In the Taxation of 1291, the 20th Edward I. this parish is called,
Ecclesia de Lanhudnow, the rectory being valued at xxvi_s._ viii_d._
and was appropriated to the Church of Exeter, to which it still
belongs. As for the present name, St. Earth, I take it to be a
contraction of Sancta Hierytha, of whom Camden, in Devon, speaks thus:
“Chettlehampton, a little village where Hierytha, calendered among the
female saints, was buried.”
Trewinard, in this parish, was of old the seat of a well regarded
family of gentlemen, from thence denominated De Trewinard. It is now
in the possession of Thomas Hawkins, Gent. attorney at law, that
married, first, the daughter of James Praed, Esq.; and secondly, Anne,
the daughter of Christopher Bellot, of Bochim, Esq. By the first he
has only one daughter, but by the second a numerous issue. He giveth
for his arms, in a field Argent, a saltire Sable, charged with five
fleurs-de-lis Or.
Mr. Hawkins owns but a third part of the mansion and barton of
Trewinard, of which Sir John St. Aubin, and Mr. James Praed, are joint
lords with him. Mr. Thomas Hawkins is since dead; and this is now the
seat of his son Christopher Hawkins, Esq. and Clerk of the Assizes. He
hath married Mary, one of the daughters of Philip Hawkins, of
Pennance, Esq.
I take the etymology of this name, Trewinard, to be a town or dwelling
on a marsh.
The Trewinards lived here probably before the Norman Conquest, and
were once possessed of an estate worth at the least three thousand
pounds per annum, as I have been informed by one of their descendants,
the late Rev. Mr. James Trewinard, Rector of St. Mawgor in Meneage.
James De Trewinard was one of the Knights of the Shire for Cornwall 20
Edward III. William De Trewinard was so likewise in the 28th year of
this reign.
Martin De Trewinard, Esq. (whom Mr. Carew calls a merry Cornish
gentleman, and tells a comical story of) I believe was the last of
them that possessed this estate, for Norden, who wrote his description
of Cornwall towards the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, saith,
that Trewinard was the seat of Mannering.
Trelisick, compounded of Tre-lis-ick, a dwelling on the broad creek,
suitable to its situation on that part of the river Hayle, where it
openeth itself into a lake, is the seat of the ancient family of
Painter. The present owner of which is Francis Painter, Esq. formerly
one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, and now General Receiver of the
Prize Money which shall become due to captors. He married a daughter
of ―――― Sutherland, Esq. late one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, by
whom he has only one surviving son Mr. James Painter. His arms are,
Azure, three slabs of tin Argent, each charged with an annulet Sable.
Mr. Francis Painter is since dead, leaving two daughters by his second
wife, a daughter of his uncle Mr. Francis Painter, of Boskina in
Burian. William Painter, D.D. Rector of Exeter College in Oxford, was
also a brother of his father Arthur Painter.
―――― Painter, of Antron, was, I am informed, a younger branch of this
family, and arrived at considerable eminence, but, like many branches,
it has withered, while the parent stock remains fair and flourishing.
But the family of Trelisick is now extinct in the male line, by the
death of Mr. Francis Painter, jun.