Chapter XV: Part 15

St. Earth is situated on felspar and hornblende rocks belonging to the porphyritic series. In many parts these rocks are so silicious as to give rise to very unproductive soils; but in other places, where the felspar predominates, the land is very fertile. These rocks are traversed by metalliferous veins, which are richer in copper than in tin ores.

EGLES-HALE, or EGLES-HAYLE.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Trig-minorshire, and has upon the north St. Minvor, east St. Mabyn and Bodman, south and west the river Allan. For the modern name, it is taken from the church and the place of its situation, and signifies the river church, or the church upon the river. In the Domesday Book, 20th William I. this parish was taxed under the jurisdiction of Treworder, or Trevorder, viz. the further town, upon the confines thereof. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Egles-haile was valued to first fruits c_s._; _Vicar ejusdem nihil, propter paupertatem_, the patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it. The incumbent Maye; the rectory in possession of Walker. This church, in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, was rated 16_l._; and valued to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 200_l._ Walter Brounscomb, Bishop of Exeter 1270, endowed this church, and Stoke-Gabriel church in Devon, and gave the sheaf thereof towards celebrating the festival of the Angel Gabriel, which he had instituted.

Park, that is, a field of any sort, otherwise in this parish it signifies a deer-park, was one of the ancient seats of the Peverells, lineally descended from William the Conqueror, by Jane his concubine, the wife of Randolph Peverell, of Hatfield-Peverell parish, in Witham Decanatus, in the county of Essex, who abdicated the said Jane, and left her wholly on the Conqueror’s hands, who had issue by her a son, named William Peverell, (who, because born during the joint marriage and lives of the said Randolph and Jane, was surnamed Peverell,) upon whom the Conqueror settled the honor, manor, and borough of Nottingham, and town of Lyndeby, on him, and his heirs male. [Here Mr. Hals goes into a long history of the Peverells, wholly unconnected with Cornwall.]

Thomas Peverell, of Park, a supposed descendant of the Conqueror’s son, who was also of Ermington and Sandford, in Devon, was Sheriff of Cornwall 13 Richard II. He was also Sheriff of Devon 20 Richard II. Richard Peverell, his son, was Sheriff of Devon 14 Henry IV. who dying without issue male, his lands went in marriage with his daughter, married to Basset of Umberleigh, Botreaux, and others.

On this lordship of Park those gentlemen had their deer-park, some of the walls and fences being yet standing; their tower-house, and other buildings answerable, their gardens, walk, and fish-ponds beneath the same, the ruins whereof are yet extant. How those lands descended down from Peverell’s heirs to the last age I know not; about which time it was in the possession of Opie and Hickes; from whom it passed by sale to the Hon. John Molesworth, temp. Queen Anne, as I take it.

The arms of Peverell were, Gules, a fess Argent between six crosses pattée Or.

Those Peverells are especially memorable here by two crosses of moorstone in the highway set up by them, still extant, and called Peverell’s Crosses. Not far from them is another moorstone cross, near Mount-Charles, called the Prior’s Cross, whereon is cut the figure of a hook and a crook, in memory of that privilege and freedom granted by him to the poor of Bodmin, for gathering, for fire-boote and house-boote, such boughs and branches of oak-trees in his contiguous wood of Dunmear, as they could reach to or come at with a hook and a crook, without further damage to the trees thereof. From whence arose the Cornish proverb, concerning filching, purloining, or taking another person’s goods, overmuch or indirectly, beyond what is allowed them, &c. “that they will have it by hook or by crook.”

Pen-carou, Pen-caro, alias Pen-carow, i. e. head-deer, or chief-deer, formerly part of the Peverell’s deer-park; and from thence so denominated, as some think. But when I consider that Caer-kynock, or Caer-kunock, is situate on the lands thereof, now called Castle-kynock, i. e. the king, prince, or sovereign’s castle, extant here long before the Norman Conquest, I take the modern name Pen-carow only to be a corruption of Pen-caer-ou, or Pen-caer-ow, i. e. my head castle, or city, intrenched or fortified place, according to the artificial and natural circumstances thereof, it being on a high hill, overlooking the contiguous country, the ruins are of the largest British camp or intrenchment that ever I saw in Cornwall, containing about 100 acres of land, and consisting of a four-fold rampart, yet of a great height in some places, with several platforms or counterscarps within the same, for offence or defence, in case of storm or surprise.

[The camp in Pencarrow Park has a double vallum, the inner one oval, inclosing an area 250 feet by 200; the outer one of an irregular form. On the east side, at the distance of about 700 feet from this camp, are some extensive outworks. _Lysons._]

This barton gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, surnamed De Pen-carow, who siding with Richard the Third against Henry the Seventh, as some say, but, as others will have it, with Flammock, in his insurrection against that King, he lost this place, and other lands, by attainder of treason (see Bocarne, in BODMIN), having before conveyed a great part of his estate to Henry the first Lord Marney, of Colquitta, to procure a reprieve, or pardon of his life, from that king; from whose heirs it came to the Walkers of Exeter, by descent or purchase, and from them to John Molesworth, of Tretane, Esq. first but an attorney-at-law, afterwards commissioner or auditor to Queen Elizabeth in those parts for the Duchy of Cornwall, that married one of the coheirs of Hender, so called from the parish of Molesworth, in Lightstone hundred, in the county of Huntingdon.

From the local place aforesaid, was denominated Walter de Molesworth, Sheriff of Bedfordshire, from the 26th to the 36th of Edward I. anno Dom. 1298; the which gentleman accompanied King Edward into Palestine, and returned with him safe into England again. After the decease of the said Edward, he was knighted by King Edward the Second, and was made Sheriff of Bedfordshire again by the name of Walter de Molesworth, Knt. from the 6th to the 9th of Edward II. 1316, in which year he died, and was succeeded by John de Pabenham. From which gentleman, as I am informed, was lineally descended John Molesworth, Esq. aforesaid, that married Hender, and by her had issue, Hender Molesworth, Esq. that married Spark of Plymouth, and by her had issue my very kind friend John Molesworth, Esq. and Hender Molesworth, with a daughter married to Dr. Hart; the which John Molesworth married two wives, Wise, and Slannen, the relict of Legard, afterwards knighted by Charles the Second, and had issued by Wise, John Molesworth, Esq. that married Arscott of Tetcot, and hath issue, Hender Molesworth aforesaid, the son of Hender Molesworth, who being bred a soldier, managed affairs with that valour and conduct, that, after passing gradually to the dignity of a colonel, he was by King James the Second made a baronet of England, and governor of the Island of Jamaica, where he purchased a considerable estate in land, and called it Tremolesworth, which, together with his honour (if he died without issue male, according to the limitation of his letters patent as a baronet), is now legally descended to Sir John Molesworth, of Pencarow, Bart. The arms of Molesworth are, Vaire, a bordure Gules, charged with eight cross-crosslets Argent.

Kestell, in this parish, i. e. a castle, so called, I presume, for that heretofore it had upon the lands thereof some camp or castle-like intrenchment, for kestell is derived from the provincial Latin of the Romans in Britain, _castrum_, or _castellum_; which place gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, surnamed de Kestell. The first possessor thereof of this tribe, as appears from the record in the Office of Arms, was John de Kestell, temp. Edward I. where his posterity have ever since flourished, to the time of writing hereof, in good fame and reputation, between the degrees of a justice of the peace and that of a hundred constable; the present possessor James Kestell, Gent. that married Vaughan of Trewothick and Ottery, in Devon, his father Kestell of Manacow, and giveth for his arms, Argent, three falcons Proper; as also, Or, three castles turreted Gules. (See Kestel, in MANACCAN.)

Pen-davy, or Pen-duffy, i. e. David’s head, (why so called, qu.?) a head or promontory of land situate between the Alan and the Kestell rivers, was formerly the lands of Kestell (and before that the Prior of Bodmin’s, as I am informed); by Kestell’s daughter and heir it passed in marriage to Nathaniel Moyle, Esq. barrister-at-law, of Bakehouse, who for want of issue sold it to Mr. Ustick, now in possession thereof.

Crone, Croan, in this parish, signifies a skin or hide of leather; so called either from the tanner that made or sold leather here, or rather for that this tenement consisteth _in quanto_ of a hide or skin of land, viz. as much arable ground as one plough can cultivate in a year, commonly reckoned about eighty statute acres. This barton was formerly the lands of Roscarrock, by whom it was sold to Michael Hill, Gent. by whose son, John Hill, Rector of St. Mabyn, it was sold to Edward Hoblyn, Gent. attorney-at-law, a younger branch of the Nanswhiddon family by the Hoblyns of Bodmin, now in possession thereof. He is especially memorable for his saying, when first he began to practice, “_that he would get an estate by the law_ one way or other,” viz. right or wrong, and common fame saith he was as good as his word, _in the worst[41] sense_. Whereupon, since his death, by an unknown but arch hand, was fixed upon his grave in this parish church this taunting epitaph:

Here lies Ned,
I am glad he’s dead,
If there must be another,
I wish ’twere his brother,
And, for the good of the Nation,
His whole relation.

Treg-leah, in this parish, i. e. the law town or dwelling, is the lands of William Keckwitch, Gent. a younger branch of the Keckwitches of Trehawke, and giveth for his arms, Argent, in bend two lions passant Sable. It was since sold to Mr. Hoblyn.

In this parish is Castle Killy-biry, or Killy-biny, consisting of about six acres of ground upon a well-advanced hill, within a treble intrenchment of earth. Perhaps one of the castles possessed by that arch-traitor the Pictish Mordred, slain by King Arthur, (see DUNDAGELL,) from whence his soldiers were routed; for the circumstance of this castle on the Alan river may agree with those verses mentioned under Lentegles by Camelford, for the river Camel is properly called the Alan river, as well as Camel.

Below Egles-hayle church (on the Alan river as aforesaid), where the sea creek or cove of Padstow Haven makes its daily flux and reflux, stands Ward Bridge, i. e. guard or watch bridge; otherwise, as Mr. Carew says, called Wade Bridge, from a little ford near it, which afforded, when the tide was out, a short but dangerous passage over it. But where this little _vadum_, or ford, should be, I know not, there being no other river to pass over from east to west but the Alan river aforesaid. Which bridge, as an artificial ligament, fasteneth the two parishes of Egles-hayle and St. Breock together, they being in all other places separated by the river. It was built in the latter end of Edward the Fourth’s reign, and beginning of Henry the Seventh’s; not, as Leland says, at the county charge, but, as all other works of this kind were, viz. by collections, and commutation of penance for sins committed; for it was not made a county bridge till the beginning of James the First’s reign. Now this licence of all spiritual benedictions, collection, and commutation of penance, throughout the counties of Cornwall and Devon, was there granted by Dr. Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter, to Thomas Longbound, then Vicar of Egles-hayle, his chaplain or vicar, 1485, who raised a considerable sum of money by that means, viz. of absolution, as also from charitable and well-disposed Christians. The undertaker, that expert mason John de Harlyn, and the treasurer Longbound, brought the bridge’s building to that perfection as it now stands, consisting of seventeen arches of stone of great height and magnitude, all built with great cost and labour, through which (as aforesaid) the sea passes up and down daily through the Alan river to Tagus, (i. e. Goodwood,) a mile, and is navigable for boats, barges, and lighters, to that place, which there bring sea sand, and other commodities, for the country-people’s use.

On the lower side of the bridge, from Padstow Haven, ships and barks laden with merchandise frequently arrive, of burthen from twenty to sixty tons, from Bristol, Wales, Ireland, and other places, where their commodities have better vent than at Padstow, two or three miles below, nearer the main sea.

Leland, in his Itinerary, tells us, volume the second, that some of the arches of this bridge were laid upon quicksand, which for some time made the treasurer and undertaker despair of success, till they projected the laying of packs of wool under the groundwork, which proved such a useful expedient as carried on the fabric according to their desire, and the same stands firm to this day.

After this bridge was erected, Longbound, the vicar, gave a small parcel of land towards the repair thereof, now worth 20_l._ per annum, and enfeoffed the twelve men of this parish, and their successors, in trust with the same for ever. There are also other lands in St. Breock, given by the Prior of Bodmin, and other well-affected benefactors to the bridge, for the same purpose. At present this bridge stock is about 300_l._ and is set at the yearly rent for about 10_l._ per annum. Lastly, this just and indefatigable benefactor Longbound, after he had finished the bridge, with the moneys and stones left, caused to be built the tower of Egles-hayle church, as it now stands; over the belfry-door of which, in stone, on the north side, are cut in an escutcheon his arms, viz. a human heart, and superscribed Longbound. On the other side of the door aforesaid are cut, impaled, a chevron between two falcons, and a chevron between three ravens’ heads. Which first I take to be the arms of Kestell, and the latter of Ravenscroft of Cheshire, his wife.

From this parish was denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Egles-hayle, of which family was Matheus de Egleshayle, Sheriff of Devon from the 1st year of Edward the First to the 6th, who gave for his arms, Argent, a cross Sable, and a fleur-de-lis in the first quarter.

TONKIN.

In this parish stands the lordship and barton of Pencarrow, which name may signify a deer-park. But I take the name of Pencarrow to be of a much more ancient date than the first bringing of deer into this land, and that the name is taken from the natural circumstances of the place, as compounded of pen-car-ow, head-rock-ry, for in this place is digged a quarry of bright clear freestone, that works with tool, plane, or hammer, equal to any other in Cornwall, as may be seen by the beautiful house Sir John Molesworth has built with it, and which is not yet quite finished. And surely it may be said of this barton, without disparagement to any other man’s lands, that for wood, water, and stone, it may compare with, if not exceed, any other part of the kingdom; neither do the lands come behind any in the neighbourhood for fruitfulness. It is the seat of Sir John Molesworth, Knt. and Bart. who was knighted by Charles the Second, and succeeded to the title of baronet by the issueless decease of his younger brother, Sir Hender Molesworth, Governor of Jamaica, who left him a considerable estate in that island, and was the first baronet created by William the Third. This family is a younger branch of the descendants of Sir Walter de Molesworth, of Northamptonshire, who flourished in martial prowess in the days of Edward the First, and went with him to the Holy Land. John Molesworth, son of the above Sir John Molesworth, married the daughter of ―――― Arscot, Esq. of Tetcot, in Devonshire.

Kestle. The very name implies that heretofore it was a fortified place. Here liveth James Kestle, Esq. from thence denominated ever since that John de Kestle, lord of this place in the time of Edward the First, assumed that name; where his posterity, for about twenty descents, have ever since flourished in good fame and reputation; and give for their arms, Argent, a chevron Sable between three falcons Proper, armed with tasses and bells Or. Their crest, a castle Gules.

Pendavy, the good promontory, is situated on a hill forming a peninsula by the river Alan, on the west side, and a rivulet which has two heads, one in St. Teath and the other in St. Mabyn, on the east side. Here dwelleth Nathaniel Moyle, Esq. a younger brother of Sir Walter Moyle, of Bake; to whom, by his marriage with Johan, the daughter and heir of Thomas Kestle, of this place, Esq. the lordship descended. Mr. Moyle having only one son, of the same name as himself, by this marriage, that died unmarried about four years since, and being something indebted, sold this lordship (which claimeth a royalty over all the river, and the bushelage of all goods brought up to Wade bridge) for a very considerable value (reserving his own and his lady’s lives on the barton), in the year 1703, to Michael Ustick, Gent. collector of Bideford, and second brother to Oliver Ustick, of Lea, in St. Burian, Gent.

The Harbour of Padstow is navigable every tide up to this place, where vessels of sixty or seventy tons carry and recarry their loading of such commodities as the country needs, coal, salt, limestone, &c. and here they find generally a better vent for their goods than at Padstow, near the mouth of the river, which has occasioned the building of some houses on each side of the bridge, but mostly on the eastern, where are indifferent good quarters for travellers, who are sometimes forced to stop here against their wills, there being no passing over the bridge to the west in high spring tides, by reason that the ground on the western side is very low, and at such times overflowed with the sea.

Croan, the cross. Mr. Edward Hoblin built a good house at this place, and left it to his eldest son, of the same name, who was sheriff of Cornwall 8th George I. He married Barbara, the second daughter and coheir of Henry Hawkins, of St. Austell, Gent. by whom he had only one daughter, Damaris.

THE EDITOR.

Wade Bridge has a considerable number of houses on both sides of the river; and I apprehend that no inconvenience is now experienced from high tides on the western side. A toll has been levied for some years past, in aid of the revenue left for its repair; and in this year (1833) a railway, or tram road, is being constructed from thence to Bodmin.

Pendavy was inhabited by Mr. Ustick, the son or successor of Mr. Richard Ustick, who made the purchase. This gentleman married Catherine Trewren, daughter of the Rev. Richard Trewren, of Trewardreva, Rector of Withyell, and Catherine Davies, of St. Earth.

Mr. Ustick parted with Pendavy from a cause similar to that which induced the former proprietor to sell it; and his widow, left without a family, or much provision, resided at Padstow till her decease in 1791. Pendavy now belongs to Sir William Molesworth.

Crowan was given by the will of Mrs. Damaris Kirkham to her first cousin, the Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne, and it is now the property of his son, John Hearle Tremayne, Esq.

The church of this parish is situated in a manner very like to that of St. Earth, on the river Hayle.

Egles-hayle measures 4,250 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 6757 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 622 14 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 781 | 954 | 1174 | 1335
giving an increase of 71 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish lies parallel with that of St. Breock, on the opposite side of the river Camel, and is composed of similar rocks.

Present Vicar, the Rev. Richard Corey, collated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1804.

[41] But whether in the first or last way who shall tell?

EGLES-KERRY.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north North Petherwin; east, St. Thomas; south, Trewenn; west, St. Cleather. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Capella de Egleskerry in Decanatu de Major Trigshire xl_l._; after which time, but before the statute of Richard the Second against the total impropriation of vicarages, it was, by its patron and endower, the Prior of Launceston, alias St. Stephen’s, wholly impropriated; so that it is not named in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and I take it Tremayne vicarage was then as a daughter church consolidated into it by the said Prior: whereby it is only a lectureship, the Vicar subsisting on a small stipend.

In the Domesday Roll, 20 William I. (1087), this district was taxed under the name of Pen-hall-an, now Penheale, then and still the voke lands of a considerable manor. Soon after the Norman Conquest, if not before, the De Boterells, alias De Botreauxes, were possessed of this place; for in the time of Henry the Second and Richard the First, Richard de Botreaux held 12 knights’ fees in Cornwall (Carew’s Survey thereof, p. 49); one of which was held of the King in this place by his posterity to the 3d Henry the Fourth; where we further read, p. 41: “William de Boteraux tenet dimid. part. feod. de Morton, in Penhele, de Rege.” From the Botreauxes, for want of issue male, those lands, by a daughter, with much other, were carried in marriage to Hungerford; as Hungerfords’ heirs, in like manner, carried it to Hastings. By Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, it was sold to George Grenvill, Esq. that married Julyan, one of the daughters of William Vyell, of Trevorder, who sold it to John Speccot, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 20th James I. grandfather of my kind friend the Hon. John Speccot, Esq. three times chosen Shire Knight for this county, temp. William III. (in order to which the writer hereof and many of his friends were his votes). He married the Lady Essex Robartes, daughter of the Right Hon. John Earl of Radnor, who died without issue, and settled those lands upon his kinsman Thomas Long, Esq. now in possession thereof; and who giveth for his arms, Sable, a lion rampant between eight cross-crosslets Argent: descended from the Longs of Wiltshire.

John Speccot, Esq. gave by his last will and testament a thousand pounds for the benefit of a mathematical school in the county of Cornwall, where all children were to be taught gratis; the master to have the interest of the 1,000_l._ This school was first opened at Penryn, but is now at Looe.

Tre-lyn-ike, in this parish, i. e. the town of the lake, leate, or bosom of waters, is the dwelling of Christopher Baron.

Since the writing hereof this gentleman is dead; and this place, for want of issue, is descended to his sister’s son, Mr. Saltern, now in possession thereof.

TONKIN.

This church is dedicated to St. Kyryasius, or Carisius, Bishop of Ostia, in Italy, and who is said to have suffered martyrdom in the year 226. But Moreri relates of this person, or of one similarly named, that he pointed out to the Empress Helena the spot where the true Cross had been concealed.

The Hon. John Speccot, three times Knight of the Shire, married the Lady Essex Robartes, daughter of the Right Hon. John Earl of Radnor, but on the very day subsequent to their marriage Mr. Speccot was seized with the small-pox; and the lady experienced a fatal attack from the same dreadful disease about a month afterwards, just as her husband was getting well. His father married a daughter of John Eliot, of Port Eliot, Esq. Mr. John Speccot died in August 1703, without issue, and gave a great deal to charitable uses; but he devised the bulk of his estate to the heirs of his aunt, and, after many lawsuits and disputes, his first cousin, Thomas Long, came into possession of Penhele. He was Sheriff of Cornwall In 1724, and left one son, John Speccot Long, and three daughters. This gentleman died _sine prole_. He was the last male heir, and the property went among his sisters.

The arms of Speccot are, on a bend Gules, three millrinds pierced Argent. Penhele, or Penhale, is the head of the river.

THE EDITOR.

Of the three sisters of Mr. John Speccot Long, one remained single. Another married Mr. Charles Phillipps, of Camelford, eldest son of Mr. John Phillipps, attorney-at-law. This gentleman represented Camelford in Parliament, and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cornwall Militia. He survived his wife, and acquired through her a third part of the Long property, which, with all his other possessions, he bequeathed in equal portions to his two brothers, Mr. Jonathan Phillipps, a Captain with him in the militia, and the Rev. William Phillipps, Rector of Lanteglos, the parish including Camelford. These two brothers came to some arrangement with the two sisters, by which this share of Penhale at least reverted to them.

The third sister, Margaret Long, first married Mr. Charles Davie, of the family settled at Orleigh, in Devonshire. He carried on, however, some business in Bristol, and is said to have been in very bad circumstances. He died after a few years, and in her old age the widow was induced to marry Mr. John Bridlake Herring, a Major in the army, who resorted to all possible methods for extorting money from the old lady; one that will scarcely be credited, by terrifying her with supposed apparitions. The three sisters are reputed to have excelled in beauty of person, but to have been so utterly neglected in their education, as scarcely to possess the common acquirement of reading.

The Editor remembers to have seen Penhale and the old lady in 1788. Her appearance, then near eighty, justified the report respecting her youth, and the house seemed to rank among the very finest specimens of ancient buildings in Cornwall, as well for size as for architectural decoration. Near the entrance stood a very curious dial, probably placed there by Mr John Speccot, who founded a mathematical school.

The barton of Penhale is again divided; one portion belonging to a grandson of Major Herring, who has taken the name of Cloberry, and another to the Rev. Charles Sweet, of Kentisbury, in Devonshire.

This parish measures 2,829 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 181 2195 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 301 17 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 307 | 395 | 436 | 537
giving an increase of 74 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. John Serjeant, instituted in 1826.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Egles-Kerry is almost entirely situated on that extensive chain of downs, which runs across the country from Launceston to the Bristol Channel; composed of rocks which are very quartzose, but in many parts appear to be almost entirely felspar, commonly, however, united with some colouring material which stains them to a dark blue. This is particularly the case near the church, where the rocks very strongly resemble those at Rosecradock, and in other parts of St. Cleer. Northward, these rocks appear to pass into the Dunstone; but it must be confessed that their geological position is not yet elucidated; for, like the compact rocks of King Arthur’s Castle in Tintagel, of St. Stephen’s, and Pentire Points, on each side of Padstow Harbour, and elsewhere, they yet require to be carefully and patiently investigated.

ST. ENEDELLYAN, OR ST. DELYAN.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Trigminor, and hath upon the north the Irish Sea; east, St. Teth; south, St. Kewe; west, St. Minvor. This is that Delian taxed in Domesday Roll, 20th William I. (1087,) and refers to the name of the tutelar guardian and patron of this church, here extant before the Norman Conquest, viz. St. Delian, or Telian, a British saint, said to be made Bishop of Menevia, or Landaff, after St. David’s death, anno Dom. 563, (see DAVIDSTOW,) (who was born in Merionethshire, and had his education under St. Dubritius, Bishop of Landaff, anno Dom. 520,) by whose instruction and piety he became a learned and pious divine, and was furthered and confirmed therein by St. David, afterwards Bishop of Landaff, alias Menevia.

This St. Delian accompanied St. David in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to visit the holy cross and sepulchre, from whence they safely returned again into their own country; and finding the same greatly infected with the plague, St. Delian, as was generally said, by his sincere and fervent prayers soon delivered that country from the malignity of that fatal disease, which long time before had destroyed great numbers of its inhabitants. He is placed by Harpsfield and Campion in the Constat of the Bishops of Landaff, and that he died about the year 570.

In this church of St. Delian, (now called Ene-Delian, or Ene-Dellian,) soon after the Norman Conquest, some gentlemen, lords of tenements in this parish, set up and endowed here a court, corporation, or college, of six Prebends, or Canons Augustine, as council or assistants to the Bishop, Dean, or Rector, viz. the Lord of the Barton of Trearike, now Peter’s, and two others, who alternately are patrons of this church, and present the rector thereto. The Prebend of Trearick was given by Richardson to one Grey; the patronage of which is in the Earl of Radnor.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, the revenues of Ecclesia de Enedelian-ta, (id est, the church of the good soul of Delian,) then a vicarage, were thus charged:

1. Prebend. Dom. Paganus de Liske, in eadem, xl_s._
2. Prebend. John Moderet, lx_s._
3. Prebend. Henricus de Monkton, iiii_l._ ii_s._
4. Prebend. Dominus Reginald Thick, iiii_l._ ii_s._
5. Prebend. Magister Osberti, iiii. x_s._
6. Prebend. Magister William de Wymondham, iiii_l._ x_s._
Vicarius ejusdem xx_s._
In all 23_l._ 4_s._

In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, this church of Endelian is rated to First Fruits 10_l._ The Incumbent Wills; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 180_l._

Within this district now stands the barton and manor of Ros-cur-ok, rated as the voke lands of two manors or parishes in Domesday Roll, 20th William I. (1087.) The same, I suppose, mentioned in Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 47.

Tre-freke, alias Tre-vreke, alias Tre-frege, synonymous words in British, (that is to say, the wife’s town, or a town pertaining to some wife,) is the dwelling of John Hamly, Gent, that married Treffreye.

Pen-nant, in this parish, (i. e. the head of the valley,) is the dwelling of John Rawe, Gent. that married Kelly.

Tresongar, or Tresongadh, is the dwelling of John Matthews, Gent. that married Vivian of Truan. The present possessor, Mr. Matthews, leaving no issue male, his only daughter and heir is married to Henry Bond, Gent. attorney-at-law, steward to the Earl of Radnor.

In this parish, as I take it, is situate the barton of Cheny (see St. TETH).

It is now, I suppose, in possession of Mr. Danell.

TONKIN.

Roscarrake, in this parish, gave name and residence to the old and famous family of gentlemen, from thence denominated De Roscarrake.

Richard de Roscarrack held in this place the fourth part of a knight’s fee in the reign of Henry the Fourth, as appears from Carew’s Survey.

John Roscarrack was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 6th Henry VII. Richard Roscarrack was Sheriff in 4th Edward VI. again 2d Elizabeth. And John Roscarrack was Sheriff 17th Elizabeth.

They received great augmentation to their estate by the daughter and heir of Pentire of Pentuan, who brought to them the whole patrimony of that family: but, alas! so true is that saying, “Man doth not always flourish,” the great estate of this family, by ill conduct, was much wasted; and in the reign of Charles the Second, this very barton and manor of Roscarrack was sold by Charles Roscarrack to Edward Boscowen, Esq. in whose son and heir, Mr. Hugh Boscowen, of Tregothen, it now resteth.

Trefreke now belongs to Mr. John Hemley, who giveth for his arms, Argent, three hounds passant Azure.

THE EDITOR.

Port Isaac, a small town of the sea coast, with a harbour for boats and sloops, is situated in this parish.

The church, standing on a high hill, is a landmark from the Bristol Channel.

The rectory, and one of the prebends, are in the gift of the Crown. Another of the prebends belongs to Mrs. Agar, the representative of the Robartes. The third is in the presentation of Mr. Gray.

The north aile of the church is said to have been built by the Roscarracks, and to have remained their private property, with a burial-place below it.

This parish measures 3,083 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5215 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 745 6 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 727 | 950 | 1149 | 1218
giving an increase of 67½ per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

St. Enedellyan has been long celebrated for its mines of antimony. This metal occurs in the state of a sulphuret, associated with iron pyrites, in quartz veins, which run east and west, traversing a blue lamellar slate, very similar to that which frequently abounds in the calcareous series, and to which, indeed, this slate belongs. Some curious varieties of rocks in this series are found in St. Enedellyan, one of which, in particular, abounds between the church and Port Isaac, which was noticed by Sir Humphrey Davy in a decomposing state, under the name of mandelstone. In this state it is a dull earthy argillaceous rock, of an ochreous colour, full of small, roundish cavities. In its perfect state this rock is a greenish-grey, glossy, compact felspar, containing granules of flesh-coloured calcareous spar, and minute prisms of hornblende. During decomposition, the calcareous spar is dissolved, and washed away by the rainwater, which produces the honeycomb appearance; and the ferruginous stain is derived from the iron contained in the hornblende. This rock has been described by Mr. Prideaux as occurring in Devon. It is very rare in Cornwall.

ST. ENODOR.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Pidre, and hath upon the north Little Colon; east, St. Stephen’s and St. Denis; south, Ladoch; west, Newland. In the Domesday Tax, 20th William I. (1087,) this district was taxed under the names of Borthy and Resparva. And Berthy is still the voke lands of a manor pertaining to Penrose, now Boscawen and others. The 3d Henry IV. one Ralph de Borthy held in Dinbegh, in Pidre, by the tenure of knight-service, a small knight’s fee. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 41.)

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish Benefices, (1294,) Ecclesia Enadori in Decanatu de Pidre, is rated vii_l._ vi_s._ viii_d._ Vicar ejusdem xx_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, and Valor Beneficiorum, Enador Vic. is valued at 26_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._; the patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it; the Incumbent Martin; the Rectory, or sheaf, in possession of Davy’s heirs; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, (1696,) 141_l._ 6_s._

Some of the inhabitants of this parish have told me that one St. Athenodorus is the tutelar guardian of this church, from whom it is denominated Enador. Athenodorus, the stoic philosopher of Athens, was born before Christ Jesus, and was tutor to the Emperor Augustus, who taught him that he should neither do or say any thing, but take respite till he could say over the Greek alphabet, that so he might neither say or do any thing through rashness or anger; for which advice he is specially remembered.

Car-vin-ike, alias Car-fyn-ike, (i. e. the rock spring, fountain, leat, or riveret of water, so called from the natural circumstances of the place,) is the dwelling of Anthony Tanner, Gent. that married Carthew; his father Arundell, by whom he had this place. Originally descended from the Tanners, late of Court and Boderick, in St. Stephen’s, and giveth the same arms.

Pen-coll, or Pen-cooth, in this parish, (i. e. the head-wood, a name also of old taken from the ancient natural circumstances of the place,) is the dwelling of Arthur Fortescue, Gent. that married Verman; his father Elford, being of the Fortescues of Filleigh, in Devon, and gives the same arms.

Gon-rounsan, in this parish, is the dwelling of John Flammock, Gent. that married Coode, and giveth for his arms the same as the Flammocks of Bodmin. This land is since sold to Philip Hawkins, Esq. son of Mr. Hawkins of Creed.

Tre-wheler, in this parish, is the dwelling of Edward Hoblyn, Gent. that married Williams; his father Cosowarth; a younger branch of Nanswhiddon family, and giveth the same arms.

This parish of St. Enedor is the flattest or levellest parish of lands in Cornwall, and, by consequence, the storehouse or preserver of moisture, or water; and in testimony of the wateryness of this soil, I do remember that in the latter end of the reign of King Charles the Second, the tower of this church sunk in its foundation, so much that the whole fabric fell to the ground, and greatly damnified the church with its stones; which church and tower, by the Bishop of Exeter’s grant of a collection throughout his diocese, are both again well-built and repaired as it now stands.

This parish is enriched with lodes of tin and copper.

At Pen-hale, or haile, in this parish, that is to say, the head-river, or the head of the river; and suitable to its name, in the low lands thereof are the original fountains or springs of two notable rivers, viz. that on the south side of those lands, making its current or flux to Tresillian Bridge, in Merther, on the south part of this county; that on the north side of Penhale lands, making its course to Lower St. Colomb Port, on the north part of Cornwall; both which rivers abound with fishes proper to the country in their seasons, as trouts, eels, peal, and salmon, &c. before they empty themselves into the North and South Seas of the British Channel, and the Irish or Atlantic Ocean.

TONKIN.

I have to remark on this parish, that all the southern part is in the hundred of Powder, although it is wholly rated to that of Pidar.

Athenodorus, to whom this church is dedicated, is a saint in the Roman Calendar, and brother to Gregory Thaumaturgus, or the miracle-worker, both natives of Neocæserea, in Pontus, or Cappadocia; of noble extraction, very well skilled in the sciences, the knowledge of tongues, and philosophy; who, hearing of the great fame of Origen, came to hear him, and were by his learned lessons, and holy exhortations, brought to leave the Pagan philosophy and all mundane sciences, and to embrace the holy theology, in which they made so great a progress in the space of five years, under so good a master, that, although they were both very young, they were honoured with the office of Bishops in the churches of Pontus. This St. Athenodorus suffered martyrdom about the year 272, under Aurelian.

THE EDITOR.

In this parish are situated three villages, called Summercourt, Penhale, and Fraddon, each of which had formerly the privilege of holding an annual fair. All are now transferred to Somercourt. One held on the 25th of September, is considered to be the most important in Cornwall. The name is obviously modern, although the village itself seems to be quite as ancient as any in the neighbourhood.

There is in this parish also another village, of considerable importance up to the year 1832, called Michell, St. Michael, or Modeshole.

This place, although never entitled, by the utmost stretch of courtesy, to the appellation of a town, was privileged with sending Members to Parliament in the time of King Edward the Sixth, probably to increase the political power of the Lords Arundell, who then possessed the paramount manor of Michel, together with an unrivalled influence in that part of Cornwall.

Many of the small places in Cornwall received this privilege from the Tudors, for the express purpose of becoming close or nomination boroughs, withdrawn as they then were from public view or attention.

The system thus created has acted at different periods in various ways. At first, many of the small Boroughs returned neighbouring gentlemen to Parliament, the natural aristocracy of the country, and practically the peers of other gentlemen holding hereditary seats, and distinguished by the shadowy appellation of offices long since extinct. These representatives formed the strongest bulwark of national liberty in the subsequent reigns of the Stuarts. So that Charles the Second, and his brother King James, endeavoured to smooth the way for their progress towards despotism by invading chartered or prescriptive rights; and thus the inviolability of these rights became associated in men’s minds, after the Revolution, with the very idea of liberty itself; and this union remained so permanently fixed and strong at the distance of a century, as to dash in pieces the otherwise powerful administration of Mr. Fox and Lord North, because they proposed to interfere authoritatively with the Charter of the East India Company. Times were, however, at that period completely changed. The English Empire had extended itself into all parts of the globe; an immense manufacturing and commercial interest had grown up; and, of still greater consequence, the national debt had created a vast monied capital, not subject to the laws of primogeniture, and therefore inclined towards democracy. All these obtained representatives through the small Boroughs, but tempered in most cases by the media through which the seats were acquired. Statesmen by profession, and many inclined to support the existing order of things by their situation in life, and by their connection, obtained admission also into Parliament in the same manner, and all these, united with the representatives of counties, and of large towns, formed an assembly, owing its existence, no doubt, to accidental causes, but, in the opinion of many wise and experienced men, better adapted to the government of a great country than any one that the world had seen, or than could be established by systematic arrangements.

That House of Commons has been swept away by the enactment of 1832; and it remains to be proved by an experiment, at which bold men might shrink, whether a more direct delegation will as effectually represent all the varied materials of the State, and whether a body so powerful may not ultimately absorb into its immediate superintendence the whole legislative and executive functions.

Michell had to boast among its representatives of Sir Walter Ralegh, of Mr. Carew, the historian of Cornwall, and of many distinguished gentlemen of the county. It used to be said, that Colonel Clive spent so much money in a contest for this place as to occasion his return to India, where he gained the battle of Plassey, and established the Eastern Empire.

The right of election seems to have been vague and undefined at Michell, as it was in early times at almost all other places; but repeated decisions of the House of Commons tended to ascertain, and usually to abridge the right, as this was deemed most favourable to the new Government; and finally, by Act of Parliament in 2d George II. the last decision of the House of Commons on any right of voting acquired the force and authority of law.

Such a decision took place with respect to Michell in the year 1700, fixing the right of voting in the possessors of five burgage tenures, here denominated mesne lordships, and in all resident payers of scot and lot. Property within the limits of the borough being divided, and each possessor of land wishing to multiply voters, they were raised to the amount of sixty or eighty, till at last the whole property coming into the hands of two Cornish gentlemen, they, in promotion of a system which may yet be regretted, consolidated the land, let the better houses on conditions, such as to prevent the occupiers from appearing on the parish rates, and converted to farm shelters, or took down, hovels that were originally constructed for election purposes. Contests were thus avoided, and the borough rendered close; the two proprietors having mutually pledged themselves in writing to support each other in their equal shares.

One of the proprietors died, and his son continued to act on the agreement. The other proprietor also died; and his brother having verbally ratified the compact, continued also to act on it, and a joint return was made in 1830. But a total change of men and measures having taken place in the administration of Government, the Reform Bill was introduced, and so powerful is the action of party feelings on the most honourable minds, heightened as they were, on this important occasion, by an honest conviction generally entertained on all sides, of the real and permanent welfare of the country being involved, that one of the proprietors thought himself absolved from adhering to the contract, unless his associate would take the same line of politics on this great subject as himself. A poll was thereupon called for, and the numbers were, for Kenyon five, for Best three, and Hawkins two; one voter having been got over by the infringing party.

Pencoose is now the property of Mr. William Basset, having been purchased from the Fortescues.

Trewhele belongs to Mr. John Basset, of this parish.

Treweere is held in joint tenantry by Mr. Retollock, son of Mr. Retollock who resided at Michell as agent for the borough, and Sir Richard Vyvyan, of Trelowarren. This place is considered to be a barton; and it must formerly have been the residence of some gentleman, although the place is now reduced to a common farm.

Gomronson, heretofore the property of the Flammocks, now belongs to Hawkins.

Boswallow was purchased by Mr. John Stephens, of St. Ives, about the middle of the last century, and now belongs to his grandson, Mr. Samuel Stephens, of Tregenna.

The paramount manor of Michell has passed into various families, on account of its political importance. Originally Arundell’s, it for some time belonged to the Scawens, an ancient race of Cornish gentlemen now extinct. One of the family held the honourable, and then gratuitous, office of Vice Warden, on the Restoration of King Charles the Second.[42] This manor was finally purchased by the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, and belonged to his devisee at the period of the general dissolution of close boroughs.

St. Enodor measures 6,140 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5303 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 399 12 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 869 | 881 | 833 | 1124
giving an increase of 29⅓ per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. S. M. Walker, collated by the Bishop of
Exeter in 1828.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Its extreme eastern corner is situated on granite, where it meets with the parishes of St. Columb Major and St. Dennis. The remainder of this parish rests on rocks of the schistose group; the part next the granite belonging to the porphyritic, and that more remote to the calcareous series, conformably, in all respects, to the geology of St. Colomb Major.

[42] The last representative of this family resided in
Surrey, and died about the year 1770.

ST. EARME, OR ST. HERME.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the east Probus, north Newland, west St. Allen, south Clements. As for the name it is derived from St. Herme, the tutelar guardian saint of this church, extant and endowed long before the Norman Conquest, by the Lord of the Manor of Polsew or Polduh, taxed in Domesday Roll, and therefore the Church again is taxed in Domesday Roll 20 William I. 1087, by the name of Ermen-hen, i. e. old or ancient Herme. In the taxation of benefices to the Popes in Cornwall, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia de Hermita in Decanatus de Powdre is rated at 6_l._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, by the name of Erme 22_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ The patronage in Lutterell, Lord of the Manor of Polsew, aforesaid. The incumbent Carthew, and the parish rated to the 4_s._ in the pound Land Tax, 1696, 120_l._

The following short account of the patron saint is substituted for six or eight pages of uninteresting legend given by Mr. Hals.

St. Hermes or St. Ermes, the supposed patron saint of this parish, is said to have suffered martyrdom at Rome in the persecution raised by the Emperor Adrian, about the year 132. His tomb in the Salian Way was ornamented by Pope Pelagius the Second, who filled the chair of St. Peter from 577 to 590. The name of St. Hermes is much celebrated in the ancient martyrologies.

In the Missale Romanum is the following prayer, to be used on the 28th of August, the day consecrated to his memory:

Deus, qui beatum Hermetem Martyrem tuum virtute constantiæ
in passione roborasti, ex ejus nobis imitatione tribue, pro
amore tuo, prospera mundi despicere, et nulla ejus adversa
formidare. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum filium tuum.

Tre-gasa, alias Tre-gaza, in this parish, id est, the wood town, to prove which etymology there is still extant a considerable wood adjoining to the town place thereof, was the dwelling of Thomas Coke, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 27 Charles I. that married Lance, his father Herle. His grandfather John Coke, Gent. attorney at law, of Trerice, in St. Allen, who first came into those parts temp. Elizabeth, from St. Mary Ottery, in Devon, without money or goods, placed himself a servant or steward under Sir Francis Godolphin, Knight, where he began from, and with his inkhorn and pen, to turn all things that he touched into gold (as King Gyges), and that by indirect arts and practices as tradition saith; for that Sir Francis taking a great liking to him, left the management of his estate and great tin works to him, his said steward Coke. He accordingly took care that all such tin of his master’s as was melted at the blowing-house into slabs or blocks, was justly marked with the dolphin stamp, as is customarily done on those gentlemen’s tin to this day. After some years, Mr. Coke remaining in service as aforesaid, by his subtle arts and contrivances, out of Sir Francis’ toll, and the shares of other adventurers, and the wages of labouring tinners, he produced considerable quantities of his own block tin, which, when melted at the blowing-house, as aforesaid, to distinguish it from his master’s, he marked thereon the figure of a cat; the same, it seems, being the coat armour of his family or ancestors. At length, against coinage time there was more tin brought by Mr. Coke to be coined at the coinage towns, marked with the cat, than there was of his master’s marked with the dolphin.