Tax for one year 1696, £457. 19_s._ 0_d._
Saltash Borough 128 6 0
―――――――――――――
586 5 0
―――――――――――――
In this parish stands the castle, honour, and manor of Trematon.
This lordship was the King or Earl of Cornwall’s manor of land beyond
the records of time, and in particular, after Cornwall was dismembered
from Devon by King Athelstan, Anno Dom. 930, of Ailmer, or Athellmaur
or Athellmer, i. e. muac, great, or noble, for so the Monasticon
Anglicanum, Anno Dom. 980, in tom. 1, page 258, calls him, afterwards
of Algar Earl of Cornwall, Anno Dom. 1046. (Monasticon, page 1022)
Then of Condura, or Condorus in Latin, who was Earl of Cornwall, when
William Duke of Normandy invaded this land 1066, who as some say
submitted to his jurisdiction, by paying him homage for his earldom,
and swearing fealty to him; which history seems not very concordant
with reason or truth; since in the second year of the Conqueror’s
reign he was by him deprived of this dignity, who gave the same to
Robert Guelam, Earl of Morton in Normandy, brother to King William by
his mother Arlotte, who had issue William Earl of Morton and Cornwall,
that entered into treasonable practises on behalf of Robert Duke of
Normandy, against William Rufus and Henry I. and so lost both those
earldoms, and died about the year 1035. After whose death in all
probability, Caddock, though some call him Condorus II. son of
Condura, was restored to the earldom of Cornwall, and lived and died
in this place, whose only daughter and heir Agnes, or Beatrix as
others call her, was married to Reginald Fitz Harry, base son of King
Henry First, by his concubine Anne, daughter of Robert Corbet of
Allencester, in the county of Warwick, who was in her right created
Earl of Cornwall by King Stephen, in the 5th year of his reign 1140.
Shillingham, in this parish, after the English, is a dwelling covered
with slatestones; after the Saxon, it is a corruption of sylenhan, i.
e. the paying, selling, or giving house, home, or dwelling; after the
British, Sillan or Cillanham, i. e. the chapel house or dwelling;
which gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, from
thence surnamed de Shillingham; whose heir, as I am informed, in the
beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, was married to Francis Buller,
esq. a younger branch of the Bullers of [Lillesdon in Somersetshire];
he was Sheriff of Cornwall 42 Elizabeth, who had issue Richard Buller,
esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 9 James I. who had issue Richard Buller, esq.
afterwards knighted, Sheriff of Cornwall 12 Charles I. 1637, who had
issue Francis Buller, esq. that married the sole inheritrix of Ezekiel
Gross of Golden, gent. Attorney at Law; by whom he had issue John
Buller, esq. who married ―――― and had issue ――――, that died
without issue; whereupon, John Buller of Morval, esq. that married
Coode, second son of Sir Richard Buller aforesaid, succeeded to this
estate, and is now in possession thereof; who had issue as is set
forth in Morval parish.
Lastly, let it not be forgotten, that Francis Buller, esq. that
married Gross aforesaid, entertained for his chaplain one Mr. D.
Eaton, a priest that officiated Divine Service in his house, after the
manner of the Church of England, tempore Charles II. and was so kind
and respectful towards this doctor, that he made him his companion and
amicus, and reposed more confidence in his integrity than he had
reason to do; for this fellow, upon some discontent, went from Mr.
Buller, and made oath before some justice of the Peace, or preferred
an accusation of treasonable words in the Crown Office, spoken by Mr.
Buller at his table against King Charles the Second’s Government, at
such time as he was his domestic chaplain.
Whereupon, Mr. Buller was taken into custody, and examined before the
King and Council, and thereupon committed prisoner to the Tower of
London; at length indicted and tried at the King’s Bench Bar at
Westminster, upon this information of Eaton’s, and found guilty of
misprision of treason by the Grand and Petty Jurors; and accordingly
was sentenced by the Judges to pay to the King a fine of thirty
thousand pounds, and to remain a prisoner during the King’s pleasure.
Now, in order to raise this money, it occasioned the selling of the
manor and lordship of Fentongollan, (See St. Michael Penkivell) though
much dismembered before, to the value of five thousand pounds, by its
former proprietors, John Hals and Carmenow, out of which the manor of
Tregothnan was made, to Hugh Boscawen, esq.
The articles of which bargain so distasted John Buller, esq. son of
the said Francis, that to obstruct the sale of that lordship, which
was his mother’s lands, he forsook this kingdom, and went into France,
where he remained for three years’ space, saying, he would rather sell
Shillingham and Golden than Fentongallan (for at that time was extant
upon it a spacious dwelling house, a tower of three or four stories
high, and a consecrated free chapel), which had been the seat of
several famous families.
But alas! let man pretend or intend what he will, fate or destiny is
unavoidable; for by reason of his father’s circumstances, and to
comply with his desire, at length he returned into England, and then
was concluded with his father in a deed of sale of the premises by
lease and release, for about the consideration of seven thousand
pounds, to Hugh Boscawen, esq. and executed the same, in presence of
the writer of these lines, at Mowpass Passage, about the year 1676,
and soon after levied a fine for cognizance de droit to dock the
entail, and bar his heirs for ever. Afterwards, his father Mr. Buller,
to raise the remainder of his said fine to the King, sold much other
lands to make up the first payment thereof, and was forced to settle
all his other estates in the hands of trustees, for raising the
remainder, confining himself to an annuity of £180 during his life.
Whereupon, having his liberty granted him by King Charles, he removed
into Oxfordshire; where, through trouble of mind, arising from this
sad accident by a malicious and perfidious priest, he grew delirious,
or in a phrenzy, and died about the year 1679.
Earth, in this parish, gave name and original to an old family of
gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Earth, in which place Galfridus de
Earth held by the tenure of knight service a knight’s fee of land, 3
Henry IV. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 41.) From the heirs of
which Geffrey, by marriage, this barton descended to William Bond,
esq. now in possession thereof, that married ―――― ――――; his father
Carter, of St. Colomb, his grandfather Fountain, his great-grandfather
Fitz, and giveth for his arms, in a field Argent, on a chevron Sable
three Bezants.
Wy-ville-comb in this parish, signifies the sacred or consecrated vill
or manor comb, which place gave name to an old family of gentlemen,
from thence surnamed de Wivell, whose heir in marriage, as I am
informed, brought those lands to the genteel family of Wills; the
present possessor Francis Wills, esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 6th of
William III.