In this parish are situated three villages, called Summercourt,
Penhale, and Fraddon, each of which had formerly the privilege of
holding an annual fair. All are now transferred to Somercourt. One
held on the 25th of September, is considered to be the most important
in Cornwall. The name is obviously modern, although the village itself
seems to be quite as ancient as any in the neighbourhood.
There is in this parish also another village, of considerable
importance up to the year 1832, called Michell, St. Michael, or
Modeshole.
This place, although never entitled, by the utmost stretch of
courtesy, to the appellation of a town, was privileged with sending
Members to Parliament in the time of King Edward the Sixth, probably
to increase the political power of the Lords Arundell, who then
possessed the paramount manor of Michel, together with an unrivalled
influence in that part of Cornwall.
Many of the small places in Cornwall received this privilege from the
Tudors, for the express purpose of becoming close or nomination
boroughs, withdrawn as they then were from public view or attention.
The system thus created has acted at different periods in various
ways. At first, many of the small Boroughs returned neighbouring
gentlemen to Parliament, the natural aristocracy of the country, and
practically the peers of other gentlemen holding hereditary seats, and
distinguished by the shadowy appellation of offices long since
extinct. These representatives formed the strongest bulwark of
national liberty in the subsequent reigns of the Stuarts. So that
Charles the Second, and his brother King James, endeavoured to smooth
the way for their progress towards despotism by invading chartered or
prescriptive rights; and thus the inviolability of these rights became
associated in men’s minds, after the Revolution, with the very idea of
liberty itself; and this union remained so permanently fixed and
strong at the distance of a century, as to dash in pieces the
otherwise powerful administration of Mr. Fox and Lord North, because
they proposed to interfere authoritatively with the Charter of the
East India Company. Times were, however, at that period completely
changed. The English Empire had extended itself into all parts of the
globe; an immense manufacturing and commercial interest had grown up;
and, of still greater consequence, the national debt had created a
vast monied capital, not subject to the laws of primogeniture, and
therefore inclined towards democracy. All these obtained
representatives through the small Boroughs, but tempered in most cases
by the media through which the seats were acquired. Statesmen by
profession, and many inclined to support the existing order of things
by their situation in life, and by their connection, obtained
admission also into Parliament in the same manner, and all these,
united with the representatives of counties, and of large towns,
formed an assembly, owing its existence, no doubt, to accidental
causes, but, in the opinion of many wise and experienced men, better
adapted to the government of a great country than any one that the
world had seen, or than could be established by systematic
arrangements.
That House of Commons has been swept away by the enactment of 1832;
and it remains to be proved by an experiment, at which bold men might
shrink, whether a more direct delegation will as effectually represent
all the varied materials of the State, and whether a body so powerful
may not ultimately absorb into its immediate superintendence the whole
legislative and executive functions.
Michell had to boast among its representatives of Sir Walter Ralegh,
of Mr. Carew, the historian of Cornwall, and of many distinguished
gentlemen of the county. It used to be said, that Colonel Clive spent
so much money in a contest for this place as to occasion his return to
India, where he gained the battle of Plassey, and established the
Eastern Empire.
The right of election seems to have been vague and undefined at
Michell, as it was in early times at almost all other places; but
repeated decisions of the House of Commons tended to ascertain, and
usually to abridge the right, as this was deemed most favourable to
the new Government; and finally, by Act of Parliament in 2d George II.
the last decision of the House of Commons on any right of voting
acquired the force and authority of law.
Such a decision took place with respect to Michell in the year 1700,
fixing the right of voting in the possessors of five burgage tenures,
here denominated mesne lordships, and in all resident payers of scot
and lot. Property within the limits of the borough being divided, and
each possessor of land wishing to multiply voters, they were raised to
the amount of sixty or eighty, till at last the whole property coming
into the hands of two Cornish gentlemen, they, in promotion of a
system which may yet be regretted, consolidated the land, let the
better houses on conditions, such as to prevent the occupiers from
appearing on the parish rates, and converted to farm shelters, or took
down, hovels that were originally constructed for election purposes.
Contests were thus avoided, and the borough rendered close; the two
proprietors having mutually pledged themselves in writing to support
each other in their equal shares.
One of the proprietors died, and his son continued to act on the
agreement. The other proprietor also died; and his brother having
verbally ratified the compact, continued also to act on it, and a
joint return was made in 1830. But a total change of men and measures
having taken place in the administration of Government, the Reform
Bill was introduced, and so powerful is the action of party feelings
on the most honourable minds, heightened as they were, on this
important occasion, by an honest conviction generally entertained on
all sides, of the real and permanent welfare of the country being
involved, that one of the proprietors thought himself absolved from
adhering to the contract, unless his associate would take the same
line of politics on this great subject as himself. A poll was
thereupon called for, and the numbers were, for Kenyon five, for Best
three, and Hawkins two; one voter having been got over by the
infringing party.
Pencoose is now the property of Mr. William Basset, having been
purchased from the Fortescues.
Trewhele belongs to Mr. John Basset, of this parish.
Treweere is held in joint tenantry by Mr. Retollock, son of Mr.
Retollock who resided at Michell as agent for the borough, and Sir
Richard Vyvyan, of Trelowarren. This place is considered to be a
barton; and it must formerly have been the residence of some
gentleman, although the place is now reduced to a common farm.
Gomronson, heretofore the property of the Flammocks, now belongs to
Hawkins.
Boswallow was purchased by Mr. John Stephens, of St. Ives, about the
middle of the last century, and now belongs to his grandson, Mr.
Samuel Stephens, of Tregenna.
The paramount manor of Michell has passed into various families, on
account of its political importance. Originally Arundell’s, it for
some time belonged to the Scawens, an ancient race of Cornish
gentlemen now extinct. One of the family held the honourable, and then
gratuitous, office of Vice Warden, on the Restoration of King Charles
the Second.[42] This manor was finally purchased by the late Sir
Christopher Hawkins, and belonged to his devisee at the period of the
general dissolution of close boroughs.
St. Enodor measures 6,140 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5303 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 399 12 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 869 | 881 | 833 | 1124
giving an increase of 29⅓ per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. S. M. Walker, collated by the Bishop of
Exeter in 1828.