent the great hill commonly called St. Agnes’ Beacon; formerly Carne Breanic. On the top are three stone barrows; to the westward of the one now used for a beacon, are visible remains of a small square fortification.

This parish is of a large extent, but for the most part barren, with abundance of wortzel and downs; but withal very populous, and not without some parcels of very good land, particularly from Trevannence to Perwennack, Tewan, Trevisick, Mewla, Meuthion; and neither are the barren grounds the least considerable, as producing large quantities of excellent tin, according to the Cornish saying,

Stean San Agnes an guella stean in Kernow. (St. Agnes’ tin is the best tin in Cornwall.)

As likewise in some places very good copper, with some quarries which produce excellent stone for building; and some of slate for roofing, but not of the best quality. The land lies very heathy and dry, but too much exposed to the raging north-west wind for trees to thrive on it.

From the top of the first hill a part of Devonshire may be seen; also the North and South Seas; with thirty-four parishes. The Bowden or Boen Marks, called in sea charts the Cow and Calf, lie about two miles from the shore.

LYSONS.

An attempt was made by the Tonkin family to form a harbour at Trevaunance-Porth as early as the year 1632; it was attempted again in 1684, and, after a considerable expence had been incurred, again given up. In 1699, a third attempt was made with the assistance of Mr. Winstanly, the celebrated engineer; the works then constructed were destroyed by a violent storm in 1705. Mr. Tonkin, from whose notes this account was taken, again commenced his works in 1710, at the expense of £6,000; he formed the foundation with large masses of rock laid in hot lime made of lyas stone from Aberddaw, in South Wales. These works having become decayed, a jetty pier of moorstone was built about the year 1794, at the expense of £10,000, by a company of gentlemen, and a considerable trade in coals, lime, slate, &c. is now carried on with Ireland and Wales. The proprietors are enlarging the harbour, and rendering it more commodious and safe for shipping. A small stream of water which rises in the manor of Tywarnhaile, turns several stamping mills in Trevaunance Comb.

The market, for which there does not appear to be any charter on record, has been held from time immemorial for all sorts of wares and provisions, except corn. In 1706, Mr. Tonkin procured the Queen’s patent for a weekly market and two fairs; but after the writ of _ad quod damnum_ had been duly executed, and the Queen’s sign manual obtained, the grant was revoked in consequence of a petition from the inhabitants of Truro. A small market is nevertheless kept up; the market day is Thursday.

In a dingle called Chapel-comb, was an ancient chapel known by the name of Porth Chapel, the ruins of which were taken down about the year 1780. Near this spot is St. Agnes’ well, of which many miraculous stories are told; the water is of an excellent quality, and much esteemed. Hals speaks of an ancient free chapel in the manor of Mythian, which had been made a dwelling house. There are remains of an ancient chapel at Mola. Nicholas Kent, of Mingoose, by his will bearing date 1688, gave for the term of 499 years a dwelling house, divided into four tenements and a garden, for poor widows of this parish, and charged his lands of Mingoose and Tereardrene with the repairs of the house; but it does not appear that it was endowed. One of the schools, founded by the trustees of the fund left for charitable uses by the Rev. St. John Elliot, who died in 1760, is at St. Agnes; the endowment is £5 per annum. There is a Sunday school at St. Agnes, supported by subscription, and numerously attended.

THE EDITOR.

For various particulars respecting the Tonkin family see the edition of Carew by Lord Dunstanville, vol. I. 1811, 4to. pp. 353-357, with monumental inscriptions in St. Agnes church. The arms of Tonkin are noticed in a copy of the last Heraldic Survey, communicated to the Editor by Mr. Gregor of Trewanthenick, although a pedigree is alone recorded in the original. Sable, an eagle displayed Or, armed and langued Gules, a crescent for difference. Crest, an eagle’s head erased Or. See the exemplification of them by Robert Cooke, Clarenceux Roy d’Armes, temp. Reg. Eliza.

The reason of the arms being then omitted was this: Mr. Tonkin of Trevannence, the chief representative of their family, was more than eighty years of age in 1620, a bed-lier, and had been blind for many years, so that he was not able to appear himself; and, the chief business of the Heralds at their Visitations being to put money into their own pockets, they never registered any arms without their fees. The ancient motto used by this family is said to have been:

Kenz ol tra, Tonkein! ouna Deu, Mahteror yn. (Before all things, Tonkin! fear God, the King also.)

St. Agnes contains 6,657 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 9,929 0 0 The Poor Rate in 1831 1,914 3 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 4161 | 5024 | 5762 | 6642 Increase on an hundred in thirty years 59.63, or nearly 60 per cent.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is one of the great mining districts of Cornwall, abounding in tin and copper ores, but more particularly in the former. It differs, however, from all the other districts, in being remote from the great central masses of granite. This peculiarity has often attracted the notice of several observers, and has long been considered as a strange anomaly by geologists.

The case is not, however, without example; for, although this tract is distant from the granite both of Redruth and of St. Dennis, yet a small mass of that rock does not exist at Cligga Point, on the confines of the parish. This granite has, indeed, been called by some an elvan, and by others a secondary formation of granite, as has been also that of St. Michael’s Mount; but, although the rock is not in this place of any great extent, it has all the mineralogical and geological characters of the larger masses.

Large courses of granite elvan are common in the northern part of the parish, containing short irregular veins and bunches of tin ore. These courses are extensively exposed in the cliffs, and present a singular appearance, somewhat resembling a bank of earth perforated by rabbits’ burrows, in consequence of the miners having taken the ore wherever it has been exposed to view.

The Beacon, a high hill near the church town of St. Agnes, merits particular attention. The lower part is formed of a schistose rock, composed of granular felspar intermixed with particles of quartz and minute scales of mica. Ascending towards the summit, the quartz gradually increases in quantity, till at last it becomes the prevailing ingredient of the rock, and preserves it against the natural causes of decay; whilst lower down, where the felspar abounds, the rock is extensively disintegrated. On the side of the hill, about three or four hundred feet above the level of the sea, is a deep deposit of diluvium, consisting of alternate layers of clay and sand. To point out the origin of these layers, and to explain the reason of their occurrence in such an elevated situation, would require long details. For this, and for other interesting particulars respecting the phenomena of this parish, the fourth Volume of Transactions, published by the Geological Society of Cornwall, may be consulted.

St. Agnes’ Beacon was chosen as one of the principal western stations in the great Trigonometrical Survey of England. The position of the summit was then determined with extreme accuracy: Latitude 50° 18′ 27″, Longitude 5° 11′ 55″.7. In time 20 m. 47″.7. Height above low water 621 feet. See the Philosophical Transactions for 1800, pp. 636 and 714.

[5] It appears, however, by Mr. Tonkin’s notes, that St. Agnes was deemed a distinct parish, and had a parochial chapel in it, so early as the year 1396. A licence to build a new chapel was dated Oct. 1, 1482. _Lysons._

[6] This gentleman was the lessee of the great mine before described. Borlase says, “It is judged that the late Mr. Donnithorne, who had the whole adventure, and worked it at his own expense, in a few years last past got at least 40,000_l._ clear by this mine, and much more he might have raised yearly if he pleased.”

[7] For the latter name Hitchins substitutes Thomas Warren, Esq. and Mr. John Tregellas, of St. Agnes.

ST. ALLEN.

HALS.

St. Allen is situate in the hundred of Pow-dre-ham, id est, the hundred of the old ancient county or province town (viz. Lestwithell), for so it is called in the first Duke of Cornwall’s charter 1336――now contracted and corrupted to Powder Cantred.

At the time of the Norman Conquest this district of St. Allen was taxed under the jurisdiction of Laner or Lanher, i. e. templer; so called, for that long before that time was extant upon that place a chapel or temple dedicated to God in the name of St. Martin of Tours, the memory of which is still preserved in the names of St. Martin’s fields and woods, heretofore perhaps the indowments of that chapel or temple; this Laner is still the voke lands or capital messuage of the Bishop of Exeter’s manor of Cargoll, whereunto it was annexed; in which place of Lanher (formerly a wood or forest of trees) the Bishops of Cornwall, and afterwards the Bishops of Exon, had one of their mansion or dwelling-houses for many ages,[8] till Bishop Voysey, tempore Henry VIII. leased those manors to Clement Throckmorton, Esq. cup-bearer to Queen Katherine Parr, from whom it passed by sale to Williams, and so from Williams to Borlase, by whom this mansion or barton of Laner was left to run to utter ruin and dilapidation, having now nothing extant of houses but old walls, stones, and rubbish. Out of this manor of Lanher the Bishop of Exon endowed the church of St. Allen with the glebe lands thereof now in being, and the sheaf of two tenements, viz. Laner and Tretheris,[9] so that the said church is a vicarage endowed, and was valued by Oliver Sutton, Bishop of Lincoln, and John de Pontefexia, Bishop of Winchester, to the Pope’s taxation of benefices, in order to take his first-fruits, 20 Edward I. 1294, Ecclesiam de Sancto Alune, in Decanatu de Powdre;――vi _s._ & viii _d._ The patronage of this church is still in the Bishop of Exon for the time being, the incumbent Richards. The rectory or sheaf formerly in Cook, now Boscawen [Viscount Falmouth]; and the parish as aforesaid rated to 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, in 1696, 157_l._ 14_s._ 10_d._

Gwarn-ike, _i. e._ lake, river, or leate, summons, notice, or warning, so called from Gwarnike Castle, a treble intrenchment or fortification lately extant on the woody lands thereof, is the voke lands of the manor and barton of Gwarnike, the old inheritance and dwellinge of the once rich and famous family of the Bevills for many generations; whose ancestor came out of Normandy into England with William the Conqueror, and was posted an officer at Truro under William Earl of Morton and Cornwall (or Robert his father). Of his posterity, tempore Edward III. Sir Richard Bevill held by the tenure of knight service 20_l._ per ann. in lands and rents, and therefore was commanded by that king to attend him, with a horse-trooper furnished cap-a-pee, on his expedition into France, in the 25th year of his reign. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall.) John Bevill of this place was sheriff of Cornwall 5 Richard II. Finally, the name, blood, and estate of those Bevills terminated in two daughters and heirs of John Bevill, Esq. sheriff of Cornwall 16 Eliz. 1573, married to Grenville of Stowe, and Arundell of Trerice, to whose younger son by Bevill’s heir this barton and manor of Gwarnike was given, but the said Mr. Arundell, commonly called the Black Arundell by reason of his complexion, dying without issue, gave those lands to his kinsman Mr. Prideaux, of Fewburrow in Devon, whose heir sold the same to Mr. Kempe, of Penryn, now in possession thereof. Over the entry door of this house, in a stone or piece of brass, is cut the arms of Bevill, viz. Ermine a bull passant Sable, surmounted with an oak-tree Proper or Vert; near which is this inscription likewise in stone in Saxon-English letters:

Man, aboue all thinge Feare god and the kinge.

[In 1704 it was sold by the Prideaux family to Jamss Kempe, of Penryn, and in 1731 purchased by Edward Prideaux, Esq. of Place House, Padstow, ancestor to the Rev. Charles Prideaux Brune, of the same place, who is the present proprietor. There were formerly two chapels at Gwarnike; one at a small distance from the house, which was demolished before the year 1736, and another attached to it, which, together with “the old hall, curiously timbered with Irish oak,” was then remaining. These old buildings were not long ago pulled down, and a farm-house built on the site with the materials. Talgrogan, in this manor, was some time the seat of a younger branch of the Prideaux family. _Lysons._]

For the name of this parish (Allen), Alfred the Saxon grammarian and Verstegan tell us that it is plain Saxon, and is the common contraction of Alwyn, all-beloved, or beloved of all, and for St. Allen church must be construed as the holy or consecrated church, beloved of all Christians, which perhaps was the old name of that little ancient chapel, now the minister’s chancel, to which in after ages the present church of St. Allen was annexed; however, let it be remembered also, that in Armoric-Cornish, St. Alan or Allen is holy breath or respiration, or gift of speech.

Treon-ike, Saxon-Cornish, trees on the lake, or spring leate, or bosom of waters, in this parish, is the dwelling of James Borlase, Gent. who married Hobbs, and his father Cooke’s heir, by whom he had this place; and giveth for his arms in a field Ermine, on a bend Sable two hands issuing out of two clouds, or nebules, tearing of a horseshoe in sunder Argent (see St. Wenn). Otherwise, Tre-on-ike is the town or tenement situate on the lake or river of water.

[Mr. Hals here relates a story of some child being missed by his parents and afterwards found; imputing the temporary loss to supernatural agency, perhaps of fairies, usually denominated in Cornwall “The Small People, or Piskies.”]

From the inferior officers of this church, the sexton and clerk, or sub-deacon tempore James I. have sprung two notable rich and eminent families in those parts, of justice of the peace and senators or parliamentary degree; viz. Tregeagle and Vincent; viz. Vincent from the clerk of Resheafe, and Tregeagle from the sexton of Bosvallack, of whom more in their proper places; the one burgess or member of Parliament for Truro, the other for Mitchell, whose sons by ill conduct have wasted and sold all their lands, tempore George II.

In this parish, at Tretheris, is yet extant the walls and ruins of an ancient free chapel and cemetery, wherein heretofore God was duly worshipped, built perhaps by the Bishops of Cornwall and Exon, when they resided at Lanher aforesaid contiguous therewith.

TONKIN.

Partly in this parish is the great lordship of Gwairnick, id est, the Hay River; a name not unsuitable to the circumstances of the place, for a pleasant river passeth through most fertile meadows beneath the house.

This place was the seat of the Bevill family, whose ancestor came into England with the Norman Duke, and was an officer under William Earl of Morton and Cornwall. One of his posterity married a Gwairnick heiress, and so it became the seat of the Bevills for about ten descents; and then, for want of issue male, this lordship, with other fair lands, descended to the two daughters of the last gentleman of that name, who were married to Grenville of Stow and to Arundell of Trerice.

The manor of Boswellick, which I take to signify the house by the mill-river, upon the division of Bevill’s estates between Grenville and Arundell, this fell to Grenville, who sold it to Sir Richard Roberts, of Truro. This gentleman, afterwards Lord Roberts, was in possession of the estate towards the latter part of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, for his son John Roberts, first Earl of Radnor, was nursed here by Mrs. Tregeagle, the daughter of Degory Polwhele, Esq. and wife of John Tregeagle, Gent. who held a lease of this estate from Sir Richard Roberts. And this was the rise of the Tregeagles; for John Tregeagle, their son, being foster-brother to the said Earl, was afterwards by him made his chief steward, and brought forwards in the world. [The heiress of Tregeagle brought the lease to the Cleathers, who continued to possess it for several generations. The manor is now the property of John Thomas, esq. Vice-Warden of the Stannaries, by purchase from the representatives of the Robartes family. _Lysons._]

Adjoining to this barton is Nancarrow; and this being the first occasion for noticing the adjunct word “carrow,” I shall be somewhat the more prolix in discussing of it. Karo, or Caro, signifying in Cornish a hart or deer, Nancarrow has generally been considered to be the deer’s valley, and Pencarrow the head of the deer; but how improperly let any one guess who sees these places. I rather take Carrow therefore to be softening of Karrog, a brook or rivulet, so as to signify, in this instance, the valley of brooks; and in Pencarrow, the head of the brooks. Nancarrow was formerly inhabited by a family of that name, one of whom was stannitor for Blackmore in the Convocation of 13th Elizabeth. It passed by sale to the Borlases of Treludra, and from them to the Scawns. [It now belongs to Mr. Oliver Adams Carveth. _Lysons._]

Adjoining to the barton of Gwerick, which means simply “on the river,” is a tenement called the Gerras, that is, “the summit or top,” from its high situation; which I notice in this place on account of its lead mines.

Trerice in this parish belonged to a younger branch of the Arundells of Trerice in Newlyn; from whom it is said to have been wrested not very fairly, by an attorney, Mr. John Coke. The estate now belongs to Lord Falmouth.

Near to Trerice is Trefronick, contracted, as I believe, from Tre-vor-in-ick,――“the dwelling in the way to the rivulet.” This also belonged to the Arundells; passed to John Coke, from him to Borlase, and from Borlase to Kempe.

Adjoining is Talcarne――“the high heap of rocks of stones.” Tal properly signifies the forehead, and hence any high or eminent thing; whereas Tol, often confounded with it, means a hole.

LYSONS.

The principal villages in this parish are Lane and Zela or Zealla, through which the high road from Exeter to the Land’s-End passed, before the present turnpike road was made. The antient mile-stones remain, and a house at Zelah is still called the Tavern.

THE EDITOR.

Nothing satisfactory appears to be ascertained respecting the name of this parish; nor does the anniversary of the Feast afford any clue, as it is celebrated on Rogation Sunday, that is on the Sunday before Easter.

St. Allen contains 3493 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 2468 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 388 19 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 360 | 418 | 471 | 637. Increase of population on a hundred, in thirty years 76.9, or 77 per cent. Present Rector, Rev. Nicholas Dyer, instituted in 1794.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

To the geologist this parish does not afford many interesting objects. It is, however, more favourable than the last to agriculture; although it contains several tracts of barren ground of the same nature as Prince’s Common, which will be described in another place. Its rocks are not distinctly characterised, being situated on the transition between the porphyritic and the calcareous groups of slate formation.

[8] William of Worcester describes the Bishop’s castle here as dilapidated temp. Edw. IV.

[9] The church of St. Allen was given to the college of Glaveney by Bishop Stapleton, and appropriated to the vicars of that college in 1314. Rot. Pat. 8 Edw. II. p. 2. m. 15.

ALTAR NUN.

HALS.

Altar Nun is situate in the hundred of Lesnewth, and hath upon the north Davidstow and St. Cleather, south part of Northill and Lawanack, east Trewenn, west Temple, and was taxed in Domesday Roll either under the name Trewint, Treuint, the spring, fountain, or well town, situate upon the fens or springs, otherwise under the jurisdiction of Trewen. In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester aforesaid, 1294, this church was rated to the Pope’s first-fruits, Ecclesia de Altar Nun, in Decanatu de Lesnewith viii_l._ the vicar xl_s._ In Wolsey’s inquisition 1521, temp. Hen. VIII. 18_l._ 14_s._ 10_d._; the patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exon, who endowed it; the incumbent Hatton. This parish was rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land-tax 1696, 204_l._ 16_s._

For the modern name of this church, Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, is of opinion it is derived from the Altar of St. Nun’s Pool in this parish, heretofore much frequented for the cure of mad people, the manner of which cure is set down by him, liber ii. p. 123, (p. 289 of Lord Dunstanville’s edition,) but, for my own part, I conceive the word Altar in this place is not to be construed as a derivative from altare, an altar, whereon offerings or sacrifice was made to God by fire or otherwise at this pool; but rather, as I am better informed, the chancel of the present church was a chapel pertaining to the nuns or nunnery once here, afterwards augmented and converted to a vicarage church as it now stands; and that the ground whereon the vicarage house is now extant. Contiguous therewith was of old the nunnery-house itself, wherein those virgins resided; the stones and materials of which old house are concerted in the new vicarage brave mansion, and, to prove this tradition, there yet appears in the fields the channel or water-course wherein the waters of St. Nun’s Pool was carried into this old nunnery-house in former ages.

So that I conclude the name Altar Nun must be interpreted as a corruption of or derivative from Alter-Nun, to alter or change from one thing to another, from that of a nunnery of religious votaresses, to that of a parochial and vicarage church, from whence the same hath its present denomination, as aforesaid.

In this parish stands the barton of Tre-lawn-y, id est, the oak grove town, or, “I am the oak grove town,” a name at first given and taken from the natural circumstances of the place, situate between two hills, then notable for woods or groves of oak timber. Though now there is not left standing any house or trees to countenance this etymology, yet I have been told by some of the inhabitants of this parish, that tradition saith the greatest part of the stones that built the present church and tower of Altar Nun, were brought from the dilapidated walls of Trelawny, and much of the oak timber that roofs the same was also cut and carried from that barton.

From this place was denominated that old and famous family of gentlemen surnamed Trelawney, now baronets, as I was informed by my very kind friend Coll. John Trelawney, of Trelawney, deceased, and that one Sir William de Trelawney, lord of this place, suffered it to go in marriage with his base daughter to ――――, from whose heirs, by descent or purchase, it came to Cloberry Hickes, and ―――― now in possession thereof, and is now set for about 70_l._ per ann. The arms of those Trelawneys were, in a field Argent, a chevron Sable between three oak-leaves Vert, probably in allusion to the leaves of that sort of timber whereof this _lawne_ consisted.

In this parish, tempore Charles II. lived Peter Jowle or Joull, _id est_, Peter the Divell, under clerk or deacon of this church, who was 150 and odd years old when he died, and at the age of 100 years had new black hairs that sprung forth on his head amongst those that long before were white with age; and then also new teeth grew up in his jaws in the places of those that many years before were fallen out of his head. [The name of Joll is still extant in the village; and the family have been remarkable for longevity; but we cannot learn that any tradition exists relating to Peter Joll, nor does his name appear in the register. _Lysons._] Fuller tells us, that John Sands, of Horborne in Staffordshire, lived 140 years old, and his wife 120, he died 1625. Thomas Parr lived 153 years old, and is buried in Westminster Abbey, tempore Charles II. It is reported of Zamkees, the Samothracian, that after he had lived 104 years, new young teeth sprung up in his jaws in the room of those that were fallen out long before. Henry Brenton, of St. Wenn, weaver, lived 103 years old, and died tempore George I.

This parish hath in it tin loads and streams.

TONKIN.

It is obvious to any one, that the name of this parish can signify no other than an Altar or church dedicated to St. Nunne; which St. Nunne, being in some accounts called Naunita or Nannites, and in others Novita, is (as Leland tells us) said to have been the daughter of an Earl of Cornwall, and mother of St. David, the famous Archbishop of Menevia, from him called St. David’s.

THE EDITOR.

St. Nun is stated to have been the mother of St. David. About a mile from the cathedral of St. David’s are the remains of a chapel, near a consecrated pool or well, dedicated to St. Nun, where trifling oblations are said to be still made. This coincidence of the two pools is curious, although I do not find that the water at Menevia has the virtue of curing insanity. The account given by Mr. Carew of the practice at Altar Nun is as follows:

“The water running from St. Nun’s well fell into a square and inclosed walled plot, which might be filled at what depth they listed. Upon this wall was the frantic person set to stand, his back towards the pool; and from thence, with a sudden blow in the breast, tumbled headlong into the pond; where a strong fellow, provided for the nonce, took him, and tossed him up and down, alongst and athwart the water, till the patient, by foregoing his strength, had somewhat forgot his fury. Then was he conveyed to the church and certain masses sung over him; upon which handling, if his right wits returned, St. Nun had the thanks; but if there appeared small amendment, he was bowssened again and again, while there remained in him any hope of life or recovery.”

The second of March is dedicated to St. Nun, and said formerly to be observed throughout Wales, as was the third to St. Lily, surnamed Gwas-Dewy, David’s men.

This parish is the largest in Cornwall. It measures 12,770 statute acres. The principal villages are Tredawl, Trethym, Treween, and Trewint. At Five-Lanes, in this parish, are fairs for all sorts of cattle, on the Monday week after June 24th, and the first Tuesday in November. The tower of Alternon church, which is said to be the highest in the county except Probus, was much damaged by storms in 1791 and 1810.

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 6147 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 497 18 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 679 | 784 | 885 | 1069. Increase of population on each hundred in thirty years, 57.44, or 57½ per cent.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The western and south-western parts of this extensive parish are composed of granite and of hornblend rocks, which surround the former, and recline upon them. This portion is in every respect similar to the parish of Advent. At Trewint a very fine compact felspar occurs, imbedded in green stone; and proceeding eastward on the Launceston road, hornblend slate prevails, and affords a very fertile soil. Descending the hill to Pellaphant, masses of compact rock protrude from beneath the soil. They are composed of compact felspar, aggregated with lamellar hornblend, forming a kind of sienite. But the most interesting object in this parish is to be found a little to the north of this last place, on the side of the hill sloping down to the river Inny. It is a magnesian rock, and it is quarried for building-stones, yielding large blocks, which are sufficiently soft at the time of their being raised, to allow of their being cut through by a common handsaw. A considerable quantity of this stone has been used in building a very large house, denominated a cottage by the Duke of Bedford, at Ensleigh, on the eastern bank of the Tamma. The stone appears, however, to have one bad quality: the surface, after a slight disintegration from exposure to the atmosphere, becomes covered over with ocherous spots, owing to the presence of a scaly mineral resembling diallage, which is disseminated through the rock. This magnesian rock has all the characters of pitstones, the lapis ollaris of the ancients; and it is a curious circumstance, that on opening some old workings near this place, several antique vessels were found resembling pipkins and shallow pans made out of this material.

The immediate connection of this bed of ollareous serpentine with the adjacent rocks, is not disclosed; but it is succeeded by talc ore, slate, and limestone, on the other side of the river.

ST. ANTHONY IN POWDER.

HALS.

St. Anthony in Powder is situate in the hundred of Powder; and hath upon the east Gerance and St. Just; north, Carike road, or part of Falmouth harbour; upon the south and west the British Channel. In Domesday Roll there is no such parish or district charged as St. Anthony, neither therein had any church in Cornwall the appellation of Saint given to it, except St. Wene or St. Wena. But this district was then taxed under the jurisdiction of Treligan or Tregeare, and obtained not the name of St. Anthony till the year of our Lord 1124, at which time William Warlewast, Bishop of Exon, founded here a church, and dedicated it to St. Anthony, having before dissolved the dean and four prebendaries in the collegiate church founded at Plympton in Devon by the Saxon kings, and in the room thereof erected a priory of Black Canons (and dedicated the same to the Virgin Mary): who also in this church of St. Anthony erected a priory or cell of two Black Canons, canons regular or Augustines, under the same tutelar guardian as its superior, so called from St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in Africa, who died in the 4th century, and was institutor of their rule; viz. 1. to live in common as the Apostles did, on the stock revenues or endowment of their church. 2. That all such as received baptism should for several days wear a white garment in token of their new birth. 3. That all priests should wear a black cassock over their white garment, as himself did; such afterwards became the habit of his order, whether collegiate or hermits. 5. Over their sculls he appointed a hood or scapular of the same black cloth as their cloaks, and the hair of their heads to be worn at full length, whereas the monks were always shaved. 6. He gave a liturgy or rule to be observed by those of his order in time of divine service (whereas before every one in a monastery served God, prayed, and fasted, as they best liked). 7. To live single persons, without marriage. This Priory was called St. Mary de Vall or de Valle, to distinguish it from St. Mary de Plym in Devon, so named from the rivers on which they are situate. This priory, together with its superior’s revenues, when it was dissolved, was valued at 912_l._ 12_s._ 8_d._ per ann. 26 Henry VIII. See Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum.

Ecclesia de Sancto Antoni, in Rosland, 20 Edward I. was valued to the Pope’s first fruits xl_s._ though its value be not mentioned in Valor Beneficiorum, or Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521. The patronage formerly in the Prior of Plympton, afterwards in Hals of Fentongolan, now Boscawen, its revenues being wholly impropriated. The parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound land tax 1696, 45_l._ 4_s._

St. Anthony’s name is derived from ανθος (anthos) flos, a flower; and for his person, he was a native of Egypt, about the yeare of our Lord 253: a most strict and severe Christian, that lived a retired and hermetical and begging life in the deserts thereof.

Plase, Place, id est, in Cornish a palace, was heretofore the mansion and dwelling of the prior and his two black canons, erected here as aforesaid. This house and barton is now in possession of Arthur George Sprye, Esq. that married Bullock; his father Martyn; his grandfather Heale, his great-grandfather, of Blisland, attorney-at-law, married ――――. He gives for his arms, in a field Azure, two bars and in chief a chevron Or. The name Spry, Sprey, Spray, is Cornish, and signifies a sprout, branch, sprig, twig, split, or slip of any matter or thing. The name Spye I take it is local, from some place called Spye in Devon.

This promontory of land, commonly called St. Anthony point, which on the east side boundeth Falmouth harbour from the British Ocean, not only from the name of the priory here St. Mary de Vall aforesaid, but from the natural circumstances of the place, I take to be the Valuba or Valubia of Ptolemy, which consisteth of a compound of two British words Val and Ubia, which signifies the Vale point or promontory, or the point or promontory of land that bounds or terminates the river Val as aforesaid. Note also, that in British Cornish, B, V, and F, are letters indifferently used one for the other; so that Falubia and Valubia are synonymous words. Otherwise, Val-eba is the ebbing or reflux of the river Val.

TONKIN.

In this parish lies the manor of Bohurtha, or Boswartha. The higher house or dwelling under Boswartha, is situated on a small creek of a sea, a small place called Porth: this belongs to the family of Spry. The land immediately beyond it, being covered with sand, is known by the name of Tower, which is common to all like places along the coast.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Hals states St. Anthony, the hermit of Egypt, to be the patron Saint of this parish, and of the other two known by the same name. This St. Anthony is the reputed founder of the ascetic Anchorites, from whose assemblies in after times, monks, and subsequently friars, or begging monks, derive their origin. He is said to have lived from the year 251 to the year 356; to have been the friend of St. Athanasius, and to have held some correspondence with Emperor Constantine. But as the two western points form part of the sea coast, and the third is situated on a navigable river, it seems to be most probable that they are all dedicated to the more popular Saint in modern times, St. Anthony of Padua, the universal patron of fishermen.

This St. Anthony was a native of Lusitania, having been born at Lisbon in 1195, and christened Ferdinand, which name he laid aside for that of Anthony, in honour of the Egyptian hermit, on his entering into the order of St. Francis. His long residence at Padua is said to have procured for him the cognomen of that place, but the addition of Padua is much more likely to have derived its origin from the locality of his legendary miracle. Actuated by the spirit of fanaticism common in those times, St. Anthony endeavoured to conceal and to render useless all the learning and all the powers of eloquence which he had previously acquired as a canon regular of St. Austin at Lisbon, and during a residence of eight years with the same order at Coimbra. Having become a friar, he employed himself as a menial in the kitchen, or in sweeping the cells, till an accident discovered to the superiors the value and importance of their newly acquired brother. The intelligence was conveyed to St. Francis, the renowned founder of the Friars Minors, from whom a letter to our Saint is preserved:

“To my most dear brother Anthony, Friar Francis wisheth health in Jesus Christ. It seemeth good to me, that you should read sacred Theology to the friars; yet so that you do not prejudice yourself by too great earnestness in studies; and be careful that you do not extinguish in yourself or in them the spirit of holy prayer.”

All the accounts remaining of St. Anthony agree in representing him to posterity as an example of learning, of piety, and of zeal. These qualities, possessed however in common with thousands of others, would have failed to make his name known to after times, if a legend had not established his fame as a Saint, and elevated him to the high station of protector and patron of fishermen all over the Christian world.

The legend may be best conveyed in the poetry of Dr. Darwin:

So when the Saint from Padua’s graceless land, In silent anguish sought the barren strand, High on the shatter’d beach sublime he stood, Still’d with his waving arm the babbling flood; “To man’s dull ear,” he cry’d, “I call in vain, Hear me, ye scaly tenants of the main!” Misshapen seals approach in circling flocks, In dusky mail the tortoise climbs the rocks, Torpedoes, sharks, rays, turbots, dolphins, pour Their twinkling squadrons round the glittering shore; With tangled fins, behind, huge phocæ glide, And whales, and grampi swell the distant tide. Then kneel’d the hoary Seer, to Heaven address’d His fiery eyes, and smote his sounding breast, “Bless ye the Lord!” with thundering voice he cry’d; “Bless ye the Lord!” the bending shores reply’d; The winds and waters caught the sacred word, And mingling echoes shouted, “Bless the Lord!” The listening shoals the quick contagion feel, Pant on the floods, inebriate with their zeal, Ope their wide jaws, and bow their slimy heads, And dash with frantic fins their foamy beds.

The parish feasts do not serve in these parishes to indicate the patron saint.

Anthony in Kerrier has its feast on the Sunday nearest St. Stephen’s day, December 26th.

Anthony in Powder on the Sunday nearest to the 10th of August.

Anthony in East has not any feast.

The day consecrated to St. Anthony of Egypt is January the 17th; to St. Anthony of Padua June the 13th.

The measurement of this parish is 571 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 1050 0 0 Poor Rates in 1831 108 15 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 163 | 157 | 179 | 144 Decrease on a hundred in thirty years 8.83, or somewhat less than nine per cent.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

St. Anthony is situated in the calcareous group of the slate formation, and is composed of a glossy blue and fine grained slate, which alternates with a coarse blue rock abounding in scales of mica, and is more or less lamellar according to its proportion of this mineral: this compact rock readily disintegrates, assuming various yellowish tints, and an arenaceous appearance; indeed, it is seldom seen but in that condition, and it has therefore been sometimes mistaken by geologists for a variety of sand-stone.

At Porth there is a narrow neck of land, on the upper part of which lies a sandbank abounding in perfect shells, which are arranged in layers, and appear similar to those of the adjacent beach. This bank is at least thirty feet above high water-mark, and it is covered with a stratum of earth in cultivation. The sand is silicious, and becomes in the lower part intermixed with pebbles, resembling in this respect the banks on the shores of Mount’s Bay. This affords an example of an ancient beach elevated above the one now in existence. The whole coast of Cornwall furnishes numerous instances of this occurrence, and the former beach is uniformly at the same elevation above that actually in existence, indicating that the sea must, at some former period, have joined the land at a line now higher than the present beach by that difference.

ST. ANTHONY IN EAST.

HALS.

St. Anthony hath upon the north St. German’s Creek; south, St. John’s; east, Tamesworth Haven, or Saltash River, with part of Sheviock. This parish is situate in the hundred of Eastwell-shire, so called from Mark’s-Well, in Landrake, that is to say, the Earl’s well, viz. the Earl of Cornwall’s well, perhaps by some of those princes founded, and accordingly from them denominated, who were originally lord of all the Cornish cantreds. At the time of the Conqueror’s tax, as I said before, there was no such district charged therein as Anthony; so that this parish or tract of land then was rated either under the names of Abbi-town, now St. German’s or Cudan-Beke. In the Pope’s inquisition into the value of benefices in Cornwall, 20 Edward I. 1294, Ecclesia de Antoni, in decanatu de Eastwellshire, was rated to first fruits vi_l._ In Wolsey’s inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, 12_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ the patronage in ――――; the incumbent Taylor. The rectory, or sheaf, in possession of ――――. This parish was rated to the 4_s._ per pound land tax, 1696, 244_l._ 4_s._

East Anthony, in this parish, is the dwelling of the ancient and famous family of gentlemen, the Carews, now Baronets; which lands descended to them by marriage from one of the daughters of Sir Edward Courtney, Knt. of Boconock, whose mother was Philippa, the sole daughter and heir (or one of the coheirs) of Sir Warren Archdeacon, Knt. of this place, a person and family of great fame and estate in former ages; for thus it is recorded that Thomas Archdeacon, of this place, was Sheriff of Cornwall 7th Edward II. Walter L’erch-Deacon was also Sheriff of Cornwall 6th Rich. II. 1383. Which family gave for their arms, in a field Argent, three chevronels Sable, which was lately extant in the glass windows of Leskeard church.

From Sir Nicholas Baron Carew’s fourth son, Alexander, by the aforesaid Jone Courteney (he is called Baron St. Carew, for that he was summoned by writ, and by that name to sit in Parliament 3d Edward IV. as a Baron), the gentlemen ever since, and him now in possession of this lordship, are lineally descended. The said Alexander Carew, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 3d Henry VII. His son, John Carew, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 6th Henry VIII. His grandson, Richard Carew, Esq. author of the Survey of Cornwall, was Sheriff thereof the 24th of Elizabeth; whose son, Richard Carew, Esq. was, by letters patents bearing date the 9th of August, 17th Charles I. 1641, created the 278th Baronet of England; whose son or brother, Sir Alexander Carew, was executed for pretended treason against the Parliament of England, about endeavouring to deliver up to Kinge Charles the Island of Plymouth, whereof he was Governor, 23d Dec. 1644. His son, Sir John Carew, Baronet, was one of the Shire Knights of this County 1660, who died about the year 1686, and left issue by ――――, daughter of Sir William Morrice, Knt. Sir Richard Carew, Bart. and William his brother.

Mr. John Carew, son or brother of Sir Alexander last mentioned, was executed as one of the Regicides of King Charles I. 1661. Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 65, (p. 180 of Lord Dunstanville’s edition,) tells us that his first ancestor came out of France with William the Conqueror, by the name of Karrow. In the same book, p. 103, (p. 246 of Lord Dunstanville,) he said that Carew, of ancient Carru, was, and Carrue is, a plough in French; but then it should have been written Carue, or Charoue; and to countenance this opinion of this family’s French descent, Camden, in his Remains, p. 143, tells us that the same holds by tradition, I know not how truly, that Adam, or rather Arnold de Montgomery, marrying the daughter of Carew of Molesford, her son, relinquishing his own name, left to his posterity his mother’s name, Carew, from whome the Carews of Surrey, Devon, and Cornwall, are descended. Contrary to this opinion, Prince, in his Worthies of Devon, p. 148, saith that Walter de Windsor, about the time of the Norman Conquest, a Norman Frenchman, (as some say Governor, Castellan, Constable, or Steward of Windsor Castle, son of that Otho, that came in with William the Conqueror,) had issue William and Gerald his sons, who styled themselves after the mode of that age, William and Gerald of Windsor from the places of their residence, or for that they were born there; from William, the Lord Windsor is descended, and from Gerald, the Fitz-Geralds Earls of Kildare, and the Carews of England. Gerald of Windsor was Steward or Castellan of the Castle of Pembrook, of Carew, in Wales, upon whom King Henry I. bestowed Molesford, in Berkshire; he married Nesta, daughter of Rosse, Prince of South Wales, to whom the said King gave the Castle of Carew in those parts; Gerald had issue by Nesta, Otho de Windsor, who had issue William de Windsor or Carew, to whom King John, by deed dated 1212, made a further grant of Molesford, reciting the former deed of King Henry I. to his grandfather. So that this William was the first of this family that assumed the name of Carew. Thus Prince again, the author of the Antiquities of Oxford, is positive that this family of Carew was denominated from Castle Carew, in Pembrokeshire, and not otherwise. Thus God in his providence, to check our presumptious inquisitions and pretensions, hath wrapped all things in uncertainty, bars us from long antiquity, and bounds our search within the compass of some few ages, scarcely affording any true record of pedigrees or descents as far back as the Norman Conquest, whatsoever to the contrary is by some men and families pretended.

Lastly, as this family was denominated from one of their ancestors being Constable or Castellan of the Castle of Carew, in Pembrokeshire, for carew doth not signify a plough in British, for ardar, aradr, arar, is a plough in Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric, and kaer, caer, is a castle or fortified place. Carew, caer-ew, care-eff, is he, his, or her, Castle, as ipie, ipea, ipeum. See Ffloyd. Caer-eau, British Saxon, is a castle or fortified place of water, referring perhaps to the medical or purgative waters there.

As Mr. Carew saith his family was denominated from one Carrow or Karrow that came into England with William the Conqueror, so I must tell you that there was in Cornwall and Devon, not long since, a genteel family surnamed Carrow (id est, deer) who gave for their armes, as appears from Nich. Upton’s Latin manuscript book of Heraldry, before printing was invented, now in my custody, dated 1444, in those words, “Monsieur Joh’is de Carrow, port d’or iii lyons passant sable,” which is now the arms of those gentlemen before-mentioned, named Carew. Care-w, after the English Cornish, is he, his, or her care, watchfulness, or circumspection.

In this parish or manor, as I take it, stands Intsworth, alias Inis-worth, synonymous words signifying an island of worth, price, or value, viz. a peninsular formed by rivers of water, which leaves between them an angled or three-cornered promontory of land, called in British inis, signifying the same as amnicus mediamnis in Latin. See Gluvias. This place, before the Norman Conquest, was the land of Condura and Cradock, Earls of Cornwall, by one of whose daughters or granddaughters, Agnes, it came by marriage to Reginald Fitz-Harry, base son of King Henry I. by Anne Corbet; who, in her right, long after William Earl of Cornwall, of the Norman race, forfeited the same to the King by attainder of treason, was made Earl thereof, from whose heirs it passed to the Dunstanvills and Valletorts; and by Valletort’s daughter Joan, the widow of Sir Alexander Oakston, Knt. who turned concubine to Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, who had by her a sole daughter named Joan, married to Richard Champernowne, a second son of Sir ―――― Champernowne, of Clift Champernowne, in Devon, in whose posterity it remained till Henry VII.’s days, when, his issue male failing, his three daughters and heirs were married to Monk, Fortescue, and Trevillian, from some of whose heirs it came by purchase to Edward Nosworthy, Esquire, Member of Parliament for Saltash, son of Edward Nosworthy, merchant and shopkeeper in Truro, temp. Charles II. who married Hill of that place, as his son aforesaid did Maynard and Jennings. The arms of Nosworthy are (see St. Stephen’s by Saltash). The name Nos-worthy signifies a “night of worth,” price or value so called, for that the first propagater thereof was born by night, or was notable for some profitable fact done at that season. And John Nosworthy was steward of Exon 1521.

TONKIN.

East Anthony. Mr. Carew hath given a full account how this manor came to his family (p. 244 of Lord Dunstanville’s edition); I shall therefore only take notice here that the present Lord of East Anthony, so called in respect of its situation from the church, is Sir William Carew, a gentleman that in every respect comes up to the merits of the greatest of his ancestors. He married the Lady Anne Coventry, only daughter and heir of Gilbert Earl of Coventry, by whom he hath one son, Coventry Carew, Esq. He had also a daughter, Anne, who died in the bloom of her age. Sir William Carew hath lately built a stately house here of Penteran stone; and hath adorned it with gardens, &c. suitable to it. From the bowling-green above the house is a beautiful prospect of the river, and of all the country round.

Thanks, in this parish; perhaps from Angosa conspectus, sight through Angosa, the sight or view as lying open to the river. This was formerly the seat of a family, Searle, who gave for their arms, Argent, a chevron Sable, between three birds Azure, with breasts, bills, and legs Gules. Thanks now belongs to Thomas Graves, Esq. who hath been for several years a captain of a man-of-war. [Ancestor of the present Lord Graves.]

THE EDITOR.

I may repeat the words of Mr. Tonkin, in respect to the Right Hon. Reginald Pole Carew, the present possessor of East Anthony in right of his mother (1832)――“He is a gentleman that in every respect comes up to the merits of the greatest of his ancestors.”

This parish measures 2,903 statute acres. The annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 6,361 0 0 The Poor Rate in 1832 994 1 0

In the church is a monumental tablet to Richard Carew, author of the Survey of Cornwall; several other memorials to the Carew family; and an elegant monumental brass of Margery Arundell, lady of the manor of East Anthony, who died in 1428.

Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 1795 | 2144 | 1795 | 3099. Increase on an hundred in 30 years 72.65, or about 72⅔ per cent. Present Incumbent, the Rev. Duke Yonge, presented by R. P. Carew, Esq. in 1806.

Dr. Boase states that the geology of this parish includes the same group of rocks as those found in the western St. Anthony, although the two parishes are so remote from each other, and separated by such ranges of hills. The slate is, however, more coarse and argillaceous in this parish, and the massive rocks imbedded therein are more compact, and almost entirely quartzose. The whole formation is evidently more remote from the granite.

ST. ANTHONY IN KERRIER.

HALS.

St. Anthony in Kerrier is situate in the hundred of Helston and Kerrier, West Louer or Consort, and hath upon the east the harbour of Helfon, north Manackan, west St. Kevorne, south the British Channel. This parish, as those before of this name, are not mentioned in the Domesday tax, neither do I know under what title it then passed. In the Pope’s Inquisition, as to the value of its first fruits, 20 Edward I. 1294, Eccles’ de S’cto Antony in Decanatu de Kerryar, is rated iiii_l._ xiii_s._ iiii_d._ the vicar thereof xiii_s._ iiii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1541, £4. 15_s._ 11_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exon for the time being, whose predecessors endowed it; the incumbent Edwards; the Rectory or Sheaf in possession of ...; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound land tax, 1696, £66. 12_s._ And the tutelar guardian of this Church is St. Anthony before-mentioned.

Tre-woth-ike in this parish, “the town of the known or familiar cove, creek, or bosom of waters” (Tre-werh-ike or ick, is evidently the town, _on_ the water, or cree,――Editor;) alias Tre-wood-ike, “the town of the wood creek or bosom of waters,” was formerly the lands of Tre-gow (id est, “the wood town,” in or about those parts) gentlemen that flourished here for several generations in good fame and credit till about the middle of the reign of King Charles II. when Mr. Tregoze sold this lordship to John Vaughan, of Ottery, in Devon, Esq. who married Drew, his father Hals of Efford, sister to Sir Nich. Hals, Knt., his grandfather ――――, and giveth for his arms, in a field, ―― three boars heads erased. The arms of Tregose were, Azure, two bars gemelles, in chief a lion passant Or, langued Gules, which name and tribe I think is now quite extinct.

Roscruge or Rossereige Burough, in this parish (id. est, the valley and promontory or highland, tumulus or burying place) gave name and original to a family of gentlemen now or lately in possession thereof, who gave for their arms ――――. Otherwise Roscrugh, may be interpreted as the valley or covered tumulus for or of music.

In this parish are the two camps or treble intrenchments of our ancestors the Britains, called Denis and Great Denis or Dunes, words of two import, signifying the great castle and the little castle, fort, fortress, or fortified place, wherein the inhabitants heretofore posted themselves for their safety against foreign invaders. See St. Colomb Major.

TONKIN.

By this church is a small promontory of land running out into the sea, which, from its resemblance to Pendinas, is called the Little Dinas. It was formerly fortified, and had some guns planted upon it to secure the entrance of Hailford harbour, which not being very broad it well may command. And in time of wars, it were very convenient there should be still some guns there, for the safety of the ships that trade to and again in this harbour, which, as the case now stands, may be easily carried off by privateers. Thus much may be said for the honour of this place――it was the last which held out for King Charles in Cornwall;[10] for, after the taking of Pendinas, it sustained a siege of several weeks, and at last was forced to surrender for want of ammunition.

THE EDITOR.

The measurement of this parish is 1265 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 2095 3 0 Amount of Poor Rate in 1831 186 0 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 261 | 224 | 330 | 300. Increase on an hundred in 30 years 14.9, or very nearly 15 per cent.

On an estate near the churchyard, celled Lantenny, foundations of buildings and remains of human bodies have been found; the presumed relics of a cell of black monks of Angiers, belonging to the priory of Tywardreth, which existed at this place as early as the reign of Richard I. _Lysons._

Dr. Boase remarks that the rocks of this parish are precisely similar to the rocks of St. Anthony in Powder, on the other side of Falmouth Harbour; and that it is a very curious circumstance that three parishes of the same name should be all based on the same kind of rocks, notwithstanding their being situated at a considerable distance from each other, and respectively belonging to distinct groups of granite.

[10] Except, says Lysons, the Mount and Pendennis Castle. Little Dinas was surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax in March 1646.

ST. AUSTELL.

HALS.

St. Austell is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath upon the north Roach, east St. Blaze, west Mewan, south the British Channel; in Domesday Roll, 1087, the modern name of this parish was not extant, but the same and the districts of St. Blazy, Mewan, and Menagnissy, passed then in tax under the jurisdiction of Earl Cradock’s manor of Towington, now duchy, Treverbyn, Trenance, and Pentewan. Note further, that, if Saint Austell be a corruption of Sancto Hostell, it signifies the holy inn or court.

The Prior of Tywardreth, with divers other benefactors, as appears from the carving and inscriptions on the stones thereof, founded and endowed this church, within the town of Trenance, now St. Austell Town, after which it was indifferently written Trenance Prior (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 57), that is to say, the valley town prior (or pertaining to him) and again by him Trenance Austell (id est, the cell, chapel or hole, valley town); and again, Tre-nance Aus-tell (id est, the valley town out, or remote cell or chapel) so called in respect of Tywardreth, its superior or mother church. The patronage now in the King; the incumbent Tremayne; the rectory or sheaf in May. In the Bishop of Lincoln and Winchester’s Inquisition into the Pope’s Value of Benefices in Cornwall, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Austello in Decanatu de Powdre, was rated to first fruits x_l._ xiii_s._ iiii_d._ The vicar xl_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £21. This parish was charged to the 4_s._ per pound land tax, 1696, £432. 6_s._ (See Tywardreth.)

From this place was denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed De Austell, of which family William de Austell was Sheriff of Cornwall 25 Henry VI. as also of Somerset and Dorset 27 and 28 of King Henry VI.; who gave for his arms, Argent, a saltire raguled Vert, but in what families the name, blood, and estate of those gentlemen are terminated I know not, or where they dwelt. At the town of St. Austell, alias Trenance, is weekly held upon Friday a considerable market, wherein is vended all commodities necessary for the life of man at a reasonable price.[11] Its also privileged 10th fairs or greater marts, on the 30th of November, Palm Sunday, and Thursday after Whitsunday, which benefits were doubtless first obtained from the Earls of Cornwall, by the Priors of Tywardreth aforesaid.

Treverbyn, alias Tre-verbin, in this parish, was the voke lands of considerable manor long before the Norman Conquest, as appears from the Domesday tax aforesaid (it signifies in Cornish the herb, rape, root, or navew town, famous it seems in former ages for those vegetables,) from which place was denominated that old and knightly family of the Treverbins (who had there free chapel and burying place here lately extant), and of public use before the Church of St. Austell was erected; of which house was Walter Treverbyn, Sheriff of Cornwall 1223, the successor of Reginald de Valletort 7 Henry III. who had issue Sir Walter Treverbyn, Knight, who had a daughter married, named Katherine, to Peter Prideaux, of Boswithgye in Luxsillian 10th Edward II. From this Walter also lineally descended Sir Hugh Treverbyn, Knight, tempore Henry VI. whose two daughters and heirs were married to Edward Courtenay, of Boconnock or Haccomb, in Devon, and Trevannion, of Caryhays, in whom the name, blood, and estate of those Treverbins ended. But Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exon, and Earl of Devon, forfeited one moiety of those lands to the Crown by attainder of treason against that butcher of the branches of the house of York, Henry VIII.; so that the same is now in copartnery between the King of England and Trevanion.

Penrice, alias Penric, in this parish, (id est, head jurisdiction or dominion) perhaps heretofore, if not now, the voke lands of some manor (otherwise it must be interpreted the head or chief lopping of trees, or _rice_, faggots) is the dwelling of my very kind friend Joseph Sawle, Esq. that married Trevanion, his father Glanvill, his grandfather Rashleigh, a gentleman notably famous for his humanity, hospitality, and charity to the poor, who giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron between three falcons’ heads Sable. Originally, the first ancestor of this family came out of Normandy, a soldier under William the Conqueror, 1066, and in all probability he was posted in those parts, an officer under William or Robert Earls of Morton and Cornwall, some time after in those standing troops of soldiers the Conqueror kept here, in order to awe the people thereof to a submission to his dominion. For I take it beyond the records of time at Towan in this parish, and elsewhere in Devon, this family or tribe hath been extant in fame and splendor as the descendants of that Sauley or Sawle, mentioned in Battle Abbey Roll in the year above-mentioned.

Mena-Gwins, in this parish, i. e. white hills or hills white, is the dwelling of Francis Scobell, Esq. (in English broom) that married one of the coheirs of Sir Joseph Tredenham, Knight, his father Carlyon’s heir, and giveth for his arms, as I take it, the same as the Scobhalls, of Devon, viz. Argent, three fleurs de lis, two and one, Gules; perhaps originally descended from that family. [At Mena-Gwins resided Richard Scobell, clerk of the Parliament to Oliver Cromwell. _Lysons._]

Ros-eundle, (id est, bundle of rushes,) in this parish, is the dwelling of Charles Trubody, Gent.

At Roscorla, in this parish, (that is the promontory and fat valley of land,) is the dwelling of that old family of gentlemen from thence denominated De Roscorla. The present possessor George Roscorla, Gent. that married Bullock. [The seat of the ancient family of Roscorla has been pulled down. George Roscorla, the present representative of this decayed family, is a day-labourer at Roche. _Lysons._]

Trenaran, (id est, the still lake, leat, creek, cove, or bosom of waters,) in this parish, is the dwelling of Samuel Hext, Gent. attorney at law, who by his skill and conduct in that profession, hath advanced his reputation and estate to a considerable pitch in those parts: he married Moyle of this place.

Merther in St. Austell, bordering on the sea, and joining to the Perr, was formerly the seat of the Laas, but now the lands of Hext, who in the reign of Queen Elizabeth came from Kingston, in Stuerton, Devonshire, an ancient seat of that family. His coat is, Or, a castle triple-turreted, between three battle-axes Sable.

[Mr. Hals exhibits the strong feelings of his time in the story of Laa, when he says,]

At the time of the unhappy Rebellion, when the Lord Hopton had disbanded his army, some of Fairfax’s forces entered the house at Merther, threatening to murder Mrs. Laa and the family, for being too dilatory in dressing meat for them. Mr. Laa, then riding about his estate, had intimation that the rebels were in his parlour, carousing at the expense of his bacon, poultry, and strong beer. He with all possible expedition alighted at the door, enters the kitchen, which is opposite to the parlour, and being warmed with an honest zeal for his King, took down a loaded gun from the chimney-piece, and shot one of the rebels, who was at the head of the table, dead on the spot. Immediately he took horse, and rode towards the Perr, and preserved his life from the vile pursuers, being providentially well mounted, by leaping a five-barred gate, and swimming across the Perr, it being at that time high water.

In the town of St. Austell liveth Henry Hawkins, Gent. attorney at law (younger brother of Mr. Hawkins of Creed), who by his judgment, skill, care, and pains, in his calling hath exalted his fame and estate to a great degree. He married Scobell, and giveth for his arms, Argent, on a saltire Sable, five fleur de lis. His two sons by Scobell died without issue, and his daughters were married to Hoblyn, Moyle, Hext, and Hawkins, of Helston; and the youngest of that sex, with all his lands and riches, was married to Tremayne, of St. Ive, Esq.

The manor of Tow-ing-ton, alias Taw-ing-ton aforesaid, taxed in the Domesday Book, 1087, is invested with the jurisdiction of a court leet; and signifies “silence in town,” or “extraordinary silence in town,” viz. when that court sitteth; which was afterwards by King Edward III. 1336, concerted or fixed into the Duchy of Cornwall, by charter (see Lestwithell), with its appurtenances.

In this parish was born Jonathan Upcott, son of George Upcott, Gent. by Mrs. May, of High Cross, Ranger of the Parks to John Lord Robartes in Cornwall, as also in Ireland, when he was Lord Deputy there. This gentleman, having risen through various steps in the army, during the reigns of Charles II., James II. and William III. commanded a company in Flanders in the great war against France under Lewis XIV. At last, being ordered to take part in a desperate assault on the French at Enghein, where the Dutch and Spanish soldiers had proved better men at their heels than at their hands, he bravely lost his life, together with the greater part of his men.

King William is said in the course of this war to have grown prodigal of Englishmen’s valour, blood, and lives, as he had before been of their money; for when any dangerous fort was to be attempted, which the Dutch and Spanish soldiers refused, he commanded the English to perform it, who, being led away by the vanity of being accounted valiant soldiers, and for the honour of the English nation, quickly undertook such direful posts, though to their own destruction.

NORDEN.

Polruddon, the ruynes of an auntient howse somtymes the howse of John Polruddon, whoe was taken out of his bed by the Frenche in the time of Henry the 7. and caried away with violence, and then began the howse to decaye, and Penwarn, the howse of Mr. Otwell Hill, was buylded with Polruddon stones. The howse (as by the ruyns it appeareth) was a large howse, and by the arched freestone windowes which it had curiouslye wroughte, testifieth it to be for the time elegant. [Polruddon was afterwards rebuilt, and became a seat of the Scobells. It belonged to the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart. who was descended from that family in the female line. It is occupied as a farm house. _Lysons_]

TONKIN.

The manor of Tewynton, alias Tewington, takes its name from the chief place, Tewor, which, though it generally means “heaps of sand,” cannot be so interpreted here; and much less applicable is the etymology given by Mr. Hals, of “silence in town,” but Tewor means a hillock generally, so that Tewynton means, in the mixed derivation common in Cornwall from British and Saxon, “the town on a small hill.” This place was the seat of the Sowles before they removed to Penrice, and affords a quarry of excellent stone.

Pentwan, the “head of the hillocks of sand.” Lower Pentwan is situated at the mouth of the St. Austell river, which would form a pretty little port, were it not for the bar of sand made by the waste brought down from the tin-works, so that small craft only can get in, and that at spring-tides. It is a handsome village, and in good seasons great stores of fish are brought in here.

Pelniddon, “the top of the ford,” from “nyd,” a ford, was the seat of the knightly family bearing the same name.

Trenorren, which I take to be compounded of Tre-nore-en, “the town of the point,” from the Bleak Head, close by which it lies.

THE EDITOR.

In Henry the Eighth’s reign, Leland described St. Austell as a poor village, nor is it mentioned as a place of any consequence either by Carew or Norden. It first rose into consequence from its vicinity to Polgooth and other considerable mines: it is now a considerable thoroughfare; the great road from Plymouth to the Land’s End was brought through it about the year 1760. The export of china clay, the decomposed or never consolidated felspar, to all the great manufactories of earthenware throughout England, affords employment to industry and to capital, in a manner more steady, and therefore more permanently beneficial, than can ever be produced by the working of mines.

To facilitate their commerce, and generally to improve the whole district, a harbour was constructed at Seaforth about forty years ago by Mr. Charles Rashleigh; a gentleman who will long be remembered, as uniting strong abilities with energy of mind, and liberality as well of practice as of sentiment. His name is perpetuated in the port and in the buildings surrounding it, which have received by public acclamation the appropriate distinction of Charlestown. [The spot was formerly called Porthmear, and was too inconsiderable to be mentioned in Martyn’s map. In 1790 it contained only nine inhabitants. In consequence of the commodious harbour, the docks, and shipwrights’ yards, and the pilchard fishery established by Mr. Rashleigh, it has gradually increased to be a large village. _Lysons._]

More recent inventions have suggested an iron railway from St. Austell along the descending vale to a new harbour at Puntner, The works are just now completed (1832), and they promise to add still greater facilities to commerce than those at Charlestown.

The other principal villages in this parish are Carvath, Corbean, Pentewan or Pentuan, Porthpean, Rescorla, Tregonissy, Tregorick, Trenarren, and Trethergy.

The church and town of St. Austell are well worthy of notice. The church is much decorated on its exterior surface of freestone by figures and scrolls worked on the stone; and over the south porch is an ancient inscription, KYCH INRI, never explained (engraved in Lysons, p. ccxxxii). The tower, although not so lofty as that at Probus, is perhaps more elegant in its form and proportion. The inside of the church presents a light and pleasing appearance, in consequence of the large space occupied by the windows.

The font is in the form of a bowl, carved with rude monsters, standing on a round column, and supported by four small pillars, which have monks’ heads for their capitals. It is engraved in Lysons, p. ccxxxiii.

An almshouse, with six apartments for poor persons, was erected in 1809.

In the Archæologia, vol. ix. pl. viii. and vol. xi. pl. vii. are engravings of a silver cup, several rings, and other pieces of jewellery, of very early workmanship, which were found, together with a coin of Burgred king of Mercia (expelled from his dominions in 874), in a stream-work in this parish, in the year 1774. They were deposited in a silver cup, which has since been used for the sacramental wine at the church; and therefore had probably been originally collected at some earlier period.

St. Austell measures 10,018 statute acres. The annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 4,628 0 0 The Poor Rate in 1831 2,890 6 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 3788 | 3686 | 6175 | 8758. Increase on an hundred in thirty years, 131.2, or above 131 per cent. Present incumbent, the Rev. T. S. Smyth, presented in 1815 by the King.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish, so important in an economical point of view, on account of its minal production, affords a vast fund of geological information. Its northern part is composed of granite; its southern part of various rocks belonging to the porphyritic group. Its granite on the eastern side is like that of Alternun, and contains layers which abound in porphyritic crystals of felspar. On the western side it comprises several kinds of this rock; some characterised by the proportions of shorl that enter into their composition; and others by containing talc instead of mica, and by the felspar being prone to an extensive decay, in which state it furnishes porcelain clay (or china clay) for the potteries. A more particular description of these kinds of granite will be given hereafter, in the accounts of St. Stephen’s, and of the adjacent parishes. Carclaze tin mine must not, however, be passed by, as it is one of the greatest curiosities in Cornwall. This mine is worked “open to the day” (according to the miners’ term), that is, like a quarry. It is of a considerable depth; and its superficies exceeds several acres in extent. It is excavated entirely in a white granite, somewhat similar to the disintegrating variety above alluded to; and when the sun shines, the reflection of light is so exceedingly dazzling as to be almost insupportable. The tin ore occurs here intermixed with shorl and quartz, in the form of short irregular veins, which traverse the granite in every direction, and so abundant, that the whole rock requires to be pounded and washed to complete an entire separation of the ore.

Hornblend rocks succeed the granite, and produce a red fertile soil. These extend a little to the south of the town of St. Austell, and are followed by a blue lamelar slate, in which the mines are situated. This rock is much softer, and more argillaceous than the hornblend slate, and decomposes into a light-coloured soil. The matrix of its lodes abound in chlorite: it is probably a chlorite schist. This formation is traversed by several beds of felspar, porphyry (elvan courses), in the western side of the parish, which run north-east and south-west, in a somewhat tortuous manner, and dip towards the granite. One of these elvans, near Pentewan, has been extensively quarried, and is much esteemed as a building material. This chlorite slate also contains, in the cove at Duporth, a bed of compact magnesian rock, abounding in asbestos; and passes on either hand into the surrounding slate, by means of layers of talcous schist.

This parish has long been celebrated for its stream works, which are diluvial beds containing tin ore. They are generally found in deep vallies where rivulets flow, which are used in separating the tin ore, by its inferior specific gravity, from common stones or pebbles; hence the name of “stream-works.” The nature of these deposits varies according to the positions which they occupy between the sea and the granite; whence the stanniferous strata were derived.

Pentewan stream-work is one of the most interesting in the whole county. Its lowest bed consists of pebbles, gravel, and tin ore, and it rests on the solid rock. Immediately above this tin-ground is a black stratum of vegetable remains, among which are stumps of trees, standing erect, with their roots penetrating downwards into the bed of gravel. This subterranean forest stands forty-eight feet below high-water mark; showing that there must have been a change in the relative sea level. On this vegetable bed reposes a thick stratum of silt, intermixed with horns of deer, and with other relics of land animals, and also with detached pieces of timber. This silt is of the same description as that now forming in the Truro river, and in other estuaries on the coast; and it contains layers of shells peculiar to such situations.

This silt is covered by a deep deposit of siliceous sand, in which occur various remains, principally of marine origin; and lastly, over this lies another bed of silt like the preceding, which reaches to the surface, where a thin marsh soil is now in a state of cultivation. The upper bed of silt is nearly on a level with the sea, being separated and protected from it by the interposition of a sandy beach.

Many theoretical observations and reflections would naturally present themselves, after a statement of these facts; but such would be more appropriate to a separate treatise, than to a series of notices on individual parishes.

[11] The market continues to deserve this character; the tolls, persuant to the charter of Queen Elizabeth, are assigned to the relief and maintenance of the poor.

ST. BLAZEY.

HALS.

St. Blazey is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the east Tywardreth and the Parc; south, the British Channel; north, Luxulion; west, St. Austell. At the time of the Norman Conquest this district was rated either under Tywardreth, Towington, Trenance, or Treverbyn. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, before mentioned, Ecclesia de Fanum, appropriata Dom’ni de Tywardreth, in Decanatu de Powdre, this parish was taxed to the Pope’s first fruits, or annats, iiii_l._ vicar ejusdem nihil propter paupertatem. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, and Valor Beneficiorum, it goes as a daughter church in presentation and consolidation with St. Austell. The patronage in the King, the incumbent Hugoe, the sheaf or rectory in Mr. May; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ in the pound tax, 1696, £92. 3_s._

Quæry, whether the word fanum be not, by the scribe, a corruption of Foy-town? In the inquisition aforesaid, however, let it be remembered that, Ecclesia de Fanum must be interpreted as the church or temple, consecrated to divine service, appropriated to the house of Tywardreth, as both those churches of Fowey and St. Blazey are. As for the tutelar guardian from whom the same and the parish is denominated, Blaze, he was born in Sebaste, a city of Cappadocia in Asia, whereof he was bishop, and governed his church so well, that the priests of the idols (then worshipped comparatively all the world over,) took distaste at him for his preachments against idolatry; and exhibited a complaint against him to Agricolaus, the emperor Dioclesian’s president in those parts, by whom he was examined as to this and other parts of Christian religion; which he would not retract; wherefore he was by him committed to prison, scourged with the utmost severity that could be invented, and afterwards, by a special order, under the hand of Agricolaus, beheaded by the common hangman, 15th Feb. anno Dom. 298, temp. Dioclesiani. The church celebrateth the festival of this famous saint, bishop, and martyr, February 3. The Council of Lyons, ann. Dom. 1244, under the Emperor Frederick and Pope Innocent the Fourth, amongst other things instituted certain new festivals for canonizing of saints; after which time, in the Inquisition but now mentioned, we shall find most of the names of our Cornish churches distinguished by the prefixed title of saint, viz. such person as the same when first consecrated was dedicated to (who before that time had been canonized by the church of Rome); though, as I hinted before, there is but one church or person named in Domesday Roll to whom is given the appellation of saint, about two hundred years before. In this church town of St. Blazey there is a public fair kept on the festival day of this saint, February 3, and the festivals of most other Cornish saints, to whose guardianship churches are dedicated, are solemnly kept yearly in other places.

Ro-sillian, in this parish, formerly the lands of Kellyow, is now the dwelling of Henry Scobell, Gent. brother to Mr. Scobell of St. Austell, before mentioned, who giveth the same arms as that family doth.

In this parish also, not long since, lived Hugh Williams, Gent. attorney-at-law, youngest son of Richard Williams, of Trewithan in Probus, that married Robins and Frowick, and gave the same arms as that family doth; who at length, upon some discontent, with a rope or halter privately hanged or strangled himself to death in his own house (as was reported), though the coroner’s inquest found it a chance only, tempore William III. Upon news of this fact of Mr. Williams, the uncharitable country people, whom he had persecuted with lawsuits, wished that all the rest of his brethren of the inferior practice of the law, would make up of the same expedient to hasten out of this life to Paradise as he did, for the ease and public good of the inhabitants of this county.

In this parish liveth Cur-lyon, Gent. that married Hawkins, and giveth for his arms, in a field ――――, a bezant between two castles. Now, though the name be local, from a place in Keye parish so called, yet if I were admitted to judge or conjecture, I would say this family of Cur-Lyon, by its name and arms, were the descendants of Richard Curlyon, alias King Richard I. of whom our chronologers say, that a priest of France told him he had three daughters, Pride, Covetousness, and Lechery; which three daughters the King replied he would thus dispose of: 1, Pride to the Templars and Hospitalers; 2, Covetousness to the Monks of the Cistertian order; and, 3, Lechery to the clergy in general.

TONKIN.

St. Blaze, usually called St. Blazey. In this parish is Roselian, or Rose-Sillian, an ancient seat belonging to the family of Kellio, and was lately the residence of Shadrack Vincent Vincent, Esq. in right of his wife, daughter of Richard Kellio, Esq.

This Shadrack Vincent was the second son of Henry Vincent, of Tresimple. He signalized himself in the wars of Flanders, and since the Revolution he has been member of parliament for the borough of Fowey, and has nobly founded a school there.

Adjoining to Roselian is Trenawick, which was sold by .... Kellio, Esq. to Hugh Williams, Gent. son to Williams of Trewithon in Probus, who built a new house on the estate.

The manor of Trengreene, or Tregoryon, is the dwelling of Thomas Carlyon, Gent. a branch of the Menagwins family, who has lately built a very neat new house here, which being seated on a rising grround, from whence there is a good prospect of the sea, and having a fruitful spot of land around it, is as pleasant a seat as any in the neighbourhood. His son Thomas has married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Mr. Philip Hawkins, of Pennance, by whom he hath several children. This last Thomas was in the commission of the peace, and died in this present Jan. (1732) leaving his eldest son, Philip, a minor. This property belonged in former times to the Bodregens.

THE EDITOR.

The popular legends of St. Blaze relate that he was most barbarously lacerated with wool-combs, which sufficiently accounts for his having been adopted as the patron of all persons concerned in the manufacture of cloth.

There is an idle tradition of the exact spot where St. Blaze landed; but it is quite certain that he never was in the west of Europe; nor can any reason now be assigned for the selection of this saint, beyond that of his general popularity. About the year 1774 a curious piece of machinery was exhibited all over England, which represented the whole manufacture of broadcloth, from the shearing of the wool to the last operation of pressing. A small figure was actually at work on each separate process; and over them all, as a general director, and arrayed in his pontifical habit and mitre, appeared Bishop Blaze. He is the patron of Ragusa.

The derivation of Carlyon from Richard Cœur de Lion, seems to be equally puerile, unfounded, and absurd. Car, or Caer, is evidently a fortified place; and Lyon must be one of those corruptions, more common than any other, of a word which has lost its appropriate meaning, into another word of a similar sound and in common use. The arms of Carlyon are, Argent, a chevron Gules between three moor cocks Sable, limbed and wattled Gules.

In modern times St. Blazey has acquired distinction by giving birth to Ralph Allen, known over England as Mr. Allen of Bath. This gentleman acquired a large fortune through the medium of conferring important benefits on his country, and he employed it in promoting literature and sciences on the most extensive scale. Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Gay, were the inmates of his house. Warburton was mainly through his influence advanced to the highest station in our church. And,

On all occasions was his hand held forth At pity’s call to succour modest worth.

This extraordinary man was the son of an innkeeper in a village on the road-side, called St. Blazey Highway. He is stated by Mr. Polwhele to have been placed under the care of his grandmother, who kept the post-office at St. Columb; and that an inspector was so much struck by the neatness and regularity of young Allen’s accounts as to procure for him some situation in a more extensive establishment. It is probable that he must have been placed in the post office at Bath. Mr. Polwhele adds that he was there patronised by General Wade.

Previously to this period, letters were conveyed along certain great roads emanating from the capital, but without any communication one with the other. Mr. Allen first conceived the idea of uniting these lines by what has been termed cross posts, and Bath became the original station of this most important contrivance, which has now expanded itself over the whole country like the meshes of a net, affording such facility and speed as to astonish those who experience their benefit, and which could not have been hoped for in times past.

It is much to be lamented that the progress of Mr. Allen, from the commencement of his career in this most interesting pursuit, up to the attainment of his object by its complete establishment at Bath cannot be traced; nor the source ascertained from whence his funds were derived. It appears that Mr. Allen risked the chance of taking the revenues to be derived from his new institution for a term of years, at a certain annual payment to the State; or, in official language, that he farmed them; and his success proved commensurate to the ability, exertion, and persevering industry employed in carrying the plan into effect: so that on the expiration of the first term, a renewal was taken at an advanced rent of some tens of thousands a-year.

Mr. Allen fixed himself at Bath, and built the splendid mansion of Prior Park with the oolite of that district, or Bath stone, which he first quarried on an extensive scale and brought into general use. At Prior Park every man distinguished in any way was a welcome guest, and the proprietor has received most justly, deserved tributes of applause from many capable of erecting monuments to his memory more durable than those of brass or stone; but one frequently noticed has ever appeared to me inadequate. It does indeed represent the image of a private gentleman, endowed with goodness of heart, some learning, and a tolerable judgment; but if Mr. Fielding’s Allworthy was really meant to pourtray Mr. Allen, one may seek in vain for any resemblance of a man, who, by energy of mind and indefatigable exertions conferred so great a benefit on his country, that the wealth acquired by himself seemed no more than the necessary appendage to such public service.

Mr. Allen died in 1764; but his spirit still hovered over Bath, and impelled individuals brought forward in his school, to make the second and last improvement in our mail conveyances by substituting the rapid speed of a coach, with its safety and accommodation of passengers, for the slow and solitary progress of a postman on horseback. This system commenced in 1784, twenty years after Mr. Allen’s decease. Mail coaches led to a general improvement of roads, and this again to an increase in the speed of coaches, while the reticulations of cross posts became more fine, with intersections in every possible direction, and the whole continues still improving; so that, morally speaking, the illustrious founder still lives and breathes among us.

Mr. Allen had a sister, whom I faintly remember the widow of a Mr. Elliott, and left with an only daughter. The old lady had great pleasure in relating what she had seen and heard at Prior Park, her having been there in company with Pope, Swift, Thomson, &c. and from her is derived the story related by Mr. Polwhele of Mr. Hugh Boscowen.

The daughter married Mr. Thomas Daniell, then chief clerk to Mr. Lemon, an individual not moving in a sphere so splendid as that of Mr. Allen, but probably at least his equal in all the qualities essential to those who fix a new era in the history of whatever they undertake. On Mr. Lemon’s decease in 1760, Mr. Daniell was enabled by the bounty of his wife’s uncle to take all the large mercantile concern on himself, and having soon afterwards constructed a residence in Truro, Mr. Allen presented him with several ship-loads of Bath stone; and thus Truro, having quarries of excellent silicious building-stone almost in its streets, and with granite distant only a few miles, exhibits the front of its most handsome house encrusted with oolite from Bath. To a similar act of liberality on the part of Mr. Allen, the hospital of St. Bartholomew in London is indebted for an exterior casing of the same stone; which, in consequence of the recent improvements and extension of inland navigation, is now brought in great quantities to the metropolis, to Oxford, and to places still more remote from the quarries.

I may here perhaps introduce with propriety a relation descriptive of the immense difference between our own times and those of Queen Anne, in respect to the sources and to the diffusion of intelligence.

Mr. Sidney Godolphin, occupying the office of Lord High Treasurer, visited more than once the seat in Cornwall from which he derived his appellation of Earl; no regular conveyances at stated intervals proceeded further west than Exeter, but when certain masses of letters had accumulated, the whole were forwarded by what was called the post. The Lord High Treasurer had a weekly messenger from Exeter bringing letters, despatches, and a newspaper; and on the fixed day of his arrival all the gentlemen assembled at Godolphin from many miles round to hear the newspaper read in the great hall. This was told to my father by Mr. John Borlase, father to the two Doctor Borlases, who had himself been present. From ten to twenty daily papers now reach Penzance in about forty hours from London.

Within my own remembrance a letter leaving London on Monday night arrived at Penzance on Friday morning, a letter and its answer occupying at present precisely that time.

This parish measures 1480 statute acres. The annual value of its Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 1878 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 636 16 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 467 | 442 | 938 | 2155. Increase on an hundred in 30 years, 361.45, or more than 361 per cent.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The northern part of this parish rests on granite, and it approaches very nearly to the church. Proceeding southward, the granite is succeeded by the same kind of slate as that which is found in the adjacent parish of St. Austell, both parishes lying parallel to each other, in respect to a line extending from the granite hills to the sea shore, have the same geological structure.

It is known that within the memory of the last generation the sea flowed up to St. Blazey Bridge; and various indications of its having reached half a mile further up the river have been detected: thus showing that the sea, which has encroached on most parts of the coasts of Cornwall, has at the same time been driven back from the land. This effect is usually attributed to the accumulation of detritus brought down from the hills by rivers, more especially when they are in flood, and undoubtedly this must be a generally operative cause; but in this particular instance the effect must be mainly ascribed to the wearing away of the diluvial sand-bank at the head of the adjoining bay. The volume of this river, and its consequent momentum, not having been sufficient to counteract the deposition of sand by the waves running up the estuary, with which, in their rapid motion, they are always charged.

BLISLAND.

HALS.

Blisland is situate in the hundred of Trig-minor, id est, sea-shore the less; so called minor, to distinguish it from Trig-major, which encompasseth a larger tract of land on the sea-shore of the Irish Channel, viz. that now divided into Strator and Lesnewith; and hath upon the east, Temple; west, Helland; north, Brewer and St. Udye; south, Cardinham. The modern name Blisland is a corruption of Bliss-lan, id est, happy, rejoicing, gladsome temple or church, which is testified by the Bishop of Lincoln and Winchester’s inquisition into the value of benefices, in order to the Pope’s annats 1294, Ecclesia de Bliss-lan in Decanatu de Trigminorshire, vi_l._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition and Valor Beneficiorum, £13. 10_s._ The patronage lately in Sprye, Parker, Reynolds, in right of the manor of Blis-land, now Molesworth; the incumbent Hicks. This parish was rated to the four shillings in the pound land tax 1696, £104. At the time of the Norman Conquest I judge it was taxed under Udy or Pengally.

This manor of Blisland was heretofore invested with the jurisdiction of life and limb within its precincts (the lords whereof doubtless built or endowed the present church); and within memory of the last age, the inhabitants will tell you, that a person was executed, in the gallows-field there, for robbing this parish church of its silver cup and pattens belonging to the altar (vide Mitchell). This manor of Blisland, tempore Hen. VII. was the lands of ――――, who forfeited the same by attainder of treason in Flammock’s rebellion, whereby it fell to the crown; from whence it was conveyed to the Stanhopes, and from them to Parker, and from Parker to Reynolds, from Reynolds to Sprye, from Sprye to Molesworth.

In this parish somewhere liveth Trese, Gent. The name Tres, or Treas, is Cornish British, and signifies in that language “the third,” and was a name taken up in memory of the third son or person of the family from whence he was descended, and is derived from the same Japhetical origin as τριτος, tertius, “the third,” as the Latin word _tres_. Treas is also “the third” in the Scots and Irish tongues.

This parish hath in it loads and streams of tin.

TONKIN.

The etymology of this parish is plain, being wholly Saxon, bless and land, as contrasted with the moors and craggy hills around it. Norden says that the sheriff’s writ runneth not within this parish.

THE EDITOR.

Number of statute acres 6025. The annual value of Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 3,643 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 328 5 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 437 | 487 | 637 | 644. Increase on an hundred in 30 years 47.4, or more than 47 per cent.

It is worthy of remark, that Mr. Pye, the present incumbent, has been in possession of the living fifty-three years; and that his predecessor, Mr. Hicks, held it during sixty-two years; so that one change of rectors has alone taken place in the long period of an hundred and fifteen years; a case of successive longevity almost unparalleled; and the more extraordinary in comparison with the inheritance of family estates, when it is recollected that each of those gentlemen must at the least have completed the twenty-fourth year of his age before he received induction to the benefice.

GEOLOGY.

Doctor Boase remarks the eastern half of this parish is situate on granite, which is of the same kind, and belongs to the same insulated group, as that extending into the parishes of Advent and of Alternun. The western half consists of alternate layers of schistone and of compact rocks, some of which approach near to greenstone. These rocks are, however, more fully exposed in the adjacent parish of St. Breward, or Simonward, under which head they will be described.

BOCONNOC.

HALS.

Boconnoc is situate in the hundred of West-well-shire, so called from foys-fenton in St. Cleother, id est, walled well or spring of water, the original fountain of the fay’s river, to distinguish it from East-well-shire aforesaid; and hath upon the north, Bradock; west, St. Wenow; south, St. Neepe; east, St. Pynock. For the compound name Bo-connoc, it is taken from the barton and manor of land still extant there, with reference to the beasts that depastured thereon; and signifies, prosperous, successful, thriving cows, kine, or cattle. Which place it seems was the voke lands of a considerable tithing or lordship, with jurisdiction, at the time of the Norman Conquest; for by the name of Boconnoc it was taxed in Domesday roll 2d William I. 1087.

However, let it be observed that at the time of the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, before mentioned, 1294, there was no such endowed church extant in Cornwall as Boconnoc; though in Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it was taxed to the Pope’s annats 9_l._ 17_s._ 3_d._ The patronage is in the Lord Mohun in right of his lordship of Boconnoc aforesaid; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ 8_d._ per pound tax, temp. William III. 80_l._

This barton and manor of Boconnoc, in the time of Edward III. was the lands of Sir John Dawney, of Sheviock, knight, whose daughter and heiress Emelyn, was married to Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon (and third of that name and title, being the son of Hugh Courtenay the 10th Earl of Devon, by Margaret, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, the 8th Earl of Hereford and Essex, by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of King Edward I.) and had issue by the said Emelyn Dawnay, Edward Courtenay the 12th Earl of Devon, surnamed _the blind_ (that married Eleanor, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March and Ulster, by whom he had issue Edward Courtenay the 13th Earl of Devon) and Hugh Courtenay his second son, to whom his mother gave Boconnoc, in the beginning of the reign of King Henry IV. 1416. Upon this Hugh Courtenay, afterwards Sir Hugh Courtenay, Knight, his elder brother Edward, surnamed _the blind_, at the especial request and instance of his mother, Emelyn, (as Brooke, York Herald, informs us) did by his indenture, bearing date the 2d of King Henry V. confirm and assure to him, his heirs and assigns for ever, the manors of Gotherington, Southallington, and Slancomb-Dawney (from whence that family was denominated) in the county of Devon, who afterwards married Philippa, one of the daughters and heirs of Sir Warren Archdeacon, Knight, of Haccomb in the county of Devon, after which time he lived sometimes in that place, at other whiles at Boconnoc; whence it is we find in some authors this gentleman is called Sir Hugh Courtenay of Boconnoc, and Sir Hugh Courtenay of Haccomb, as if they had been different persons. This Sir Hugh Courtenay had issue, by Archdeacon’s daughter, Edward Courtenay of Haccomb; who after the death of Humphrey Stafford was restored in blood, and made the 16th Earl of Devon, in the first year of the reign of King Henry VII. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay, of Moland, Knight, and had issue William Courtenay, 17th Earl of Devon, who married Katherine daughter of King Edward IV. and by her had issue, Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, executed for treason, temp. Henry VIII. 1538. He married Elizabeth Blount, by whom he had issue Edward Courtenay the 18th Earl of Devon (and last of the family of these Courtenays) that died at Padua, in Italy, without issue, 1556, 4th of October.

Edward Courtenay of Haccomb, or Boconnoc, aforesaid 16th Earl of Devon, had four sisters, as is set down in his will, dated 1509, in the first year of the reign of King Henry VIII. which were thus disposed of in marriage,――Elizabeth was married to John Trethyrfe of Trethyrfe, from whom Courtenay of that place, and Vyvyan of Trelowarren is descended; Maud to John Arundell of Tolverne, from whom the Arundells of Sythney, and by females the Trefusis of Trefusis, and the Halses late of Fentongollan are descended: Isabel, the third daughter, was married to William Moune, from whom the Lord Mohun descended: Florence, the fourth sister, was married to John Trelawney, from whom the Trelawneys of Trelawne are descended.

Whether this lordship of Boconnoc fell to the Crown by attainder of treason, upon the death of Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, or was purchased from the Crown, or of the sisters and heirs of the said Edward Courtenay, by Carmenow of Fengollan, I know not; he sold it to the Earl of Bedford; as the said Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford sold it, in 1566, to Reginald Mohun, Esq. (son or grandson of William Moune, who married Isabel Courtenay aforesaid) that married Joan daughter of Sir William Trevanion, Knt. whose son, Sir ―――― Mohun, Knt. married Joan, one of the sisters and coheirs of Sir John Horsey, Knt. by whom he had issue, Sir Reginald Mohun, Knt. that married two wives; the first, Sir William Killigrew’s daughter; the second, a daughter of ―――― Heale, of Wembury in Devon; the which Sir Reginald, 15 November 1612, was created a Baronet of England, temp. James I. and had issue, John Mohun, Esq. who in the lifetime of his father was created Baron Mohun of Oakhampton in right of his grandmother Isabel ――――, sister of Edward Courtenay, the 16th Earl of Devon, lord of the manor, honour, and borough of Oakhampton, who married and had issue Warwick Lord Mohun, who had issue Charles Lord Mohun, who had issue, as I take it, another Charles Lord Mohun, who was slain in a duel between him and the Duke of Hamilton, who both died on the spot, temp. Queen Anne: after which his daughters and heirs sold this lordship and all his lands to Mr. Thomas Pitt, recently returned from the East Indies.

The ancestor of this ancient and famous family of the Mohuns came into England with William the Conqueror, by the name of William Mowne or Sapell, and was after the Conquest by him made Governor of Dunster Castle, who had issue William Mowne the second Lord of Dunster Castle, whose son, the third William, as Matthew Paris saith, did keep and fortify the same against King Stephen, for the use of Maud the Empress. It is told us by our chronologers and historians, that he was made Earl of Somerset by King Henry the First, 1135, and that he was founder of a priory of Black Canons of Bruton in Somersetshire, where Edgar Earl of Cornwall had before founded an abbey of Benedictine monks. (Vide Monasticon Anglicanum, tom. ii. p. 205,) to which charter were witnesses William de Moyn, his son, and others.

This William Earl of Somerset had issue another William, who is said also to have been Earl of Somerset: but Brooke, York Herald, says that this William and his son Reginald Lord Dunster both died in the time of William Earl of Somerset, so that Reginald de Moyn his grandson was the second and last Earl of Somerset of his name and family, who lost this hereditary office by siding with the Barons against King Henry the Third, A.D. 1297, after it had remained in his family about fifty years.

After the family became private gentlemen at Boconnoc, their names are found sometimes noticed; the first Sheriff of Cornwall, 6th Edw. VI. 1 Eliz. 13 Eliz. and 19 Eliz.

TONKIN.

Bo-con-oke; the name is Gaulish-Saxon,――the town or village of Stunt Oke.

After copying Mr. Hals’ narrative, Mr. Tonkin adds, Charles Lord Mohun, the last Baron of this family, being killed in a duel by the Duke of Hamilton, on the 5th of November 1712, left his whole estate by will, dated some time before, to his widow, who sold all the Cornish and Devonshire estates in 1717 for fifty-four thousand pounds (a very cheap bargain) to Thomas Pitt, Esq. commonly called Governor Pitt, in whose possession the manor of Boconnoc now remains.

This Charles Lord Mohun was a nobleman of very bright parts, and great natural endowments both of body and mind; but having had the misfortune to lose his father, while he was yet in the cradle――and the estate being left to him much involved in lawsuits between his nearest relations, and with a considerable debt――he had not an education bestowed on him suitable to his birth; and happening to fall into ill company, he was drawn into several extravagancies: but, however, as his years increased, he became so much reclaimed as to give great hopes that he would one day equal the greatest of his predecessors; when he was thus unfortunately cut off in the flower of his age.

He was twice married. First to Charlotte daughter of ―――― Manwaring, Esq. by whom he had only one daughter, whom he never owned, and he lived for several years separated from his wife. He had the good fortune, however, to get rid of her at last, she being drowned in a passage to Ireland with one of her gallants, about six or seven years before his own death.

Fitton Gerrard, Earl of Macclesfield, her maternal uncle, to make him some amends for his bad bargain, gave him by will a good part of his estate, in 1701, which was the occasion of the quarrel between his Lordship and the Duke of Hamilton; so fatal to them both.

His second wife was the widow of Colonel Griffin, of the Green Cloth, by whom he had not any issue. His sister died before him unmarried.

THE EDITOR.

Boconnoc is universally allowed to be the finest seat in Cornwall. The house stands on an elevation near the union of two valleys, each rendered interesting, beautiful, and picturesque by streams of water flowing through uneven ground, and by native woods of beech and oak, rivalling the trees of our most favoured inland counties, although these vallies originate in wild tracts of land where not a stunted shrub is to be seen.

Mr. Thomas Pitt, although remotely descended from a good family, is said to have been the son of a person concerned in trade at Brentford. He must have gone to India at a time when some merchant adventurers, wholly unconscious of impending events, were engaged in laying the foundation of an Empire so vast as to exceed in the number of its subjects even the majesty of Rome itself. Mr. Pitt returned to Europe possessed of a diamond, superior, perhaps, in its combination of size and transparency, to any one ever exhibited in the western world. It was offered to Queen Anne, and ultimately sold to the Regent Duke of Orleans for the French nation, at a sum exceeding one hundred thousand pounds.[12] With about half of this large sum Mr. Pitt acquired the property in Cornwall of the last Lord Mohun, and settled at Boconnoc. He also purchased the burgage tenures, giving the right of franchise at Old Sarum, and represented that place in Parliament.

He had two sons, Robert and Thomas. Robert Pitt who succeeded him at Boconnoc, married Harriet Villiers, third sister of John Earl Grandison. He died in May 1727, leaving two sons, Thomas Pitt, and William, afterwards Earl of Chatham. Thomas Pitt, his brother, was created Earl of Londonderry, in consequence of his marrying the heiress of Ridgeway, who had borne that distinction; this younger branch became extinct in 1764. Thomas Pitt, his son, engaged most extensively in the political speculation, for which Cornwall was then become an ample field. But, having supported the party of Frederick Prince of Wales, he failed of obtaining any of the objects to which most speculations are supposed to lead. He married Christiana, sister of George first Lord Lyttelton; by whom he left Thomas Pitt, who, on the elevation of his first cousin, William Pitt, to the chief office in the State, when under twenty-five years of age, was created Baron Camelford in Jan. 1784. He died in 1793, leaving a son Thomas Pitt, the second and last Lord Camelford, and a daughter married to William Wyndham Grenville, Lord Grenville, the present possessor of Boconnoc, having succeeded to her brother in 1804.

The personal history of this young man is curious and extraordinary. He became an object of attention in Cornwall almost from his birth. On the event of his christening, in 1775, Boconoc was thrown open for public and indiscriminate entertainment, accompanied by exhibitions of the peculiar athletic exercise in which the Cornish boast to excel all their contemporaries, and to rival the Palæstræ of ancient Greece. A silver bowl of fifteen guineas was the prize of the victor (the first who threw five falls), and about fifty pounds were distributed among the vanquished.

His education was conducted under a private tutor alone in the seclusion of Boconnoc; but having made an excursion to Plymouth at a time when naval preparations were in full activity, he acquired a passion for the sea so strong and rooted, as not to be overcome by all the efforts of authority or of advice.

He went on the perilous voyage of discovery conducted by Captain Vancouver, and in the course of it, he is said to have experienced some harsh treatment on the part of the commmander, which seems to have stamped a new impression on his mind, rendered permanent by the long period during which it was necessarily concealed.

On Lord Camelford’s return to England, the effects burst forth in acts of violence against Captain Vancouver, and from that time,

On each adventure rash he roved, As danger for itself he loved.

It is impossible not be struck by a general resemblance between the two individuals who last possessed Boconnoc, of the families of Mohun and Pitt. Both seem to have been men of ability and of genius, of intrepid courage and of honour, fond of enterprise, and with vigour of body commensurate to their mental energies; but each unfortunately, obeying the impulse of passion and of strong feelings rather than the dictates of reason, was hurried on to an untimely fate. The latter fell by the hand of a person born to the situation of a gentleman, but in other respects little entitled to that distinction.

The first Lord Camelford might not only claim a full share of the hereditary talent connected with the names of Lyttelton and of Pitt;[13] but also literary acquirements and taste obtained under the guidance of his two uncles William Pitt Lord Chatham, and Lord Lyttelton. His gratitude to the latter is commemorated at Boconnoc by a lofty obelisk.

Lord Camelford introduced to the rectory of his parish the Reverend Benjamin Forster, a contemporary at Cambridge of congenial taste, and worthy of his friendship, the associate of Gray and of Mason; and with a mind like theirs suited for retirement and for literary leisure.[14] In his hours of relaxation he adorned the woods and shades, the vales and the rivulets, of Boconnoc with descriptive and appropriate illustrations from ancient and from modern poetry. To the Glebe-house he applied,

A little lowly hermitage it was, Down in a dale, hard by a forest’s side, Far from resort of people that did pass In travail to and fro.

Mr. Forster has been long since deceased, his rectory taken down, and most of his friends departed from this life. His memory is for the present preserved by a tablet (brevi et ipsa interitura) bearing the following inscription:

Underneath rest the remains of Benjamin Forster, B.D. of C.C.C. Cambridge 1760; Lady Camden’s Lecturer at Wakefield in Yorkshire 1766; Rector of St. Mary Abchurch in London 1772; from thence removed to the Rectories of Boconock with Braddock in Cornwall, and to Carshayes, St. Michael, St. Stephens, and St. Dennis, in the same county, 1773.

Born Aug. 7, O.S. 1736. Died Dec. 2, N.S. 1805.

Epitaph written in the 33d year of his age:

Here, hapless mortal! thy sure refuge find, Crost in each fond device, each hope of joy; Life’s busy day was not for bliss design’d, Toils, struggles, sufferings, its sad hours employ. Yet meekly bow to Heaven’s imperious sway, Nor deem thyself a prey to unmixt woes; The gentler virtues sooth the cares of day, And life’s calm eve shall lead to long repose.

* * * * *

Finally, Boconnoc-house is distinguished by having been the head quarters of King Charles the First in August and September 1684, when the army commanded by General Lord Essex, capitulated at Fowey.

This parish contains 1772 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 1252 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 142 15 0 Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 212 | 236 | 253 | 259. Or somewhat more than 22 per cent. in 30 years.

The Geology of this parish has nothing peculiar or characteristic. Dr. Boase remarks that the eastern part is a continuation of the barren downs which extend nearly to Lostwithiel, and that the southern, which is the fertile part, belongs to the calcarious series of the schistose group, but that the rocks are too much concealed under the alluvial soil to allow of their nature being very evidently manifest.

[12] The exact weight of the diamond is said to be 136¾ carats. A carat is equal to 3⅙ grains (see the Universal Cambist by Dr. Kelly, vol. i. p. 220, article London). It weighed therefore 433 grains, very nearly nine-tenths of an ounce troy of 480 grains.

For these 433 grains of diamond, the Regent Duke of Orleans is stated to have given 135,000_l._ or two thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine pounds troy of standard gold, or nearly one ton one hundred and a quarter avoirdupoise; above thirty-eight thousand four hundred times its own weight, or seven thousand five hundred and eighty times its bulk.

The Regent and his two successors in the government of France, used this diamond as an ornament to their hats on occasions of state. It was stolen during the license of the great Revolution, but recovered.

Napoleon had it placed between the teeth of a crocodile, forming the handle of his sword, unaware perhaps of how much this gem had contributed towards raising up the most formidable opponent to his ambition and ultimate aggrandisement.

[13] A series of his letters to Mr. Justice Hardinge has been published in Nichols’s Literary Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century, vol. vi. pp. 74-139.

[14] A large quantity of Mr. Forster’s lively correspondence with Richard Gough, esq. Director S. A. and John Nichols, esq. F.S.A. has been printed in Nichols’s Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. ix. pp. 648-650, and the Literary Illustrations, vol. vi. pp. 290-328, 860-864.

BODMIN.

HALS.

Bodmin is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the north Helland, south Lanhydrock, west Lanivet, east Cardinham. In Domesday Roll 1067, or 1087, it was rated by the name of Bod-ran, id est, command, authority, or jurisdiction share, or division. In some other ancient manuscripts, Bod-man.

[Mr. Hals gives here a long detailed account of the supposed Bishopric of Bodmin, and of the Bishops themselves, with a great variety of collateral incidents; but the late Mr. Whitaker has shown, in his learned work on “The Cathedral of Cornwall,” that the whole is devoid of any foundation whatever. It is therefore omitted; and the reader desirous of information and entertainment is referred to that curious production of our learned antiquary.]

Algar Earl of Cornwall, successor of Ailmer, (as the Monasticon Anglicanum, tom. i. p. 213, and tom. ii. p. 205, informs us,) at his own proper cost and charges re-edified the church of St. Peter at Bodmin, as it now stands; consisting of three roofs, each sixty clothyards long, thirty broad, and twenty high, so that for bulk and magnificence it is parallel to the cathedral of Kirton, and little inferior to that of Exeter. Earl Algar gave the church to a society of Augustines or Black Canons.

Afterwards, if Leland’s manuscripts may be credited, those Black Canons were displaced, and succeeded by St. Benedict’s monks; and then again those monks were displaced, and succeeded by a nunnery of Benedictine nuns. Then again, saith he, those nuns were displaced, and succeeded by secular priests; who also were again displaced, and Canons Regular, or Black Canons Augustine, restored to their places; under which circumstance of religious men Leland found it when King Henry the Eighth sent him into Cornwall, to inspect the orders and revenues of the religious houses therein. And in this state it was found by the Commissioners, 26 Henry VIII. when dissolved, at which time its revenue yearly was valued at 270_l._ 11_s._ Dugdale; 269_l._ 11_s._ 11_d._ Speed. Now this value, the reader must observe, was only the conventionary or annual rent reserved on leases of the priory land, set out to tenants for 99 years, determinable upon lives, and the common way of valuing those old rents was after the rate of ten per cent.; so that 270_l._ rent was then worth 2,700_l._ now worth 6,000_l._ per annum: which lands and rents are now chiefly in the hands and possession of Godolphin, Buller, Robarts, Morrice, Prideaux, Vivian, Rashleigh, Nicholls, Moyle, Molesworth, and many others.

The churches appropriated to this priory were, 1. Bodmin, 2. St. Wenn, 3. Withiel, 4. St. Kew, 5. St. Breock, 6. Little Pederick, 7. Padstow, 8. St. Ervan, 9. Crantock, 10. Cubert, 11. St. Colomb-minor, 12. Tregony, 13. St. Minver, 14. Lanhydrock, and some others, whereof the priors were either patrons or founders.

The Prior of this church of St. Peter kept his treasurer, his steward, almoner, hospitalarius, et infirmarius, that took care of sick and weak beggars and travellers. The priory-house wherein he dwelt is yet extant, though his domestic chapel and burial-place be dilapidated and demolished, all contiguous with the church aforesaid.

The jurisdiction and royalty over the river Alan, from Camelford to Padstow Rock, was given to this Prior by Algar Earl of Cornwall, in right of his manor of Helston, in this hundred, excepting the right of free fishing to the tenants thereof; a river famous for infinite number of those kings of fishes called salmon, which between Midsummer and Christmas are taken there, reputed, by such as are skilled in the gusto or palate, the best of that kind in Cornwall (except the salmon of the Val river, in this county). But, since the dissolution of this priory by King Henry the Eighth, this royalty is disjointed, if not dismembered from it, and enjoyed in co-partnership by such as are the now owners of its lands and revenues, and by some others whose lands are contiguous with that river; though the now Duchy tenants of the manor of Helston aforesaid still pay barbe-agu, or bar-ba-gut money, id est, barbed-spear money, annually to the Duke of Cornwall, who is Lord thereof, for free fishing with salmon-spears.

The list or catalogue of the names of the Priors of this church is lost, except Thomas Vivian, the last save one;[15] a man famous in his days for his piety and charities, as his benefactions make him still memorable in ours; for he built the rectory-house at Withall, the mansion-house at Ryalton, the south roof at Edleshayle church, and the lofty spire and steeple lately upon his prioral, now parochial church of Bodmin aforesaid, which was all struck down with lightning and thunder anno Dom. 1699, and since again re-edified as it now stands, without a spire, at the proper cost and charge of the inhabitants of Bodmin town and parish.

This Prior Vivian was by the Pope consecrated Bishop of Megara, in Achaia, a city of Greece. He lies entombed with his bust or skeleton within a costly and curious stone chest or monument, about seven feet long, and three feet high above ground, on the top of which is cut at full length his portraiture as a man, and on this figurative body his episcopal robes, his mitre on his head, his staff or crosier in his hand, his face encompassed over with the wings of two cherubim standing by: somewhat defaced in the interregnum of Cromwell, as a superstitious monument. This tomb is also adorned round with crosses; the arms of his Bishopric of Megara, viz. in a field Gules, three human thigh-bones saltirewise Or, or Proper; the arms of his priory aforesaid; the arms of England, France, and Ireland; and lastly, that of his own or his ancestors’ arms, viz. in a field Argent, on a chevron Azure three annulets, between three bears’ heads erased and muzzled Sable, on a chief Gules three martlets Or; which are arms of a strange confused bearing, according to the rules of heraldry, composed or consisting of two of the honourable ordinaries, a chevron and a chief, and the same charged with martlets and annulets, of colours yellow, white, red, blue, and black, charge upon charge, and colours upon colours; all which monument is surrounded with an ancient and broken inscription to this purpose:

Hic tumulatus venerabilis Pater Thomaus Vivian, Megarensis Episcopus, hujus domus Prior; qui obiit tertio die Junii, anno Dom. 1533. Cujus animæ propitietur Deus. Amen.

This church of the Prior’s, after dissolution of the priory aforesaid, was converted to a parochial church for the parish and town of Bodmin, and the secular church of Beni left to fall into utter ruin and decay, as it now stands; and is discontinued either for use of living or dead human creatures, the tower only standing, and cattle daily depasturing in the same, and the cemetery thereof, as in other places.

Also this prioral rectory church, long before its dissolution, was converted by the Prior into a vicarage church; for in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester before mentioned, anno Dom. 1294, Eccles. de Bodmin, in Decanatu de Trigg minor, was taxed to the Pope’s annats vi_l._ xiii_s._ 4_d._ Vicar ibidem nihil propter paupertatem. The rectory or patronage now in Prideaux, the Incumbent Wood (Key), and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 89_l._ 1_s._ per annum; the borough of Bodmin 178_l._ 12_s._; in all 267_l._ 13_s._

In Bodmin churchyard is a well-built school-house, built over a very spacious charnel-house or grott, where are piled up the dry bones of such men and women as are found in new-made graves, to put the scholars and townsmen in mind of mortality; and is now commonly called the Bone-house. This school Queen Elizabeth endowed with about 16_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ per annum revenues out of the Exchequer for ever.

The name Bodmin anciently comprehended no more than the town or borough itself, as it is now taxed in the Exchequer; for in the Domesday tax Beni, Lanlaran, now St. Lawrence, and Lantallan, were districts rated by themselves, though now consorted under that name of Bodmin parish and town. It is called a burge, or burghs, from the same Japhetical original as the Cornish word purguse, πυργος [purgus], turris, a tower, castle, fenced or fortified place, from whence the Latins had their word burgus, of the same import; and suitable thereto, notable it is, this town hath in it still a place called Tower-hill; as also, that every considerable town or burg in Cornwall heretofore had near it, for its defence, some castle, tower, or citadel, to defend it from the invasion of enemies. And agreeably to this interpretation and custom, Bodmin town, upon the east part thereof, upon a high-mounted hill, hath still extant the ruins and downfalls of a treble British entrenchment, containing above twelves acres of ground, formerly and still called Castle Kynock, alias Cunock, synonymous words, i. e. the King’s, or the supreme and sovereign castle. (See Truro, Launceston, Saltash, Helston, &c. for the like.)

Hence it is in the Cornish-British we have πυργες, purges, Anglice burgess, or a citizen (from whence the Latins had their word burgensis), which signifies an inhabitant of such a place as kept a tower, castle, fort, or hold, or had a college-court of purgesses (now burgesses) in it. And I doubt that, long before the Norman Conquest, or bishopric here was erected, this town of Bodmin by prescription was invested with the jurisdiction of a court-leet, (id est, a court that kept a law-day, or festival,) though the same was not confirmed by a charter or incorporated before King John, A.D. 1216, granted one thereto; whereby he privileged the same with the tribunal also of a mayor, recorder, town clerk, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four common-councilmen, or assistants, who have power to nominate and elect a new mayor annually by the majority of voices, as also members of parliament. The mayor and town clerk, and last preceding mayor, justices of the peace for one year after within the said borough; the town clerk during life. This town and borough is held of the King of Great Britain, and pays annually to the King’s Audit at Launceston between five and six pounds per annum rent, beyond the records of time.

By the same charter it was made also one of the towns for coinage of tin, though long since discontinued (see Lostwithiel for the Tinners’ Charter); and made also the only staple town in Cornwall where in a public market merchants might carry their goods for wholesale, and whereby the mayor and town clerk also were authorized to take the acknowledge of statute staple bonds between party and party as the law directs.

Now to remove an action depending in this court-leet of Bodmin to any superior court, the writ must be thus directed:

Majori et Communi Clerico Burgi sui de Bodmin, in comitatu Cornubiæ, salutem.

The chief men within this town, and within the circumstances aforesaid, are Mr. Philipps, Mr. Bullock, Mr. Hobbs, Mr. Bligh, Mr. Wymond, Mr. May, Mr. Smith, Mr. Tomm.

The precept for electing members of parliament is thus directed: Majori et Burgensibus Burgi sui de Bodmin, &c.

This town, for number of inhabitants (as in Mr. Carew’s time, 1602) far exceeds any other town in Cornwall; which is also privileged by its charter with keeping a weekly market on Saturdays, wherein is vended of all creatures both living and dead, corn, fish, and fowl, and all other things necessary for the life of man, in such great abundance, and at a moderate price, as the same equals if not exceeds the markets of Tavistock and Exeter, in Devon. It is also appurtenanced with fairs, upon January 25th, December 6th, Saturday after Mid-lent Sunday, and on Wednesday before Whitsun-day. There is a street in this town called Cassiter-street, that is to say, Woodland-street. (See Falmouth, for Cassiter and Cassiteros.)

I have been told that, within the memory of sixty years last past, there was extant within this town and parish the remains, ruins, and dilapidated walls of no less than 13 churches or free chapels, wherein heretofore God was duly worshipped, perhaps first erected by those religious persons mentioned by Leland, who had so often been displaced or turned out from the priory as aforesaid.

But, above all others, there is still extant in this town the stately church of the Franciscan Friars, dedicated to St. Nicholas, and their cells, consisting of one roof twenty clothyards high and fifty long, with two stone-windows, admirable for height, breadth, and workmanship; which, after the dissolution of their house and order by King Henry the Eighth, the justices of the peace of this county appointed for a house of correction for such vagrant and idle persons as the same afforded, by the name of the Friary and Shire-hall; which the townsmen taking notice of, soon after converted or profaned it further to a common market-house, for selling corn, wool, and other commodities weekly; yea, and within the same is kept yearly several fairs for selling all sorts of merchandize, the altars being pulled down, and in the churchyard, or burial-place, a fair for cattle. It also lately made the tribunal or hall for the judges of assize yearly, and the justices of the peace in their sessions, and is undoubtedly, except Westminster Hall, the fairest and best in England.

The stone font of this church for baptizing infants is now converted to a measure for corn in this hall, which also, as I said, is the weekly market-house. On the same is an inscription in old characters, which I leave for abler capacities than mine to interpret.

The founder of those Cordelier or Franciscan Friars was Francis of Assium, in Italy, who was born about the year 1140. His parents placed him to school for some time to study the liberal arts and sciences, and afterwards placed him to the trade and occupation of a merchant, which in Italy still, as anciently it was amongst the Jews, is so reputable an employment that even princes themselves are merchants: which trade or occupation Francis followed, with small gain or advantage, in a fair and righteous way, for some time, but growing discontented thereat, and not knowing thereby well how to subsist, he resolved, as others did, to follow indirect arts and practices to get more riches, by stealing the duties of such goods and merchandize as he bought and sold, which then was, and still is, a capital crime in Italy; and accordingly put the same in practice, and much enriched himself thereby, though at length his fraud was detected, himself indicted, tried for his life, and condemned to death for the same. Whereupon, in order to prevent the sentence inflicted upon him, and to avoid the halter, he gave the greatest part of his goods and estate to his prince, to grant or procure his pardon, and the other part to pious uses, in relieving the poor, and re-edifying and endowing three churches. Afterwards he fell into such great horror and trouble of conscience for those facts, and that he was fully informed from Hosea