Is situate in the hundred of Trig-minorshire, and has upon the north
St. Minvor, east St. Mabyn and Bodman, south and west the river Allan.
For the modern name, it is taken from the church and the place of its
situation, and signifies the river church, or the church upon the
river. In the Domesday Book, 20th William I. this parish was taxed
under the jurisdiction of Treworder, or Trevorder, viz. the further
town, upon the confines thereof. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of
Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Egles-haile was valued to
first fruits c_s._; _Vicar ejusdem nihil, propter paupertatem_, the
patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it. The incumbent Maye;
the rectory in possession of Walker. This church, in Wolsey’s
Inquisition, 1521, was rated 16_l._; and valued to the 4_s._ per pound
Land Tax, 1696, 200_l._ Walter Brounscomb, Bishop of Exeter 1270,
endowed this church, and Stoke-Gabriel church in Devon, and gave the
sheaf thereof towards celebrating the festival of the Angel Gabriel,
which he had instituted.
Park, that is, a field of any sort, otherwise in this parish it
signifies a deer-park, was one of the ancient seats of the Peverells,
lineally descended from William the Conqueror, by Jane his concubine,
the wife of Randolph Peverell, of Hatfield-Peverell parish, in Witham
Decanatus, in the county of Essex, who abdicated the said Jane, and
left her wholly on the Conqueror’s hands, who had issue by her a son,
named William Peverell, (who, because born during the joint marriage
and lives of the said Randolph and Jane, was surnamed Peverell,) upon
whom the Conqueror settled the honor, manor, and borough of
Nottingham, and town of Lyndeby, on him, and his heirs male. [Here Mr.
Hals goes into a long history of the Peverells, wholly unconnected
with Cornwall.]
Thomas Peverell, of Park, a supposed descendant of the Conqueror’s
son, who was also of Ermington and Sandford, in Devon, was Sheriff of
Cornwall 13 Richard II. He was also Sheriff of Devon 20 Richard II.
Richard Peverell, his son, was Sheriff of Devon 14 Henry IV. who dying
without issue male, his lands went in marriage with his daughter,
married to Basset of Umberleigh, Botreaux, and others.
On this lordship of Park those gentlemen had their deer-park, some of
the walls and fences being yet standing; their tower-house, and other
buildings answerable, their gardens, walk, and fish-ponds beneath the
same, the ruins whereof are yet extant. How those lands descended down
from Peverell’s heirs to the last age I know not; about which time it
was in the possession of Opie and Hickes; from whom it passed by sale
to the Hon. John Molesworth, temp. Queen Anne, as I take it.
The arms of Peverell were, Gules, a fess Argent between six crosses
pattée Or.
Those Peverells are especially memorable here by two crosses of
moorstone in the highway set up by them, still extant, and called
Peverell’s Crosses. Not far from them is another moorstone cross, near
Mount-Charles, called the Prior’s Cross, whereon is cut the figure of
a hook and a crook, in memory of that privilege and freedom granted by
him to the poor of Bodmin, for gathering, for fire-boote and
house-boote, such boughs and branches of oak-trees in his contiguous
wood of Dunmear, as they could reach to or come at with a hook and a
crook, without further damage to the trees thereof. From whence arose
the Cornish proverb, concerning filching, purloining, or taking
another person’s goods, overmuch or indirectly, beyond what is allowed
them, &c. “that they will have it by hook or by crook.”
Pen-carou, Pen-caro, alias Pen-carow, i. e. head-deer, or chief-deer,
formerly part of the Peverell’s deer-park; and from thence so
denominated, as some think. But when I consider that Caer-kynock, or
Caer-kunock, is situate on the lands thereof, now called
Castle-kynock, i. e. the king, prince, or sovereign’s castle, extant
here long before the Norman Conquest, I take the modern name Pen-carow
only to be a corruption of Pen-caer-ou, or Pen-caer-ow, i. e. my head
castle, or city, intrenched or fortified place, according to the
artificial and natural circumstances thereof, it being on a high hill,
overlooking the contiguous country, the ruins are of the largest
British camp or intrenchment that ever I saw in Cornwall, containing
about 100 acres of land, and consisting of a four-fold rampart, yet of
a great height in some places, with several platforms or counterscarps
within the same, for offence or defence, in case of storm or surprise.
[The camp in Pencarrow Park has a double vallum, the inner one oval,
inclosing an area 250 feet by 200; the outer one of an irregular form.
On the east side, at the distance of about 700 feet from this camp,
are some extensive outworks. _Lysons._]
This barton gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen,
surnamed De Pen-carow, who siding with Richard the Third against Henry
the Seventh, as some say, but, as others will have it, with Flammock,
in his insurrection against that King, he lost this place, and other
lands, by attainder of treason (see Bocarne, in BODMIN), having before
conveyed a great part of his estate to Henry the first Lord Marney, of
Colquitta, to procure a reprieve, or pardon of his life, from that
king; from whose heirs it came to the Walkers of Exeter, by descent or
purchase, and from them to John Molesworth, of Tretane, Esq. first but
an attorney-at-law, afterwards commissioner or auditor to Queen
Elizabeth in those parts for the Duchy of Cornwall, that married one
of the coheirs of Hender, so called from the parish of Molesworth, in
Lightstone hundred, in the county of Huntingdon.
From the local place aforesaid, was denominated Walter de Molesworth,
Sheriff of Bedfordshire, from the 26th to the 36th of Edward I. anno
Dom. 1298; the which gentleman accompanied King Edward into Palestine,
and returned with him safe into England again. After the decease of
the said Edward, he was knighted by King Edward the Second, and was
made Sheriff of Bedfordshire again by the name of Walter de
Molesworth, Knt. from the 6th to the 9th of Edward II. 1316, in which
year he died, and was succeeded by John de Pabenham. From which
gentleman, as I am informed, was lineally descended John Molesworth,
Esq. aforesaid, that married Hender, and by her had issue, Hender
Molesworth, Esq. that married Spark of Plymouth, and by her had issue
my very kind friend John Molesworth, Esq. and Hender Molesworth, with
a daughter married to Dr. Hart; the which John Molesworth married two
wives, Wise, and Slannen, the relict of Legard, afterwards knighted by
Charles the Second, and had issued by Wise, John Molesworth, Esq. that
married Arscott of Tetcot, and hath issue, Hender Molesworth
aforesaid, the son of Hender Molesworth, who being bred a soldier,
managed affairs with that valour and conduct, that, after passing
gradually to the dignity of a colonel, he was by King James the Second
made a baronet of England, and governor of the Island of Jamaica,
where he purchased a considerable estate in land, and called it
Tremolesworth, which, together with his honour (if he died without
issue male, according to the limitation of his letters patent as a
baronet), is now legally descended to Sir John Molesworth, of
Pencarow, Bart. The arms of Molesworth are, Vaire, a bordure Gules,
charged with eight cross-crosslets Argent.
Kestell, in this parish, i. e. a castle, so called, I presume, for
that heretofore it had upon the lands thereof some camp or castle-like
intrenchment, for kestell is derived from the provincial Latin of the
Romans in Britain, _castrum_, or _castellum_; which place gave name
and original to an old family of gentlemen, surnamed de Kestell. The
first possessor thereof of this tribe, as appears from the record in
the Office of Arms, was John de Kestell, temp. Edward I. where his
posterity have ever since flourished, to the time of writing hereof,
in good fame and reputation, between the degrees of a justice of the
peace and that of a hundred constable; the present possessor James
Kestell, Gent. that married Vaughan of Trewothick and Ottery, in
Devon, his father Kestell of Manacow, and giveth for his arms, Argent,
three falcons Proper; as also, Or, three castles turreted Gules. (See
Kestel, in MANACCAN.)
Pen-davy, or Pen-duffy, i. e. David’s head, (why so called, qu.?) a
head or promontory of land situate between the Alan and the Kestell
rivers, was formerly the lands of Kestell (and before that the Prior
of Bodmin’s, as I am informed); by Kestell’s daughter and heir it
passed in marriage to Nathaniel Moyle, Esq. barrister-at-law, of
Bakehouse, who for want of issue sold it to Mr. Ustick, now in
possession thereof.
Crone, Croan, in this parish, signifies a skin or hide of leather; so
called either from the tanner that made or sold leather here, or
rather for that this tenement consisteth _in quanto_ of a hide or skin
of land, viz. as much arable ground as one plough can cultivate in a
year, commonly reckoned about eighty statute acres. This barton was
formerly the lands of Roscarrock, by whom it was sold to Michael Hill,
Gent. by whose son, John Hill, Rector of St. Mabyn, it was sold to
Edward Hoblyn, Gent. attorney-at-law, a younger branch of the
Nanswhiddon family by the Hoblyns of Bodmin, now in possession
thereof. He is especially memorable for his saying, when first he
began to practice, “_that he would get an estate by the law_ one way
or other,” viz. right or wrong, and common fame saith he was as good
as his word, _in the worst[41] sense_. Whereupon, since his death,
by an unknown but arch hand, was fixed upon his grave in this parish
church this taunting epitaph:
Here lies Ned,
I am glad he’s dead,
If there must be another,
I wish ’twere his brother,
And, for the good of the Nation,
His whole relation.
Treg-leah, in this parish, i. e. the law town or dwelling, is the
lands of William Keckwitch, Gent. a younger branch of the Keckwitches
of Trehawke, and giveth for his arms, Argent, in bend two lions
passant Sable. It was since sold to Mr. Hoblyn.
In this parish is Castle Killy-biry, or Killy-biny, consisting of
about six acres of ground upon a well-advanced hill, within a treble
intrenchment of earth. Perhaps one of the castles possessed by that
arch-traitor the Pictish Mordred, slain by King Arthur, (see
DUNDAGELL,) from whence his soldiers were routed; for the circumstance
of this castle on the Alan river may agree with those verses mentioned
under Lentegles by Camelford, for the river Camel is properly called
the Alan river, as well as Camel.
Below Egles-hayle church (on the Alan river as aforesaid), where the
sea creek or cove of Padstow Haven makes its daily flux and reflux,
stands Ward Bridge, i. e. guard or watch bridge; otherwise, as Mr.
Carew says, called Wade Bridge, from a little ford near it, which
afforded, when the tide was out, a short but dangerous passage over
it. But where this little _vadum_, or ford, should be, I know not,
there being no other river to pass over from east to west but the Alan
river aforesaid. Which bridge, as an artificial ligament, fasteneth
the two parishes of Egles-hayle and St. Breock together, they being in
all other places separated by the river. It was built in the latter
end of Edward the Fourth’s reign, and beginning of Henry the
Seventh’s; not, as Leland says, at the county charge, but, as all
other works of this kind were, viz. by collections, and commutation of
penance for sins committed; for it was not made a county bridge till
the beginning of James the First’s reign. Now this licence of all
spiritual benedictions, collection, and commutation of penance,
throughout the counties of Cornwall and Devon, was there granted by
Dr. Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter, to Thomas Longbound, then Vicar
of Egles-hayle, his chaplain or vicar, 1485, who raised a considerable
sum of money by that means, viz. of absolution, as also from
charitable and well-disposed Christians. The undertaker, that expert
mason John de Harlyn, and the treasurer Longbound, brought the
bridge’s building to that perfection as it now stands, consisting of
seventeen arches of stone of great height and magnitude, all built
with great cost and labour, through which (as aforesaid) the sea
passes up and down daily through the Alan river to Tagus, (i. e.
Goodwood,) a mile, and is navigable for boats, barges, and lighters,
to that place, which there bring sea sand, and other commodities, for
the country-people’s use.
On the lower side of the bridge, from Padstow Haven, ships and barks
laden with merchandise frequently arrive, of burthen from twenty to
sixty tons, from Bristol, Wales, Ireland, and other places, where
their commodities have better vent than at Padstow, two or three miles
below, nearer the main sea.
Leland, in his Itinerary, tells us, volume the second, that some of
the arches of this bridge were laid upon quicksand, which for some
time made the treasurer and undertaker despair of success, till they
projected the laying of packs of wool under the groundwork, which
proved such a useful expedient as carried on the fabric according to
their desire, and the same stands firm to this day.
After this bridge was erected, Longbound, the vicar, gave a small
parcel of land towards the repair thereof, now worth 20_l._ per annum,
and enfeoffed the twelve men of this parish, and their successors, in
trust with the same for ever. There are also other lands in St.
Breock, given by the Prior of Bodmin, and other well-affected
benefactors to the bridge, for the same purpose. At present this
bridge stock is about 300_l._ and is set at the yearly rent for about
10_l._ per annum. Lastly, this just and indefatigable benefactor
Longbound, after he had finished the bridge, with the moneys and
stones left, caused to be built the tower of Egles-hayle church, as it
now stands; over the belfry-door of which, in stone, on the north
side, are cut in an escutcheon his arms, viz. a human heart, and
superscribed Longbound. On the other side of the door aforesaid are
cut, impaled, a chevron between two falcons, and a chevron between
three ravens’ heads. Which first I take to be the arms of Kestell, and
the latter of Ravenscroft of Cheshire, his wife.
From this parish was denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed
de Egles-hayle, of which family was Matheus de Egleshayle, Sheriff of
Devon from the 1st year of Edward the First to the 6th, who gave for
his arms, Argent, a cross Sable, and a fleur-de-lis in the first
quarter.