Chapter IV: Part 4

But those who are not familiar with the country should not wander far from the road as the bogs and marshes are really dangerous. They find their culmination in the odd little lake called Dozmare Pool associated with the story of King Arthur. This has no apparent outlet, and was once reported to be of fabulous depth.

Launceston stands in a category by itself; though both the preceding towns are fairly hilly, it outdoes them magnificently in that respect! The streets up from the station are so steep that only by one of them, graded for the purpose, can vehicles mount at all. The others are merely for foot-passengers. Yet if looked at on a map which does not give contours, it will be seen that Launceston in reality is one very long straggling street running from end to end with various branches. This street dips down into the hollow where the railway is and mounts the other side. Baring-Gould says of Launceston, "Scarcely another English town has such a picturesque and continental appearance," but that is a matter of opinion. The name, meaning Church-Castle-Town, is very explanatory, for the church and castle are the two outstanding objects of interest. The former is most curious, for every foot of the walls outside is covered by granite carving, mostly of secular subjects and hacked out instead of chiselled.

At the east end beneath the east window is a recess with a figure of Mary Magdalene much worn and tormented, and no wonder, for it is one of the Launceston superstitions that anyone who can chuck a pebble so as to lodge on the statue's back--no easy feat as the slope is slippery--will have a year's good luck, and many there be that try! The church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene and is, as churches go, of no great age. Curiously enough it was not at first the parish church but merely the development of a chapel.

The present building dates from 1511 and the tower is older. What is very singular, and accounts for the choice of subjects on its quaintly carven walls, is that they were not designed for a sacred building at all. They were done for Henry Ashe of Trecarell, a wealthy Cornishman who had a great mansion and was rebuilding it regardless of cost; but in the midst of the work his only son, a child, was drowned and the mother died almost immediately from the shock, so the wretched father passed on the granite carvings, designed for a gateway to his mansion, to the church, where they now attract many curious visitors and adorn, not only the walls but the very fine projecting south porch. The rose, the pomegranate, the Prince of Wales's feathers are frequently repeated with the arms of Trecarell and Ashe. In order to give it an ecclesiastical finish certain sentences in Latin such as "Oh how terrible and fearful is this place. Surely this is none other but the house of God and the gate of heaven!" are embossed on shields round the base.

A much more ancient church is that of St. Stephen away on the opposite heights beyond the valley. Some authorities think that the name Launceston really means Llan Stephan, the church of St. Stephen, and there is some colour for this, as it is possible the original town was around the older church and that the other grew up near to the castle. Baring-Gould boldly claims that the present town has no right to the name at all, but should be called Dunheved meaning "Swelling Hill." The castle keep certainly stands on a most appropriate swelling hill, just the place for such a fortification, with a magnificent view over miles of country.

The present remains, the great keep with its rings of stone, is of Norman origin, but there was most certainly a Saxon castle here before it. It stands in delightful grounds, freely open to all, and a very sanctuary for birds. A winding stair runs within the wall and even in the present roofless condition it needs but little imagination to transport oneself back into feudal times, when the womenfolk cowered within the small rooms behind the solid masonry, and the warriors guarded the loopholes, watching, waiting for attack.

Launceston is peculiarly rich in churches; besides the two mentioned there is St. Thomas, in the valley between, where have been discovered the ruins of a priory. From this the doorway of the White Hart Hotel in the market-place came.

Down a side street is one of the old city gates, the only one remaining to show that Launceston was once walled. The chief point of interest about this, however, is apparently the very substantial tree, which, in most mysterious fashion, has found root-hold in the stone crevices and continues to flourish many feet above the ground.

IX

CORNISH CUSTOMS

Old customs, and festivals carrying in them the germ of a meaning and significance long forgotten by those who practised them but intelligible to students of antiquity, continued to be observed in Cornwall when they had died out in most other places. There is no part of England where so many curious observances, superstitions and festivals are still observed as in Cornwall.

Midsummer Day merrymakings were long kept up in many places, especially in regard to the part played by fire, and Richard Edmonds, secretary for Cornwall to the Cambrian Archaeological Association, writing in 1862, says:--"It is the immemorial usage in Penzance, and the neighbouring towns and villages, to kindle bonfires and torches on Midsummer Eve.... St. Peter's Eve is distinguished by a similar display.... On these eves a line of tar-barrels, relieved occasionally by large bonfires, is seen in the centre of each of the principal streets in Penzance. On either side of this line young men and women pass up and down, swinging round their heads heavy torches made of large pieces of folded canvas steeped in tar and nailed to the ends of sticks between three and four feet long.... On these nights Mounts Bay has a most animating appearance although not equal to what was annually witnessed at the beginning of the present century when the whole coast from the Land's End to the Lizard, wherever a town or a village existed, was lighted up with these stationary or moving fires.... At the close of fireworks in Penzance, a great number of persons of both sexes, chiefly from the neighbourhood of the quay, used always, until within the last few years, to join hand in hand forming a long string and run through the streets playing 'thread the needle,' heedless of the fireworks showered upon them, and oftentimes leaping over the yet glowing embers. I have on these occasions seen boys following one another jumping through flames higher than themselves."

This is a significant reminder of the custom of passing children through the fire referred to in the Bible.

May Day celebrations are still kept up in the little town of Helston, the key to the Lizard. This saturnalia is held on the eighth of the month instead of the first, because the eighth is the festival of the apparition of St. Michael, who is represented in the Town Arms. The festival is called the "furry dance," a word which some writers have associated with "forage" or "foray" because the young people make a raid on all gardens and out into the fields early in the morning to collect flowers and green boughs. Polwhele connects the word with the old Cornish "fer," a fair or jubilee. Rather unsuccessful attempts have also been made to bring in the goddess Flora, and suggest a corruption of Flora-day to fit the present name.

The day is a general holiday and anyone caught working is subjected to unpleasant penalties. About midday the most important person present leads off with his partner down the main street to the tune of a hornpipe--a local tune--and they are followed by a gay crowd. The throng threads in and out of the houses, in by the front door and out by the back if possible, for all doors are left open for them. Woe be to the churl who kept his shut! At length they arrive at the Assembly Rooms where a real ball begins.

This curious performance slackened off for some years, but the Helstonians, finding that their little town owed a good deal of advertisement to this special festival, have revived it with goodwill, and now are inundated with visitors at the recurrence of the anniversary.

Furry Day used to be held at Penryn on May 3 and at the Lizard on May 1 and also in the parish of Sithney, but now it can only be seen at Helston.

May Day has peculiar significance as being the celebration of the return of spring, and it is the custom at dawn on that day in some parts to dip weakly infants in the holy wells, which abound in Cornwall, to ensure strength. This is still done, though either secretly or in a jesting spirit, at the holy well of Madron near Penzance of which Madron is the mother parish.

Many people adorn their houses in Cornwall with boughs and garlands in honour of the day even at the present time. May Day was the great day for miracle plays, so beloved by the old Cornishmen before they learned to consider them sinful under the teaching of Wesley. The best of the old amphitheatres, at any rate the one most accessible, is the Plan-an-Guare at St. Just referred to elsewhere.

At Padstow hobby-horses still prance round the town on May Day. Edmonds says:--"The hobby horse, or effigy of a horse, is, at this festival of the moon, dipped in a pool of water, and, for the same reason perhaps, that a similar figure was, in Ireland, passed through fire at the festival of the sun; to preserve the cattle from death and disease." Sun and moon being represented by fire and water.

Mr. Baring-Gould says:--"During the days that precede the festival no garden is safe. Walls, railings, even barbed wire, are surmounted by boys and men in quest of flowers. Conservatories have to be fast locked, or they will be invaded. The house that has a show of flowers in the windows is besieged by pretty children with roguish eyes begging for blossoms which they cannot steal. The Hobby-horse Pairs, as they were called, _i.e._, a party of eight men, then repaired to the 'Golden Lion,' at that time the first inn in Padstow, and sat down to a hearty supper of leg of mutton and plum-pudding, given them by the landlord. After supper a great many young men joined the 'pairs,' _i.e._, the _peers_, the lords of the merriment, and all started for the country, and went round from one farmhouse to another, singing at the doors of each, and soliciting contributions to the festivities of the morrow.

"They returned into Padstow about three o'clock in the morning, and promenaded the streets singing the 'Night Song.' After that they retired to rest for a few hours. At ten o'clock in the morning the 'pairs' assembled at the 'Golden Lion' again, and now was brought forth the hobby-horse. The drum-and-fife band was marshalled to precede, and then came the young girls of Padstow dressed in white, with garlands of flowers in their hair, and their white gowns pinned up with flowers. The men followed armed with pistols, loaded with a little powder, which they fired into the air or at the spectators. Lastly came the hobby-horse, ambling, curvetting, and snapping its jaws. It may be remarked that the Padstow hobby-horse is wonderfully like the Celtic horse decoration found on old pillars and crosses with interlaced work. The procession went first to Prideaux Place, where the late squire, Mr. Prideaux Brune, always emptied a purse of money into the hands of the 'pairs.' Then the procession visited the vicarage, and was welcomed by the parson. After that it went forth from the town to Treator Pool 'for the horse to drink.'"

In Hitchins' _History of Cornwall_, edited by Samuel Drew, he says of the hobby-horse of Padstow: "The head, being dipped into the water, is instantly taken up and the mud and water are sprinkled on the spectators to the no small diversion of all."

The Maypole festivities have been given up of recent years, but hobby-horses still prance the streets.

Hitchins gives an account of a few local superstitions, some of which are not peculiar to Cornwall:--

"The sound of the cuckoo, if first heard on the right ear, denotes good luck; but to hear the voice first on the left, is an omen of undefinable disasters. To spit on the first piece of money that is received in the morning will ensure a successful day in trade; and to hold up a silver coin against the new moon on its first appearance can hardly fail to secure lunar virtue for a month. To bite from the ground the first fern that appears in the spring is an infallible preventive of the toothache during the year; and the first ripe blackberry that is seen will put away warts. To pay money on the first day of January is very unlucky as it ensures a continuance of disbursements during the year; and to remove bees on any day besides Good Friday will ensure their death; while to work oxen on that day is an act which few would dare to perform lest they should suddenly die in the yoke. To whistle underground is an offence which few miners will suffer to pass over in silence; but to whistle while the farmer is winnowing his corn will as inevitably bring the wind as on board of a ship or boat, it is certain to secure a favourable breeze."

Polwhele says: "The custom of saluting the apple-trees at Christmas with a view to another year, is still preserved both in Cornwall and Devonshire. In some places the parishioners walk in procession visiting the principal orchards in the parish; in each orchard single out the principal tree, salute it with a certain form of words and sprinkle it with cyder or dash a bowl of cyder against it. In other places, the farmer and his workmen only, immerse cakes in cyder and place them on the branches of an apple-tree in due solemnity; sprinkle the tree, as they repeat a formal incantation and dance round it."

The harvest custom where the last handful of corn is cut, being called "a neck," and then dressed with flowers and carried off in triumph has been often referred to.

The men of Cornwall have long been celebrated for wrestling, they being no whit behind the men of Devonshire and Somerset in this.

They have other special games of their own too. Of which the chief is "hurling," though now only kept up in the parishes of St. Columb Major and Minor, in other words in the neighbourhood of Newquay, though a collection is made at St. Ives in a silver "hurlers' ball." The game is that of a ball being flung and thrown from one to the other, with goals which may be two miles apart. Sometimes one match takes days to decide. It is an extremely rough-and-tumble sport. In the season a match is played on the wide flat firm expanse of Newquay sands and hundreds take part in it, badges being used to discriminate between the players. And on Shrove Tuesday a game is played in the town of St. Columb the ball being thrown up in the market-place and all traffic being held up for the occasion. The goals used to be "either the mansion-house of one of the leading gentlemen of the party, a parish church, or some other well-known place." The ball is rather larger than a cricket-ball, but not so large as a football, and is silvered over. The struggle is expressively described by Carew:--"The hurlers take their way over hills, dales, hedges and ditches, through bushes, briers, mires, plashes, rivers; sometimes twenty or thirty lie tugging together in the water, scrambling and scratching for the ball."

These customs and sports are only samples, for there are many quaint ideas still held in certain parishes which would almost provide the material for a book by themselves, and are far too numerous to collect together in a sketch like the present. However, enough has perhaps been said to show how the Cornish spirit still lingers in spite of the influx of "foreigners" growing ever greater yearly.

SOME BOOKS ON CORNWALL

ANON. Walk Round Mount Edgcumbe. 1821.
BARING-GOULD, S. Book of the East. 1902.
BARING-GOULD, S. Vicar of Morwenstow. 1876.
BLIGHT, J. T. Land's End. 1861.
BORLASE, W. C. Noenia Cornubiae. 1872.
BRAY, ANNA ELIZA. Banks of Tamar. New edition. 1879.
CAMDEN. Britannia. 1594.
CAREW, RICHARD. Survey of Cornwall. 1602.
COLLINS, WILKIE. Rambles Beyond Railways. 1861.
COUCH, JONATHAN. History of Polperro. 1871.
CRAIK, MRS. An Unsentimental Journey in Cornwall. 1884.
DICKINSON, W. H. King Arthur in Cornwall. 1900.
EDMONDS, RICHARD. Land's End District. 1862.
GAY, SUSAN E. Old Falmouth. 1903.
GILBERT, C. S. Historical Survey of Cornwall. Two vols. 1817-20.
GILBERT, DAVIES. Parochial History of Cornwall. Four vols. 1838.
HALLIWELL, J. O. Rambles in Western Cornwall. 1861.
HAMMOND, JOSEPH. St. Austell. 1897.
HARVEY, E. G. Mullion. 1875.
HIND, LEWIS. Days in Cornwall. 1907.
HUDSON, W. H. The Land's End. 1908.
JOHNS, REV. C. A. A Week at the Lizard. 1874.
LACH-SZYRMA, W. S. Short History of Penzance, etc. 1878.
LYSONS. Magna Britannica. 1806-22. Vol. iii.
MACLEAN, SIR J. Trigg Minor. Three vols. 1873-79.
MATTHEWS, J. H. Parishes of St. Ives, Lelant, etc. 1892.
NORTH, I. W. Week in Scilly. 1850.
NORWAY, A. H. Highways and Byways in Devon and Cornwall. 1897.
POLWHELE, REV. RICHARD. History of Cornwall. 1803 and 1806.
ROBBINS, A. F. Launceston, Past and Present. 1888.
SCOTT, C. A. DAWSON-. Nooks and Corners of Cornwall.
STONE, J. HARRIS. England's Riviera. 1912.
TREGARTHEN, J. C. Wild Life at the Land's End. 1904.
VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY. 1906.

NOVELS.

Most of Q's books.

ELLIS, MRS. HAVELOCK. My Cornish Neighbours.
SIDGWICK, MRS. ALFRED. In Other Days. 1915.
BESANT, SIR WALTER. Armorel of Lyonnesse. 1890.

INDEX

Archaeology, 17

Armed Knight, the, 61

Arthur. _See under_ King

Artists, 15, 39, 41, 95, 122

Athelstan, 22, 43, 59, 128

"Atlantic Drive, The," 47

Bedruthan Steps, 11, 60, 101

Benson, Bishop, 127

Bird-life, 25, 57, 76, 87

Bodinnick Ferry, 115

Bodmin, 124, 127

Bodmin Moor, 129

Bodmin Road, 29

Boscastle, 89

Brisons, the, 60

British villages, 46

Brown Willy, 12

Bude, 105

Callington, 125

Cambourne, 125

Camel River, 103, 127

Camelford, 78, 125

Camulodunum, Battle of, 78

Cape Cornwall, 60

Cardinham Castle, 84

Castle-an-Dinas, 100

Cheesewring, 129

Chun Castle, 47

Cliffs, 61, 65, 87, 106

Climate, mildness of, 7

Cornish cliffs, 11

Cornish people, 4, 17, 18, 85

Couch, Jonathan, 118

Crantock, 101

Cream, 21

Customs, 135

Davy, Sir Humphry, 39

Delabole, 89

Devonport, 120

Dozmare Pool, 130

Dunheved, 133

Earthworks, 47

East Looe, 119

Enys Dodman, 61

Falmouth, 120

Fistral Bay, 99

Flushing, 121

Forraburry, 90

Fougou Hole, 43

Fowey, 8, 14, 30, 109 _et seq._

"Furry dance," 137

Gannel River, 101

Godrevy Point, 93

Golf, 10, 20, 92, 99, 106

Goonhilly Downs, 64

Great Western Railway, 29, 128

Grenville, Sir Bevil, 107

Gribbin Head, 110

Hamoaze, 24

Hawker, Rev. Robert Stephen, 107

"Hedges," 5, 31

Helford River, 123

Helston, 125, 137

Hills, 12, 41, 50, 96, 130

History, 21

Holy wells, 101

Housel Bay Hotel, 64

Hugh Town, 58

Hurling, 143

Killibury Castle, 85

King Arthur, 55, 72 _et seq._

King Stephen, 59

Knill monument, 97

Kynance Cove, 11, 66

Lamorna Cove, 41

Land of Lyonnesse, 37, 55

Landewednack, 32

Land's End, 1, 2, 51, 60

Lanherne, Vale of, 100

Lanyon Quoit, 46

Launceston, 12, 124, 130

Lelant, 92, 98

Lerryn River, 116

Lighthouses, 53, 68

Liskeard, 125

Lizard, the, 63

Lizard-town, 64

Lloyd's Signal Station, 69

Logan Rock, 45, 46

London and South-Western Railway, 128

Longships Light, 53

Looes, East and West, 119

Lundy Island, 90

Luxulyan, 15

Luxulyan Valley, 29

Lynher or St. Germans River, 24

Madron, 46

Marazion, 37

May Day, 136

"Merry Maidens," 44

Midsummer Day, 135

Mining Region, 49

Mordred, 78

Morwenstow, 107

Mount Edgcumbe, 25

Mount's Bay, 35

Mousehole, 40

Mozrang Pool, 61

Mullion, 14

Newlyn, 15, 39

Newquay, 98

Nonconformists, 38

Padstow, 103, 128, 138

Pardenick Point, 61

Pasties, 21

Pedn Men Dhu, 60

Pendennis Point, 121, 122

Penolva Point, 97

Penpoll Creek, 116

Penryn, 121

Pentargon Bay, 91

Pentire Point, 104

Penzance, 34, 38, 93, 124, 136

Perran Beach, 102

Perranporth, 103

Perranzabuloe, 103

Pilchards, 95

"Pipers, The," 43

Pirates, 114, 123

Plan-an-guare, 50

Plant-life, 16

Polperro, 14, 117

Porthgwarra, 63

Porthgwidden Cove, 97

Porthmeor Bay, 95

Porthminster Bay, 92

Quiller-Couch, Sir A., 118

Redruth, 125

Roads, 13, 49

Roche, 30

Rock, 104

Rocky Valley, 88

Roseland, 123

Royal Institution of Cornwall, 126

Royal Mail Packets, 121

St. Blazey, 29

St. Buryan, 22, 44

St. Columb Major, 100, 143

St. Columb Minor, 100, 143

St. Erth, 94

St. Germans or Lynher River, 24

St. Ives, 7, 15, 92 _et seq._

St. Mary's Island, 58

St. Mawes, 122

St. Mawgan, 100

St. Michael's Mount, 35

St. Piran, 102

Saints, 99

Saltash, 24

Scilly Isles, 56

Sennen, 59

Sennen Cove, 59

Serpentine Rock, 66

Seven Stones, 56

Slaughter Bridge, 78

Stamford, Earl of, 107

Stephen, King, 59

Stratton, 107

Swan Pool, 123

Tamar River, 24

Tavy River, 24

Tol Pedn, 61

Treffrys, the, 110

Treryn Dinas, 45, 73

Trevalgue Head, 101

Trevose Headland, 100

Truro, 125

Uther Pendragon, 77

Valleys, 30

Vell-an-Dreath, 59

Wadebridge, 128

Warbeck, Perkin, 59, 128

Watergate Bay, 101

Wesley, 38, 50

West Looe, 119

Whitesand Bay, 58

Wolf Lighthouse, 53

Wrangle Point, 107

Wrestling, 143

Zennor, 48

THE END

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND

(A. & C. BLACK, LTD., LONDON)]

Transcriber's note:

_Underscores_ have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts.
Inconsistent hyphenation left as written.