In this parish stands the lordship and barton of Pencarrow, which name
may signify a deer-park. But I take the name of Pencarrow to be of a
much more ancient date than the first bringing of deer into this land,
and that the name is taken from the natural circumstances of the
place, as compounded of pen-car-ow, head-rock-ry, for in this place is
digged a quarry of bright clear freestone, that works with tool,
plane, or hammer, equal to any other in Cornwall, as may be seen by
the beautiful house Sir John Molesworth has built with it, and which
is not yet quite finished. And surely it may be said of this barton,
without disparagement to any other man’s lands, that for wood, water,
and stone, it may compare with, if not exceed, any other part of the
kingdom; neither do the lands come behind any in the neighbourhood for
fruitfulness. It is the seat of Sir John Molesworth, Knt. and Bart.
who was knighted by Charles the Second, and succeeded to the title of
baronet by the issueless decease of his younger brother, Sir Hender
Molesworth, Governor of Jamaica, who left him a considerable estate in
that island, and was the first baronet created by William the Third.
This family is a younger branch of the descendants of Sir Walter de
Molesworth, of Northamptonshire, who flourished in martial prowess in
the days of Edward the First, and went with him to the Holy Land. John
Molesworth, son of the above Sir John Molesworth, married the daughter
of ―――― Arscot, Esq. of Tetcot, in Devonshire.
Kestle. The very name implies that heretofore it was a fortified
place. Here liveth James Kestle, Esq. from thence denominated ever
since that John de Kestle, lord of this place in the time of Edward
the First, assumed that name; where his posterity, for about twenty
descents, have ever since flourished in good fame and reputation; and
give for their arms, Argent, a chevron Sable between three falcons
Proper, armed with tasses and bells Or. Their crest, a castle Gules.
Pendavy, the good promontory, is situated on a hill forming a
peninsula by the river Alan, on the west side, and a rivulet which has
two heads, one in St. Teath and the other in St. Mabyn, on the east
side. Here dwelleth Nathaniel Moyle, Esq. a younger brother of Sir
Walter Moyle, of Bake; to whom, by his marriage with Johan, the
daughter and heir of Thomas Kestle, of this place, Esq. the lordship
descended. Mr. Moyle having only one son, of the same name as himself,
by this marriage, that died unmarried about four years since, and
being something indebted, sold this lordship (which claimeth a royalty
over all the river, and the bushelage of all goods brought up to Wade
bridge) for a very considerable value (reserving his own and his
lady’s lives on the barton), in the year 1703, to Michael Ustick,
Gent. collector of Bideford, and second brother to Oliver Ustick, of
Lea, in St. Burian, Gent.
The Harbour of Padstow is navigable every tide up to this place, where
vessels of sixty or seventy tons carry and recarry their loading of
such commodities as the country needs, coal, salt, limestone, &c. and
here they find generally a better vent for their goods than at
Padstow, near the mouth of the river, which has occasioned the
building of some houses on each side of the bridge, but mostly on the
eastern, where are indifferent good quarters for travellers, who are
sometimes forced to stop here against their wills, there being no
passing over the bridge to the west in high spring tides, by reason
that the ground on the western side is very low, and at such times
overflowed with the sea.
Croan, the cross. Mr. Edward Hoblin built a good house at this place,
and left it to his eldest son, of the same name, who was sheriff of
Cornwall 8th George I. He married Barbara, the second daughter and
coheir of Henry Hawkins, of St. Austell, Gent. by whom he had only one
daughter, Damaris.