Chapter XVIII: Part V (8)

Lanivet Hill is covered with large boulders and projecting torrs of massive rock, which have the appearance of granite; but on examination it proves to be a felspar rock. The greater part of this hill is composed of lamellar and slatey varieties of the same kind of rock, as may be seen in the rubbish of the numerous shafts that occur on the side of this hill. On the road to Bodmin, near the boundary of the parish, is a very interesting elvan course. The upper part of it is completely decomposed, resembling a mass of prepared China clay; the perfect rock is a greenish yellow compact felspar, with disseminated grains of quartz; it bears the same relation to the porcelainous granite of this and of the adjoining parishes, that the hard porphyritic elvans do to the common Cornish granite, near which they generally occur.

LANLIVERY.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Lanlivery is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath to the west Luxilian, to the north Lanivet and Lanhidrock; to the east Lestwithiel and the river Fowey; between it and St. Winnow, to the south, Tywardreth and Golant.

The name Lanlivery signifies the church of bucks; for livrou in Cornish is the plural of levar, or livar, a buck; but for what reason I cannot so much as guess. This parish is sometimes called Lanvorch, the church of St. Vorch, to whom it is dedicated.

It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at 13_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ The patron, Walter Kendall, of Pelyn, Esq.; the incumbent, his father, Mr. Archdeacon Nicholas Kendall.

In 1291, the 20th of Edw. I. this church was valued at 9_l._ 11_s._ 8_d._ for the rectory, and the vicarage at 15_s._ being the appropriate to the priory of Trewardreath.

Since the writing of the above I have thought upon another etymology, which I believe to be the true one; that this name is no other than a softening of Lan-le-Vorch, St. Vorch’s church-place, which is a very easy and natural alteration.

THE EDITOR.

The church and town of Llanlivery are very conspicuous objects for miles round, and especially from the Plymouth or great southern road.

The church contains various monuments to the family of Kendall. This family were originally of Treworgy, in the parish of Dulo, but have long resided at Pelyn, in this parish. The house is beautifully situated in a small wooded valley, joining in a transverse course the river Fowey, about a mile below Lestwithiel. There appears to be a vague tradition of some religious establishment having existed here, dedicated to St. Chad, or Ceada, the patron of Lichfield, Worcester, and Shrewsbury. No trace, however, can be found of any such establishment; and it is probable that these tales frequently rest on no more solid foundation that the casual residence of some monk or anchorite, or perhaps on the dedication of a domestic chapel. There still exists at Pelin a small summer house, considered as under the protection of this saint; and an inscription records the festivities and friendly meetings of four gentlemen annually on the 2d of March, to commemorate the day, when, according to the legend, this Saint expired amid a company of angels, singing hymns for the solace of his dying moments, and for joy of such an accession to the heavenly mansions.

The inscription is as follows, under a portrait of the Saint:

Friend, within these walls St. Chad you see,
A place made sacred to his memory;
For here four friends did meet upon this day,
And heads, and hands, and hearts together lay;
And never dying friendship’s knot to tye,
And call this place St. Chad’s Society.
March 2, 1694.

The glory of this parish, however, is Restormel Castle, but these buildings have been so amply described by almost every writer on Cornish antiquities, that it would be idle to repeat what has been so often done. It presents one of the finest objects in the whole country.

Richard, King of the Romans, is believed to have kept court here, and in his more commodious habitation at Lestwithiel, and he was the last who exercised even the semblance of independent authority. The earldom and dukedom of Cornwall have, since his time, done no more than afford a revenue and bestow a name, like the shadows of a shade, with which the private gentlemen, holding hereditary seats in Parliament at the present time, continue to decorate themselves, by assuming the verbal denominations of offices extinct above three centuries, and which habit alone enables us to pronounce, as applicable to them, without a smile; but which offices, like the ancient earldom of Cornwall, while they had any existence, conferred real feudal sovereignty, proportionate to their different degrees.

The palace at Lestwithiel has degenerated into a prison for the stannary courts; and that town no longer witnessing the county election, nor holding any of its own, may still boast of its being in some degree at the head of a duchy jurisdiction.

There is a handsome seat almost at the foot of Restormel Hill now called, Restormel, but formerly Trinity. It seems to have been built after leases of the park were granted by the Crown. It has passed through various hands, and finally into those of the Edgecumbe family, who have been supposed desirous, up to very recent times, of acquiring all species of property, and, most of all, gentlemen’s residences, situated near Lestwithiel.

The late Mr. Francis Gregor lived here in 1790, when he was first elected member for the county, and it is at present held under Lord Mount Edgecumbe by Mr. Francis Hext, a gentleman of ancient family and ample fortune, and universally esteemed.

This parish measures 5,951 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5,232 0 0
Poor Rates in 1831 622 17 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 778 | 965 | 1,318 | 1,687
giving an increase of 117 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Nicholas Kendall, instituted in
1815.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

A gently undulating line, drawn north and south through this parish, a little to the eastward of the church, would divide it into two parts; of which, the western is the larger, and rests entirely on granite; the eastern division on schistose rock. Both of which exactly resemble those of St. Blazey, already described.

LANREATH.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Lanreath is situate in the hundred of West, and hath to the west St. Veep, to the east Duloe, to the south Pelynt. This parish, in the taxation of Pope Nicholas, is called Lanraithow, by Mr. Carew Lanrethon, and the same in the King’s book.

Rhaith is in old British a law; Rhaithow the law; so that it signifieth the church of laws, or of the laws, according to this etymology, which I will not venture to say is a true one, but it is the best that I can give at present.

This church is a rectory, valued in the King’s book at 32_l._ The presentation in John Francis Buller, Esq. by purchase from the late Charles Grills, Esq. The incumbent, Mr. Richard Grills, only brother of the late patron.[10]

As I take Court to be the head place of this manor, from whence it is so called, to have been the chief seat of these Seriseauxes, I shall here insert what I find of them.

Richard de Seriseaux or Cereseaux, junior, was one of the men-at-arms who had 40_l._ in rent of lands 17th Edward II. (Carew, p. 139, Lord Dunstanville’s edition).

Richard de Cereseaux, I suppose father to the former, was one of those that had 20_l._ per annum of lands or rent, or more, 25 Edward I., and was summoned to attend the King, and to go into parts beyond sea.

Richard Sargeaux, son, I believe, of the former, was Sheriff of this county the 12th of Richard II. A.D. 1389. This I take to be the same person with that Richard de Seriseaux who sold his estate in the 3d of Henry IV. He held lands also in Kelland and Kilkoid in the hundred of Trigg. Carew, p. 126.[11]

This Sir Richard Ceriseaux or Sergieaux, for he was knighted, had one only daughter and heiress, called Alice, who first was married to Sir Guy St. Alban, Knt. and secondly, to Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford; and, thirdly, to Sir Nicholas Throwley, Knt. By the first she had issue; and the last Earl of Oxford of the Veres, Aubrey de Vere, who died in 1702, quartered her arms, Argent, a saltire Sable, between twelve cherries slipped Proper; from whence I guess that Sergiaux was only by way of abbreviation, their coat alluding to his name, _cerise_ being in French a cherry. This Sir Richard Ceriseaux must have lived to a great age, since his great-grandson, Geffrey St. Aubin, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall but ten years after him, in 22d Richard II. A.D. 1399, or, I rather suppose, that this Sir Richard Ceriseaux may have left a son, who was the Sheriff, and that upon his death, without issue, Alice his sister became the heir.

THE EDITOR.

It appears from Mr. Lysons’s researches, that the manor of Lanreath, with the barton of Court, passed from the Serjeaux to Pashleys, Chudleys, and Chamonds, from which last they were carried by heiresses to Trevanion and Grylls.

William Grylls, of Tavistock, is said in a pedigree of that family to have married the widow of Knight, and to have settled at Court in Lanreath; perhaps this lady was the coheiress of Chamond.

Their son, Charles Grylls, bred to the higher department of the law, married Agnes, daughter of Charles Tubb, Esq. and by this marriage a very considerable property was acquired in the parish of St. Neot, where one of the painted windows, the sixth, had been given by the Tubbs; but where their descendant the Reverend Richard Gerveys Grylls has, with equal taste and munificence, raised the splendid decorations of this church to a degree of perfection exceeding that of their original state, although they are some of the most curious and beautiful specimens of the arts and of the piety of former times, that have escaped the fury of passions excited by great changes in religion and in civil government. See Mr. Hedgeland’s coloured prints of the sixteen windows, with descriptions of each, and the life of St. Neot, from Capgrove, 1 vol. 4to.; printed for the Author, No. 6, Claremont-place, Brunswick-square, and sold by Nichols and Son, Parliament-street, London, price 2_l._ 2_s._

The church, which is a fine one with a lofty tower, yet almost obscured by trees, has a monument recording the decease of Charles Grylls, Esq. on the 2d of March 1612, and of Alice his wife on the 13th of June 1607.

Their son, John Grylls, took a part in the Civil War, as indeed every Cornish gentleman was obliged to do, on one side or the other; for in Cornwall, which might well have been conjectured likely to remain almost free from actual conflicts, two considerable armies were routed in pitched battles, and two still larger were forced to capitulate.

This gentleman was knighted by King Charles the First on the field of battle. He married Grace, daughter and coheiress of William Bear, Esq. A monument in Lanreath church testifies that he was buried there on the 30th day of September 1649.

Their eldest son, Charles, resided on his estate in this parish, and married a lady of the family of Mahon.

John, his son and heir, resided also at Court; he married Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Richard Gerveys, Esq.

Charles, their eldest son, married Mary, daughter of Edmund Spoure, Esq. of Trebartha, but died without issue. This gentleman sold the manor of Lanreath, with the barton of Court and the advowson of the living appended, to Mr. Buller, of Morval. His brother, the Reverend Richard Grylls, held the living till his decease in 1735; and succeeded his elder brother as heir of the family property.

His son, Richard Grylls, settled at Helston, where he married Cordelia, daughter, and eventually heiress, of Thomas Glynn, Esq. descended from the Glynns, of Glynn.

Their son is the Reverend Richard Gerveys Grylls. It would be presumptuous in the Editor to attempt any particular praise of this gentleman, universally esteemed and respected.

The manor of Botelett is stated by Mr. Lysons to have belonged at an early period to the family of Botreaux, the last of whom, Lord Botreaux, died in the year 1462, leaving an only daughter, who married Robert Lord Hungerford.

It has in more recent times belonged to the families of Roberts and Treville. It became divided by coheiresses of the latter between Trelawny and Cross; and the latter half has passed to the family of Lethbridge in Somersetshire. The manor of Treyer is also stated by Mr. Lysons to have been the joint property of Rashleigh and Glynn; but in consequence of an exchange to be now Mr. Glynn’s solely; and that Trewen, a seat of the Dandys, and Trecan, a seat of the Lowers, are now farm-houses.

Lanreath measures 4358 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3110 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 485 8 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 478 | 548 | 629 | 651
giving an increase of 36 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. Stephen Puddicombe, presented
by John Buller, Esq. in 1827.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is entirely situated within the calcareous series; its rocks are similar to those of Boconnock and Duloe.

[10] Mr. Grills dying in 1735, has been succeeded by Mr.
Heal Trelawney, on the presentation of Mr. Butler.

The parish is printed Laurayton in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica
Papæ Nicholai; but the u and n may have been easily mistaken
in the manuscript.

It is rated in the Taxation 6_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ Decimæ 12_s._
8_d._

[11] Carew says, p. 125 of Lord Dunstanville’s edition,
Richard de Seriseaux ten 3 parv. feod. de Mort. in
Lanrethan, Kilgather, et Lansalwys. THE EDITOR.

LANSALLOS.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Lansallos is in the hundred of West, and hath to the west Lanteglos juxta Fowey, to the north and east Pelynt and Tallant, to the south the English Channel.

This church is a rectory, valued in the King’s book at 18_l._ The patronage in Thomas Long, Esq. as heir to the Speccots. The incumbent Cummin.[12] The church was valued for Pope Nicholas in 1291 at 5_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ and the tenths 10_s._ 8_d._ under the name of Lansalewys, having never been appropriated.

Richard de Seriseaux held (3 Henry IV.) three small fees de Mort. in Lanrethon, Kilgather, et Lansalwys. (See Carew, p. 125, Lord de Dunstanville’s edition, quoted in Lanreath). But however this may be, it is quite certain that the family of Boligh had been possessed of property here long before that time, for here lived John Boligh, who married the daughter of Killigarth. He was succeeded by his eldest son William Boligh, who by Avice, the daughter of Richard Pentine, had issue a son, of his own name, which last William, by Isabel, the daughter of William Bodrigan, afterwards married to Ralph Vivian, had issue one sole daughter and heir, married to John Kelliow, who brought with her this manor, which continued the principal seat of this family, although they have sometimes lived at Lanleke in South Pederwyn, and sometimes at Rosesilian in St. Blazey. Here they flourished in good esteem, having married the heiresses of Leveddon, Trehawke, and Trefusis of Landew, and matched into several considerable families of this county, until such time as Christopher Kelliow, of Lanlake, Esq. having first mortgaged it to pay the debts of the family, at last sold the property outright to John Speccot, of Penheale, Esq.; and this is gone with the rest, or with the major part of Col. Speccot’s estate, as he devised it by will, to Thomas Long, of Penheale, Esq. who is the present lord of this manor.

The arms of Kelliow, Or, a chevron between two cinquefoils and a mullet pierced Sable.

This manor is one of those given by William the Conqueror to the Earl of Morton.

THE EDITOR.

This church is situated on very high ground; and one of the stations for the great trigonometrical survey was chosen immediately by it. When the latitude and longitude were determined, latitude, 50° 20′ 25.7″; longitude, 4° 32′ 45.7″; in time, 18m. 11s. west of Greenwich. Besides the church town, this parish contains three villages, Tregavethick, Tregou, and Trenewan.

The manor of Lansallas has been traced by Mr. Tonkin to Mr. Thomas Long, of Penheale.

Mr. Long left three daughters, as has been noticed under Egloskerry. One of these ladies married Mr. Charles Phillipps, of Camelford, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cornwall Militia, and Member for Camelford. Neither of the sisters had any family; and on a division of the property, this manor came to Mr. Phillipps, who left it jointly to his two brothers, Jonathan Phillipps, a Captain in the Militia, and the Reverend William Phillipps, Rector of Lanteglos by Camelford. The former gave his share of this manor to his sister’s daughter, married to her relation Mr. Winsloe, directing them to take the name of Phillipps; the latter gave his portion to his sister’s son, Mr. John Phillipps Carpenter, of Mount Tavy, from whom the shares have respectively descended to Thomas Phillipps, Esq. of Landue, and to John Carpenter, Esq. of Mount Tavy.

Mr. Lysons mentions the manor of Raphel, formerly Rathwell, which belonged to the family of Hywis, and was sold to Speccot; and has followed the great manor of Lansallas, to which the rectory is appended.

The manor of Tregavithick belonged to the family of Avery, but has been purchased by the Rev. Joshua Howell.

The manor of Polvethan belongs to Mr. Rashleigh, of Menabilly.

The most remarkable place, situated partly in this parish, is Polperro, a small town lying on a cove, rendered secure for coasting vessels by a double pier, and affording an admirable staking for the fisheries. It was also distinguished for a precarious trade, occasionally heaping great wealth on individuals, but in general taking it away more rapidly than it accumulated.

Hinc apicem rapax
Fortuna, cum stridore acuto
Sustulit, hic posuisse gaudet.

Quem dies vidit veniens superbum,
Hunc dies vidit fugiens jacentem.

This is, however, at an end, or greatly diminished. The situation of the place is romantic and wild, so that an excursion from Fowey, along the cliffs to Looe, through Polperro, is one of the most interesting on the whole coast of Cornwall.

This parish measures 2774 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3218 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 616 18 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 847 | 804 | 880 | 884
giving an increase of little more than 4 per cent. in 30
years.
Present Rector, the Rev. William Rawlins, jun. instituted
in 1822; son of the Vicar of Padstow.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The rocks of this parish belong to the calcareous series. A little north-west of the church a copper mine has been worked; among the rubbish of which a fine blue slate is very abundant, but which appears to differ from the rocks at the surface, merely by those having acquired a red colour from further oxidation of the iron. The strata near the coast dip landward at an angle of about 45°, being broken here and there by narrow gorges, through which the rivulets flow into the sea. At Polperro the scenery is very fine; and the narrow entrance into the harbour, which seems to indicate some great catastrophe, is an object of much interest to the speculative geologist.

[12] Died in 1730, or a few years afterwards.

LANTEGLOS, JUXTA CAMELFORD.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Lanteglos by Camelford is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith; and hath to the west St. Teath; to the north Tintagell; to the east Davidstow; to the south Advent alias St. Anne, and Michaelstow.

This parish is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book, together with Advent, at 34_l._ 11_s._ 2_d._ The patronage in the Duke of Cornwall. The incumbent Dr. Lombard.

This parish is wholly within the manor of Helstone in Trigg, so termed to distinguish it from that in the west called Helstone in Kerrier, they both having the same lord, that is the Duke of Cornwall. This parish is now said to be in the hundred of Lesnewith; yet formerly, when the three northern hundreds of Trigg, Lesnewith, and Stratton composed but two, Trigg Major and Trigg Minor, it was in the hundred of Trigg Minor, in which deanery it is still reckoned as to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

The manor takes its name from its once chief place, though now but a village, about a mile to the west of Camelford. Here, I suppose, the Duke had a castle; for there were two parks, which, though now disparked, do still retain the name. They are adjoining to this village; the one called the Deer Park, and the other Hellesbury Park, the walls of which are still standing; and the latter of the two is of large extent, formerly well wooded, and watered by the river Alan, being a place exceedingly well fitted for country sports; and no doubt, when the Earls of Cornwall held their Court at Tintagel Castle, this place was in much repute, not being five miles distant from it.

These two parks are now held by a lease of three lives from the Duke of Cornwall, by Mr. Nicholas Dennithorne of St. Agnes.

I next come to the town of Camelford, so called from the ford here over the Alan; “called also,” saith Mr. Camden, “Comb Alan and Camel from its winding channel, for Cam with them implies as much.”

At the head of this river Alan is seated Camelford, otherwise written Galleford,―― a little village, formerly called Kambton, in the opinion of Leland, who tells us that Arthur, the British Hector, was slain here. For, as he adds, pieces of armour, rings, and brass furniture for horses, are sometimes digged up here by the countrymen; and, after so many ages, the tradition of a bloody victory in this place is still preserved. There are also extant some verses of a middle age poet, about “Camels” running with blood after the battle of Arthur against Mordred.

In the mean time, not to deny the truth of this story concerning Arthur, I have read in Marianus, mentioned also in the Saxon Chronicle, of a bloody battle here between the Britons and Saxons in the year 820, so that the place may seem to be sacred to Mars. And if it be true that Arthur was killed here, the same shore both gave him his first breath and deprived him of his last. Harrison also saith, that to this day men that do eare (till) the ground there, do oft plough up bones of a large size, and great store of armour; or else it may be (as I rather conjecture) that the Romans had some field or castra there about, for not long since (and in the remembrance of men) a brass pot full of Roman coins was found there, as I have often heard.

To these Mr. Carew adds (p. 288, Lord de Dunstanville’s edition) “Camelford, a market and fair, but not fair town, fetcheth his derivation from the river Camel, which runneth through it, and that from the Cornish word Cam, in English crooked, as Cam from the often winding stream. The same is incorporated with a mayoralty, and nameth burgesses to Parliament; yet steppeth little before the meanest sort of boroughs for store of inhabitants, or the inhabitants’ store. Upon the river of Camel, near to Camelford, was that last dismal battle stricken between the noble King Arthur and his treacherous nephew Mordred, wherein the one took his death, and the other his death-wound. For testimony whereof, the old folk thereabouts will shew you a stone, bearing Arthur’s name, though now depraved to Atry.” Then follows what is before quoted out of Mr. Camden.

Mr. Willis, in his Notitia Parliamentaria, says, Camelford was created a borough by Richard Earl of Cornwall, who, when King of the Romans, by his charter made this place a free borough, and granted the burgesses a Friday market, and a fair on the eve, day, and morrow of St. Swithin, all which liberties were confirmed by his brother King Henry the Third, by his charter, dated at Westminster June the 12th, 1259, and in the 44th year of his reign, as appears from an inspeximus in Queen Mary’s time, of confirmation of liberties to Camelford, in whose reign this poor borough was encouraged to send burgesses to Parliament, which it had begun to do in the preceding reign of Edward the Sixth. The present charter of incorporation is said to be granted by King Charles the First; and the manor of the borough to be held by the corporation of the duchy of Cornwall to which it belongs. It is governed by a mayor and eight burgesses or aldermen, who with ten freemen, elect the members of Parliament.

The corporation, which is doubtless ancient, enjoys the tolls of the markets and fairs, with an estate also of 15_l._ per annum, which helps to support the dignity of otherwise a very mean magistracy. All these revenues are reputed worth about 80_l._ per annum. The seal of arms pretended to by this town, seems to be in imitation of the device of Oxford, for as the arms of that city are an ox passant over a river, so this has a camel.[13]

Here is only one street of ordinary building, of not above fifty or sixty houses, all of which are in the parish of Lanteglos; to the church of which place, distant about a mile, the inhabitants repair to hear divine service. There was formerly a chapel, which is reported to have been converted into a dwelling-house: it is not known to what saint this chapel was dedicated.

Dodridge’s History of the Duchy of Cornwall tells us, that the chief rent payable to the said Duchy by this borough, is 4_l._ 5_s._ 4_d._

THE EDITOR.

The manor of Helston in Trigg is of very considerable extent. Mr. Lysons says, that the ancient site or barton of the manor is supposed to have been at Michaelstow Beacon, called St. Syth’s, where vestiges remain of a camp. Besides the town of Camelford, this parish abounds in villages: Fenterwarson, Fooda, Helston, Trefrew, Treegoodwell, Tremagenna, Trevia, and Trewalder.

At Fentonwoon in this parish was born Capt. Wallis, celebrated for his voyage round the world and the discovery of Otaheite.

The right of voting for members of Parliament having been declared by a Committee of the House of Commons, reported on the 10th of November 1796, “to be in the freemen, being inhabitants and paying scot and lot; and that the capital burgessess as such, have not the right;” it became important to acquire as much as possible of the property within the borough to secure political influence; and after various sales and transfers, Lord Darlington at last succeeded in acquiring the whole.

The civil corporation hold the manor, mentioned by Mr. Tonkin to have been given by Charles the First, in the capacity of lord of the manor; but the freemen are persons presented by the homage in the Lord’s Court. It is almost needless to add that, when the whole property came into a single hand, and that residence with the payment of scot and lot were requisite to complete the power of voting in one presented by the homage, the Borough became what is well understood by the term “quite close,” and that it continued so till its extinction in 1832, since which the property has been sold in parcels.

When Mr. Thomas Pitt, of Boconnock, received in 1784 the grant of an hereditary seat in Parliament, and it became necessary, according to the established custom, to create an imaginary office for the purpose of bestowing on him a new appellation, Camelford was feigned to be a barony.

Mr. Macpherson, the author, editor, or paraphraser of Ossian, represented this borough in several Parliaments. This gentleman made a considerable figure in his day, and excited universal attention, chiefly from his publishing what are called the Poems of Ossian. He is now perhaps best remembered by his correspondence with Doctor Johnson, who argued with the force always exerted by his mighty genius, against the authenticity of this work; and Mr. Macpherson, probably unable to meet the reasoning, attempted to establish his case by recurring to a practice almost as obsolete as the achievements of his supposed heroes, which was by reviving the ordeal or wager of battle, as the best mode of ascertaining truth; and with this view, according to the modern phrase, he wrote a challenge to Doctor Johnson, and obtained the following answer:

“Mr. James Macpherson,

“I have received your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence
offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do for
myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I never shall be deterred
from detecting what I think a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian.
What would you have me retract? I thought your book an imposture,
and I think so still. For this opinion I have given my reasons to
the public, which I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy.
Your abilities, since your Homer, are not so formidable; and what
I hear of your morals, inclines me to pay regard, not to what you
shall say, but to what you shall prove.

“You may print this if you will. SAM. JOHNSON.”

The living was held for many years by the Rev. William Phillipps, whom the Editor recollects residing at Camelford, and universally respected for his placid manners and benevolent disposition. A handsome monument has been placed to his memory in the church, by John Phillipps Carpenter, Esq. of Mount Tavy, his nephew and devisee, which records his decease on the 20th day of April 1794, aged 70.

Mr. Phillipps’s immediate predecessor was Daniel Lombard, Doctor of Divinity, son of a Protestant clergyman in France, one of those who were constrained to abandon their country by the persecution raised in the name of Lewis the Fourteenth, by a Jesuite Confessor to the King and his mistress, the widow of a buffoon. He received the early part of his education at the Merchant-Taylors’ School in London, and proceeded from thence to St. John’s College, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship, and took his degree of Doctor in Divinity. But Lombard never assimilated himself to the manners nor the society of England. He spent much time abroad, and especially in Germany, where he became known either to King George the Second, or, what is more probable, as a scholar and a divine to Queen Caroline: from them he obtained this living.

In Germany he most fortunately became acquainted also, with a Cornish gentleman, then serving with distinction in the army, but distinguished still more by his abilities, learning, and taste. This gentleman (Mr. Gregor) frequently received Doctor Lombard at Trewarthenick, and carried on with him a correspondence on literary subjects, which is still preserved, and appears to have been his chief friend and main support in a situation of complete banishment from all other associates of his studies or of his amusements; for it appears, from one of his letters, that in former times, he had been admitted a member of what would now be termed a club, with several branches of the reigning family at a German court.

All accounts agree in representing Doctor Lombard as a man of profound ecclesiastical and school learning; but at the same time wholly unacquainted with the ways of the world in which he was destined to live, or with the discoveries of modern science. Innumerable anecdotes were current about him half a century ago; of these two may serve as specimens.

He proceeded from London to take possession of his parish, mounted on one horse himself and his servant on another, driving a third laden with such articles as appeared to be indispensible in a country where he supposed nothing could be procured; thus attended, he followed the great road, then passing through Camelford, but inquiring in a foreign accent for Lan-te-glos juxta Camèl-ford, he proceeded nearly to the Land’s End without obtaining the least information as to where his parish lay.

The other evinces that he had not condescended to pay any attention to the general classifications of Natural History, although Aristotle or Pliny might have communicated a sufficient store of knowledge in respect to animals, without his recurring to modern authors. Having observed a hen surrounded by a large brood of chickens, Doctor Lombard expressed his utter astonishment and surprise that so small an animal could possibly afford milk in sufficient quantity for the sustenance of such a numerous offspring.

He died at Camelford Dec. 14, 1746; and left a valuable library for the use of his successors.

This parish measures 3562 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 4,141 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 662 14 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 912 | 1100 | 1256 | 1359
giving an increase of 49 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. Coryndon Luxmoore, presented
in 1794, by the Prince of Wales.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish no where rests on granite, although it approaches very near to it. Its southern part is composed of massive schistose rocks like those of Advent, and is also traversed by beds of elvan, which very nearly resemble granite. Its northern part consists of rocks of the calcareous series, among which are slates of an excellent quality for roofing.

[13] The device used for arms by the City of Oxford, has
evidently been derived from a corruption of Ouse Ford into
Oxford, which has also given rise to the tale of the Empress
Matilda escaping from thence on an Ox’s back.

The Saxons or Normans, unacquainted with the Celtic
language, mistook cam or camel for the name of an animal of
which they had read in the Gospels.

LANTEGLOS, JUXTA FOWEY.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Lanteglos, near Fowey, is situate in the hundred of West; and hath to the west Fowey Harbour, to the north St. Veep, to the east Plynt and Lansallas, to the south the English Channel.

It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at 14_l._ 7_s._ 6_d._ The patronage in Mr. Thomas Pitt (late Mohun). The incumbent was the Rev. Mr. Henry Sutton, lately deceased.

The first place of note in this parish is the manor of Hall. Hall signifies a moor, as Mr. Carew truly observes; and so by its situation it seemeth formerly to have been. This place was for many generations the seat of the Fitz-Williams, a family of special note in this county. Gervasius filius Willielmi Fitz-William, held five knights’ fees in the reign of Richard the First.

Robertus, filius Willielmi Fitz-William, impotens Miles, Coronator Domini Regis, (Carew, p. 139, Lord Dunstanville’s edition, Edw. II. A.D. 1324), an office much regarded in those days.

Sir John, son of William Fitz-William, and Robert, I believe his brother, were two of those who held 20_l._ per annum of land as rent or more, 25 Edward I.; and had summons to attend the king in parts beyond the sea.

Sir John Fitz-William, mentioned above, had only one daughter and heir, Elizabeth, married to Reginald de Mohun, fourth son to John Lord Mohun, of Dunster Castle in Somersetshire, whereof some of his ancestors had been Lords, which John Lord Mohun died in the fourth year of Edward the Third, leaving his grandson John de Mohun his heir; so that I take John de Mohun, named among the knights 17 Edward the Second, to be the same with him married to Elizabeth Fitz-William, and the dates agree.

They say that this Sir Reginald de Mohun, coming into Fowey harbour with a company of soldiers bound for Ireland, landing there, let fly a hawk at some game, which killed it in the garden of Hall, where Sir John Mohun going for his hawk, and being a very handsome personable young gentleman (qualities which his descendants retained to the last) the young lady fell in love with him; and having a great fortune, the match was soon made up between them by the consent of their friends on both sides. I shall add no more of this place, than that it continued to be the chief seat of the Mohuns till the reign of King Charles the First, when they removed to Boconnock; some time after which, Warwick Lord Mohun sold the barton only to Mr. Kekewich, whose seat it has been ever since. Peter Kekewich, Esq. his son, took to wife the daughter of William Williams, of Bodenick; and dying soon after 1720, left a son, now residing at Hall. The arms of Kekewich are, Argent, two lions in bend passant Sable, cotised Gules. The arms of Fitz-William were, Or, three bends Azure.

The manor of Hall continued in the family of Mohun till the general sale to Mr. Pitt; and Mr. Thomas Pitt is the present lord of this manor.

Hall, from its pleasant situation, has been called View Hall; but as this was an addition of latter years, so is it now lost, and the place has returned to its ancient plain name. Mr. Carew hath a long description of the walk here (P. 310), which is still in being, but much neglected; and also of a remarkable fagot, or rather a piece of wood, belonging to the Earls of Devon, and carefully kept here; but this fagot is, I suppose, now lost. There is but little left of the old house, which I believe was destroyed in the Civil Wars, which may have inclined the Lord Mohun to part with it.

Under Hall, and adjoining to it, is Bodenick; that is, the house on the water, suitable to its situation. It is but an indifferent place, consisting of one long street on a very steep hill, through which is the highway, and at the bottom of it the passage over the river to Fowey. There is but one good house in the place, and in that the late Mr. William Williams lived, and got a good estate by merchandizing.

The manor of Lamellin, that is the Mill Place, from a mill there, lies on the side of a creek between Bodenick and Polruan. “At the head of this little Pill,” says Leland, is a chapel of St. Wilow, and by it is a place called Lamellin, lately belonging to Lamelin, now to Trelawney by heir general. John Trelawney, of Pool, Esq. married Margery, only daughter and heir of Thomas Lamellin, Esq. ever since which this manor hath been in this family, who some time resided here. The present lord of this manor being Sir John Trelawney, Baronet.

The arms of Lamellin were, Argent, a bull’s head passant Sable, the horns and hoofs Or.

THE EDITOR.

The church is situated between hills, and therefore but little seen; it contains monuments to the Mohuns and to others. It was rated in the valuation of Pope Nicholas at 10_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._

There is a popular tradition, that in the year 1644, just before the surrender of the infantry commanded by Lord Essex, King Charles the First was walking on the terrace at Hall, described by Mr. Carew, when a shot was fired, which missed him, but killed a fisherman almost by his side. The tradition adds, of course, that the ball was aimed at the King by some one who knew him, but that must be uncertain.

Polruan, a place in this parish, having some pretensions still to be called a town, has been wholly omitted by Mr. Tonkin, and probably was so by Mr. Hals, from whose work the greater part of Mr. Tonkin’s manuscript is copied. This place is without doubt of great antiquity; and seems in former times, when vessels required much less depth of water than they do at present, to have been the principal station in Fowey harbour. Pol means exactly the same as the English word pool, and may possibly be the original theme; Ruan has been ascertained in several instances to signify Roman. Polruan is, therefore, in all probability, the Roman pool or haven. This place, with a small district round it, forming in some respects a hamlet within the parish of Lanteglos, shared in the elective franchise of Fowey, where all residents paying scot and lot were entitled to vote till the act of 1832 swept it all away.

Tales are related of Polruan having been an independent corporate town, and of its having sent Members to Parliament, while Fowey was a mere village; but such traditions are prevalent in all places under similar circumstances, and they have not here any sanction whatever from authentic sources.

In the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Papæ Nicholai, the three adjacent parishes, printed Lansalewys, Lanteglos, and St. Wepy, have this, App’a. Hosp. de Brugg. want.; and Mr. Lysons states, that this church was given by Robert de Boyton, in the reign of Edward the First, to the hospital of _St. James_ at Bridgewater.

The name is inadvertently wrong; for in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, 26 Henry VIII. preserved in the Augmentation Office, is the following entry in the return from the Hospitale _Sancti Johannis_ de Brugwalter.

Lanteglos, rector 20_l._

The great tithes and the presentation to the vicarage, came into the possession of the Mohuns, and were sold with their other property to Pitt.

There is also extant the appropriation of this church to the hospital by Peter Quiril, Bishop of Exeter from 1280 to 1292.

“Omnibus, &c. Petrus miseratione divina Exon. Episcopus salutem, &c. Ecclesiam de Lanteglos, juxta Fawy, cum capella S. Salvatoris, juribus et pertinentiis omnibus; quæ quidem ecclesia cum prædicta capella de advocatione Magistri et Fratrum prædicti Hospitalis existit; præfatis Magistro et Fratribus ac eorum successoribus, ad pauperum et infirmorum sustentationem, capituli nostri prædicti unanimi accedente consensu, appropriamus, &c.

“Dat. Exon, in crastino S. Marcæ Evangelistæ, anno gratiæ MCCLXXXIIII et consecrationis nostræ anno quarto.”

Lanteglos by Fowey measures 2773 statute acres.

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 4146 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 548 13 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 678 | 859 | 973 | 1208
giving an increase of 78 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. W. Hocker, instituted in 1806.

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.

The geology of this parish is the same as that of the southern part of the parish of Fowey.

LANCELLS, LAUNCELLS, LAWNCELLS.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Lancells is situate in the hundred of Stratton, having to the west Stratton, to the north Kilkhampton, to the east the river Tamar, running between it and Devonshire, to the south Marham church and Bridgerule. This church is so called from its being a cell to the abbey of Hartland in Devonshire. The patronage in Paul Orchard, Esq. by purchase from Francis Basset, Esq.

It is a vicarage valued in the King’s Book at 10_l._ 10_s._ 8_d._

The incumbent, Mr. Thomas, brother-in-law to Mr. Paul Orchard.

In 1291, 20th of Edward I. this church was valued for Pope Nicholas at 7_l._ 15_s._ for the rectory, 15_s._ for the vicarage, and 15_s._ 6_d._ for the tenths; it being then appropriated to the abbey of Hartland, as was

The manor of Lancells. After the dissolution of Hartland abbey, this estate came to Sir John Chamond, who made it his chief residence. Mr. Carew says, he was a man learned in the common law, and knighted at the Sepulchre (that is of our Saviour at Jerusalem). He had a park of fallow deer at this place, which Norden notices, as I suppose the abbats of Hartland had before him. It seems to have been to Sir John Chamond a country seat and a place of retirement. He was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 20th year of Henry VIII. and again in the 28th year.

His son, Richard Chamond, Esq. was three times Sheriff of Cornwall, 35th of Henry VIII. 2d of Edward VI. and 4th of Elizabeth. He received, says Mr. Carew, at God’s hands, an extraordinary favour of long life. He served the office of a justice of the peace almost sixty years; he knew above fifty several judges of the western circuit. He was uncle and great-uncle to at least three hundred; wherein yet his uncle and neighbour, Master Greynville, parson of Kilkhampton, did exceed him. He married one of the daughters and heirs of Trevenner, and by her saw five sons and two daughters, the youngest oustepping forty years.

This Mr. Chamond was knight of the shire 14th Elizabeth, as also before in the 2d and 3d of Philip and Mary.

He had an elder brother, called Thomas, whose two daughters and heirs carried part of the lands to Tripcony and Trevanion, with whom they matched. Master Chamond beareth, Argent, a chevron between three flowers-de-luce Gules. And so far Mr. Carew; where note that part of the lands so carried off, contained those in the parish of St. Gorran, lately in the possession of Charles Trevanion, of Tregarthyn, Esq.

THE EDITOR.

Here was a cell of Austin Canons, dependent on the abbey of Hartland, distant from it but a few miles, although in the county of Devon.

The following entries are found in the Augmentation Office, in the roll 32d Henry VIII.:

_Payment from Lancells to the Abbey of Hartland._

£. _s._ _d._
Lancells――Redd’ liber’ ten’ 5 18 4
Custum’ ten’ 16 8 5¾
Perquis’ cur’ 0 1 3
£22 8 0¾

Nothing seems to be known about the foundation of this small religious establishment.

Hartland is said to have been founded before the Conquest, for secular priests, by Githa, the wife of Earl Godwin; but in the time of King Henry the Second, Geoffrey de Dinam, by the authority of that King, and of Bartholomew Bishop of Exeter, and by the assistance of Richard Archdeacon of Poictiers, changed the establishment of Seculars into an abbey of Austin Canons.

The patronage of this abbey remained in the family of the founder, Geoffrey de Dinam, till the general dissolution; and the abbats were accordingly named alternately by Fitzwarren, by Touche, by Carew, and by Arundell, in consequence of their having married the four daughters and coheiresses of the founder.

Mr. Lysons gives a very ample detail of the descent of property in this parish.

The barton of Lancells was leased by King Henry VIII. to John Chamond, and became the seat of that family. The freehold has been for a considerable time in the family of Orchard. It is now the seat by lease of Mr. Joseph Hawkey, in right of his wife, widow of the Rev. Cadwallader Jones.

The manor of Norton Rolle has the bailiffry of the hundred of Stratton annexed as an appendage.

This manor has passed from the Rolls to Trefusis.

The manor of Yellow Leigh is the property and the residence of Mrs. Mary Harris.

The manor of Thorlibear belonged to the Arundells of Trerice, and has passed by inheritance to Acland.

The manor of Mitchell Morton, extending into several other parishes, belonged to a family of Smith, and became divided among coheiresses.

Two thirds, having passed through different hands by purchase, became the property of Wrey J’Ans, Esq. and have descended to his daughters. The remaining third, with the barton and the advowson of the living, having been for many years in the family of Orchard, now belong to the Reverend F. H. Morrison, heir of the late Mr. Paul Orchard.

Tre Yeo, said to have been the ancient seat of the Yeos, is now the property and residence of Robert Kingdon, Esq.

The church stands in a vale, about a mile and a half from Stratton. It has a handsome marble altar-piece and several monuments; one of considerable size, and decorated, to the memory of John Chamond, who died in 1624.

Scarcely any traces are to be seen of Lancells House, the splendid residence of the Chamonds.

This parish measures 5610 statute acres.

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3920 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 637 13 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 647 | 672 | 891 | 848
giving an increase of 31 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Henry Bourchier Wrey, presented
by L. W. Buck, Esq. in 1825.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is situated entirely on the dunstone of the northern parts of Cornwall and Devon; for a more particular account of which, reference has already been given under the head of Boyton.

LANCESTON, OR LAUNCESTON,

ST. MARY MAGDALEN PARISH.

HALS.

The manuscript relating to Lanceston is lost.

TONKIN.

Lanceston is situated in the hundred of East, and is bounded to the south by South Pederwyn, as likewise to the west, to the north by St. Thomas, to the east by St. Stephan’s and Lawhitton.

It is well known that this town and parish took their name from an ancient priory and church here, now demolished, dedicated to St. Stephan, being called by the Cornish Lan Stephadon, the church of Stephan.

The present church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, and is not valued in the King’s Book.

As for what Mr. Carew says, that the Cornish men called it Lesteeven, that is no other than an abbreviation of Lan Stephan.

But before I go on with the account of this town and parish, it will be necessary to observe, that, although Norden (whose authority is indeed of no great weight, even in the description of those things which he had seen himself, and gives draughts of, which for the most part are very erroneous) with many others, call this town, or rather castle, here Dunhevet; yet it is most certain that the ancient town of Dunhevet stood at about half a mile distance to the south-south-west of the present town of Lanceston, in a moorish piece of ground facing the west, at the bottom of the hill on which Mr. Samuel Line has built his pleasure house and inclosed a bowling-green, (from whence is a very pretty prospect of the vale under it to the east, and the course of the river Tamar) being parcel of the commons belonging to the freemen of Lanceston. I went on purpose to view the ruins of the said town this present year 1731, having before this been led aside by the vulgar opinion, of which every boy I found in the town could satisfy me to the contrary. On the place where the said ruins appear are three wells, which I suppose are from the same spring, being pretty close together; and are, (as I take it) the head of that small river which runs by Tresmorrow, Lanleke, Landew, &c. below which it hath a handsome stone bridge, and soon after falls into the Tamar. So that the said town had, in this respect, the advantage of the new one, as being well supplied with water, which is much wanting in this last. By the ruins it doth not appear to have been of very considerable bigness; though indeed there be no judging well of it, by reason that all the stones of any value have been from time to time carried off to build the present town, and the rest employed to make small inclosures of meadows there.

This place fell to decay, I suppose, on William Earl of Morton building a castle, or rather repairing the old one and putting it in the present form, in the beginning of the Norman times; for, by tradition, this castle has been, from remote antiquity, a seat of the Princes of Cornwall. This William Earl of Morton being also Earl of Cornwall by descent from his father Robert, who was half-brother by his mother to William the Conqueror, drew over the inhabitants of Dunhevet to this place, by granting great privileges to this his chief seat in this county.

But before we go on with the history of this town, let us see what Leland, Camden, and Carew say of it.