It seems very improbable that King Athelstan, after founding and
splendidly endowing a church to commemorate or to sanctify his
conquest of Cornwall, should bestow on it a name so very
indiscriminate as The burial-ground; more especially at a time when
missionaries from Ireland had recently converted the inhabitants to
Christianity, and had left to posterity a reputation for piety so
elevated as to invest them at once with the appellation of saints, and
to procure for them, in after times, the dedication of almost all the
churches throughout the County.
St. Burian is mentioned by Leland, Camden, Tanner, and various other
antiquaries, as a holy woman from Ireland, to whom King Athelstan
dedicated this church, and in Doctor Alban Butler’s Lives of the
Saints, &c. her festival is given on the 4th of June.
The establishment consisted of a dean and three prebendaries, who are
said by Mr. Lysons to have held from the King by the service of saying
a hundred masses and a hundred psalters for the souls of the King and
of his ancestors. It is not stated how frequently those recitations
were to take place.
Bishop Tanner, in the Notitia Monastica, states that this deanery was
seised into the king’s hands in the time of Edward III. under the
pretence that John de Mount, the third dean, was a Frenchman. In 18
Henry VI. this deanery was given to his college (King’s) in Cambridge;
and afterwards, by Edward IV. probably in the true spirit of party, to
the collegiate church of Windsor. It was, however, soon separated from
Windsor, and continues, according to the foundation of Athelstan,
exempt from all inferior jurisdiction, and consequently since Henry
VIII.’s assumption of all temporal power exercised by the Pope, there
is not any appeal from the local authorities but to the king himself;
a constitution most inexpedient, and likely to produce the most
serious inconvenience, if matters of much importance ever came for
investigation and decision before a court wholly unfitted, from its
very nature, from entertaining them; and yet empowered to declare a
judgment final to all intents and purposes, unless it is immediately
revised by the highest and most expensive ecclesiastical tribunal.
This exemption from all episcopal authority has, in times not very
remote, admitted of such abuses in the administration of divine
service, and of the spiritual care of the three parishes, as would not
otherwise have been endured. It would be worse, however, than useless
to expatiate on a system which is fortunately passed by.
I believe that no dean has resided since the final dissolution of the
college; the Royner’s hand having been there so forcibly applied as to
wrest off the whole glebe, not leaving even an habitation, nor the
smallest portion of land on which a house could be built. The nominal
deanery of St. Burian, like that of Battle and two or three more, is
not esteemed a dignity in the church: yet with cure of souls, and for
no better reason than its not being mentioned _eo nomine_ in the
canons and acts of Parliament, this living is allowed to be tenable
with all other preferments, and at all distances.
Pendrea, the birth place and property of Mr. William Noye the
attorney-general, was sold by his eldest son, Edward Noye, to Mr.
Davies of Burnuhall, and by his grandson to Mr. Tonkin, whose great
grandson, the Rev. Uriah Tonkin, possesses it at this time. At
Burnuhall there still remains a curious performance of shell-work,
said to have been made by Mr. Davies’ daughters, strongly expressive
of the political feelings then almost universal throughout Cornwall.
King Charles II. is represented flying from his enemies, and one of
them, in full pursuit, has a legend, “This is the heir! come, let us
kill him, that the inheritance may be our own!” whilst an angel
exclaims in the same manner from a cloud “Is it not written, Thou
shalt do no murder?” The material of this work is found in great
variety and beauty round the coast, and particularly at Porth Kernow,
near the Logging Rock.
The last Mr. Davies of Burnuhall married ―――― Kegwin of Newlyn; he
wasted the remains of a property which had been gradually diminishing
in the hands of his father and of his grandfather; so that about the
year 1750, Burnuhall and some other farms were sold to Admiral
Boscawen.
Boskenna is the property and residence of Mr. Francis Paynter, a very
respectable gentleman and magistrate, the great-grandson, I believe,
of the individual distinguished by Mr. Hals for his skill in
husbandry. There is a tradition of his having purchased the place of
one whose family had long possessed it, but who had ultimately become
the huntsman of a pack of hounds kept originally as his own.
Mr. Francis Paynter, uncle of the gentleman now possessed of Boskenna,
was greatly distinguished for his wit and humour. He was either the
sole or joint author of a poem made in imitation of Prior’s Alma, and
in ridicule of the then dean of Burian, called “The Consultation.” Mr.
Paynter practised his profession of the law near St. Columb. He
married Miss Pender of Penzance, and left several sons. The exercise
of wit is not always, perhaps not frequently, associated with
pecuniary gain. The Editor has heard Mr. Paynter declare that “The
Consultation” prevented his obtaining a valuable stewardship from the
family of which the dean was a member.
The Vyvyans of Trelovornow are said to have originated from Treviddror
in this parish. And Lord Chief Justice Tresilian was from Burian, in
whose descendants Pendor and Ristchurch, after the lapse of nearly
five centuries, some of his property still remains.
From about fifty to seventy years ago Boskenna attracted much
attention, and gave occasion to various conjectures over the whole
neighbourhood, in consequence of a gentleman and lady residing there
under the assumed name of Browne, and withdrawing themselves entirely
from public observation. They were conjectured to be members of some
distinguished family on the continent implicated in political
disputes; or at the least, some very eminent persons of our own
country, till at last the mystery was explained by a disclosure of
their real name and condition.
Mr. Berty Birge, having been involved in the pecuniary affairs of an
individual who subsequently became insane, found himself obliged to
retire, although it is understood that nothing discreditable to his
character occurred in the transactions. On that individual’s decease
Mr. Birge resumed his real name, and removed to Penzance, where he
passed the remainder of his life.
The church of St. Burian is among those most distinguished for size
and beauty in the west of Cornwall. It is situated on high ground,
with a lofty tower, conspicuous therefore from a very great distance.
It possessed, till within these few years, a curious rood-loft.
A station of the great trigonometrical survey was placed in 1796 very
near Burian church, and in the Philosophical Transactions for 1800,
the latitude of the tower is stated to be 50° 4′ 32.8″, and the
longitude is 5° 36′ 10.5″, or in time 22′ 24.7″ west of Greenwich.
Burian measures 6274 statute acres.
The annual value of Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 7288 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 350 0 0
The parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to old
May day.
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 1161 | 1188 | 1495 | 1707;
being an increase of 47 in a hundred in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Hon. F. Stanhope.