Chapter VIII: Part 8

The supposed piscina, according to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, is merely “the base of a small pillar, Norman in style, with a hole in it for a rivet which attached to it the slender column it supported” (“The Vicar of Morwenstow,” ed. 1899, p. 60). It has also been stated that Mr. Hawker obtained the piscina from the ruined chapel at Longfurlong, Hartland, and placed it in his church at Morwenstow (Rev. T. H. Chope, “Hartland Parish,” 1896, p. 17).[160]

FOOTNOTE:

[160] Hawker’s account (on p. 11) of the discovery of the piscina in the chancel wall at Morwenstow is, however, very circumstantial. If “the jumbled carved work and a crushed drain,” which, he says came to light when the mortar was removed, proceeded from his imagination, it is a touch of genius in fabrication. In a letter to Mr. Richard Twining dated October 25th, 1855, Hawker writes: “Will you have the kindness to present the inclosed drawing to Miss L. Twining in my name and with my best regards. It is of a piscina discovered by me in the south wall of my chancel, where it has been hidden by mortar full 300 years, and existed there before that date full 500 years more.”

The whole passage from Mr. Baring-Gould is as follows: “The ancient piscina in the wall is of early English date. Mr. Hawker discovered under the pavement in the church, when reseating it, the base of a small pillar, Norman in style, with a hole in it for a rivet which attached to it the slender column it supported. This he supposed was a piscina drain, and accordingly set it up in the recess beside his altar.” Mr. Baring-Gould evidently uses the word “piscina” as meaning the whole “recess” beside the altar. Mr. Chope appears to use it for the pillared structure within the recess. Hawker’s own words seem to show that he found the whole piscina, _i.e._ the recess with the drain inside it, “in the chancel wall.” He says nothing of any discovery “under the pavement,” and Mr. Baring-Gould does not give his authority for this statement.

At any rate, if the piscina, or piscina drain, or pillar-base, whichever it be, was abstracted from the ruined chapel at Longfurlong, it presumably was not discovered under the pavement of Morwenstow Church, unless by another stroke of genius.

It may be of interest to add that, on thrusting a piece of grass down the hole which Hawker took for a piscina drain, and which Mr. Baring-Gould says is a rivet-hole, I found that it went right through to the floor of the recess, a depth of about 13 inches. It is quite possible, therefore, that, if connected with another hole through the wall, it might at one time have served the purpose of a drain.--EDITOR.

APPENDIX A_a_ (p. 9 and foll.)

MORWENSTOW CHURCH

BY THE LATE REV. W. WADDON MARTYN

One of the most beautiful of Mr. Hawker’s poems commences with the words “My Saxon shrine.” It becomes of interest, therefore, to examine as far as possible into the dates which attach to the different periods of architecture of the truly venerable church of Morwenstow.

It is very likely that Mr. Hawker is correct when he speaks of the first church here dedicated to God’s service as being of Saxon times, but it is equally true that, with the exception of perhaps the font, no trace of that early building remains. The earliest portion of the present building consists of the south porch and the three Norman arches which form the western portion of the north arcade. There is a difference in the elaboration of the work of these three arches, but it is scarcely likely that they could have been erected at different times. It is more probable that they are intended to show the varied methods of dealing with the semi-circular arch at that early period. It is of perhaps more interest to decide whether the pattern of the Norman arch bisected, which occurs on the easternmost of the Norman pillars, was placed there at the time of the Norman church or at the time of the construction of the two Gothic arches on the same side. If the former supposition be correct, it will signify, of course, that the whole structure was made at the close of the purely Norman period; if the latter, it would be intended to explain the reason why the architecture of that period passed so strangely from the round to the pointed arch.

Before passing on to speak of the second date of architecture, which was certainly of the pure Gothic or early English character, it may be interesting to speak of the size and shape of the church as it stood in the early Norman times. Taking everything into consideration, it would seem likely that the Norman church consisted of a nave, north aisle, and chancel. The Norman porch consequently stood twelve or fourteen feet further in than at present, the boundary of this church being clearly marked by the foundation plainly visible outside the north wall.

We pass on to consider the next step in the work of enlargement, which consisted in the extension of the north aisle and the erection of two fine, though somewhat rudely constructed, arches with circular pillars. By this means the chancel became absorbed in the new portion of the aisle, and consequently the present chancel was erected further on to the eastward.

The next step consisted in the erection of the three bays of very beautiful polyphant stone on the south side exactly co-extensive with the three Norman arches, so that a line drawn from the foundation-stones of the Norman church southwards through the church would mark the boundary of the polyphant extension also. It is difficult to assign a date to this very beautiful addition, but we must suppose that the present wall-plate, with its richly and boldly carved foliage, dated from this period. There would seem to be good ground for this argument, inasmuch as the last addition to the church in 1564, when the two granite arches were erected on the south-eastern side of the church, had a piece of wall-plate specially carved for that new portion. It is quite certain that the whole roof of the church was put up in 1564 at the time of the erection of the granite arches, and I have no doubt that this roof was placed upon the older and magnificent wall-plate, since much injured by the leaks which a defective roof has caused in so many places. It is worth noting that, although the polyphant arches were erected prior to the granite ones, yet they were taken down and the whole arcade entirely rebuilt at the same time. This I consider proved by the fact that the relieving arches are so very similar in character. The effect, meanwhile, on the wall-plate on the south side of the nave was not good, the exactly perpendicular line of the pillars and arches not catching it on every point, and thus giving it a somewhat ragged appearance which it will require care to rectify.

A word here on the height of the building. It is probable that the present height was attained when the early English arches were erected. Before that time the church was evidently lower. This, again, may be proved by the additional stonework which was added above the Norman arches, and which must have been so added at the next additional work, as the two lofty arches (especially that at the east) would really require it.

A very interesting question remains, as to whether the portion of ground now spanned by the granite arches was formerly disused, or whether it formed a Baptistery or other building in connection with the church, such as priests’ chambers, etc. That it was separated off from the portion of the church at the west end of the south aisle is evident by the discovery of a portion of the wall which so separated it, running southwards from the westernmost of the granite pillars. I may add that in the same way traces of the Norman chancel further to the west than the present chancel were found when the workmen were engaged in the work of restoration.

There only remains to notice the last period of restoration, the first time in which, as far as we can judge, granite was introduced into the building. The date may be found on the westernmost of the two pillars--MDLX4: on the other the words, “This is the House of the Lord.” It is noticeable that the half polyphant pillar, which had at one time formed the boundary of the arcade towards the east, was then carried forwards and placed against the wall of the chancel. It thus seems to mark, not only that the arcade was designed at different periods, but that it was ultimately (the former portion being taken down) all built together.

It was at this time (c. 1564) that the whole fabric of the church (possibly not the chancel) was built [it may be clearly seen where the new work stands on the old early English foundations on the north side], the only remaining portion untaken down being the Norman and early English pillars, and a portion of the wall by the south porch, and (as before observed) possibly the chancel.

The tower was, we may consider, built at the same time as the church, in 1564.

The seats, with their magnificent carving, followed in 1575, as is testified by an inscription[161] on the rail of the front seat touching the pulpit. This will, however, be removed in due course, the position of these few seats being contrary to the original plan. I should think that this rail and the seats also were formerly fixed where the font at present stands at the end of the church.

As we stand within the walls and beneath the bending roofs of this magnificent building, our mind naturally inquires what teaching its designs serve to afford us--the cable on its font, the dog-tooth pattern on its Norman arches. Is it really true that, following out the established teaching of the nave, whereby the ship with inverted side was depicted to us--is it really true that, following out this idea, the cable implied the anchor by which every soul baptized into Christ was bound _to_ Christ? Does the pattern, with its many points (“dog-tooth,” as it is generally spoken of), really signify the ripple on the Lake of Gennesaret? Do the three steps by which we enter allude in very deed to the Baptism of John, the saint of dedication? It would certainly seem probable that, having acknowledged the church to be the nave or ship, we should not find that the imagery would end here, but that it would pass into other matters which the mediæval times knew so well how to formulate. If so, we have a rich vein of thought to be wrought out from this ancient sanctuary of the West, all untouched as it is by ruthless and destructive hands. Solemn be the thoughts of all who enter here! Lowly and humble the hearts that here bend at the feet of their great Liberator and Saviour! In the words of one who will long be remembered in the parish which he loved so well, Robert Stephen Hawker--

“Pace we the ground! our footsteps tread
A cross--the builder’s holiest form:
That awful couch, where once was shed
The blood, with man’s forgiveness warm.
And here, just where His mighty breast
Throbb’d the last agony away,
They bade the voice of worship rest,
And white-robed Levites pause and pray.”

FOOTNOTE:

[161] The inscription runs as follows: “THIS · WAS · MADE · IN · THE · YERE · OF · OURE · LORDE · GOD · 1575.” The pew bearing it now stands (1903) at the east end of the north aisle, facing south.--EDITOR.

APPENDIX A_b_ (pp. 16, 20, 203)

SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT NORTH AND EAST

Hunt, in his “Popular Romances of the West of England,” quotes the following translation by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson from Hylten Cuvalliec’s “Wärend och Wirdurne,” pp. 287-88. It agrees with many of Hawker’s ideas.

“Inasmuch as all light and all vigour springs from the sun, our
Swedish forefathers always made their prayers with their faces
turned towards that luminary. When any spell or charm in connection
with an ‘earth-fast stone’ is practised, even in the present day,
for the removal of sickness, the patient invariably turns his face
towards the east, or the sun. When a child is to be carried to
church to be baptized, the Wärend usage is for the godmother first
to make her morning prayer, face towards the east, and then ask the
parents three several times what the child’s name is to be. The
dead are invariably interred with their feet lying eastward, so as
to have their faces turned towards the rising sun. _Frånsols_, or
with or in a northerly direction, is, on the other hand, according
to an ancient popular idea, _the home of the evil spirits. The
Old Northern Hell was placed far away in the North._ When any
one desires to remove or break any witch-spell, or the like,
by means of ‘reading’ (or charms), it is a matter particularly
observed that the stone (_i.e._ an ‘earth-fast’ one) is sought
to the northward of the house. In like manner also the ‘bearing
tree’ (any tree which produces fruit, or quasi fruit, apples,
pears, &c., _rowan tree_, especially, and white thorn herbs), or
the shrew mouse, by means of which it is hoped to remedy an evil
spell, must be met with in a northerly direction from the patient’s
home. Nay, if one wants to charm away sickness over (or into) a
running stream, it must always be one which runs northwards. On
the self-same grounds it has ever been the practice of the people
of the Wärend district, even down to the present time, not to
bring their dead _frånsols_--or to the northward--of the church.
In that part of the churchyard the contemned _främlings högen_
(strangers’ burial-place) always has its site, and in it are buried
malefactors, friendless wretches, and utter strangers. A very old
idea, in like manner, connects the north side of the church with
suicides’ graves,” etc.

APPENDIX B (pp. 27 and 109)

The following quaint verses have been found among some unpublished manuscripts in Hawker’s handwriting:--

THE MAID OF THE CROOKS OF COMBE.

There’s a Face will o’ershadow all faces!
There’s an Eye that will brighten a room:
There’s a Form that would win mid the Graces:
The Maid of the Crooks of Combe!

There’s a Heart that is harder than Granite:
There’s a Voice that will thrill you with gloom:
There’s a Look--how a Lover would ban it--
The Maid of the Crooks of Combe!

Good Lord! what a World we do pine in!
Where the Rose on the Bramble will bloom:
Where a Fiend like an Angel is shining:
The Maid of the Crooks of Combe.

The “Crooks of Combe” is a name given to the windings of the stream that runs down Combe Valley to the sea (see p. 109). It seems possible that these verses may have been written to accompany the story of Alice of the Combe, and then discarded. On the other hand, the legend of the mole is associated with Tonacombe Manor, and Tonacombe and Combe are two different valleys. The poem may have been addressed to Miss Kuczynski (afterwards Mrs. Hawker), who used to visit Combe and was fond of riding about the valley. The third line of the last verse is an echo from Coleridge’s poem “Love.” This poem was marked in a copy of Coleridge given by Hawker to his future wife.

APPENDIX C (pp. 80 and 87)

ARSCOTT OF TETCOTT

This was John Arscott, whose epitaph in the parish church of Tetcott ran as follows:--

“Sacred to the memory of John Arscott late of Tetcott in the
Parish, Esq^{re}, who died the 14^{th} day of January 1788.

What his character was need not here be recorded. The deep
impression which his extensive benevolence and humanity has left
in the minds of his friends and dependents will be transmitted by
tradition to late Posterity.”

A little paper-covered book, entitled “J. Arscott, Esq., of Tetcote, and his Jester, Black John,” was published at Plymouth in 1880 by W. H. Luke. From this we take the following:--

“The Arscotts, of Tetcot, were descended from the Arscotts, of
Holsworthy, an ancient family that ramified into the several
branches of Annery, Tidwell, Holsworthy and Tetcot. A descendant
of the Arscotts of Holsworthy, at a remote period, purchased the
manor and demesne of Tetcot from the Earl of Huntingdon and made
it his principal residence, and the other branches of the family
having become dispersed, and married into different houses,
the representation of the family and property at Holsworthy
and elsewhere became vested in Arscott, of Tetcot. The last
descendant of that name--John Arscott,--the subject of the annexed
song, died without issue, and devised Tetcot, with its manor
and appurtenances, to his relation, the late Sir Arscott Ourry
Molesworth, Bart., of Pencarrow. The late celebrated Dartmoor
sportsman, known as the Foxhunter Rough and Ready, Paul Ourry
Treby, Esq., of Goodamoor, was a near connection of the Tetcot
patriarch, and inherited the tastes and followed the pursuits of
this collateral ancestor. The lairds of Tetcot had been Sheriffs
of the County of Devon, A.D. 1633-38. C.I., 1678-28. C. II., and
1755-15. G. III. The family was noted for its loyalty, and the
Tetcott dependents mustered in full force and did their duty at
Stratton fight on May 16, 1643, whilst hunters and men were in full
working condition.”

The writer proceeds to say that the hunting song in honour of Mr. Arscott was written “170 years ago” (_i.e._ 1710), but as the last John Arscott lived till 1788, he would hardly have been of an age to inspire hunting songs in 1710. There was an earlier John Arscott, whose epitaph, with that of his wife, is also to be seen in Tetcott church. These epitaphs read as follows:--

“Here lieth the body of John Arscott Esq^{re} who married the
daughter of Sir Shilston Calmady. He died while Sheriffe of the
County the 25^{th} day of September 1675 aetatis suae 63.

Here also lieth the body of Gertrude wife of the deceased John
Arscott Esq^{re} who died the 18^{th} day of October 1699 aged 77.”

If the song existed in 1710, and referred to this John Arscott, it was no doubt written still earlier. The last of the Arscotts, however, Black John’s master, would seem more likely to be the subject of it. Mr. Baring-Gould, who includes it among his “Songs of the West,” says that one of the many versions supplied to him was dated 1772, which would suit this theory. Hawker himself published the song in “Willis’s Current Notes” for December, 1853, and it has since his death been erroneously included in his poems, for apparently he only claimed to have been the first to print it, though he doubtless added some touches of his own. Black John is mentioned in his version, and Mr. Baring-Gould says that “the author of the song is said to have been one Dogget, who used to run after Arscott’s fox-hounds on foot.” A search for this name in the parish registers of Tetcott and Stratton has proved unsuccessful. Mr. R. P. Chope found a version of the song current at Hartland, and an old man there (over eighty in 1903) says that his father used to sing it seventy years ago.

From Luke’s book we learn that--

“The Old house at Tetcott, which, as well as the mansion of
Dunsland, had been built under the superintendence of the Architect
sent by the government of Charles II. to build Stowe for the Earl
of Bath, was taken down in 1831, and a Gothic cottage constructed
in its stead. The demolition of the ancient structure was a very
unpopular act, and the old crones of the neighbourhood shake their
heads and say that Black John and Driver (a staghound), when the
Cottage was burnt down a few years only after it had been built,
were seen yelling and dancing round the flames. The origin of that
fire was never ascertained.”

Hawker’s poem, “Tetcott, 1831,” which is all his own, is an elegy on the destruction of the old house. He quotes one stanza of it on p. 87 of the present volume. The present representative of John Arscott’s family, Mrs. Ford, of Pencarrow, describes Tetcott as “an imposing Queen Anne’s house,” and speaks of “the front door steps under which John Arscott’s pet toad resided, and every morning came out to be fed by his kind master till the envious peacock killed him.”

* * * * *

Mrs. Calmady, of Great Tree, Chagford, writes as follows:--

“An old retainer, called Oliver Abbot, who, with his forefathers,
had worked at Tetcott for generations, told me that Arscott of
Tetcott kept not only a well-known pack of foxhounds, but a pack of
foumart hounds, which he hunted by night.[162] The song, ‘Arscott
of Tetcott,’ was undoubtedly not written concerning the Arscott
who married Gertrude Calmady, but of the more recent John Arscott,
who died in 1788, and was Black John’s master. Gossips will still
tell how Black John, though pleasant and amusing enough when things
went smoothly, became dangerous when roused. One day, Sir William
Molesworth playfully tried to push him into one of the fishponds,
when Black John, wrathfully exclaiming, ‘Turn sides, brother
Willie, turn sides’ (and, although a dwarf, he was very strong),
soon had Sir William in the water, and, in his rage, would have
drowned him, had not a man named Beare come to the rescue.

“It is said that Arscott of Tetcott still appears on a phantom
horse, with a phantom pack, on the wild moors he used to hunt,
and that their cry portends death or misfortune to the unlucky
wayfarer; but I am inclined to agree with the man who, when told
the devil appeared to people on Cookworthy Moor, replied, ‘I’ve
been out on the moor all hours of the day and night; had there
been e’er a devil, I must a seen un.’ During the thirty years that
Mr. Calmady lived at Tetcott, he kept up with zeal the sporting
reputation of the place by keeping a pack of foxhounds and otter
hounds, and showing such sport as will long be remembered in
the West. During those years, I heard many a story of the olden
times. One ascribed, whether rightly or wrongly, to that grand old
sportsman, Paul Treby, was to the effect that, on some one asking
the meaning of Dosmary Pool, he replied, ‘Don’t e knaw? Why, Do,
Dos, Dot damme Mare, give’d up from the Zay, to be Zure.’

“Some years ago I obtained from a cottage in Tetcott an old
Staffordshire jug, decorated with game. It was said to have been
formerly in the possession of Arscott of Tetcott. This jug I have
since given to Mr. Lane, the publisher.”

The surname of Black John, and the place and date of his birth, death, and burial are unknown. The editor would be glad to hear from any one who could supply information on these points.

FOOTNOTE:

[162] The foumart is now extinct in England, though, I believe, to be met with in parts of Scotland.

APPENDIX D (p. 90)

DANIEL GUMB’S ROCK

BY R. PEARSE CHOPE

A long account of Daniel Gumb is given in C. S. Gilbert’s “Historical Survey of Cornwall” (vol. i. p. 166). When Gilbert visited the spot in 1814, some remains of the habitation could still be traced, and on the entrance, graven on a rock, was inscribed “D. Gumb, 1735.” (See also Bond’s “Looe,” p. 203.) “Unfortunately they have now altogether disappeared before the march of the barbarians known as quarrymen.”

The Cheesewring itself was claimed by Dr. Borlase as a Rock Idol, in accordance with the quaint Druidical theories of the early antiquaries. He says--

“From its having Rock-basons, from the uppermost Stone’s being
a Rocking-stone, from the well-poised structure and the great
elevation of this groupe [of rocks], I think we may truely reckon
it among the Rock-Deities, and that its tallness and just balance
might probably be intended to express the stateliness and justice
of the Supreme Being. Secondly, as the Rock-basons shew that it was
usual to get upon the top of this Karn, it might probably serve
for the Druid to harangue the Audience, pronounce decisions, and
foretell future Events.” (“Antiquities of Cornwall,” p. 174.)

The Rev. S. Baring-Gould gives in his “Book of the West” (vol. ii. p. 107) a curious instance of the persistency of tradition in connection with a cairn near the Cheesewring, in which a gold cup was found a few years ago.

“The story long told is that a party were hunting the wild boar
in Trewartha Marsh. Whenever a hunter came near the Cheesewring a
prophet--by whom an Archdruid is meant--who lived there received
him, seated in the stone chair, and offered him to drink out of
his golden goblet, and if there were as many hunters approach,
each drank, and the goblet was not emptied. Now on this day of
the boar-hunt one of those hunting vowed that he would drink the
cup dry. So he rode up to the rocks, and there saw the grey Druid
holding out his cup. The hunter took the goblet and drank till he
could drink no more, and he was so incensed at his failure that he
dashed what remained of the wine in the Druid’s face, and spurred
his horse to ride away with the cup. But the steed plunged over the
rocks and fell with his rider, who broke his neck, and as he still
clutched the cup he was buried with it.”

In Carew’s “Survey of Cornwall” (1602) occurs the following quaint description of a logan-stone called Mainamber:--

“And a great rocke the same is, aduaunced upon some others of a
meaner size, with so equal a counterpeyze, that the push of a
finger, will sensibly moue it too and fro: but farther to remooue
it, the united forces of many shoulders are ouer-weake. Wherefore
the Cornish wonder-gatherer, thus descrybeth the same.

Be thou thy mother natures worke,
Or proof of Giants might:
Worthlesse and ragged though thou shew,
Yet art thou worth the sight.
This hugy rock, one fingers force
Apparently will moue;
But to remooue it, many strengths
Shall all like feeble prooue.”

APPENDIX D_a_ (p. 92)

DOZMERE POOL

The following is extracted from Hunt’s ‘Popular Romances of the West of England.’

“Mr. Bond, in his ‘Topographical and Historical Sketches of the
Boroughs of East and West Looe,’ writes--

‘This pool is distant from Looe about twelve miles off. Mr. Carew
says--

Dosmery Pool amid the moores,
On top stands of a hill;
More than a mile about, no streams
It empt, nor any fill.

It is a lake of freshwater about a mile in circumference, the only
one in Cornwall (unless the Loe Pool near Helston may be deemed
such), and probably takes its name from _Dome-Mer_, sweet or fresh
water sea. It is about eight or ten feet deep in many parts. The
notion entertained by some, of there being a whirlpool in its
middle, I can contradict, having, some years ago, passed all over
in a boat then kept there.’

Such is Mr. Bond’s evidence; but this is nothing compared with
the popular belief, which declares the pool to be bottomless,
and beyond this, is it not known to every man of faith that a
thorn-bush thrown into Dosmery Pool has sunk in the middle of it,
and after some time has come up in Falmouth (? Fowey) Harbour?

Notwithstanding that Carew says that ‘no streams it empt, nor any
fill,’ James Michell, in his parochial history of St. Neot’s, says:
‘It is situate on a small stream called St. Neot’s River, a branch
of the Fowey, which rises in Dosmare Pool.’

There is a ballad, ‘Tregeagle; or Dozmaré Poole: an Anciente
Cornish Legende, in two parts,’ by John Penwarne.... Speaking of
Dozmaré Pool, Mr. Penwarne says--

‘There is a popular story attached to this lake, ridiculous enough,
as most of those tales are. It is, that a person of the name of
Tregeagle, who had been a rich and powerful man, but very wicked,
guilty of murder and other heinous crimes, lived near this place;
and that, after his death, his spirit haunted the neighbourhood,
but was at length exorcised and laid to rest in Dozmaré Pool. But
having in his lifetime, in order to enjoy the good things of this
world, disposed of his soul and body to the devil, his infernal
majesty takes great pleasure in tormenting him, by imposing on him
difficult tasks, such as spinning a rope of sand, dipping out the
pool with a limpet shell, etc., and at times amuses himself with
hunting him over the moors with his hell-hounds, at which time
Tregeagle is heard to roar and howl in a most dreadful manner, so
that, “roaring or howling like Tregeagle” is a common expression
amongst the vulgar in Cornwall.’”

APPENDIX E (p. 109)

ANTHONY PAYNE

BY THE REV. PREBENDARY ROGER GRANVILLE

According to the Episcopal Registers of the diocese of Exeter, a marriage license was granted on September 12th, 1612, to “Anthony Payne of Stratton, and Gertrude Deane of the same.” These were evidently the parents of the famous Cornish giant, who served as henchman to Sir Bevill Grenvile at Stowe.

When the Civil War broke out, Anthony Payne followed Sir Bevill to the battlefield, and was doubtless present with him at the engagements of Bradock Down, Modbury, and Sourton, in the early months of 1643. On the 16th of May the battle scene had shifted to his own home at Stratton, where every inch of ground must have been perfectly familiar to him. The Earl of Stamford had occupied a strong position on a hill within a mile of the little town. From five in the morning till three in the afternoon the battle raged, and though the Parliamentarians had the superiority both of numbers and position, they could not prevail over the brave Royalists. At three word was brought to Hopton and Grenvile that their scanty stock of powder was almost exhausted. To retreat would have been fatal. A supreme effort had to be made. Trusting to pike and sword alone, the lithe Cornishmen pressed onwards and upwards, led, can we doubt it, by Anthony Payne?

“His sword was made to match his size,
As Roundheads did remember;
And when it swung, ’twas like the whirl
Of windmills in September.”

The boldness of the attack seems to have struck their opponents with terror. Stamford’s Horse turned and fled, and in vain Chudleigh attempted to rally his Foot. He was surrounded and captured, and his men, left without a commander, at once gave way and retreated, and soon the victorious commanders embraced one another on the hard-won hill-top, thanking God for a success for which, at one time, they had hardly ventured to hope.

The following July Anthony Payne was at the battle of Lansdowne, near Bath, where his brave master was mortally wounded. When Sir Bevill fell the fight would have been lost for the King, and in another moment the Cornish would have crowded down the hill. It was the quick nobility of Anthony Payne which won the battle, and the deed should give him an enduring place in history.

“Catching his master’s horse, with a fine knightly impulse, he
set little John Grenville, a lad of sixteen, who had followed his
gallant father close, on the hacked and gory saddle, and led him to
the head of his father’s troop. There was no more giving way after
this sight, and the Cornish followed the lad up the hill like men
possessed. By this time, too, the musketry had practically routed
the Parliament Horse, which were already retreating; and so, while
Sir Bevill lay dead on the hillside, his own regiment, led by
his giant servant and his little son, gained the top.” (Norway’s
“Highways and Byways in Devon and Cornwall,” p. 196.)

There is surely “no finer story to be told than this; nor can there have been, since first men began to slay each other, many sights more noble than that of the child, tearful, excited, triumphant, set upon the great charger, a world too high for him, and led up the hill at the head of his dying father’s troop.” What wonder that the King knighted the boy-warrior at Bristol on the 3rd of August following, for his bravery at Lansdowne fight (cf. Metcalfe’s “Book of Knights,” p. 200), or that Prince Charles, his own contemporary in age, attracted by his heroism, chose him out of all others to be his personal attendant and intimate friend ever afterwards--a friendship that was only broken by death!

We wish that we could bring ourselves to believe that the letter (on page 117), breathing the spirit of rare nobility, and stated by Mr. Hawker to have been written to Lady Grace Grenvile after her valiant husband’s death by his true-hearted giant retainer, was authentic. We fear, however, that it originated in the study at Morwenstow, and is the product of Mr. Hawker’s own versatile and gifted pen.

What became of Anthony Payne after this is not certainly known. Did he return with his master’s body to Stowe, and remain on there to protect his mistress during the four unquiet years of her widowhood? There is, indeed, a tradition which would bear out this supposition, if it is true. It relates that the poor Queen, in her flight (within a week after her confinement) from Exeter, to avoid capture by Lord Essex, escaped to Okehampton with a small body of attendants, where she was met by Anthony Payne, who guided her to Stowe by a series of tracks and lanes, in order to secure greater secrecy, and that from Stowe she went to Lanherne, and so on to Falmouth, whence she escaped to France. In confirmation of this theory a letter is said to have been seen from Lady Grace, in which she mentions the fact of the Queen having slept at Stowe, and of her departure to Lanherne. But the letter is no longer extant, if it ever existed, and it has been proved pretty conclusively by Mr. Paul Q. Karkeek, in a very interesting paper on the subject of the Queen’s flight, that from Okehampton the Queen went to Launceston, the most direct route, under the escort of Prince Maurice, and from Launceston to Falmouth.

Or did Anthony Payne remain on with his young master, who narrowly escaped meeting his father’s fate at the second battle of Newbury, and afterwards took a prominent part in the defence of the West under his uncle, Sir Richard Grenvile, and who so gallantly defended the Scilly Islands, the last rallying point of the Royalists, against Admiral Blake, in 1651, that he obtained exceptionally favourable terms when he was at last compelled to capitulate?

Nothing is heard of Payne again till the Restoration. Then honours were showered thickly on the Grenviles in recognition of all that they had done and sacrificed for the royal cause, and especially of the signal services they had rendered, in conjunction with their cousin, George Monk, in restoring the Monarchy. Sir John Grenvile was created Earl of Bath, and made Governor of Plymouth, where he at once undertook to rebuild and strengthen the fortifications, which had been much damaged in the late war. Upon their completion Lord Bath appointed Payne, whom he evidently still held in great favour, as a yeoman of the guard and halberdier of the guns. The King made a surprise visit by sea in July, 1671, to inspect the new citadel, accompanied by the Dukes of York and Monmouth and a large retinue. They were entertained by Lord Bath at his own cost with great profusion, and the Merry Monarch professed himself highly pleased with his visit. It was probably on this occasion that he commanded Sir Godfrey Kneller to paint Payne’s portrait,[163] which is now in possession of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, at Truro, and which was engraved as a frontispiece to the first volume of Gilbert’s “History of Cornwall.”

Payne remained at Plymouth until old Time pulled the giant down. Obtaining leave to retire, he returned home to Stratton, and died in the same house in which he was born. It is now “The Tree Inn.” On the wall is the following inscription, on a tablet which formerly marked the battle-field.

In this Place
Y^e Army of y^e Rebels under y^e command
of y^e Earl of Stamford received a signal
overthrow by y^e valour of Sir Bevill Grenville
and y^e Cornish Army on Tuesday y^e
16th of May 1643.

But the only memento of poor Anthony Payne is a hole in the ceiling, through which his coffin, being too large to be taken out of the window or down the stairs in the usual way, was lowered from the room above. Even the very place of his burial is uncertain. Some say he was buried in the _north_, others in the _south_ aisle of Stratton Church, on July 13th, 1691, at an age which was little short of eighty years. Let us hope that a sufficient number of appreciative friends may shortly be found who shall be willing to contribute towards the erection of some memorial in Stratton Church worthy of one who proved himself all his days a faithful, loyal, true-hearted servant.

NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

In the parish register of Stratton, which begins in the year 1687, the following entries appear:--

_Burials._

Sibilla, wife of Anthony Payne 9 July, 1691
Anthony Payne 13 „ „
William and Mary Payne 20 Aug., „
William Payne „ „ 1697
Richard, son of Anthony Payne 27 March, 1699
George „ „ „ „ 1708
Nicholas Payne 1 Aug., 1710

The occurrence of four deaths so close together in 1691 suggests that they may have been caused by some epidemic. The previous book has unfortunately been lost, so that it is impossible to verify the dates of Anthony’s baptism and marriage.

The sexton points out a spot in the south aisle where he says that he saw a large grave opened, 8 ft. by 3 ft., at the restoration of the church in 1887, and that this was generally supposed to be the grave of Anthony Payne. Among the many skeletons unearthed at that time was a thigh bone 2 ft. 9 in. long.

During some excavations in the west end of the north aisle a slate stone came to light, very thin and decayed, bearing the names of Nicholas and Grace Payne. These were thought locally to be the parents of the giant, but there is no proof of this.

The Rev. Canon Bone, of Lanhydrock, who was Vicar of Stratton when the church was restored, has kindly supplied a copy of the inscription on the stone. One corner had been broken off, and the remainder bore the following words:--

“Nicholas Payne of Hols in this towne
Yeoman ... nd also neer by him lieth
Grace his wife buried the 22 day of
January 1637.”

Canon Bone says--

“The stone was removed to the Vicarage, but it had worn so thin
that it broke up, and unfortunately the fragments were lost. I do
not know whether the attribution of the stone to Antony Payne’s
parents was more than a likely guess.”

The Paynes were evidently a numerous clan in Stratton about that time, but though many names and dates are available, there is little to establish the relationship of the different members of the family. According to a pedigree in the possession of Mr. Herbert Shephard, an Anthony Payne married a Miss Dennis, and had by her a son Hugh. No date appears on the document, but it will be seen below that a Hugh Payne is mentioned as riding to Launceston in 1688. As the giant died in 1691, this Hugh might be his son.

It should be mentioned that in the old registers his Christian name is spelt “Anthony,” the omission of the “h” being peculiar to Hawker.

In the records of the Blanchminster Charity in the parish of Stratton (compiled by R. W. Goulding, 1898) the names of several Paynes appear. The following are some of the entries:--

(1603) “Paid to Nicholas Paine for writtinge of the Quindecem booke
8 [_d._].”

By a “Feoffment,” dated “12 Jan., 1618-9,” Walter Yeo and another
make over to William Arundell and others, including Anthony Payne
and Nicholas Payne, certain property at Mellhoc and elsewhere.

(Either of these, Anthony or Nicholas, might be the father of the
giant.)

In a “Feoffment” dated “20 March, 14 Charles II. (1662),” the
names of Nicholas and William Payne appear.

“18 March 1688. Item pd Hugh Payne p Riding to Launceston upon the
Report yt (that) the ffrench were landed 00 02 06.”

“After the Stockwardens’ account for 1719 there is a statement by
Anthony Payne,” etc.

(This Anthony Payne might be a son of the giant.)

The flagon which contained the giant’s allowance of liquor is mentioned by Hawker in a private letter. He says--

“It is now safe in its usual place under my Escritoire.... The
Bottle itself is Antony Payne’s Allowance which used to be filled
for him every morning at Stowe, and as I measured it last week and
found it Six Quarts it ought to have sufficed him.”

From “Collectanea Cornubiensia,” by G. C. Boase (1890), we get the following details as to the portrait of Anthony Payne. In August, 1888, the collection of antiquities at Trematon Castle, near Saltash, was sold by auction on behalf of the executors of Admiral Tucker. One of the lots was the portrait of Payne, and it was sold to a Plymouth dealer for about £4. Through the good offices of Major Parkyn of Truro, Mr. Harvey, on February 12th, 1889, purchased the picture from Skardon & Sons of Plymouth, and presented it to the Royal Institution of Cornwall at Truro.

[The Editor will be very glad to hear from any reader who may be able to supply further information about Anthony Payne, his birth, life, will, etc., that could be added to a future edition of this book.]

FOOTNOTE:

[163] See note on p. 118.

APPENDIX E_a_ (p. 109)

STOWE AND THE GRANVILLES

BY THE REV. PREBENDARY ROGER GRANVILLE

Hals states that Sir Thomas Grenvile (_temp._ Henry VI.) was the first of the family who resided at Stowe, but Bishop Brantyngham licensed a chapel there for Sir John de Grenvile on August 30th, 1386, and Henry de Grenvile was buried at Kilkhampton about 1327, and the inquisition after his death was taken there, and I believe that Henry de Grenvile was the first to reside regularly at Stowe. His father, Bartholomew, constantly signed deeds at Bideford, and Bishop Stapledon granted him a license for the celebration of divine service “in capellâ suâ de Bydeford.” So that I think it is safe to say that the Grenviles resided at Stowe from at least the reign of Edward III.

The place was maintained in much style, I expect, in the time of Sir Roger de Grenvile, “the great housekeeper,” famed far and wide for his princely hospitality. Charles Kingsley’s description of the old house in Elizabethan times is probably pretty accurate.

“A huge rambling building, half castle, half dwelling-house. On
three sides, to the north, west, and south, the lofty walls of
the old ballium still stood, with their machicolated turrets,
loop-holes, and dark downward crannies for dropping stones and fire
on the besiegers, but the southern court of the ballium had become
a flower-garden, with quaint terraces, statues, knots of flowers,
clipped yews and hollies, and all the pedantries of the topiarian
art. And towards the east, where the vista of the valley opened,
the old walls were gone, and the frowning Norman keep, ruined in
the wars of the Roses, had been replaced by the rich and stately
architecture of the Tudors. Altogether the house, like the time,
was in a transitionary state, and represented faithfully enough the
passage of the old Middle Age into the newer life that had just
burst into blossom throughout Europe, never, let us pray, to see
its autumn and winter,” etc.

Hawker’s reference to Stowe having been turned into an academy for all the young men of family in the county is correct. He is quoting from George Granville’s (Lord Lansdowne) letter to his nephew, who tells us that Sir Bevill--

“provided the best masters for all kinds of education, and the
children of his neighbours shared the advantage with his own.
Thus, in a manner, he became the father of his county, and not
only engaged the affection of the present generation, but laid a
foundation of friendship for posterity which has not worn out to
this day.”

John Granville, Earl of Bath, pulled down old Stowe, and in its place, though on a different site a little farther from the shore, built a magnificent new mansion (covering 3-1/2 acres of ground, and containing, it is said, 365 windows) out of the moneys he had received from the Government as a debt owing to himself and his father for their sacrifices to the royal cause. Dr. Borlase describes this new house as “by far the noblest in the west of England, though with not a tree to shelter it.” And in the MS. diary of Dr. Yonge, F.R.S., a distinguished physician of the latter part of the seventeenth century, the following entry occurs in the year 1685:--

“I waited on my lord of Bathe, then Governor of Plymouth, to his
delicious house Stowe. It lyeth on y^e ledge of y^e North Sea of
Devon,--a most curious fabrick beyond all description.”

Here lived John, Earl of Bath. His son Charles, Lord Granville, shot himself (accidentally the jury found) while preparing for the journey into Cornwall to take down his father’s body for burial, and they were both buried together in Kilkhampton Church, September 27th, 1701. His boy, William Henry, then nine years of age, succeeded, but died of small-pox, unmarried, May 17th, 1711, aged nineteen.

The next male heir was George Granville the poet, who presented his cousin, Chamond Granville, to the Rectory of Kilkhampton on October 22nd, 1711, and on December 31st, 1711 (after serving in the Parliaments called in the fourth and seventh years of Queen Anne), he was created Lord Lansdowne of Bideford, “a promotion justly remarked to be not invidious, inasmuch as he was at that time the heir of a family in which two peerages, that of the Earl of Bath and Lord Granville of Potheridge, had recently become extinct.”

Lord Lansdowne’s claim to the estates of the Earls of Bath was, however, disputed by the two surviving daughters of John, first Earl of Bath, viz. Lady Jane Leveson-Gower and Lady Grace Carteret. A family law suit was the result of this claim, which lasted for some years. With the death of Queen Anne (who had specially honoured him with her favour, making him Comptroller of her household, and also Secretary of State for War, and afterwards Treasurer) Lord Lansdowne’s prospects darkened. He was supposed to be in favour of the exiled Stuarts rather than of the House of Hanover; and there seems no little doubt that he was more or less implicated in the scheme for raising an insurrection in the West of England, which Lord Bolingbroke and the Duke of Ormonde were at the head of. At any rate, Lord Lansdowne was seized as a suspected person, and on September 26th, 1715, was committed, along with Lady Lansdowne, to the Tower, where they were confined as close prisoners. Whilst there he compromised the law suit for £30,000, and the Devonshire property passed to Lady Jane Leveson-Gower, and the Cornish to Lady Grace Carteret, who was created Countess Granville in her own right.

Stowe, having stood for a little over half a century, was pulled down in 1739. In Polwhele’s “History of Cornwall” it is stated that a man of Stratton lived long enough to see its site a cornfield before the building existed, and after the building was destroyed a cornfield again. The materials were sold piecemeal by auction. The carved cedar wood in the chapel, executed by Michael Chuke,[164] was bought by Lord Cobham and applied to the same purpose at his mansion of Stowe in Buckinghamshire. The staircase is at Prideaux Place, Padstow, while the Corporation of South Molton, who were then building a new Town Hall, Council Chamber, etc., purchased the following:--

Lady’s fine Bed-chamber and planching 35 0 0
9 shash windows at 10/6 and 2 at 11/6 5 17 6
no. 27 y^e winscott w^{th}out y^e chimney
and door casings 11 13 0
6 squares of Planching 1 16 0
A Tunn and 1/2 of Sheet & Pipe at 13/ 19 10 0
7 p^{rs.} of winscott window shutters at 8/ 2 16 0
172 rustic quoins at 1 8 12 0
4 Corinthian Capitalls & Pillasters 2 2 0
Y^e caseing and ornaments of 3 windows 1 11 6
3 Architraves w^{th} Pedem^{ts.} for doors &
27 y^{ds.} of winscott in the Lobby 2 2 0
A carved Cornish and Triumph of K.
Charles II. 7 7 0
2 right panel doors 1 1 0

These articles, with many others, were taken to Bude, shipped to Barnstaple, and thence carted to South Molton. The outlay for the whole only amounted to £178! The “carved Cornish and Triumph of Charles II.” is still to be seen over the fireplace in the old dining-room in the Town Hall at South Molton.

No doubt the isolated position of Stowe, and the long distance from London was one cause of its being destroyed. Lord Carteret was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Devonshire in 1716, and the previous year he had been doing all he could in support of the new Hanoverian establishment. While the Jacobite rebellion was at its height in the north, Carteret was writing from Stowe to Robethon, the French Secretary of George I.--

“I am now two hundred long miles from you, situated on a cliff
overlooking the sea, and every tide have fresh prospects in viewing
ships coming home. _In this corner of the earth_ have I received
your letter, and without that I should have heard nothing since I
came. Sept. 25, 1715.”--Brit. Mus. Sloane MSS. 4107, fol. 171, etc.

Another cause may have been the bursting of the “South Sea Bubble,” in which Countess Granville and the Carterets had invested a good deal of money. Lord Carteret wrote to a friend in October, 1720--

“I don’t know exactly how the fall of the South Sea has affected
my family, but they have lost considerably of what they had once
gained.”

The stables alone remain, and these have been converted into a farmhouse, the tennis-court into a sheepcote, and the great quadrangle into a rick-yard, and civilisation, spreading wave after wave so fast elsewhere, has surged back from that lovely corner of the land, let us hope only for a while.

Referring to this ruined mansion, Edward Moore exclaimed--

“Ah! where is now its boasted beauty fled?
Proud turrets that once glistened in the sky,
And broken columns, in confusion spread,
A rude mis-shapen heap of ruins lie!

Where, too, is now the garden’s beauty fled,
Which every clime was ransacked to supply?
On the dread spot see desolation spread,
And the dismantled walls in ruin lie.

Along the terrace walks are straggling seen
The thickly bramble and the noisome weed,
Beneath whose covert crawls the toad obscene,
And snakes and adders unmolested breed.”

FOOTNOTE:

[164] The cedar wainscot which lined the chapel is said to have been bought out of a Spanish prize, and the carving is mentioned by Defoe, in his “Western Tour,” as the work of Michael Chuke, and not inferior to Gibbon’s. (C. S. Gilbert, “Survey of Cornwall,” vol. ii. p. 554.)

APPENDIX F (p. 123)

CRUEL COPPINGER

BY R. PEARSE CHOPE

The real Coppinger, around whose name Mr. Hawker has woven such a fascinating legend, has been identified by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in a footnote to his account of “The Vicar of Morwenstow” (edit. 1899, p. 113), with an Irishman of that name, having a wife at Trewhiddle, near St. Austell, by whom he had a daughter, who married a son of Lord Clinton. However, there can be little doubt that the Coppinger Mr. Hawker had in his mind lived nearer at hand, in the adjoining parish of Hartland, where several of these tales, together with others of a similar nature, are still told about him. His name was Daniel Herbert Coppinger or Copinger, and he was wrecked, probably at Welcombe Mouth, the end of the romantic glen which separates Welcombe from Hartland, on December 23rd, 1792. He was hospitably received and entertained, not by Mr. Hamlyn, but by Mr. William Arthur, another yeoman farmer, at Golden Park in Hartland. While there he scratched the following inscription on a window-pane, which was preserved for many years, but has now disappeared:--

“D. H. Coppinger, shipwrecked December 23rd, 1792; kindly received
by Mr. Wm. Arthur.”