To the east of Lambrigan and contiguous, is Lambourn, which gives name
to this lordship, and which is held partly from Tywarnhaile, and
partly from Tywarnhaile Tyes. I take the name to be a softening of
_Lan Bron_, the hill inclosure, and so it is written in old deeds, and
the situation agrees with it.
This was the seat, and gave name to a considerable and knightly
family. Sir John de Lambron, temp. Hen. III. (Exeter Reg.) gave
Caerkief, in this parish, to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, and they
still enjoy it. John de Lambron (Carew, fol. 51) was one of the men ad
arma, 17 Edw. II. Sir John de Lambron, (idem, fol. 52) I suppose his
son, was one of those who had £20 lands of rents or more, in the
county of Cornwall, 25 Edw. III. (as the former John is certified to
have had £40); and was summoned to attend the King at London, the next
Sunday after the Octave of St. John the Baptist, and to go with him in
the parts beyond sea. The next that I meet with, and the last of his
family, was William Lamborn (Heralds’ Office) who had only one
daughter and heir, married temp. Henry V. to Sir John Arundell of
Lanhearne, and called Amara, who brought the whole estate into that
family. Their arms were, Argent, a fess between two chevrons Sable.
Sir John Arundell gave this manor, inter alia, to their third son Sir
Renfry Arundell; who, by Joan the daughter and heir of Sir John
Colshull, knight, (killed at the battle of Agincourt, Oct. 25, 1415,)
had one son, Renfry, and one daughter, Elizabeth, married: 1. to
William Whittington, esq.; 2. to Edmund Stradling, esq. Renfry
Arundell had only one son, Sir Edmund Arundell, knight, who died
without issue, leaving his aunt Elizabeth his heir; who, by her second
husband Edmund Stradling, had only one daughter, Ann, married to Sir
John Danvers, knight. Between whom, and her eldest son (by her first
husband) John Whittington, esq. she divided her large estate, no less
than thirteen good manors of land.
This manor, by this division, falling into two hands, the mansion
house fell by degrees into decay, the stones of it were employed to
build several mean houses for tenants (for it is now a village), and
nothing remains but the chapel dedicated to St. Edmund, now too turned
to a dwelling, and part of the wall of the chapel yard, now a garden,
but formerly a burying place. There was likewise in it lately a font.
From all which I gather, it was a place of public worship, perhaps
sometimes served by the vicar (on account of the said donation of
Caerkief), by reason of its great distance from the church, being at
least three miles. [Caerkief was probably given by the Lambrons, for
leave to erect this chapel, which appears to have been a chapel of
ease to the parish church, but was erected for the use of the
Lambrons, their servants, and their tenants.] Thomas Whittington, esq.
grandson of William Whittington, and Elizabeth Arundell, died 38 Henry
VIII. (Dugdale’s Warwickshire, page 619), leaving six daughters and
coheiresses, whereof Blanche, the youngest, became the wife of John
St. Aubin of Clewance, esq.; and some of them, though all married,
dying without issue, her posterity became intituled to one fifth and
one sixtieth of all the Cornish lands; and this part of this manor is
in the possession of Sir John St. Aubyn, bart. The remaining part of
Whittington’s moiety, was sold by the other coheirs to ―――― Davy of
St. Cuthbert, gent. whose posterity enjoyed it till the latter end of
the reign of Charles II. when Davy sold his part to Humphry Borlace,
esq., and this went with a great part of his estate (as you may see in
Newlin) to Sir William Scawen, knight, whose nephew, Thomas Scawen, is
now lord thereof.
Danvers his moiety continued in his family till Queen Elizabeth’s
time, when Sir John Danvers of Dantesey in Wiltshire, knight,
dismembered and sold it in several parcels:――viz. 18 Elizabeth, 1577,
one half of a tenement (in which is St. Edmund’s chapel, and computed
at one sixth of the whole township of Lambourn,) to John Trevellans,
alias Nicholas, alias Williams; whose son, Nicholas Williams, alias
Trevellans, sold it, 13 Jac. I. to James Jenkyn Trekynin, gent. from
whose heirs it is come at last to Thomas Oats, and the writer thereof.
Another part of a tenement, being one fourth of the town of Lambourne,
[was sold by Sir John Danvers] much about the same time to ―――― Oats,
whose son John Oats sold it to the ancestor of Francis Gregor of
Trewarthenick, esq. who now enjoys it; and the remaining one twelfth
part (which maketh up his half of the said town), together with all
his claim to the one half of the lordship of Lambourne, and its
appurtenances, (Aut penes Authorem) to Edward Arundell of Lanherne,
esq. (being a younger brother of that family) 19 Elizabeth, 1577-8,
whose son, Thomas Arundell of St. Columb Major, esq. settled the same,
inter alia, 24 Car. I. 1648, on Richard Bluet, gent. a younger son of
Colan Bluet, of Little Colan, esq. on the marriage of his daughter
Elizabeth, to the said Richard Bluet; which said Richard Bluet, and
Elizabeth his wife, sold the said part to John Cordall, Jan. the 1st,
1650; and Ralph, the son of the said John Cordall, and John his son,
joined in a sale to the writer hereof, of the said premises, July 1,
1701: so that the present lords of the township of Lambourn, are Sir
John St. Aubin, and Thomas Scawen, esq., Francis Gregor, one fourth,
Thomas Tonkin, esq. one sixth, and Thomas Oats, one eighteenth. Where
note that the said Thomas Oats, a wealthy farmer in the said village,
(great-grandson to John Oats, who owned one fourth, now Mr. Gregor’s,)
I have reason to think (Aut. penes Authorem, at orig. pen. Thomas
Oats) descended from Otho Trefusis, who released his right in villa de
Trelisick (in St. Earth) to John Cornwall, 7 Junii, 28 Henry VI.; from
which Otho or Oats his posterity took the name of Oats, as was then
very common to do; and have, therefore, in my map of the hundred of
Pider, set the arms of Trefusis (which I think he may lawfully give)
over his name.
The said Richard Bluet and Elizabeth his wife, soon after, viz. 30
Maii, 1650, sold the half of this manor, and what remained indisposed
of, which was only one half of Millinoweth, alias Vellonnoweth [the
New Mill], and Nampetha, with Goynlase in St. Agnes, and a small part
in Fenton Vease [the outward well] and Collrun in this parish, with a
few high rents, unto Walter Vincent of Trigowethan, esq.; which, as
the rest of the Vincent’s estates, is gone (as you may see in
Mevagissey) to John Knight, who, Sir John St. Aubin, and Thomas
Scawen, esq. are the present lords of this manor.
In the commons belonging to the town of Lambourn, is a Barrow, called
_Creeg Mear_, the Great Burrow, which one Christopher Michell digging
into some years since, whilst I lived at Lambrigan, in hopes to find
stones for an adjoining hedge of his, came to an hollow place (as
usual in such), and found nine urns full of ashes; which, being
disappointed of what he sought for, for the barrow was all of earth,
except three or four rough stones which formed the hollow, he brutally
broke immediately to pieces; and when I expostulated with him about
it, and told him I would have paid him his charges, his reply was,
that whenever he met with any more, he would bring them to me, but
these were a parcel of old pitchers good for nothing. That these were
Danish, I believe there is no doubt. [They were British, as appears at
once, from the _Kist Vaen_ discovered within, and from the hinted
badness of the pottery.] But they were, I suppose, the ashes of some
chief commanders slain in battle, (for which the place is very fit, it
being a large open down) from the great number of them. [One barrow
cannot mark a battle.] And on a small hill just under this barrow,
[and, as under the barrow, bearing probably no relation to it,] is a
Danish encampment, called Castle Caer Dane, vulgo Castle Caer Don, i.
e. the Danes’ Camp, consisting of three intrenchments finished, and
another begun with an intent to surround the inner three, but not
completed; the whole containing about ―――― acres. And opposite to
this, about a bowshot, the river only running between, on another
hill, is another camp or castle, called Castle Kaerkief, castrum
simile, from Kyfel, similis, alike, alluding to Castle Caerdane. But
this is but just begun, and not finished in any part; from whence I
guess, that there were too different parties, of which the first
attacked the other, before they could finish their intrenchments: or
perhaps these attacked the first, having only thrown up a few
intrenchments for the present, on which a battle ensuing, these were
the ashes of the chief men that fell in it. And this being called
Creeg Mear, the Great Barrow, seems to carry a more special regard
with it. This Castle Caerkief is on the estate which the forementioned
Sir John de Lambron gave to the church at Exeter, and no doubt had its
name from this fortification.
[These opposed camps have no other pretence to a Danish origin, than
what a Cornish critic should be ashamed to own, the mere coincidence
in sound of Din or Dines with Danish. This is the sole foundation for
all the Danish camps, with which the antiquarian oscitancy of Cornwall
has replenished the county. All built upon hills, they naturally take
the name of Din, Dinas, or Don, in Cornish, to denote their site; and
while the common people, unseduced by the surmises of literature,
still retain the name in its original purity, the scholars come
forward and mould it to their own follies. We see this very livelily
in the name of the former of these two camps, which the common people
call Caer _Don_, but the critic writes it Caer _Dane_, and then
interprets into the Danes’ camp, but it signifies only the hill
fortress. Opposed to this, on another hill, and beyond a rivulet, is
another camp, which is called Caerkief, the companion or mate of the
other. Kyfel, says Mr. Tonkin, signifying similar or like in Cornish,
Kyvedk (C.) being a fellow, or colleague, Kyvadhas (C.) a companion,
and Kuf (C.) a wife, Cyfaill, Cyfailt (W.) a friend, a companion, and
Cyfalle, (W.) a husband or wife, a partner, a fit match. The very
opposition of the camps is thus denoted in the name. But then Caer Don
is considered as the principal, and Caer Kief has its appellation from
its relation to that. They are a British and a Roman camp. The Roman
appears from the smallness, lying “on a small hill,” from the finished
state of its intrenchments, from its having no less than three, and
from its having even a fourth begun, to encircle all. These marks of
military attention and of patient industry, all unite to point it out
decisively for a Roman one. Nor has the other a signature less lively
of its British origin; it is “but just begun, and not finished in any
part.” The Romans, probably seeing the Britons begin to fortify their
ground, desisted from their fourth work, marched out of their own
camp, and attacked the Britons in theirs, before they could form it;
and in this view of the camps, the barrow, which is over the Roman,
and not between it and the British, could have no reference to either,
and was only the tomb of some family residing in the vale below.
WHITAKER.]
Next to Lambourne, and within the manor, which extends itself over
several parishes, (Treluddro in Newlyn being held from it) is a great
village called Callestock Veor, or the Great Callestock, to
distinguish it from another in this parish, which is by interpretation
hard broad oak, (though stock properly signifies the stem or stock of
a tree,) which formerly grew here in great abundance, though there are
now but few remaining. Here lately lived a younger branch of the
Tebbots, vulgo Tippets, of St. Wen; the last of which, John Tippet,
had an estate of £100 per annum, partly fee, partly lease, which he
chiefly spent in law, and was in his old age, more than 90, maintained
by the parish: he died about 1712. As likewise, as appears by the
confirmed rate 1612, one Mr. Torr; but I can at present say no more of
him for want of better information.
There are in the commons of this village some remaining intrenchments,
but not worthy of notice. But at a place, also within this manor,
about three quarters of a mile from it, called _Tresawsen_, alias
_Bosawsen_, i. e. the English town or dwelling, on the top of the hill
to the south of the village, is a double Danish intrenchment, of which
the outer one has been almost filled up by often ploughing, but the
inner one is very entire, and they both contain about an acre of land.
It hath no particular name that I know of, but is within sight of
Castle Caer Dane, from which it is distant about two miles. And from
this you see another in St. Allen, about the same distance from this;
vide St. Allen. [Tresawen, alias Bosawsen, from Tre and Boss (C.) a
house, and Saisson, Saxon, or English, is evidently from its name, not
Danish, but Saxon. It is a Saxon fort, constructed on the reduction of
the West of Cornwall by Athelstan, and maintained as a bridle and a
curb upon the natives; and it seems to mark the advance of the Saxon
arms from Camelford, where Egbert gained his great victory over the
Cornish, to St. Burien’s, from which Athelstan probably embarked for,
and at which he certainly landed on his return from reducing the
Scilly Isles.]
Having taken notice of the most remarkable things in this manor (for I
have spoken of the three barrows and four barrows in Kenwin, only I
forgot to mention, that in the middle of Callestock stood a chapel, of
which the very ruins are now scarce visible; and that in Caerkief,
near the highway to Mitchell, is a fair arched well called Fenton
Berran, i. e. St. Piran’s Well,) I come next to
The Manor of Fenton Gymps, which takes its name from its capital
place, Fenton Gymps Veor, or the Great Fenton Gymps; which adjunct,
Gymps, is a contraction of _Thesympes_, not intermitting, [and means]
the well that always flows, as not freezing in winter, or dying
[drying] in the summer. And such a one there is in the town place of
the manor house. [The aim of the etymon is very right here, I believe;
but the manner in which it is directed is wrong. Adjoined to the word
Fenton, and explained by the existing reality, _Gymps_ assuredly means
what Mr. Tonkin says, not intermitting, but always flowing. But how
does _Gymps_ signify this? That it is a contraction of _thesympes_ can
hardly be allowed. The contraction is too violent. _Thesympes_ also
signifies nothing but _immediately_ in Borlase, which can have no
association with the general idea. Whence then shall we derive the
word? We have it without any derivation, and without any contraction,
in Kympez (C.) always. And Dr. Pryce I since find so derives the
word.] This gave name to an ancient race of gentlemen. John de
Fentongemps (Aut. pen. Author.) lived here 21 Edward I. [Edward III.]
1346. John Fentongymps, “D’nus et hæres de Fentongympys,” grants to
John, the son of Ralph de Fentongympys, all his messuages lands, &c.
in Fentongympis, and elsewhere, in the county of Cornwall; dated the
Feast of the Purification, 12 Henry IV. John Fentongemps of the parish
of Pirran in Treth (the sand) grants to John, the son of Thomas
Martin, a lease for term of years of Marghessen-foos (Marasan vose) in
the said parish, dated at Marghessen-foos, in festo Petri et Pauli, 3
Henry VI.
Note. That Marghessen-foos, or Marasan-vose, i. e. the Maids’ Market,
is a village in the manor of Fenton-gymps in Piran sands, but why so
named I cannot guess, except that, being in the great road to
Mitchell, the maids came there to offer themselves in service, a
custom taken notice of, particularly by Dr. Plot, Nat. Hist. of Oxf.
c. 8, 29, p. 208; but not (that I know of) practised now anywhere in
this county. [Mr. Tonkin has here misled himself by an etymon forced
and false. He considers foos or vose as Môz a maid. But the name is
merely this, Marghes or Marhas an Fôs or Vôs, the market on the ditch
or trench. Fos, indeed, Borlase interprets wall, and has this very
appellation, Marhas an Fôs, which he renders the market on wall,
obviously without any sense. But under Vôs he recollects himself――“Vôs
for fôs;” he then says, “a ditch, wall, or fence,” as Penvôs, head of
the trench, _Marhas an Vos, the market on the foss_.” Dr. Pryce adopts
both these etymons in his vocabulary, and prefers the former in his
names very injudiciously. From this name the village appears to have
been formerly a market town. The market was perhaps held on some
boundary ditch, and took its name from it; but in all probability, as
“being in the great road to Mitchell,” it lay upon a Roman road,
which, like the great road from Lincolnshire to Bath, and through
Somersetshire to the south or west, bore the appellation of foss; and
very probably the Foss itself is continued by Stratton, Camelford,
Wadebridge, and St. Columb, direct by Newlyn into Piran parish,
Lamburn, Lambrigan, Marghessan-fos, and White Street there. See the
map in Borlase. WHITAKER.]
William Pennalyky releases to John Fyntengympys all his claim, &c. in
Fyntengympys Veor, Fyntengympys Vyan [little Fyntengympys],
Marhasen-fos, Rekellythye, Chyendur, Paddestock, and Chywarton, “dat.
apud Truro Burg. 14 Julii, 24 Henry VI.” Which John Fentongympys had
(I suppose) only one daughter and heir, Joan (for so she is said to be
in a deed from John Laurens, cler. and Edmund Santy, capell.), to her
of a tenement in Fentongympys Vyan, and the heirs which Benedict, the
son of John Bernard of Bodmyn, has or shall beget on the body of the
said Joan, “dat. apud Truru Burgh,” the day before the feast of
Bartholomew, 24 Hen. VI. Which Joan, I guess, by a deed bearing date 8
Henry VII. was afterwards married to John Penrose, in which he and
Richard Penrose (I suppose his second son) release to William Penrose,
his son and heir, and Isabel, the daughter and heir of John Hayme, an
annuity of twenty shillings, lately granted to them by the said
William, and issuing out of Fentengympys Veor, Fentengympys Bian,
Chyandouer, Marghassan-fos, and Chywarton. The next that I find
possessed of any right here, are Richard Penwarne, esq. and William
Wayte of Trewenethick, gent. Wayte sells his part to Henry Dotson of
Roskymer in Mawgan Meneg, gent. (which said Henry had an estate before
in Fentongymps, &c. but by what right it doth not appear,) the 4th and
5th of Philip and Mary 1558; by which means Penwarne and Dotson had
each a moiety of this manor. Sir John Arundell of Tolverne, knight,
John Dotson of Reskymer, gent. (whose trustee I take Arundell to have
been[10]) convey their half to John Code of St. Wen, gent. 20 9^{ber}, 31
Elizabeth.
John Code and his brethren sell the same, 10 Dec. 40 Eliz. to John
Carter of St. Columb Major, gent. Richard Penwarne of Penwarne in
Mawnan, esq. sells the other half to the said John Carter, 20 Jan. 38
Eliz.
In which family of Carter this manor continued till 165――; when his
grandson, Richard Carter, esq. sold it to John Cleather, senior, gent.
whose posterity lived here some time in good repute. And in the year
1691, his grandson Samuel Cleather, gent. together with some lands in
the manor of Lambourn, sold it for £1500, to Hugh Tonkin, esq. and the
writer hereof is at present lord of it. Mr. Cleather gave, in a field
Vert, a chevron Or, between three clethes (swords in Cornish,) the
blades Proper, the pommels of the Second.
Within this manor is Chywarton (vulgo Chyton) i. e. a house on a hill.
[Tshei, Chi, a house in Cornish, War upon, and Don, a hill.] This was
the seat in lease (though John Resogan, senior, bought the fee about
the year 169――, of the heirs of John Lord Arundell of Trerice) of a
branch of the Resogans, of St. Stephen’s in Brannel. Here lived in
Queen Elizabeth’s time, Bennet Resogan, gent.
But this and a pretty little estate, in all about £100 per annum, was
consumed by a dependant of his, John Resogan, jun. who lived at an
estate called Callestock-Ruol, i. e. Cullistock always adjoining to
this. [This etymon is so unmeaning that the mind rejects it at once. A
good one also presents itself. Ruy (C.) is a prince or king, and Ryel
(C.) is royal. The adjunct, therefore, denotes the mansion to be
royal, or one of the many mansions which the Kings of Cornwall had
upon their demesnes.] Chyton he sold to John Andrew of Trevellance in
this parish, in the year 1724.
I must go backwards now, and come to the manor of Trevellance, alias
Pencaranowe, id est, Pen-Carnow, the hill of rocks.
Trevellance, i. e. the dwelling in the Mill Valley (alluding to
Mellingy Mill in its neighbourhood, from whence another estate under
the said mill is called Nancemellin, i. e. to the mill valley.) [N.B.
Mr. Tonkin apparently forms Trevellance of Tre Melin Nance, three
words that could never by any contraction be shrunk within the compass
of it. The name appears below to be Trefelens; and Trevelin is the
house of the mill.] was the dwelling house of Mr. William Trefelens
(so writ by the error [when it appears below to be no error] of the
scribe) which, 12 Henry VIII. he settled by the name of Trefelens,
Penkaranowe, Trevelles, Polleowe, Coysgarne, the rights and services
in Nampara, and the rents and services in Runewartha, on Ralph John,
cler.
He sold it to William Tregea of St. Agnes; who in 16…, was forced to
sell it to pay his debts, to John Thomas in 1694; whose father ――――
Thomas, was of the Thomases [a later hand has added, of Glamorganshire
in Wales; he was the younger son of Howel Thomas of Glamorganshire, by
―――― the daughter of Sir Robert Burt of Pembrokeshire]; whose son John
Thomas, gent. [he died in 1733, and his son Andrew Thomas, gent. hath
the whole estate,] having married Jane, [in a later hand Anne,] the
only surviving daughter and heir of Mr. John Andrew of Trewellance,
will, after his decease, have in conjunction with his own, a pretty
estate in this parish. Mr. Thomas’s arms are [N.B. in a later hand,
Gules, a chevron and canton Ermine.]
To the east of Penkaranowe, and joining with it, is Reenwartha, the
higher hill, to distinguish it from another called Reen Wollas, the
Lower Hill [Rhyn (W.) a mountain or promontory, Ryn (C.) a bill, a
nose, Rynen (C.) a hillock. Penryn in Cornwall, a projecting hill on
which the town of that name is built, and Penrhyn, the most common
word in Wales for a promontory; Wartha (C.) on high, above; and
Wollos, Wolas (C.) below.] Between which two Penkaranowe lies. This
was sold by the said R. Haweis to Cottey, whose grandson, Christopher
Cottey, gent. now enjoys it; but one fifth part of it distinct from
the other, as also one fifth part of Hendrawna and Nampara (all within
the manor) were the lands of inheritance of Hugh Jackman, gent.; and
by him sold about the year 1670, to Walter Vincent of Truro, esq. who
(Aut. pen. Author.) Feb. 22, 1678, conveyed them to John Catcher of
St. Clement’s, reserving to himself the tin and royalty. From Catcher
they came to Henry Gregor of Truro, merchant, whose grandson, Samuel
Ennys, esq. now enjoys them.
After the said Reginald Haweis had dismembered it thus, he sold the
lordship and the little that was left, one fifth of Trevelles in St.
Agnes, and some trifle more, to the said Walter Vincent, which is
gone, with the rest of the estate, to Mr. Knight.
This manor, and the several estates therein, are held partly from
Tywarnhaile, and partly from Tywarnhaile Tiers.
Note, that between Reen Wollas and Trevellance runs a fine rivulet,
which in the winter season overflowing its banks, and making the
passage over it very dangerous, occasioned a county bridge of two
arches of stone, and a long causeway, with a smaller arch at the
eastern end of it, to be constructed in 1708, chiefly procured by the
writer hereof (several people having been drowned here, it being a
great thoroughfare), who was at the general sessions appointed
treasurer for the building it; this is called Melingybridge, from the
adjacent village of Melingay, i. e. the mill in the river [that is,
the water mill,] under which are fine moors for fowling and fishing,
abounding with all sorts of wild fowls, and peal, salmon, shots, eels,
and flounders.