Chapter XII: Part 12

“As I am obliged to attend at the assizes, I must earnestly
recommend the care of the parish in my absence to you, and
hope that you will do your endeavours to prevent the very
great expense and mischief which must otherwise fall upon
us; although you do not at present seem to perceive the
danger that threatens us; for the outrage and murder which
happened in our parish have justly alarmed the government,
and induced his majesty to issue out a proclamation, wherein
he offers a reward of two hundred pounds for apprehending
Henry Rogers, and one hundred pounds for each of the other
offenders, together with a pardon to any who shall discover
and apprehend them. He likewise commands all civil
magistrates, upon pain of his majesty’s displeasure, to be
diligent in suppressing this riot, and bringing the authors
of it to the punishment which their crimes deserve. In
obedience to this, I think myself obliged, in the faithful
discharge of my duty for the preservation of the public
peace, and the good of our own parish in particular, to
admonish you and the principal inhabitants of it, to give me
your aid and assistance in this dangerous and troublesome
affair. His Majesty, as he declares in the proclamations,
being firmly resolved to put an effectual stop to such
enormous practices, hath by his warrant from the Secretary
of War, sent orders to the commanders of regiments of
soldiers at Exeter, to send to the Sheriff so many soldiers
as he shall require and think sufficient to suppress this
notorious violation of the laws of the land, and which
certainly will be done by force of arms, if it cannot be
stopped by a gentle and careful process. This is a true and
exact state of cause; and whoever considers it with due
temper, must be filled with the most melancholy
apprehensions of the mischief that must happen, if every
good subject and Christian does not endeavour to keep off
this evil, by endeavouring, as far as his influence can
prevail, to make the usual method of bringing crimes to
justice effectual. It is for this reason I now write this
letter to you, which I hope you will read with serious
attention more than once, that it may have a good effect
upon you. I myself can foresee, and I wish you likewise
could, the dreadful inconvenience and expense of a regiment
of soldiers sent down and quartered upon us; particularly
this parish, being the unfortunate place of this disorder,
must, in a much heavier manner, feel the burthen of it.
Consider the charges and the trouble of having every house
in the parish filled with soldiers; consider what must be
the consequence of abetting and supporting Rogers, whose
house will be fired about his ears, and those lives which
may be lost if he continues in his extravagance. Take
notice, that I have done my duty as justice of the peace and
a parishioner; and if you all likewise do yours, by
encouraging a proper subjection to authority, and aiding the
civil magistrates in discovering and bringing the offenders
to justice, these dismal calamities may be prevented. I
think more reasonable to advise you of this, because there
is too general a mistake and prejudice, or rather vicious
encouragement shown, and that too by many who should and do
know better, to the unhappy author of this disturbance. To
pity the unfortunate is a virtuous character, even to those
whose vices have made them so; but at the same time we ought
to detect their crimes, and it is for the public good they
should be punished; and this consideration ought to prevail
over the concern we may feel for a private person. Murder is
a crime of the basest nature, and what the law in common
cases never forgives; but when it is committed on any
officer in the execution of his duty, and in supporting the
usurpation of another’s right, and what the law shall
determine such, it is certainly a more complicated guilt.
Whosoever abets a murderer, or does what he can to conceal
and defend him from justice, is in the eye of God a murderer
himself in cold blood. To justify a murderer is the
strongest indication of a most base temper; and whosoever
does not cry out against the misguided spirit of the people
in behalf of Henry Rogers, deserves that character. Whilst
the lawsuit was depending all people were at liberty to
weigh on either side. It does at first sight seem a little
hard that one brother should give away an estate from
another; and there must be some strong provocation to make
it appear reasonable; but the circumstances of the whole
case are not known, and therefore no man is able to form a
true judgement of it; not even to pass harsh censures on
particular persons; but when the law has determined right,
all people must submit to that determination; otherwise no
man is secure in his property, but a number of idle resolute
fellows may wrest it from him, and declare that in their
opinion he has an unjust title to it. So that if you give
your estate by will unequally among your children, as they
may have behaved more or less dutiful to you, that which has
the least may take the other’s part from him; or another
relation may possibly hire such another mob, to take away
the whole from them. We shall not at such times see property
determined by judge and jury, but by force of arms; and the
richest and most powerful man will be able to swallow up all
the estates of his lesser neighbours. The law is the only
protection of our lives and estates, and if that is once set
aside, we must hold them only by the base sanction of a
giddy rabble. The law therefore should be strictly
maintained by all such who have any possessions. The
inferior people indeed, who have nothing to lose, will be at
all times for breaking down the fences, that they may have
some share of the common plunder. I should mention one
instance. Suppose any of you had bought this estate of the
late Rogers, being advised by your lawyer that he had the
power to sell it, (which he certainly had, as the law has
declared he had a right of giving it away,) you would then
think it very hard that the present Rogers, with his wicked
crew, should come and take it away by force, and afterwards
keep it as he now does. Suppose the money you paid him for
it he gave to his widow; should you in such a case agree
that ’tis his brother’s right to have the estate? Let every
one make this his own case.

“I believe you all honest men, and wo’nt suspect any one of
you of justifying this affair; but I have put these
arguments into your mouths to warn other people from this
vicious way of thinking, and that you may exert yourselves
in keeping this hardship from the parish, from which I could
never learn this Rogers deserved so much kindness as to
suffer on his account; for he never paid church, priest, or
poor, when he was in possession of the estate, and withheld
from many their just due. The character of the honest and
just man is to relieve the poor, to pity the unfortunate;
but to use their utmost endeavours to punish the guilty, and
to recommend and enforce an obedience to the laws of the
land, which are the only protection of our lives and
properties.”

I am, gentlemen,
Your friend and servant,
JOHN ST. AUBYN.

The church of Crowan was given, by William Earl of Gloucester, to the priory of St. James in Bristol (which was a cell to Tewkesbury Abbey), and confirmed by Henry II. It contains a series of monuments to the family of St. Aubyn, which are engraved in thirteen plates in Mr. Polwhele’s History of Cornwall. There was formerly a chapel of ease at Binnerton, of which there are no remains. The charity-school in this parish was endowed with the interest of 100_l._ by the St. Aubyn family, about the year 1830.

This parish contains 6742 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815. 13,175 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1,588 17 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 2587 | 3021 | 3973 | 4332;
giving an increase of nearly 67½ per cent. in 30 years.
Parish Feast the nearest Sunday to the 1st of February.
Present Vicar, the Rev. William Grylle, presented by Sir John St.
Aubyn in 1828.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish, which is adjacent to that of Comborne, is composed of the same kind of rocks. The eastern half reposes on granite, the western on slate. Like Comborne it has long been celebrated for its mines. Although its general aspect is dreary and barren, yet it contains some very fertile spots; that of Clowance in particular gladdens the eye; the rich and intrinsic beauties of its pleasure grounds and extensive plantations being heightened by the contrast of surrounding desolation.

[37] Richard Verstegan, born in London, is supposed to have
died about 1634. His principal work is, “Restitution of
decayed Antiquities concerning the most noble and renowned
English Nation, with Cuts,” Antwerp, 1605, in 4to. London,
1628 and 1634.

[38] According to the New Style this date would be 1735.

CUBERT, or ST. CUTHBERT.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Pider, and hath upon the north St. George’s Channel, or the Irish Sea; west Peransabulo; east Crantock. This new name of Cuthbert is Saxon, and compounded of Cuth-bert, id est, knowledge, skill, wisdom, or understanding, clear or bright, and refers to St. Cuthbert, the tutelar guardian and patron of this church; for in Domesday Roll, 20 Will. I. 1087, this district was taxed under the name of Chynowen, now Chynoweth. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the revenues of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia Sancti Cuthberti in Decanatu de Pider, is valued iiii_l._ xvii_s._ viii_d._ Vicar ibidem, x_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, is rated 8_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ The patronage formerly in the prior of Bodman, who endowed it; now Prideaux. The incumbent Bradford; the rectory or sheafe in Prideaux; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 99_l._ 9_s._ 6_d._

The history of St. Cuthbert.――He was born in Cumberland, of British Saxon parents, about the year 600; and had his Christian education as a monk in Bangor Monastery, in Ireland; from whence he removed to the abbey of Landisfarne, opposite to Northumberland and North Durham, where, after he had remained some years, he was chosen or made a bishop of that diocese. I remember to have seen in this church, painted against the wall, about thirty years past, the portraiture of a bishop, attired in his episcopal robes, with mitre or crown on his head, a crosier or shepherd’s crook or staff in his hand, and an inscription in ancient character near it, viz. St. Cuthbertun. Which picture, I am told, is since covered over with lime by the churchwardens.

Now, it happened after the death of St. Cuthbert, that the island of Landisfarne was extremely troubled with the piratical thievish Danes, who wasted the same, without regard of secular or religious persons and places. Whereupon the Bishop of St. Ethelwin, with his monks, privately escaped into Northumberland, and left their houses and estates a prey to their enemies, anno Dom. 800, carrying with them as their chief treasure the enshrined relics or skeleton of St. Cuthbert, with which, during the lives of twelve titular bishops of Landisfarne, they wandered up and down Northumberland for the space of ninety years, without any fixed place of abode or settlement, till Aldwyn, titular bishop of that island, obtained leave of King Alfred, ann. Dom. 890, to pitch and settle his episcopal church at Durham, where he and his monks laid the foundation thereof; which, after it was by them finished, was consecrated and dedicated to the honour of Almighty God in the name of St. Cuthbert, where they again erected his shrine or relics; thereby transferring or translating the bishopric of Landisfarne to that place, and no more styling themselves bishops thereof, but of Durham.

But this fabrick of Bishop Adelwyn, though a stately church, was pulled down by William Carilepho, the 29th bishop (13 Will. I. 1080), who in the place thereof laid the foundation of that cathedral church now extant there; though he did not live to see it finished; but Ralph Flambard, his successor, Lord Treasurer of England, went on with the work, and brought it to that perfection it now showeth; though some additions indeed were made by Nicholas de Farnham, and Thomas Welscomb, prior thereof, 1242.

King Alfred, and Guthrun the Dane, his deputy-governor of Northumberland, gave much lands to this church between the rivers Tees and Tyne, which King Alfred confirmed by his charter.

In William the Conqueror’s days it was reputed a county palatine or principality, and did engrave upon its seal an armed chevalier, holding a naked sword in one hand, and in the other the arms of the bishopric, viz. Azure, a plain cross between four lions rampant Or.

But the immunities of this church of Durham were shortened by the statute 27 Henry VIII., and the lordly absolute power of this bishopric conferred upon the king. Afterwards, temp. Edw. VI. the lands and whole title of the bishopric of Durham was by act of parliament conferred upon that king, which act was repealed 1 Queen Mary, when the dissolved bishopric and the royalties of it were in a measure revived and restored as it now stands.

* * * * *

In this parish is that famous and well-known spring of water called Holy-well (so named the inhabitants say, for that the virtues of this water was first discovered on Allhallows-day). The same stands in a dark cavern of the sea-cliff rocks, beneath full sea-mark on spring-tides; from the top of which cavern falls down or distils continually drops of water, from the white, blue, red, and green veins of those rocks. And accordingly, in the place where those drops of water fall, it swells to a lump of considerable bigness, and there petrifies to the hardness of ice, glass, or freestone, of the several colours aforesaid, according to the nature of those veins in the rock from whence it proceeds, and is of a hard brittle nature, apt to break like glass.

The virtues of this water are very great. It is incredible what numbers in summer season frequent this place and waters from counties far distant.

Chynowen, now Chynoweth, id est, New-house, was the voke-lands of a considerable manor, under which jurisdiction this parish was taxed, 20 Will. I. 1087, from which place was denominated an old British family of gentlemen, now in possession thereof, surnamed De Chynoweth; which (were not comparisons odious) I would, for antiquity, rank with or before the tribe of any other family extant in this province; though I do not understand their estate, or post in the public service of their country, was ever above the degree of a juryman of the parish of Chynoweth (now Cuthbert), or that of a hundred constable; for, if tradition may be credited, some of this blood were possessed of those very lands before the Norman Conquest, and then at length, after the manner of the French, writ de Chynoweth.

The present possesser, John Chynoweth, Gent. giveth for his arms, Sable, on a fess Or, three eagles’ heads erased Gules.

Carynas, or Carrynas, id est, dead carrions, in this parish, it seems, was so denominated from the lodging of such dead bodies of bullocks, horses, or sheep, as died of age, poverty, or sickness, and were either on trees, or in carrion pools, laid up here for hunters or their dogs. It is the dwelling of John Davis, Gent. that married Lannar, alias Vincent; his father Hoblyn, of Penhall; his grandfather.

TONKIN.

By the register of this parish (which is very ancient) it appears that in the year 1569 there was a great plague here, by which died, from the 20th of August to the 10th of November, seventy people, and it then abating, from the 25th of December to the 23d of February fifteen more; which is the more considerable, for that in the parish at present, in its flourishing condition, there are not above three hundred and fifty souls; and so healthy is the place in general, that I have been assured by Mr. Bradford, the present Minister, there was not a single burial from the 12th of September, 1699, to the 18th of October, 1700, the year following.

The Holy Well, if it may properly be so called, (it being nothing but a little water dropping out of the cliff under Kelsey, in a small cove made by the sea, to be come at only when the tide is out,) has been much frequented of late, and several strange cures attributed to it. It is a water that petrifies of itself, as may be seen by the incrustations on the rock over which it runs; and these incrustations make the ascent to it very slippery and dangerous.

The Manor of Hellanclose, that is, the four halls, belonged to Robert Trencreek, Esq. fell to Degory Polwhele, Esq. who sold it to Sir Richard Robartes, in whose family it still is, Henry Earl of Radnor being the present lord thereof. The barton has been in lease for four generations to the Hoskins, the wealthiest farmers in those parts. Mr. Joseph Hoskin is the present possessor.

The church is seated upon the top of a hill, and so visible at a great distance.

One part of the parish is drowned in the sands, and that promontory of land is called Kelsey, famous for feeding the sweetest mutton (though but small) in England.

THE EDITOR.

This parish contains 2009 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2552 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 185 2 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 269 | 289 | 322 | 487
giving an increase of 81 per cent. in 30 years.
The parish feast is celebrated on the Sunday next after the 4th of
October.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Thomas Stabback, instituted in 1809; he is
also patron of the vicarage.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is contiguous to Crantock, and has precisely the same geological structure.

ST. CUBYE, alias TREGONY.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the north Probus and the Val river; east, St. Tue; west, Ruan Lanyhorne. This new name is taken from the tutelar patron and guardian of this church after it was erected; for in the Domesday Tax, 1087, this district passed under the names of Trigony, Tregny, and Tregony Medan.

At the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices, 1294, it was rated by the name of Ecclesia de Tregny, cvi_s._ viii_d._ Vicar ibidem xx_s._ in dec. de Powdre. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, 10_l._ 4_s._ by the name of St. Cuby and Januarius. The patronage formerly in the prior of Bodman, who endowed it, now Prideaux; the incumbent Bedford; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 91_l._ 13_s._ 9_d._ The borough of Tregony 71_l._ 10_s._

The history of St. Cuby. He was the son to Solomon, Duke, King, or Earl of Cornwall, about the year 350; and being bred up a zealous Christian of the orthodox faith, and finding the churches of Britain much pestered with the heresy of the Arians, who denied the equality of the persons in the Trinity or Godhead, holding one to be before or superior to the other, Cuby not inclining to receive this new doctrine, especially having read some of the writings of St. Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers in Gaul, in opposition thereto; he made addresses to that worthy father in order to his better instruction; by whom he was kindly invited into Gaul, and went there accordingly. He was so charmed with the wisdom, piety, and holy doctrine of St. Hilary, that he became his disciple, and was by him ordained or consecrated priest, and took upon him the office of a preacher; in which capacity he grew so famous for his preachings in that country, he was at length, by St. Hilary, sent missioner of the gospel into North Wales; and he proved so successful therein, that the greatest part of the people were converted to the Christian faith, and the altars and images of Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Minerva, and other gods worshipped by the Britons and Romans there, were thrown down and defaced. Capgrave, who compiled his life, tells us that St. Cuby wrought miracles, gave sight to the blind, cleansed the leprous, caused the dumb to speak, cured the palsy, and those possessed of devils. Moreover, saith he, Cuby was in Ireland, where he preached the gospel, and built churches there before St. Patrick came into that country. And he further saith of him, that he was very studious of the peace of the church. And Bale tells us he was such a self-denying man that, after his father’s death, he refused the dominion of Cornwall, his fortune, and wealth, out of a desire he had to acquire learning, and to preach the gospel.

Leland tells us in his Itinerary Manuscripts, that St. Hilary made St. Cuby Bishop of the Isle of Anglesey; that he died about the year of our Lord 400; after his death his disciples set up his shrine, that is, his bones, in his church there; and when the Irishmen of Dublin, a thousand years after, in June 1404, invaded the island and found this relic, they carried away the same, and set it up in the church of the Holy Trinity in Dublin. Nevertheless there are still extant in the Isle of Anglesey three notable monuments of him and his master, viz. Point Hilary, Holyhead, and Caer-Cuby, viz. Cuby’s City or Castle.

That Tregony Borough was invested with the privileges of a manor and court-leet, before the Norman Conquest, Domesday Roll informs us. How long before by prescription, no man living can tell. King Henry I. (the Earldom of Cornwall being then vested in the Crown) gave it the freedom of sending two burgesses, citizens, or townsmen, to sit in Parliament as its representatives, to be chosen by the majority of the townsmen that were housekeepers; which favour was obtained upon the humble petition of Henry de Pomeroy, lord of this manor, temp. of the said Henry I. But this place was not incorporated but by the charter of King James I. 1621; and consists of a mayor, recorder, and eight capital burgesses, the eldest of which is justice of the peace for life within the borough. It hath also a weekly market on Saturdays, and fairs yearly upon May 3, July 25, September 1, November 6, and Shrove Tuesday. The castle of Tregony, as tradition saith, was built by the said Pomeroy, on behalf of John Earl of Cornwall, in opposition to King Richard I. his elder brother, then beyond the seas in the Holy War. The chief inhabitants of this town are Mr. Tonkin, Mr. Penlyer, Mr. Peters, Mr. Earle. The arms of which borough are, a pine-apple, or pomegranate, on its stem, with two leaves.

This Pomeroy was the descendant of Ralph de Pomeroy, or Pomeraye, that came into England with William the Conqueror, and was such a friend and favourite of his, as Dugdale saith in his Baronage, that he conferred upon him fifty-eight lordships, whereof this Tregony and Wich (now Mary Wike) in Cornwall, were two; perhaps such lands as fell to the Crown by virtue of their lord or owner’s rebellion against the Conqueror in that insurrection at Exeter, in the second year of his reign. This Ralph de Pomeroy had issue Joel, that married one of the natural daughters of King Henry I. by Corbet’s daughter (mother also by him of Reginald Fitz-Harry, Earl of Cornwall); the which Joel had issue by her Henry and Josceline. Henry married de Villie’s daughter, and by her had issue Sir Henry de Pomeray, lord of this place, and Bury Pomeroy in Devon, who sided with John Earl of Morton and Cornwall against Richard I. then beyond the seas; and afterwards gave to the Knight Hospitallers of St. John the Baptist, the church of Maddarne in Penwith.

One Sir Roger Pomeray of this tribe cousin and heir to Roger de Vallorta, lord of the castle of Trematon, dead without issue male, did by deed 12 Edward III. release to Prince Edward, then created Duke of Cornwall, all his right, title, and interest in the said castle and manor of Trematon; in consideration whereof King Edward III. granted him and his heirs an annuity of 40_l._ per annum, to be paid out of the Exchequer. The last gentleman of these Tregony Pomerays, temp. Elizabeth, left issue one only daughter, married to Richard Penkivell, of Resuna, Esq. in whom is terminated the name and estate of that family, who gave for their arms, Or, a lion rampant Gules, within a bordure engrailed Sable.

Mr. Penkivell, lord of this manor, borough, and leet, temp. Charles I. having wasted his whole patrimony in this and other places, sold this manor of Tregony Pomeroy to Hugh Boscawen, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 10 Charles I. from whom it passed by descent to his son Hugh Boscawen, Esq. father of William Boscawen, Esq. who settled it as part of his wife’s jointure, on the Lady Anne FitzGerald, daughter of the Right Hon. Charles Earl of Kildare, who, over-living her husband, was married to Francis Robartes, Esq. youngest son of the Right Hon. John Earl of Radnor, who is now, in her right, as freehold for life, in full possession thereof. The arms of Penkivell are, in a field Argent, two chevrons and in chief a lion passant Gules.

King John by virtue of his manor of Tybester (vide CREED) granted the liberty of fishing, or the royalty of the river Val, to one of the Pomeroys, lord of the manor.

To remove an action at law depending in the court-leet of Tregony, the writ of certiorari, or avedas ad curiam, was thus directed, as was also the precept for members of parliament. Seneschallo et Ballivo Henrici Pomeray, Manerii sui de Tregoni Pomeraye, in comitatu Cornubiæ, salutem; again, ad curiam C. W. Arm. de Tregony in comitatu Cornubiæ salutem. Who this C. W. Esq. set down in the Exchequer should be, query? I take it to be Charles or Christopher Wolvedon, of Golden; and this to be that manor set down in the Domesday Tax, by the name of Tregny Medan aforesaid.

At Crego, that is a burrow, bank, or tumulus, in this parish, liveth Charles Trevanion, Esq. barrister at law, that married ―――― Curthorp, of London; his father ..., his grandfather Arundel, originally descended from the Trevanions of Carhayes and Tregathin, who is that great though unfortunate gentleman, who at his own proper cost and charges, and for his own benefit, by virtue of an act of parliament, 19 Charles II. undertook to make the river Val navigable as far as Crowe-hill, in St. Stephen’s; and though his first summer’s work seemed to favour his design, bringing the salt water by two or three sluices above Tregony Bridge, the place of its old flux and reflux, yet by reason of the great and rapid confluence and washes of the Val river, in the winter season, after the foundation of the walls of those sluices being made upon mud or osier ground, where the sea was driven back as aforesaid, were undermined, fell down, and were comparatively driven away. However the good undertaker was not discouraged at this misfortune, but re-edified the same the summer following; and so on for many summers after with greater skill, cost, and charges. But alas! still the lofty current of the river Val, in winter season, was such a malicious and invincible enemy to this noble project, that, as before, it continually undermined the walls of those sluices for about the space of twenty years, so that the very worthy gentlemen aforesaid, in order honestly to defray the charges of this work, hath spent the greatest part of this fine estate, and given over his undertaking as too difficult and unprofitable an enterprize.

At Carreth, in this parish, i. e. rock, grave, or tumulus, dwelleth ―――― Hearle, Gent, doctor or practitioner in physic, son of ―――― Hearle, Rector of St. Hearne, who by the honest practice of his profession, and small fees, hath advanced himself to considerable wealth and reputation in those parts. He married Nance, and hath issue James Hearle, that married Daye, and Glynn; and Hearle, a student in physic, that married the daughter and heir of Edmund Hals, doctor of physic, by Curthop, of London, a younger brother of the Halses, of Efford, in Devon, by whom he had a considerable estate.

The Right Honourable Hugh Boscawen, Esq. Privy Councillor to William III. Lord and High Lord of this town, built a fair house or hospital within the same for poor people, and endowed it with lands of considerable value.

TONKIN.

The Manor of Crogith, which perhaps signifies the wooden cross, has always gone with the same owner as Carhays. The barton is at present the seat, on lease under Mr. Trevanion, of John Croaker, Esq.

As you enter into this parish from the West, you pass over a stone bridge of ―――― arches, at the foot of which, and in the meadows around, stood the old town of Tregony, part of the ruins of which are sometimes visible after great floods; and a little to the north of the bridge are still standing a part of the walls belonging to the church dedicated to St. James Minor, which gives the title of rector to the incumbent at St. Cubye, although he is not obliged to take a distinct presentation. The patron, Prideaux of Devonshire.

THE EDITOR.

Much of uninteresting legend has been omitted from Hals respecting the patron saint, and some fanciful etymologies from him and from Tonkin.

Mr. Whitaker has collected every thing that can be known or conjectured respecting the ancient state, not of Tregony, but of a town or city supposed of great commercial and ecclesiastical importance, which must have stood nearly on the same spot.

Mr. Whitaker describes the ancient castle, and a priory adjacent to it. The whole, including further particulars of the patron saint, is much too long for this parochial history. It may be found in Mr. Whitaker’s work, “The Cathedrals of Cornwall historically surveyed,” 2 vols. 4to, 1804, vol. II. sec. ii.

Bishop Tanner says of Tregony, in his Notitia Monastica, the advowson of the Priory of Tregony, as belonging to the Abbey of De Valle, in Normandy, is mentioned fin. div. com. 52 Hen. III. n. 18. Perhaps, instead of the priory, it should have been only the rectory or church of St. James, in Tregony; which, by means of some exchange, was made over by the abbot and convent of De Valle to the prior and convent of Merton, to whom it was appropriated, and a vicarage endowed by Peter Quiril, Bishop of Exeter.

Dugdale, edit. 1830, vol. VI. p. 1045, repeats from Tanner, and adds in a note, Tanner says: Vide inter munimenta Eccl. Cath. Exon, cartam Abbatis et Conventus de Valle, de resignatione hujus Prioratus. See also MS. Cole, British Museum, vol. XL. p. 59.

Cubye contains 2,186 statute acres.
Annual Return of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 £2,402
Tregony 841 3243 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831, the parish £187 15_s._
―――― the town 466 3 653 18 0
Population, { in 1801,|in 1811, |in 1821, |in 1831,
The parish, { 139 | 152 | 140 | 155
The town, { 937 | 923 | 1035 | 1127
―――― | ―――― | ―――― | ――――
1076 | 1075 | 1175 | 1282
giving an increase on the whole of 19 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Thomas Vaughan, presented by the Marquis of
Cleveland in 1825.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Cubye extends much further south than the parishes of Cornelly and Creed; but it is composed of similar kinds of rocks, principally abounding in beds of a lamellar micaceous rock, all belonging to the micaceous series.

CURY, OR CURYE.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the east St. Martin’s, south Mullion, west Gunwallo, north Maugan in Meneage.

At the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish Benefices, this parish church was not extant or named; but I find, 24th Henry VI. the same was rated to fifteenths by the name of Curytowne 15_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is called Curyton, of the same signification. It goes in presentation and consolidation with Breock, Germow, and Gunwallow. The patronage in the Crown; the rectory in ...; the incumbent Trewinard; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 108_l._ 12_s._

At the time of Domesday Roll (1087) this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Buchent, now Bochym, that is to say, the cow, kine, or cattle house or lodge; which place gave name and origin to an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Bochym, tempore Henry VIII. who were lords of this manor and barton, till such time as John Bochym, tempore Edward VI. entered into actual rebellion against that prince, under conduct of Humphry Arundell, Esq. Governor of St. Michael’s Mount, and others, whose force and power being suppressed by John Lord Russell, lieutenant-general of that prince at Exeter (as is elsewhere shown), and those rebels attainted of high treason, their lands were forfeited to the Crown. Whereupon King Edward VI. gave this barton and manor to Reginald Mohun, sheriff of Cornwall 6 Edward VI. who gave this barton of Bochym to one of his daughters, married to Bellot, but settled it upon his great-grandson, William Mohun, Esq. now in possession thereof. Lastly, by this rebellion Bochym lost not only his lands, but his life also. The arms of Bochym were, Argent, on a chief Sable three mullets pierced of the Field.

If those Bellots came not into England with William the Conqueror, they were of the number of those three thousand French gentlemen that came out of France into this land with Isabel, wife of King Edward II. who all settled themselves in this kingdom, as our chronicles and Verstegan testify. Since they came to Bochym they married with Mohun, Monk, Pendarves; and the present possessor, Renatus Bellot, esq. one of her majesty’s commissioners for the peace, married the inheritrix of Spour of Trebatha, who is dead without issue. The arms of Bellot are, in a field Argent, on a chief Gules three cinquefoils of the Field.

Since the writing of the above, this estate of Bellot’s is all spent by riot and excess, and, as I take it, the name extinct in those parts; and this barton sold to Robinson.

Bonython is in this parish; from whence was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen surnamed de Bonithon, who for many descents flourished here in good reputation till the reign of Queen Anne; at which time Charles Bonython, Esq. serjeant-at-law, sold this barton to one Carpenter, now in possession thereof. The arms of Bonithon were, Argent, a chevron between three fleur-de-lis Sable.

TONKIN.

Charles Bonython, of Bonython, in this parish, was a serjeant-at-law, and steward of Westminster, which city he also represented in parliament. He married Mary, the daughter of ―――― Livesay, Esq. of Livesay, in Lincolnshire. His father, John Bonython, married Ann, a daughter of Hugh Trevanion, of Trelegon, Esq. His grandfather, Thomas Bonython, married Frances, the daughter of Sir John Parker, of London.

From this place also were descended the Bonythons of Carclew, in Milor.

This Charles Bonython, however, in a fit of madness shot himself in his own house in London, leaving two sons, Richard and John, and a daughter, married to Thomas Pearse, of Helatin. Richard Bonython, the eldest son, a very ingenious gentleman, was called to the Bar; but being tainted likewise with his father’s distemper, first sold portions of his estate in parcels, and at last this barton, which had been so long in his family, to Humphry Carpenter, jun.; and then, to complete the tragedy, for he was never easy in his mind after this sale, first of all he set fire to his chambers in Lincoln’s-inn, burnt all his papers, bonds, &c. and then stabbed himself with his sword, but not effectually; but he then threw himself out of the window, and died on the spot.

John Bonython, the second son, was bred in King’s college, Cambridge, and is now an eminent physician in Bristol.

Roskymer Bonython, of this place, was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 17th James I. A.D. 1619.

Bochym. In 1703 this barton belonged to Renatus Bellot, Esq. who then represented the borough of Michell in parliament. He married the inheritrix of Spoure of Trebartha. He died of a fever in 1709, leaving an only son of the same name, who died soon after his father, when the estate was sold for the payment of debts to George Robinson, Esq. who has made it his seat.

In this parish is the manor of Skewys, supposed to be so called from skeu, a shadow. It was formerly the seat of a family of the same name, of which John Skewys was sheriff of the county in the 12th year of Henry VIII.

THE EDITOR.

Several supposed etymologies have been omitted from Mr. Hals and from Mr. Tonkin, as being evidently unfounded. Bonython appears to be derived from the well-known word for an house, and possibly ethon, furze.

This parish contains 2,673 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2529 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 221 9 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 304 | 347 | 505 | 525
giving an increase of 73 per cent. in 30 years.
Parish Feast on the nearest Sunday to November the second, or to all
Souls Day.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The most southern portion of Cury forms a part of Goonhilly Downs, which rest on a dark and rather hard serpentine, spangled with small scales of diallage, and having asbestos, indurated talc, and other magnesian minerals, lining the joints, by which this rock may be easily split. The remainder of the parish is composed of compact and schistose hornblend rocks, of the calcareous series, which are best exposed on the shores of Gunwalloe.

DAVIDSTOWE.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and hath upon the north Lesnewith, west Lanteglos, south Altar Nunn, east Treneglos. Its present name David refers to the tutelar guardian or patron of this church, David, Bishop of Menevia in Wales. At the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto David in Decanatu de Major Trigshire was rated vii_l._ v_s._ Vicar ibidem xv_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition and Valor Beneficiorum 8_l._ The patronage in the Crown, the incumbent Pennington; the rectory in possession of ――――, and the parish rated to the four shillings in the pound Land Tax 1696, 163_l._ 10_s._

_The History of St David._ He was a Welsh Briton by birth, but of what place in Wales I know not, about the year 840; bred up in the Christian religion; afterwards became learned in all the liberal arts and sciences; was ordained priest, and by reason of his regular living and sanctity of life, was constituted Presul or Bishop of Menevia, and held the Christian faith in great purity, opposite to the doctrines of Arius and Pelagius.

Near this church is situate the barton of Davidstowe, formerly the lands of ―――― Pearse, Gent. whose daughter and heir carried it, together with herself, in marriage, to John Nicholls, Esq. whose son married Erisey, his grandson a daughter of Sir Joseph Tredinham, Knight, as his father did Pearse.

Since which time the heir general of this family of Nicholls is married to ―――― Glynn, of Glynn, Esq.

TONKIN.

That this parish was called Davidstow from St. David, the titular saint of the Welsh, I make no question; for I have never heard that the holy King David was ever enlisted for the patron of a Christian church. I shall say no more of St. David, than that he was uncle to King Arthur, and therefore it is not wonderful that this church should be dedicated to him; and that after he had attained the age of a hundred and forty-six years he died at his bishopric of Menevia, in Wales, since called from him St. David’s, A.D. 642.

EDITOR.

St. David appears to have been a very extraordinary person, in reference to the period in which he lived. Giraldus Cambrensis, in his Itinerarium Cambriæ, published with annotations by David Powell, at London, 1585, 8vo. and by Sir Richard Hoare, in 2 vols. 4to. 1806, gives many particulars of St. David, his predecessor in the bishopric; and the praises bestowed by Giraldus on a founder of monasteries may be esteemed deserving of credit, as he was a professed and violent enemy to the monastic orders. He is even said to have added to the Litany, “A monachorum malitia libera nos, Domine,” in an age when their power and influence were esteemed irresistible.

St. David is said to have been the son of Xantus, Prince of Caretica, since named Cardiganshire. He was made a priest early in life, and then participating in the opinion universally prevalent, that the Deity would alone be propitiated by men rendering themselves useless to their fellow-creatures, by assuming almost the feelings and habits of brute beasts, and by adding, so far as they were able, to the misery and wretchedness of the human race, he betook himself to an ascetic life in the Isle of Wight, under the guidance of one Paulinus. But having at length acquired a sufficient stock of reputed sanctity by these efficacious means, he emerged like others from the desert, added to the establishments at Glastonbury, or as some say refounded the great work of St. Joseph of Arimathea, and then created twelve monasteries in Wales.

But St. David owes the largest share of his popularity to the active part which he took in the controversy at that time dividing the Western church; one party maintaining that it had pleased Almighty God to bestow at once on his creatures, and from their births, the inclination and capability of serving him; the other, that these gifts were reserved for some future period, or dealt out from time to time, and bit by bit. The latter opinion having been voted to be the orthodox faith, was zealously supported by St. David against the former, known as the Pelagian heresy.

He certainly lived to a very advanced age, and was buried in the cathedral at Menevia; from whence, we have the testimony of St. Kentigern that his soul was visibly carried by angels into heaven. It is more certain that about the year 962 his relics were transported to Glastonbury, as this transaction is circumstantially related by John of Glastonbury, in his history of that splendid abbey, published by Hearne.

St. David affords a remarkable instance, not merely of the fact that events are wrested to suit the taste or the prejudices of aftertimes, but of their being utterly inverted and transformed.

When Eastern fictions became blended with the chivalry of Europe, this anchorite, polemic divine, and apostle of his native country, appeared as a military hero, expelling the Saxons from Wales, at the head of an army in which each individual was distinguished from their Pagan adversaries by affixing to his helmet the plant which has since been ever venerated by the Welch. And finally, Mr. Richard Johnson, a canon of Exeter, having adopted the mystical number seven for the Champions of Christendom, and bestowed the undue proportion of four out of seven on these Islands, makes St. David, the champion of Wales, perform all the ordinary achievements of knight errantry, and adding, as was highly proper, a spirit of gallantry to that of valour, presents him as a lover eloping from Jerusalem with an Hebrew princess, who on her part had previously, by entreaties to her father, preserved the hero’s life.

The great tithes of this parish belonged to the priory of Trewardruth, the vicarage to the duchy.

This parish contains 5734 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3393 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 235 5 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 217 | 262 | 363 | 389
giving an increase of nearly 80 per cent. in 30 years.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish extends southward from the church to the foot of the granite hills near Roughtor. The northern part consists of the same rocks as St. Cleather. On the common near the church numerous large blocks and boulders of rock occur, composed of crystalline hornblend, in a basis of compact felspar. It resembles the rock already noticed on the side of the hills descending to Pollaphant, in the parish of Alternun.

ST. DENIS.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the north, St Columb; east, Roach; south, St. Stephen’s, in Brannell; west, St. Enedor. As for the name, it is derived from the tutelar guardian and patron of this Church, St. Denis or Dionysius the Areopagite, President of Athens, in Greece, whose name Dionisius in Latin, hath a Greek original, viz. from διονυσος Dionusos, Bucchus, Vini Inventor; quod excitet mentem.

This place I take to be that Landines, or Landineri, taxed in Domesday Roll 20 William I. 1087, that is to say, Denis’s church, temple, or chapel; though, indeed, I meet not with the name thereof in any other authentic record till Wolsey’s Inquisition into the value of benefices in Cornwall 1521; at which time it was wholly appropriated, or impropriated, together with St. Stephen’s, to the Rector of Carhayes, and consolidated into it; and this parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 62_l._ 4_s._ The patronage in (Tanner[39]) Pitt. The incumbent (Tanner[39]) Sutton.

St. Denis was born in the city of Athens in Greece at the time of Tiberius’s reign over the empire; a place renowned for wisdom, learning, arts and sciences. He was descended of a rich and honourable family, morally just, courteous, and loving to strangers. From his youth he was bred up and addicted to learning, and became so eminent therein, that he had a chief place amongst the magistrates and rulers of the academy and city of Athens. He was most elegant in the Attic tongue, as being the dialect of his native country, and consequently a good rhetorician. But that which made him more eminent was his skill in the doctrine of the Stoics, Epicureans, and other philosophers.

Mr. Hals continues through several pages the history of St. Denis, but as the facts want altogether the support of historical authority, and do not include the most interesting of all, that of his walking from Montmartre, where the sentence of decapitation was executed, to the place since denominated from him, with his head under his arm, I shall omit the whole; as also an account of blood having fallen in this remote and sequestered churchyard, as the best and most authentic mode of apprising the whole nation that their fleet would be defeated by the Dutch, and that a plague would break out in London; notwithstanding that some of the stones, having blood upon them, were seen by the author himself.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not a single observation different from Hals on this parish.

THE EDITOR.

The church of St. Denis is placed on the top of a hill, without any appearance of habitations, and very little of cultivation; and the flat country round it is destroyed in the most efficacious manner, having been turned over and over again down to the solid rock, in what is termed streaming for tin.

The only village of any size in the parish is called Hendra. The late Mr. Thomas Rawlings, of Padstow, had some property in the parish, but much the greater part belongs to Lord Falmouth.

This parish, united in the same presentation with St. Michael Carhayes and St. Stephen in Branwell, may claim a share in the honour of Robert Dunkin, who was ejected in the interregnum and restored with the monarchy, and who has acquired celebrity by entering the field as a controversialist with the great John Milton.

This parish contains 2789 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1524 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 318 1 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 318 | 478 | 592 | 721
giving an increase of 126 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The southern part, situated on granite, amounts to more than half the parish. Near Restowrick the granite is large-grained and crystalline, like that of the range of Roughtor and Brown Willy; but it is associated with porcelainous granite, similar to that of Breage and of St. Stephen’s (which will be noticed under the latter parish), and also with shorl and shorl rocks, as in Roach where the rocks are better displayed.

[39] Erased, and the other names substituted.

ST. DOMINICK.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Eastwellshire, and hath upon the north, Calstock; east, the Tamar river; south, part of Landulph; west, St. Mellen. For the modern name of this parish and church, it is derived from St. Dominick the monk of Spain, presidual saint and tutelar guardian of this church, who instituted that religious order of men called Ordo Prædicatorum, or the Order of Preaching Monks or Friars, (who taught the Gospel without hire or reward, except what was given them of charity or alms, as the Franciscans did); he flourished anno Dom. 1215. At the time of Domesday Roll 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed under the name of Halton. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Dominici, in Decanatu de Estwellshire, was rated to first fruits or annats iii_l._ vi_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it was valued at 23_l._ 11_s._ The patronage in Clarke, the incumbent Clarke, and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 164_l._ 8_s._

History of St. Dominick, abridged from Hals:

He was born at Calarvega in Spain, about the year 1167. His father was Don Felix de Gusman, his mother Donna Giovanna Deza, both well descended and faithful servants of God. Dominick early distinguished himself by his great ability, diligence, and proficiency in learning. He first studied at the University of Placentia, and from thence he was removed to Salamanca by Frederick the Second, King of Castille. He here obtained a reputation so far above all the other students as to induce Don Diego, Bishop of Osuna, to select him as the most proper person to become a canon in his church. Dominick was soon after appointed by Don Alonzo, King of Castile, to accompany his ambassador to the Court of France. On this journey the saint first encountered some of the Albigenses, and to the extinction of their heresy he chiefly devoted the remainder of his life, by instituting his celebrated order of Dominican Preaching Friars A.D. 1215, in imitation of the Franciscans, established about six years before. St. Dominick did not, however, implicitly rely on his own exertions, or on those of his order, suited as it was to the ignorance and abject slavery of those times; but called loudly to their aid the secular arm, and established the Inquisition, so that after thousands had been converted from their heresy, and tens of thousands massacred, the conquerors enjoyed in the possession of their plundered property the additional conscious satisfaction of having freed the church from heretics so audacious as to deny that wheaten[40] flour was entirely changed into the body of Christ.

Dominick departed this life in the odour of sanctity on the 6th of August 1221, having completed his fifty-first year. Having performed various miracles, and even raised people from the dead, he was canonised by Gregory IX. in 1234. Before the close of his short life, a great number of houses were founded throughout Europe for his disciples, and, faithful to the original object of the new order, he bequeathed to their charge the Tribunal of the Inquisition.