The church of this parish is adorned with several splendid monuments,
one to Mr. Anthony Nicoll, who distinguished himself in the Civil War,
and another representing a mother and three daughters kneeling, with
various arms emblazoned over them, Reskymer, Courtenay, Mohun,
Trelawny, &c.
St. Editha, the patroness of this church, as Mr. Hals conjectures on
the assumed authority of Domesday Book, must have acquired a high
degree of sanctity at a very early period of life, having died in her
twenty-fourth year, after passing her time from childhood in the
convent at Wilton, of which her mother was abbess; and, therefore, as
it is observed in the Roman Martyrology, “She may be said rather not
to have known the world than to have left it;” but she fasted, wore
hair-cloth next her skin, and chose to perform every office that was
most disgusting or loathsome. In recompense, her beatitude was
attested, according to William of Malmesbury, in a most decisive
manner; who says, that while Canute celebrated the festival of
Whitsuntide at Wilton, he spoke with ridicule of St. Editha, adding,
that he never could believe the daughter of King Edgar could be a
saint, who had always addicted himself to acts of tyranny, and to the
indulgence of bad passions. Ethelnodus, the archbishop, then present,
contradicted the king, and proceeded to open the tomb of the virgin
saint; when, raising herself up so as to sit, she seemed to attack the
contumaceous king; and he, terrified, fell prostrate on the ground,
apparently without life; but recovering, he expressed great joy, that
by a renovation of his existence he found himself in a situation to be
penitent for his fault.
The presentation to this rectory is in the Dean and Canons of Christ
Church. The Rev. Charles Hodgson, late student, presented in 1817, is
the present incumbent.
The whole parish appears to be well cultivated, notwithstanding that
it adjoins the granite district of St. Breward or Simonward, and it is
agreeably diversified by hill and dale.
It appears from Mr. Lysons that the manor of St. Tudy belonged to the
family of Nicoll, but that it was sold together with Penrose, the
family seat, to Mr. Trehawke of Leskeard, by whom they have been
devised to Samuel Kekewich, esq.
The manor of Tinten, like so many others, either gave its name to the
ancient proprietors, or received it from them. An heiress took it to
the Carminows of Boconnoc. The Carminow property passed to the
Courtenays, and fell to the Crown on the attainder of the Marquis of
Exeter. This manor was included by King Henry the Eighth in the
exchange given for the honour of Wallingford.
The manor of Kellygreen belongs to Walter Raleigh Gilbert, esq.
Tremeer was a seat of the Lowers, the birth-place of Sir William
Lower, the author of various works.
The Phœnix in her flames, a Tragedy.
Polyenetes, or the Martyr, a Tragedy.
Horatius, a Roman Tragedy.
The Enchanted Lovers, a Pastoral.
The Amorous Fantasme, Tragi-Comedy.
Noble Ingratitude.
Journal of the Travels of King Charles the Second in Holland; and
others.
He died in 1662.
Here also was born Richard Lower, M.D. brother of the former, who
lived to the year 1690. This gentleman published various medical
works, and some papers in the Philosophical Transactions. One of his
works, “Tractatus de Corde, item Motu et Calore Sanguinis et Chyli in
eorum transitu,” reached a third edition in England, and was reprinted
abroad.
Hengar is a handsome seat, very pleasantly situated on a rising
ground, and at a small distance from the house a prospect is obtained
of great extent and beauty, in consequence of an admixture of all the
varieties of scenery which distinguish Cornwall――granite mountains,
undulating hills of the slate formation, deep valleys with streams of
water, and trees, and finally the sea. This place was the occasional
residence of Matthew Michell, esq. acquired under the will of Samuel
Michell, a Colonel in the Guards, who died there in 1786, after
attaining his eighty-fifth year. Mr. Matthew Michell has left this
place with all his property to his widow, who is again married to a
gentleman of the name of Searle.
St. Tudy measures 2881 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 4286 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 398 8 0
Population,――{ in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 502 | 512 | 605 | 658
giving an increase of 31 per cent. in 30 years.