Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

This advowson had passed through various hands till it was assigned by Mr. Matthew Wills, of Helston, on whose decease, in 1782, it came to his son, Mr. Thomas Wills. This gentleman, although not intended for the church, had received his education at Winchester and Oxford, and the living happening to become vacant just at the period of his father’s death, Mr. Wills was induced to take holy orders, and he is now (1834) the Incumbent; but the advowson has been transferred to Queen’s College, Oxford, for its Michell or new foundation; thus returning almost to the very spot where it was bestowed almost six hundred years before.

The barton of Trenethick is traced back to the family of Seneschalls, from whom it came by a marriage to the Hills; the last of whom, Mr. John Hill, gave it by will, about seventy years since, to a family long seated in Constantine, of the same name, but, from their bearing different arms, probably not related.

Nansloe, the vale leading to the lake, is beautifully situated in a valley near the Loo. It has been for some time the seat of the Robinsons, since they removed there from Bochim in Cury. The last representative of this family in the male line was the late Reverend William Robinson, Vicar of Crowan.

Trelil belonged to Mr. Rowe, steward to Lord Godolphin. His only daughter and eventual heiress married Mr. William Harris, of Rosewarne, in Camburne, Sheriff of Cornwall in the year 1773; and their only daughter, married to Winchcombe Hartley, Esq. of Berkshire, is its present possessor.

This parish has for ages been one of the most productive of tin in the whole county; and before the improved operations of smelting had placed all ores nearly on the same level as to the quality of their products, the neighbourhood of Porkellis boasted of producing the best tin in Cornwall.

The church is situated nearly at one extremity of this immense parish, and has nothing to distinguish it but a monument to the memory of Warin Penhallinyk, a prebendary of the monastery at Penryn, Rector of St. Just, in Roseland, Vicar of Wendron and of the adjoining parish, Stithyans. The Vicarage-house is a mere hovel. The parish feast is on the nearest Sunday to October the 28th, St. Simon and St. Jude.

Mr. Jago, Vicar of Wendron, was perhaps the last clergyman in the west of Cornwall supposed to exercise supernatural powers; various anecdotes were current about him sixty years ago, and then generally believed; all I apprehend to his credit, being such as laying spirits, discovering thieves, &c. mixed up, however, with frivolities, as seems ever to have happened in those popular legends. Whenever parson Jago got off from his horse he struck the ground with his whip, and a demon immediately appeared to hold or take care of his horse till he wanted it again. The Rev. Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell is descended either from this gentleman or from his father.

This parish measures (including Helston) 12,317 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815, Helston
included 8870 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831,
The Parish £1766 8 0 } 2656 5 0
Helston 889 17 0 }

Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
Wendron { 3006 | 3555 | 4193 | 4780
Helston { 2248 | 2297 | 2671 | 3293
{ ----------|----------|----------|---------
{ 5254 | 5852 | 6869 | 8073
giving an increase on the Parish of 59, on the Town 46½, on both
together 53½,――per cent. in 30 years.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

About two-thirds of this extensive parish is situated on granite, which is the same as that of Camborne, Crowan, and Sithney adjoining; the other third, which forms the southern part of the parish, is composed of slate rocks, which near the granite are felspathic, and clearly referrible to the porphyritic series; but as the sea is approached, the character of these slates becomes obscure, such as they generally are whenever the porphyritic and calcareous series pass into each other.

GWINEAR.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north Gwythian, west Phelack, south Crowan and St. Erth, east Camburne.

In the Domesday Tax this district passed under the jurisdiction either of Caerton in Crowan, Lewellen in Gwythian, or Hella in Camburne. In the Inquisstion of the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln into the value of Cornish Benefices, 20th Edward I. 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Winer in decanatu de Penwid, was valued cxiii_s._ iiii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is valued 12_l._ by the same name of Winer. The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it. The Incumbent Thomas Paynter. The Rectory, or garbe sheaf, in possession of Howell, under lease from Exeter College, Oxford. And the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 147_l._ 7_s._ 2_d._ by the name of Gwiniar.

Lanyon, in this parish, a seat of the Lanyons, the first propagators of this family in Cornwall, came, with many other French gentlemen, into England, with Isabella, wife of King Edward II. and settled themselves in those parts; amongst which Lanyon’s posterity have ever since flourished in gentle degree in Cornwall; and for further proof of this matter, that originally they came from the town of Lanyon, situate upon a sea-haven, or harbour, in France, they give still the arms of that town for their paternal coat armour, viz. in a field Sable, a castle Argent, standing on waves of the sea Azure, over the same a falcon hovering with bells. The present possessor, Tobias Lanyon, Gent. that married Pineck; his father Reynolds.

Polkinhorne, in this parish (eminent or notable iron head). From this place was denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed Polkinhorne, who gave for their arms, Argent, three bars Sable; whose only daughter and heir, temp. Charles II. was married to Thomas Glynn, Gent. a younger branch of the Glynns of Glynn, whose father giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron between three salmon-spears handled and barbed Sable, two in chief, and one in the base part, with points downwards.

Coswin, in this parish (i. e. the white wood or fair) gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed De Coswyn, who lived reputably in this place for several descents, till John Coswyn, temp. Charles II. by ill husbandry, wasted his paternal estate, and sold this little barton to the person now in possession thereof.

TONKIN.

The right name of this parish is St. Wynnier, a corruption of St. Wymer, its tutelar saint, by which name it is called in the Taxatio Beneficiorum, Ecclesia Sancti Wymeri.

The great tithes of this parish are believed to have been bestowed on Exeter College, by its founder, Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, A.D. 1318.

A younger brother’s daughter of Coswin, who squandered the property, married Peter Pendarves, gent. and brought Bodrigge in Thellark into that family.

THE EDITOR.

The parish of Gwiner has been extremely productive in copper. Herland Mine, usually called the manor, produced so large a return to Mr. Hobbin, only part proprietor of the land, as paid for the building of Nansewidden in St. Columb, about the middle of the last century. It has been since wrought on a most extensive scale, and to a great depth.

Whele Alfred, Whele Trelistion, and others, have been very productive; but at present they are all discontinued.

The family of most consequence connected with this parish is that of Lanyon.

The first syllable certainly implies an inclosed place, from which it has become specifically applied to a church, to a castle, and even to a town. Mr. Hals’ conjectures as to the termination of the name, appear to be so utterly groundless that they are omitted.

Mr. Whitaker believes that Lanyon in Normandy bears only a castle for its cognisance, and that the falcon has been added on account of the similarity in sound of Lanyer to Lanner, the favourite bird in falconry.

It must be observed however that Lanyon is always in Cornwall pronounced La-nine.

The Gwinear and Madern branches of the Laryon family were together possessed of extensive property in the adjacent parishes; combinations of unfortunate circumstances have diminished their possessions, but hopes may be entertained that the Lanyons of Gwinear, who have never lost the sense of what is due to the memory of their ancestors, may again resume the former station of their family.

The Rev. Malachy Hitchins, Vicar of St. Hilary, held this living for almost thirty years.

Gwinear measures 3,882 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5185 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 800 18 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 1651 | 1952 | 2383 | 2728
giving an increase of 65 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. John Thomas Wilgress, collated, by the
Bishop of Exeter in 1813.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish, like those adjoining, Camborne and Crowan, has been long celebrated for its mines, but it does not resemble them by reposing in part on granite, being confined entirely to rocks of the slate series.

The porphyritic courses are not so common here as in Gwennap; but they often assume a very interesting form, occurring as insulated masses, which in some cases are perfectly granitic, and at the same time afford every indication of their having been formed contemporaneously with the slate. The most curious geological phenomenon of this parish is to be met with in Relistion Mine, where one of the lodes, (metalliferous veins) at a considerable depth, is composed of rounded pedules, cemented together in a hard solid mass; at first sight it would be pronounced to be a decided conglomerate of derivative origin; but on a more close examination it is found to have the spheroidal structure, which is common to many rocks, and which in regard to this mineral was probably coeval with its original formation.

GWITHIAN.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north the Irish Sea, or St. George’s Channel, and that creek or cove called Gwithian Bay, east Illigan, west Phelack, south Gwyniar.

The entry occurs, Rex tenet Canardi-tone, in the Domesday tax 20 William I. 1087.

For in this parish is the voke lands of the great and privileged manor of Coner, or Conner-ton, which claims by prescription not only the royalties and jurisdiction within its limits, but also over the whole hundred of Penwith (id est, the head tree). Hence it is that this manor of Connerton is privileged not only with the jurisdiction of a Court Leet or Baron for the whole hundred of Penwith, within which two courts are tried all matters of debt and damage between party and party within the same, (life, land, and limb excepted,) wherein heretofore infinite number of causes have been depending, by reason of its being the most remote part of the kingdom from the Courts of Westminster; the steward or judge of which courts, (which offices commonly are vested in one person,) takes his deputation from the now lord of the manor, viz. Sir John Arundell, of Lanherne, Knight, and not from the King or Duke of Cornwall’s stewards, as other bailiwicks do.

For in the time of King Henry III. this manor was the King of England’s or Earl of Cornwall’s lands, who, by letters patent, yet to be seen at Lanherne, passed it over, together with the bailiwick of the said hundred, to Simon Pincerna, or Butler, lord of Lanherne, in consideration that he the said Simon had enfeoffed the said King Henry, his heirs and successors, with the lordship and manor of St. James at Westminster, in the county of Middlesex. After which exchange or settlement, Pincerna and his heirs enjoyed this manor for several descents, till Edward III.’s days. At which time one of the two daughters and heirs of Pincerna was married to Arundell of Trenibleth, the direct ancestor of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Knight, now in possession of both those lordships. The other daughter to Umphravill.

To remove an action at law depending in those Courts, the writ must be thus directed: “Senescallo et Ballivo hundredi et libertatis suæ de Penwith in Comitatu Cornubiæ salutem.”

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices, 1294, “Ecclesia de Sancto Gwyth-ran, in decanatu de Penwidh,” is valued cxiii_s._ iiii_d._ It seems at the time of this inquisition this church was not consolidated into Phillack; but before Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it past in consolidation and value together with it, at 45_l._ 10_s._ 8_d._ The patronage was formerly in the King of England, who endowed it; now Arundell of Lanherne. And the parish is rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 58_l._ 2_s._ by the name Gwith-ran.

TONKIN.

This church is a rectory, daughter to Phillack, together with which it is rated in the King’s Books, and passeth in the presentation. The patronage is in Arundell of Lanherne, the incumbent Mr. Jasper Phillips. This gentleman is since deceased, and has left the next presentation, held by lease under the Arundells, to his nephew Mr. Gregory, who has presented his brother-in-law, Mr. Edward Collins, son of Mr. Collins, of Treworgy in St. Erm (great-grandfather to the Editor).

This parish takes its name, like many others, from the Saint to whom the church is dedicated, called by Mr. Carew, St. Gothian.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Hals’s derivation is again so utterly improbable as to be omitted.

The Arundells, being Catholics, leased the advowson of Phillack and Gwithian on lives, to prevent its lapsing to the University of Oxford, under an Act of Parliament. On the death of Mr. Edward Collins it did so lapse, and the University presented Mr. William Glover, of Worcestershire, first of Balliol College and then a chaplain of All Souls. A lease was then granted to Mr. Hoskin, of Gwithian, and his son the Rev. Richard Hoskin succeeded Mr. Glover, who on the general sale of all the Arundell property in Cornwall, purchased the freehold, so that his son is now patron and incumbent of the united parishes.

Mr. Lysons says that the advowson of these united parishes belonged to the Priory of St. James in Bristol, and I find a charter of King Henry II.

“Henricus Dei gratia Rex Angliæ, et Dux Normanniæ et
Aquitaniæ, et Comes Andegaviæ, Archiepiscopis, &c. salutem.
Sciatis me concessisse et præsenti carta mea confirmasse
ecclesiæ sancti Jacobi de Bristow omnia subscripta, quæ
Willielmus comes Gloecestriæ ei rationabiliter concessit et
dedit in perpetuam elemosinam, scilicet inter alia et omnes
ecclesias quæ sunt de feodo jam dicti comitis in Cornubia
cum capellis et cum omnibus pertinentiis suis; scilicet
Ecclesiam de Eglosrek, Ecclesiam de CONORTON, Ecclesiam de
Eglasheil, Ecclesiam de Eglossant, Ecclesiam de
Egloscraweyn, et Capellam de Bennartona, Ecclesiam de
Melioton, et Ecclesiam Sancti Germoch.”

It is understood that the manor of Conorton had in some way been connected with the honour of Gloucester before the Conquest. William certainly gave it with that honour to Alan Earl of Britanny. Rufus had it again to bestow, and under his grant it descended to the Earls of Gloucester, originating in an illegitimate son of King Henry I. William, the second of these earls, endowed the Priory of St. James.

Mr. Lysons says that Robert Earl of Gloucester, son of this Robert, gave Conorton to Richard Pincerna in 1154, but he is clearly mistaken, for the date proves it to be done by the same William. Pincerna is a word used by writers mediæ et infimæ Latinitatis for butler. Qui vinum convivis miscet, a Græco πινειν κιρνα. Ducange.

Mihi sapit dulcius vinum in taberna,
Quam quod aqua miscuit Præsulis Pincerna.
WALTER DE MAPES.

The son of this Pincerna took the name of Conorton, as was usual in those times, and settled at Lanherne; from this family it passed with Lanherne to the Arundells, by marriage, in whom it continued till the general wreck above referred to, when being reduced to a mere royalty it was bought by the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, and since his decease in 1829 the royalty has been purchased by an attorney, for the purpose in all probability of holding the courts.

There is a tradition, supported by the authority of Leland, that a town so large as to contain two churches stood on this manor, which has been destroyed by sand; but the tale must at the least be a very great exaggeration.

The account given by Mr. Hals of the exchange of the manor of Conorton for St. James’ in Westminster, can scarcely be made to quadrate with the above account, which appears to be authentic, and it is still further opposed by the history of St. James’s Hospital, as given by Tanner and Dugdale, they say:

“At a distance from the city, in the fields near Westminster, some well disposed citizens of London, beyond the memory of man, and (as some think) long before the Conquest, founded a hospital for the reception of fourteen leprous women, to whom were afterwards added brethren, to minister divine service.” This house was dedicated to St. James, and rebuilt in the time of King Henry III.

It was under the government of a master (although the Abbat of Westminster claimed a jurisdiction over it) till King Henry VI. granted the perpetual custody of it to Eton College, who surrendered it to King Henry VIII. anno Regni 23, (A. D. 1531) when it was valued at 100_l._ per annum, in exchange for Chattisham in Suffolk. On or near the place where this hospital stood has been since built the present Royal Palace of St James.

Mr. Lysons has been so fortunate as to obtain from the late rector some information respecting the inundation of sand, which has devastated a large portion of these two parishes, extending its ravages wherever the coast is low, throughout the whole northern space of Cornwall, from the Land’s End to Devonshire. There has always existed a traditional account of this inundation, corroborated by the ecclesiastical valuations, which are far too high for the actual extent of land, and also said to be confirmed by documents preserved in the Arundell family, carrying back the commencement of the evil nearly to the period of their acquiring the property.

With respect to more recent inundations, Mr. Hoskin in stated to Mr. Lysons, that the barton of Upton, one of the principal farms, was suddenly overwhelmed; that his great-grandfather remembered the occupier residing in the farmhouse, which was nearly buried in one night, the family being obliged to make their escape through the chamber windows; and that in consequence of the wind producing a shifting of the sand, in the winter of 1808-9, the house, after having disappeared for more than a century, came again to view.

The rector further stated that he himself remembered two fields lost at Gwithian, and that they are now covered with sand to the depth of ten or twelve feet, and that the church-town would have been also lost, if the parish officers had not promptly resorted to an expedient, which, simple as it may seem, has every where proved to be the most efficacious in arresting this gigantic evil, that of planting rushes; these stop completely the progress of sand, and greatly facilitate the growth of other vegetation on the surface, so as to create a thin turf. The hillocks of sand exhibit a model in miniature of the Alps.

This sand is entirely calcareous, being a mass of comminuted shells, and immense quantities are carried away for manure, more especially in the cultivation of strong clay lands; but no method sufficiently cheap for practice has yet been invented for burning this shell sand into lime, as the fine powder chokes the fuel in any kiln, and a reverberatory furnace is much too expensive.

On the opposite coast of Cornwall the sand is siliceous.

Godrery belongs to Lord De Dunstanville, a bold promontory distinguished by an island beyond it, and by a dangerous reef extending far into St. Ive’s Bay.

Other lands are much divided. Mr. Hoskin the present rector, and his relations, are considerable proprietors, and several resident farmers live on their own freeholds, Mr. Veal, Mr. Phillips, and others.

Notice has been taken of a very large fig tree growing in the churchyard; the wonder is much diminished by knowing that this tree was planted by the late rector; but as chalk is of all soils the most favourable to figs, it is not improbable that calcareous sand may participate in the same quality.

The parish feast is held on the nearest Sunday to the first of November, All Saints Day.

This parish measures 2,249 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1,110 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 92 2 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 329 | 372 | 412 | 539
giving an increase of about 64 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The rocks of this parish are well exhibited at Godrery Point, they consist of a fine blue and fissile slate, and of a thick lamellar and somewhat compact rock. They are not metalliferous, and resemble those of Trevaunance in St. Agnes. The greater part of the parish is covered with hillocks of calcareous sand, as is common on many parts of the north coast.

HELLAND.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Trigge, and hath upon the north St. Mabyn, East Blissland, and part of Bodmin parish; south, Bodmin Town; west, part of St. Mabyn and Egleshayle. The name refers to the church, and signifies the hall college, temple, or church.

That there was an endowed rectory church here before the Norman Conquest I make no doubt, since in the Domesday Roll it is taxed by the name of Henland, and also in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Church Benefices in Cornwall, 1294, “Ecclesia de Hellan in decanatu de Trigminorshire,” is valued xl_s._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, 9_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ The patronage formerly in the Prior of Bodmin, who endowed it; after in Heale and Bulteel; now in Robins, or Tress, or Trelawny; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land-Tax, 1696, by the name of Helland, 84_l._ 17_s._ 4_d._ The incumbent White.

At Bo-cuny-an, in this parish, is the dwelling of my very kind friend Dr. Robert Heart, who married Molesworth and Hawkey; originally descended from the Hearts of Tencreek, of Mynhyniet, or St. German’s, and giveth for his arms, Gules, on a chief Argent three human hearts Proper.

Note further, that whosoever is possessed in fee of the barton of Helland, (for Bara-ton, i. e. the Bread Town lands in this parish,) is legal patron of the same, paying only 40_s._ to the Rector Incumbent for the time being, in full satisfaction for all the great and small tithes of the said barton, according to an ancient pact or composition made between the first Rector thereof and the Prior of Bodmin, who endowed it. Which sum of 40_s._ per annum at the time of the Inquisition aforesaid, was the value of the tithes of the whole parish.

Note further, wherever the word barton occurs in this history, it being Cornish British, it must be interpreted either as the barred, bolted, or fenced towne, or as a contraction of the word Bara-ton aforesaid, for as bara is bread in British, so ton or tone is a town or village, a manor, parish, tenement, or part thereof; the place where commonly the lord of the land had a well bolted or barred house to dwell in; or else a town or house which was notable for keeping or dispensing freely of bread for support of man’s life.

TONKIN.

The words Hel or Hale are at least the Cornish pronunciation of the English hall, atrium, and this word was applied to churches as well as to gentlemen’s houses in various parts of England, as Helldon Rectory in Norfolk Halling, Kent, &c., and see the 140th stanza of Mount Calvary.

Pylat eth yn mes ay hell yn un lowarth an gevo
Pylat went out of y^e hall into a garden w^{ch} he found,

But after all, if we may believe the parishioners, the name is a contraction for Helen’s Land, the church being dedicated to St. Helena, the mother of Constantine.

In this parish lived the old family of the Giffords, who married one of the inheritrixes of the Esses, or Vanstorts, in the time of Henry VI. as Gifford’s heiress was married to Nicholls of Penrose.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Whitaker has observed, in a note on what Mr. Hals says on the word barton, a term now almost indiscriminately applied to all large farms, although in former times it was probably restricted to what Mr. Hals denominates the yoke land of a manor.

Barton in English is Bere-ton, as Berwick, and signifies primarily a farm-house distinguished by the corn generally raised, once bere, or barley; and from the house the term has been transferred to the estate annexed. Baraton here means the same as bara, bread or corn, bara pill the corn harbour, bara-Llan, barton (Cornish) a cornfield, and barn (as in English) a corn-house.

Mr. Lysons mentions several manors in this parish, but they do not appear ever to have possessed any importance or curiosity, except that the manor of Penhargard belonged to the unfortunate Chief Justice Trevilian, and that the barton of Brades or Broads was for some time the seat of a younger branch of the Glynns.

Robert Glynn, Esq. residing there, married in 1711 Lucy Clobery, and their only son was Doctor Glynn, a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, well known and distinguished for his abilities, learning, and philanthropy, and in some degree also for occasional eccentricities. He obtained not merely one of the University prizes, but great reputation by a Latin Poem on the Day of Judgment, in the year 1757; and in illustration of other parts of his character, having attended as a physician on the family of some agricultural labourer near Cambridge, and restored them to health, the man’s wife lamented their poverty, but begged of the Doctor to take a tame bird in their possession, as the only thing in their power to bestow. Doctor Glynn accepted the present, but declared that he could not keep his bird in a college room, and that therefore they must keep it for him, at an allowance of half a crown a week.

To be invited by Doctor Glynn to drink tea at his room was always considered as an honour by the younger members of the University, and the Editor remembers to have heard that Mr. Pitt, then at the head of the government, and just elected into a seat more flattering than any office the crown could confer, expressed himself pleased by the repetition of these invitations from Doctor Glynn.

Helland measures 2,053 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1,588 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 102 0 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 221 | 223 | 264 | 285
giving an increase of 29 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. Francis J. Hext, presented in 1817, by
William Morshead, Esq.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The geology of this parish is similar to that of the western part of Bodmin. It is however worthy of remark that in the road from Bodmin to Camelford several beds of granitic elvan are exposed to view. The first at the top of the hill near Smith’s, resembles a coarse granitic sandstone, and at its junction with the slate both rocks are perfectly distinct, not having any appearance of transition, which circumstance is in favour of its being a derivative rock. This subject, however, requires further examination. The other elvans are more compact and porphyritic, and contain hornblende, resembling those of Carraton Hill, near Liskeard, situated within the granite.

HELSTON.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the east Gwendron, west Sythney and the Loopoole, south Maugan and Gunwallo.

That this was a privileged place, and the voke lands of a manor, with court leet, before the Norman Conquest, I make no doubt, since the whole hundred of Kerryer, in King Alfred’s days, was in chief denominated from it. Besides this testimony, in Domesday Roll 20 William I. 1087, we read that by the name of Henliston, it was then taxed. Moreover, Brooke, York Herald, tells us temp. James I. in the Catalogue of Cornish Earls, that the privileges of this town or manor were concerted into a charter, and incorporated by Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, 3d son of King Henry II. surnamed Cur-lyon, from his lion-like heart, in the name of Helleston, as appeared from the charter, which he had then in his custody, to the seal whereof was affixed a lion rampant. It was also made one of the four coinage towns by King Edward I. in his charter to the Tinners, by the same name (See the charter under Luxilian). As also incorporated into the Duchy of Cornwall, by the same name 1336, when King Edward III. to his son the Black Prince promoted or translated the Earldom of Cornwall into a Duchy or Dukedom.

Whereby this town is also confirmed to be the voke lands of the manors or stanneries of Helston and Kerryer, (id est, Hall, Broad Town, and Lover,) and privileged with a Court Leet, wherein all pleas of debt and damage, between party and party, concerning tin matters, are tried by a jury of six men, before the Vice Warden and Steward of the Stanneries, (under the Lord Warden thereof,) life, land, and limb excepted. It is also privileged with a Court Leet before the tribunal of the Mayor and Aldermen, and Quarterly Sessions of the Peace, and sending two members to Parliament; markets weekly on Saturday; fairs on August 29, October 28, Saturday before Midlent Sunday, Saturday before Palm Sunday, Whitsun Monday, and two fairs before St. Thomas à Becket’s day. Moreover, these privileges were confirmed and enlarged by charters temp. Queen Elizabeth and King Charles I. by the name of the Mayor and Burgesses, who consist of a Mayor (who is a Justice of the Peace for the Borough, the year succeeding his Mayoralty), and four Aldermen, who elect as many Common Councilmen as make their number twelve. Their Members of Parliament are elected by the majority of the freemen, and returned by the Mayor, to whom the precept on the writ for election must be thus directed, as well as that for removing an action depending in the Leet of Helston to a superior Court:

“Majori et Burgensibus Burgi nostri de Helleston in Comitatu
Cornubiæ, salutem.”

Not far from this town stands the ruins of an old camp, or intrenchment, called Castle Werre, or Wera, an old fort or citadel to defend it from its enemies’ invasion. The arms of which town are Argent, a castle, or house, garreted on the top thereof, between two watch-towers, the Archangel St. Michael fighting with a dragon, or the devil.

That King Edward I. frequented this place for delight or pleasure, or designed so to do, upon the death of his uncle Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, when the Earldom of Cornwall reverted to himself, in right of his Crown of England, Anno Dom. 1272, is evident from his granting lands by the tenure of grand sergeantry to William de Treville, on condition of bringing a fishhook and a boat and net, at his own proper costs and charges, for the king’s fishing in the lake of Helston, whensoever the King should come to Helston, and as long as he should tarry there. See the copy of this enfeofment deed in Sythney parish.

The chief inhabitants of this coinage town for tin are Mr. Penrose, Mr. Polkinhorne, Mr. Hooker, attorney at law, Mr. Williams, Mr. Rawe, Mr. Burges, Mr. Pinock, and others.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, the church of Helston is not named, but passed then under the title of its mother or superior church, Gwendron, into which it was consolidated, 17_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, by the names of Wendron and Helston, 26_l._ 19_s._ 3_d._; both endowed, I suppose, by the Master or Governor of St. John’s Hospital at Sythney, who were patrons thereof till the 6th Henry VIII. when it was dissolved, now Jago; the incumbent Jago; and the town or parish of Helston rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 181_l._ 9_s._ 4_d._

In the year 1727 happened in those parts astonishing claps of thunder and lightning, which in fine broke down and tore in pieces the greatest part of this town’s church and tower, and did it damage to the value of two or three hundred pounds in repair thereof.

TONKIN.

This church is a Vicarage, endowed, and passeth in the presentation with Gwendron.

Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, tells us that within this town was an hospital, but gives no further account of it; so that it is unknown to me whether it were a spital erected for the relief of pilgrims from abroad, or for the use of sick impoverished people within the town. Most assured I am that near this place there was a priory erected to the name of St. John the Baptist.

THE EDITOR.

I have omitted some paragraphs from Hals and from Tonkin respecting several derivations of the name “Helstone,” as all the circumstances of the place seem to point at one so decidedly as to exclude all consideration of the others. No doubt this one transgresses an arbitrary rule confining the themes of all derivations to a single language; but the instances in contradiction are so numerous throughout all England, as to render this circumstance of no importance.

The spot long used as a bowling-green is acknowledged on all hands to have been the site of an ancient castle. It must therefore have been the nucleus of the town; and the marsh extending from the Loo Pool along the valley, passes under the scarped rampart of the castle.

Hellas is well known to signify a marsh in the Celtic dialect used in Cornwall, and the termination Ton, the origin of our general word town, signified, in the Saxon,――more especially a walled town, or fortress; Helleston is therefore the fortress on the marsh.

The first charter of incorporation given to Helston, at least from the supreme feudal chief, is said to have been by King John. It is, however, highly probable that privileges of guild may have been bestowed long before by the Princes of Cornwall, vassals from the time of Athelstan. Various other charters were granted, till, in the early part of the reign of George III. the number of corporators became so reduced that the remainder were incapable of performing any corporate act; a new charter was in consequence obtained, and at the next general election the individuals named in it returned two members; but six persons remaining of the former party did the same: and so strong at that period was the feeling for chartered rights, in consequence of the conduct pursued by King Charles II. and his successor, that a committee of the House of Commons determined the right to remain in this fragment, incapable of performing any other civil act. And songs were made on the occasion, comparing these heroes with Eustace de St. Pierre and his companions.

When Edward set down before Calais,
Replete with rage and with malice,
Not the six famous burghers
More courage displayed
Than the six men of Helston.

One, if not two more returns were made in the same manner, till the number being fallen down to two very old men, they were induced to wave their privilege, partly, it is said, from an apprehension entertained that the maxim of Roman law, tres faciunt collegiam, might be effectually urged against them.

A custom had grown up at Helston, from early times, and by no means peculiar to that place, in compliance with which the patron, a well known and definite appellation, paid all the parochial rates; but an opinion may be formed of their small amount at no distant period, from the following statement. The Editor being on a Committee of the House of Commons, to consider and report on the poor laws soon after the conclusion of the late war, laid before the Committee a copy of a poor rate made for a parish in the west of England in the year 1704: it amounted to four pounds and some few shillings, while in the current year it exceeded six hundred pounds.

This practise in Helston became the ground of a petition after the general election of 1812; and, opinions having now changed, the matter was taken up so seriously in the House of Commons, as to induce the passing of a bill for disfranchising the borough. The other branch of the legislature, however, considered the practice, although wrong in itself, yet a delictum sine crimine, in this particular instance, as it most clearly appeared that some leading gentlemen, possessed of such influence as would have enabled them to make great lucrative advantages for themselves other ways, were benefited in so slight a degree by these payments, as to make it quite evident that self-interest had not been the motive of their conduct. The bill did not pass into a law, and the town became regularly assessed like other places. The well-known connection usual in such cases had long subsisted between this town and the neighbouring family of Godolphin.

At the period of the last heraldic visitation in 1640, the signatures to the return of arms, &c. were,

The mark × of John Roe Moyes.
Thomas Seyntaubyn.
William Robinson.
Thomas James.
John Herbert.
Dated October 9, 1640.

And the members of the corporation are stated to be,

BURGESSES.

John Rowe Moyes.
Thomas St. Aubyn, Gent.
William Robinson.
Alexander Bolytho.
John Harbert.
John Alexander.
Thomas Godolphin, of Godolphin, Esq. Recorder.
Thomas James.
Robert Cock.
William Penhaluwick.
Daniel Bedford.
William Trewin.
Patrick Pesseme.
John Cock.
Thomas Randall, Steward of the said Town and Corporation.

In the Parliament preceding that, the Editor’s great-great-grandfather, William Noye, afterwards Attorney-General, represented Helston; and he himself had the same honour in the Parliament following the Union with Ireland. On the total change of the parliamentary constitution in 1832, the limits of Helston were extended so as to include a large portion of Wendron and the entire parish of Sithney. And the whole was reduced to sending one Member, or, according to a familiar expression, it was placed in Schedule B.

On that occasion a letter was addressed to a gentleman of the town, in return for a present of some delicacies, so full of wit and humour that the Editor, having been favoured with a copy, is induced to insert it.

“Your very obliging present made its appearance this day,
together with your note of the 2d instant; pray, accept my best
thanks for the same, the quality of which will, I have no doubt,
on trial fully justify the favourable impression already made by
their fragrance.

“Under the melancholy circumstances of affliction in which your
town must be plunged by the announcement of the intended
spoliation of a moiety of its electoral privileges, it is most
pleasing to recognise a disposition in the leading citizens to
impart of their good things to others; and although I should at
all times have been much delighted by any mark of your friendly
remembrance, yet it is doubly gratifying at a period like the
present, when public embarrassments might naturally be supposed
to absorb every other feeling, and to leave little room for
indulging a spirit of individual philanthropy.

“Allow me, however, to express the hope, that as, when Hercules
broke off the horn of the river god Achelous, it became the
medium through which the golden gifts of the Genius of Plenty
were showered down, so the ancient and patriotic borough of
Helston, although shorn of a part of its long-enjoyed honours,
and mutilated as to one of its protectors, may still flourish
with a cornucopia of abundance and of prosperity.

2671. (φυε, φυε, οττοτοι, παπαι, αι, αι) 2671.

“quoth the Population Return for 1821.

“For which slight numerical deficiency, and for no earthly
offence imputable to the inhabitants, save that of a practical
application of the principle ‘non numero, sed honore valemus,’
the long-standing privileges of loyal men are scandalously
invaded, and a body of independent electors declared incapable of
exercising more than one half of their prescriptive rights.

“I seem to hear an indignant voter of Helston exclaim, ‘Why this
measure of penal severity, accompanied at the same time with an
apparent mitigation and leniency?’ Political annihilation had been
a milder doom; extermination from the lists of suspected
corruption had been far better than thus to suffer mutilation
from the pruning knife of reform, beneath the wound inflicted by
which the gangrene of dissatisfaction will still lurk and fester
for ever.

――――Mene Iliacis occumbere campis
Non potuisse!

“Happier were it to have sunk amidst the ruins of Sarum, or to
have perished in the plains of Gatton,

Sævus ubi Æacidæ telo jacet Hector, ubi ingens
Sarpedon――――

“than to be thus sent adrift, single-masted and disabled, on the
doubtful sea of political adventure. They who now fall,

Sumptis apud Ilion armis.

“will meet no inglorious fate; under the banners of Peel, or the
shield of Wetherall, it will be honourable to be conquered; and
the page of history will supply a never-dying splendour for the
illustrious patriots whose destinies were sealed by the
Parliament of 1831. But to be denied this noble privilege, to
remain a still-enduring monument of the wrongs inflicted, and of
the mercies awarded! to be held up as an example of the wisdom of
half-measures, and the policy of semi-destruction! to be denied
the consolation of despair! and to be snatched from the gulph of
ruin to an acuter sensation of helplessness!

Σκληροκαρδιος αρ’ ειῃ
Ὁτῳ ταδ’ ου μελησεἰ.

“The remainder of this classic dirge, or ælinon, no less
remarkable for the purity of its diction than for the fine flow
of feeling and tone of patriotism by which it is characterised,
is intended to form a part of a great national work, to be
printed at the Clarendon press, and to be sent forth into the
world,――Iliadum lachrymas inter[5] justasque querelas.

“But I find that I must come to a hasty conclusion; trusting
therefore that you will pardon my adventuring to meddle with any
thing so sacred as a venerable borough in affliction, and begging
you will present my unfeigned condolence to all parties
interested to whom I have the honour of being known, I remain,
&c.”

The old church is said by Mr. Hals to have been greatly injured by a thunder-storm in 1727. It appears never to have been thoroughly repaired; and in 1763, Lord Godolphin, the patron, built a large church and a lofty tower, nearly on the site of the former. The church is without pillars, and capable of containing a numerous congregation; but the whole is strongly characteristic of the bad taste prevalent at the period when it was erected.

Just over the bridge leading to the westward stood the hospital dedicated to St. John, and founded by a member of the Killegrews. The spot is still marked by a large upright stone near the bridge, bearing the sword with its crosletted hilt, the cognizance of the military order of St. John. Little, however, is known about it. Dugdale states that at the dissolution in the 26th of Henry VIII. the total annual revenue of the house amounted to 14_l._ 7_s._ 4_d._ and the actual receipts to 12_l._ 16_s._ 4_d._

About the year 1805 the town received a very considerable improvement by the removal of the Coinage Hall from the middle of the principal street leading south-west from the middle of the town. The Editor at that time represented Helston, and had the good fortune to assist materially in promoting the negociation with the Duchy officers, in consequence of his acquaintance with Mr. Sheridan, and with others whose consent was necessary to be obtained. The Market-house is a venerable monument of former times; yet, if this also could be removed, the improvement would equal that effected by the former.

Helston, in great measure unconnected with trade or with a sea port, little of a thoroughfare before the turnpike road was made, surrounded by the residences of ancient, respectable, and wealthy families, and inhabited by gentlemen of a similar description, has ever been celebrated for the superior quality of its social manners, and at the same time for an easy and familiar intercourse between all the people in their various stations; the inferior experiencing the truth of what all the histories of all nations have confirmed from the earliest periods of Greece to the recent events of our own time,

Αρχαιοπλουτων δεσποτων πολλη χαρις·
Ὁι δ’ ουποτ’ ελπισαντες, ημησαν καλως,
Ωμοι τε δουλοις, παντα και παρα σταθμην.

And the reverse of

Απας δε τραχυς, ὁστις αν νεον κρατῃ.

These circumstances account for the continuance of old manners and of old customs longer here than in other places.

All towns appear to have adopted, on one day at least in the year, practices similar to the Roman Saturnalia; in most places, the lines of society having become broad and strongly impressed, their observances descended to the more vulgar, or rather perhaps to the vicious; and changing their character from harmless amusements to practices of outrage and violence, they have been discontinued or suppressed: but in Helston an ancient observance of this kind, refining with the refinement of the age, still continues in activity.

The origins of all these customs are obscured or totally lost in their remote antiquity. That of Helston corresponded, however, precisely with its name――“a foray,” locally corrupted into furray; the young people rushed out of the town into the country early on the eighth of May, when, entering all houses without leave or ceremony, they appeared to seize whatever they wanted, and from the real nature of the transactions, whatever they wanted was sure of being found; and ultimately they returned to the town in triumph, dancing and decorated with flowers, where the scenes of the morning were, in some degree, repeated. All these practices, however, are less and less persevered in from year to year, so that the whole is rapidly tending towards the single entertainment of a ball; and if the ladies had succeeded in a classical fancy, which, some how or other, got possession of their minds, the very memory of this festival would have been lost.

Not intimately acquainted, one may presume, with the true history of the patroness they had selected to sanction their gaieties, the goddess Flora was made to preside over a foray, instituted, as some assert, before the Norman conquest, and in commemoration of a victory obtained over the Saxons, who had landed at a cove still called Perthsasnac; but the utter absurdity of the substitution, and the popularity given to the word FORAY by Sir Walter Scott’s Poems, have restored the ancient and true appellation.

Causes similar to those which have retained the foray, have also kept up the practice of bowling; so that in Helston alone can one now see the principal gentlemen of the town assembled on the bowling-green, enjoying at once exercise, fresh air, and agreeable intercourse, free from any spirit of gambling and from the slightest indulgence of a habit more common and less excusable.

The word faddy is used to express the dance, the air, or both, used in celebrating the foray; the origin of this term is quite unknown.

The air is preserved by Edward Jones in his Musical and Poetical Relics of the Welsh Bards. He has also printed some lines which were sung by the dancers; they are, however, so entirely devoid of sense, or even of antiquity, that I shall not transcribe them.

The air is supposed to be a remnant of British music; one very like it, if not identically the same, has been found in Ireland, and according to report in Scotland. It may therefore be justly esteemed a curiosity.

The measurement of Helston is included in Gwendron; and the value
of Real Property is not distinguished in the returns to Parliament
from the parish.
The Poor Rates and Population have been given under Gwendron
(Wendron), but they are here repeated.
Poor Rate in 1831, £889. 17_s._
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 2248 | 2297 | 2671 | 3293
giving an increase of 46½ per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The northern part of this parish, approaching the granite of Wendron, is composed of felspar and hornblende rocks; the southern so much abounds in some parts with siliceous varieties of rock as to form barren downs, which stretch from Love Bar to the vicinity of Gweek.

[5] “An old scholiast upon this passage proposes to read
meritas; but says little in defence of his suggestion,
beyond adverting to divers suicidal acts of the ultra
Tories, as he calls them, which are said to have been
perpetrated by them on various occasions.”

ST. HILARY.

Mr. Hals begins his account of this parish with a long history of the patron saint, including all the controversies or disputed points of doctrine in which he was engaged; all this, extending through many pages, is omitted.

St. Hilary was born at Poictiers, in France, about the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century.

He was descended from an illustrious family, and received an education suited to his station in life, by which he was initiated into all the secular learning of those times; but finding the Pagan mythology utterly absurd, and the prevalent system of philosophy quite unsatisfactory, he examined the Christian writings, and became a convert. He seems never to have adopted the brutalizing austerities so prevalent in those ages, but to have employed his talents, his acquired eloquence, and his learning, against the Arians and in defence of the Nicene creed. Several of his works are extant, and have gone through many editions. The whole were printed by the Benedictine Monks of Paris, “St. Hilarii Opera omnia per Monachos Benedictinos edita; Gr. et Lat. Parisiis, 1693, Fol.” Erasmus published the works of St. Hilary in 1544, and says in his Preface, “Quicquid ingenio, quicquid eloquentia, quicquid sacrarum literarum cognitione posset;” and his contemporary, St. Jerome, says of him, “Hilarius, meorum Confessor temporum, et Episcopus, duodecim Quintiliani libros et titulo imitatus est et numero;” referring to his twelve books on the Trinity.

In the judgment of modern critics his style at least is not thought worthy of all the praise bestowed on it by St. Jerome; for, although it is stated to be lofty and noble, and moreover beautified with rhetorical ornaments and figures, yet it is too much studied and lengthened in many periods, so as to be obscure and even unintelligible.

The following passage on singleness of heart, has been cited by various authors.

“Christ teaches that only those who become again, as it were, little children, and by the simplicity of that age cut off the inordinate affections of vice, can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Those follow and obey their father, love their mother, are strangers to covetousness, ill-will, hatred, arrogance, lying, and are inclined easily to believe what they hear. This disposition of affection opens the way to heaven. We must therefore return to the simplicity of little children, in which we shall bear some resemblance to our Lord’s humility.” From his commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew.

St. Hilary, previous to his conversion, had married, and his family consisted of one daughter; he immediately separated himself from them; his wife retired into a religious society. And after the saint had been consecrated Bishop of Poictiers in the year 355, he learned with the utmost horror and affright that his daughter was about to take on herself the unholy bonds of matrimony. His prompt and impassioned remonstrances conveyed in a letter which is printed among his works, conjuring her by the God of heaven not to act so unworthy a part, were successful; the marriage was broken off, and he had the gratification of seeing his daughter, a spouse of Christ, expire not long after at his feet.

St. Hilary composed a treatise which might in ordinary times have conciliated him to every sect then in existence. He there maintained that errors on speculative points of abstruse doctrine, were more sinful in the sight of God than any conduct the most atrocious; but controversy ran so high, and St. Hilary had taken a part so violent against the Arians, that even this merit could not save him from banishment, when that equally poised division of the church obtained some temporary preponderance in a synod, or succeeded in acquiring to their party the temporal chief; who, without using the form of words, practically evinced that he was “over all persons and over all causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil, within those his dominions supreme.”