Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the north, St.
Stephen’s; east, St. Mewan; west, Probus; south, St. Tue. For the
present name, it is derived from Credo, i. e. belief, trust,
confidence; and refers to the holy Christian faith, read or rehearsed
in this church by the rector, viz. the Apostles’ creed, Nicene creed,
or St. Athanasius creed, in opposition to Arianism.
Now, for that beyond the records of time, as Mr. Carew in his Survey
of Cornwall tells us, the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Commandments,
were translated into and used in the Cornish tongue for the benefit of
the inhabitants, who formerly little understood the Saxon or English
tongue; and for that the Cornish tongue is now comparatively lost in
those parts, I will here, for the reader’s satisfaction, set down the
Apostles’ creed as it was then used.
_Me agris en Du, an Tas ologologack, wresses a neu_
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of
_hag doar; hag en Jesu Chrest, ys nuell mab agan_
heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our
_Arluth, neb ve conceveijs ryb an hairon Sperres, genijs_
Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born
_ay an voz Mareea, cothaff orthaff Pontius Pilat; ve_
of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; was
_crowsye, maraws hag bethens, Eff deskynas en the Iffran,_
crucified, dead and buried, He descended into Hell,
_hag an trysa journa, Eff sevye arte thort an maraws, ef_
and the third day he arose again from the dead, and
_askynnus en the neuf; hag setvah wor an dighow dorne_
ascended into Heaven; and sitteth on the right hand
_ay Du an Tas allogallogack, rag ena ef fyth dos the_
of God the Father Almighty, from whence he shall come
_judgye an beaw hag an maraws. Me agris benegas_
to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy
_Spirres, an Hairon Catholic Egles, an communion ay_
Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of
_sans, an givyans ay peags, an sevyans ay an corfe,_
saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the body,
_hag an bew regnaveffere. Amen._
and the life everlasting. Amen.
At the time of the Norman Conquest this parish was taxed under the
name of Tybesta, of which more under. At the Inquisition of the
Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, in order to the Pope’s Annats,
1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Credo, in Decanatu de Powdre, was valued
4_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it was rated 13_l._
6_s._ 8_d._ The patronage in the king or duke of Cornwall, who endowed
it; the incumbent Crews; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound
Land Tax, 1696, 132_l._
The great duchy manor of Ty-besta encloses almost the whole of this
parish; and there are yet extant in this manor the ruins of an old
chapel, called by the name of Tybesta. This manor is privileged with
the jurisdiction of a court leet within its precincts, and of the
court baron held for the hundred of Powdre, and hath stewards and
bailiffs to attend the service of both, and the royalties over the
river Vale.
Within this lordship is situate the borough of Grampont, Gram-pond, or
Gran-pont, that is, great bridge; on which Mr. Carew, in his Survey of
Cornwall, saith that in his time, (about a hundred years past,) if
that were its true name, it had nothing then extant but nomine sine
re, though now it hath a fair stone bridge over it, built and repaired
by the county stock. But, alas! notwithstanding those names, it
appeared from the charter lately extant, wherein the ancient rights
and privileges thereof are confirmed by Edmund Plantagenet Earl of
Cornwall, son of Richard, King of the Romans, Anno Dom. 1290, that it
was incorporated by the name of Coyt-fala, or Coit-fala; id est, the
wood, (river) in the midst of which wood heretofore the same was
situate; also Pons-mur, id est, great bridge, so named from some
eminent timber bridge over the river, before that of stone was
erected.
It is privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet and quarterly
sessions of the peace, within the same, before the mayor, recorder,
and eight aldermen, or magistrates, and a town-clerk. The mayor to be
chosen out of the eight Magistrates that are free-men; and also with
sending two Members, to sit as their Representatives in Parliament,
who are to be chosen by the Mayor, Magistrates, and Freemen, or the
major part of them; by election of which, if common fame be true, the
townsmen have in the last ages reaped great gain and advantage. It is
also appurtenanced with public fairs, upon January 18 and June 11, and
a weekly market on Thursdays. The chief inhabitants of this town are
Mr. Teague, Mr. Harvey, Mr. Moor.
The arms of this Borough are, a castle, two ports open, over the same
a lion rampant crowned, within a bordure bezanty, which latter charge
was the proper arms of King Richard Cœur de Lion, uncle of the said
Edmund Earl of Cornwall, and his predecessors Caddock and Condur,
Earles thereof.
Tre-veleck, alias Tre-belech, in this parish, id est, the Priest’s
Town, in old British and the Armorican tongue, was of old the seat of
the De Boscawens, of Boscawen Rose in Buryan, of which family was
Lawrence Boscawen, gent. attorney-at-law, that married Tregothnan’s
heir, temp. Henry 8th, who left this place to his younger son; where
his posterity flourished in genteel degree down to the latter end of
the reign of King Charles I.; when the last gentleman of this house,
that married Tanner, had issue only two daughters, married to Brewar
and Tousen, which latter’s daughter and heir was married to Collins,
now in possession of those duchy lands.
At Ten-Creek, or Tene-Cruck, i. e. the fire-bank, or tumulus, viz. the
sepulchre of one interred there before the sixth century, whose body
was burnt to ashes by fire, according to the then accustomed manner of
intering the dead, and his bones and ashes laid up in an urn or
earthen pot, in a bank, or barrow, or tumulus, upon some part of the
lands of this barton; from which facts it was called Ten-creek, in
which place for many ages flourished a family of gentlemen, from
thence denominated de Tencreek (which compound word Mr. Carew, in his
Survey of Cornwall, by conjecture interprets as the town of the
burrow, bank, or tumulus); the last gentleman of which house died in
the middle of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, leaving issue only three
daughters, married to Mohun, Penwarne, and Polwhele. Those lands came
to Mohun, a younger brother to Reginald Mohun, Bart. father of John
Lord Baron Mohun, of Oakhampton. The present possessioner, William
Mohun, Esq. (my very kind friend), one of his Majesty’s Commissioners
for the Peace and Taxes, that married Jane, daughter of Sir John
Trelawney, of the Lawne, Bart. and hath issue Warwick Mohun, Esq.
whose arms are, Or, a cross engrailed Sable. [See BOCONNOC]. The arms
of Tencreek were, Argent, a cross pattée surmounted of a chevron
Sable.
Pennans, part of the Duchy manor of Tybesta, is compounded of
Pen-nans, the head of the valley, a name taken from the natural
circumstances of the place. It is the dwelling of Philip Hawkins,
Gent. attorney-at-law, who by his great pains, care, and skill in that
profession, hath got himself a very great estate in those parts. He
married Scobell, and giveth for his arms, Argent, on a saltire Sable,
five fleur-de-lis Or. The same coat armour is given by the Hawkins’ of
Kent. He had issue John, his eldest son, who married Rashleigh, and
was a doctor of divinity; Philip, that married Ludlow, of London,
Member of Parliament for Grampound; and daughters.
Nan-tell-an, in this parish Duchy, was the dwelling of John Vincent,
Gent. attorney-at-law, who got a considerable estate by the law; but
since his death I take it this place, and all other his lands, are
wasted by his son, &c. Nantellan sold to Henry Vincent, of Treleven,
Esq. Mr. Vincent married Evans, and giveth for his arms as mentioned
under St. Allen, the original tribe thereof.
Car-lyn-ike, in this parish, parcel of the Duchy manor of Tybesta
aforesaid, probably the rock and lake of water, is the dwelling of
John Woolrige, Gent. that married Maunder, and giveth for his arms,
Gules, a chevron Argent, between three wild ducks volant Proper. The
descendant of Woolridge, rector of St. Michael Penkivell, temp. James
I.
Nan-car (Duchy) i. e. the Valley Rock, or the Rock in the Valley, is
the dwelling of Walter Quarme, Clerk, that married Grace Gayer,
daughter of Samuel Gayer, of Araler, Gent.; his father Ceely, his
grandfather a Trefusis, and giveth for his arms, Barry lozengy Argent
and Gules.