The manor of Tewynton, alias Tewington, takes its name from the chief
place, Tewor, which, though it generally means “heaps of sand,” cannot
be so interpreted here; and much less applicable is the etymology
given by Mr. Hals, of “silence in town,” but Tewor means a hillock
generally, so that Tewynton means, in the mixed derivation common in
Cornwall from British and Saxon, “the town on a small hill.” This
place was the seat of the Sowles before they removed to Penrice, and
affords a quarry of excellent stone.
Pentwan, the “head of the hillocks of sand.” Lower Pentwan is situated
at the mouth of the St. Austell river, which would form a pretty
little port, were it not for the bar of sand made by the waste brought
down from the tin-works, so that small craft only can get in, and that
at spring-tides. It is a handsome village, and in good seasons great
stores of fish are brought in here.
Pelniddon, “the top of the ford,” from “nyd,” a ford, was the seat of
the knightly family bearing the same name.
Trenorren, which I take to be compounded of Tre-nore-en, “the town of
the point,” from the Bleak Head, close by which it lies.