St. Mawgan rectory is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon
the north Gwendron and Helston, south Cury and St. Martin’s, west
Gonwallo. Under what jurisdiction this parish was rated in the
Domesday Tax, 1087, I know not, probably under the names of Gwendron,
Helleston, Lizard, or Trevery; for the modern names of St. Mawgan, or
Maneage, were not then heard of. However, at the time of the
Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the
value of Cornish Benefices, Ecclesia de Sancti Mawgani in decanatu de
Kerryer, is valued £10. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, Ecclesias de
St. Maugani in decanatu de Kerrier, £35. 10_s._ 0½_d._; the patronage
formerly in the Prior of St. Michael’s Mount, who as I am informed
endowed it, now Trevillian; the incumbent Trewinard; and the parish
rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, £148. 8_s._
This district of Meneage is a kind of peninsula, formed between the
lakes or rivers Looe and Hayle, conjoined at the neck only by a little
part of this parish of Mawgan with that of Gwendron and Helleston;
from whence further south in length and breadth, the land shooteth in
towards the British Ocean, in the several parishes of St. Martin’s,
Manaccan, St. Anthony, Kevorne, Ruan Major, Ruan Minor, Landawednack,
Grade, Cury, Mullyan, Gonwallo. Which peninsula is further notable for
its great fertility between the rocks for corn and grass; for as at
St. Kevorne and other parishes, if wheat corn be seasonably tilled and
well manured, it will produce commonly in the beginning of July a
harvest of twenty bushels Cornish measure, that is to say sixty
bushels Winchester to a Cornish acre of land; so in like manner this
neck of land, being the most south-west part of this island of
Britain, and situate between two seas, will in ten weeks time after
the sowing of barley, produce a harvest in many places of much greater
increase than that of wheat aforesaid. Moreover, it is also profitable
for breeding and feeding bullocks and sheep of all sorts; and
particularly Gon-hilly Downs, id est the Hunting Downs, is notable for
the breed of an under-statute sort of mares and horses, swift and sure
of foot, and of great strength and hardiness for travel and labour.
Which Downs consist of many hundred acres of land, all overspread with
grey cloos, or a kind of marble stones as aforesaid.
The barton and manor of Carmenow, Car-mynow, Carminou, in this parish,
words of one import, is the rockhill or mountain, a name given and
taken from the natural circumstances of the place, viz. lands situate
upon the rocks and hills abutting upon the sea-cliff of the British
channel, and the Looe creek or cove therof. I know, contrary to this
etymology, Mr. Carew tells us that Carminow is a little city, p. 55
Surv. Cornwall. But Caer-Vyan, or Caer-Byan, or Vyan-Caer, is a little
city in Cornish; Caer-Broas, Bruse, a great, large, or extensive city.
Again, page 142, he tells us that the interpretation of Car-mynow is
often-loving; from which contradictory or cross etymology of this
compound word aforesaid, it is evident he knew very little of the
language of our ancestors the Britons, as his successor Mr. Camden did
much less.
This local place gave name and original to an old British family of
gentlemen surnamed de Carmynow, now extinct, who flourished there for
many generations in great fame and riches; in particular here lived
Robert de Carmynow, who held £16 per annum by the tenure of knight
service, who was summoned by writ, 48 Henry III. to come and take his
degree of knighthood. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 50.) This
gentleman, as tradition saith, accompanied King Edward I. in the Holy
War in Palestine. He had issue Ralph Carmenow, said to be Chamberlain
to King Edward II.; who had issue Ralph Carmenow, Sheriff of Cornwall
2 Richard II. 1379. Betwixt whom and the Lord Richard Scrope, of
Bolton Castle, in Richmondshire, Lord Chancellor of England temp.
Edward III. (father of William Lord Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire and Lord
Treasurer of England 21 Richard II. and Knight of the Garter, beheaded
at Bristol for attainder of treason against Henry IV. anno Dom. 1399,)
happened a memorable trial in the Court of Chivalry, or Earl Marshal’s
Court, about the bearing on their shields, or coat armour, viz. Azure,
a bend Or.
In this action the Lord Scrope was plaintiff, who declared that he was
lineally descended from one Scrope, a French or Norman soldier, that
came over into England under the banner and conduct of William the
Conqueror, against King Harold, anno Dom. 1066; and that he gave for
his arms, (portoit) d’Azur, à la band d’Or; and that his posterity
till that instant (1360) ever gave the same arms, and to corroborate
this their bearing, they produced a copy of the record thereof in the
Earl Marshal’s Court; therefore Mr. Carmenow’s thus assuming and
bearing their proper arms, it was contrary to law, and equity, and
arms.
To this declaration the defendant pleaded not guilty, and in
justification of the bearing aforesaid, said that his ancestors were
Cornish Britons; and lived at Carmenow long before the Norman
Conquest; and particularly, that one of them was sent by King Edward
the Confessor an ambassador, either to the French King or Duke of
Normandy; who gave those arms in and for his device, or shield; and
that from that time to the time of King Edward III. aforesaid, which
was about three hundred years, his posterity had ever given or borne
the same arms, without interruption or alteration.
To this the plaintiff rejoined, that there was then no such public
record extant in the Office of Arms, or Marshal’s Court, that
appropriated any such bearing to this name or family of Carmenow,
neither was the Provincial Herald called Clarencieux, for granting
arms and recording the descents of private gentlemen for the
south-west part of England, instituted but just before this action;
and therefore, if the said Ralph Carmenow, or his ancestors, gave
those arms, they were only personal badges or devices that terminated
with their lives, and could not be hereditary or descend to posterity.
And further it was alleged that in case Carmenow’s ancestor lived at
Carmenow before the Norman Conquest, those arms could not be
appropriated to him by the name of de Carmenow, for it was not the
custom of the Britons till about a hundred years after, to style
themselves from local places with the Latin pronoun or particle, De,
after the manner of the French. But before were generally
distinguished by the names John Mac Richard, Richard Mac Thomas,
Robert ap Ralph, &c. that is to say the son of Thomas, Robert, and
Ralph, according to their lineal descents.
Whereupon, after a full view and hearing of what could be said and
shown on either part, by learned council as to records, manuscripts,
deeds and pedigrees, the Earl Marshal, in Westminster Hall, gave
judgment for the plaintiff; and the definitive sentence was afterwards
made and signed with the public seal of that Court, and read in open
audience; and orders given to the Sub-Marshal to put the same in
execution; which was, that Carmenow should never more give the arms
aforesaid without a label of three points Gules for a distinction;
when accordingly the same was first entered of record in Clarencieux,
or the Provincial Herald’s books, as the subsequent hereditary coat
armour of his family, (and as tradition saith Carmenow paid costs,)
which rule was ever after by those gentlemen observed in their
bearings.
And though Carmenow’s friends pleased themselves in this distinction
of a label, because given by the Emperor of Rome’s son and heir whilst
his father was alive; and for that it is the mark or cognizance of the
eldest son and heir of a family of the greatest degree; yet it is
manifest Carmenow himself was so distasted therewith, that he chose
for the motto of this new bearing arms, a Cornish sentence which
abundantly expressed his dislike thereof: Cala rag Ger da, id est, a
straw for fame, or breath.
William Carmenow, his son and heir, married the sole daughter and heir
of Rawleigh, of Smallridge, in Devon, and was Sheriff of that County
14th of Richard II.; he had issue by her Thomas Carmenow, Sheriff of
Cornwall 2 Henry VI. He or his son was also Sheriff of Cornwall the
8th of Henry VIII.; who had issue William Carmenow, father of John,
whose daughters and heirs were married to Arundell of Lanherne, and
Sir John Reskymer, of Reskymer, Knight. This John Carmenow suffered
the barton and manor of Carmenow, with other lands, to go in marriage
with his two daughters and heirs, married as aforesaid; whilst the
greatest part of his ancient estate, by virtue of the entail, after
his decease descended to his younger brother, John Carmenow, of
Fentongollan, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 5 Henry VIII.
In this local place of Carmenow those gentlemen had their ancient
domestic chapel and burying place, the walls and windows whereof are
still to be seen; in which place also formerly stood the tombs and
funeral monuments of divers once notable persons of this family; of
which sort, in the beginning of King James the First’s reign, when
this chapel was left to run to ruin and decay, the inhabitants of this
parish of Mawgan, out of respect to the memory of those gentlemen,
brought from thence two funeral monuments in human shape, at full
length, made of alabaster, freestone, or marble, man and woman I take
it, curiously wrought and cross-legged, with two lions couchant under
their feet, and deposited or lodged them in this parish church of St.
Mawgan, where they are yet to be seen, though the inscriptions and
coat armour thereof are now obliterated and defaced by time. Now,
though it was the custom to form the funeral monuments of such as had
been in the Holy War temp. Richard I. and Edward I. cross-legged, yet
I find that posture of monuments for the dead was much more ancient,
and placed on the tombs of such as had never been in the Holy War, in
memory of the cross whereon our Blessed Saviour suffered for our
redemption and salvation. Lastly, it is further observable of this
family of Carmenow, that, notwithstanding their great estate,
gentility, and antiquity, they never had any higher title of honour or
dignity conferred upon them by our English Kings than that of Knights
Bachelors, of which sort two or three of them had been knights. This
family was possest of five knight’s fees of land temp. Henry IV.; in
Trewint, in Lesnewith, also in Moteland there, also in Hernecoft in
Stratton hundred, also in Merthyn and Winenton in Kerrier; by
computation four thousand acres of land of this tenure. (See Carew’s
Survey of Cornwall.)
Res-ky-mer, in this parish, was the seat of Rogerus de Reskymer, a
military man or officer for conduct of the new levies for France, 15
Edward III. (Survey of Cornwall, page 52.)
Richardus de Reskymer, probably his son, was one of those forty-nine
Cornish gentlemen that held lands by the tenure of knight service, or
grand sergeanty, by attending the King personally in his wars, with a
horse and arms furnished according to his degree. See the writ
directed to the Sheriff of Cornwall for that purpose, commanding him
to attend him in his wars in France, 25 Edward III. (Carew’s Survey of
Cornwall, page 51.) He held by the same tenure above £20 lands per
annum.
John Reskymer married Alice, the second daughter and heir of John
Densill, Esq. Sergeant-at-Law, about the year 1508, and had issue by
her Sir John Reskymer, Knight, that married ―――― one of the coheirs of
John Carmenow, of Carmenow, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 31 Henry VIII.;
who had issue by her, as I am informed, John Reskymer, Esq. Sheriff of
Cornwall 3 and 4 of Queen Mary; who married Seyntaubyn, by whom he had
issue only four daughters, that became his heirs; married to Trelawney
of Poole, Lower of St. Wenow, Vyvyan of Trelowarren, and Courtenay of
Trethyrfe; in whose families the name, blood, and estate of those
Reskymers are terminated; though now this Reskimer barton is the lands
and possessions of Pendarves of Roscrow, as I am informed, and
purchased by Mr. Basset, who gave for their arms, in allusion to part
of their name, in a field Azure three bars Argent, in chief a wolf or
wild dog passant of the First.
Tre-lo-warren, alias Talla-warren. In this place, as appears from Mr.
Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 42, 3 Henry IV. one Mathew de
Trethake held by tenure of knight service half a knight’s fee of land,
from whose heir I suppose it came by purchase or marriage to Ferrers;
but whether those gentlemen were descended from the Ferrers of Tutbury
Castle, in Staffordshire, whose ancestor came out of France, a
collateral under William the Conqueror, 1066, (who gave for his arms,
sex ferres de cheval de Sable,) or from the Ferrers of Newton Ferrers,
in the county of Devon, (who gave for their arms, Argent, a bend
Gules, and a chief Vert,) I know not. However, there is yet extant, in
the stone wall of the tower of St. Mawgan, cut in chief in the same,
the 1st the arms of Carmenow, 2d of Reskymer, 3d Ferrers, 4th Vyvyan;
by which arms this family may be distinguished.
Originally the Vyvyans were possessed of Trevederne in Buryan, as they
still are; and from thence matched with the daughter and heir of
Skyburiow, afterwards with the daughter and heir of Ferrers of
Trelowarren; which first brought those lands into the possession of
Vyvyan; particularly as I am informed Richard Vyvyan, Esq. Sheriff of
Cornwall 9 Henry VII. 1494; Richard Vyvyan, Esq. his son, was Sheriff
of Cornwall 20 Henry VIII; Michael Vyvyan, Esq. was Sheriff of
Cornwall 22 of Henry VIII.; Hanniball Vyvyan, Esq. was Sheriff of
Cornwall 43 of Elizabeth; whose son, Frances Vyvyan, Esq. afterwards
knighted, was Sheriff of Cornwall 15 James I. who built the house now
extant at Trelowarren, and married one of the coheirs of Vyell, of
Trevorder. His son, Richard Vyvyan, Esq. afterwards, 12 February 1644,
by King Charles I. was created the 384th Baronet of England, married
Bulteel, and had issue by her Sir Vyell Vyvyan, Baronet, afterwards
knighted by King Charles II.; who married Thomasin, daughter and heir
of James Robins, of Penryn, Gent. Attorney-at-Law, who died without
issue; afterwards he married Jane, daughter of Thomas Melhuish, of
Penryn, Gent. the relict of Michael Cood, but died without issue that
lived. Note that the name Melhuish is local, viz. from the barton or
tenement of Melhuish, near Kirton in Devon, which signifies a
lark-bird, or larks, as alauda.
After Sir Vyell Vyvyan’s decease, his nephew Sir Richard Vyvyan,
Baronet, that succeeded to his estate and honour, son and heir of
Charles Vyvyan, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, (younger brother of Sir Vyell
aforesaid) by Erisey, married Mary, daughter and heir of Francis
Vivian, of Cosowarth, Esq. by Anne, daughter and heir of Henry Mynors,
of St. Enedor, Gent. by Bridget, the only surviving child of Sir
Samuel Cosowarth, Knight, and sole heir to her brother Nicholas
Cosowarth, Esq. that died without issue temp. Charles II. By the which
Mary Vyvian, his lady, Sir Richard is now in possession of Cosowarth
and Vivian’s lands.
Sir Richard Vyvyan, Bart. first mentioned, had also issue by Bulteel
five daughters, married to Robinson, Trewren, &c.
The arms of this family are in a field Argent, a lion rampant Gules.