Near the church are some ruins still to be seen of a monastic
establishment, said by Mr. Lysons, on the authority of Doctor William
Borlase’s manuscript collections, to have been a priory of Black Monks
called Minster, or Tolcarne, founded by William de Botreaux, as a cell
to Tywardreth, itself subject to the abbey of St. Sergius and Bacchus,
in Angiers. Tywardreth, however, after having been seized into the
King’s hands, as an alien priory, was made independent and denizen,
and continued till the general dissolution by Henry the Eighth.
Probably therefore Minster remained as a parcel of Tywardreth up to
the same eventful period.
Tanner, however, calls it merely an alien priory to the abbey of St.
Sergius and Bacchus at Angiers, without any notice of Tywardreth.
In Dugdale’s Monasticon is the following addition to Tanner: Minster
Prior, alienigena habet in proprios usus Ecclesias de Minster et
Bodecastell; and in a note there is a reference to muniments in Exeter
Cathedral, and to MS. collections in the British Museum, vol. XL. p.
39, for a resignation of this priory by the abbot and convent de
Valle, or Vale Royal, in Cheshire; from which it would seem that this
house was not restored to Tywardreth after the sequestration of both.
The manor of Pollifont, in Lewannick, (see that parish) which formerly
belonged to this priory, is now an appendage to the living, so that
the rector of Minster is lord of the manor of Pollifont; and the
customs of the manor are said to be, that on the accession of a new
rector, after the decease of the former, but not otherwise, the
tenants pay him thirty pounds and one penny, raised according to some
ancient schedule among themselves.
Several small fees are due on surrenders and on admissions at the
manor courts, and on the death of each tenant a heriot becomes due to
the lord, which is either his best beast or six guineas, and in
addition to these, there is an annual payment of four pounds.
Minster church lies in a deep valley, surrounded by trees, giving the
strongest impression of its forming the quire of a sequestered
monastery. It contains several monuments to the Henders, Cottons, &c.
One has a Latin inscription, with the curious pedantic device of
certain letters standing prominent among others in the different
words, and indicating, as Roman numerals, the various dates. Four
lines on William Cotton, son of William Cotton who held the see of
Exeter from 1598 to 1621, and on Elizabeth his wife, daughter and
coheir of John Hender, have been frequently transcribed, on account of
their extreme simplicity:
Forty-nine years they lived man and wife,
And what’s more rare, thus many without strife,
She first departing, he a few weeks tried
To live without her, could not――and so died.
This church is one of the very few in Cornwall that want the
decoration of a tower, and strange legends are circulated to account
for this defect, probably of a more ancient date than the Reformation.
The bells are said to have arrived in a vessel almost to the spot
where they would have been landed, when an expression of the captain,
implying confidence in the powers which God had given him, construed
into blasphemy by Anthopomophites of all religions, is supposed to
have caused the immediate destruction of the ship, with every one on
board; but when the ground seas roll with their accustomed violence on
this iron-bound coast, the bells are still fancied not only to ring a
peal, but to indicate by particular sounds the cause of this reputed
miracle, intended to convince mankind that they are bound to neglect
and to render vain whatever gifts the Almighty may have bestowed on
them, and thanklessly to employ their time in imploring more.
This place was in feudal times the residence of a baronial family,
bearing the name of Botreaux, which they imparted to a manor, or, as
the Court Rolls would testify, to an honor, having manors dependent,
and enclosing the town of Botreaux Castle, dignified by the
appellation of a borough; a term, it may be observed, that had not in
ancient times any reference to the privilege of sending members to
parliament.
Mr. Lysons says, that William Lord Botreaux, the last of this family,
fell in the second battle of St. Alban’s, leaving an only daughter,
married to Sir Robert Hungerford.
The honour of Botreaux, and the manor of Worthyvale, went with the
heiress of Hungerford to the family of Hastings, by whom this property
was sold to John Hender, esq. in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
John Hender appears to have had four daughters and coheiresses:
Katharine, married to John Molesworth; Frances, to Richard Robarts, of
Truro; Mary, to Ellis Heale, of Devonshire; and Elizabeth, to William
Cotton, son of the Bishop; Boscastle and Worthyvale came as a portion
to the last.
Sir John Cotton, probably the grandson of William Cotton, resided
here, and died in 1703, without a family; he gave the property to his
sister’s son, Mr. Amy, Sheriff of Cornwall in the year 1714, whose
father had the living of Minster. His son, Cotton Amy, esq. married
one of the two daughters and coheiresses of Samuel Gilbert, of
Tackbear, in Bridgerule, and had two daughters: Grace, married to Mr.
Jonathan Phillipps, of Camelford, a Captain in the Cornwall Militia.
This lady had several children, who all died at early ages; and her
sister never married, having continued in a state of derangement at
Botreaux Castle for many years.
Sir Jonathan Phillipps (for he had been knighted on the occasion of
presenting an address from Camelford, when a female offering a
petition to King George the Third, was observed to have a knife in her
hand,) left his share of this property, with the remainder of his own
estate, to Mr. Thomas Winslow, the son of his sister, on his taking
the name of Phillipps, which he did, and was succeeded by his son, who
now resides at Landue, in Lezant, but having purchased that place and
lands about it, Mr. Phillipps has parted with much of the estate at
Botreaux Castle to Mr. Avery, a gentleman who carries on a very
considerable trade there, and seems likely to raise the place into
greater opulence and importance than it can have experienced since the
fall of its feudal grandeur.
An elevated piece of ground, rendered steep by artificial scarping, is
pointed out as the site of the castle, which gave a termination to the
honour of Botreaux. This castle had, however, disappeared before the
time of Carew; and the dwelling of Sir John Cotton, probably
constructed after the castle had become a ruin, which used to be
called _The Great House_, was scarcely habitable fifty years ago, and
has now disappeared.
The port of Botreaux Castle admits coasting vessels in fine weather,
and considerable trade is carried on there by exporting the excellent
slatestone with which that neighbourhood abounds, and by importing
coal and lime, in addition to such articles of commerce as the
adjacent country may require.
It is generally believed that the harbour might be rendered safe and
commodious for a sum much within the limits of private expenditure.
Ponderous articles might be raised to any required level by the power
of water wheels, and from the summit of the acclivity, a flat plain
extends to the distance of many miles inland; so that a possibility at
the least seems to exist, of Botreaux Castle becoming the site of an
extensive commerce.
The advowson of the living belongs jointly to Mr. Thomas John
Phillipps, representative through his great uncle of Miss Grace Amy,
and the representatives of her sister. The late incumbent was the Rev.
R. Winsloe, uncle to Mr. Phillipps.
The manor of Worthyvale was sold to Mr. Hugh Boscawen in the early
part of the last century, and was used as a hunting seat; it has again
been sold by one of his descendants, and it belonged some years since
to a gentleman of the name of Farnham.
The single stone laid over a stream, having some letters cut on its
lower surface, and which is believed to have marked the exact spot
where Arthur received his death wound, is nearly in front of the house
at Worthyvale.
This parish measures 2838 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2089 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 253 19 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 311 | 396 | 425 | 497
giving an increase of 25½ per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. Charles Woolcombe, presented in 1825 by the
Rev. R. Winsloe.