Chapter III: Part 3

The church is situated on very lofty ground, amidst granite rocks, so universally scattered over the surface, that many houses are built in such a manner as to make one or more of these rocks available in the walls. Yet the soil is good; and Mr. Grylls, the present vicar, has proved that taste and perseverance may create an elegant assemblage of whatever is useful or ornamental in a situation apparently the most unpromising. The tower as well as the church far exceed the average in size and beauty. The tower has a singular addition of a small room at the top; and in this room various records relating to the Stannaries and to the Duchy of Cornwall are said to have been preserved, while the armies on both sides, in the civil war, were ravaging the country, and destroying the towns.

Mr. Tonkin has remarked on the romantic and beautiful vale which descends from Luxilian Church by Prideaux to St. Blazey Bridge, and in explaining the phenomena of lofty and precipitous inland cliffs, he has anticipated the most recent theories of modern geology. See Principles of Geology, by Charles Lyell.

This parish measures 5,041 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3,768 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 554 16 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 875 | 1047 | 1276 | 1288
giving an increase of 47 per cent. in thirty years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish stretches north and south across the large patch of granite, which is situated between Bodmin and St. Austell, and also extends over the slate at its northern and southern extremities. The extent of surface covered by the northern slate is more than a square mile; but the southern slate forms only a small triangle north and north-east of St. Blazey Bridge. The northern half of this parish corresponds with the parish of St. Dennis in the nature of its rocks; the southern half with St. Austell and St. Blazey. The most interesting feature of this parish, in a geological point of view, consists of its numerous and extensive stream-works. This part of Cornwall, including the adjoining parishes, has long been celebrated for the fine quality of its stream-tin, which is, as to the greater part, either crystalline, or of the kind denominated wood-tin, on account of its fibrous texture. The gravel containing this stream-tin rests on the rock, or on its untransported debris; above this occurs a regular stratum of decayed trees and plants; in the deepest stream-works these are covered by another bed of gravel containing tin, having also a superincumbent layer of decayed trees and plants: but this second stratum of tin, always less in quantity than the first, is seldom of sufficient value to pay for the labour of separation. Over all occurs a layer of uncertain thickness, composed of the debris of adjacent rocks, and sustaining on its surface a coating of recent vegetable, and forming marshy, arable, or meadow land, according to the accidental situation of the spot.

THE EDITOR.

The greater part of the valleys in Cornwall having been long since streamed, exhibit little else than heaps of unsightly rubbish; instead of displaying, as in other districts, the most pleasing features of a country. The late Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed has, however, proved in the case of a valley at Lelant, that such deformities may be removed, and the meadows restored to their natural beauty, accompanied even by pecuniary advantage to the proprietor. But such improvements are greatly obstructed by an anomalous property called the right of bounds.

MABE.

HALS.

Mabe, a vicarage, is situated in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north Stithians, and west Constantine; east, part of Gluvias and Bradock.

For the name, it is plain Cornish Mab or Mabe, being a son, and in this place either to be construed in reference to Milorus (son of Melianus, King or Duke of Cornwall), who lies buried in Milor church-yard, and who was lord of this place, or had some jurisdiction over it, as Milor church at this day hath in spirituals over Mabe, to which it is considered as annexed.

Or perhaps the name of this church, Mab or Mabe, refers to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whose honour it may have been erected by our ancestors as a pledge of their orthodox faith, in opposition to the Ebiorite and Arian heresies.

At the time of the Norman conquest the district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Tremiloret, i. e. Milor’s Town. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia de Sancto Milore in decanatu de Kerryer cum Sacello (that is to say, with this church or chapel), was rated £6. 13_s._ 4_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, Milor la Vabe, or Mabe, is valued £16. 15_s._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exon, the incumbent. Now Milor-la-Vabe is either Milor’s son’s place, or a corruption of Milor-ha-Vabe, i. e. Milor and mabe, or Milor and son; this parish was rated to the 4_s._ per pound land-tax 1694, £56. 17_s._

In this place, at Tremough, is the dwelling of John Worth, Esq. sheriff of Cornwall 10th of Queen Ann, who married Trefusis, his father Penularick; originally descended from the Worths of Worth, in Devon or Somerset; who giveth for his arms, in a field Ermine, an imperial eagle with two necks Sable, armed Gules.

Tre-mayne in this parish, i. e. the town of stone, or the stone town, transnominated the gentle family of Peares or Perys, i. e. Pearce in English, to that of Tremayne, tempore Edward III. at which time Peres de Tremayne was lord and possessor thereof, who married Dame Opre, or Obre de Treskewis, and by her had issue John, that died without issue; 2ndly, Peros, that married Onera Trevartea, by whom he had issue Richard, who had issue Thomas, that married Isabella, daughter and heir of Trenchard of Collacomb in Devon, and removed thither, by whom he had issue Nicholas, Canon of St. Peter’s Church, Exeter; which Isabella, surviving her husband Tremayne, married Sir John Damerell, Knight, sheriff of Devon 1 Richard II. 1377, by whom she had no issue: nevertheless so prevailed with him, having no issue of his own, to settle divers land upon her issue by Tremayne, which was a great advancement of the estate of the Tremaynes. In 1392, Nicholas her son aforesaid married Jane, and had issue Thomas that married Carew, who had issue John, who by Joan Warr had issue John, who had issue Thomas, who by Grenville had issue Roger, Edmund, and Degory; Degory had issue Arthur, that married Grenville, by whom he had issue Edmund and Richard, from which Richard the Tremaynes of St. Ewe are descended. This tenement of Tremayne is long since gone out of that name, and is now the land of persons to me unknown. Tremayne tenements are also in St. Martyn’s in Kerrier, also in St. Colomb Major, et al. Tremayne parish in the hundred of East.

The arms of Damorell were, Party per fess Gules and Azure, three crescents, 2 and 1, Argent.

TONKIN.

The name of this parish in the king’s book is La Vabe, that is, St. Vabe, or Mabe’s Place.

The chief estate in this parish, and which I shall therefore begin with, is the manor of Carnsew, alias, says Mr. Carew, Carndew, the black rock, or rather a heap of black rocks, this parish and estate abounding in great rocks of moorstone. This place gave name to a very eminent family, which removed afterwards to Bokelby in St. Kew. One of the Carnsews of Bokelby granted a lease of the barton of Carnsew, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to William Thomas, which William Thomas from thenceforth took the name of Carnsew; and I have in my possession a grant of arms from Sir Richard St. George, Clarenceux King-at-Arms, to Henry Carnsew, of Trewone, junior, dated the 2d of December 1633, recognising this assumption of a new name from his place of residence.

This family has since removed to a better settlement at Trewoon in Budock.

Carverth, which signifies the green town, is also within and held from this manor. This place gave name to, and was the seat of an ancient race of gentlemen, from whom it passed to the Penalunas, till, in the reign of King Charles the First, it was sold to Thomas Melhuish of Penryn, merchant, descended from the Melhuishes of Northan in Devonshire.

Tremogh, that is, the dwelling or town of hogs, is also held from this manor, and was likewise formerly the seat of a family of the same name, from whom it came to the family of Blois of Penryn, in which name it continued till the year 1703, when Roger and John Blois, two brothers, sold this barton, which is of considerable value, to John Worth, Esq. of Penryn, who had for some time before a considerable mortgage on it.

Mr. Worth hath built on Tremogh a very large house of moorstone (granite), and hath inclosed a small park for deer. He hath been a justice of the peace during all the reign of Queen Anne, King George the First, and King George the Second; and was sheriff of the county in the tenth year of Queen Anne. His father, Mr. William Worth, of Penryn, merchant, married Jane, one of the daughters and coheiresses of Pennalerick, by whom he had, among others, a second son, William Worth, D.D. now Archdeacon of Worcester.

Mr. John Worth hath been some time a widower by the death of his wife Bridget, daughter of Francis Trefusis, of Trefusis, Esq. who has left him only one son, of the same name.

Hantertavas is likewise held of this manor, which signifieth the half tongue, but why I know not.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Hals has been singularly unfortunate in his etymology of Tremogh, which has therefore been omitted. Without all doubt, it means, as Mr. Tonkin has interpreted, the hog or pig’s town; and the street leading to Tremogh from Penryn is now called Pig’s Street. The heiress of the Worth family married an adventurer of the name of Hamilton, who ruined all his affairs by contested elections and extravagances. Tremogh was sold about the year 1775; and having passed into the hands of persons of a nearly similar description, the house remained shut up till the wood decayed, and the place was disfigured by the sale and removal of all the trees. The property has, however, at last been secured by a respectable gentleman, who resides on the spot, has renovated the house, and commenced planting and other decorations.

The most discriminating feature of this parish and of the immediate neighbourhood, is the great abundance of granite, not merely in large blocks, the proper moorstone, but in regular and extensive quarries; and so great has been the exportation of this most valuable material, that almost the whole of Waterloo Bridge, and much of the interior of London Bridge, are constructed of stone carried to the Thames from Falmouth harbour.

Districts abounding in crystalline rocks are usually uneven, and in this parish the main road, leading from Helston and all the west to Penryn and Falmouth, had to descend Mabe-hill; but in this year (1835) the line has been turned from the south of Tremogh to a vale on the northern side, which reduces the upper level, and converts a precipitous descent into one sufficiently sloped for carriages of every description. The old road has, however, still an attraction for botanists, as the antirrhinum monspessulanum, a plant very rarely found in other situations, grows there abundantly on the banks and hedges.

Mr. Tonkin is mistaken in tracing the family of Tremayne, long settled at Heligan, in St. Ewe, from the barton in this parish. That family is unquestionably derived from Tremayne in St. Martin’s, on the Helford river.

Mabe measures 2029 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2383 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 317 8 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 387 | 396 | 457 | 512
giving an increase of 32 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

One corner of this parish, immediately north of Penryn, extends on the slate in the form of a very narrow and short stripe; but all the remainder rests entirely on granite, which is for the most part coarse-grained and crystalline, abounding in porphyritic crystals and felspar. It, however, also contains numerous beds of a finer quality, which being well adapted for building is extensively quarried.

ST. MABEN, OR ST. MABIN.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the north St. Kewe, east St. Udye, south Helland, west Egleshayle. For the modern name of this church, it signifies, in the holy or sacred son, or a church dedicated and consecrated in honour of God the Son, in opposition to Arianism, as aforesaid under Mabe. In the Domesday Book 1087, 20 Will. I. this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Treu-es-coit, i. e. the wood-town, or town of wood; still the voke lands of a manor, the lords whereof first endowed this church, whose names were ――――, together with the Duke or Earl of Cornwall.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia de Maben in decanatu de Trig Minorshire, is rated at £8. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is rated at £36. The patronage formerly in the lords of the manor aforesaid, and the Duke of Cornwall, that endowed it; afterwards in the Duke and Louis alternately, the which Louis sold it to Boscawen, now in possession thereof; the incumbent Hill; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound land-tax 1696, at £158. 19_s._ by the name of St. Mabyn or Mabin aforesaid.

Nevertheless the inhabitants of this parish, through ignorance of the Cornish tongue, as not understanding the etymology or import of this compound word Mab-in, have substituted St. Mabiana, as the tutelar guardian or patroness of this church, instead of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the true patron and defender thereof.

Coll-quite, Coll-coit, alias Killyquite, in this parish, tempore Edward III. was the lands of Sir Richard Sergeaulx, sheriff of Cornwall 12 Richard II. who held this place by tenure of knight’s service, two knight’s fees and a half, Morton (see Talland and Crowan); whose issue male failing, his three daughters and heirs were married to Beere, Marney of Essex, and Seyntaubyn of Clowans (whose widow Alice after his death was married to Richard de Vere, the eleventh Earl of Oxford).

From Segreaulx’s heirs this barton and manor by descent or purchase came to Henry Marney, sheriff of Essex, the 2d and 8th of king Henry VII. executor of the last will and testament of Margaret Plantagenet, alias Beaufort, daughter and heir of John Duke of Somerset (grandchild to John of Gaunt by his son John), widow of Edmund of Hadham, Earl of Britain and Richmond, father and mother of King Henry VII. who died 1509, and was by her executors honourably buried in the abbey of Westminster. The arms of Marney were Gules, a lion rampant guardant Argent.

Tre-blith-ike, alias Tre-bletike, in this parish, is now in part, or the whole, the possession of … Hamley, Gent. that married Dingle, and giveth for his arms, in a field Argent, three talbots passant Azure, taloned, clawed, and langued Gules, two in chief and one in base.

Haligan, alias Hel-ligon in this parish. The first name as a monosyllable, signifies, after the Belgick Cornish, the holy or sacred; the second the legal nuncio or ambassador’s hall, perhaps the spiritual legate or ambassador, viz. the minister or priest of this parish. Otherwise, if Heligan be a Greek monosyllable, it signifies willows or osiers, ἑλικὴ helikê, helike, salix.

This barton and manor is the dwelling of Joseph Silly, Esq. one of his Majesty’s Commissioners for the peace, that married Cloberry, his father Elford, originally descended from the Sillys of St. Wenn and Minver. In this place Robert de Haligan, 3 Henry IV. held, by the tenure of knight service, two knight’s fees. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 42.

Pen-wyne in this parish, that is, the head or chief wyne, was the dwelling of Porter, Gent, that married Spry; and giveth for his arms, in a field Sable, three bells Argent, and a canton Ermine. This place is now sold to Cole. Pen-wyn is the beloved head or promontory of land; but properly pen gwynsa is head or chief wine.

Baldwyn, alias Bawdwyn, of Colquite, gave for his arms Gules, within a plain bordure two bendlets Argent. Prout, id est, Proud, gave for his arms Sable, a stag rampant Argent, depressed with a fess indented in chief Or; the stag tripped and armed of the Same.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not anything but what was abridged from Hals.

THE EDITOR.

Tredeathy, pleasantly situated in this parish, has been made a handsome gentleman’s seat by the present possessor, the Rev. Francis John Hext.

The church has several monuments; one to the memory of Grace, the wife of Sir Richard Carnsew; and another to Mrs. Elizabeth Silly; and there remain some slight memorials of a branch from the Godolphins, formerly seated here. It is large, and occupies a commanding situation, with a lofty tower, visible to a great extent in all directions. But nothing has in modern times so much distinguished this parish as the residence of its learned rector, the Rev. Charles Peters.

Mr. Peters’ reputation for a most profound acquaintance with oriental literature, is sufficiently established by a controversy with the mighty man of his time, Doctor William Warburton; but there is also a traditional history of his benevolence, of his piety, and of his genuine simplicity, so interesting that the Editor has most gladly availed himself of a communication from persons nearly connected with this great and good man, to insert it here.

“The Rev. Charles Peters, of St. Mabyn, was descended from a
merchant of Antwerp, who fled to England from the
persecution of the Protestants in Germany. His grandson was
a Turkey merchant of Fowey in the time of Queen Elizabeth:
this gentleman was father of the famous Hugh Peters, and his
mother was a Treffry, of Place-house.

“The ancestor of Mr. Peters of St. Mabyn was a royalist. The
Rev. Charles Peters was born on the 1st of December 1690. In
Tregony, at the German school there, he was taught Latin and
Greek, and the first rudiments of Hebrew. He was afterwards
of Exeter College, Oxford. When first ordained he served the
curacy of St. Justin Roseland; then was presented with the
living of Boconnock. In 1723 the living of Bralton Clovelly
was given to him, and three years afterwards St. Mabyn,
where from that time he chiefly resided, but spent a part of
each year at Bralton, keeping a curate at each. Every Sunday
he entertained a great number of the poorest of his
parishioners; and on Monday the remaining meat was
distributed to them, with bread for each; and thus in
succession he entertained all the poor of the parish; and
there was scarcely any poor rate in St. Mabyn during his
life.

“He spent a large portion of his income in relieving the
temporal wants of his fellow-creatures, and much of his time
in their spiritual instruction. Besides morning and evening
prayers, he read the Bible daily to his family, and also
daily studied it himself in the original languages.

“When he published his Dissertation on the Book of Job, and
drew on himself the insolence of Warburton, he bore it with
the most perfect Christian charity.

“He had written a vindication of Homer in answer to
Warburton. Before it was published Warburton had become a
Bishop, when, fearing that the faults of the man might
reflect on the sacred order, he abstained from publishing
it, saying, ‘Thou shalt not speak evil of the rulers of thy
people.’ Mr. Peters was of abstemious habits, regular both
in his studies and his exercise, which the natural delicacy
of his constitution required. He never married, but educated
the two eldest sons of his elder brother, Dr. Joseph Peters,
M.D. of Truro, and the Rev. Jonathan Peters, of St.
Clement’s. The latter was bred to the church at his desire,
and continued with him as his curate, till the living of St.
Clement called the nephew to the cure of his own church.

“Mr. Peters lived to the age of eighty-four, retaining the
full possession of his faculties to the last.”

Extracts from his Meditations in manuscript:――

When speaking of Warburton, he says,

“Let me then go on with this work which I have begun. Let me
beg the assistance of God, that I may do it in a proper
manner, so as not to return evil for evil, or railing for
railing, but to preserve my temper, and to consider what the
Dean has said, in a cool dispassionate way if possible; or
at least to check my pen so as to say nothing that may
misbecome me either as a Christian or a clergyman.

“As to what relates to Dean Warburton, he has freed me, I
think, from all manner of obligation to say anything in
complaisance; for this, considering the usage he has given
me, would look like stooping to him, and distrusting the
cause I have to plead for. I must keep up my spirits then,
but beware of transgressing the rules of charity, of
prudence, or of good manners.

“If it be necessary that I should publish the remainder of
the Reply to the author of the Divine Legation, grant, oh
Lord! that I may conduct it with all that decency and
prudence, that strict regard to charity as well as truth,
which may become a Christian and a minister of Christ; that
I may have a constant check upon myself with regard to every
thing that may be either light and ludicrous, or bitter and
sarcastic: if my antagonist has given but too much into this
way of writing, the greater shame to him; and the greater
shame to me if I should not endeavour to avoid so palpable a
fault.”

Under the influence of an opinion, or rather of a prejudice similar to those of plenary inspiration, and an immaculate preservation of the text, and unmindful that the Gospels themselves convey a large portion of their instruction under the form of allegory or parable, Mr. Peters maintained the historical authenticity of the book of Job against Dr. Warburton, who argued in favour of the opposite and manifestly the correct hypothesis. Yet so accurate and so extensive were the Hebrew learning and the general erudition of this profound scholar, that he completely worsted the most celebrated critic of his age, and drove him from a sober investigation of facts, of ancient opinions, or of the peculiar form and nature of moral instruction used by eastern nations at various and remote periods, into virulent and personal abuse.

It is curious to observe that the Book of Job has not the most remote allusion to anything connected with the Jews, neither to their laws or their ritual, nor to their patriarchs, or to their leader and legislator.

And it is more curious that in all the writings transmitted to our time by this extraordinary people, from the Book of Genesis to the last prophecy antecedent to its Babylonish captivity, not the slightest reference is made to a state of future existence; unless the strange narrative respecting the Witch of Endor should be deemed an exception, suspected as it is of interpolation; and at all events utterly unfitted for announcing, and that too incidentally, the most important of revealed truths. Previously, moreover, to the captivity, no personification is ever mentioned of the Principle of Evil.――“Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made; and he said unto the woman,” &c. No allusion is here made to any supernatural being; nor did the serpent lose the disgraceful credit till three thousand five hundred years after the fact, of having by his own unassisted subtilty, malevolence, and craft, led our first parents into the fatal snare predestined to work the utter and eternal destruction of countless millions of the human race, but for the stupendous mystery of their subsequent redemption.

In the Book of Job reference is made to a future life; and the Principle of Evil not only appears as a distinct personage, but is placed in collision and in debate with the Principle of all Good, driving the Divinity itself to the clumsy expedient, suited only to the imperfections of a finite intellect, of ascertaining by an actual experiment, whether a man were capable of sustaining certain degrees of bodily pain and of mental affliction, without murmuring against his Creator, the Lord and Giver of life, in whom we live, and move, and have our being.

It seems plain, therefore, from the doctrine of a future state first noticed in this work, from the first introduction of a being hostile to the happiness of all others and delighting in their misery, and from the absence of any allusion to a single fact connected with the Mosaic dispensation, or to the history embodied in the Sacred Records; and, lastly, from the dramatic form of the whole; that the Book of Job must be a parable, a moral tale, a poem wholly unconnected with the Jewish faith. It seems not to be improbable that such a composition, teaching the important duties of resignation and submission to the Divine will,

Αγου δε με, Ω Ζευ, και συ γ’ ἡ Πεπρωμενη,
Οποι ποθ’ ὑμιν ειμι διατεταγμενος,
Ως εψομαι γ’ αοκνος· ην δε μη θελω,
Κακος γενομενος ουδεν ηττον εψομαι,

may have been translated from the Chaldean into the Hebrew language during the Captivity, retaining the Chaldean character, for no copy is said to exist in the ancient or Samaritan alphabet. And a work so excellent, so abounding in the most sublime and elevated flights of eastern poetry, soaring towards such topics as even that poetry is unable fully to reach, may well have been added by Ezra to the Book of the Law which he brought before the congregation, and read before them in the street, when they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

The Editor has also been desirous of obtaining information respecting another member of this family, whom, at the distance of almost two centuries from those times of violence and of civil commotion in which he lived, we may now consider as one persecuted in his death and in his fame, far beyond the degree which any demerit on his part, either as a fanatic in religion or as a partizan in politics, could have justly merited.

He was probably selected as a victim by his opponents to gratify the base passions of an ignorant multitude, now anxious to destroy those whom they had previously adored; and ridicule was cast on his memory by the triumphant party, as an expedient for beating down religious opinions hostile to the system of ecclesiastical government then reestablished: perhaps also, the possession of Lambeth Palace, like that of the house adjoining the capitol by Manlius, may have excited similar feelings; and possibly he was considered in some degree as an equivalent for Laud.

Extract from a History written in 1781:――

“William, Thomas, and Hugh Peters were brothers, and born at
Fowey in Cornwall. Their father was a merchant of large
property, and their mother was Elizabeth Treffry, daughter
of John Treffry, Esq. of a very ancient and opulent family
in that town.

“William received his education at Leyden, Thomas at Oxford,
and Hugh at Cambridge. Between the years 1610 and 1620
Thomas and Hugh became clergymen in London. William
continued a private gentleman. About the year 1628 Thomas
and Hugh having rendered themselves obnoxious by their
popularity and puritanic preaching, were silenced by the
Bishop. They then went to Holland and remained till 1633,
when they returned to London. The three brothers then sold
their landed property, and in the following year embarked
for America. Hugh settled at Salem, and soon became so
popular as to excite the jealousy of those who had
previously swayed the fanatical opinions of that place. Mr.
Hugh Peters was in a short time appointed a trustee of the
college at New Cambridge. He built a grand house, and
purchased a large tract of land. The yard before his house
he paved with flint-stones from England; and having dug a
well he paved that also with flint-stones, for the
accommodation of every inhabitant in want of water. It bears
the name of Peter’s Spring up to the present time.

“He here married a second time, and had one daughter named
Elizabeth. His renown as a zealot increasing, he received an
invitation to remove from Salem to Boston, with which he
complied, and there laid the foundation-stone of the great
meeting-house, of which the Reverend Doctor Samuel Cooper,
one of the most learned literati in America, is the pastor.
Those whose envy he had excited at Salem, ill brooked being
thus outrivalled by Mr. Peters. Yet finding him an orthodox
fanatic, and more powerful than themselves, they seemingly
bowed to his superiority, at the same time that they were
contriving a plan which ended in his destruction.

“In 1641 they conspired with the civil authorities of Boston
to convert their leading priest into a politician, by
appointing him agent to Great Britain. The plot succeeded,
and Mr. Hugh Peters assumed his agency under colour of
petitioning for some abatement of customs and excise; but
his real commission was to foment the civil discontents,
wars, and jars then prevailing between the King and the
Parliament. He did not see into the motives of these people;
and he felt a strong inclination to chastise the Court and
the Bishop of London, who had turned him out of the church
for his fanatical conduct.

“On Mr. Peters’s arrival in London, the Parliament took him
into their service. The Earls of Warwick and of Essex were
also his patrons. In 1644 the Parliament gave him Archbishop
Laud’s library, and soon afterwards made him head of the
Archbishop’s court, and gave him the estate and palace at
Lambeth; all which he kept till the Restoration.

“The people of Boston conducted themselves with ingratitude
and neglect towards Mr. Peters; they never paid him any part
of the stipend attached to his office, although he
discharged the duties of it during twenty years, and
obtained from the Protector a charter for the Society for
propagating the Gospel in New England, which, by
contributions raised in Great Britain, has supported all the
missionaries among the Indians to the present time.

“An occurrence at the melancholy close of Mr. Peters’s life
evinces his firmness of mind and self-possession.

“The sentences of our law, now barbarous in words alone,
were in those days executed with horrors so savage, as to
forbid description. The scenes of cruelty were repeated one
after the other; and in his own case Mr. Peters, either from
design or accident, remained to witness on others the
inflictions which awaited himself. At that moment an officer
whose heart must have been more obdurate than the hardest
flint, or than Marperian rock, inquired of him how he liked
the proceeding, and received for answer, ‘Friend, thou doest
ill to distress a dying man!’”

St. Mabyn measures 3,846 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 6051 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 383 1 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 475 | 560 | 715 | 793
giving an increase of 67 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. Granville Leveson Gower, presented by the
Earl of Falmouth, in 1818.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is entirely situated within the calcareous series. Its rocks are similar to those of the adjoining parishes of Egleshayle, Helland, and St. Kew.

MAWNAN.

HALS.

It is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north Constantine, east Budock, and is elsewhere surrounded with the waters of the British ocean and Hayleford Haven.

However, the reader may take notice that long before the Norman Conquest, even in King Alfred’s days, this district was not known but by the name of Penwarne; viz. the voke lands of the bailywick of the hundred of Kerryer; and its court baron hath its prison and sub-bailiff still extant in Budock, which lands and court baron claims the respective suits and services of the several tithings or freeholders within its precincts, as of ancient right accustomed. And this barton of Penwarne hath also still extant upon it an old unendowed free chapel and burying-place of public use, before the church of Mawnan was erected, for under the name and jurisdiction of Penwarne this parish was taxed in the Domesday Book, 20 William I. 1087.

Though, at the time of the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, this parish church was rated then by the name of Ecclesia de Mawnan, in decanatu de Kerryer, 4_l._ 3_s._ 8_d._ In Wolsey’s inquisition, 1521, 14_l._ 16_s._ 1_d._ The patronage formerly in Killygrew, afterwards Rogers, now Kempe. The incumbent Trewinard; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, by the name of Mawnan, 72_l._

From Pen-gwarne alias Pen-warne, synonymous words, was denominated an old English family of gentlemen now in possession thereof, surnamed De-Penwarne (who by possession of those lands is bailiff or lord of the bailiwick of the hundred of Kerryer by inheritance), whose ancestors have been seised and possessed thereof, beyond the records of time, and have been possessed in former ages of divers other lands of considerable value in those parts.

Particularly Richard Penwarne, Esq. that married one of the coheirs of Tencreeke, Member of Parliament for Penryn, temp. James I.; whose son Robert married the daughter of Robinson of London, who had issue the present possessor, Robert Penwarne, Esq. that married Sprye of Tregony, and hath issue; that giveth for his arms, in a field Sable a chevron between three fleur-de-lis Argent.

TONKIN.

The manor of Trevose, that is, the town in the valley, from its principal mansion so called, where are the ruins of a very large house, as having been formerly a seat of the Killigrews, and particularly in J. Norden’s time of Sir William Killigrew, to which family, together with other lands adjoining, I suppose it came by their marriage with the daughter and heir of Arwinick. This property was sold to Sir Nicholas Slanning of Marystow in Devonshire, who I believe made this place his residence, while he was Governor of Pendinas Castle. This was the famous Sir Nicholas Slanning, so much cried up for his valour, who had a chief command in the King’s army, and was killed before Bristol in July 1643. He left a son of the same name, then an infant, who was made a Baronet by King Charles II. in 1662, as he had been before that one of the Knights of the Bath at his Majesty’s Coronation; which Sir Nicholas Slanning gave for his arms, Argent, two pales ingrailed Gules, over all a bend Azure, charged with three griffin’s heads erased Or.

This gentleman sold Trerose to Brian Rogers of Falmouth, merchant, who left by his wife, the daughter of John Tregeagle of Trevorden, Esq. one only son, Peter Rogers, Esq. who dying under age, the estate was sold to pay his father’s debts, under the authority of an Act of Parliament, to James Kempe of Penryn, Esq. who settled it on his second son James Kempe; but he died in his father’s lifetime; and, therefore, on his father’s death, in 1711, it fell to his son John Kempe, who marrying Mary the daughter of Joshua Ratcliff of Francklyn in Devonshire, Esq. died in May 1714, leaving an only daughter, who died soon afterwards. The manor ultimately devolved to Nicholas Kempe of Rosteage, Esq. who is the present lord thereof. Mr. Rogers gave for his arms, as deriving himself from the Rogerses of Cannington in Somersetshire, Argent, a chevron between three bucks courant Sable, attired Or.

The advowson of the parish was appendant to this manor, but has been severed therefrom, and now belongs to John Peters, Esq. of Harlyn.

In this parish is also Penwarne. This has been for many generations the seat of an ancient family of the same name, where they have flourished, being Justices of the Peace, and Members of Parliament; they began, however, to decline about the middle of Queen Elizabeth’s time, till Peter Penwarne, Esq. parted with almost the whole of his landed property, except the barton. The present gentleman married Joan, the daughter of Thomas Taylder of St. Mabe, gent.; his father Robert the daughter and heir of Peter Spry of Tregony, merchant.

Mr. Peter Penwarne died this present year (1732), leaving two sons, Thomas and John. The arms of Penwarne are, Sable, a chevron between three fleurs-de-lis Or.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Lysons gives a detailed account of the various manors.

Tresore belongs at present to the Rev. Robert Hoblyn. The manor of Boskenso and also Penwarne, were purchased by Mr. Michael Nowell, a merchant of Falmouth, who was knighted on presenting an address to the King. They now belong to his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Usticke.

Mr. John Penwarne, the representative of this ancient family, practised the law at Penryn, and married Miss Ann Kivell. He now resides in London, and has a son and one daughter.

The Rev. John Rogers, Canon Residentiary of Exeter, is the patron and incumbent of the living.

This parish measures 1,702 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2,591 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 247 11 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 427 | 497 | 536 | 578
giving an increase of 35 per cent. in 30 years.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The northern part of this parish consists of felspathic hornblend rocks, belonging to the porphyritic series, which nearly touches the granite of Constantine and Budock. The southern part of Mawnan is situated on the calcareous series, and some of its rocks are very interesting, particularly those in the cliffs near the church and Rosemullion Head.

MADDERN.

HALS.

St. Mad-darne, or Mad-ran, a Vicarage, is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north Sennor or Zeynar, west Sancret, east Gulval, south Paul and the Mount’s Bay.

At the time of the Norman Conquest this district was taxed in the Domesday Book, under the jurisdiction of Alverton, of which more under. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancti Maddarne is rated £5. 6_s._ 8_d._ in decanatu de Penwith; prior Hospitalis Johannis percepit in eadem £6. 13_s._ 4_d._ The meaning of which is this: Henry de la Pomeraye, tempore Richard I. (or his ancestors) built or endowed this church, and gave it to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, for the health and salvation of his own soul, that of his Lord the King, and the souls of his father, mother, brothers, sisters, progenitors and successors, as it is set down in that charter. See Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. ii. page 792. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is valued to first fruits £21. 5_s._ 10_d._ by the name of Madran as aforesaid, without the appellation or pronoun Saint. The patronage formerly in the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem at Sythney, subject to St John’s Hospital of Jerusalem at London, after their dissolution in the Crown, now in Flemen; the incumbent Bellot, and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound land-tax, 1696, temp. William III. £163. 14_s._ Penzance town £139. 11_s._ 6_d._ in all £303. 5_s._ 6_d._

Who the supposed tutelar guardian of this church, St. Maddarne, was, is past my ability of finding out, either in the legends or martyrologies, therefore refer him to the scrutiny of the inhabitants; only by the way let it be remembered that Galfridus Monmouthensis tells us in his Chronicle that one Madan was a British king in these parts before Julius Cæsar landed in Britain, and probably that he lived or died here, in memory of whom this parish is called Madran, now Maddarne. Here also is Maddarne Well of water, greatly famous for its healing virtues, of which thus writes Bishop Hall of Exeter, in his book called the Great Mystery of Godliness, p. 169, where, speaking of what good offices angels do God’s servants.

“Of which kind was that noe less then miraculous cure, which
at St. Maddarn’s Well in Cornwall was wrought upon a poore
criple; wherof, besides the attestation of many hundreds of
the neighbours, I tooke a strict and impartial examination
in my last triennial Visitation there. This man for sixteen
years was forced to walke upon his hands, by reason of the
sinews of his leggs were soe contracted that he cold not goe
or walk on his feet, who upon monition in a dreame, to wash
in that well, which accordingly he did, was suddainly
restored to the use of his limbs, and I sawe him both able
to walk and gett his owne maintenance. I found here was
neither art or collusion, the cure done, the author our
invisible God, &c.”

However, notwithstanding this instance of that Reverend Bishop’s, I know no medicinal waters in Cornwall that are constantly and universally sovereign for any disease, but only to some particular persons, at times and seasons.

Alvorton, alias Alverton, in this parish, was the Voke lands of a considerable manor heretofore pertaining to the Kings and Earls of Cornwall, and under that jurisdiction and name this district of Maddern was taxed, 20 William I. 1087, as also Paul Parish; it consisted, temp. Edward III. of eighty-four Cornish acres of land. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 46, that is to say 3600 statute acres. (Page 131 of Lord Dunstanville’s Edition; the Cornish Acres 64).

Within the confines of this parish, or the said manor, stands Mayne Screffes, that is to say, the written or inscribed stone, being a monument set up of a rough perpendicular stone, in memory of a famous Cornish-British Prince or King, that probably lived and died here, and was interred near the same, in which stone are yet extant these British and Latin words: “RIALOBRAN CUNOWALL FIL:” [id est, Rialobran the son of Cunowall] which contracted Latin word fil. for filius, shows that it was made and erected there since first the Romans came into this land, for the Britains before had no knowledge of the Latin tongue; which words, if not monosyllables, are compounded either of those particles Rial-o-Bren-Cunowall fil: Extraordinary Royal or Imperial Prince King of Wales son; or rather it ought to be thus read, Rial-o-Bren-Cornowall filius, viz. the extraordinary Royal Prince or King of Cornwall’s Son. For as Rial in British answers to Regalis, Regius, Augustus, Regificus, Basilicus, in Latin, so -o- by itself to nimius, id est, much, excessive, overmuch; and Bren, Brene, to Princeps, a Prince, Ruler, or Chief Governor. However, let it be remembered, in favour of the second etymology, that one Bletius (son to Roderick King of Wales and Cornwall, anno Dom. 700,) was Prince of Wales and also King or Prince of Cornwall. But this funeral monument stone must have been erected before that time; for afterwards it became lawful to bury dead human creatures in towns and cities, lastly in churches and churchyards, though not before. [See Dr. Borlase’s Antiquities, 2d edit. p. 391, and the plate in Lysons’s Cornwall, p. ccxxi. Editor.]

Landithy. Landegey, Landigey, in this parish, contiguous with the church, which signifies the temple church, was formerly the lands of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, now ―――― Flemen, gent.

In this parish, at ―――― liveth Francis Seynt Aubyn, esq. sometime Commissioner for the Peace, who married ―――― Arundel, of this place, whose lands it was, and Crocker of St. Agnes, and hath issue. He is a younger son of John Seyntaubyn, of Clowens, esq. by Godolphin of Treveneage.

Upon the south part of this parish, at the head of St. Michael’s Mount’s Bay, on a little promontory of land shooting into the sea, is situate the market and coinage town of Pensance, or Penzance, which stands now rated in the Exchequer as a noun substantive, or distinct jurisdiction from Maddarne; whereas the borough of Camelford is taxed under Lenteglos, Mitchell under Newlan, and St. Enedor-Bosithney under Dundagell.

The old chapel, and the whole town of Penzance, the 20th July 1595, was burnt to ashes by five Spanish galleys, that then came into St. Michael’s Mount’s Bay for that purpose, of which fact there is a large history to be seen in Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 156, (page 381, Lord Dunstanville’s edition); since which time the new chapel hath been founded and beautified as it now stands, and the old town comparatively all new built of brick and stone, and augmented with a greater number of houses than before.

It was incorporated by charter from King James the First, with the jurisdiction of a court leet, by the name of the Mayor, Aldermen, or Magistrates, before whose tribunal all pleas of debt and damage, within the precincts of that borough, are judged and determined by the said charter; it is also made the fifth town for coinage of tin, at the usual times of the year, by the Duke of Cornwall’s officers, as also with a weekly market on Thursdays, and fairs yearly, on Thursday before Advent Sunday, and also on Trinity Thursday.

This town of Penzance, anno Dom. 1646, in the time of the wars between King Charles I. and his Parliament, for the kindness and charity the inhabitants showed to the Lord Goring’s and Lord Hopton’s troops of horse, driven into those parts by Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliament General, was made a prey to his soldiers or troops, who for two days had the plunder of the town and its inhabitants’ goods, to the one’s great loss and the other’s great enriching; for one of those troopers, viz. Edward Best, of St. Wenn, had to his share five gallons of English coin, silver and gold, and pieces of eight, as I was told by one of his servants, that was the measurer and spectator thereof; though long since all riotously spent, as also the shares of his fellow-troopers Littlecot, Keen, and Lockyer of Roach.

In this port his Majesty and the Duke have their coinage hall for coining tin, custom-house, collector, surveyor, comptroller, and wayters for sea and land service. The chief inhabitants of this town are John Carveth, gent. attorney-at-law, Mr. Gross, of the same profession, Mr. Tremenheer, Mr. Williams, Mr. Veale, Mr. Rawlinge.

The arms of this town, through ignorance of the true etymology of the name thereof, is St. John Baptist’s head in a charger.

To remove an action at law depending in the leet of Penzance to a superior court, the writ must be thus directed: “Majori et Burgisensibus Burgi sui de Pensance, alias Penzance, in com: Cornu: salutem:” otherwise, “Majori, Aldermanis, et Senescallo Burgi sui de Penzance alias Pensance, in comitatu Cornubiæ, salutem.”

On the east side of this town, on the sea shore, at the top of St. Michael’s Mount’s Bay, stands that notable treble intrenchment of earth, after the British manner, built as a rampart or fortress for defence of the country against foreign invaders, called Les-cad-dock Castle; otherwise Les-caddock, as two monosyllables, refer to Cadock, Earl of Cornwall, whose broad camp or castle of war it was, as tradition saith.

TONKIN.

This is a vicarage; the patronage in John Harris, esq.; the incumbent Doctor Walter Borlase, LL.D. But note, that the patronage of this parish is at present in the Corporation of Penzance, carrying with it the town, and the little parish of Morvah.

Penzance.――This town is a parish of itself, but the church is a daughter church to St. Maddarne, and passeth in the same presentation.

The village of Penzance was incorporated by King James I. on the 9th day of May, in the 12th year of his Highness’s reign, by the name of Mayor, Aldermen, and commonalty of the village of Penzance, and by that name to be one body, both in name and deed, and to have perpetual succession, and to be persons in the law, capable to purchase and possess lands, to consist of a Mayor, annually chosen, of eight other Aldermen, and twelve Assistants.

And at the time of the Heralds’ Visitation, the 9th day of October 1620, William Noseworthy was mayor; John St. Aubin, esq. recorder; John Maddern, John Clyse, Robert Dunkin, John Games, Roger Polkinhorne, William Madderne, Robert Luke, and Pasco Ellis, aldermen; Nicholas Hext was town clerk of the said Corporation.

THE EDITOR.

The church of Maddern stands on a commanding elevation, and retains indications of its former connexion with the Knights Templars, who are believed to have had a preceptory or provincial establishment at Landithy, immediately adjoining.

In the church and churchyard are monuments to various distinguished families resident within the parish: Borlase, Nicholls, Arundell, Harris, Pearce, Jenkin, Heckens, Clies, Pascoe, &c.; and some in memory of strangers, who too long delayed availing themselves of the mild climate and salubrious air of the Mount’s Bay. One of the more ancient monuments has these lines:

Belgium me birth, Britaine me breeding gave,
Cornwall a wife, ten children, and a grave.

Castle Horneck is thought to be the site of a castle denominated Hornec, or iron, from its supposed strength, and built by the Tyers, who were lords of this district early in the times of the Plantagenets.

This place was the residence during a long life, of the Rev. Walter Borlase, Doctor of Civil Law, Vice-Warden of the Stannaries, and Vicar of Maddern for more than fifty-five years, who died April 26, 1776, aged 81 years and six months.

Doctor Borlase appears to have been universally respected, as a man of ability and learning, and for firmness and decision of character. He was the eldest son of Mr. John Borlase, of Pendeen in St. Just, sometime Member of Parliament for St. Ives, and brother of the Rev. William Borlase, also Doctor of Civil Law, and Rector of Ludgvan, our justly celebrated historian.

Doctor Walter Borlase married Margaret, daughter of the Rev. Henry Pendarves, vicar of the adjoining parish of Paul; and he is said in consequence of this marriage to have quitted the law, in which profession he could scarcely have failed of attaining some considerable distinction. They had a very numerous family of sons and daughters; but, none of the sons having left a son, the family estate has passed, under an entail, to the descendants of Doctor William Borlase, and now belongs to his great-grandson.

Doctor Walter Borlase built the house at Castle Horneck. The family arms are, Ermine, on a bend Sable, two hands issuing at the elbows from as many clouds Proper, and rending a horseshoe Or.

Trereife has been long the residence of the Nicholls’s, of whom the most distinguished person was Frank Nicholls, M.D. Physician to King George the Second, and son-in-law of the celebrated Dr. Mead. His life has been written in Latin by Dr. Lawrence, sometime President of the College of Physicians, with his portrait. It appears from this work that Dr. Nicholls was born in 1699, that he became a member of Exeter College, Oxford, in March 1714, took his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1729, and was chosen a Fellow of the College of Physicians in the following year, being previously a Fellow of the Royal Society. Nine different communications from Doctor Nicholls are printed in the Philosophical Transactions, and he published a separate work: “De Anima Medica,” to which is added a treatise, “De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Homine Nato et non Nato.”

His reputation stands deservedly very high as an Anatomist. Several dissections of the viper’s head and poisonous fangs, engraved for Dr. Mead’s work, are believed to be his; and to him is attributed the invention of what are termed corroded preparations. He died in January 1778, having completed his 79th year.

This gentleman’s elder brother married in London, but finally settled at Trereife, with one son and two daughters. The two daughters married, the eldest Mr. Love of Penzance, the second William Harris, of Kenegie, Esq. but neither left any family. The son, William Nicholls, married Miss Ustick, of Penzance, and died leaving one son. Mrs. Nicholls subsequently married the Rev. Charles Valentine Le Grice, of Bury St. Edmunds, then Lecturer of Penzance, and bore him a son, who, together with Mr. Le Grice, now hold the estate as tenants in remainder, and by the courtesy, under the will of Mr. Nicholls, Jun. who lived to the age of twenty-three or twenty-four years.