This church is dedicated to St. Kyryasius, or Carisius, Bishop of
Ostia, in Italy, and who is said to have suffered martyrdom in the
year 226. But Moreri relates of this person, or of one similarly
named, that he pointed out to the Empress Helena the spot where the
true Cross had been concealed.
The Hon. John Speccot, three times Knight of the Shire, married the
Lady Essex Robartes, daughter of the Right Hon. John Earl of Radnor,
but on the very day subsequent to their marriage Mr. Speccot was
seized with the small-pox; and the lady experienced a fatal attack
from the same dreadful disease about a month afterwards, just as her
husband was getting well. His father married a daughter of John Eliot,
of Port Eliot, Esq. Mr. John Speccot died in August 1703, without
issue, and gave a great deal to charitable uses; but he devised the
bulk of his estate to the heirs of his aunt, and, after many lawsuits
and disputes, his first cousin, Thomas Long, came into possession of
Penhele. He was Sheriff of Cornwall In 1724, and left one son, John
Speccot Long, and three daughters. This gentleman died _sine prole_.
He was the last male heir, and the property went among his sisters.
The arms of Speccot are, on a bend Gules, three millrinds pierced
Argent. Penhele, or Penhale, is the head of the river.