By the register of this parish (which is very ancient) it appears that
in the year 1569 there was a great plague here, by which died, from
the 20th of August to the 10th of November, seventy people, and it
then abating, from the 25th of December to the 23d of February fifteen
more; which is the more considerable, for that in the parish at
present, in its flourishing condition, there are not above three
hundred and fifty souls; and so healthy is the place in general, that
I have been assured by Mr. Bradford, the present Minister, there was
not a single burial from the 12th of September, 1699, to the 18th of
October, 1700, the year following.
The Holy Well, if it may properly be so called, (it being nothing but
a little water dropping out of the cliff under Kelsey, in a small cove
made by the sea, to be come at only when the tide is out,) has been
much frequented of late, and several strange cures attributed to it.
It is a water that petrifies of itself, as may be seen by the
incrustations on the rock over which it runs; and these incrustations
make the ascent to it very slippery and dangerous.
The Manor of Hellanclose, that is, the four halls, belonged to Robert
Trencreek, Esq. fell to Degory Polwhele, Esq. who sold it to Sir
Richard Robartes, in whose family it still is, Henry Earl of Radnor
being the present lord thereof. The barton has been in lease for four
generations to the Hoskins, the wealthiest farmers in those parts. Mr.
Joseph Hoskin is the present possessor.
The church is seated upon the top of a hill, and so visible at a great
distance.
One part of the parish is drowned in the sands, and that promontory of
land is called Kelsey, famous for feeding the sweetest mutton (though
but small) in England.