"I remember this stone a rough cube about three feet in height;
it stood by the wayside forty or fifty years ago about a quarter
of a mile from the old Godolphin mansion near the coast, where the
nobility and gentry of the county were wont periodically to assemble
to hear the news from Court. The servants who waited on their masters
at the banquet diligently listened to the conversation, and afterwards
spread the information thus collected among the crowd assembled for
the purpose around Cornwall stone."--G. F. W., Western Antiquary, 1881.
An old writer on the Scilly Isles mentions a rock on Bryher, one
of the smallest of the islands, where the neighbours were wont to
collect to hear and repeat the news. He calls it the News Rock.
Between Helston and the Lizard lies the parish of St. Keverne; unlike
the other parishes of Cornwall it contains no mines. To account for
this it is said that St. Keverne cursed it when he lived there, for
the want of respect shown him by its inhabitants. Hence the proverb
"No metal will run within the sound of St. Keverne's bells."
St. Just, from the Land's End district, once paid a visit to
St. Keverne, who entertained him for several days to the best of his
power. After his departure his host missed some valuable relics, and
determined to go in pursuit of his late guest, and try, if possible,
to get them from him. As he was passing over Crousadown, about two
miles from St. Keverne church, he pocketed three large stones, each
weighing about a quarter of a ton, to use if St. Just should offer
any resistance. He overtook him at a short distance from Breage
and taxed him with the theft, which was indignantly denied. From
words the saints came to blows, and St. Keverne flung his stones
with such effect that St. Just ran off, throwing down the relics as
he ran. These stones lay for centuries where they fell, about four
hundred yards from Pengersick Lane, as when taken away by day, they
were in bygone times always brought back at night.
Going along the coast from Breage to the Lizard the solitary church of
Gunwalloe is passed, built so close to the sea that the waves wash its
graveyard walls. It is said to have been erected as a thank-offering by
some man who escaped drowning when shipwrecked. "In the sandbanks near
it (or, as others say, at Kennack cove), the notorious buccaneer Avery
is reported to have buried several chests of treasure previously to his
leaving England on the voyage from which he never returned. So strongly
did this opinion prevail that Mr. John Knill, collector of the Customs
at St. Ives, procured about the year 1770 a grant of treasure trove,
and expended some money in a fruitless search."--Rev. C. A. Johns,
Week at the Lizard.
Near by is Mullion parish, of which the celebrated ghost-layer,
the Rev. Thomas Flavel, who died in 1682, was the vicar, and the
following quaint lines to his memory may still be read in the chancel
of his church:--
"Earth take thine earth, my sin let Satan havet,
The world my goods, my soul my God who gavet;
For from these four, Earth, Satan, World, and God,
My flesh, my sin, my goods, my soul I had."
Of him the Rev. C. A. Johns writes:--"This Thomas Flavel, during his
life, attained great celebrity for his skill in the questionable art
of laying ghosts. His fame still lingers in the memories of the more
superstitious of the inhabitants through the following ridiculous
stories. On one occasion when he had gone to church his servant-girl
opened a book in his study, whereupon a host of spirits sprang up all
round her. Her master observed this, though then occupied at church,
closed his book, and dismissed the congregation. On his return home
he took up the book with which his servant had been meddling, and
read backwards the passage which she had been reading, at the same
time laying about him lustily with his walking-cane, whereupon all
the spirits took their departure, but not before they had pinched
the servant-girl black and blue. His celebrity, it seems, was not
confined to his own parish, for he was once called on to lay a very
troublesome ghost in an adjoining parish. As he demanded the large
fee of five guineas for his services, two of the persons interested
resolved to assure themselves, by the evidence of their own eyes,
that the ceremony was duly performed. They accordingly, without
apprising one another of their intention, secreted themselves
behind two graves in the churchyard a short time before the hour
named for the absurd rites. In due time the ghost-layer entered it
with a book in one hand and a horsewhip in the other. On the first
smack of the whip the watchers raised their heads simultaneously,
caught a glimpse of each other, and were both so terrified that they
scampered off in opposite directions, leaving the operator to finish
his business as he might. So popular are superstitions of this kind,
and so long do they linger, that to the present day a spot is pointed
out on the downs, named 'Hervan Gutter,' where Thomas Flavel's own
ghost was laid by a clergyman, of whom he said before his death,
'When he comes I must go.' In olden days there were several of these
ghost-laying clergymen in Cornwall, of whom, before going on with the
legends of the parishes, I will mention three known in folk-lore. In
the parish of Ladock, on the east side of Truro, dwelt rather more
than a century ago the famed ghost-layer, the Rev. Mr. Woods, who,
when walking, usually carried an ebony stick with a silver head,
on which was engraved a pentacle, and on a broad silver ring below
planetary signs and mystical figures. Of him Mr. Bottrell tells many
thrilling tales; I will only give the substance of one. Mr. Woods was
usually a match for most demons, whom he would change into animals
and thrash with his whip; but one more cunning than the rest defied
him, by taking the shape of an unknown coal-black bird, and perching
on the church tower, from whence during divine service he made all
sorts of queer noises, disturbing the congregation, and inciting the
irreverent to laughter. He was too high up to be exorcised or reached
with the whip. At last the clergyman, at his wit's end, remembered
that the Evil One could not endure the sight of innocent children,
and he sent his clerk round to all the mothers of his parish who had
unchristened children, asking them to bring them to church on the
next Sunday to have the rite performed. As he was a great favourite
with his people all the mothers, and they were eight, readily agreed
to come. But as twelve is the mystical number he invited four other
mothers whose children had recently been baptised, to come as well,
and bring their children and sponsors with them. The eight children
were christened, and the parson walked out of church followed by the
twelve mothers with their infants in their arms. The clerk arranged
them in lines five deep, the mothers in front, opposite the belfry
door. Mr. Woods directed each to pass her child from one to the other
of its sponsors, and then hand it to him that he might hold it up for
the demon to see; but for some time the cunning bird hid himself behind
a pinnacle, and nothing would induce him to look, until one of the
children, growing tired, began to cry, and all the others chimed in,
screaming in chorus at the top of their voices. Then the demon hopped
down from his perch and peered over the parapet to try and find out
what could be the matter. The sight of the twelve children had such
an effect upon him that he too gave an unearthly yell and flew away
never to re-appear. The church bells were soon after put in order,
and it is well known that no evil spirit ever ventures within sound
of their ringing."
"One of the three Jagos, who were Vicars of Wendron, was much renowned
for his powers of necromancy. He was in the habit of taking people to
St. Wendron Cross, where a man called Tucker was buried, and asking
them whether they had a mind to see Tucker man; he would make him rise
from the dead as a mark of delicate attention to them."--Cornubiana,
Rev. S. Rundle, Penzance Natural History Society, 1885-1886.
I will close this list of worthies by a short notice of Parson Dodge,
a vicar of Talland, a village on the south coast of Cornwall, and then
give an encounter of the famous Nonconformist divine, John Wesley,
with some spirits whom he vanquished at St. Agnes on the north. The
church of Talland is not in the centre of the parish, but near the
sea; a legend accounts for its position thus: It was begun at a spot
called Pulpit, but each night a voice was heard saying:
"If you will my wish fulfil,
Build the church on Talland hill;"
and the stones put up by day were removed. (Tales similar to this
are told of many Cornish churches. The work of removal is sometimes
carried on by the devil; at Altarnon he was accompanied by a hare
and a deer.) Of this church, about a hundred and fifty years ago,
the Rev. Richard Dodge was vicar. He had such command over the
spirit-world that he could raise and lay ghosts at his will, and by
a nod of his head banish them to the Red Sea. His parishioners looked
up to him with great awe, and were afraid of meeting him at midnight,
as he was sure then, whip in hand, to be pursuing and driving away the
demons, that in all kinds of shapes were to be seen hovering around
him. Amongst his other eccentricities he was fond of frequenting his
churchyard at the dead of night. Parson Dodge's fame was not confined
to his own immediate district, and one day he received a letter from
a fellow-clergyman, the Rev. Grylls, rector of Lanreath, asking his
assistance in exorcising a man habited in black, who drove a sable
coach, drawn by headless horses, across Black-a-down (a neighbouring
moor), as this apparition, when they happened to meet it, frightened
his people almost out of their wits. He acceded to this request, and
late at night the two clergymen rode to the spot, where they waited
for some time, but seeing nothing decided to separate and return to
their respective homes. Mr. Dodge, however, had not gone very far when
his horse obstinately refused to proceed a step further in a homeward
direction: this he interpreted to be a sign from heaven which he must
obey, and giving it the rein he allowed it to go as it willed. It
wheeled round and went back at a great pace to the moor. Here through
the gloom he saw standing the black coach with the headless horses:
its driver had dismounted, and the Rev. Grylls lay in a swoon at
his feet. Mr. Dodge was terribly alarmed, but managed to keep his
presence of mind, and began to recite a prayer: before he could finish
it the driver said--"Dodge is come! I must be gone!" jumped on to his
seat and disappeared for ever. Mr. Grylls' parishioners now arrived
in search of their rector; they knew there must be something amiss,
for his horse, startled by the horrible spectres, had thrown its
rider and galloped off, never stopping until it reached its stable
(his friend's, through fright, had also been, until the apparition
vanished, almost unmanageable). They found him senseless, supported
in Mr. Dodge's arms; but he soon revived, and they took him home,
although it was some days before his reason recovered from the shock. A
much fuller account of this may be found in the History of Polperro,
by Mr. T. Q. Couch. It has also been published by Mr. Robert Hunt in
his Popular Romances of the West of England. The Rev. R. S. Hawker,
in his Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall, gives some very
interesting extracts from the "Diurnal" of one Parson Rudall, of
Launceston, who in 1665, with the sanction of his Bishop, laid the
Botathen ghost--the spirit of a young woman by name Dorothy Dinglet,
who could not rest in her grave--"Unquiet because of a certain sin." It
is a very well-known fact that the Rev. John Wesley was a firm believer
in supernatural agencies; he compiled a book of ghost-stories, that
was lent to me when I was about ten years old by a kind but ignorant
woman, the reading of which caused me many sleepless nights. "On one
occasion Wesley could, when at St. Agnes, find no place to pass the
night save a house which had the reputation of being haunted. However,
he was not deterred; he entered and went to bed. But he could not
rest, for there was a terrible tumult below; the sound of carriages
was heard, the noise of feet, and fearful oaths. At length he could
bear it no longer; he descended, and then found the large hall
filled with guests. They greeted him with loud welcome, and begged
him to be seated. He consented, saying, however, that he must say
grace first. This remark was hailed with roars of laughter. Nothing
daunted he began--"Jesus, the Name high over all." He did not finish;
in a moment the lights were extinguished, he was alone, and from that
time the house was no more haunted.--Through Rev. S. Rundle.
Clergymen in Cornwall are still supposed to be able to drive out
evil spirits. A poor, half-crazed woman, yet living in Madron parish,
near Penzance, went about ten years since to the house of a clergyman
then residing there, and asked him to walk around her, reading some
passages from the Bible, to exorcise the ghost of her dead sister,
who had entered into her, she said, and tormented her in the shape
of a small fly, which continually buzzed in her ear. Once before the
Board of Guardians she talked sensibly for some time, then suddenly
stopped and exclaimed, shaking her head: "Be quiet, you brute! don't
you see I am talking to the gentlemen?"
We must now, after this long digression, return to Mullion. Between
it and the Lizard is a fine headland, the Rill, and on its summit
are a number of loose, rough stones, known as the Apron String,
which the country people say were brought here by an evil spirit,
who intended to build with them a bridge across to France for the
convenience of smugglers. He was hastening along with his load,
which he carried in his apron, when one of its strings broke, and in
despair he gave up the idea. On the opposite side of the Lizard, at the
mouth of Helford river, stands the church of St. Anthony in Meneage;
like that of Gunwalloe it is little above the level of the sea, and
is, also according to tradition, a votive offering. Some people of
high rank, crossing over from Normandy to England, were caught in a
storm, and in their peril vowed to St. Anthony that they would build
a church in his honour if he would bring them safe into harbour. The
saint heard their prayers, and the church was erected on the spot
where they landed. Helford river, in Carew's days, was the haunt
of pirates, and of it he says: "Falmouth's ower neere neighbourhood
lesseneth his vse and darkeneth his reputation, as quitting it onely
to the worst sort of Seafarers, I mean Pirats, whose guilty breasts
with an eye in their backs, looke warily how they may goe out, ere
they will aduenture to enter, and this at unfortified Hailford cannot
be controlled, in which regard it not vnproperly brooketh his common
term of Helford and the nickname of Stealford."
On the subject of pirates a friend writes:--"The popular play of 'The
Pirates of Penzance' had not its origin in that town, but in the little
fishing village of Penberth, near the Land's End; but that, alas! is
in its 'custom port.' The captain of the pirate vessel, and all his
ship's crew, were wrestlers. They would go out to the small Spanish,
Dutch, and other merchant ships, and would ask for provisions, or
tender assistance, and on making sure that the ship was unarmed they
would overpower the sailors and plunder it. This was before the time
when the Trinity Corporation had begun its work on our Cornish coast.
From Helford we will proceed to Penryn--the scene of Lillo's play,
"Fatal Curiosity." The legend on which it is founded is as follows:
A gentleman who had rashly squandered his own and his wife's fortune,
sent their only son early into the world to seek his. During his
absence his parents were reduced to penury; but he prospered, returned
home, and sought them out. He did not at first disclose to them who
he was, intending to do so later on, but begged to be allowed to rest
in their house, and whilst he was sleeping asked his mother to take
charge of a casket for him. Her curiosity impelled her to open it,
and her avarice was so inflamed at the sight of the rich jewels it
contained that she incited her husband by prayers and reproaches to
murder the poor young man. After the fatal deed was done, the unhappy
pair discovered him to be their son.
It has been said that a party of Spaniards landed at Penryn in 1565,
intending to plunder the town, but were alarmed by the sound of a
drum beaten by some strolling players, and made a hasty retreat.
Before the year 1600 there were only a few houses where Falmouth
now stands, called Pennycomequick, which name tradition declares
was given it from the following: A woman, who had been a servant to
a Mr. Pendarves, left his employ, and went there to reside, where, I
suppose, she kept an ale-house, as the story says that he ordered her
to brew a cask of ale, and on a certain day he and some friends would
come and drink it. The ale was brewed; but in the meantime a Dutch
vessel put into the creek, and she sold it all to the sailors. When
her former master and his friends arrived at the appointed time,
he was of course very angry. Her excuse was that the "penny comed so
quick" that she could not refuse it. The name really means the head
of the valley of the creek.
There is a pyramidal monument at the south end of Falmouth erected
by one of the Killigrews to the memory of Sir Walter Raleigh, who
had been entertained by an ancestor at their family-seat of Arwenack,
when there was only one other house in the place. There is a red stain
on it, "A blood-mark," the old people said, "that would not wash out,
splashed there from the body of a man employed in making it, who fell
from its top and was killed."
On the coast just outside the town is Gyllanvaes, or William's Grave,
which is pointed out as the place where King Henry I.'s son, who was
drowned on his passage from Normandy to England, was buried.
On the opposite side of Falmouth harbour, where St. Anthony's church
now stands, was formerly the priory of St. Mary de Vale, and King
Henry VIII. is reported to have landed here in 1537, and told the
prior that it would soon be destroyed, and he with all his brethren
turned out. It was; but the prior left his curse behind him, and the
first holder of the lands lost all his family by untimely deaths,
and he himself committed suicide.
Of all the creeks up the Fal from Falmouth to Truro, most marvellous
tales of smugglers and their daring deeds are told; and of King
Harry's passage, where a ferry-boat crosses the river, this legend:
That it is called after bluff King Hal, who forded it with his queen
(sometimes Katherine of Arragon) on his back. To have accomplished
this feat he must have been taller than the sons of Anak, for in the
middle the water is several fathoms deep.
At the head of one of these creeks is Veryan parish. And there
is a tradition that should its church clock strike on the Sunday
morning during the singing of the hymn before the sermon, or before
the Collect against Perils at Evening Prayer (which does not often
happen), there will be a death in the parish before the next Sunday.
On a hill near Veryan is a barrow, in which Gerennius, a mythical king
of Cornwall, was said to have been buried many centuries ago, with
his crown on his head, lying in his golden boat with silver oars. It
was opened in 1855, when nothing but a kistvaen (a rude stone chest)
containing his ashes was found. His palace of Dingerein was in the
neighbouring village of Gerrans. A subterranean passage, now known as
Mermaid's Hole, one day discovered when ploughing a field, was supposed
to have led from it to the sea. Treasures of great value are reputed to
be hidden under all the Cornish menhirs and barrows. Carew tells of a
gentleman who was persuaded that by digging under a menhir near Fowey
he would get great riches. "Wherefore, in a faire moone-shine night,
thither with certaine good fellowes hee hyeth to dig it up. A working
they fall, their labour shortneth, their hope increaseth, a pot of
gold is the least of their expectation. But see the chance. In midst
of their toyling the skie gathereth clouds, the moonelight is overcast
with darknesse, downe fals a mightie showre, up riseth a blustering
tempest, the thunder cracketh, the lightning flasheth. In conclusion,
our money-seekers washed instead of loden, or loden with water instead
of yellow earth, and more afraid than hurt, are forced to abandon their
enterprise and seeke shelter of the next house they could get into."
Malpas (pronounced Mopus) ferry was, nearly a century ago, kept by
a woman called "Jenny Mopus," who was quite a character. "Wemmin and
pigs" she used to declare were the worst things to ferry across.
The water bounds of the borough of Truro are renewed every six years,
and the following curious ceremony takes place: On reaching the limits
of their jurisdiction, the mayor, town clerk, members of corporation,
&c., go on shore, when a writ for the sum of 999l. 19s. 11 3/4d. is
produced against a person present, selected beforehand. He is
arrested by the bailiff of the borough, on which two of the party
offer themselves as bail, and the prisoner is liberated. Not far
from Perranworthal is one of the most celebrated Cornish Tol-mên,
Mên-an-tol, or holed stones. This is an immense egg-shaped mass
of granite, perched on a dreary hill nearly 700 feet above the
sea, and is thought to weigh 750 tons. It is generally known as
the Cornish Pebble, and is supported on the points of two other
stones leaving a hollow space beneath. In this it differs from
other Mên-an-tol which have the orifice in the centre of the stone
(hence their name). There are many in the county. The one at Madron
is sometimes called the Crick Stone. It gets this name because in
days not very long ago people afflicted with rheumatism, sciatica,
&c., in May, and at certain other seasons of the year, crawled on
all fours nine times around these Mên-an-tol from east to west, and,
if thin enough, squeezed themselves through the aperture. This was
then thought such a sovereign remedy for these diseases that parents
brought their weak-backed children and carried them around. To work
the charm properly there must always be two people, one of each sex,
who stand one on each side of the stone. The child, if a male, must
first be passed from the woman to the man; if a girl, from the man
to the woman, and always from the left of the one to the right of
the other. Some sort of divination, too, was formerly practised on
these Mên-an-tol by pins laid cross-ways on the top.
In the parish of St. Dennis the church is dedicated to that saint. And
when St. Dennis had his head cut off at Paris, blood, a legend says,
fell on the stones of this churchyard; a similar occurrence often
afterwards foretold other calamities. [14] The exact centre of the
county is reputed to be a hole in a field at Probus, a neighbouring
parish.
At Boconnoc, near Lostwithiel, not long ago stood the stump of an
old oak, in which, in 1644, when Charles I. made this seat his
head-quarters, the royal standard was fixed. It bore variegated
leaves. According to tradition, they changed colour when an attempt
was made to assassinate the king whilst he was receiving the sacrament
under its branches. The ball passed through the tree, and a hole in
its trunk was formerly pointed out in confirmation of the story.
Heath, in his Description of Cornwall, 1750, speaks of two other trees
of the same kind to be seen in this county. "In Lanhadron Park," he
says, "there grows an oak that bears leaves speckled with white, as
another, called Painter's Oak, grows in the hundred of East. Some are
of opinion that divers ancient families of England are preadmonished
by oaks bearing strange leaves." A turtle-dove is said to be seen
by the Bassetts of Tehidy, in Camborne, before death, and to another
Cornish family a white bird appears.
The church of St. Neot, in the parish of St. Neot, is celebrated
for its beautifully-painted glass. One of the windows contains many
legends of this saint, but they have all been too fully described by
other writers to require a lengthy notice from me. St. Neot is the
reputed brother of King Alfred, and lived some hundreds of years before
the present church dedicated to him was erected. But folk-lore has it
that it was built at night entirely by his own hands, and that he drew
from a neighbouring quarry, by the help of reindeer, all the stones
he used in the building. He is described as a man of short stature,
and tradition also says that after the church was finished he found
that he was not tall enough to reach the keyhole of the door, and
could not therefore unlock it. To remedy this defect he put a stone
opposite (still pointed out), from which, when he stood on it, he could
throw the key into the lock with unerring precision. About a mile
to the west of it, is an elevated spot with a square entrenchment;
an ancient granite cross stands at one corner. There is a story
attached to it which runs thus:--The crows in this neighbourhood
were in his time so numerous that the farmers could not, fearing
the mischief they might do in their absence, leave their fields and
young crops to attend St. Neot's discourses. He, on hearing of it,
determined to put a stop both to the excuse and the thieving habits
of the birds, and one day ordered them all to enter this enclosure,
from whence they could not stir until he gave the signal; upon which
they all immediately flew away and returned no more.
"The church of St. Mawgan, in Kerrier, was formerly at Carminowe,
at the end of the parish. It was removed thence to its present site
on account of the ghoulish propensities of the giants, who used to
dig up the dead from their graves. The inhabitants tried in vain
to destroy them by making deep pits, and covering them over with
'sprouse' (light hay or grass) so that the unwary giants, walking
over them as on firm ground, might fall into them and be killed. As
this project failed, they were reluctantly compelled to remove the
church to its present place, beyond the reach of their troublesome
neighbours."--Rev. S. Rundle, Penzance Natural History Society,
1885-1886.
The fine old mansion of Cottrell, situated on the River Tamar, was
built in the reign of Henry VII.; it belongs to the Earl of Mount
Edgcumbe, and is full of quaint treasures, many of the rooms and the
furniture they contain dating from the time of Queen Elizabeth. But
the only part that concerns us is a little chapel in the woods perched
on a rock overhanging the river, of which this legend is told. It was
erected by Sir Richard Edgcumbe, who was a partizan to Henry, Duke of
Richmond, the rival of Richard III. A party of soldiers were sent to
take him prisoner, but he managed to elude them and escaped into the
woods, where his pursuers were so close upon his heels that he would
certainly have been captured had not his cap, as he was climbing down
this rock, fallen off his head and floated on the stream. On seeing
it the men, thinking that Sir Richard had in despair drowned himself,
gave up the chase. He shortly after crossed over to Brittany, where
he stayed until the news came of the defeat and death of the king,
when he returned home, and, in gratitude for his miraculous escape,
caused this chapel to be built.
Dupath Well, not far from Cottrell, was, according to tradition, the
scene of a desperate duel between two Saxons, called by one authority
Colan and Gotlieb, who were both suitors for the hand of the fair lady
Gither; but the Rev. R. S. Hawker, who has written a ballad on part
of the legend, gives the name of Siward to the younger and favoured
one who killed his rival, but who himself in the combat received a
wound from which he soon after died. The same author has also put
into verse the well-known story of Bottreaux bells. Bottreaux is
the parish church of Boscastle, a corruption of Bottreaux castle,
and its tower is, and always has been, silent. When it was built
the inhabitants, who had long been jealous of the beautiful peal at
Tintagel, a neighbouring village, aided by the Lord of Bottreaux,
raised enough money to buy a set for themselves, cast by a famous
London founder. But when the ship that brought them was nearly
in port the sound of Tintagel bells was in the calm evening borne
across the water. The pilot, a native of that parish, hearing them,
piously crossed himself, and thanked God that he should soon be safe
on shore. On this the captain grew very wroth, and said, "Thank the
ship and the canvas at sea, thank God on shore." "No!" meekly replied
the pilot, "we should thank God at sea as well as on land." At this
the captain grew still more angry, swore and blasphemed, and with
an oath exclaimed, "Not so, thank yourself and a fair wind." Upon
which a violent storm suddenly arose, the ship became unmanageable,
struck on a rock, and went down. All on board, with the exception of
the pilot, were drowned. Above the roar of the winds and waves the
eager watchers from the shore, who were waiting for the arrival of
the vessel with her precious freight, could hear the solemn tolling
of their bells. And still before a gale their warning chimes sound
from their ocean bed, but woe to the unhappy ship's crew that hears
them, for wreck, misfortunes, and deaths are sure to follow. The
following proverb would seem to infer that Boscastle, as well as no
bells, has no market: "All play and no play, like Boscastle Market,
which begins at twelve o'clock and ends at noon." Mevagissey church,
on the opposite coast, has neither tower nor bells, and there is a
standing joke against its people that they sold their bells to pay
the cost of pulling down the tower.
Gorran men, who live in an adjoining parish, seem in former days
to have been rivals to the famous "Wise men of Gotham," from the
absurd deeds attributed to them, such as "Trying to throw the moon
over the cliffs," "Building a hedge to keep in the moonlight,"
&c. The inhabitants of more than one parish in Cornwall are said
"to have built a hedge to keep in the 'guckaw' (cuckoo)." In fact,
of nearly all the parishes in the county some joke is current in the
neighbouring villages.
Not far from Boscastle is the beautiful waterfall of St. Nighton's
Kieve, and close by are the ruins of a cottage, once the habitation
of two ladies, who took possession of it at night. They evidently
had seen better days, but their names and from whence they came
remain a mystery, as from the date of their arrival they held no
communication with the outer world. They kept no servant, and from
the villagers bought for themselves the necessaries of life, asking
but few questions, and not answering any. At first they took long
solitary walks in the most secluded spots of the district; when met
they were rarely conversing, and never spoke to a stranger. These walks
were gradually discontinued, and one day a rumour spread through the
village that one of the poor ladies was dead. Tradition says that the
neighbours found the other weeping silent tears by the side of the
corpse. After the funeral the survivor daily grew more infirm and but
rarely left the house, and one morning soon after, no smoke issuing
from the chimneys of the cottage, the villagers peeped in through
the uncurtained windows and saw her sitting dead in her chair. The
friends were buried in one grave, and their secret died with them.
In Wellcombe church, near Morwenstow, against the font in the north
wall is a door called the "devil's door," opened at baptisms at the
Renunciation, that the devil, which is then supposed to come out of
the child, may be able to get away.
Trecarrel, in East Cornwall, formerly belonged to the Trecarrels,
the last of whom built Launceston church. A singular story has been
handed down from the sixth century of the birth and death of his
only son. His father is described as having been very learned in
philosophy, astrology, astronomy, and other sciences; and it is said
that, having surveyed the planetary orbs just as his child was about to
be brought into the world, he perceived that the time was unfavourable
to its birth, and foreboded a speedy and accidental death to the
child. Overcome with these gloomy ideas he hastened to the house,
and requested the midwife to delay the birth (if it were possible)
for one hour; but nature, conspiring with fate on the downfall of his
house, turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, and a son was born, to the
great joy of all present except to him who was the most interested
in the event. The child, however, grew up in a very promising way,
until a servant-maid, having placed him to stand near a bowl of water
in order to wash him, chanced to have forgotten the towel, and having
stepped into another room to procure one, on her return found the
boy dead, having fallen into the water with his head foremost: and
in consequence of this unfortunate event the father spent a large
part of his large property in charitable purposes, and in building
and repairing churches in the county of Cornwall.--J. C. Gilbert.
A story of a similar nature is related of one of the Arundells,
of whom it had been foretold "that he should die in the sands." To
prevent this he left his house of Efford, near Stratton, and took up
his abode at Trerice, another of his estates, about three-and-a-half
miles from Newquay. But the Earl of Oxford, having surprised and
taken St. Michael's Mount, Sir John Arundell, who was then sheriff
of Cornwall, marched there to besiege and retake it for the king,
Edward IV. Here his fate overtook him, for in a skirmish on Marazion
sands he lost his life, and was buried in the chapel at the Mount. A
funeral procession goes through Stratton before the death of the
Bathes of Kilkhampton.
Between Stratton and the village of Marham, about half-a-mile from
the former town, in the orchard of Binamy farm-house, is an old
quadrangular moat, all that remains to show where stood the castle
of the Blanchminsters, an old family now, I believe, extinct in
this neighbourhood. Of one of them, who lived in the reign of Edward
I. and went with him on a crusade, folk-lore still tells some strange
but--through the lapse of time--vague tales. His name was Ranulph de
Blanchminster, corrupted by the country people into old Blowmanger,
and it is said that after he had been absent for two or three years
in the Holy Land, his wife, I suppose thinking that he was dead,
married another baron. On his return he shut himself up alone in his
castle, with the drawbridge generally raised to keep off intruders. No
one was with him when he died; but after his death a will was found
leaving the greater part of his property for the benefit of the poor
of the parish of Stratton. His effigy may be seen in the church,
in the habit of a Crusader, grasping a sword, with his feet resting
on the back of a lion. Through his interest Stratton had the charter
of its market. His spirit haunts Binamy grounds (avoided after dark
by the superstitious) in the form of a hare, which always starts out
of the moat and manages to elude the dogs.
Of the doings of the famous Grenvilles of Stow,--Sir Beville, the
brave Royalist leader, who lost his life at the battle of Lansdowne in
1643,--Admiral Sir Richard, immortalized by Tennyson in his ballad
"The Revenge,"--and of his son, Sir John, who served under Sir
Walter Raleigh and died at sea,--I shall say nothing, these noted
men belonging more to history than folk-lore.
Under the same head, too, may be classed the Cornish female
Whittington, Thomasine Bonaventure, of St. Mary Wike (now Week
St. Mary), who lived in the fourteenth century; the daughter of
a labourer, she herself was a shepherdess. A London merchant, when
travelling in Cornwall, lost himself on our moors, and accidentally met
her with her sheep. He asked of her the way, and was so much struck by
her good looks and intelligence that he begged her from her parents
and took her back with him to be a servant to his wife. In her new
situation she conducted herself with so much propriety that on his
wife's death he courted and married her. Soon after he himself died,
and left her a wealthy widow. Her next marriage was to a much richer
man, named Henry Gall. Widowed a second time, and again inheriting
her husband's money, she took for her third and last husband Sir
John Percival, Lord Mayor of London. Him, too, she outlived, and
after his death returned to her native village, where she employed
her great riches in works of charity. Amongst her other good deeds
she founded and endowed a chantry there, together with a free school,
and lodgings for masters, scholars, and officers.
The Rev. R. S. Hawker, in his book before-quoted, has a legend which
he calls "The first Cornish Mole. A Morality." I, however, suspect
it to be a pure invention of this author; but as it is very pretty,
I will give the substance of it. Alice of the Coombe was a very
beautiful, but proud and vain, damsel; the only child of her widowed
mother, with whom she dwelt at Morwenstow. It chanced one day that
they, with all the neighbouring gentry, had been bidden to a grand
banquet at Stow; and, as she had set her love on the great and noble
Sir Beville Grenville, its owner, Alice, to win his affections,
dressed herself in her richest robe--"a woven velvet, glossy and
soft"--and put on her fairest jewellery. Her mother, when she saw
her thus attired, struck by her exceeding grace and beauty, said,
"Often shall I pray to-night that the Grenville heart may yield. Aye,
thy victory shall be my prayer." The haughty maiden replied, "With
the eyes I now see in that glass, and with this vesture, meet for a
queen, I lack no trusting prayer." At this a sudden cry was heard,
and the damsel disappeared from their sight for ever. Shortly after,
the Coombe gardener discovered in the garden a small, unknown hillock,
and on top of it shone a ring, which was recognized as the one the
lady wore on the day she vanished. A close examination showed that
an old Cornish couplet was now traced on it, which the parish priest
interpreted to mean--
"The earth must hide
Both eyes with pride."
As he uttered these words a low cry was heard at his feet, and there
"They beheld, O wondrous and strange! a small dark creature, clothed
in a soft velvet skin, in texture and in hue like the robe of Lady
Alice, and they saw as it groped into the earth that it moved along
without eyes in everlasting night." "She, herself had become
THE FIRST MOLE
OF THE HILLOCKS OF CORNWALL."
Before finishing this section of my work I must say a few words about
the Islands of Scilly and their legends. The Rev. H. J. Whitfield,
M.A., in 1852, published a book on this subject, but his legends are
for the most part purely fictitious, and its title, Scilly and its
Legends, a little misleading.
The Scilly Isles, just off the Land's End, are very numerous,
but only five are inhabited; some are mere rocks in the sea, and,
counting those, they are said to be a hundred and fifty. The largest is
St. Mary's, and the dwellers on it are apt to look with contempt on the
inhabitants of the other islands (the Off Islands). The word Scilly
is sometimes derived from Sullèh, rocks dedicated to the sun, and
sometimes from Sillyas, a conger. This fish is very plentiful on these
coasts, and a ridiculous rhyme says that Scilly fare consists of--
"Scads and 'tates, scads and 'tates,
Scads, and 'tates, and conger,
And those who can't eat scads and 'tates--
Oh, they must die of hunger."
Occasionally the saying runs: "Oh! the Scillonians live on fish and
'taties every day, and conger-pie for Sundays."
In the beginning of this century, before steam-boats were invented,
when communication between Scilly and Penzance (the mainland) depended
upon wind and weather, in winter its people were often reduced to
great straits for want of provisions, which gave rise to the proverb,
"There is always a feast or a fast in Scilly." This is, however, now
far from being the truth, and it is one of the most prosperous parts
of Great Britain; its inhabitants, as a rule, are well educated, they
are noted for their courteous manners; and for its beautiful scenery
Scilly is well worth a visit. The dialect of its poorer people, as also
the tones of their voices (each island has its peculiarity), differ
from those of the same class in West Cornwall. Their pronunciation
rather resembles the Irish. Thread with them is tread, the th at the
beginning of words being rarely sounded, pint is point, and point pint.
Irreverent people declare that when Ireland was made some little bits
of earth fell from the shovel and formed Scilly. Certain it is that
when St. Patrick drove out all venomous reptiles from the former place
he did the same kind service to the latter. The island of St. Agnes
was particularly favoured, for until recently there was not a rat on
it, they were introduced from a wrecked vessel.
Small as St. Mary's is (about three miles long and nine around)
it boasts of two capitals; the modern one dates from the time of
Queen Elizabeth, and is called Hugh Town; before that Old Town was
the principal village. At the east of Old Town Bay is Tolman Point
(a corruption, I suppose, of Tôl Mên, the holed stone). Of it an old
legend says when Scilly was under the monks of Tavistock, and Old
Town the only port of St. Mary's, that they drew a chain from "Tollman
head" across the entrance, and levied a toll from all who embarked and
landed there, not excepting the fishermen. It was abolished by Richard
Plantagenet, who, coming disguised to the port, was not recognized by
the friar in charge, who demanded from him his dues. Upon which Earl
Richard, in a fit of passion, struck him dead at his feet. According
to Leland, "Inniscan longid to Tavestock, and there was a poor celle
of monkes of Tavestock. Sum caulle this Trescau."
There was a settlement of Benedictine monks here long before the Norman
Conquest; their cell was dedicated to St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas,
as well as St. Peter, is the patron saint of fishermen; the former
also takes school-boys under his protection. Fragments of Tresco
Abbey which was then founded still exist. It was independent until
the reign of Edward I., when it was joined to Tavistock. The same
monarch, Edward I., made Ranulph de White Monastery (supposed to be
Ranulph de Blankminster, or Randolph de Blancheminster), according to
an old archive, constable of these islands, with the castle of Ennor,
in Old Town, on his "Paying yearly, at the feast of St. Michael the
Archangel, 300 birds, called puffins, or 6s. 8d." Traces of these
monastic visitors are to be found in a pile of rocks at St. Mary's,
called Carn Friars (a farm near by bears the same name), and one of the
most highly cultivated and sheltered spots, where a few trees grow,
is known as Holy Vale. Whitfield places a nunnery there, and says
Holy Vale takes its name from a miraculous rosebush that grew in it,
and that "One of its flowers was deemed to have the power, if worn,
to preserve its bearer from mortal sin," but no other authority
mentions it.
Giants, of course, frequently played a great part in the history of
Scilly. Buzza's Hill, just beyond Hugh Town (St. Mary's), commemorates
a giant of the name of Bosow, who made his home on its summit (now
crowned by a Spanish windmill), and from whom the family of Bosow were
descended. One of the finest promontories on the same island is Giant's
Castle--Troutbeck says, built by the Danes. Here, too, is Giant's
Chair, where the Arch Druid used in former days to sit and watch
the sun rise. Druidical remains are scattered all over the different
islands, and the many "barrows" are known as "giants' graves." "In
the old abbey gardens at Tresco is a curious stone, about four feet
long, two feet wide, and six inches in thickness, in an upright
position. Near the top are two holes, one above the other (one being
somewhat larger than the other), through which a man might pass his
hand. It is supposed to be an old Druidical betrothal or wishing-stone,
and used before the monks built the abbey at Tresco. Young people,
engaged to be married, would pass their hands through the holes, and,
joining them together, would so plight their troth. As a wishing-stone,
or to break a spell, a ring would be passed through the holes with
some incantations."--J. C. Tonkin's Guide to the Isles of Scilly.
The finest headland on St. Mary's is Peninnis, and some of the
sheltered nooks under its rocks have rather curious names. One
of them is known as Sleep's Abode (or Parlour), and close by is
Pitt's Parlour, which commands a lovely view; it is so called after
a Mr. Pitt, who, when on a visit to Scilly, spent his summer evenings
there with a chosen party of friends. An old lady, a native of Scilly,
long since dead, told me that tradition said Mr. Pitt came to Scilly
in consequence of a bet he made with a gentleman (I believe the then
governor of the islands), who, when in London, spoke in the highest
terms of the morality of its women, and offered to lay a heavy wager
that not a single courtesan could be found there. Mr. Pitt took up
the bet, travelled down to Scilly, and for a long time seemed likely
to lose it; but at last, by a large bribe, he overcame the virtue of
one very poor woman, and, in gratitude, allowed her a small pension
until her death.
At the foot of Peninnis is Piper's Hole (in which there is a pool
of fresh water). This is said to be the entrance of a subterranean
passage leading to the island of Tresco, where another Piper's Hole
is shown as the exit. Old people told marvellous tales of rash people
venturing in so far that they never returned, but died in it overcome
by fatigue--the passage being too narrow for them to turn. Also
of dogs who disappeared in the hole at St. Mary's, and after many
days crept out from the one in Tresco, very emaciated, and almost
hairless. The Rev. J. W. North, in his Week in the Isles of Scilly,
has an interesting account of Piper's Hole at Tresco.
Half-way down Giant's Castle, the steep carn before mentioned on
St. Mary's, lies a very inaccessible cave known as Tom Butt's Bed,
from the fact that a boy of that name hid himself there in Queen
Anne's time three days and three nights out of sight of the press-gang.
The wreck of Sir Cloudesley Shovel in 1707, upon Gilston Rock, in Porth
Hellick Bay, near Old Town, is of course a matter of history. Very
many traditions have, however, gathered around this sad event, related
by many authors. I must briefly retell them, as no book of this kind
would be complete without them.
The admiral, accompanied by the whole of his fleet, was returning
home from Toulon, after the capture of Gibraltar, in his ship the
Association. When they were off Scilly, on October 22nd, 1707, the
weather became thick and dirty, and orders were given "to lie-to." This
was in the afternoon. Later on, about six, Sir Cloudesley again made
sail, but two hours after his ship showed signals of distress, which
were answered from several of the others. In two minutes she struck on
the Gilston Rock, sank immediately, and all on board perished. The
Eagle and the Romney with their crews shared the same fate; the
Firebrand also was lost, but her captain with most of her men were
saved. "The other men-of-war with difficulty escaped by having timely
notice." In this storm between fifteen hundred and two thousand people
were drowned in one night.
A day or two before this took place, one man, a native of Scilly, is
said to have persistently warned the officer of the watch on board
the Association that unless their ship's course was altered she,
with all the fleet, would soon be on the Scilly rocks amongst the
breakers. These warnings so exasperated the officer that he repeated
them to his admiral, and he, vexed that a common sailor should think
that he knew better than his superiors how to navigate a vessel,
summarily ordered him to be hanged at the yard-arm for inciting the
others to insubordination and mutiny. The man before his execution
begged, as a great favour, that the chaplain should be allowed to
read him one of the Psalms. His request was granted, and he chose the
109th, repeating after the reader in a loud voice all the curses it
contains. And with his last breath he prophesied that the admiral, with
those who saw him hanged, would find a watery grave. Up to that time
the weather had been fair, but as soon as his body had been committed
to the sea it changed, the wind began to blow, and his shipmates
were horrified to see the corpse out of its winding-sheet, face up,
following in their wake, and even before their vessel struck they
gave themselves up for lost men. Some say that Sir Cloudesley's body
came ashore on a hatch, on which he had endeavoured to save himself,
with his favourite little dog dead by his side. Others, that after
the wreck it was cast naked on Porth Hellick beach, where it was
discovered by a soldier, who took off his ring which he still wore,
and buried him in the sands.
Another account, on the authority of Robert, second Lord Romney, Sir
Cloudesley Shovel's grandson, runs thus:--"There is one circumstance
relating to Sir Cloudesley Shovel's death that is known to very few
persons, namely, he was not drowned, having got to shore, where,
by the confession of an ancient woman, he was put to death. This,
many years after, when on her death-bed, she revealed to the minister
of the parish, declaring she could not die in peace until she had
made this confession, as she was led to commit this horrid deed for
the sake of plunder. She acknowledged having, among other things,
an emerald ring in her possession, which she had been afraid to sell
lest it should lead to a discovery. This ring, which she delivered
to the minister, was by him given to James, Earl of Berkeley, at his
particular request, Sir Cloudesley Shovel and himself having lived
on the strictest footing of friendship."
In the place and manner of his burial all traditions agree. Where he
lay is still pointed out--a bare spot surrounded by green grass. And
the Scillonians will tell you that, because he so obstinately refused
to hear a warning, and wantonly threw away so many lives, God, to
keep alive the memory of this great wickedness, permits nothing to
grow on his grave.
Another legend has it that the man who gave the warning escaped death,
as the storm suddenly arose whilst the Psalm was being read, before
the order for his execution could be carried out, and that he was
the only person on board the Association who was not drowned.
When Lady Cloudesley Shovel heard of the wreck, she asked that a
search might be made for her husband's body. A soldier showed a ring
which he had in his possession, which was immediately recognised as
Sir Cloudesley Shovel's. The body was dug up and identified by the
marks of his wounds. The ring was forwarded to his wife, and she, in
gratitude for the soldier's kindness in giving her husband a decent
burial, rewarded him with a pension for life. Sir Cloudesley's body
was embalmed, first taken to Plymouth by sea, where for some time
it lay in state, and finally to London, where it was interred in
Westminster Abbey.
The abbey at Tresco, formerly under the jurisdiction of the monks
of St. Nicholas [15] at Tavistock, has been already mentioned. The
abbey house, built on its site, is the seat of Mr. Dorrien Smith (the
Proprietor, as the Scillonians call him). The gardens that surround it
are very beautiful, and famed for the tropical plants that here grow
out of doors. There is an anecdote related of one of the inhabitants
of Tresco, who, when asked what they did for firewood in a spot where
no trees grew, answered, "We kindle our fires from the loppings of
our geranium hedges." Tresco, like St. Levan, at the Land's End,
was in bygone days the favourite haunt of witches. A poor man there
walking out at nightfall had the misfortune to meet with a party of
them taking a moonlight ride on their broomsticks. A relation of his
was one of the number, and she warned him, in a stentorian voice,
that if he ever mentioned what he had accidentally seen, he should
bear the marks of their wrath until his dying day. For a long time
the secret weighed heavily upon him, and at last he could not refrain
from telling his wife. The witches, in revenge, turned his black hair
white in a single night.
The Rev. H. G. Whitfield, in his Legends of Scilly, gives some
marvellous tales of the family of "Dick the Wicked." They were
all hardened wreckers, who generations ago lived on this island,
and who also had the gift of second sight. Dick himself, according
to this writer, when ill and unrepentant, was, by Satanic agency,
taken out of his bed and borne, wrapt in a long loose coat, which
he was in the habit of wearing, some considerable distance from his
house. Here his friends discovered him on the following morning.
On this island stands Cromwell's castle, built during his
Protectorate. Old people thought that he in person visited it. The
large china tankard, out of which he was said to have drunk his
breakfast-beer, still exists. On a hill above are the ruins of
Charles's castle. Scilly always remained loyal and true to the
unfortunate monarch, and this verse of a ballad told me by a Scillonian
was not written of one of them:
"In Cromwell's days I was for him,
But now, my boys, I'm for the king;
For I can turn, boys, with the tide,
And wear my coat on the strongest side."
St. Warna, who presided over wrecks, was the patron saint of St. Agnes,
another of the principal islands. She crossed over here from Ireland
in a wicker-boat covered with hides, and landed at St. Warna's
bay. Like many other saints she had her holy-well; and often the
superstitious inhabitants of St. Agnes (five families in all),
who enjoyed the reputation of being the most daring and unscrupulous
amongst the Scilly wreckers of those days, threw crooked pins into it,
and daily invoked and prayed her to send them "a rich wreck." There
was no church on it then, and its people rarely visited the other
islands. But it chanced one fine morning the entire population started
in their boats for the church of Ennor, in St. Mary Old Town, as two of
them wished to be married. After the ceremony was over the clergyman
in the presence of most of his parishioners, who had assembled to
witness it (between whom and the men of St. Agnes there was always
a bitter feud), rebuked them for their lawless deeds. They, angry at
being put to shame before their enemies, answered with many profane
and mocking words, and were with difficulty restrained from coming to
blows. So incensed were they that they took no notice of the signs
which heralded a coming storm, and hastily got on board their boats
to return to their own home, which none of them were ever destined
to reach, as it broke with great fury when they were about half-way
across. When close to land and the rowers were straining every nerve
to get there, one wave larger than the rest broke over them, and every
soul found a watery grave. This was of course said to be a judgment
on them for their wicked ways. (Leland briefly chronicles it.) From
that time St. Warna's well was neglected; there was no one left the
day after twelfth-day, as had been the custom, to clean it out and
return her thanks for her bounty: it gradually got filled with stones,
and at the present day is little more than a hole.
There is a curious labyrinth on this island called "Troy-town," which
it is popularly supposed to represent; but all intricate places in
Cornwall are so denominated, and I have even heard nurses say to
children when they were surrounded by a litter of toys that they
looked as if they were in Troy-town.
A peculiar mode of punishment was formerly practised in Scilly. The
offenders were placed in a chair called a "ducking chair," and publicly
at St. Mary's quay-head "ducked" in the salt water.