St. Michael Penkevil is in the hundred of Powder, and is surrounded to
the west and south by branches of the river Fale.
This parish hath the adjunct of Penkivell from Penkivell therein,
although I should think it ought rather to have had that of
Fentongollan, since that always, till of late, hath been the principal
place in this parish, and the patronage of it belonged thereto. I
shall therefore in the first place treat of the manor of Fentongollan.
The name of this manor does not bear the meaning assigned to it by Mr.
Carew, but it signifies the holy well. The Saint’s well of the parish
being on the barton. But note that a part of the barton, and the
greater portion of the manor, are in the adjoining parish of Merthyr;
but as the house is wholly in St. Michael Penkevil, this is the most
proper parish wherein to treat of it.
Fentongollan has been the seat of several considerable families; the
first that I meet with as lord of this place is John de Trejago, or
Trejano, Sheriff of Cornwall in the time of Edward the Second, whose
son Stephen Trejago left an only daughter Jane, married to John
Trenoweth, of Trenoweth, in whose posterity it continued, and was
their principal residence till about the middle of the reign of Edward
the Fourth, when John Trenoweth, of this place, left four daughters
and coheiresses.
Philippa, married to John Carminow, who obtained with her this place.
Maud, married to Thomas St. Aubyn, of Clowance.
Catherine, married to John Raynwood, and secondly to Edmund Stradling,
of Dunlery.
Margaret, to John Godolphin, of Godolphin; and between these his large
inheritance was divided.
But this lordship, with many adjacent estates, came entire to
Philippa, his eldest daughter and coheir, the wife of John Carminow,
esq. whose posterity lived here in great splendour, and went by the
name of the great Carminows.
John Carminow, of Fentongollan, was Sheriff of Cornwall in the fifth
year of Henry the Eighth. His son, Thomas Carminow, was a gallant
courtier and gentleman of the privy chamber to the same king; but his
grandson, Oliver Carminow, put a final end to the greatness of his
family, having squandered away a vast estate, no less it is said than
eight thousand pounds a year of actual receipts, leaving two daughters
coheirs to what remained.
Ann, married to William Salter, of Devonshire.
Margaret, to Philip Cole, also of Devonshire, who sold this lordship
to one Mr. Holcomb, in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The
Carminow family was, however, continued through George, younger
brother to Oliver, who lived at Polmawgan, in St. Winnow, as his
posterity did at Trehanick, in St. Teath, where the last male of this
family died, in the reign of King Charles the Second.
Mr. Holcomb sold this place in the reign of James the First to Sir
Nicholas Hals, who resided here. His son John Hals, parted with it to
Ezekiel Grosse, esq. whose daughter carried this, together with
sixteen other manors, to the family of Buller, of Shillingham; and
Francis Buller sold it in King Charles the Second’s reign to Hugh
Boscawen, esq. who pulled down this noble old mansion, the lofty tower
and fine chapel, and carried the stones to build his new house at
Tregothnan, so that not a footstep is to be seen of this once
magnificent place, and a poor farm-house is built for a tenant in its
stead.
Under Fentongollan is a passage or ferry boat to go to Truro, and
likewise to Kea, which is called Mopas; this place was formerly famous
for oysters, which are now spoiled by the vessels that carry off the
copper ore, which vessels, lying generally at this place, and pumping
up the poisonous water from the ore, let in by leakage, have infected
them with a strong brassy taste, so that eating a few of them will
make any one ill; and yet, what is very remarkable, the oysters
themselves grow large and fatten as well as ever.
Adjoining to Fentongollan is Treganyan, which I take to be a
contraction of Tre-gan-ythan, the fursy town on the downs: however,
its present plight may be better. This was anciently the seat of the
family of Sayer.
To the south of Treganyan is the church town and rectory house, and
near to them is Tregothnan, which signifies the old town in the
valley, a name suitable to the situation of the old house, although
not of the new one. This place was anciently the seat of a family of
the same name, till Johanna, the daughter and heir of John Tregothnan,
by her marriage in the 8th year of Edward the Third, 1334, with John
Boscawen, of Boscawen Rose, in the parish of St. Burian, brought
Tregothnan to this family, whose principal seat it hath been ever
since, now just upon four hundred years; who have greatly enriched
themselves, as well as ennobled their blood, since that time, by
marriages with the heiresses of Albalanda, Trenoweth, &c. and by
matching themselves into the most eminent families of the county.
By a bill indented, bearing date the 4th of July 20th of Henry the
Seventh, Thomas Hobbs, clerk, witnesseth to have received for the
king’s use, of Richard Boscawen, esq. five pounds of lawful money, in
full of his fine to be released from the dignity of Knight of the
Bath, at the creation of Prince Henry.
Sir John Arundell, of Trerice, knight, late Sheriff, acknowledges to
have received of Hugh Boscawen, esq. four marks of lawful money of
England to their Majesties’ use, for that he repaired not to the
Queen’s coronation to receive the honour of knighthood, dated January
the 18th, the 1st and 2d of Philip and Mary. This is the gentleman
said in “the Bayliff of Blackmore,” to have been a wise man, learned
in the laws of the realm, who yet was outwitted, or rather cheated, by
a family of Truro, of which he tells a long story.
Hugh Boscawen, esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall the 10th of King Charles
the First, and was grandson to the above Hugh Boscawen, through his
eldest surviving son Nicholas Boscawen and Alice his wife, one of the
daughters and coheirs of John Trevanion, of Trevoster.