The church and tower of this parish, rival in their position and in
their general appearance those of St. Stephen’s near Launceston.
Within the church are several monuments to the Bullers and other
ancient inhabitants. Among them is one to Jane, the wife of William
Bond of Earth, esq. who died in the year 1640. But the great curiosity
of this parish is Trematon Castle, one of the fortified residences of
the Earls of Cornwall, while they exercised feudal sovereignty within
their dominions.
Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin have given histories rather of the earls and
of their adventures, than of the castle itself and descriptions of its
present appearance may be found in all the various writers on
Cornwall: these have therefore been omitted.
Mr. Edward King in his celebrated work, Munimenta Antiqua, or
Observations on Antient Castles, vol. III. after ascribing the most
remote antiquity to Launceston Castle, which, for various reasons, he
carries back beyond the Roman Invasion, especially indicates various
points of distinction between the general construction of that
fortress, and those of the Saxons and Normans. He then says,
“Trematon Castle, in the very same county of Cornwall, which may with
good reason be concluded to have been built by Robert Earl of Moreton,
is a true Norman structure. And there cannot be a greater contrast
than there is between it and Launceston. Like Tunbridge Castle, it is
placed, not on a high natural rock, but on an artificial mount, and is
no less than sixty feet in diameter on the inside.” See the views of
it in Borlase’s Antiquities, Second Edition, p. 354, Plate 31, and in
Grose’s Supplement to his Antiquities.
There does not appear to be any real military history connected with
this fortress. It proved an insecure place of refuge during the
insurrection of 1549, raised by Humphry Arundell and others in favour
of the old religion.
The castle was for some time occupied as subfeudatories by the Barons
de Valletorta, so called, it is said, from the narrow winding valley,
which descends from the castle wall towards the south.
Roger de Valletort, Reginald, Ralph, Reginald, and Roger, appear to
have possessed or occupied Trematon from about the year 1180, through
nearly the whole of the next century.
This fine ruin has within a few years received a most material injury,
at least in the opinion of all antiquaries, by the building of a
modern house in its Basse Court.
Although the castle is fallen into decay, the privileges of the honor
and manor to which this residence gave its name, still continue in
full vigour, possessing as royalties the whole river Tamar, from some
point above the castle to Plymouth Sound, with the coast below
high-water mark on such parts of the opposite shore as are not held
against them by immemorial usage, which makes it the more strange that
Voltersholm (new-named Mount Edgecumbe by the first gentleman of that
family who acquired it) should be politically considered as in
Devonshire.
Not far from Trematon Castle, and evidently an appendage to it, is
situated the Town of Saltash.
After the entire change of manners and habits, of political
institutions and of property, which have taken place since the feudal
times, it is difficult now to conjecture why all the villages adjacent
to baronial castles were favoured with municipal bodies and with
corporate rights; institutions quite hostile to the gloomy and
solitary grandeur of the chiefs by whom these privileges were
bestowed. Perhaps they were found indispensable for the protection of
persons necessary, in the rudest times, for the supply of articles of
commerce, of manufacture, and even of subsistence, against the
violence of retainers, who in those days supplied the want of a more
regular force, always required in some shape or manner for the support
of authority, and for the maintenance of civilized society.
Saltash, under the name of Esse, received its first charter of
incorporation, as it appears on the authority of Doctor Robert Brady,
from a source which seems in modern times wholly inadequate to bestow
the gift, since the offices of Duke, Earl, and Baron have long ceased
to exist in England, and these appellations, the shadows of a shade of
times past by, are only known as matters of mere compliment given to
the private gentlemen who now sit and vote in the Upper House of
Parliament, by virtue of Letters Patent from the King. But when this
charter was bestowed, the Baron de Valletorta, although the vassal of
a vassal of the King of England, was yet a Prince within his small
domain.
This charter, confirmed by the Earl of Cornwall, and others
substantiated by the supreme chief, raised into a borough town sending
members to Parliament, with a mayor, alderman, and common council, a
long narrow street, descending to the river at such an inclination as
to make it quite inaccessible to a loaded carriage.
Modern improvements have however reached the Ville de Esse; a good
road is made round the south side of the town, and a large vessel
denominated a floating bridge, propelled by steam acting on wheels
connected with two strong chains extended across the bottom of the
river, conveys passengers and carriages at all times, and
independently of the tide, and even of the strongest winds, to the
Devonshire side, where a road is now forming along the banks of the
Tamar, with causeways, so as to convert a communication with Plymouth
over three or four hills, into nearly a complete level way.
The borough, which, in consequence of recent decisions of the House of
Commons, had become one of close nomination, has disappeared in the
great change of 1832.
Of the principal seats in the parish, Shillingham continues to be the
nominal residence of Mr. James Wentworth Buller of Downs.
Earth, the ancient seat of the Bonds, has passed through the Cornocks
of Treworgy, in St. Clear, to the Rev. Lewis Marshall. The family of
Bond is represented at present by Mr. Bond of Looe, and by the Bonds
of Dorsetshire, who shared the patronage of Corfe Castle with Mr.
Bankes, and of whom the late Mr. Nathaniel Bond was a member of the
Privy Council.
Ince Castle has-been purchased by Mr. Alexander Baring. The house is
situated almost on an island in the river, and in the semblance of a
fortress is flanked by a tower at each of the four angles, which have
probably given rise to a tale of their having been constructed for a
purpose in strict conformity with the Mahometan Law, but most happily
at complete variance from our own.
This parish measures 5430 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815.
The parish 9253 0 0
The town 2473 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831. The parish 1030 11 0
The town 458 0 0
Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
The parish, { 1004 | 1121 | 1325 | 1455
The town, { 1150 | 1478 | 1548 | 1637
giving an increase on the parish of 45 per cent. On the town of
42½ per cent. On both of 44 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. T. B. Edwards, presented by T. Edwards, esq.
in 1833.