Mr. Lysons enumerates the manors; the principal of which are the manor
giving its name to the parish, part of the ancient possessions of the
duchy of Cornwall, and the manor of Climsland Prior, extending into
Linkinhorne, which formerly belonged to the priory of Launceston; and
after the general dissolution was given with many other manors forming
the modern duchy in exchange for the honour and castle of Wallingford.
Carrybullock, disparked by King Henry the Eighth, was held under a
lease from the duchy by Mr. Weston Helyar.
Mr. Lysons mentions other manors and bartons of no general interest,
with the exception of Whiteford, on account of its late proprietor.
Mr. John Call was one of those individuals of whom the country
adjacent to the Tamar may be proud.
It is understood that he was born on the Devonshire side of the river,
and various tales are related of his first advancement in life; these
are usually little worthy of attention, and are most frequently
exaggerated from an innate love of the marvellous. Mr. Call having
proceeded to India as an engineer, most eminently distinguished
himself in that field, more ample than any recorded in history for the
successful display of abilities, and active persevering industry; and
where, for the first time since distinct nations have been brought
into contact by the improvements of navigation and of commerce, the
vanquished have become debtors to the more successful party for
protection, for the administration of equal laws and of impartial
justice, and for the introduction among the inhabitants of the spirit
of honour, the glory of modern Europe.
Here Mr. Call having served his country, and justly acquired the
legitimate rewards of fame and of ample fortune, retired to his native
country, purchased Whiteford, which he converted into a handsome seat,
and much other property in the neighbourhood. His active mind could
not, however, remain unemployed; he became a banker, a manufacturer of
plate-glass, and a copper smelter. He served the office of Sheriff for
Cornwall in the year 1771; afterwards represented Callington in
Parliament, and was finally created a Baronet.
It may be interesting to insert some miscellaneous information which
the gentleman communicated to this Editor in Oct. 1798, while he
resided for a few weeks or months at Marazion, and which was
imperfectly noted at the time.
He received the whole of his education as an engineer under Mr.
Benjamin Robins, F.R.S. Engineer-General to the East India Company,
the well-known author of various mathematical tracts, and especially
of a treatise on the principles of gunnery, the force of gunpowder,
and on the resisting power of the air to bodies in swift and in slow
motion. This treatise his pupil Mr. Call transcribed for the press;
and no doubt he assisted in making those admirable experiments and
mathematical deductions from them, which have given a new character
to this important branch of military science, as well in respect to
small arms, and more especially to rifled barrels, as to cannon and
mortars, in reference to which Mr. Call made an additional improvement
so as to discharge shells from long guns by placing the fusee
internally, with its orifice concentric to the surface instead of
projecting, and thereby securing it from injury as the shot rolls in
passing out of the gun.
He successfully defended Fort St. George at Madras; and in 1761
conducted the siege of Pondicherry, which ended in the capture of that
place, the chief seat of the French power in India. Sir John Call also
mentions as a curious circumstance, illustrative of the decisive
effects produced by the well-directed fire of field artillery, that in
a battle where he was present (query, was it Plassey?) a shell from an
howitzer caused the explosion of a carriage containing gunpowder,
which produced some confusion and disorder in the enemy’s line; the
commander instantly ordered a charge, and the victory was decided.
And he related another anecdote on a very different subject. That
having with other amateurs of astronomy made preparations for
observing the transit of Venus by constructing a temporary observatory
on the flat roof of the government house at Madras, they waited with
impatience after a long continuance of fine weather, for the important
3d of June 1761, when a most violent storm on the preceding night
injured or destroyed their instruments so as to render any observation
impossible; and, what added to their mortification and disappointment,
a long continuance of fine weather succeeded this tempest.
Whiteford is now the residence of his son Sir William Pratt Call, who
was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1807, and has a family.
The manor of Climsland Prior paid to the monastery at Launceston, the
free tenants 8_s._ the conventionary tenants £6. 13_s._ 9_d._
The advowson of the living seems to have been appurtenant to the
ancient duchy manor of Stokeclimsland.
This parish measures 7973 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 6010 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 2084 17 0
Population,――{ in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 1153 | 1237 | 1524 | 1608
giving an increase of 39½ per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector the Rev. C. Lethbridge, presented by the Prince of
Wales in 1805.