Chapter VIII: Part 8

It may be sufficient to add, she was the daughter of Phavorino Sciffo, a noble knight, and of Hortulana, his most virtuous wife, and born in the year 1193. St. Francis was then alive and at the height of his fame. St. Dominic and St. Francis, as is well known, instituted the two great orders of begging monks or friars. Those who entered into any of the previously existing monastic establishments, underwent what was termed a civil death, renounced all individual property, bestowing what was at their own disposal in any way most agreeable to themselves, and suffering what was inalienable to descend to their heirs. Hence has originated the expression natural life, as opposed to civil life, still used in legal proceedings. But St. Dominic and St. Francis, not content with this individual poverty, extended it to their orders; so that with the exception of a dwelling, some furniture, and necessary raiment, their friars were to live, as the cynics had done of old, upon the accidental charity of victuals given in kind and from day to day; for a broad and impassable boundary was drawn between receiving bread from the donor’s hand, and a piece of metal for which that bread might be procured; in the same manner as any portion of the increase arising from flocks or herds might lawfully be given; whilst anathemas were thundered against him who accepted the least return for valuable commodity, in exchange for which similar flocks or herds could easily and freely be procured.

As impassioned harangues were obviously the most efficient agents for eliciting or extorting these daily alms, they were incessantly employed; so that the mendicants soon acquired the distinctive appellation of preaching friars; and the whole institution being suited to the genius, the spirit, and the prejudices of the rude age in which it arose, the Dominicans and Franciscans acquired and maintained, during some centuries, almost the temporal sovereignty of Europe; till their dissentions, the scandalous immorality growing out of their vagrant lives, and the diffusion of knowledge, dissolved the charm.

This contagion readily extended itself to females, so that, with some indispensible modifications, societies soon arose of women bound by the same rule of individual and collective poverty. St. Clare appears to have been the first female disciple of St. Francis, or at least the first raised by him to eminence and power, acquisitions far more captivating to the human mind, than wealth with all its passive luxuries and enjoyments.

St. Clare had the gratification of eloping from her parents to receive the veil and the tonsure from the hands of St. Francis, who placed her at first in a monastery of Benedictine Nuns; but the young saint soon found herself in the situation of an abbess, with her mother and two sisters members of the community, submitted to her sway. From this station she advanced to be the founder of an order, having numerous houses established under her supreme authority, exercised according to rules dictated by St. Francis; and the poor Clares constitute a principal branch of the female monastic establishments existing in all Catholic countries up to the present times.

Pope Innocent IV. made a journey on purpose to visit Clare, not long before her death in 1253, and again to assist at her funeral. His successor, Pope Alexander IV. two years afterwards, inscribed her name in the celestial canon. Mr. Hals then proceeds to particulars.]

In this parish is yet to be seen a famous chapel Well, dedicated to St. Clare, a work of great skill, labour, and cost, though now much decayed, which formerly pertained to some nunnery of those sort of religious women extant here or at Leskeard. (See Truro and Kenwyn, for Clares.) From this parish was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen, surnamed de St. Cleare, from whence are descended the St. Clears of Tudwell, in Devon, who, suitable to their name, give for their arms, in a field Azure the sun in its glory shining or transparent; of which tribe was that Robertus de Sancto Claro, qui tenet decem libratas terræ, in hundredo de Mertock, in comit. Somerset, de domine rege in capite, per servicium inveniendi unum servientem armatum cum uno equo in exercitu domini regis in Wallia per xl. dies sumptibus suis propriis. (Pleas of the Crown in Scaccario, 8 Edward I.)

In this parish is Tre-worg-y, the mansion of John Conock, Esq., that married Burgoigne; his father Heale and Courtney; and giveth for his arms, Argent, a fess dancette between three spread eagles Gules.

The name Conock or Connock signifies rich, prosperous, thriving, successful, of which name and family those in Cornwall are descended from the Conocks of Wiltshire, and the first propagator of this tribe in those parts was one Mr. Conock, who in the time of Queen Elizabeth came to Leskeard town a tanner, and in that occupation got much riches, and laid the foundation of his estate, as Mr. Thomas River, of Liskeard, informed me.

Tre-mabe, in this parish, id est, the son’s town, viz. a place in former ages by some father given as the dwelling to his son, was formerly the lands of Samuel Langford, Gent. that married Cary of Clovelly.

Tre-wor-oc, also Tre-wor-ock, the town on a lake, was formerly the lands of Trubody, who sold the same to Jackman, now in possession thereof. In the church on seats or pews, pertaining to those Trubodys, I have seen this inscription, Nati honoris; in what sense to be construed is mystery to me, since I have not understood that any of this tribe was either a son nobly born, or inherited to any kind of honour, dignity, or promotion.

At Pennant in this parish, id est, the head of the valley, or the valley head, in the open downs by the high road or street-way, formerly stood a large flat moor-stone, about eight feet long, in perpendicular manner, described by Mr. Carew and Mr. Camden, wherein is still to be seen on the one side thereof this inscription, in Roman Saxon letters, then in use when it was set up, containing these words: doniert rogauit pro anima.

[Instead of the long and uninteresting account given by Mr. Hals of this monument, I will take the liberty of substituting an extract from Mr. Bond’s Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of East and West Looe, printed by J. Nichols and Son, Parliament Street, in 1823, which will be found of a very different description.]

“Not far from Dosmery Pool may be seen a curious heap of
rocks, called Wring Cheese or Cheese Wring; and, at a short
distance therefrom, an artificial curiosity called the
Hurlers, and another called the Other-half-stone.

“Camden, in his Britannia, speaking of St. Neot’s parish,
says, ‘Near unto this, as I have heard, within the parish of
St. Cleer, there are to be seen, in a place called Pennant,
that is, the head of the vale, two monuments of stone; of
which the one in the upper part is wrought hollow, in manner
of a chair; the other, named Other-halfe-stone, hath an
inscription of barbarous characters, now in a manner worn
out,’ which he thinks should be read thus: DONIERT ROGAVIT
PRO ANIMA. As for this Doniert, Camden thinks he was that
prince of Cornwall whom the chroniclers name Dungerth, and
record that he was drowned in the year of our salvation 872.
Camden also says, ‘Hard by there is a number of good big
rockes heaped up together; and under them one stone of a
lesser size, fashioned naturally in form of a cheese, so as
it seemeth to be pressed like a cheese; whereupon it is
named Wring Cheese. Many other stones besides, in some sort
four-square, are to be seen upon the plain adjoining; of
which seven or eight are pitched upright of equal distances
asunder. The neighbouring inhabitants term them Hurlers, as
being by a devout and godly error persuaded, they had been
men sometime transformed into stones, for profaning the
Lord’s day with hurling the ball. Others would have it to be
a trophy (as it were) or a monument in memorial of some
battle. And some think verily they were set as mere stones
or landmarks; as having read in those authors that wrote on
limits, that stones were gathered together of both parties,
and the same erected for bounders. In this coast the river
Loo maketh way and runneth into the sea, and in his very
mouth giveth name to two little towns joined with a bridge
together.’

“On the 6th August, 1802, I went with a party of friends to
see these natural and artificial curiosities, mentioned by
Camden. I first got the party to Red-gate,[26] in St. Cleer
parish, about four miles from Liskeard, in order to find out
Doniert or Dungerth’s monument, which I understood was
somewhere near to it. I made inquiry at the house at
Red-gate after this monument, but could get no account of it
for some time, though I questioned in a variety of ways; at
last, however, we got information where it was situated. It
is about a quarter of a mile off from Red-gate, eastward, in
a field next the high road. We got into this field, and
seeing an erect stone went towards it, and found it to be
the monument we sought. One moorstone stands erect, and the
other with the inscription on it, lies in a pit close by.
The figures of these stones in Borlase’s History are most
like them of any I have seen.[27] I made out and copied the
inscription very perfectly, by rubbing a soft stone which
left its mark in the letters.

+---------+
| DONI |
| ERT: RO |
| GAUIT |
| PRO AN |
| IMA |
+---------+

“This stone by recollection is about two feet wide at top,
and about five or six feet in length. And the other stone,
which still stands erect, and ornamented with cross lines,
&c. is about the same in height.

“The west front is quite plain; the top has the remains of a
kind of mortice, left hand corner broken off. The east front
is dotted over, but has no letters.

“I find in Hals, that the pit in which the stone with the
inscription lies, was formed in the latter end of the reign
of Charles II. in consequence of his, Hals’s, going there at
that period with some gentlemen, to view, as he says, the,
at that time thought barbarous, inscription; for some
tinners in the contiguous country, taking notice of these
gentlemen visiting this place, apprehended they came there
in quest of some hidden treasure; whereupon, as Hals says,
some of them wiser than the rest, lay their heads together,
and resolved in council to be before-hand, and accordingly
went with pickaxes and shovels, and opened the earth round
about the monument, to the depth of about six feet; when
they discovered a spacious vault walled about, and arched
over with stones, having on the sides thereof two stone
seats, not unlike those in churches for auricular
confession. The sight of all which struck them with
consternation, or a kind of horror, that they incontinently
gave over search, and with the utmost hurry and dread,
throwing earth and turf to fill up the pit they made, they
departed, having neither of them the courage to enter or
even to inspect into the further circumstances of the place;
which account Hals says, he had from the mouths of some of
the very fellows themselves. Some short while after, the
loose earth, by reason of some heavy rains which fell, sunk
away into the vault, which occasioning also a sort of
terræ-motus and concession of the earth adjoining, the said
monument was at length so undermined thereby, that it fell
to the ground, where it still remains. Would some gentlemen
of ability and curiosity, says Hals, and so say I, be at the
charge of again opening and cleansing this under-ground
chapel, or whatever else it may be denominated, it might
probably afford matter of pleasing amusement, if not grand
speculation to the learned searchers into matters of
antiquity.

“This monument formerly went by the name of ‘the other half
stone.’ Some translate the inscription, ‘Pray for the soul
of Dungerth,’ others ‘Doniert asked for his soul;’ and there
seems to be great controversy for what purpose this monument
was erected. High stones might originally, in the early ages
of Christianity, have been erected near roads in desolate
situations, and at short distances from each other, to
direct travellers in their journies; and crosses might have
been placed on them as a memento for thanksgiving, when the
traveller had effected this part of his journey in safety.
Now if the inscription on the above monument is meant for
‘Pray for the soul of Dungerth,’ may we not suppose that it
was meant as a request to those who should happen to be
praying for themselves, to offer up a prayer also for
Dungerth, who probably caused that monument to be erected,
or who was buried near the same, perhaps in the chapel
before mentioned to have been discovered by the tinners. Or
if the inscription is to be read, ‘Doniert asked for his
soul,’ which seems the proper translation; may we not
suppose that Doniert (who by all accounts was a very pious
prince) erected this stone, and prayed or asked for mercy
thereat. Perhaps originally these stones might have been
called Ave stones, from the Latin word ‘Ave,’ all hail! God
speed you; God save you, &c. a very appropriate expression
in a desolate situation to a wanderer or traveller. And the
reference to another Ave stone might signify the one which
is a little to the eastward of it, bearing a cross, and by
its appearance formerly a legend underneath. This word Ave
(pronounced in the same manner it is in Ave-Mary-Lane,
London) might be corrupted into Half; so that Ave stone and
Half stone might mean one and the same thing. And in
Cornwall the F is very frequently pronounced as a V, and the
V as an F, at this present time.[28] If this does not meet
approbation, I will add another conjecture. As the circle of
stones called the Hurlers, are at a short distance from this
monument and the cross before-mentioned, might not the
monument and the cross be called the ‘one heave stone,’ and
the other, ‘the other or outer heave stone,’ places from
whence the ball during the game of hurling was thrown. The
traditionary story of the stones called the hurlers, being
once men turned into stone for profaning the Sabbath, will
give some slight sanction to this conjecture; and in
addition, even at this time the high-cross is vulgarly
believed to have been the man who ran off with the ball.

“With respect to the stones called the Hurlers being once
men, I will say with Hals, ‘Did but the ball which these
Hurlers used when flesh and blood, appear directly over them
immoveably pendant in the air, one might be apt to credit
some little of the tale;’ but as this is not the case, I
must add my belief of their being erected by the Druids for
some purpose or other, probably a court of justice; long
subsequent to which erection, however, they may have served
as the goal for hurl players. And indeed a finer spot for
such a game could not be fixed on perhaps any where. But I
believe the Hurlers took their names from some other source
than that of the game of hurling the ball being used there.

“After sufficiently viewing Dungerth’s monument, we directed
our course towards Cheese-wring, and soon came to the
Hurlers, but first we rode up to the High Cross before
mentioned, which at a distance looked somewhat like a man.
Under its cross it has an oblong square, as if the border of
an inscription, but at present there is not the least
vestige of a letter on it. Soon after we came to the
Hurlers, which we found to be moorstones of about five or
six feet high, forming two circles one without the other
(not as represented in Hals’ Parochial History, but like
that in Borlase), the circle nearest Cheese-wring less than
that of the other. Some of the stones are fallen down, and
remain where they fell, and others have probably been
carried off for gate posts and other purposes. The areas of
the circles are not level, there being many pits in them, as
if the earth had sunk over large graves. I confess I was not
much struck with the appearance of these famous stones, not
having faith to believe they once were men. Near this place
we fell in with a man going to Cheese-wring, and were glad
to follow him as a guide. Among other questions, I asked
him, as we passed along, whether he could tell me the name
of the tenement on which Dungerth’s monument was; he
answered Pennant. I also asked him whether he knew where the
source of the Looe river was; he said in a field next below
Dungerth’s monument. I was sorry to hear this, as we could
not conveniently return to see it, but I learned from him it
was a mere spring of water uninclosed.

“When we reached Cheese-wring, we discovered a man and woman
on the top of the mount (on the declivity of which
Cheese-wring stands), who, we afterwards found, were cutting
turfs for fuel. Our guide first led us to the house of the
late Daniel Gumb (a stone-cutter), cut by him out of a solid
rock of granite (the rocks all around this place are
granite, or moorstone as commonly called in Cornwall, and of
the finest quality). This artificial cavern may be about
twelve feet deep and not quite so broad; the roof consists
of one flat stone of many tons weight, supported by the
natural rock on one side, and by pillars of small stones on
the other. How Gumb formed this last support is not easily
conceived. We entered with hesitation lest the covering
should be our grave-stone. On the right-hand side of the
door is ‘D. Gumb,’ with a date engraved 1735 (or 3). On the
upper part of the covering stone, channels are cut to carry
off the rain, or probably to cause it to fall into a bucket
for his use; there is also engraved on it some geometrical
device formed by Gumb, as our guide told us, who also said
that Gumb was accounted a pretty sensible man. I have no
hesitation in saying he must have been a pretty eccentric
character to have fixed on this place for his habitation;
but here he dwelt for several years with his wife and
children, several of whom were born and died here. His
calling was that of a stone-cutter, and he fixed himself on
a spot where materials could be met with to employ a
thousand men for a thousand years.

“After quitting this house, we ascended a few paces to the
pile of rocks called Cheese-wring, the resemblance of which
is well expressed by the print in Borlase’s Nat. Hist. We
were all struck with astonishment at this wonderful work of
nature; we surveyed it over and over again, went round it
several times, and viewed it from every part. It is about
thirty-two feet high. The uppermost stone I have no doubt
has Druidical basons formed in it. One of them shows itself
by the edge of the stone having fallen away. After spending
some time in viewing this tremendously awful pile of rocks,
we ascended to the summit of the mount on the side of which
it stands. This summit is surrounded by an artificial
rampart of loose stones, not piled up; possibly they might
have formed a wall, or have been carried there for building
one; for if they were placed as they now are with an
intention so to remain, they could not have been very
defensive to this mount. Possibly the name of Cheese-wring
may be derived from this ring of stones, and not from the
vulgar idea of the Cheese-wring rocks being like a
cheese-press.

“The area within the rampart may be about half an acre of
ground, and has rocks scattered all over it; but in some
places verdure even in this rude region makes its
appearance. We found a man and a woman within the area
cutting turfs between the rocks for fuel. Among other
questions, I asked the man to whom the spot belonged; his
answer was, ‘he believed to nobody.’

“Several curious piles of rocks, some forming cromlechs, and
others of various forms and positions, are here also to be
seen, and several of them have Druidical basons on them. The
rocks having these basons are the most lofty or most
remarkable for shape or situation. On some rocks there are
two or three basons; and where there are more basons than
one, they generally communicate by a channel. The basons
here are of different sizes, though all of them are of the
same shape, which is circular. Some of them are about a foot
and a half in diameter, and six or eight inches deep; others
not so large or deep. Never having seen any Druidical basons
before, and having had my doubts till this time, whether
they might not be natural productions caused by rain,
lightning, &c. I was led to examine other rocks, whether
they had (though equally exposed to the weather) similar
formations, but could not find a bason on any rock that was
not singular either for its shape or situation. I therefore
concluded that these basons were the work of art, and not of
nature; and I think they were not intended for the purpose
of receiving the rain for common uses, for if so, why were
they not made on rocks of easy access? It is possible,
however, that rain being held in a natural hollow of a rock,
may decompose that part of the rock on which it rests, and
being whirled about by the wind from time to time, may form
these basons which we attribute to art; and if this is the
case, they must continue increasing in size and depth. Have
such basons ever been seen but on granite rocks? if not,
probably water dissolves the feltspar and disunites the
quartz and mica; and the winds driving round the water with
particles of quartz at the bottom of the bason, must
consequently fret away the rock and enlarge the bason. A
rock of white marble lies on the sea-beach near Looe,
completely covered with hollows like what are termed
Druidical basons; these hollows in this rock I have no doubt
have been formed by the sea; it lies near an insulated high
rock under Sanders Lane, and is every tide covered with the
sea, and is very frequently covered with sand. A person
fancying the basons on this rock of marble to be an
artificial work, might also fancy that it once was placed on
top of the elevated rock near it; the contrast of the white
marble on top of the elevated rock, which is of a very dark
colour, would give a singular appearance. When this high
rock is shown to strangers, they are generally told, with a
serious face, that when it hears a cock crowing at Hay
(which is a farm just above it) it turns round three times!

“SHARPY TORRY.

“After leaving the area before-mentioned, we mounted our
horses, and went towards another very considerable rocky
eminence, about half a mile north-east; the road to which
over the Down is full of rocks and stones, so as to prevent
a horse from going other than step and step at times. On our
way we passed a small circle of stones, the remains I rather
think of an ancient Barrow, whose earth had been washed away
by the rains. We shortly after passed another pretty large
circle of stones, just about the diameter to appearance of
the lesser circle of the Hurlers; at length we arrived at
the pile of rocks, called by our guide Sharpy-torry
(Sharp-torr, from its conical shape). We alighted from our
horses and ascended. On the north or north-west side of it
there appears a hollow, more like a large chimney than any
other thing I can compare it to; the outside of which seems
to have given way, and the steep hill below is strewed with
an immense quantity of rocks and large stones, as if carried
down or poured out from this hollow. Whether this was caused
by the operation of fire or water bursting from this hollow
or crater, if I may use the expression, I will not take upon
me to say; but that one or other of these agents burst from
this mount appears to be extremely probable, for the rocks
and stones seem exactly as if they had been tumbled or
thrown out of this crater by a current of some kind. We
could not, however, discover lava; therefore it is probable
water might have burst out, unless the lava has been
decomposed. The views from this place are truly sublime. The
spot is nearly the centre of the broadest part of the
county; from it we saw both seas, north and south, and
consequently the intervening land; and I believe it is the
only eminence (except perhaps Brownwilly) in the eastern
part of Cornwall, from whence both seas may be seen. We also
saw in the North Sea a very high land, which we concluded
must be Lundy Island; but the horizon to the north being
rather hazy, I will not take upon me to say positively that
it was that island, though it is probable to have been so.
The prospect was equally extensive east and west, and as I
took a pocket spying-glass with me, we viewed therewith the
vast extent we commanded. We discovered Launceston Castle
with the naked eye; through the glass it became very
visible. We were much struck with the beautiful and
highly-cultivated lands to the east of us, terminated in
part by the high land of Dartmoor. To the westward, nothing
was to be seen but a vast continuance of moor land, without
a hedge, without a tree, for a stretch of many miles. The
cultivated land commenced just below our feet to the
eastward, and the uncultivated from where we stood westward;
the contrast on turning from west to east, or _vice versâ_,
was astonishing. Our station seemed to be amidst the wreck
of mountains of granite, rocks piled on rocks were strewed
around in awful grandeur. The extreme point of our western
view, dimmed by distance, showed us that elevated rock
called Roach Rock, and we also saw Dosmerry Pool about four
or five miles off; our south view commanded Plymouth Sound,
and a long extent of coast and sea; the northward in one
part was terminated by the sea. The views brought to my mind
the beautiful lines in Ovid:

“Tum freta diffundi, rapidisque tumescere ventis
Jussit, et ambitæ circumdare littora terræ.
Addidit et fontes, immensaque stagna lacusque.
Jussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,
Fronde tegi silvas, lapidosos surgere montes.”

“Then he ordered the seas to poured abroad, and to swell
with furious winds, and to draw a shore quite round the
inclosed earth. He likewise added springs, and immense
pools and lakes. He ordered likewise plains to be
extended, and valleys to sink; the woods to be covered
with green leaves, and the rocky mountains to rise.”

“From this elevated spot (Sharp Tor) Hingston Hill appeared
considerably beneath us. After spending some time on Sharp
Tor, we reluctantly descended and went towards another range
of rocks, called Killmarth Hill (which signifies the Holy
Hill or Land, or perhaps Holy Grove), about three-quarters
of a mile off. This range of rocks looks from Sharp Tor,
like an immense wall of artificial masonry, with here and
there turrets ascending, and it brought to my mind Sir
George Staunton’s account of the Chinese wall. When we
arrived at its base, we alighted from our horses, and
ascended. This natural wall-looking range is composed of
granite rocks of, I should suppose some of them, a thousand
tons weight. We traversed along the ridge, with some
difficulty, towards the first turret, and from that to the
next and so on, but the highest, which at a distance looked
somewhat like Wringcheese, was yet to be explored; at length
we arrived at it, and found it, if possible, more curious
than Cheese-wring itself. It consists of immense rocks piled
one on the other, to the height of twenty or thirty feet,
and it leans so much, that a perpendicular dropped from its
top would, I may venture to say, reach the bottom fifteen or
more feet from its base; and from where we stood on the
ridge, its support at the base appeared so slight as if a
man could shove the whole mass over the precipice. Some of
the uppermost stones of this pile are, I should think, from
fifteen to twenty feet over, and the base of the whole
fabric appeared so slight, that I imagined the handle of my
whip would have exceeded its thickness. Upon descending to
take another view of this astonishing structure, we found
that the rocks were considerably thicker on one side than
the other; so that the thick parts formed a counterpoise to
the overhanging parts; but this not being apparent from the
spot on which we first stood, was the cause of our great
astonishment. However, though our astonishment was somewhat
lessened, yet much remained at this stupendous pile. This is
the most western turret.

“From this place one of the party and myself, the others not
chusing to accompany us, went to explore the easternmost
turret. Upon our arrival at its base we found much
difficulty in ascending it; the rocks jutted out, one over
the other, in such a manner that, had we slipped but a few
inches, we must have dropped over a considerable precipice.
I arrived first at the base, and attempted to ascend, but
fear pulled me back. Upon my friend’s arrival we thought we
would exert ourselves to get up, as we conjectured there
might be a Druidical basin at top. My friend got up the
first rock by creeping at full length under the overhanging
rock; and I was under the necessity of several times
desiring him, in the most energetic manner, to keep as close
in as possible; for if the body had gone a few inches
farther out, it must have slid over the sloping rock which
overhung the precipice. It took him a few minutes to drag
himself in in this manner. In this creeping state he thought
he should have broken his watch to pieces, as he was
obliged, as before stated, to crawl at full length, there
being no possibility; on account of the overhanging rock, of
going on hands and knees. Upon trying to get out his watch,
I earnestly entreated him to desist, for fear of losing his
centre of gravity; for on the left hand was the precipice,
and raising his right side ever so little might have been
attended with most serious consequences. He took my advice,
and by another exertion got far enough in to raise himself
on his hands and knees, and then on his legs. I then
followed him in the same manner. We then examined the rocks
above us, in order to observe the best mode of ascending
them. I first made the ascent, and in the uppermost rock
discovered the largest Druidical basin we had met with, and
observed it had a lip or channel facing the south. The
horrid precipices on each side prevented my getting on the
top of this rock, as I felt a slight vertigo. I then got
down on a lower rock, and my friend ascended the uppermost
one, and not finding himself dizzy, got into the basin
itself (where I hope he will never go again), and waved his
hat to our companions below. I desired him to measure the
circumference of this basin, which he did with his whip, and
found it to be about three feet and a half in diameter. We
did not take its depth, but I think it must have been about
a foot; it was of a circular form. The next thing to be
considered was, how we should get down again; which at last,
however, we effected nearly in the same manner (only
reversing our movements) as we got up; and I believe nothing
will ever induce me to pay a second visit to the top of this
rock.

“We had a very fine day for our excursion; the sun being
clouded, it was not over warm; and there was but little
wind: had there been more wind, we should not have been able
to ascend some of the places we did, particularly the last.
The air was somewhat hazy over the North and South seas,
which was the only thing we had to regret.

“A finer situation for Druidical[29] residence, rites, and
ceremonies, I think, could not be fixed on anywhere; every
thing around is awfully magnificent; probably in ancient
days these masses of rocks were surrounded with trees. Our
guide indeed informed us that on digging the soil trunks of
large trees have been there discovered; and Kil-mar,
Kill-mark, Kil-marth signify, in Cornish, the Great, the
Horse, or the Wonderful Grove.”

Since writing the above, I have been again to see these curiosities (but did not visit the top of the easternmost turret), and went by the way of St. Cleer Churchtown, near which is a curious old well, with a moorstone cross by it, worth seeing; the stone itself is in form of a cross, and it has a cross in relief cut on its cross. About a mile from St. Cleer Church (on the way to Cheese Wring) stands a most magnificent

CROMLECH,

on a barrow in a field near the high road, on the tenement called Trethevye. A friend who was with me took a rough measurement of the upper or covering stone, and calculated it to be about five tons weight. The stones which form this Cromlech are supposed to have been brought some miles from where they stand, as there are none of the same kind near it. That this is a work of art there cannot be a doubt. One can hardly, however, suppose it possible that such immense stones could have been brought from a distance, and erected in the manner they are. What machinery was used baffles all conjecture. The upper or covering stone has a hole in it; for what purpose I have no idea, unless to support a flag-pole. One of the party remarked it might have been made for a chain to drag it by; but I rather thought it too near the edge for that purpose. Mr. Britton, in his “Beauties of England and Wales,” has given a vignette of this Cromlech, which is well executed, and like the original. Speaking of this Cromlech, Mr. B. says, he believes it has not been described by any writer,[30] though it is more curious and of greater magnitude than that of Mona, or any other he was acquainted with. He says “it standeth about one mile and a half east of St. Cleer, on an eminence commanding an extensive tract of country, particularly to the east, south, and south-west; and is provincially denominated Trevethey Stone. On the north the high ground of the Moors exalts its swelling outline above it. It is all of granite, and consists of six upright stones, and one large slab covering them in an inclined position. This impost measures sixteen feet in Length and ten broad, and is at a medium about fourteen inches thick. It rests on five of the uprights only; and at its other end is perforated by a small circular hole. No tradition exists as to the time of its erection; but its name at once designates it being a work of the Britons, and sepulchral; the term Trevedi (Trevethi) signifying, in the British language, the place of the Graves.”

King Doniert is said to have been the father of St. Ursula, rendered famous by her unfortunate expedition from Cornwall to the coast of Flanders, but still more famous by the beautiful picture of her embarkation, painted by Claude de Lorraine, where the Saint, accompanied by her eleven thousand virgins, are descending to their ships in a port, decorated with buildings the most superb, and surrounded by a distant landscape, imagined and arranged in the highest style of that celebrated master.

Those ladies, although an exaggeration from eleven to eleven thousand is suspected by some writers, were to have married a Roman emperor and his principal officers; but being attacked on their landing by Pagan Saxons, they defended themselves with a courage worthy of Cornwall, until all were slain with arms in their hands. Yet one hardly sees why these heroic females were honoured among the saints. Their deaths as martyrs are referred to the 20th of October 383, and their tomb is still shown at Cologne, where a monastery has been built to their memory.

THE EDITOR.

Not far from King Doniert’s stone monument is another perpendicular moor-stone, on which is still apparent the figure of a cross; and on another, not far distant, is a cross shaped like a T.

Without doubt I think this our King Doniert lived and died in his town and castle of Leskeard, where it was not lawful to bury the bodies of dead men till the year 700. It is moreover to be noted, with regard to the inscription on his monument of stone, that about this time it was customary to pray for departed souls.

Not very distant from the said monument, in the open downs, are to be seen a great number of moor-stones, some artificially squared, and placed in a perpendicular manner about three feet high. These are commonly called the Hurlers: a Druidical monument having been changed, by the fraud and artifice of the priests, into a supposed monument of God’s vengeance against persons for not attending on their masses.

St. Cleer measures 9118 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5448 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 833 3 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 774 | 780 | 985 | 982.
being an increase of about 27 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.

About a mile north of the church the granite hills make their appearance, and run across the parish in a curved line. The only variety which this rock presents are coarse and fine grained masses, and a kind of fluor, near Carraton Hill, containing hornblende. Immediately south of the granite, on the side of a barren moor, masses of compact and quartz ore felspar rock protrude, indicating the same formation as at Trewist in Alternun. Near the church hornblende slate prevails, which is said to contain veins of actynolite and asbestos. A little further south, on the ridge of a barren down, massive hornblende rock projects in tiers; and loose blocks of the same stone lie scattered over the side of the hill, and in the adjacent valley.

The whole of the southern part of the parish is composed of varieties of this same rock, several of which are well displayed in the vicinity of Rosecradock.

[26] Probably this place took its name not from a gate
painted red being there placed, as is generally imagined,
but from its being situated just above Fowey river; Rhie-gat
signifies River’s course. The Fowey river at this place is
not above half a mile from the source of Looe river.

[27] The following account of these stones is copied from
Mr. Polwhele’s Cornwall, vol. ii. p. 195.

“In the parish of St. Clere, about 200 paces to the eastward
of Redgate, are two monumental stones which seem parts of
two different crosses. They have no such relation to each
other as to warrant the conclusion that they ever
contributed to form one monument. One is inscribed; the
other, without an inscription, called ‘the other half
stone,’ seems to have been the shaft of a cross, and
originally stood upright, but has latterly been thrown down,
from an idle curiosity to ascertain whether any concealed
treasures were beneath its base. On one of its sides are
some ornamental asterisks, but no letters of any kind. Its
present length is about eight feet; yet it seems to have
been once longer, as the upper part is broken, and displays
part of a mortice. The inscribed stone, nearly square,
appears to have been a plinth of a monumental cross, having
the words ‘Doniert rogavit pro anima’ inscribed upon it, in
similar characters to those used about the ninth century.
Doniert is supposed to mean Dungerth, who was king of
Cornwall, and accidentally drowned about the year 872. Of
the meaning and intention of this monument, see Borlase, pp.
361, 362.”

[28] I take some credit to myself for this conjecture as to
the original meaning of “the other half stone.” And I have,
long since writing this, accidentally discovered what
strongly confirms my opinion. The authors of the Beauties of
England and Wales, speaking of inscribed stones at
Ebchester, in Durham, say, there is one having the single
word “Have” for Ave on it. This stone is supposed by Horsley
to be sepulchral. Have Melitina Sanctissima. The custom of
thus saluting, as it were, the dead, or taking their last
farewell of them, is very well known, and it may seem almost
needless to produce any instances of it. Thus Æneas bids
eternal adieu to Pallas:

Salve æternum mihi, maxime Palla,
Æternumque vale.――Æneid, XI. 97.

Thus also a passage in Catullus,――Ave atque vale.

[29] DRUID, DRUIDES, OR DRUIDæ.――Some derive this word from
the Hebrew Derussim, or Drussim; which they translate
Contemplatores. Pliny, Salmasius, Vignierius, and others,
derive the name from δρυς, an oak, on account of their
inhabiting, or at least frequenting and teaching in forests,
or because they sacrificed under the oak. Menage derives the
word from the old British “Drus,” which signifies “Dæmon” or
“Magician;” Borel, from the old British “Dru” or “Deru;”
whence he takes δρυς to be derived. Goropius Becanus, lib.
i. takes “Druis” to be an old Celtic or German word, formed
from “trowis” or “truis,” signifying a “Doctor of the Truth
and Faith.” Father Peyron, in his book of the Original of
the Celtic Language, will have both Greek and Latin to come
from Celtic; and if so, the Greek word δρυς must come from
the Celtic “deru.” The groves where they worshipped were
called Llwyn; thence, probably, is derived the word “Llan,”
signifying now, in Welch, a church. These groves were
inclosures of spreading oak, ever surrounding their sacred
places; and in these words, “1st. Gorseddan,” or Hillocks,
where they sat, and from whence they pronounced their
decrees, and delivered their orations to the people; “2nd.
Carnedde,” or Heaps of Stones, on which they had a peculiar
mode of worship; “3rd. Cromlech,” or Altars, on which they
performed the solemnities of sacrifice.

There were several orders of them:――1st. Druids; the chief
of these was a sort of Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest;
these had the care and direction of matters respecting
religion; 2nd. Bards; who were an inferior order to the
Druids, and whose business it was to celebrate the praises
of their heroes, in songs composed and sung to their harps;
3rd. Eubates; who applied themselves chiefly to the study of
Philosophy, and the contemplation of the wonderful works of
Nature.

There were Women as well as Men Druids; for it was a female
Druid who foretold to Dioclesian, when a private soldier,
that he would be Emperor of Rome. They taught physics, or
natural philosophy; were versed in astronomy and the
computation of time; were skilled in arithmetic and
mechanics; and appear to have been the grand source from
whence the ages in which they lived derived all the
knowledge which they possessed.

Among the numerous places sacred to Druidical worship many
hieroglyphical characters have been discovered, which
doubtless were intended for something relative to their
opinions of the Deity to whom they paid their adoration.
But, in addition to this, they taught their pupils a number
of verses, which were only a sort of memorials or annals in
use amongst them. Some persons remained twenty years under
their instruction, which they did not deem it lawful to
commit to writing. They used indeed the Greek alphabet, but
not the language, as appears by a note, chap. xiii. lib. VI.
of Cæsar’s Commentaries de Bell. Gall. This custom,
according to Julius Cæsar, seems to have been adopted for
two reasons: first, not to expose their doctrines to the
common people; and, secondly, lest their scholars, trusting
to letters, should be less anxious to remember their
precepts, because such assistance commonly diminishes
application and weakens the memory.

The original manner of writing amongst the ancient Britons
was by cutting the letters with a knife upon sticks, which
were commonly squared, and sometimes formed with three
sides. Their religious ceremonies were but few, and similar
to those of the ancient Hebrews. The unity of the Supreme
Being was the foundation of their religion; and Origen, in
his Commentaries of Ezekiel, inquiring into the reasons of
the rapid progress of Christianity in Britain, says, “this
island has long been predisposed to it by the doctrine of
the Druids, which had ever taught the unity of God the
Creator.” (_Extracted from the Monthly Magazine and Literary
Panorama for November 1819._)

[30] This author is mistaken. Norden not only speaks of it
as follows, but has given a tolerably good plate of it. He
says, “Trethevic, called in Latin Casa Gigantis, a little
house raysed of mightie stones, standing on a little hill
within a field, the form hereunder expressed. This monument
standeth in the parish of St. Cleer. The cover being all one
stone is from A to B 16 foote in length; the breadth from C
to D is 10 foote; the thickness from G to H is 2 foote. E is
an artificial hole 8 inches diameter, made thorowe the roofe
very rounde, which served, as it seemeth, to put out a
staffe, whereof the house itself was not capable. F was the
door or entrance.”

ST. CLEATHER.

HALS.

St. Cleather is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and hath upon the north, Trenegles; east, Egles-kerry and Laneast; south, part of Altarnun; west, Davidstowe. For the name of St. Cleather, it refers to the vicar of the church, and in Cornish, signifies a sacred, or holy fencer or gladiator; a person that exercises a spiritual sword for offence or defence in a holy manner; and as in this place by the holy fencer is to be understood the vicar, so by his sword is signified την μαχαιραν του πνευματος ὅ ’στι ῥῆμα Θεου, gladium spiritus, quod est verbum Dei, i. e. the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester aforesaid, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Clede, or Cledredi, in Decanatu de Lesnewith, was valued to its first fruits 6_l._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, and Valor Beneficiorum, 6_l._ 11_s._ 0½_d._; the incumbent, Harris; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound land-tax, 1696, 71_l._ 4_s._ 8_d._ Quere, whether St. Clede, or Clete, mentioned in that Inquisition aforesaid, relate not to St. Clete, or Cletus, Bishop of Rome and martyr, as the tutelar guardian and patron of this church? whose history in short is thus: He was born at Rome, of an old family of gentlemen or noblemen, in the reign of Tiberius; whose father’s name was Emelianus, a Christian, that placed his son Clete a disciple under St. Peter; after which he made him and Linnus coadjutors in the ministry. To Linnus St. Peter gave the charge of affairs within Rome, to Cletus the charge of the churches abroad; and those two holy men had both the succession of the Bishopric of Rome, after St. Peter’s death, (Clement through humility declining that office, who in justice should have had it,) till the time that Domitian, the son of Vespasian, enjoyed the empire, who, degenerating from the morality of his father and brother Titus, raised the second persecution against the Christians; at which time, amongst many others, St. Cletus Bishop of Rome received the crown of martyrdom, after he had held the Bishopric twelve years and seven months and two days, 26th April, anno Dom. 91, tempore Domitian. He lies buried by the body of St. Peter at Rome, and is one of the saints mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, as also in St. Paul’s Epistle to Timothy. He is said, by order of St. Peter, to have divided the City of Rome into twenty-five districts or parishes, and to have set up a priest to rule and govern in spiritual matters over such Christians as were within the same, and attended their predicaments; whose successors afterwards in those churches were called cardinals.

See Peransand for the family of Cleathers.

Bas-ill, in this parish, or Bas-yll, in former ages (at best being but a poor corn country) has been for many ages the seat of the worshipful family of the Trevillians [Trevelyan]; the present possessor, Peter Trevillian, Esq. that married Borlace, his father Arundell.

His ancestor was John Trevillian, Esq. of Nettlecomb in Somerset, who was sheriff of Somerset and Dorset 17 Henry VII.; his grandson John Trevillian, Esq. was sheriff of Cornwall 38 Henry VIII. The arms of which gentlemen are in a field Gules, a demy horse Argent, issuing out of the waves of the sea Azure, grounded upon a tradition that one of their ancestors, at the supposed general inundation or concussion into the sea, of a tract of land called Lyon-ness, extending from St. Sennan to the Scilly Islands, saved himself by sitting on the back of a white horse, whilst he swam from thence through the sea to the insular continent of Cornwall, where he came safe to land; but when I consider that Solinus, who lived 1500 years past, tells us that the Cassiterides, by which he means the Scilly Islands (or the tin islands), in his days were separated from the coast of the Danmonii, by a rough sea of two or three hours’ sail (as it still appears to be), and that hereditary coat armours and surnames in Britain are little above five hundred years old in Britain or Cornwall, there is small credit to be given to this tradition.

In this parish, or part of Davidstowe, is Foye-fenton, the original fountain of the Foys River; which well, in old records, is also called West Fenton, i. e. the west well, to distinguish it from Mark well in Lanick, otherwise east well; from which places the two cantreds (hundreds) of Eastwellshire and Westwellshire are denominated. And to this purpose it is evident, from Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 41, that in 3 Henry IV. Reginald de Ferrar held in East Fenton and West Fenton, several knights’ fees of land of the honour of Tremeton, which is now East and West Hundreds. (See also St. Stephen’s by Saltash, of those tenures in 1360.)

TONKIN.

In this parish stands Basil, a word sometimes taken for a herb or vegetable, sometimes for a vein in the human body, sometimes for the basilisk or cockatrice, &c.; but here I take it to signify after the Greek, a basilica or stately building; and although at present this mansion will not answer the etymology in the extreme latitude or longitude thereof, yet in probability it formerly did, at least comparatively so in respect to other houses in the neighbourhood.

This place is the mansion of the ancient, famous, and knightly family of Trevillyans; the present possessor of Basil is Peter Trevillyan, who married a daughter of Mr. Nicholas Borlase of Treludderin. From this Cornish family are descended the Trevillyans of Nettlecomb in Somersetshire.

Although this parish is commonly called and written St. Cleather, yet the right name is St. Eledred, and so it is written in the Taxatio Beneficiorum; which St. Eledred I take to be Ethelred King of the Mercians, who, after he had held the crown for thirty years, and governed with great reputation, and especially with much regard to religion, which (as William of Malmesbury observes) was more to this prince’s inclination than arms, resigned the kingdom to his kinsman Kendred, became a monk, and died soon after in the monastery of Bordeney in Lincolnshire.

There was, however, another St. Ethelred, King of the West Saxons, who is said by Mr. Browne Willis, in his Notitia Parliamentaria, to be buried at Wimborne Minster in Dorsetshire, with the following inscription:

In hoc loco quiescit corpus Sancti Ethelredi Regis
West-Saxonum martyris, qui A.D. 872, 23 die Aprilis, per
manus Danorum Paganorum occubuit.

Perhaps this latter is the true patron.

THE EDITOR.

Bishop Tanner, in the Notitia Monastica, says of Bordeney Abbey,