Chapter XVI: Part V (6)

Now it happened, tempore Charles I., that Sir Bevill Grenvill, being much encumbered with the debts of his ancestors, in order to free the same, sold for a valuable consideration this manor of Lanow and barton of Bryn to William Noye, Esq. Attorney-general to King Charles I. the which William Noye and his heirs quietly enjoyed the same for about thirty years’ space, till King Charles II. returned from his exile beyond the seas, and was restored to his dominions 1660; at which time Sir John Grenvill, Knt. afterwards created Earl of Bath, (son of the said Sir Bevill Grenvill) then also in exile with the said King beyond the seas, came back to his native country with the said King; and some time after delivered leases of ejectment, on writs of ejection, firme formedon, or right, to the tenants of Humphrey Noye, Esq. then in possession thereof, son of the said Attorney-general Noye, and brought down a venire facias and trial for the same, at Lanceston assizes, where, on the issue, the verdict passed for the said Earl of Bath; and after judgment was entered up and recorded thereupon, writs for possession were sued forth, and his lordship became seised of those lands, and forced the tenants thereof to double their accustomed rent, on condition of holding their leases. Afterwards Noye’s son aforesaid, files his bill in chancery, suggesting the wrong he had received by this verdict at law, whereby he lost his lands and purchase money, which matter coming to a hearing on bill and answer, an issue was directed out of Chancery to try once more this title at common law, on which Noye proved Sir Beavill Grenvill to be tenant in tail for those lands, and that he levying a fine thereon, _come ceo qui il eit de son done_, according to due form of law, with deeds declaring the same to be for the use of the said William Noye, his heirs and assigns for ever, that was a sufficient dock of the entail, and bar to the son and heir of the said Sir Beavill Grenvill, whereupon the sense and judgment of the Court then was, that according to law the verdict must be for Noye: as accordingly it then passed. Notwithstanding which, a cross bill was filed by the Earl of Bath against Noye, about the premises, praying a writ of injunction for stopping further proceedings at common law; whereupon his lordship still kept possession, and Noye grew weary of this controversy, who, otherwise, was a man much depressed with debt, and therefore an unequal contester with the then great Earl of Bath; wherefore he sold his title to those lands in dispute to Mr. Christopher Davies, of Burnewall in Buryan, who revived Noye’s drooping case and title to the premises, and delivered ejectments to the Earl of Bath’s tenants, then in possession thereof, and accordingly brought down a trial at Lanceston upon that plea and demise, tempore James II., when it was manifest his lordship relied more on his privilege as a Peer or Baron of this Realm than the right or justice of the merits of his case, for he served all the council, officers, and attornies of the court at that assizes with writs of privilege; so that no person was permitted to speak or act publicly on the part or title of Noye or Davies; but the case or trial was immerged or was swallowed up without due course or form of law, so that Mr. Davies was only permitted to plead his case himself, which he did with so much judgment, sense, law, and equity, as the Court admired at it, being no lawyer. But, alas! he wanted instruction in the grand point in such cases, to have cried out a merger or emerger, and the verdict must have been for him or Noye the second time.

After which bad success, and for that Mr. Davies was threatened to be sued on the statute of _scandalum magnatum_, for words said to be spoken by him reflective on his lordship’s honour and reputation, he was terrified into a composition or agreement with the said Earl, by the end of Hilary term then next ensuing, for the consideration of 500_l._ to levy a fine _sur cognizance de droit_, with proclamation on those lands, with deeds declaring the uses thereof to be only to the proper use and behoof of the said Earl of Bath, his heirs and assigns for ever, as accordingly was performed, and so this controversy ended. But, alas! when too late it appeared further, that when Mr. Davies had sold his title to this manor of Lanow as aforesaid, that there were two tenements of Mr. Noye’s paternal estate whilst he was in possession thereof, after his purchase from Grenvill, that he had annexed to the said manor, situate in this parish, and worth 900_l._, which Mr. Davies ignorantly debarred himself of, to his greater loss. See Withell parish for Bryn, the lands of Bevill and Grenvill.

Bo-Kelly in this parish was the dwelling of the genteel family surnamed Carn-sew, i. e. dry, sterile, or barren spar-stone, or rock; perhaps so called from the local place of Carnsew in Mabe, altogether under such circumstances; otherwise Mr. Carew tells us the name of those gentlemen was Carn-deaw, i. e. black spar-stone or rock. William Carnsew of this house was sheriff of Cornwall 18 Edward IV.; William Carnsew was Sheriff of Cornwall 3 Henry VIII.

Richard Carnsew, Esq. afterwards knighted, was Sheriff of Cornwall 17 Charles I. 1642, whose heir George Carnsew, as I am told, sold it to Tregagle, and is now by lease in possession of John Nicholls, of Trewane, Esq. The two only daughters and heirs of Sir Richard Carnsew, of Tregarne, were married to Prideaux, of Fewborough, and Godolphin of the younger house, whose arms were, Sable, a goat passant Argent, attired Or.

Tre-havar-ike, alias Tre-ar-ike, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Trehauarike, whose sole inheritrix was married to Cavall, tempore Henry VII. who, out of a supposed allusion to this name, as appears from the glass windows of this house, gave a calf for their arms, viz. Argent, a calf passant Gules; whereas Leugh is a calf in British-Cornish, and Cavall is a bee-hive, cradle, or flasket. They gave also, Azure, three sails of a ship Argent; for that, as tradition saith, one of this family was admiral of a squadron of ships at sea, under King Henry VI. against the French; finally, about the year 1612, the two sole daughters and heirs of those Cavalls were married to Vivian, of Trenowth in St. Colomb, and Hore of Trenowth in St. Ewan. Upon the division of Cavall’s lands, this barton and manor fell to Vivian’s share, whose grandson Thomas Vivian, Esq. sold this barton to John Peter, of Treater, gentleman, for 2,100_l._; and the manor to other persons, now in possession thereof, about the year 1700.

At the top of those lands is a field called the Dower Park, i. e. the water field, where a spring or pool of water commonly stands, which gives the spring, or original of the aforesaid riveret of water, from whence Trehavarike is denominated.

At Tregeare in this parish, and Resurra in St. Minver, was the seat of the Penkivells, gentlemen of ancient descent, and heretofore of great revenues, now comparatively extinct.

Pen-pons in this parish, now Pen-pont, synonymous words, signifies the head bridge, or the bridge at the head or top of the sea in this place, according to the natural and artificial circumstances thereof, which was the voke lands of an ancient and extensive manor, privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet before the Norman Conquest; for by the name of Penpont it was rated in the Domesday Tax 20 William I. 1087; from whence was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen now extinct, surnamed Penpons, whose sole inheritrix was married to Arundell of Tolverne, tempore Queen Mary, from whose heirs and assigns it came to Cole and Arscott of Devon, and others, now in possession thereof. By the inquisition 12 Edward III. it was rated for twenty-one Cornish acres, before the judges Solomon de Ross and others, at Lanceston, that is to say, 1260 statute acres. I take the tenure of this manor to be either customary or copyhold lands; near which is still extant Chappell Amble, or Ambhull, i. e. the dull, blockish, or ignorant chapel or chaplain, a free chapel, where the Bishop never visited.

In this parish at Middle Amble is the dwelling of Jonathan Webber, Gent. (id est, in Saxon, a weaver, so called from his first ancestor, who was of that trade or occupation,) who married Williams, and giveth for his arms, Gules, on a chevron engrailed Or, charged with three annulets or round plates Azure, pierced in the middle, Or, between three round plates or platters, two in chief and one in the base, Argent. This family, as it branched downwards to the year 1640, had married with Mathew of the said parish of St. Kew, who gave for his arms, Sable, a crane Argent, legged and beaked Gules; also with Prewbody and Polwhele. This arms of Webber, consisting of four colours in its field and in its charge, is a ridiculous or contemptible bearing, as heralds tell us all such bearings are.

Note further that Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, A. D. 1602, tells us, p. 55, that John, the son of Thomas, living at Pendarves, took up the name of John Thomas Pendarves, and that Richard his younger brother took up the name of Richard Thomas Pendarves; and that Trengone, living at Nance, took up the name of Nance; and Bonython, living at Carclew in Milor, took up the name of Carclew; and for the same reason two brothers of the Thomases, living at Carnsew in Mabe, another at Roscrow in Milor or Gluvias, took up the names of Carnsew and Roscrow; as did also one of them living at Caweth in Mabe, take up the name of Caweth; and in further testimony thereof, give one and the same coat armour as Thomas did, viz. in a field Argent, a chevron between three talbots Sable, though Pendarves gives a different arms from that of Thomas. See Cambourne. Query, whether Carnsew of Bokelly does not derive his name from Carnsew? i. e. dry rock, in Mabe parish.

TONKIN.

This parish takes its present name from the patron saint Kew, which, says the author of the English Dictionary, 8vo. London, 1691, is certainly the same with Kebius the Briton. The impropriator of the sheaf and patron of the vicarage, is at present Robert Croker, Esq. by purchase from Mr. John Tregeagle. The incumbent, Mr. Edward Stephens, Mr. Croker’s nephew.

The ancient name of this parish was Lanow.

THE EDITOR.

If Saint Kebius is really the patron of this parish, and has given it his name somewhat disguised in the sound of St. Kew, he has the unusual felicity of being honoured in his own country. Doctor Borlase states, on the authority of Archbishop Usher, (Antiquities of Cornwall, 2d ed. p. 369.) “About the middle of the fourth century, Solomon Duke of Cornwall seems to have been a Christian; for his son Kebius was ordained a Bishop by Hilarius, Bishop of Poictiers, in France; and afterwards returned into his own country to exercise that high function.”

Saint Kebius, however, stands in the Roman Calendar on the 26th of April; but the parish feast is kept (I believe) on the nearest Sunday to the 25th of July, the day of Saint James the Apostle.

This parish is one of the most fertile in Cornwall, as well for corn as for grass. The church is situated in a pleasant valley; and near it is Skinden, for many years the residence of Mr. Joseph Bennet, a clergyman, but without preferment; and after his decease, of Mr. Clode, a native of Camelford, who having risen to the situation of a major in the East India Company’s army, returned with a fortune, and purchased this place; it now belongs to his sister Mrs. Braddon.

The principal seat in St. Kew was in former times Trewane, the residence of an ancient and opulent family the Nichollses. The house, partly converted into a farmhouse and partly in ruins, appears in a style of grandeur quite unusual in the houses of this county. It is believed to have been built before the Civil Wars. These four descents are recorded in the Heraldic Visitation of 1620.

John Nicholls――His son and heir, John Nicholls, married Catharine, daughter of John Trowbrigge, of Trowbridge in Devon.――Their son John Nicholls married to Elizabeth Fortescue, of Fallowpit in Devon;――and their son, the fourth John Nicholls, aged seven years, with other children. The granddaughter, or great-granddaughter, from these last recorded, became an heiress possessed of the whole property, and married Mr. Glynn, of Glynn; but being left a widow, and childless by the death of her only son, she devised her estate in certain portions, to Mr. Glynn, of Helston, with the whole of Trewane; and to Mr. Bennet her steward, father of the Rev. Joseph Bennet, who built or improved Skisden. The arms of Nicholls, of Trewane, were, Sable, three pheons Argent.

The rectorial tithes of this parish belonged to the priory of Plympton in Devonshire, and now belong to Molesworth of Pencarrow. The advowson has passed by purchase with their other property, from Mahon to Pitt and Glanville.

The church contains some monuments and painted glass. Mr. Hals has given the details of a law suit, which may tend to reconcile the admirers of olden times to those in which they live; nor can the Editor, who is the descendant and heir-at-law of Attorney-general Noye, and of his son Colonel Humphrey Noye, be supposed to entertain much respect for the memory of the Earl of Bath.

St. Kew measures 6343 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 8598 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1029 6 0
Population, {in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
{ 1095 1113 1218 1316
giving an increase of 20 per cent. in 30 years.
The Rev. John Pomeroy was presented to the vicarage
in 1777 by W. Pitt, Esq.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that the northern part resembles Endellion, and that the southern part is similar to Egloshale and Helland.

KILKHAMPTON.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north Morwinstow, west St. George’s channel, south Stratton and Poughill, east part of the county of Devon. For the modern name, it is derived from the church, compound of Saxon-British Kirk or Kilk-hampton, i. e. church home or habitation town, answerable to church town in English. In the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. (1087), this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Orcett, of which more under. In the Inquisition made into the value of Cornish Benefices, in decanatu de Major Triggshire, ecclesia de Kilkhampton was rated xiiii_l._ xiii_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, 26_l._ 3_s._ 10½_d._; the patronage in the Earl of Bath; the incumbent Corringdon; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 352_l._ 10_s._

Stowe for many ages hath been the seat of that famous and knightly family now Earls of Bath.

[Mr. Hals goes on with a long account of this family in the early Norman times, apparently without much authority, and quite unconnected with Cornwall.

I shall therefore select particular passages, more especially as a genealogy in sufficient detail is given by Mr. Lysons.]

It appears that the Grenvilles settled near Bideford, where they are stated to have held knights’ fees under the Crown, and also under the honour of Gloucester; and Sir Theobald Grenville in the latter part of the reign of King Edward the Third, was the principal founder and promoter of building the bridge at Bideford; John Grandison was then Lord Bishop of Exeter, who caused it to be proclaimed in his Cathedral, and throughout all other churches in Devon and Cornwall, that all persons whatsoever that would promote or encourage such a work should partake of all spiritual blessings for ever. Sir Richard Gurnard or Gurney was then parish priest of Bideford, who it seems was admonished in his sleep to undertake this work, as Bishop Bronscomb was to build Glasney College in Cornwall; the Goldneys, Octanetts, and most other families of note in Cornwall and Devon (as Risdon’s Manuscript informs us) were benefactors to this work, which bridge was finished tempore Richard II., assisted by a bull of indulgencies from Rome.

John Grenvill of Bideford, that married Burghert, was the first Sheriff of Devon of this family, 15 Richard II., son of Sir Theobald. Thomas Grenvill, that married Gilbert, was the first Sheriff of Cornwall of this family, 21 Edward IV., 1480, also the first of Henry VII., 1485, and probably the first of those gentlemen that settled at Stowe, for at such time as he was Sheriff of Cornwall, 21 Edward IV., one George Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon.

One Robert Grenvill was Sheriff of Cornwall the 2nd, 10th, and 14th Henry VIII. Richard Grenvill was Sheriff of Cornwall 36 Henry VIII. Richard Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon 18 of Elizabeth. Bernard Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon 38 of Elizabeth.

Roger, younger son of Sir Richard Grenvill that married Bonvill of Killigarth, who in the Mary Rose frigate, 37 Henry VIII., 1545, commanded by Sir George Carew, Knight, with more than four hundred men besides, after they had for several days fought the French fleet off the Isle of Wight under the command of the Lord Dambolt, Admiral of France, with great victory and success, unfortunately afterwards as the said ship passed out of the harbour of Portsmouth into the sea, by the neglect and carelessness of the gunner and mariners, one of which had left the cannon or ordnance untrigged or chained, and the latter having left the under port or gun-holes open, by means whereof, when the ship turned upon her lee, the guns fell all on that side of the ship and bore the port-holes under water, so that the sea in an instant abundantly flowing in through those port-holes filled her with water, whereof she sunk into the deep (in the sight of King Henry himself), whereby the captain and all his men were suddenly and violently drowned in the sea.

Of his father, Sir Richard Grenvill, the elder, thus speaks Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, “he interlaced his home magistracy with martial employments abroad, whereof the King testified his good liking by his liberality.” Again, his son, the second Sir Richard, after his travel and following the wars under the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, for which his name is recorded by sundry foreign writers, and his undertaking to people Virginia and Ireland, made so glorious a conclusion in her Majesty’s ship the Revenge, of which he had charge as Captain, and of the whole fleet as Vice-Admiral, that it seemed thereby, when he found none other to compare withal in his life, he strived through a virtuous envy to exceed it in his death; a victorious loss for the realm, and of which the Spaniard may say, with Pyrrhus, that many such conquests would beget his utter overthrow. Lastly, his son John took hold of every martial occasion that was ministered him, until, in service against her Highness’ enemies, under the command of Sir Walter Raleigh, the ocean became his bed of honour. Thus Mr. Carew, page 62. See also Baker’s Chronicle in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Sir Beville Grenvill, son of Bernard, by Beville’s heir of Killigarth in Talland, was a gentleman of such urbanity, valour, and integrity in those parts, that my commendations cannot make the least addition thereto, nor I think that of a more florid or abler pen; who, as his duty obliged, engaged himself, his life and fortune, on the part and behalf of King Charles I.; and being first a horse Colonel in the militia for this County, was afterwards obliged to head or lead those soldiers he had raised in Cornwall, by virtue of the King’s Commission, under command of Sir Ralph Hopton, Knight, his General in the west, from Launceston into Somersetshire, at a place called Lansdowne, five miles from Bristol, where Hopton with the King’s army met and gave battle to the Parliament forces under command of Sir William Waller; in which engagement Sir Beville Grenvill, Knight, charging boldly in the head of his troop, was unfortunately slain, the 5th of July 1643.

Orcot, now Orchard, in this parish, was the jurisdiction under which Kilkhampton was taxed in Domesday Roll, 1087; from which place, I take it, was denominated the family surnamed de Orchard, now in possession thereof; particularly Charles Orchard, gentleman, steward to Sir John Rolle of Stevenston. This gentleman was sheriff of Cornwall about the year 1703.

Mr. Hals’ concluding part of this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has merely copied from Mr. Hals.

THE EDITOR.

The following extract from Mr. Lysons’s Cornwall is the best account that the Editor can give of the distinguished family of Grenville.

The manor of Kilkhampton is supposed to have belonged to the Grenville family from nearly the time of the Conquest; Dugdale says, that they were seated here in the reign of William Rufus. Richard de Grenville, who came over with William the Conqueror, is said in the pedigrees of the family to have been a younger brother of Robert Fitzhamon, Earl of Carbill, Lord of Thurigny and Grenville, in France and Normandy, and to have been lineally descended from Rollo, Duke of Normandy. It is on record that Richard de Grenville held certain knights’ fees at Bideford, in Devonshire, in the reign of Henry II. We have not found any record of the Grenville possessions at Kilkhampton of an earlier date than the _quo warranto_ roll before mentioned; but it appears that it had at that time been long in the family: they continued to reside at Stowe, in this parish, for many generations, and frequently served the office of sheriff for the county. William Grenville, or Grenfield (as the name was at that early period generally written), son of Sir Theobald, became archbishop of York, and distinguished himself as an able statesman: he died in 1315. Sir Richard Grenville, son of Roger, (who was himself a captain in the navy, and lost his life, as Carew tells us, in the unfortunate Mary-Rose) was a celebrated military and naval commander in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He first distinguished himself in the wars under the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, for which his name is recorded by several foreign writers. In the year 1591, being then Vice-Admiral of England, he was sent in the Revenge, with a squadron of seven ships, to intercept the Spanish galleons; when, falling in with the enemy’s fleet, consisting of fifty-two sail, near the Terceira Islands, he repulsed them fifteen times in a continued fight, till his powder was all spent; his ship, which sunk before it arrived in port, was reduced to a hulk, and himself covered with wounds, of which he died two days afterwards, on board the vessel of the Spanish commander. Sir Richard’s grandson was the brave and loyal Sir Beville Grenville. This distinguished officer was one of king Charles’s generals in the West, and shared the glories of the successful compaign in Cornwall, in the autumn of 1642; in the summer of the following year he lost his life at the battle of Lansdowne, near Bath. Sir Richard Grenville, who had been created a Baronet in 1631, was, after his brother’s death, made General of all the King’s forces in the West. He was an active and zealous officer, and so particularly obnoxious to the Parliamentary party, that he was perpetually the subject of abuse to their journalists, who seldom spoke of him but by the appellation of _Skellum_ Grenville. During the dissensions between the civil power and the military in 1645, Sir Richard Grenville was superseded and imprisoned by the advice of Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon. That noble author gives a very unamiable character of Sir Richard, who is represented as having been in the highest degree oppressive, tyrannical, and unprincipled; but other writers attribute much of this to the personal enmity which subsisted between them. Sir Richard Grenville died, in reduced circumstances, at Ghent, in the year 1658, leaving no male issue; the title became extinct. Sir John Grenville, son of the brave Sir Beville, succeeded to the Kilkhampton estates: at a very early age he had a command in his father’s regiment, and was left for dead in the field at Tewkesbury. He was appointed Governor of Scilly Islands when they revolted from the Parliament, and was one of the chief instruments in effecting the restoration of King Charles II. He gave the living of Kilkhampton to Nicholas Monk, and employed him to influence his brother (the General) in favour of the exiled Monarch; having succeeded in his negociations, he had the satisfaction of being the bearer of the King’s letters to General Monk and to the Parliament. In April 1661 Sir John Grenville was created Lord Grenville of Kilkhampton and Bideford, Viscount Lansdowne, and Earl of Bath. On the death of his grandson, under age, in 1711, these titles became extinct; and the Kilkhampton estates passed to his aunt and coheiress Grace Grenville, who married George Lord Carteret, and was afterwards (being then a widow) by King George the First created Countess of Granville, with remainder to her son John, who inherited that title and the Kilkhampton estate. On the death of Robert the second Earl of Granville, in 1776. that title became extinct, and the Kilkhampton estate passed, under his will, to his nephew Henry Frederick Thynne, second son of Lord Viscount Weymouth, who had married his sister Louisa. Mr. Thynne was created Lord Carteret in 1784, and is the present possessor of Kilkhampton; the remainder of which, as well as the title of Carteret, is vested in Lord George Thynne, second son of the Marquis of Bath.

John Grenville, Earl of Bath, in the reign of Charles II. built a magnificient mansion at Stowe in this parish, of which scarcely a vestige remains. It stood on an eminence, overlooking a well-wooded valley; but not a tree near it, says Dr. Borlase, to shelter it from the north-west. That writer speaks of it as by far the noblest house in the west of England, and says that the kitchen-offices, fitted up for a dwelling-house, made no contemptible figure. It is a singular circumstance, that the cedar wainscot which had been brought out of a Spanish prize, and used by the Earl of Bath for fitting up the chapel in this mansion, was purchased by Lord Cobham at the time of its demolition (the house being then sold piecemeal), and applied to the same purpose at Stowe, the magnificent seat of the noble family of Grenville in Buckinghamshire, where it still remains. Defoe, in his Tour through Great Britain, speaking of Stowe in Cornwall, says that the carving of the chapel was the work of Michael Chuke, and not inferior to Gibbons.

Ilcombe, now a farm-house belonging to Lord Carteret, is described by Norden as the residence of a younger branch of the Grenvilles.

Alderscombe, formerly a seat of the Orchards, is the property of the Rev. Thomas Hooper Morrison, nephew of the late Paul Orchard, Esq. of Hartland Abbey.

Elmsworthy, some time a seat of the Westlakes, is now a farm house, the property of Mr. Galsworthy, of Hartland. The last of the Westlakes died in very indigent circumstances about the year 1772, having been reduced to the situation of a parish pauper. It is a singular circumstance, that he was twice pricked for Sheriff after he was an inhabitant of the poor-house. In the parish church are monuments of the Grenville family, and memorials of the Orchards of Alderscombe, the Westlakes of Elmsworthy, and the Waddons of Tonacombe in Morwinstow. On the monument of Sir Beville Grenville, which is surrounded by military trophies, is the following inscription: “Here lyes all that was mortal of the most noble and truly valiant Sir Beville Grenville, of Stowe in the county of Cornwall, Earl of Corbill and Lord of Thorigny and Granville in France and Normandy, descended in a direct line from Robert, second son of the warlike Rollo, first Duke of Normandy; who, after having obtained divers signal victories over the Rebels in the West, was at length slain with many wounds at the battle of Lansdowne July 5, 1643. He married the most virtuous lady, Grace, daughter of Sir George Smith, of the county of Devon, by whom he had many sons, eminent for their loyalty and firm adherence to the Crown and Church; and several daughters, remarkable examples of true piety. He was indeed an excellent person, whose activity, interest, and reputation was the foundation of what had been done in Cornwall, and his temper and affection so public that no accident which happened could make any impressions on him, and his example kept others from taking any thing ill, or at least seeming to do so; in a word, a brighter courage and a gentler disposition were never married together to make the most cheerful and innocent conversation. Vide Lord Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion.

“To the immortal memory of his renowned grandfather this monument was erected by the Right Honorable George Lord Lansdowne, Treasurer of the Household to Queen Anne, and one of Her Majesty’s most Honorable Privy Council, &c. in the year 1714.

“Thus slain thy valiant ancestor did lye,
When his one bark a navy did defy,
When now encompass’d round the victor stood,
And bath’d his pinnace in his conquering blood,
’Till, all his purple current dried and spent,
He fell, and made the waves his monument.
Where shall the next famed Grenville’s ashes stand?
Thy grandsire fills the seas, and thou the land.
MARTIN LLEWELLIN.”
Vide Oxford University Verses, printed 1643.

Sir Beville Granville was forty-eight years of age at the time of his death, as appears by the following record of his birth in the parish register at Kilkhampton:

“Bevell, the sonne of the worshipful Bernarde Greynville, Esquire, was borne and baptized at Brinn in Cornwall, Ao. Dni. 1595.”

In the margin, “Marche 1595, borne the 23d day, baptized the 25th day of Marche.”

His brother Sir Richard’s baptism is thus entered, “Richard, the son of Barnard Granevile, Esq. baptized 26 June 1600.”

Lord Carteret is patron of the rectory of Kilkhampton. In the registers of the see of Exeter, mention is made of a chapel at Brightley in this parish, dedicated to St. Catharine.――Thus far from Mr. Lysons.

All the accounts and traditions of Sir Beville Granville represent him as a hero bordering on romance, as the rival of Sir Philip Sidney, and of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He fell, however, into all the political errors of that age, by attaching himself to the existing form of Government, not because it appeared, on the whole, to prove most conducive to human happiness, but from some fanciful, superstitious, or blasphemous analogy it was supposed to bear with the Divine administration of the universe. Then he concurred with those who thought it expedient and right to destroy the resemblance, by limiting that which, on the supposition, should exist without restraint or control; and entertaining that opinion, he nevertheless endeavoured to prove by arguments, and still more powerfully by his arms at Stratton and at Bath, that no resistance could in any case be lawfully exercised against the individual who happened to hold the chief magistracy from the accident of his birth. Such glaring inconsistencies were, however, almost obscured by the splendour of undaunted courage, of disinterested generosity, and, by adherence to principles honestly entertained, however erroneous or contradictory.

It would be unfair to the memory of Sir Beville Granville not to insert his letter to Sir John Trelawny, recently printed in the Memorials of John Hampden, 2 vols. 8vo., by George Grenville Nugent Temple, Lord Nugent, vol. 2, p. 195.

Most Honourable Sir,

I have in many kinds had trial of your nobleness, but in none
more than in this singular expression of your kind care and love.
I give also your excellent Lady humble thanks for respect unto my
poor Woman, who hath been long a faithful much obliged servant of
your Ladyes. But Sir! for my journey, it is fixed. I cannot
contain myself within my doors, when the King of England’s
standard waves in the field upon so just occasion. The cause
being such as must make all those that die in it little inferior
to martyrs. And for my own part, I desire to acquire an honest
name, or an honourable grave. I never loved my life or ease so
much as to shun such an occasion; which if I should, I were
unworthy of the profession I have held, or to succeed those
ancestors of mine, who have so many of them in several ages
sacrificed their lives for their country. Sir, the barbarous and
implacable enemy, notwithstanding His Majesty’s gracious
proceedings with them, do continue their insolences and rebellion
in the highest degree, and are united in a body of great
strength; so as you may expect, if they be not prevented and
mastered near their own homes, they will be troublesome in yours,
and in the remotest places ere long.

I am not without the consideration, as you lovingly advise, of my
wife and family; and as for her, I must acknowledge, she hath
ever drawn so evenly in the yoke with me, as she hath never prest
before, or hung behind me, nor ever opposed or resisted my will.
And yet truly I have not, in this or any thing else, endeavoured
to walk in the way of power with her, but of reason; and though
her love will submit to either, yet truly my respect will not
suffer me to urge her with power, unless I can convince with
reason. So much for that, whereof I am willing to be accomptable
unto so good a friend.

I have no suit unto you in mine own behalf, but for your prayers
and good wishes; and that if I live to come home again, you would
please to continue me in the number of your servants.

I shall give a true relation unto my very noble friend Mr. Moyle,
of your and his Aunt’s loving respects to him, which he hath good
reason to be thankful for. And so I beseech God to send you and
your noble family all health and happiness, and while I live I
am, Sir,

Your unfeigned loving and faithful servant,
BEVILLE GRANVILLE.

With the death of Sir Beville Granville, in the moment of victory at Lansdown, the splendour of this family seems to have fallen under a temporary eclipse.

His brother is represented by Hyde, the partial historian of these civil wars, as unworthy of the character supposed to distinguish Cavaliers.

John Grenville, his eldest son, created Earl of Bath, appears to have been rapacious and oppressive.

But all this was amply compensated by the subsequent conduct of his son and heir Charles Grenville, who served with honour in the continental wars, and participated with John Sobieski in the preservation of Christendom under the walls of Vienna in 1683.

George Grenville, son of Barnard Grenville, brother to the first Earl of Bath, is known to every one by his literary attainments and by his talents for poetry. This gentleman had the honour of being elected member for the county of Cornwall, with Mr. John Trevanion, after the great contest of 1710, amidst shouts of

Grenville and Trevanion as sound as a Bell,
For the Queen, the Church, and Sacheverel:

In the following year an hereditary seat in Parliament was bestowed on him, with the appellation of Lord Lansdown, and he was succeeded in the representation of Cornwall by Sir Richard Vyvyan.

Lord Lansdown suffered imprisonment after the accession of George I. and retired from public life. His genuine works in prose and verse were collected in 2 vols. 4to., London 1732. He died, sine prole, in 1734.

The old house at Stowe was taken down by John Grenville the first Earl of Bath, and a superb mansion erected in its place, partly, as it is said, at the national expense; having the internal decorations suited to the size and magnificence of the exterior; but soon after the decease of his grandson in 1711, when the property passed into a female line, this house was taken down and the materials of all kinds sold.

It used to be said that almost every gentleman’s seat in Cornwall had received embellishments from Stowe. Mr. Prideaux’ house at Padstow received an entire staircase, and some carved wainscot has, by a singular fate, found its way to Stowe, in Buckinghamshire.

Alderscombe, in this parish, was for many years held on lease for lives by the family of Cottell.

Mr. Alexander Cottell, about the year 1720, having served his clerkship in Penzance, as an attorney, married Sarah Phillips, one of the daughters of Mr. Samuel Phillips, of Pendrea. There is a monument to her memory in the church, stating her decease on the 7th of August, 1727, in her thirtieth year, with the arms of Cottell, Or, a bend Gu. This gentleman married again and dissipated his whole property.

The church is one of the finest in Cornwall, containing splendid monuments; and under, is a most spacious vault belonging to the Glanville family.

It is perhaps worth noticing that here, while he served the curacy, Mr. Hervey composed his Meditations among the Tombs.

Kilkhampton measures 7,234 statute acres.

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3,959 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 792 5 0
Population, { in 1801,| in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 808 | 852 | 1,024 | 1,126
giving an increase of 39 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. John Davis, presented by
Lord Carteret in 1810.

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.

Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that Kilkhampton is entirely situated on the dunstone, which forms the substratum throughout the north-eastern part of Cornwall.

LADOCK, COMMONLY PRONOUNCED LASSICK.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Ladock is in the hundred of Powder, and confines on the west to St. Erme, on the north to St. Enodor, on the east to St. Stephan’s in Branwell, on the south to St. Probus.

This parish takes its name from Saint Ladoca, whom I take to be an Irish Saint; and probably she came over with St. Breage.

This parish is a rectory, valued in the King’s Books at £18. The patronage in Kelland Courtenay, and Thomas Pitt, Esqrs. Governor Pitt, grandfather of Mr. Thomas Pitt, purchased this alternate right of the Lady Mahon, together with all the Mahon property in Cornwall. The incumbent Mr. Wm. Wood.

The manor of Nansoath, in this parish, signifies the fat (i. e. fertile) valley, the name being compounded of nans, a valley, and soath or soa, fat, tallow, &c.

To the north of Nansoath is Hay. This was the seat of the Randyls, and was sold to Mr. William Tregea, of Lambrigan, who did not keep it long, but parted with it to Richard Bone, Gent. who dying without being ever married, left it by will, with several other estates, to his kinsman Richard Bone, Gent. who now lives there, and hath married Anne, the daughter of Mr. John Andrew, of Trethurfe, by whom he has issue. Mr. Randyll’s arms were, Gules, on a cross Argent, three mullets pierced Sable. Mr. Bone’s are, Ermine, a fess indented Sable.

Joining with Hay is Boswaydel, usually called Boswidle, which I take to signify a house in an open place, or one easy to be seen from.

The manor of Bedocke or Bessake. Francis Tregian, Esq. forfeited this manor, with his other lands (see Probus). To the east of this is the church and rectory house; and the manor of Trethurfe or Tretherf. This was anciently, perhaps before the Norman Conquest, the seat of a very eminent family of the same name, who gave for their arms, Azure, a buck’s head cabouched Argent. John Tretherfe was one of the Knights returned to Parliament for this county in the 15th year of King Henry VI. Reginald Trethurf married Margery, the second daughter and coheir of John St. Aubyn, Esq. by Catharine his wife, the daughter and heir of Sir Robert Challons, of Challons Legh in Devonshire, as appears by a bill in the Treasury, of 7 Henry VI.

THE EDITOR.

In the Taxation of Ecclesiastical Benefices by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, under the authority of Pope Nicholas, will be found:

Taxatio. Decima.
Ecclesia de Sancto Ladoca £6 0 0 0 12 0
In Wolsey’s Valuation, Ladocke 18 0 0 1 16 0

Besides the church town there is one considerable village in this parish called Bedock or Besock, after the manor of which it forms a part.

Mr. Pitt not only acquired the alternate presentation to this rectory by purchase from the family of Mahon, as is stated by Mr. Tonkin, but also the manor of Ladock, which had previously belonged to the Carminows and Courtenays. The barton of Trethurfe has passed by the heiresses of Kelland Courtenay to the families of Poyntz and Boyle. The barton of Nansaugh is the property and the residence of Mr. Andrews.

Hay, noticed by Mr. Tonkin as belonging to Mr. Richard Bone, came by purchase to the Hearles of Penryn, and in the division of the lands belonging to that family, it has fallen to Mrs. Stephens, of Tregenna.

The manor of Bessake was acquired by Mr. Francis Tregian, son of the gentleman from whom it had been seized, but soon afterwards it passed by sale to the Arundells, from them by gift to the Moncktons, who have added the name of Arundell; and finally Robert Monckton Arundell, Viscount Galway, sold it in 1780 to the late Sir Christopher Hawkins.

The Rev. John Eliot, rector of this parish, and of Truro, who died in 1760, founded two exhibitions at Exeter College for young men from Truro school.

The vale, extending from north to south quite across this parish, is one of the most beautiful in Cornwall: it was, however, little known beyond the immediate neighbourhood, till the line of road forming the great communication from Falmouth, and the whole western part of the county, with London, was carried through it in the year 1830. The church and tower, which are handsome in themselves, stand on a commanding situation, and are seen to great advantage from the new road.

Ladock measures 4,859 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 4,566 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 310 2 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 542 | 651 | 806[8] | 761
giving an increase of 40 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is entirely situated on rocks belonging to the slate series; its northern corner, however, approaches very near to the boundary of the granite.

Its different kinds of slates are the same as those of the adjacent parishes of St. Enoder and St. Erme; the rocks of its northern and eastern boundaries resembling those of St. Enoder, the southern part corresponding to those of St. Erme.

Most of the vallies have been excavated for stream tin, and these have yielded some of the largest pieces of gold that have been found in Cornwall.

[8] This parish presents a very singular anomaly in respect
to its Population Return. It would obviously occur that the
8 might possibly have stood for a 7 in the place of hundreds
in the return for 1821; but that return at large, as printed
by the House of Commons, has

Families Families Other Males. Females. In all.
employed in employed in families.
Agriculture. Trades, &c.
90 19 15 418 388 806

This gives however 6½ for each family.

If the rate of increase had continued for the last ten
years, as it did in the former twenty, the final number
would have been 983, with an increase at the rate of 81 per
cent. in 30 years.

LAMORAN.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Lamoran is in the hundred of Powder, and hath on the west and north St. Michael Penkivell; on the east Cornelly; on the south the river Fale, between it and Ruan Lanyhorn.

The right name of this parish is Lan Morun, the church of St. Morun, to whom it is dedicated; but as to who St. Morun was I must plead ignorance, except that I believe him to have been one of those who came from Ireland in the fifth century.

This parish is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book at £6. The patronage is in Sir John Molesworth, in right of the manor of Lanmoran, to which it belongs.

The incumbent Mr. Samuel Ley.

This little parish hath but one manor in it, and that is called by its own name.

THE EDITOR.

In the valuation of Pope Nicholas the taxation is £1, the tenths nothing.

This parish has but two villages, the Church Town and Tregenna.

The manor of Lamoran, including the whole parish, has passed through various families; Halep and Trevenor, from that family by coheiresses to Roscarrack and Chamond, then Vermans and Sparks, and Molesworths, from whom by purchase, it passed to Boscawen. The advowson is an appendage to the manor.

The church is said to be most curiously situated on the edge of the river, and with a tower more venerable than itself, at a certain distance from it.

The church has some monuments to the Vermans. Their old manor house is fallen into decay.

This parish measures 1130 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 895 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 25 3 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 78 | 94 | 93 | 96
giving an increase of 23 per cent. in 30 years.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The geology of this little parish is precisely the same as that of Filley, of the lower part of Kea, and of other parishes situated around the numerous creeks communicating with Falmouth harbour.

Present Rector, the Rev. William Curgerven, presented in 1803 by the Earl of Falmouth.

LENDAWEDNACK, OR LANDEWEDNACK.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Landawednack lies in that part of the hundred of Kerrier which is called Meneage. It hath to the west, south, and east, the English Channel, to the north Ruan Major and Grade.

The name signifies the church of St. Wednack, or Wynnock; (although Mr. Carew, I know not on what authority, calls it St. Landy,) to whom is likewise dedicated Towednack, in the hundred of Penwith, and St. Winnow. It is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book at £11. 16_s._ 8_d._ The patronage in the heirs of George Robinson, Esq.

The manor of Lizard, so called from the famous Point of that name, which is a part of it. This manor was one of those given to the Earl of Morton.

THE EDITOR.

This parish has but two villages. The Church Town and an assemblage of small houses near the Point, and called Lizard, or Lizard Town.

Mr. Lysons says, that the very extensive manor of Tretheves, Lucies, and Rosswick, extends over a great part of this parish, and into Ruan Minor and Grade: it belonged to the Carminows, then to the Reskymers, and to Robinson, by whom it was sold in 1768 to Mr. Thomas Fonnereau, after whose death it was purchased by the late Sir Christopher Hawkins.

Mr. Fonnereau came into Cornwall as an adventurer, and chiefly for the purpose of constructing Lighthouses on the Lizard Point, under one of the improvident grants which were frequently made in those times.

A single lighthouse stands on St. Agnes Island at Scilly, and three, forming a triangle, on the rocks of Guernsey. Two towers were therefore built on the Lizard, that each Point might be distinct from the others, and experience has proved their utility to be very great. For many years after their construction the lights consisted of coal fires in each lantern, after the manner of a smith’s forge, and urged in a similar way by bellows; but the blowing could not be always maintained, and when that had been intermitted for a short time the lights nearly disappeared.

Since the expiration of the grant made to the first projector, the affairs have been under the intelligent, scientific, and liberal management of the Trinity House. They have substituted large Argand lamps, each placed in the focus of a parabolic mirror, plated with burnished silver; and these cast a continued and steady light, visible in clear weather to the extremity of the horizon.

Latitude of the Lizard flagstaff 49° 57′ 55″.8; longitude west from Greenwich 5° 11′ 17″.7. From the Trigonometrical Survey.

In Mr. Lax’s Table, the Western Light House is stated to have latitude 49° 57′ 44″, and longitude 5° 11′ 5″.

This parish measures 1,843 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1,187 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 126 4 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 244 | 303 | 387 | 406
giving an increase of 66 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. H. T. Coulson, presented in
1827 by Henry Coulson, Esq.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

By far the greater part of this parish is composed of serpentine, which is generally of the red variety, with dark-coloured and shining scales of diallage.

South of a line drawn east and west, a little north of the church, across the peninsula of the Lizard, the rocks are for the most part schistose, and are covered with a deep soil, which is exceedingly productive.

The cliffs around this part of the parish are very interesting, and if minutely scrutinized would probably throw some additional light on the nature and position of the serpentine. To this end it would be necessary to make the survey from the sea, which could only be effected occasionally, and under very favourable circumstances.

At Perranbonse Cove, near the church, the slate is a variety of schistose diallage rock, such as has been already described at Cadgwith.

Near the lighthouses the cliff is formed of a glossy decomposing talcose slate, which has been called by some geologists Micaceous schist, but talc appears to be the characteristic mineral, as it is present in a distinct form throughout the veins, with nodules of quartz abounding in this slate.

At Hensall Cove the blue slate is much intermixed with calcareous spar in various forms, resembling the slate adjoining the calc shists, and blue limestones at Veryan, Padstow, and some other parts of Cornwall.

* * * * *

The Editor would take the liberty of adding that in this parish veins of steatite run through the serpentine formation; and that considerable quantities have been raised by the late Mr. Wedgwood from some veins larger than the others, and near the cliff. The soft and unctuous qualities of this substance gave it the popular name of soap rock. Thin veins of native copper traverse also the serpentine formation; but never in sufficient quantities to bear the expense of mining. In some places specimens of semitransparent serpentine are found shot through by branches of native copper, forming what has been termed dendrites.

At Kynans Cove the assemblage of rocks possesses such an extraordinary degree of beauty and magnificence as to render it one of the spots most worthy of attention on the whole coast. The interest excited by the general effect is heightened, on a more close inspection, by natural caverns, and the intervals between the rocks are perpetually varied in their appearance by the swell and by the subsidence of waves from the sea.

This spot possesses further interest to a botanist by the production of some rare plants. The asparagus officinalis, the beta maritima, the carduus acoulis, rare in Cornwall, and some others.

Doctor Borlase records some instances of great longevity in this parish, but such generally occur in all dry and unconfined districts, more especially when they are somewhat elevated above the ordinary level of alluvial countries.

* * * * *

A manufactory has been recently established for producing ornamented trifles from the beautifully coloured and variegated serpentine of this district, and with so much success that vases have been turned in lathes, exceeding a foot in height, and they hope to polish chimney-pieces on a large scale.

LANDRAKE.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this perish is lost.

TONKIN.

Landrake is situate in the hundred of East, and hath to the west St. Germans; to the north Quethiock; to the east Pillaton, Botus Fleming and St. Stephan’s; to the south St. Erney.