Talland is in the hundred of West, and is bounded to the west by
Launcells, to the north by Pelynt, to the east by Looe river, and to
the south by the British Channel.
This is a vicarage, not valued in the King’s Book; but in anno 1291,
20 Edward I. it was valued, the rectory (Tax. Benef.) at £8, it having
been appropriated to Launceston Priory; and the vicarage at 40_s._ The
patronage is in Archdeacon Kendall, and the incumbent Mr. Doidge.
Mr. Thomas Kendall had a younger brother, Colonel James Kendall, who
was Governor of Barbadoes in ――――, one of the lords of the Admiralty
under Queen Anne, and a member of Parliament in several Parliaments:
he died suddenly, unmarried, July the 10th, 1708, at his house in
London, very rich, and left a natural son by Mrs. Colliton, who now
goes by the name of Kendall.
Under Killygarth is Porth-Para, vulgo Polpera, id est, the sandy port.
“A little to the eastwards,” saith Carew, (fol. 131 b.) “from
Killygarth, the poor harbour and village of Polpera coucheth between
two steep hills:” [from which circumstance, as I know of no word
similar to para in the Cornish, and signifying sand in English, I
might more aptly take the name to be (as Carew writes, and as usage
sounds it) pol-pera, pol-poran, the close or strait pool. But the fact
is, that the name is purely English, with a Cornish pronunciation. “By
est, the haven of Fowey upon a iiii miles of,” says Leland, Itin. vii.
121), “ys a smawle creke cawled Paul _Pier_, and a symple and poore
village upon the est side of the same, of fisharmen, and the bootes
ther fishing by [be] saved by a _Peere_ or key. In the est side of
this Paul Pirre,” &c. And since the cove is still written as Leland
first writes it, “Paul Pier” (See Borlase’s map) so is it obviously
allusive to the “Pier or Key,” which he mentions at it. W.] where
plenty of fish is vented to the fish-drivers, whom we call “jowters”
[men who jolt about with horses and panniers to sell fish]. And
between this and the church is Porth Talland.
The manor by the name of Tallan, in the extent of Cornish acres, 12
Edward I. is valued in six. (Carew, fol. 49.) [Here let me just note
what Mr. Tonkin has omitted, the etymology of the name of the parish,
and of the manor. Written originally Tallan, and gaining only the
final _T._ by vicious pronunciation, the manor and the parish derive
their name apparently from the church; and this takes its appellation
from its site, I apprehend, being seated upon the high bold shore of
the channel, and so being called Tal-Lan, the high church or the
church upon a high position; just as Tal-ar (C.) signifies a high land
or headland, and as a high rock in St. Allen is called Tal-Carne. W.]
Of the ancient lords of which manor I shall give a full account on the
other side [see towards the end]; and only take notice here, that
within it, and
Next is the church. Near this the family of Murth hath long dwelt. “In
the same parish where Killingworth is seated,” saith Carew, (fol.
131), “Master Murth inheriteth a house and demaynes: hee maried
Treffry: his father Tregose. One of their ancestors, within the memory
of a next neighbour to the house called Prake (burdened with a hundred
and ten yeeres of age), entertained a British [a Bréton] miller; as
that people, for such idle occupations, prove more handie than our
owne. But this fellow’s service befell commodious in the worst sense.
For when, not long after his acceptance, warres grew between us and
France, he stealeth over into his country, returneth privily backe
againe with a French crew, surpriseth suddenly his master and his
guests at a Christmas supper, carrieth them speedily unto Lantreghey,”
[or the church town in Bretagne] “and forceth the gentleman to redeeme
his inlargement with a sale of a great part of his revenues.”
The present owner is Jeffry Murth, esq. who is a Justice of the Peace,
and a very honest good-natured gentleman: he is married to the
daughter of John Oxenham, of Oxenham in Devon, esq. His father, John
Murth, esq. married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Buller, of Morval,
esq. Arms of Murth, Sable, a chevron between three falcon’s legs
erased, with bells, Or.