Chapter IV: Part 4

Trengwainton appears to have been inhabited by branches of the Arundell family, for a long series of years, and finally the last Mr. Arundell, of Menadarva, removed there, having in a great measure rebuilt the house. Soon after his decease it was sold, and Mr. Praed, of Trevethow, became the purchaser. Trengwainton was thus chiefly used as a farm-house till the late Sir Rose Price, wishing to form a seat in that neighbourhood, obtained it as an accommodation from the late Mr. Praed, and under his hands it has become a splendid residence.

It appears that a gentleman of the name of Price accompanied Venables and Penn in their successful expedition against Jamaica, during the Protectorate, and obtained an extensive grant of land, which his descendants lived on and improved, till early in the last century one of the sons was sent to England for education and health. It is understood that Doctor Nicholls was consulted as a physician, and that he recommended the climate of Penzance; perhaps Mr. John Price may have been the first invalid ever sent from a distance to breathe the soft air of this all but island in the Atlantic. At that time Mr. Henry Badcock, from the parish of Whilstone, in the north-eastern extremity of Cornwall, held the office of Collector at Penzance, where he had married Parthenia Keigwin, daughter of Mr. John Keigwin, of Mousehole. The young patient was received into their house by Mr. and Mrs. Badcock, who had several daughters. Mr. Price married in the year 1736 Margery, one of their daughters; but having gone back to Jamaica he died there three years afterwards, leaving her with an only son, also John Price.

This gentleman, having gone through the usual stages of education, ending with Trinity College, Oxford, went also to Jamaica, and there married Elizabeth Williams Bramer, daughter of John Bramer, a physician. They had only one son, who lived to a mature age, and succeeded his father in January 1797.

Mr. Rose Price, in the subsequent year, married Miss Elizabeth Lambert, a young lady from the county of Meath, born on the 12th of April 1782, by a singular coincidence on the very day that Admiral Rodney’s victory saved Jamaica from being captured by the French, and therefore about sixteen at the time of her marriage. Mr. Price served the office of Sheriff for Cornwall in the year 1814, as his father had done forty years before, in the year 1774. In this year also he was made a Baronet, in consequence of a promise from King George the Fourth, then Regent.

Lady Price died early in life, leaving a large family; and Sir Rose Price died on the 29th September 1834, having nearly completed his 65th year.

And here I would add a few lines to commemorate a gentleman whose progress through life was mainly guided by his connexion with this family, and whose conduct reflects credit on them for their choice.

In compliance with a custom evidently derived from the Catholic times of our forefathers, when every thing relating to the church was transacted in the language of ancient Rome, all boys whose parents were raised above the lowest state in society, went for six or twelve months to a Latin school. Mr. John Vinicombe was among the number, but his progress exhibited so great a superiority above other scholars of his age, that Mr. Perkin, the Lecturer and schoolmaster, prevailed on his father to allow of his staying an additional year. Just at that moment Mr. John Price placed his son at the same school; and, at the suggestion probably of Mr. Perkin, Mr. Price was induced to purchase at some small premium a further continuance of Mr. Vinicombe at the school, that he might assist, instruct, and be in some degree the companion of Mr. Rose Price.

A connexion thus formed naturally went on; Mr. Vinicombe became a member of Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a Fellowship; attended Mr. Rose Price to the school at Harrow, and acted as his private tutor when he became a gentleman commoner of Magdalen; made with him the tour of Europe; and finally, attended his friend and former pupil to Jamaica, where, by a residence of about two years, they nearly doubled the value of the estate. Soon after their return to England Mr. Vinicombe went to his Fellowship, and became not only a college tutor but one of the Public Examiners, under the then recent statute, and he had confident expectations of preferment in the church; but a premature death terminated his useful and honourable career, occasioned (or hastened at least) by a fall from his horse. An excellent picture of Mr. Vinicombe, by Mr. Opie, has gone to Pembroke College, under the will of Sir Rose Price.

Rosecadgwell has been for a considerable time in the family of Borlase. Mr. John Borlase, father of the two Doctor Borlases, removed there from Pendeen in the latter portion of his life; and Samuel Borlase, Esq. representative of this ancient and respectable family, resides there at present.

Nanceolvern almost adjoins Rosecadgwell. This was the residence of Mr. Carverth. After building there an excellent house, Mr. Carverth died in very embarrassed circumstances, which gave rise to an unusual extent of litigation. This place, however, was purchased by one of the Mr. Urlicks, and it now belongs to Mr. Scobell, who married the heiress of that branch of the family.

Poltare has a large and decorated house, built by the late Mr. Richard Heckens, of St. Ives, who married one of the daughters and coheiresses of Mr. George Veale. That place has passed by purchase also to the Scobell family.

Trenear was formerly a seat of the Olivers. The last of this family, Doctor William Oliver, a physician, died at Bath in 1764; and another William Oliver, M.D. had the honour of accompanying King William in the expedition which placed him on the throne, to preserve the civil and religious liberties of England. Trenear was sold soon after the younger Dr. Oliver’s decease, and purchased by Mr. Robyns, who built there a good house, and made it a gentleman’s seat. It afterwards became the property and residence of the Rev. Anthony Williams, sometime Vicar of St. Kevern, and it has passed with one of his daughters and coheiresses to Henry Pendarves Tremenheere, Esq. late Captain of one among the first-rate ships in the East India Company’s Service, where he merited and obtained the approbation, esteem, and respect of every individual with whom he had the slightest connexion, and the same effects of honour, ability, and kindness of heart, have followed him into retirement.

Rose Hill has a good house, built about the commencement of this century by Richard Oxnam, Esq. who served the office of Sheriff in the year 1810. It has since become the property and residence of the Rev. Uriah Tonkin, recently appointed Vicar of Lelant.

Lariggan is remarkable for the beauty of its situation; having been selected, and a neat house built there, by Mr. Thomas Pascoe, a worthy and respectable magistrate. And just above the town of Penzance stands a house having almost the appearance of a palace, built some years since by an individual of the name of Pope.

Mr. Pope was originally from Camelford; he conducted business for some time at Bristol, and then emigrated to the United States, where he accumulated a large fortune, unknown and forgotten by his family; till on a sudden he appeared at Penzance, recognised some relations, and, having purchased a few acres of ground, he built this magnificent house, which instantly became known by general acclamation as the Vatican, a name suited at once to its splendour, to its elevated situation, and to its founder’s name. Mr. Pope scarcely lived to inhabit this mansion; but left it to his nephew Mr. Vibert, to whose patriotism, skill, and perseverance, as a member of the corporation, Penzance is mainly indebted for several of its improvements, and especially for its new church. The house is now inhabited by Mrs. Rogers, widow of the late Mr. John Rogers, of Penrose, near Helston, and her daughters.

Lanyon was in former times the residence of one branch of the ancient and respectable family bearing that name. It now belongs to Mr. Rashleigh, of Menabelly; the farm, however, possesses one of those monuments in comparison with which all family records are modern.

In a croft near the side of the road leading from Penzance towards Morva, stands the Cromleigh or Coit described by Doctor Borlase, in pp. 230, 231, of his Antiquities, 2d edition. It fell down and has been replaced, (see the Logging Rock under St. Levan). Dr. Borlase mentions another Cromleigh at Malfra, in this parish, and two others in the adjoining parishes of Morva and Zennor, all within a few miles of each other. These monuments, scattered over a large portion of Europe, bear all the marks of great antiquity. Their construction is rude as well as simple, a flat but unhewn stone, laid on three columnar stones, also in their natural slate, and all of Cyclopean dimensions. The flat stone at Lanyon has been estimated at twenty ton.

Their use is much less certain. They are generally supposed to be sepulchral monuments; but the flat surface of the upper stone always inclined at a small angle from the horizon, would seem to countenance the opinion of their being meant for religious observances, probably for sacrifices, which is further countenanced by the etymology of the name, if it means in Celtic the Holy Hearth.

Landithy, the college or preceptory of the Knights Templars, belonged for several generations to the Flemings, a family now quite extinct, and their property alienated.

The great tithes of this parish belonged to the Knights Templars, under a gift from Henry de Pomeroy, one of the great family of the Pomeroys, Lords of Bury Pomeroy Castle. They were given by Henry the Eighth to some private person, and have belonged for a considerable time to the family of Nicholls, now Le Grice.

The Vicarage has passed through other hands. It is related by Hals and Tonkin to have belonged to Fleming and to Harris, and then by purchase to the corporation of Penzance, from which body it passed by sale to the family of Borlase, and is now vested in the heir-at-law, or in the devisee of the late Samuel Borlase, Esq.

But at a remote period the baronial residence of an extensive lordship was at Alverton, held by the Pomeroys; and Mr. Lysons says that it passed successively through the Tyes, Lisles, and Berkeleys, till reverting to the Crown it was granted to Whitmore and others, and has been divided and subdivided. Scarcely a trace can be seen at Alverton of its former magnificence. The portion still claiming the nominal distinction of Manor of Alverton, Penzance, and Mousehole, was bought of the Keigwins by the late Mr. George Veale, second son of Mr. Veale, of Trevaila, who acquired a considerable fortune at Penzance by the practice of the law; afterwards divided between his three daughters,――one married to Mr. Hickens, of Poltair; another to Mr. Baines, a Captain in the Navy; and the third to Mr. Jenkin, an officer in the army. These ladies, or their families, have since disposed of Alverton, and the whole is now vested in James Halse, Esq. M. P. for St. Ives.

Maddern Well is one of the numerous springs of water almost revered in former times on account of imputed supernatural virtues; and it has in reality, from time out of mind, diffused health and comfort over the thousands of persons inhabiting Penzance, the stream having been conducted there by a winding channel of some miles in extent, and arriving at the highest part of the town, it is enabled to flow down to the sea through every street.

Penzance, the most western market town in Cornwall, is one of the most flourishing. It appears to have been in former times no more than a small village, occupying the promontory now distinguished as the Quay, where stood a chapel, dedicated to St. Anthony, the Patron of fishermen, which in all probability gave it the name of Pen-sance, or the holy head (land), and it seems further probable that the new church or chapel yard may have been an ancient fortress for the protection of the place. Houses however gradually extended beyond this narrow limit; and the place had acquired some magnitude, when, in the year 1595, on the 23d of July, a predatory squadron of ships from Spain, stood into the bay, and landing about two hundred men, destroyed Mousehole, burnt Paul Church, and did much injury to Penzance; see Carew, Lord Dunstanville’s edition, p. 381. But, as appears from history to be very usual in such cases, the town arose with increased splendour from its ashes, and a charter of incorporation having been soon after, in 1614, granted by King James the First, measures were taken by this new body of trustees for insuring the increase and prosperity of the district committed to their charge. The most material of these were purchasing the seignorage of the harbour, and of the market, and of fairs, which according to the rude policy of former times had been vested in private persons, for individual benefit; the first of whom was Alice de Lisle, lady of the manor of Alverton, about the year 1332.

The Corporation also acquired a piece of ground called the three-cornered spot, on which a spacious market house was constructed, and buildings proper for shops and for merchandize, were raised on the three faces of the triangle. Penzance acquired also the privilege of being a coinage town. From this period it continued gradually to increase in size, in wealth, and in consideration, notwithstanding some adverse events in the Civil War, till the progress received an almost unlooked-for acceleration by another effort of the faithful trustees for the place, the body corporate. They, by a series of judicious efforts, continued for many years, at last completed a Pier, so extensive and well placed as to afford shelter for perhaps a hundred vessels, to admit several of the largest size used for traders, and to afford every accommodation and facility for the shipping or unshipping of merchandize. From the completion of this great work in 1813, up to the present period, Penzance has flourished beyond example; and though much may be imputed to the general prosperity of the times, and to the diffusion of knowledge, yet by far the greater part must be ascribed to the management of an unappropriated fund, by a body of honest and disinterested trustees, for the public benefit; and the Editor is especially disposed to bear this testimony to one Corporation, at a period (1835) when all municipal bodies are about to be remodelled, on the alleged ground of their insufficiency for useful purposes.

Penzance, for all ecclesiastical matters forming a part of the parish of Maddern, has long had a chapel of ease, with a lecturer appointed for life by the corporation, on an endowment made in 1680 by Mr. John Tremenheere, at that time a merchant residing in the town, and either the direct or collateral ancestor of the very respectable family of that name still remaining in the town and neighbourhood.

It has since been augmented by Queen Anne’s Bounty; but, the chapel having become wholly inadequate to the population, a church has been built in its place, accompanied by a lofty tower, and all constructed of granite, so as to add, in a most extraordinary degree, to the beauty of the town, and at the same time to afford every convenience that the space could possibly admit; and it is pleasing to add, that the work has been conducted and executed by all the parties concerned, in a manner highly creditable to their taste, to their judgment, and to their care in the expenditure of public money. But among the gentlemen who have exerted themselves in different ways, it would be unfair not particularly to mention Mr. Vibert, whose general skill, ability, and accurate knowledge of details have been most conspicuous throughout the whole undertaking; and the Editor hopes that the ties of consanguinity will not be thought of a nature to preclude him from referring here to the late Mr. Edward Giddy, who, in the situation of chief magistrate, conferred on him, over and over again, in every other situation, on all occasions, and especially in regard to this splendid and useful building, proved himself the active, zealous, and intelligent friend of the town and of all its inhabitants; and it is further gratifying to state, that the existing members of the family of Tremenheere, in emulation of their ancestor, to whom the chapel is indebted for its original endowment, have added the splendid decoration of painted glass over the whole east window of the chancel. The new church will be opened for divine service in the present year; and in this year also, as perhaps the last act of a select corporate body, which, in the administration of an income little short in its gross amount of two thousand pounds a year, may challenge the most minute investigation, the town and neighbourhood will receive the benefit of a new, commodious, and extended market-house, with the usual appendages, fully adequate to the still increasing opulence and commerce of the place.

Penzance may justly be proud of the many distinguished families and individuals connected with it: Clive, Fleming, Borlase, Tremenheere, Tonkin, Veale, John, Pellew, Batten, Carne, Davy, Boase, Colston, Giddy. It would require a volume to give even a slight history of each family, and of its individual members.

The Tonkins were long represented by Mr. Uriah Tonkin, who, through a life extended far beyond the period usually assigned to human nature, obtained universal regard and esteem. This gentleman had several sons; from one of whom is descended the Reverend Uriah Tonkin, now Vicar of Lelant. Another son, Mr. John Tonkin, pursued the practice of medicine till he succeeded to the family estate. He was distinguished for ability, good nature, and for quaintness of expressions in the form of apophthegms; but the most remarkable incident in Mr. John Tonkin’s life was his adoption of Humphry Davy, with the intention of educating him to the medical profession, and making him his successor. Davy, having succeeded to a small fortune on the decease of his father, soared above the narrow limits of a country practitioner, and was preparing himself for Edinburgh, when the Editor most fortunately directed his course to Clifton, where Dr. Beddoes was then engaged in applying pneumatic chemistry in aid of the Bristol waters for the cure or alleviation of incipient consumption; from thence he fought his way to the pinnacle of honour attached to experimental science.

Everything of importance in the life of this extraordinary man has been given with accuracy and ability by Doctor Paris, in a Life of Davy, 1 vol 4to. or 2 vols. 8vo. Colburn and Bentley. 1831.

The family of Batten have been for some time the leading merchants of Penzance. They have recently lost Mr. John Batten, distinguished by the intelligence and liberality incident to gentlemen in that profession; but he has left a family more than promising to support his reputation and the credit of his ample fortune; and this family has the honour of possessing the Reverend Joseph Hallett Batten, D.D. Principal of the East India College.

This gentleman having been placed at Trinity College, Cambridge, by the Editor’s recommendation, immediately distinguished himself in the public examinations and by obtaining college prizes; and on taking his degree Mr. Batten became Third Wrangler. These honours led at once to a Fellowship, and to the most desirable private tuitions; and, having married, he was placed at the head of an institution destined to prepare the minds and the habits of young men for the government of a vast empire.

Mr. William Carne came to Penzance about sixty years ago, where, by active and intelligent industry, he has acquired an ample fortune. Of his son, Mr. Joseph Carne, it would not be an easy task to speak in terms sufficiently laudatory: I therefore refer to his communications in the Transactions of the Geological Society of Cornwall, to his most ample and valuable collection of natural history, and to his patronage of every institution established for the diffusion of knowledge.

The late Mr. Boase left Cornwall at an early age, and became the active partner in a London bank, from whence he returned to Penzance, and conferred important benefits on the town as a magistrate and member of the corporation, and by the judicious employment of his capital. His eldest son Dr. Henry S. Boase supports, as Secretary, the Geological Society, instituted by Doctor Paris in the year 1814. Besides papers in these Transactions, Dr. Boase has published, “Primary Geology,” a separate work, in 1 vol. 8vo. Longman and Co. 1834, which has attracted the attention of natural philosophers throughout Europe; and although this is not the place to express my individual gratitude, yet I may say, that the most valuable additions to Mr. Hals’s and Mr. Tonkin’s parochial histories will be found in Doctor Boase’s geological description of each separate parish.

I cannot omit here to notice, among the inhabitants who have done credit to Penzance, my late respected relation Mr. Thomas Giddy, as a gentleman, a scholar, and a man of unblemished reputation. He came to Penzance in the year 1774, was chosen Mayor ten different times, and in his last mayoralty mainly assisted in carrying into execution a great improvement of the town, by removing the Coinage Hall from a place adjoining the Market House, to a proper situation near the quay, permission for which the Editor had the good fortune to obtain from the Lord Warden and the Duchy Officers. Mr. Giddy died July the 26th, 1825, having nearly completed his eighty-fourth year, and having somewhat more than completed the sixtieth year of his marriage. His widow survived him about five years.

Dr. Stephen Luke was also from Penzance. He practised with much success and reputation at Falmouth, Exeter, and London, where he died on the 30th of March 1829.

Finally, I may state that the intrepid and successful Admiral Pellew, although not a native of Penzance, received his nautical education in this town.

A grammar school has long been endowed by the Corporation; and the master used formerly to hold in addition the lecturership of the chapel.

The Reverend James Parkin, afterwards Rector of Okeford in Devonshire, held both offices for a considerable time; and under his care, for about eighteen months, the Editor received the only instruction for which he is indebted to a stranger.

The school is now presided over by the Reverend Mr. Morris, M.A. from Balliol College, Oxford; and Mr. Le-Grice having resigned the lecturership, after holding it above twenty years, has been succeeded by the Reverend Mr. Vyvyan, of Trelowarren.

Penzance has become, in the last half century, a considerable resort of invalids; and much benefit has been received in pulmonary cases from the mildness and comparatively even temperature of the climate, which has been most satisfactorily established by the observations of Mr. Edward Giddy, printed in the Journal of Philosophy. For a detailed account of Penzance and of the Mount’s Bay, in a medical point of view, the reader is referred to the works of Dr. Paris, who resided some years in the town, till he left it to acquire one of the most extensive fields of practice in London.

An event occurred at Penzance in the year 1760, of a nature so curious as to be well worthy of remembrance. This country was then deeply engaged in what has since been termed the seven years’ war; and, notwithstanding the splendid successes of 1759, the nation still felt alarm from the always threatened invasion by France, and from the fear of predatory excursions, when in the night following the 29th of September the town was roused by the firing of guns, and soon after by the intelligence of a large ship of a strange appearance having run on shore on the beach towards Newlyn. Great numbers of persons crowded to the spot, where they were still more astonished and shocked by the sight of men still stranger than their vessel, each armed with a scymetar and with pistols. It was now obvious that they were Moslems; and a vague fear of Turkish ferocity, of massacre and plunder, seised the unarmed inhabitants, just awakened from their sleep in the middle of the night. A volunteer company obeyed, however, with alacrity the beat to arms, and 172 men were conducted or driven into a spacious building which then stood on the Western Green, and for some reason or other was called the Folly. Eight men were found to be drowned. Before morning it was ascertained from themselves, by some who understood the _lingua Franca_, that the ship was an Algerine corsair, carrying 24 guns, from nine to six pounders, and that the Captain had steered his vessel into the Mount’s Bay, and run it against the shore under a full conviction that he was safe in the Atlantic Ocean, at about the latitude of Cadiz, thus committing an error of thirteen degrees in latitude. The instant it was known that the sailors were Algerines, a fear seized the town and neighbourhood scarcely less formidable than the other of massacre and plunder――namely, of the plague. The volunteers, however, kept watch and ward to prevent all intercourse. Intelligence was conveyed to the government, and orders are said to have been issued for troops to march from Plymouth for surrounding the whole district; but most fortunately the local authorities ascertained that no cause whatever existed for such a precaution, and the orders were countermanded.

When it was found safe to visit the strangers, curiosity attracted the whole neighbourhood. Their Asiatic dress, long beards and mustachios, with turbans, the absence of all covering from their feet and legs, the dark complexion and harsh features of a piratical band, made them objects of terror and of surprise.

They were on the whole treated kindly; their vessel had totally disappeared, and consequently after some delay a ship of war took all the men on board, and conveyed them to Algiers.

The tower of Penzance Church is situated in latitude 50° 6′ 48″; longitude 5° 31′ 0″; in time 22m. 4s. west of Greenwich, as deduced from the Trigonometrical Survey.

The establishment of the port, or the time of high water at the new and full of the moon, is 4h. 30m. very nearly. London Bridge being 2h. 7m.

The establishment of the Lizard is about 5h.; Portbend 6h.; Beechey Head 10h.; Dover 11h; Margate 12h.; mouth of the Thames 1h.; so that the tidal wave occupies about 9h. 30m. in flowing from the Land’s End to London Bridge.

The parish of Maddern measures 5450 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815:
Parish 8,454 0 0
Penzance 10,401 0 0
――――――――――――――――
£18,055 0 0
――――――――――――――――
Poor Rate in 1831:
Parish 593 7 0
Penzance 811 11 0
――――――――――――――――
£1,404 18 0
――――――――――――――――
Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
Parish 1564 1817 2011 2058
Penzance 3382 4022 5224 6563
―――― ―――― ―――― ――――
4940 5839 7235 8621
giving an increase on the parish of 31½ per cent.; on the town of
94 per cent.; on both of 74 per cent. in 30 years.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

A large portion of this parish is situated on granite, the boundary line of which extends from near the church, in a semicircular form, to Buryas Bridge. South of this line the parish consists of felspar, hornblend, and actynolite rocks, all of which occur both in massive and in schistose forms. A fine instance of the latter may be seen at the back of the quay at Penzance, and may be traced for some distance in a westerly direction on the sea shore below high-water mark. About half way to Newlyn another bed of porphyry, or an irregular continuation of the former, was a few years since explored for tin, and became the celebrated Wherry Mine, yielding not only a large quantity of tin, so as to afford profit after paying the expenses of a steam-engine, but also beautiful specimens of rare metallic minerals. For an account of this curious submarine mine, Mr. Hawkins’ Paper in the Transactions of the Cornwall Geological Society, vol. 1, p. 127, may be consulted; and in the third volume of the same work, p. 166, will be found an account of the sand bank and submarine forest existing near the same spot (by Dr. Boase. ED.). Every part of this parish appears to be intersected with metalliferous veins; some copper and small quantities of lead have been raised, but tin is the only metal that has yet proved of importance.

To the above the Editor must add, that Penzance has the good fortune to possess a geological and mineralogical treasure peculiarly its own.

In the year 1814 Doctor Paris and Mr. Ashurst Majendie began to institute the Geological Society, and to form a museum. The Society has flourished far beyond any expectation that could have been originally formed; and the collection has been enriched by the liberality of Mr. Carne, Dr. Barham, Mr. Henwood, and others; but, above all, by Doctor Boase, who has deposited specimens from all parts of Cornwall, collected on an actual survey extended to each individual parish. All these specimens are arranged, labelled, and numbered, with reference to their localities and to his admirable work.

For the general arrangement of the cabinet, with indexes, &c. the Society and the public are indebted to the ingenuity and industry of the late Mr. Edward Giddy; and the room of the Cornwall Geological Society at Penzance may justly be pointed out to scientific strangers as the object most worthy of their attention throughout the whole extent of the country.

MAKER.

HALS.

Maker Vicarage is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the east Plymouth Harbour and St. Nicholas Island, north Millbrook and East Anthony, south and west Rame and St. John’s.

In the Domesday Book 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed in Cornwall by the name of Macret-tone.

In the Inquisition into the value of Cornish Benefices 20 Edward I. 1294, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, Ecclesia de Macre, in decanatu de Estwellshire 100_s._ Vicar ejusdem 53_s._ 4_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it is rated by the name of Meker 23_l._ 11_s._ The patronage in Edgcumbe, the incumbent Mitchell, and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 143_l._ 11_s._

Part of Maker, and those lands called Mount Edgcumbe, were formerly the lands of Durneford of Devon, of which family, Stephen Durneford was Sheriff of Devon 6 Henry V. 1413, and of Cornwall 7 Henry V. 1419, whose great granddaughter, (the issue male failing) the sole heir of the family, was married to Sir Piers Edgcumbe, Knight, Lord of Cotehele in Cornwall by long inheritance, and of East Stonehouse in Devon, whose ancestor Peter Edgcumbe, Esq. 12 Henry VI. 1443, was certified by the Commissioners to be one of the gentry of the county of Devon. He was the father of Richard Edgcumbe, afterwards knighted, Sheriff of Devon 2d Henry VII. 1487, when John Tremayne was Sheriff of Cornwall; the which Mr. Edgcumbe was a gentleman that hazarded his life and fortune in espousing the Earl of Richmond’s case and title to the Crown in opposition to King Richard III. He then lived at Cotehele aforesaid in Calstock parish; and being discovered to be one of that faction or party, he was forced to abscond and retire into the thick woods that then were and still are about Cotehele; nevertheless, King Richard, having notice of his absconding, ordered his officers to make diligent search for him, and in all probability had taken him, had he not rescued himself from their pursuit by an unparalleled accident, as Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 114, (page 270, Lord Dunstanville’s edition), informs us, viz. “at such tymes as those searchers were in his woods, and himself hid in a secret hole of the sea cliffe, the tide being full up, he put a small stone into his wearinge cap and threw it into the sea, which swimming in the water the winds and waves tossed it to and fro that it soone came to those seekers’ sight and observation.”

Whereupon they concluded he had leapt into the sea and drowned himself for fear of their discovery and being taken by them, and so left over further quest after him, which gave him opportunity soon after in a small ship to waft over the British Channel to Britany to the Earl of Richmond, with whom afterwards he returned again into England, and was engaged with him in the battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, where King Richard’s army was overthrown and himself slain upon the spot. When soon after the said Mr. Edgcumbe was by King Henry VII. knighted and made one of his Privy Council; and as a further reward of his good services, rewarded with the whole estate and lands of inheritance of Sir Henry Trenoweth, of Bodrigan, Knight, of a very great value, then forfeited by attainder of treason on the part of King Richard III. against King Henry VII.; as also with the Castle and Lordship of Totnes in Devon, with much other lands of John Lord Zouch, then also for the same fact forfeited by attainder of treason against King Henry VII.

This Sir Richard Edgcumbe, Knight, married Tremayne, and had issue Peers, afterwards knighted, that married Durneford’s heir aforesaid, and had issue Richard, afterwards knighted, that married Tregian, of Walveden, who had issue Peter, that married Margaret, daughter of Sir Andrew Luttrell, Knight, in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, who gave for his arms, Gules, on a bend Ermine between two cottices Or, three boar’s heads couped. Sir Richard Edgcumbe, Knight, Privy Councillor to King Henry VII. as Mr. Carew saith, in the place where he hid himself in Cotehele woods aforesaid, built a chapel to the honour of Almighty God, in testimony of his thankful remembrance of God’s preserving him from the hands of his enemies then at his heels.

Him or his father I take also to be that Edgecumbe which founded at West Conworthy, on the west side of the river Dart, between the towns of Totnes and Dartmouth in Devon, a priory of Benedictine monks, whose revenues out of Zouch’s lands was valued 26 Henry VIII. when dissolved, 63_l._ 2_s._ 10_d._ as the Monasticon Anglicanum informs us.

At which time it was purchased of the Crown by William Harris, Esq. father of Sir Thomas Harris, of Hayne, Knight and Sergeant-at-law, tempore Elizabeth, who made it the place of his residence; but in the third descent it came to be divided between the daughters and heirs of Sir Edward Harris, Knight, the house being now comparatively demolished. Now as from the premises it appears those gentlemen’s estates were greatly augmented by the bounty of King Henry VII. so after a grateful manner they have converted great sums of money towards the service of their prince and country; and to this purpose I find it recorded, that as

Sir Richard Edgcumbe the first was Sheriff of Devon 2d Henry VII. so his son Sir Peers or Peter Edgcumbe aforesaid, was Sheriff of Devon 10th Henry VII. also the 13th; also the 9th of Henry VIII. also the 20th; also Sir Richard Edgcumbe that married Tregian, and built the present house here called Mount Edgcumbe, 36th Henry VIII. also the 1st of Queen Mary; also Peter Edgcumbe his son 9th Elizabeth.

And of Cornwall Sir Peter Edgcumbe 14th and 15th of Henry VII. also 21st; also 8th of Henry VIII. also 26th. Sir Richard Edgcumbe 2d and 3d of Queen Mary, also Peter Edgcumbe 11th of Elizabeth, Richard Edgcumbe 8th James I. in all or total sixteen times Sheriff of Cornwall and Devon, from the year 1487 to the year 1640, which is but 150 years; the like instance of Sheriffs not to be given of any other family in England except the Arundels, of Lanhearne, Trerice, and Tolverne, who have been twenty times.

Richard Edgcumbe, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 8th of King James I. had issue Richard Edgcumbe, Esq. created one of the Knights of the Bath, at the Coronation of King Charles II. He married the Lady Anne Montagu, daughter of the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Sandwich, and had issue Richard Edgcumbe, Esq.

Finally, Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, hath written so large a history of this family, the magnificence of the house, and sweetness of the dwelling, that I refer the reader thereto as not being able to make further addition.

Half of Millbrook in this parish and of Mount Edgcumbe lands, are part of the county of Devon, though severed from it by the Tamerworth sea or harbour ever since King Athelstan, anno Dom. 930, separated Devon from Cornwall, and made them several jurisdictions, which before were but one county or regniculum; and the reason in all probability why several parcels of land, not only here in this place, but in divers others on the east and west side of the Tamer river, the Devonshire side lands are annexed to Cornwall, and the Cornwall side lands to Devon, was in all probability by reason the owners of those lands were possessed of lands both in Devonshire and Cornwall; and it could not in any sense consist with justice that the Cornish men should lose their lands in Devon, or the Devonshire men lose their lands in Cornwall, because those counties were divided by the river Tamar, and both people under the dominion of one king.

This town of Milbrook, as I am informed, amongst others was once privileged with the jurisdiction of sending of two Members to sit in the Lower House of Parliament, but was divested of that privilege _propter paupertatem, tempore_ Henry VIII. for that the town was not able to pay their Burgesses’ salary of 4_s._ per diem whilst they sat in Parliament; however, Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 101, tells us, that within his memory this town had near forty ships and barks at one time pertaining to the inhabitants thereof, that followed trade, merchandize, and fishing; but upon the breaking out of Queen Elizabeth’s wars with Spain, the townsmen neglected their usual honest employments and took up a more compendious though not so honest way of gaining, and began by little and little to reduce those plain dealers to their former undeserved plight, &c. _id est_, by piracy and privateering at sea.

In this parish standeth Cremble Passage, the common place of transferring passengers by boat or barge over the rapid and dangerous waves of the Tamerworth Harbour or Sea Haven from the Cornish shore to the Plymouth or Devonshire side or lands, wherein many persons heretofore by the violence of the seas and wind in their passage have lost their lives.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not noticed this parish.

THE EDITOR.

This parish, forming the western boundary of Plymouth harbour, and extending between Hamoaze and the sea, occupies a situation more beautiful than any other on the whole coast.

The church stands on the summit of the ridge, and its lofty tower was long an object of curiosity on account of the signals displayed on it to indicate the arrival of ships or fleets. From ten to twenty arbitrary signals were made, by means of differently shaped and coloured flags, displayed from a perpendicular staff, and by balls suspended on two others, rising at an inclined angle from the opposite parapets.

The tardy adoption of a method, so simple and universal as that of conveying intelligence through the combination of signals, and of alphabetic writing, may be reckoned among the most curious anomalies of the human mind; when the common mode of what is called talking with the fingers actually does the thing itself, and Polybius, the friend of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, and his companion, at the destruction of Carthage, 145 years before our æra, gives a detailed description of a method by which this object may be attained, and dwells on its immense advantages. He admits indeed that difficulties must be expected in the execution; but adds, “In the present age the sciences are advanced to so great a perfection that almost every thing is capable of being taught by method.” See the General History of Polybius, book 10, extract 7, chapter 2. It was, however, reserved for the French, in their Revolutionary War, to practise this art, and for the first time in the spring of 1794, more than nineteen hundred years after the suggestion by Polybius, and notwithstanding repeated recurrences to nearly the same effect by various writers in modern times.

Mr. Hals states, that in the valuation of Pope Nicholas this parish was assessed, the Rectory at 100_s._ the Vicarage at 53_s._ 4_d._

In the folio edition of the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliæ et Walliæ, auctoritate Papæ Nicholai IV. printed by command of King George III. 1802, the entries stand thus:

£. _s._ _d._ £. _s._ _d._
Taxatio. Decima.
Eccl’a de Sacre 5 0 0 0 10 0
Non ex’ { Vicar ejusdem 2 13 4 ――――――
{ Eccl’ia de Rame 2 6 8 ――――――

The bracket may perhaps be wrongly placed, and Maker may be a corruption of the name here used.

Inceworth appears to have been the principal manor in this parish, and belongs to the family of Trefusis; it includes Milbrook, formerly a town of some consequence. Here were till very lately the brewhouses attached to the great naval establishment of this port; they are now removed to The Point on the Devonshire side, where one of the most extensive and most useful works ever constructed for such purposes has been recently completed. Walls have been laid in deep water, by the use of diving bells, so as to allow of the largest ships coming quite in contact with the wharfs, and there receiving, in the course of a few hours, all the supplies of meat, bread, beer, water, &c. that are requisite for their going to sea.

The object however which attracts the attention of strangers from all others in this parish, is the place formerly called Vaultershome, and afterwards West Stonehouse, but which Mr. Edgcumbe, who acquired it by a marriage with the heiress of the family of Durneford, its former possessors, chose to name Mount Edgcumbe, a proceeding now sanctioned by time, as are those of the change from Port Prior to Port Eliot, and some others. It would be useless to describe this most beautiful and superb place, considered by many as altogether the finest gentleman’s seat in the West of England. Nor can it be the least necessary to say any thing here of the distinguished family after whom it is called; who have possessed an hereditary seat in Parliament since the year 1741, and for two descents have been Lord Lieutenants of Cornwall.

By a strange absurdity this south-eastern extremity has been, notwithstanding that the whole river is attached to Cornwall, artificially considered as a part of Devonshire; but this and other similar anomalies are in some degree corrected by modern acts of the legislature, the authority of magistrates for any county having been extended over these insulated portions of another, and the right of voting for Members of Parliament is brought back to its natural state by the enactments of 1832.

A small town or village, partly in Maker, but extending into Rame, is distinguished by the double appellation of Kingston and Cawsand; the latter name is applied to the bay formed by a recess of the land at this place, a bay capable of containing the largest ships, and esteemed the least dangerous part of Plymouth Sound.

The Harbour of Plymouth consists of three distinct parts, the Sound, entirely exposed to the violence of south and south-western winds, and two inner harbours, Catwater and Hamoaze; the former adapted only for small vessels; and Hamoaze rendered utterly inaccessible in bad weather by a ridge of rocks extending from Drake’s Island to the western shore, thus restricting the only passage to a narrow and winding channel round that Island under the Hoe, and between Mount Edgcumbe and the Point.

To remedy this most essential defect, by making a safe anchorage in the outer harbour, an immense work was commenced in August 1812, which should be called the Artificial Reef, from its close resemblance to a natural reef, and from its having been avowedly planned in imitation of the coral reefs, abounding near all the Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The Plymouth reef consists of a middle part a thousand yards long, and lying directly across the entrance of the Sound, and of two wings bending inwards at a small angle, each 350 yards long, making in all 1700 yards, or very nearly a mile. Advantage having been taken of a shoal, the depth under low water averages about 36 feet, and the height above low water is just 20 feet. The slope towards the sea forms an angle of 22° with the horizon, giving an increase of breadth of nearly two feet and a half for each foot of descent; the slope towards the land forms an angle of 33° with the horizon, and increases one foot and a half for each foot of descent: consequently the increase of breadth on the whole is four feet for one of descent. The whole mass is composed of stones blown by the force of gunpowder from limestone rocks on the river side, from whence they are rolled at once on board barges, which sail to the spot and drop them into sea.

The whole weight of the reef is estimated at 2,500,000 tons. It may be curious to compare it with the largest building in the world. The Great Pyramid of Egypt measures 687 feet on each of its four sides, and the perpendicular height is 480 feet; these dimensions, supposing the Pyramid to be solid, give a content of 76,500,000 cubic feet, and a weight exceeding 5,500,000 tons, more than double the weight of the reef, and the materials are large blocks hewn into regular forms, transported from a considerable distance by land carriage, then raised into the air, and finally laid with cement in their exact places.

The artificial reef has cost a million of money; the Pyramid must have required an amount of labour represented at present by perhaps twenty times that sum, a building without use or beauty, while the reef has made Plymouth one of the best harbours in the whole world.

Maker measures 1867 statute acres. If the artificial arrangement
were attended to, 967 acres must be deducted.
Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815, including
the part returned as in Devonshire
under the name of Vaultershome 3465 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 821 16 0
Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
Cornwall 1691 3678 1796 1545
Devon 1614 1569 1222 1092
―――― ―――― ―――― ――――
3305 5247 3018 2637
The fluctuations in the number of people are evidently caused by the
difference of war and peace, in a parish so much blended with the
great naval and military establishments of Plymouth.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Daniel Stephens, presented by the Lord
Chancellor in 1796.

GEOLOGY.

The geology of Maker is not noticed by Doctor Boase; but it is obviously the same as that of the adjacent parish, Rame, which Doctor Boase says is composed in great measure of red and greenish grey slate, enclosing two and three beds of compact quartzse rock. They are all similar to the formations in St. Anthony, and in the cliffs under Mount Edgcumbe and at Saltash; but whether they belong to the calcareous series or to a more recent one, associated with the fossiliferous limestone of Plymouth, remains to be ascertained.

MANACCAN.

HALS.

Manack-an, Manuc-an Rectory, is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north St. Martin’s, east Haylford harbour, south St. Anthony, west Mawgan, and Cury. For the modern name it signifies Monk the, or the Monk, so called in memory perhaps of some religious monk or monks that had a convent or abbey in this place.

In the Domesday Book, 1087, this district is not named, neither can I tell under what jurisdiction it was then taxed, unless Lizart, or Leschell, which latter may be a corruption of Kestell; neither is the name Manackan Church of any great antiquity, for in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, Ecclesia de Minster, in decanatu de Kerryer, (which is now called Manackan) is rated £4, but in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is called Manackan, and valued £4. 16_s._ 0½_d._ The patronage in the Bishop of Exon; the incumbent Archer; the rectory in possession of ―――― and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax for the year 1696, £98. 13_s._

However to the 15th of the Clergy, 24 Henry 6, it was rated, then by the name of Minster Church, £1. 4_s._ 6_d._ afterwards abated by the name of Minster 6_s._ (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 95.) And lastly Manacan, as aforesaid; by both which names it is evident that heretofore there was some abbey or religious house of monks in this place or parish, wherein God was served with a minister; viz. vocal or instrumental music in time of divine service, as that appellation in British implies. And of this place we further read, (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 46,) the 12th Edward I. its revenues was rated for twelve Cornish acres of land, that is to say, seven hundred and twenty statute acres; in that book, page 44, that the Bishop of Exeter held by tenure of knight service, in Minster in Kerrier, half a knight’s fee of land, 3 Henry IV.; probably this Minster was some alien monastery or priory, subjected to some abbey beyond the seas, as many others were in this land, all dissolved by Act of Parliament, temp. Richard II. and Henry V. for transmitting the secrets of the State to their superior house aforesaid, in the French Wars; for which reason perhaps it is not mentioned in the Monasticon Anglicanum, 26 Henry VIII. when other religious houses were dissolved; neither for the like reasons are St. Neot’s, Lancells, or St. Benet’s in Lanyvet, which I take to be those three abbeys or priories mentioned by Dugdale and Speed to have been dissolved in Cornwall, the value of whose revenues they do not set down, but saith they were Black Monks of the Angells, for Black Monks of the Augustines.

Moreover, let it be remembered that Manack is also a glove in British, and Manackan signifies the glove.

Kes-tell, id est, a castle, probably the Reschell in the Domesday Book aforesaid, in this parish, so called from some British camp, intrenchment, or fortification, formerly upon the lands thereof, or contiguous therewith, on the sea-coast, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen now in possession thereof, surnamed de Kestell; and in particular John Kestell, Esq. sometime Commissioner of the Peace and Taxes, that married Gregor of Tredenick; and giveth for his arms in a field Or three castles Gules. Since the writing hereof the male line of this tribe is quite extinct; and those lands, much incumbered with debt, fallen between the two daughters of the said Mr. Kestell, married to Penrose and Trevinard, as I am informed.

TONKIN.

The ancient name of this parish was Minster, which every one knows doth signify in Saxon a monastery, and from thence most commonly a church, and so it is called in the Taxatio Beneficiorum 20 Edward I.

THE EDITOR.

The ancient name of this parish, Minster, and the more recent one Manac-an, conspire to point it out as the locality of some religious establishment, since Manack is the Cornish word identical with Monk, and evidently from the same root, while an is the article, but although adjectives in all the Celtic dialects are placed after the substantive, yet the article regularly precedes it, and this inversion throws some doubt on the meaning of the compound word, more especially as not the slightest trace exists of any monastic institution within this parish in any authentic record, nor does tradition point out a spot where the foundation of a building can be perceived.

There is not any thing worth remarking about the church; it is pleasantly situated, and surrounded by a neat church town. The vicarage house is good; it was honoured by the residence, during some years, of our distinguished poet, historian, and divine, the Rev. Richard Polwhele, till he resigned it for Newlyn, a better living, most properly bestowed on him by Dr. Carey, then Bishop of Exeter.

The only other village of consequence in this parish is Helford, where is a passage across the river, of greater breadth than any other in Cornwall, and various branches of trade are conducted at this place.

Kestell was formerly the seat of a family giving or deriving their name from this place; their arms, Or, three castles Gules, may still be seen over the entrance to the house. The property now belongs to Lemon of Carclew.