This Priory, or Abbey, being dissolved by act of Parliament, and given
to the King, 33d Henry VIII. 1542, he gave the revenues and government
of the place to Humphry Arundell, Esq. of the Lanherne family, who
enjoyed the same till the first year of King Edward VI. 1549; at which
time that King set forth several injunctions about religion: amongst
others, this was one, viz. that all images found in churches, for
divine worship or otherwise, should be pulled down and cast forth out
of those churches; and that all preachers should perswade the people
from praying to saints or for the dead; and from the use of beads,
ashes, processions, masses, dirges, and praying to God publicly in an
unknown tongue; and least there should be a defect of preachers as to
those points, homilies were made and ordered to be read in all
churches. Pursuant to this injunction one Mr. Body, a commissioner for
pulling down images in the churches of Cornwall, going to do his duty
in Helston church, a priest, in company with Killtor of Kevorne and
others, at unawares stabbed him in the body with a knife; of which
wound he instantly fell dead in that place. And though the murderer
was taken and sent up to London, tried, found guilty of wilful murder
in Westminster Hall, and executed in Smithfield, yet the Cornish
people flocked together in a tumultuous and rebellious manner by the
instigation of their priests in diverse parts of the shire or county,
and committed many barbarities and outrages in the same; and though
the justices of the peace apprehended several of them, and sent them
to jail, yet they could not with all their power suppress the growth
of their insurrection; for soon after Humphry Arundell aforesaid,
Governor of this Mount, sided with those mutineers, and broke out into
actual rebellion against his and their Prince. The mutineers chose him
for the General of their army, and for inferior officers as Captains,
Majors, and Colonels,――John Rosogan, James Rosogan, Will. Winslade of
Tregarrick or St. Agnes at Mithian, John Payne of St. Ives, Robert
Bochym of Bochym, and his brother, Thomas Underhill, John Salmon,
William Segar; together with several priests, rectors, vicars, and
curates of churches, as John Thompson, Roger Barret, John Woolcock,
William Asa, James Mourton, John Barrow, Richard Bennet, and others,
who mustered their soldiers according to the rules of military
discipline at Bodmin, where the general rendezvous was appointed. But
no sooner was the General Arundell departed from St. Michael’s Mount
to exert his power in the camp and field aforesaid, but diverse
gentlemen, with their wives and families, in his absence possessed
themselves thereof; whereupon he dispatched a party of horse and foot
to reduce his old garrison; which quickly they effected, by reason the
besieged wanted provision and ammunition, and were distracted with the
women and children’s fears and cries, and so they yielded the
possession to their enemies on condition of free liberty of departing
forthwith from thence with life, though not without being plundered.
The retaking of St. Michael’s Mount by the general Arundell proved
much to the content and satisfaction of his army at Bodmin, consisting
of about six thousand men, which they looked upon as a good omen of
their future success, and the first-fruits of the valour and conduct
of their general. Whereupon the confederates daily increased his army
with great numbers of men from all parts, who listed themselves under
his banner, which was not only pourtrayed, but by a cart brought into
the field for their encouragement, viz. the pyx under its canopy, that
is to say, the vessel containing the Roman host, or sacramental
sacrifice, or body of Christ, together with crosses, banners,
candlesticks, holy bread and water, to defend them from devils and the
adverse power; (see Fox’s Martyrology, p. 669,) which was carried
wheresoever the camp removed; which camp grew so tremendously
formidable at Bodmin, that Job Militon, Esq. then Sheriff of Cornwall,
with all the power of his bailiwick, durst not encounter with it
during the time of the general’s stay in that place, which gave him
and his rebels opportunity to consult together for the good of their
public interest, and to make out a declaration, or manifesto, of the
justice of their cause, and grounds of taking up arms; but the army,
in general, consisting of a mixed multitude of men of diverse
professions, trades, and employments, could not easily agree upon the
subject matter and form thereof. Some would have no justice of the
peace, for that generally they were ignorant of the laws, and could
not construe or English a Latin bill of indictment without the clerk
of the peace’s assistance, who imposed upon them, with other
attornies, for gain, wrong sense, and judgment; besides, in
themselves, they were corrupt and partial in determining cases; others
would have no lawyers nor attornies, for that the one cheated the
people in wrong advice or counsel, and the other of their money by
extravagant bills of costs; others would have no court leets, or court
barons, for that the cost and expense in prosecuting an action at law
therein was many times greater than the debt or profit. But generally
it was agreed upon amongst them, that no inclosure should be left
standing, but that all lands should be held in common; yet what
expedients should be found out and placed in the room of those several
orders and degrees of men and officers, none could prescribe.
However, the priests, rectors, vicars, and curates, the priors, monks,
friars, and other dissolved collegiates, hammered out seven articles
of address for the King’s majesty; upon grant of which they declared
their bodies, arms, and goods should all be at his disposal, viz.
1. That curates should administer baptism at all times of need, as
well week days as holy days.
2. That their children might be confirmed by the Bishop.
3. That mass might be celebrated, no man communicating with the
priest.
4. That they might have reservation of the Lord’s body in churches.
5. That they might have holy bread and water in remembrance of
Christ’s body and blood.
6. That priests might not be married.
7. That the six articles set forth by King Henry VIII. might be
continued at least till the King came of age.
Now those six articles were invented by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of
Winchester (who was the bastard son of Lionel Woodvill, Bishop of
Salisbury, by his concubine, Elizabeth Gardiner; the which Lionel was
fifth son of Richard Woodvill, Earl Rivers, 1470), and therefore
called his creed, viz.
1. That the body of Christ is really present in the sacrament after
consecration.
2. That the sacrament cannot truly be administered under both kinds.
3. That priests entered into holy orders might not marry.
4. That vows of chastity entered into upon mature deliberation, were
to be kept.
5. That private masses were not to be omitted.
6. That auricular confession was necessary in the church of God.
To those demands of the Cornish rebels the King so far condescended as
to send an answer in writing to every article, and also a general
pardon to every one of them if they would lay down arms. (See Fox’s
Acts and Monuments, Book ix. p. 668.) But, alas! those overtures of
the King were not only rejected by the rebels, but made them the more
bold and desperate; especially finding themselves unable longer to
subsist upon their own estates and money, or the bounty of the
country, which hitherto they had done. The general therefore resolved,
as the fox who seldom chucks at home, to prey upon other men’s goods
and estates further off, for his army’s better subsistence. Whereupon
he dislodged from Bodmin, and marched with his soldiers into Devon,
where Sir Peter Carew, Knight, was ready to obstruct their passage
with his posse comitatus. But when they saw the order and discipline
of the rebels, and that their army consisted of above six thousand
fighting men, desperate, well-armed, and prepared for battle, the
Sheriff and his troops permitted them quietly to pass through the
heart of that country to Exeter; where the citizens, upon notice of
their approaches (as formerly done), shut the gates, and put
themselves in a posture of defence. At which time Dr. John Voysey was
Bishop of Exeter, viz. 10th July, 1549, John Blacaler was Mayor,
William Tothill was Sheriff, Lewis Pollard, Recorder, William
Beaumont, Sword-bearer; John Drake, Geffery Arundell, Henry Maunder,
and John Tooker, were Bailiffs or Stewards; Thomas Prestwood, John
Maynard, John Webb, William Hals, Hugh Pope, William Hurst, Nicholas
Limmet, Robert Midwinter, Henry Booth, John Berry, John Britnall, John
Tuckfield, John Stawell, Edward Bridgman, Thomas Grigg, John Drake,
Thomas Skidmore, John Bodley, and others (all which had before that
time been Mayors), Stewards or Bailiffs of the city.――See Isaack’s
Memorials of Exeter, p. 122.
Things being in this posture, the general Arundell summoned the
citizens to deliver their town and castle to his dominion; but they
sent him a flat denial. Whereupon, forthwith he ordered his men to
fire the gates of the city, which accordingly they did; but the
citizens on the inside supplied those fires with such quantities of
combustible matter, so long till they had cast up a half-moon on the
inside thereof, upon which, when the rebels attempted to enter, they
were shot to death or cut in pieces. Their entrance being thus
obstructed at the gates, they put in practice other expedients, viz.
either to undermine the walls or blow them up with barrels of
gunpowder, which they had placed in the same; but the citizens also
prevented this their design, by countermining their mines and casting
so much water on the places where their powder barrels were lodged,
that the powder would not take fire. Thus stratagems of war were daily
practised between the besieged and besiegers, to the great hurt and
damage of each other.
King Edward being informed by his council of this siege, and that
there was little or no dependance upon the valour and conduct of the
Sheriff of Devon, and his bailiwick, to suppress this rebellion or
raise the siege of Exeter, granted his commission to John Lord
Russell, created Baron Russell of Tavistock by King Henry, and Lord
High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal, an old experienced soldier who had
lost an eye at the siege of Montrueil in France, to be his general for
raising soldiers to fight those rebels; who forthwith, pursuant
thereto, raised a considerable army and marched with them to Honiton;
but when he came there he was informed that the enemy consisted of ten
thousand able fighting men armed; which occasioned his halting there
longer than he intended, expecting greater supplies of men, that were
coming to his aid under conduct of the Lord Grey; which at length
arrived and joined his forces, whereupon he dislodged from thence and
marched towards Exeter; where on the way he had several sharp
conflicts with the rebels with various success, sometimes the better
and sometimes the worse; though at length, after much fatigue of war,
maugre all opposition and resistance of the rebels, he forced them to
raise their siege, and entered the city of Exeter with relief, 6th
August, 1549, after thirty-two days’ siege; wherein the inhabitants
had valiantly defended themselves, though in that extremity they were
necessitated by famine to eat horses, moulded cloth, and bread made of
bran; in reward of whose loyalty King Edward gave to the city for ever
the manor of Evyland, since sold by the city for making the river Exe
navigable.
After raising the siege as aforesaid, the general Arundell rallied his
routed forces of rebels, and gave battle to the Lord Russell and the
King’s army, with that inveterate courage, animosity, and resolution,
that the greatest part of his men were slain upon the spot, others
threw down their arms on mercy, the remainder fled, and were
afterwards many of them taken and executed. Sir Anthony Kingston,
Knight, a Gloucestershire man, after this rebellion was made Provost
Marshal for executing such western rebels as could be taken, or were
made prisoners in Cornwall and Devon, together with all such who had
been aiders or assisters of them in that rebellion; upon whom,
according to his power and office, he executed martial law with sport
and justice (as Mr. Carew and other historians tell us); and the
principal persons that have come to my knowledge, over whose misery he
triumphed, was Boyer the Mayor of Bodmin; Mayow of Clevyan, in St.
Colomb Major, whom he hanged at the tavern sign-post in that town, of
whom tradition saith his crime was not capital; and therefore his wife
was advised by her friends to hasten to the town after the Marshal and
his men, who had him in custody, and beg his life. Which accordingly
she prepared to do, and to render herself the more amiable petitioner
before the Marshal’s eyes, this dame spent so much time in attiring
herself and putting on her French hood then in fashion, that her
husband was put to death before her arrival. In like manner the
Marshal hanged one John Payne, the Mayor, or Portreeve of St. Ives, on
a gallows erected in the middle of that town, whose arms are still to
be seen in one of the fore-seats in that church, viz. in a plain field
three pine apples. Besides those he executed many more in other places
in Cornwall, that had been actors, assisters, or promoters of this
rebellion. Lastly, it is further memorable of this Sir Anthony
Kingston, that in Sir John Heywood’s Chronicle he is taxed of extreme
cruelty in doing his Marshal’s office aforesaid. Of whom Fuller, in
Gloucestershire, gives us this further account of him: that
afterwards, in the reign of Queen Mary, being detected, with several
others, of a design to rob her exchequer, though he made his escape
and fled into his own country, yet there he was apprehended and taken
into custody by a messenger, who was bringing him up to London in
order to have justice done upon him for his crime, but he being
conscious of his guilt, and despairing of pardon, so effectually
poisoned himself that he died on the way, without having the due
reward of his desert.
After the death of Humphrey Arundell, Governor of St. Michael’s Mount,
executed for treason as aforesaid, King Edward VI. sold or gave the
government and revenues thereof to Job Militon, Esq. aforesaid, then
Sheriff of Cornwall, during his life; but his son dying without issue
male, the government, by what title I know not, devolved upon the
Bassets of Tihidy, from some of whom, as I am informed, it came by
purchase to Sir John St. Aubyn, Bart. now in possession thereof.
In the month of July, 1676, at St. Michael’s Mount, about four of the
clock in the afternoon, came from the British ocean, or sea, a ball of
fire, seen by the inhabitants and fishermen at sea, which struck
against the south moorstone wall of this Mount’s church or chapel;
where, meeting resistance from the wall, it glanced through the stones
thereof with some rebounds, making a path, or strake, through the
same, in some places about four inches broad and two inches deep, from
one end of the long side wall almost to the other; and from thence, by
another rebound, it struck the strong oak durns of the dwelling-house
entry, and broke the same in two or three pieces, and so flew into the
hall, where it fell to the ground, having spent its force and strength
as aforesaid, and then brake asunder in pieces, by the side of Mrs.
Catherine St. Aubyn, without doing her any manner of hurt, leaving a
sulphurous smoke behind it in the room; which ball of fire then
appeared to consist of a black-blue metally matter, congealed or
melted by fire like as coal and cinders may be, as Sir John St. Aubyn,
the elder, and other spectators told me.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has not any thing in addition to Mr. Hals, except an
uninteresting dissertation to prove that St. Michael’s Mount is not
the Ocrinum of Ptolemy.
WHITAKER.
Mr. Whitaker has given several notes and comments on the narrative of
Mr. Hals, which will here be placed, together with references to the
passages to which they relate.
P. 170. (_a_) The name is Mara-zion, or zien, on the sea, I believe,
and Market-Jew is merely a similar appellation in English. A Jew, in
Cornish language, is Ethow, and Edheuon, Ethchan, are Jews.
P. 170. (_b_) This corrects Mr. Willis, in ii. 3, who there says of
the Market-Jew, and other towns expressly, “none of them ever sent
Members to Parliament, or were ever summoned so to do.” Yet it
coincides exactly with what Dr. Brady remarks in his very valuable
treatise on Boroughs, p. 57, 59, and adds one more to his few returns,
and instances of very many more which might have been produced “if
needful,” p. 59.
P. 172. (_c_) Sel, sil, or sul is merely a view, or prospect, from the
Welsh sylly, to look or behold, and the Armorick sell, a look or
sight; and din-sil, or din-sul, means only the hill of prospect.
(_d_) The real name of St. Michael’s Mount in Cornish is this, Carreg
luz en kuz, a hoary rock in a wood. Borlase’s Scilly Isles, p. 94.
P. 178. (_e_) This notice, unobserved by the noticer himself, lets us
into a part of the history of this Mount, which has never been
unfolded yet. There was plainly a nunnery here, as well as a
monastery. Accordingly we find before what this circumstance alone
explains, that there were two chapels upon the Mount. One is described
before as “a little chapel yet standing, and dedicated to the
Archangel St. Michael, part whereof is now converted to a
dwelling-house.” The other is thus, as “that which renders this place
most famous, the present church or chapel, yet extant, and kept in
good repair with pews; upon the tower of this church or chapel, for it
is bigger than many other Cornish parish churches, is that celebrated
place called Kader-Migell, i. e. Michael’s chair.” So distinct are
these chapels! The monastery I apprehend to have been, “where, towards
the north-west, is a kind of level plain about four or six landyards,”
with “a downright precipice of rocks towards the sea, at least twenty
fathoms high.” And where, about the greater chapel, are “cells cut in
the rocks for hermitical monks of the aforesaid order.” And the
nunnery I suppose to have been where, “from this little square, or
plain, there is an artificial kind of ascent going towards the east,
which offers you a full sight of the outer walls of the castle, and
brings you to Porth Horne (Hourn), part of which is yet to be seen.”
Thus do we get a glimpse of a nunnery that is invisible from every
other point. Tanner, that witness for all other authors upon monastic
notices, gives us no intimation from any of them concerning this
nunnery. Yet Leland confirms what I have observed in Mr. Hals before,
the existence of two churches, or chapels, upon the summit of the
Mount. “The way to the church,” he says, concerning the ascent to the
top, “entereth at the north side from half ebb to half flood, to the
foot of the Mount, and so ascendeth by steps and grices westward, and
thence returneth eastward to the utterward of the church,” or Mount.
Within the said ward is a court strongly walled, “wherein on the south
side is the Chapel of St. Michael, and in the east side a chapel of
our Lady. The Captain and priest’s lodgings be in the south side of
St. Michael’s Chapel.” (Itin. VII. 118.) When this Captain was fixed
there with a garrison, as we shall soon see when he was, the nuns were
obliged to relinquish their cells to him and them. For this reason we
have not a hint in all the ages afterwards of a nunnery here. Only the
chapel was continued for the use of the garrison, while the church
itself was still left to the monks. Such an union as this, of a
monastery and a nunnery upon the summit of a pyramidal hill, and amid
the sequestrations of solitude, carries a strange appearance with it
to our Protestant suspiciousness; yet it was not very uncommon in the
reign of popery. It seems to have been peculiarly calculated for that
purpose for which both monastery and nunnery were generally
calculated, to shew the triumph of faith over the impulses of sense,
and to shew that triumph more conspicuously, by the association of
monks and nuns in monastic vicinity to each other. “This little
fortress,” as Mr. Hals has told us before, “comprehendeth sufficient
rooms and lodgings for the Captain, or Governor, and his soldiers to
reside in,” which I have supposed above “to have been the original
habitations of the nuns and their Abbess; to which adjoining are
several other houses, or cells, heretofore pertaining to the monks
that dwell here, all admirable for their strength, buildings, and
contrivance,” and all probably therefore contemporary or nearly so.
P. 180. (_f_) This account of St. Michael’s Mount is in a strain of
intelligence and judiciousness much superior to the general tenor of
Mr. Hals’s writings. To it I wish to add some useful notices, in
accompaniment of some that I have given before.
Upon the very crown and summit of this pyramidal hill, stands proudly
eminent the church, stretching from east to west, and having a tower
in the middle. It was built by Edward the Confessor, who was the first
to consecrate the Mount to religion, and erected the church on the
little plain at the top of it. Having done this, and erected
habitations for the clergy attending it, he gave them, by charter
still existing in recital, the whole of the Mount, and many lands
beside. “Ego Edwardus, Dei gracia Anglorum Rex, dare volans pretium
redemptionis animæ meæ vel parentum meorum, sub consensu et testimonio
bonorum virorum, tradidi Sancto Michaeli Archangelo, in usum fratrum
Deo servientium in eodem loco, Sanctum Michaelem,” the church, “qui
est juxta mare.” He also gives them “totam terram de Venefire;” and
proceeds “portum addere qui vocatur Ruminella.” Romney, in Kent. Then
came Robert Earl of Mortaigne, the falsely reputed founder, merely to
associate this church with another of the same appellation in
Normandy, and to enlarge its endowments. In a new charter, equally as
the old without a date, he, “habens in bello Sancti Michaelis
vexillum,” says, “do et concedo Montem Sancti Michaelis de Cornubiâ
Deo et monachis ecclesiæ Sancti Michaelis de Periculo Maris
servientibus, cum dimidiâ terræ hidâ.” But, as he adds, “postea autem
ut certissime comperi, Beati Michaelis meritis monachorumque
suffragiis michi a Deo ex propriâ conjuge mea filio concesso, auxi
donum ipsi beato militiæ celestis principi, dedi et dono in Amaneth
(Quere, where?) tres acras terræ, Travalaboth videlicet, Lismanoch,
Trequaners, Carmailoc,” &c. 2. And, finally, comes the Bishop of
Exeter, in a charter dated expressly 1085, to free “ecclesiam Beati
Michaelis Archangeli de Cornubiâ,” from all episcopal jurisdiction. 3.
Thus erected and thus privileged, the church remained till the day of
William of Worcester, and he thus notes the dimensions of it:
“Memorandum, longitudo ecclesiæ Montis Sancti Michaelis continet 30
steppys, latitudo continet 12 steppys.” 4. Carew also speaks of it as
“a chapel for devotion, builded by William Earl of Morton,” (Carew so
speaking with the multitude, when he ought to have given the building
to the Confessor,) “and greatly haunted while folk endured (endeared)
their merits by farre travailing.” 5. Carew thus refers obscurely,
perhaps unconsciously, to a particular privilege annexed to the
church, which was given by one decree from Pope Gregory, and confirmed
by another from Bishop Leofric. “Universis Sanctæ Matris ecclesiæ
presentes literas inspecturis vel audituris salutem,” cries the
former, “noverit universitas vestra quod sanctissimus Papa Gregorius,
anno ab incarnatione Domini millesimo septuagesimo,” the very year,
therefore, in which Earl Montaign gave this church to the other in
Normandy, “ad ecclesiam Montis Sancti Michaelis, in comitatu Cornubiæ,
gerens eximiæ devocionis affectum, piè concessit ecclesiæ predictæ,
[et] omnibus fidelibus, qui illam cum suis beneficiis et elemosinis,”
(with alms and oblations, so that “folke endeared their merits,” not
merely “by farre travailing,” but by a tax upon their purse,)
“exepecierint seu visitaverint, tertiam partem penetenciarum suarum
eis condonari,” a third of all those acts being remitted, which
penitents were enjoined to perform, in order to prove the sincerity of
their penitence to God, and to themselves. The same privilege is
repeated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1085, thus: “omnibus illis, qui
illum ecclesiam suis cum beneficiis et elemosinis expetierint et
visitaverint, tertiam partem penitentiarum condonamus.” Yet, what is
surprising, the privilege became nearly as much unknown afterwards as
it is at present, and was therefore promulgated by the clergy of the
church at the beginning of the fifteenth century: “Tota verba,” adds
the reciter, “in antiquis registris de novo,” a little before
William’s visit, “in hâc ecclesiâ repertis, inventa,” being then
unknown to the very clergy themselves, and only discovered by the
discovery of some registers equally unknown, “prout his in valvis
ecclesiæ publicè ponuntur,” were exhibited to public view by being
posted upon the folding-doors of the church. “Et quia pluribus istud
est incognitum, ideo nos, in Christo Dei famuli et ministri hujus
ecclesiæ, universitatem vestram qui regimen animarum possidetis,” all
the rectors and vicars of the kingdom, “ob mutuæ vicissitudinis
obtentum requirimus et rogamus, quatenus ista publicetis in ecclesiis
vestris, ut vestri subditi et subjecti ad majorem exoracionem
devocionis attentius animentur, et locum istum gloriosius peregrinando
frequentent ad dona et indulgencias predicta graciosè consequenda.”
From this republication of the privilege, undoubtedly, did the
numerous resort of pilgrims to the church begin. Then too was formed
assuredly that seat on the tower, which is so ridiculously described
by Carew, as “a little without the castle――a bad seat in a craggy
place――somewhat dangerous for access;” when it is only a chair,
composed of stones, projecting from the two sides of the tower
battlements, and uniting into a seat without the south-western angle,
but elevated above the battlements on each side. It thus appears
somewhat dangerous from the elevation or projection only, is an
evident addition to the tower, and was assuredly made at this period
for the pilgrims, that they might complete their devotions at the
Mount by sitting in this St. Michael’s Chair, as denominated, and by
showing themselves as pilgrims to the country round. Hence, in an
author[6] who alludes to customs without feeling the force of his
allusion, we read this intimation:
Who knowes not Michael’s Mount and Chaire,
The pilgrim’s holy vaunt?
We thus find a reason for the construction of such a chair, that
comports with all the purposes of the church on the tower of which it
is constructed, and that shows it ministered equally with this to the
uses of religion then predominant; making it not, as Carew most
extravagantly makes it, “somewhat dangerous for access, and therefore
holy for the adventure,” but holy in itself, as on the church-tower,
holy in its purposes, as the seat of the pilgrims, and doubly holy as
the seat of accomplishment to all their vows, as the seat of
invitation to all the country. And the whole church remains to this
day, beaten by the rains and buffeted by the winds, yet a venerable
monument of Saxon architecture.
This Mount appears decisively, from the charter of the Confessor, to
have been in his time not surrounded with the sea during all the flood
tide, and not accessible by land only during some hours of the
ebb-tide, as it is at present. It was then not surrounded at all. It
was only near the sea then. Thus the Confessor describes it expressly,
as “Sanctum Michaelem qui est juxta mare.” But as Worcestre adds, with
a range back into the past that is very striking, yet is in general
confirmed by the charter above, “the space of ground upon Mount St.
Michael is two hundred cubits, surrounded with the ocean,” at flood
tide; “the place aforesaid was originally inclosed with a very thick
wood, distant from the ocean six miles, affording the finest shelter
for wild beasts.”
THE EDITOR.
Nothing is known with any certainty respecting the ancient state of
St. Michael’s Mount.
It may have been the seat of a Celtic superstition somewhat similar to
that imagined and described by Dr. William Borlase. Sir Christopher
Hawkins has adduced many arguments for proving this semi-island to
have been the Ictis of Diodorus Siculus; and its situation, united to
its sea-port, may well have recommended such a place for a factory to
the merchants of any civilized nation engaged in commercial
transactions with people so rude as were the Britons of those remote
times. The universal practice in our days, is to establish fortified
stations under similar circumstances, since neither person or property
can be effectually protected in any other way.
The earliest definite tradition of a Christian establishment dates
with the pilgrimage of St. Kenna, in consequence of the appearance of
the Arch-angel at that place. No particular circumstances are ever
related of this extraordinary vision, neither as to the occasion nor
as to the persons so eminently favoured as to behold the celestial
glory, nor as to the time, nor of the exact spot, since it could not
have taken place on the top of the tower, that building having been
constructed in honour of the vision itself.
It may be remarked that lofty and elevated situations throughout
Europe are dedicated to St. Michael, probably on account of the
Archangel being uniformly painted with wings, and therefore tacitly
imagined to have habits similar to birds; and perhaps the dedication
of the largest of our domestic fowls to the celebration of his
festival, may owe its origin to a similar analogy.
Saint Kenna is believed to have imparted the same identical virtue to
the chair which overhangs the tower, as she bestowed on the celebrated
well near Liskeard, and since no one obtains a seat in this chair
without much resolution and steadiness of head, one may be inclined to
anticipate the supposed effect with greater certainty from the
achievement of sitting in St. Michael’s chair, than from drinking
water from St. Kenna’s well. The time of St. Kenna’s visitation is not
accurately known. She is supposed to be the same St. Keyna, daughter
of a prince of Brecknockshire, who lived a recluse life for many years
near a town situated midway between Bristol and Bath, since called
Cainsbarn, after her name, where she founded a monastery in the
beginning of the sixth century, and cleaned the neighbourhood from
snakes and vipers by converting them all into Cornua Ammonis, which
have abounded there ever since, in testimony of her sanctity and of
the fervour of her prayers.
The supposed ancient site of St. Michael’s Mount, its being the hoary
monk in a wood surrounded by forests, is deduced from arguments very
similar to those which prove the miraculous power of St. Kenna in
converting serpents into stones.
Trees have been found buried under the sand and silt in the Mount’s
Bay, as they are frequently found in every similar inlet of the sea on
the southern coast of England. And the tradition, if a term so
respectable may be applied to such vague conjectures, applies equally
to Mount St. Michael; or they may have been derived from a common
origin. See Le Grand Dictionaire Historique, par M. Moreri, Paris
edition of 1188, with the Supplement of 1735. In the 5th folio volume
of the Dictionary, p. 193, and in the 2d folio volume of the
Supplement, p. 261, will be found these passages:
“Saint Michel ou Mont Saint Michel, en Latin Mons Sancti
Michaelis in periculo Maris. Bourg de France en Normandie, avec
une Abbaie celebre et un chateau. Sa situation est assez
particuliere, sur un rocher qui s’etend au milieu d’une grand
greve, que la mer couvre de son reflux. On dit qu’ Augustin,
evêque d’Avranches, qui vivait au commencement du huitieme
siecle, y suit des chanoines apres une apparition de l’Archange
Seint Michel.
“Ce mont s’appelloit le Mont de Tombe à cause de sa figure. On
pretend qu’une foret occupoit autrefois sont le terrain depuis le
mont jusques aux Paroisses de Tanis et d’Ardevon; que la mer a
detruit cette foret, et qu’elle en a pris la place; et c’est de
la, dit on, que le Mont Saint Michel est surnomme, ‘Au peril de
la mer,’ Mons in periculo Maris.”
The first authentic document relative to St. Michael’s Mount is the
charter of Saint Edward the Confessor, the original of which remained
among the archives of Mount St. Michael.
In the recent edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. vii. p.
988:
Priory of St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall.――A priory of Benedictine
monks was placed here by King Edward the Confessor. Before A.D. 1085,
however, it was annexed by Robert Earl of Moreton and Cornwall, to the
Abbey of St. Michael in Periculo Maris, in Normandy.
The following entry relating to the property of St. Michael’s Priory,
in Cornwall, occurs in the Domesday Survey:
“Terra Sancti Michaelis.――Ecclesia S. Michaelis tenet Treiwal,
Brismar tenebat tempore regis Edwardi. Ibi sunt ii hidæ quæ
numquam geldaverunt. Terra est viii car. Ibi est i. car. cum uno
villano, et ii. bord. et x. acr. pasturæ. Val. xx. solid. De hiis
ii. hid. abstulit Comes Moriton i. hidam. Val. xx. sol.”
In Hampshire, Domesday, tom. i. fol. 43, there is another
entry concerning St. Michael’s Priory:
In Basingstoches Hund.――Ecclesia S. Michaelis de Monte tenet de
lege unam ecclesiam cum i. hida et decima M. de Basingestoches.
Ibi est presbyter et ii. villani et iiii. bord. cum i. car. et
molin. de xx. sol. et ii. acr. prati. Tot. val. iiii. lib. et v.
sol.
Oliver, in his Historic Collections relating to the monasteries of
Devon, p. 147, gives the following list of Priors of St. Michael’s
Mount:――
Ralph de Carteret, admitted Dec. 21, 1260.
Richard Perer, April 11, 1275.
Geoffrey de Gernon, July 8, 1283.
Peter de Cara Villa, Sept. 12, 1316.
John Hardy, Oct. 3, 1349.
John de Volant, April 24, 1362.
Richard Auncell, Dec. 7, 1385.
William Lambert, Oct. 1, 1410.
As the alien priories were suppressed by Henry V. who began his reign
in 1413, William Lambert was probably the last Prior.
Bishop Tanner says, in his Notitia Monastica:――After the suppression
of the alien priories, this was first given by King Henry VI. to
King’s College, Cambridge, and afterwards by King Edward IV. to the
nunnery of Sion, in Middlesex. At the first seizure by King Edward
III. the farm was rated but at 10_l._ per annum, but at the general
dissolution by Henry VIII. the lands belonging to this house, as
parcel of Sion Abbey, were valued at 110_l._ 12_s._ per annum.
The charter of Saint Edward may be thus translated:
“In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity. I Edward, by
the grace of God King of the English, willing to give the price
of the redemption of my own soul, or of the souls of my parents,
with the consent and attestation of good men, have delivered to
St. Michael the Archangel, for the use of the brethren serving
God in that place, Saint Michael, which is near the sea, with all
its appendages, that is to say, with its towns, castles, lands,
and other appurtenances. I have added, moreover, all the land of
Vennefire, with its towns, villages, fields, meadows, and
grounds, cultivated or uncultivated, with their proceeds. And I
have joined, as an addition to the things already given, the
harbour called Ruminella, with all things belonging to it, that
is, with mills and establishments for fisheries and with their
proceeds.
“But if any one shall endeavour to interpose subtile impediments
against these gifts, let him be made an anathema, and incur the
perpetual anger of God.
“And that the authority of our donation may be held the more
truly and firmly hereafter, I have, in confirming it,
underwritten with my own hand, which many also of the witnesses
have done.
Signum Regis Edwardi ✠
Roberti Archiepiscopi Rothomagensis ✠
Herberti Episcopi Lexoviensis ✠
Roberti Episcopi Constantiensis ✠
Radulphi ✠
Vinfredi ✠ Nigelli Vicecomitis.
Anschitelli Choschet. Turstini.
The next charter:
“In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I Robert, by
the grace of God Earl of Moriton, influenced with the fire of
divine love, supporting in battle the standard of St. Michael, do
make known to all the sons of our holy mother church, that for
the salvation of the souls of myself and of my wife, also for the
salvation, the prosperity, and safety of the most glorious King
William, and for obtaining the reward of eternal life, do give
and grant Mount Saint Michael, of Cornwall, to God and to the
monks serving (God) of the church of Saint Michael in danger of
the sea; with half a hide of land, so unbound, and peaceable and
free from all customs, complaints, and suits, as I hold them. And
I appoint, the King my Lord consenting, that they may hold a
market on every Friday. Lastly, as I have most certainly
ascertained that a son has been given me from God by my wife,
through the merits of the blessed Michael, by the prayers of the
monks, I have increased the gift to him the blessed chief of the
heavenly host. I have given and do give in Amaneth three acres of
land; that is to say, Trevelaboth, Lismanoch, Trequaners,
Carmailoc, my most pious Lord King William assenting, together
with the Queen Mathilde, and their noble sons the Earl Robert,
William Rufus, and Henry yet a boy, to be quiet and free from all
pleas, complaints, and forfeits, so that the monks shall not
answer in any matter to the King’s justice, homicide alone
excepted.
“And I Robert Earl of Moriton have made this donation, which
William the glorious King of the English, and the Queen, and
their children, have permitted and testified.
Signum Willielmi Regis ✠ Reginæ Mathildis ✠
Roberti Comitis ✠ Willielmi Rufi filii Regis ✠
Henrici Pueri ✠ Roberti Comitis Moritoni ✠
Matildis Comitissæ ✠ Willielmi filii eorum ✠
This charter is ratified and confirmed in the year one thousand
and eighty-five from the Incarnation of our Lord.
Signum Liurici Essecestriæ Episcopi ✠”
Among several other charters there is one from Richard King of the
Romans, granting to the Prior three annual fairs, to be holden near
their Grange, now the Long Barn.
“Richard by the grace of God King of the Romans, and always
Augustus, to the Bishops, Abbats, Priors, Earls, Barons, and to
all holding free tenures, and to others his lieges in the county
of Cornwall, health, and every good. May you all know that we, by
this our present confirmation, have granted and confirmed to the
Prior of the blessed Michael, in Cornwall, and to his successors,
that they may have and hold, and for ever possess, the three
fairs and three markets on their own proper ground in Marchadyon,
near their Barn; which three fairs and three markets they have
hitherto held by the concession of our predecessors Kings of
England, in Marghasbigan, on ground belonging to others; that is
to say, on the middle day in Lent, and on the following day; and
on the eve of the blessed Michael, and on the following day; and
on the eve of the blessed Michael in monte tumbæ, and on the
following day, provided that these fairs and markets may not
cause any damage or injury to other fairs or markets, in
conformity with the laws and customs of this kingdom of England.
“In witness of all which things we have thought fit to certify
this present confirmation with our royal seal.”
There is also a bull of Pope Adrian, in the year 1155, confirming all
their possessions to the Abbat and monks of Mount St. Michael, and
among them Saint Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall; which, previously to
its subjugation, had been exempted from all episcopal interference by
Liuricus Bishop of Exeter, as he states by the exhortation and command
of his Lord, Pope Gregory, and in compliance with the wishes of the
King, of the Queen, and of all the magnates in the realm. And he also
grants a release from a third part of their penances to all such
persons as may visit this church of St. Michael with oblations and
alms.
The Mount appears never to have received a religious society after its
suppression as an alien priory in the reign of King Henry the Fifth.
At the period of the general dissolution it must have been let at an
annual rent, for in the abstract roll preserved in the Augmentation
Office this entry occurs under Syon Abbey: “Cornub.――S. Michael. ad
Montem, Firma 26_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._”
The history of St. Michael’s Mount since its dissolution, as a parcel
of Sion Abbey, is very far from being clear. It appears to have been
granted at first for terms of years to different gentlemen of the
neighbourhood. To Millington, supposed of Pengersick, in Breage; to
Harris, of Kenegie, in Gulval; and perhaps jointly with Millington to
a Billett or Bennett. A person of that name, half-deranged, who died
about the middle of the last century, continued during the whole of
his life to shoot rabbits on the Mount one day in the year by way of
maintaining a supposed right, which, being utterly groundless, was
humanely allowed to pass unobserved.
Queen Elizabeth, or King James I. appears to have granted the whole in
fee to Robert Cecil, created Earl of Salisbury May 4, 1605. But the
Mount was seised into his own hands by King Charles I. just at the
breaking out of the civil war, probably on account of the great
military importance of this hold, when William Cecil, son of the
former, having subscribed the Declaration made at York, on the 13th of
June, 1642, left the party of which the King was at the head, and
joined the opposite party in London.
An order was soon after given to Sir Francis Basset, then Sheriff of
Cornwall, to place the Mount in a state of defence, and to supply it
with ammunition and provisions; and it is not improbable that a grant
was made of the castle and Mount to Sir Francis Basset at once, in
witness of his zeal displayed in the cause, and as some indemnity for
the expenses he had incurred, the royalist party never having had any
considerable sum of money at their command.
The Bassets having suffered extremely in their property by efforts
made during the war, and by compositions afterwards, it was found
convenient to sell St. Michael’s Mount about the year 1660; when it
was most fortunately purchased by Sir John St. Aubyn, in whose opulent
family, and through five John St. Aubyns, it has descended to the
present possessor of that name.
Every individual of this family has proved himself desirous of
supporting, of maintaining, and of beautifying one of the most
extrordinary spots in the whole world.
Including Dartmoor and the Scilly Islands, granite breaks out into six
large but unequal masses, which, like the Appeninnes of Italy, extend
a narrow promontory into the sea. St. Michael’s Mount presents a ridge
of granite equally distinct with any of these great masses, and rises
into a lofty cone, the base being surrounded by the killas, a peculiar
schist, the chief metalliferous rock of Cornwall.
And here most of the curious phenomena are found which occur at the
junction of these two rocks.
The buildings on the summit are grand and appropriate to the scenery,
and venerable from their antiquity. The church, with its tower,
completing the pyramidal figure of the whole, are supposed to date so
far back as the reign of St. Edward. And a modern addition of two
rooms on the eastern part of the building, made by the late Sir John
Aubyn about the year 1750, is in complete harmony with the other
parts, and adds to the general effect.
The inside of the castle, or priory, has been much decorated within a
few years, and florid gothic ornaments have been added to the
exterior; but opinions are much divided as to the accordance of these
new parts with buildings to which Sir Walter Scott’s line may be
applied,
In Saxon strength the Abbey frown’d.
At the foot of the Mount a small pier existed from a time probably
anterior to the Monastery itself, but in the early part of the last
century a lease on lives was granted to Mr. George Blewett, the early
associate and in some degree rival of the great Mr. Lemon. This
gentleman rebuilt the pier on a very enlarged scale, and concentrated
here almost the whole commerce of Penwith hundred, which has since his
time gone to Penzance and Hayle.
St. Michael’s Mount is said to be selected as the scene of many
strange adventures, in Italian romances; while Cornwall is supposed to
abound with enchanters, goblins, and other supernatural beings.
An English romance, once popular with the old and with the young, but
now banished even from our nurseries, begins thus:
“In the days of King Arthur the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a
monstrous giant.” ma
Tasca Argo i Mini, e tascia Artu qui’ suoi
Erronti, che di sogni empion le carte.
Marazion has certainly to boast of very great antiquity. It may have
existed in the earliest times, if the Mount really afforded protection
to the Eastern merchants, who sought the shores of Cornwall for its
tin.
And the names Marazion and Marketjew cannot but excite an inclination
to believe that in the Middle Ages this place may have been the resort
of the most extraordinary people, who at all times have manifested a
peculiar inclination for dealing in metals; it is moreover worthy of
remark that all remains of places where tin has heretofore been
smelted in the most simple manner, are invariably denominated Jew’s
Houses. Marazion must also have afforded shelter and entertainment to
the crowds of pilgrims assembling at particular periods to adore the
Shrine of St. Michael, and to participate in the indulgence granted by
Liuricus Bishop of Exeter, on the exhortation of his Lord the Pope.
Marazion received a charter of incorporation from Queen Elizabeth, but
the town, although beautifully situated, has not kept pace in the
career of improvement with many others, and especially not with
Penzance.
About the middle of the last century, which was the great epoch for
the establishment of turnpike roads, as the beginning of this century
will be considered for their improvement on principles of science and
of general accommodation, a turnpike road was laid out from Falmouth,
through Penryn and Helston, to the western of Marazion, by which a new
entrance was opened from Penzance; and about the year 1775 a large
castellated house was built at the western extremity of the town, by
Mr. John Blewett, son of Mr. George Blewett, the very considerable
merchant noticed above, in imitation of the house at Tregenna, near
St. Ive’s, built by Mr. Samuel Stephens a few years before, under the
direction of Mr. Wood, an architect from Bath, who had constructed
most of the splendid works in that city.
Mr. George Blewett, rising from the lowest origin, is said to have
accumulated a hundred thousand pounds. On the death of his only son
the property went to a nephew, and the whole has been dissipated.
The house was some time afterwards purchased by another Mr. Blewett,
wholly unconnected with the former, who acquired a considerable
fortune in the war: that has also entirely disappeared, and the house
has passed into other hands.
Mr. Pascoe Grenfell, Commissary to the States of Holland, resided here
during a long life, although he was originally of Penzance; and here
was born his son Mr. Pascoe Grenfell, junior, well known throughout
England as an active Member of Parliament, as a man of talent and of
great liberality, commensurate to his almost unexampled success in
commerce.
From Marazion also have sprung the family of Cole.
Captain Francis Cole would have risen to the most elevated station in
the Navy if he had not been cut off by an early death.
Captain Christopher Cole most justly acquired the highest military
reputation by his capture of Banda in the East Indies, with a force
several times less numerous than the garrison which he overcame; and,
having taken the place with such an union of courage, determined
resolution, and of prudence, as would rival the exploits of chivalry,
he acquired still greater glory by extending a truly heroic courtesy
to the vanquished, protecting them in their persons, in their
properties, and in the exercise of their religious and of their civil
rights. Having settled, in consequence of his marriage, in
Glamorganshire, he has had the honour of representing that county in
Parliament.
The Reverend John Cole, D.D. attained the high situation of Rector of
Exeter College, Oxford.
And the younger brother, Dr. Samuel Cole, is now Chaplain-general to
the Navy.
The principal inhabitant at present is Mr. William Cornish, a very
respectable merchant and a magistrate for the county; he married a
daughter of the elder Captain Cole, and has a numerous family.
Treveneage seems to have been the principal seat in this parish. A
branch of the Godolphins resided here, having acquired the property by
a marriage with the heiress of an ancient family denominated Goverigon
or Gavrigan, whose principal residence was in St. Colomb.
Katherine Godolphin, daughter and heiress of Francis Godolphin, Esq.
of Treveneage, married John St. Aubyn, of Clowance, Esq. and was
buried at St. Hilary, on the 13th of March 1662, as appears from an
inscription on a monument to her memory in the church.
The barton of Treveneage was however sold, and after passing through
Robinson, it was purchased, about the year 1665, by the family of
Tredenham, of Tredenham, or Tredinham, in Probus.
Mr. Joseph Tredinham was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1665, and was
knighted. One of his daughters, and eventually his coheiress, married
Scobell of Menigwins, in St. Austell; and from a coheiress of Scobell
this barton, together with an extensive manor, descended to the
Hawkins’s of Pennance, and from them to the late Sir Christopher
Hawkins, of Trewithan in Probus, and of Trewinnard in St. Erth.
Tregembo, or Tregember, bears an appearance of considerable antiquity.
Mr. Lysons says that it belonged to the family of Grosse, and that it
passed by sales, through King to Penneck, in the year 1684.
The Pennecks were originally of Trescow in Breage, and advanced
themselves in the world by the stewardship and patronage of the
Godolphins. One of this family, the Reverend John Penneck, who died in
1724, was Chancellor of Exeter, and would probably have been advanced
much higher in the church if the Marlborough and Godolphin
administration had remained longer in the possession of power.
On this gentleman’s decease, without children, his property devolved
on the Reverend John Penneck, vicar of Gulval, who married ――――
Wroughton, and left two sons and two daughters; John, who succeeded
him in the living of Gulval, and Charles, bred to the law, but who
quitted that profession for the militia during the American War.
Mr. John Penneck died in 1789, and his brother in 1801; they were
succeeded by their two sisters, who were, Catherine, married to the
Reverend William Borlase, son and eventually sole heir of the Reverend
Walter Borlase, LL.D. of Castlehorneck; and Ann, married to John
Bingham Borlase, M.D. who had the honour of bestowing his early
medical education on Sir Humphrey Davy. Each of these sisters left an
only daughter. Ann, daughter of the eldest, married to the Reverend
Mr. Peters; and Ann, daughter of the second, married to Captain
Pascoe.
The manor of Tregurtha also belonged to the Pennecks, having been
purchased in the early part of the last century; but this manor,
together with a large portion of their other possessions, were sold by
the two last brothers. This manor was bought jointly by Mr. Carne, of
Penzance, and the late Mr. Thomas Grylls, of Helston. Tregembo still
belongs to the two ladies.
Ennis, usually called Ninnis, was for some time a gentleman’s seat,
although it is now become a mere farm. Mr. Humphrey Millett, the last
resident gentleman, had been a member of Exeter College. He married
Mary, daughter of Mr. Sandys, of Helston, and dying early in life left
two daughters his coheiresses. The eldest daughter, Mary, married
Thomas Grylls, Esq. and the second daughter, Grace, married Charles
Short, Esq. of Devonshire, Clerk of the Rules in the Court of King’s
Bench, and both have families. The widow married secondly George
Trework, Esq. of Penzance.
Trevarthen has the appearance of a place respectable in former times.
The freehold belongs to the Duke of Leeds, as heir of the Godolphins;
but it was held for a long period of years on a lease for lives by one
of the numerous branches of the family of Davies, now all extinct.
This parish has abounded in mines, especially in the manors of
Treveneage and Tregurtha; but the most remarkable in its consequences
was a mine called Whele Fortune, on Trowall or Truthwell, belonging to
Lord Godolphin, as it enabled Mr. Lemon to move on the great scale
which afterwards so eminently distinguished him; as it laid the
foundation of Mr. Blewett’s large fortune; and brought forward Captain
Dewen, whose fortune descended on two daughters, one married to the
Rev. George Borlase, Fellow of All Souls, and son of the historian;
the other married to Mr. Keir, a gentleman in the profession of
medicine.
The church is situated on a commanding elevation, and would be an
imposing object throughout the whole neighbourhood, if it were not
disfigured by an insignificant spire.
The church and churchyard contain several monuments to the Godolphins,
Pennecks, Milletts, Blewetts, &c.
On a stone, now made the floor of a seat in the south-east corner of
St. Hilary church, is the following curious inscription to one of the
Godolphins.
Aquila quæ volucres cœli supereminet omnes,
Et Caper e summis qui carpit montibus herbam,
Quique tuum referens _Godolphin_ nomen in undis
Delphinus, piscesque regit, cursuque fatigat;
Hæc bene te natum proavis insignia monstrant
Per cœlum, et terras, et vasta per æquora claris,
Et tua te virtus cunctis majoribus æquat.
Sic transit Gloria Mundi!
Et quæ modo candida Nix est,
Phœbo splendente, liquescit.
Et quæ modo florida vigent
Per amœnos Lilia campos,
Citius quam dicere possis,
Aspectu Solis eoi
Marcescunt; sic violentis
Fatorum legibus omnes
Cedunt, juvenesque senesque,
Sic qui modo floruit inter
Primos, generosus, et inter
Claros; quos vexit honoris
Summi ad fastigia virtus;
Nulli pietate secundus,
_Godolphin_ morte peremptus,
Fatis succumbit iniquis.
Humana hinc discite quàm
Vita incerta et brevis!
Sic transit Gloria Mundi!
In connection with the church, one of those casual coincidences may be
noticed, which continued to be remembered and cited for more than a
century in this parish, and to obtain belief or discredit, as an
interposition of Providence, according to the religious or the
political opinions of those who heard or related it.
It seems that a Mr. Palmer held this living previously to the
Restoration of King Charles II. and that he was one among the two
thousand, who in obedience to the dictates of their consciences, from
the fear of disgrace, or from political motives, refused, “In the
church, chapel, or place of public worship belonging to their
benefices or promotions, upon some Lord’s Day before the Feast of St.
Bartholomew, which should be in the year of our Lord God one thousand
six hundred and sixty-two, openly, publickly, and solemnly to read the
morning and evening prayer, appointed to be read by and according to
the Book of Common Prayer, at the times thereby appointed, and after
such reading thereof, and openly and publickly before the congregation
there assembled, to declare their unfeigned assent to the use of all
things in the said book contained and prescribed.” See the Act of
Uniformity, anno decimo tertio et quarto Caroli II. ch. 4.
In consequence of this refusal the two thousand incumbents were
ejected without any provision or allowance whatever, so that many of
them perished from actual want. Several thus ejected without doubt
continued the exercise of their sacred functions among such as were
desirous or willing to assist at them; and for this offence Mr. Palmer
was called before magistrates appointed by the new government, who
ordered his commitment to prison, when the ejected vicar is said to
have addressed Mr. Robinson, of Treveneage, one of the magistrates, in
the words of Micaiah, “If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath
not spoken by me.”
Within a short time after this vaticination Mr. Robinson met his death
by the goring of his own bull.
It would be inexcusable in me if I were to leave this parish without
noticing the late Vicar, from whose kindness I received information
whenever it was asked, in those sciences which have afforded me
uninterrupted entertainment and delight throughout the whole
continuance of a protracted life.
The Reverend Malachy Hitchins was born in the parish of Gwenap, about
the year 1740; possessed of hereditary claims to mathematical
attainments as the nephew of Mr. Thomas Martyn, well known by his
excellent map of Cornwall published about that time; a map then
equalling if not surpassing the best county maps of England, and still
almost unrivalled for minute and accurate topography, including the
boundaries of parishes――the work of fifteen years labour.
I have not succeeded in acquiring any information respecting Mr.
Hitchins in his early years, with the exception of a general report of
his being then distinguished by the ability, accuracy, and diligence
conspicuous in his future years.
These qualities, and probably his near connection with Mr. Martyn,
recommended Mr. Hitchins as an assistant to Mr. Benjamin Donne in
constructing a map of Devonshire, an occupation decisive of his future
life, for at Bideford he became acquainted with Miss Hockin, whom he
married, and acquiring with her an accession of fortune, he proceeded
to Oxford, and became a member of Exeter College, with the view of
obtaining orders. But Mr. Hitchins possessed talents and acquirements
that could not admit of his remaining undistinguished at a place of
learning. He was soon noticed by the mathematicians, and recommended
to the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal, to assist him at
the Royal Observatory; and when Doctor Maskelyne went to St. Helena,
in the year 1761, to observe the transit of Venus, and to ascertain,
if it were possible, the parallax of Sirius, Mr. Hitchins had the
whole care of the Observatory entrusted to his hands.
Another object of Doctor Maskelyne’s voyage, and one eventually of by
far the greatest importance, was to prove from actual experience that
Longitudes at sea might be derived from observations on the moon.
Tables founded on the theory of gravitation and of inertia, as laid
down by SIR ISAAC NEWTON, had then been constructed by Tobias Mayer,
of Gottingen, and communicated to Dr. Maskelyne in manuscript,
representing the moon’s place at all times in the heavens, within
narrow limits; and the admirable instrument invented by Mr. John
Hadley, by rendering the apparent contact of two objects, independent
of all agitations of the instrument itself, enabled observers to
ascertain the distance of the moon from the sun, or from a star,
almost as accurately on board a ship as on the solid land. With these
assistances the determination of a ship’s longitude became an easy
problem. The moon is converted into the hand of a clock, indicating by
its distance from a particular star, the time at Greenwich Observatory
made the first meridian. This distance is ascertained by Hadley’s
sextant, and after applying certain corrections for parallax and
refraction, the time at Greenwich becomes known. The actual time at
the place of observation is then determined from the altitude of some
celestial body, and thus differences in the longitude required.
Doctor Maskelyne having fully verified the complete practicability of
this method, procured through the Board of Longitude the publication
of Mayer’s tables, accompanied by a reward or premium, under an Act of
Parliament, to his widow, of three thousand pounds; and soon
afterwards the same eminent and patriotic astronomer devised and
executed a work absolutely necessary for enabling ordinary persons to
avail themselves of this important discovery, namely the Nautical
Almanac, in which the sun’s place is accurately given for the noon of
each day, the place of the moon for noon and midnight of each day, and
the true angular distance of the moon from the sun, and from certain
stars for every third hour of the day and of the night throughout the
year, together with the equation of time, the places of the planets,
&c.: thus saving to observers perhaps ninety-nine parts out of a
hundred of the calculations that were previously indispensible.
The labour of such a work must obviously require many hands,
especially as without great care in constructing the original
calculation, and in correcting the press, it would prove worse than
useless. To ensure this accuracy, the most important parts were
performed in duplicate by different persons, and the whole carefully
collated and verified by the superior officer, called the Comparer,
under the ultimate superintendence of the Astronomer Royal himself.
In constructing the first Nautical Almanac that appeared, for 1767,
Mr. Hitchins performed the office of a computer; but for all the
others, up to the period of his decease in 1809, he most
advantageously, not only for this country but for the whole world,
executed the office of comparer.
The Lunar tables are now carried to a degree of perfection far
exceeding those of Mayer, and the Nautical Almanac has been enlarged
and improved; but the glory of devising the work remains with Doctor
Maskelyne, and perhaps scarcely a less degree of glory with Mr.
Hitchins, for having conducted it with unrivalled accuracy for a
period extending through so great a number of years.
During his residence at Greenwich Mr. Hitchins had received holy
orders; and, as the office of comparer did not confine him to any
particular place, he removed to Exeter, and soon obtained the vicarage
of Hennock, to hold for a minor. He did not fail however of attracting
attention from the clergy of the Cathedral, and about the year 1774
Bishop Keppell collated him to St. Hilary, which had lapsed in
consequence of a dispute between two of the numerous patrons claiming
unsettled turns to the presentation. Here Mr. Hitchins resided
respected and admired till the close of his life, on the 28th of March
1809; having been distinguished by the succeeding Bishop of Exeter,
Dr. John Ross, who conferred on him the adjoining vicarage of Gwinear.
Mr. Hitchins had four sons and one daughter.
The eldest, Richard, was a Fellow of Exeter College, and died
unmarried on a college living.
The second, Thomas, also a clergyman, married Miss Emma Grenfell, of
Marazion; he served for many years a church near Plymouth, and has
left several children.
The third, Malachy, inherited his father’s genius with his name. He
filled the office for some time that his father had occupied in the
Royal Observatory; but ultimately preferring the law, he settled at
Marazion, where he died at an early age in December 1802.
The fourth son, Fortescue, was also in the law, and settled at St.
Ive’s. He distinguished himself as a poet and as a writer, having
taken a considerable share in compiling a History of Cornwall; but his
life was also restricted to a narrow space.
The only daughter, Josepha, married William Millett, Esq. originally
of Gurlin in St. Erth, and is now a widow with several sons.
Mr. Hitchins had his time too much occupied to allow of his composing
any considerable work. He made one communication however to the Royal
Society, and another to the Society of Antiquaries; besides these
there are various minor publications, some bearing his name, and
others the signature of Vatum Ultimus, alluding to his which is not
uncommon in Cornwall, is probably derived not immediately from the
Hebrew Prophet, but from St. Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, who is
said to have died in the arms of St. Bernard in the year 1148.
Mr. Hitchins was succeeded by the Reverend Thomas Pascoe, the present
vicar.
The Parish Feast is celebrated on the Sunday nearest to the 13th of
January, the day of the patron Saint.
St. Hilary measures 3228 statute acres.
And here it is right to state that all the measurements of parishes
were made by Mr. Hitchins, from the boundaries laid down in his
uncle’s map, and that they are copied from a manuscript which he had
the kindness to give me in Oct. 1805.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3322 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 676 16 0
Population, {in 1801,| in 1811,| in 1821,| in 1831,
{ 990 | 1248 | 1558 | 1728
giving an increase of 74½ per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is similarly constituted to the adjacent parishes of St.
Erth and Gwinear, being all situated on a line running north-east and
south-west, between the large masses of granite of the Land’s End and
of Cambrea.
St. Michael’s Mount, adjoining the shore of this parish, is an object
of great attention to the geologist as well as to the tourist. It is
composed almost entirely of granite, having only two small patches of
slate, one on the western and the other on the eastern side; at these
two places, and more particularly at the latter, the junction of the
granite and of the slate may be seen, the slate being intersected with
numerous granite veins. The granite of the Mount is not so
large-grained as that of the Land’s End; but the structure of the rock
is no where better displayed than at this place on the southern side;
where the whole mass is distinctly divided into large quadrangular
blocks, and is traversed in a direction parallel to the divisions, by
quartz veins, which contain crystals of mica, of apatite, and of
topaz, and also the ores of tin, copper, and wolfram, the latter of
which is the most abundant.
One most important geological fact is here beautifully exhibited. That
the mineral composition of granite is altered in the vicinity of
quartz veins, whether they are metalliferous or otherwise; approaching
these veins the granite becomes more and more siliceous, until at
length it gradually passes into the quartz, which forms the body (or
matrix as it is called) of the veins. A fact difficult to reconcile
with the generally received opinion, which assumes all veins to have
been originally fissures, subsequently filled up from above or beneath.
[6] William of Worcester.
HILL, NORTH.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Lewanack,
east Lezant, south and west Linkynhorne. Under what district this
parish was taxed in Domesday Roll I know not; however, in the
Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value
of Cornish Benefices, 1294, “Ecclesia de Northill in decanatu de
Estwellshire” was taxed £6; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £36. 6_s._
8_d._ The patronage is in Darley; the incumbent Darley. The parish is
rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, £211. 12_s._
Trebatha, in this parish, which after the English-Cornish may be
interpreted a town of baths, or washing fountains, otherwise the town
of clubs or bats, is the dwelling of an old family of gentlemen
surnamed Spour. The present possessor Henry Spour, Gent. that married
Rhodes, and giveth for his arms, Gules, on a chevron Or, a rose of the
first between two mullets or spur rowells Sable pierced. Now Charles
Grylls, Esq. married the daughter and heir of Spour, relict of Bellot,
of Bochin. She surviving her husband, without issue, as I am informed,
is married to her cousin Rodd, and to him and his heirs hath conveyed
all her lands.
Batt-in, Batt-en, in this parish, from which place was denominated an
old family of gentlemen surnamed Battin, whose only daughter and heir,
in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, was married to one Mr.
Vincent, a barrister-at-law, that came down the Western Circuit with
the judges, and so together with herself brought this barton into his
family.
The late possessor, John Vincent, Gent. sometime Fellow of All Souls
College in Oxford, originally descended, as I am informed, from the
Vincents of Stoke Dabernon in Surrey, and giveth the same arms, viz.
Azure, three quatrefoils Argent. His younger brother, Mr. Matthias
Vincent, was bound or bred an apprentice with a merchant at London,
and having but a small fortune to begin trade with, yet for his care
and industry was so taken notice of in London that he was sent by the
East India Company as one of their factors to Surat in the Mogul’s
country, where by his skill in factorage and merchandize, but chiefly
by marriage with a Portugal merchant’s daughter and heir, he obtained
a great quantity of riches, goods, and chattels; whereupon he left his
servile trade of a factor to others, and returned with his family and
riches safely into England, temp. James II. by whom he was knighted,
and in one of his Parliaments was chosen a burgess for the town of
Lestwithell, and served in that capacity for some time, till an
unlucky accident happened between him and his wife, or lady, who upon
some real or feigned grounds grew jealous of his familiarity with
another, privately eloped from him, carrying with her great quantities
of his gold and jewels. He left issue by her two sons, lately living,
though, as I am told, this estate for the most part is spent or
consumed.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has not made any addition to the history of this parish.
THE EDITOR.
By far the principal place in this parish is Trebartha, now for three
descents the residence of the very respectable family of Rodd.
Mrs. Grylls bequeathed her property to Mr. Francis Rodd, of
Herefordshire, a Captain in the Guards, not as her relation but as her
intended third husband. This gentleman was succeeded by his son
Francis Rodd, for many years Colonel of the Cornwall Militia. He
married one of the three coheiresses of Heale and Paynten, and left
three sons, Francis Heale Rodd, Esq. the present possessor of
Trebartha; the Rev. Edward Rodd, D.D. and Rector of St. Just in
Roseland, heretofore Fellow of Exeter College, and Proctor of the
University of Oxford in the year 1802; and Sir John Tremayne Rodd, an
Admiral. Also two daughters, Jane and Harriet, the latter married to
Mr. Fursdon, of Devonshire.
Trebartha is in many respects worthy of being reckoned among the first
places in Cornwall. The scenery, grand in other respects, is rendered
still more so by the addition of a mountain torrent; and the house has
been greatly improved by the late proprietor and the present, who has
chiefly resided there, highly respected as a magistrate, as a
gentleman, and as the benefactor of his neighbourhood. Mr. Rodd was a
Fellow of All Souls, and during the war he served, as his father had
done before him, in the defence of his country.
Mr. Lysons says that the Lord of the Manor of Treveniel, which was
passed from the Carews to the Spours, and from them to Rodd, claims by
immemorial custom of the Mayor of Launceston the service of holding
his stirrup whenever he shall mount his horse in that town in presence
of the Duke of Cornwall; a claim, however, difficult to prove by any
exercise of it, even within legal memory, and now rendered obsolete by
disusage if that effect is ever produced.
The presentation to the living is in Mr. Rodd. The church is large,
consisting of three entire ailes with a lofty tower, and placed on a
commanding eminence. The interior is adorned with several splendid
monuments of the present and former families resident at Trebartha.
The present rector is the Rev. E. Trelawny, instituted in 1828.
North-hill measures 6,815 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5102 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 531 8 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 782 | 803 | 1089 | 1155
giving an increase of nearly 14¾ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The western half of this parish is situated on granite, and the
eastern half on slate belonging to the porphyritic series. The rocks
of both resemble those of the corresponding parts of Alternum.
HILL, SOUTH.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north
Linkynhorne, east Stoke Climsland, south Killaton, west St. Ive. At
the time of the Domesday-tax this parish, I suppose, was rated under
the jurisdiction of Stoke Climsland or Trewollea, or Trewoolea. In the
Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester aforesaid, 1294,
Ecclesia de Sut Hill was rated cxiii_s._ iv_d._; in Wolsey’s
Inquisition £38. The patronage in the King or Duke of Cornwall; the
incumbent Trelawny, Dean of Exeter; and the parish rated to the 4_s._
per pound Land Tax, 1696, 139_l._ 4_s._
Quere, whether Killington Church be not a daughter to or consolidated
into this church?
Mana-ton, in this parish, gave name and origin to an old family of
gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Manaton; the present possessor,
Francis Manaton, Esq. Receiver-general of her Majesty’s Land Tax, that
married Huckmore, and giveth for his arms, Argent, on a bend Sable,
three mullets of the Field.
TONKIN.
It is so called from its situation in respect to North Hill, and its
church lying on a high hill. The patronage in Trelawny. The incumbent
Mr. Hele Trelawny, who succeeded his kinsman Edward Trelawny, Dean of
Exeter.
Manor of Kellyland. This is the chief estate in the parish, it is
called Conylond by Mr. Carew, through mistake, in one place, as he
rightly names it in another, and is there said to be held by the Baron
of Stafford.
The manor of Manaton, which I take to signify Stony Hill, as corrupted
from main, a stone, and doon, a hill, has been ever the seat, perhaps
from before the Conquest, of the family of that name, though the head
of it Francis Manaton, Esq. has lately removed to Kilworthy, near
Tavistock, which fell to him on the death of his kinsman Henry
Manaton, Esq. of that place, and of Harwood in Calstock. Since his
removal the house here, which was ruinous, has been left to fall,
which I should scarce have noticed had I not observed the old arms of
this family painted on glass in the hall there, Sable, a saltire Vairy
between twelve crosses pattee fitchy Or, within a border Argent; which
they have changed for, Argent, a bend Sable charged with three mullets
of the Field, their present bearing.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Whitaker, in a note, suggests Manach Don, or Ton, the Monk’s
House, as the derivation for Manaton.
Mr. Lysons says that two thirds of the great manor of Calliland or
Kalliland, passed from the baronial family of Stafford, by a
coheiress, to Willoughby Lord Brook, and are now vested in Lord
Clinton; the other third was in the Crown, and was granted by King
Richard the Third to John Coryton, Esq. of Newton; that it belonged in
1620 to the Glanvilles, and is now vested in Richard Strode, Esq. and
that Manaton is become the property of Sir William Call. Lord Clinton
is patron of the rectory; which was called St. Sampson’s de Southill,
in honour no doubt of St. Sampson already mentioned, a native of
Monmouthshire, and afterwards a Bishop in France.
The church is large, and placed on an elevated situation, and contains
memorials of the Manaton family.
The Rev. John Trefusis, instituted in 1802, is the present rector.
Southill measures 3089 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2622 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 507 10 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 447 | 466 | 534 | 530
giving an increase of 18½ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
The eastern part of this parish nearly touches the granite of Hingston
Down. Like the adjoining parish of Callington, its rocks are
felspathic; and they are intersected by beds of porphyry, and by
numerous metalliferous veins. The rocks of the other parts of the
parish are rather anomalous, being such as occur between the
porphyritic and the calcareous series.
JACOBSTOW.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north
Poundstock, east St. Mary Wick, west St. Gennis, south Otterham.
In the Domesday Tax, 1087, this parish passed under the jurisdiction
of Pen-fon, or Pen-foun. In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln
and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Jacobstow in decanatu de
Trigmajorshire was valued vi_l._; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and
Valor Beneficiorum 19_l._; the patronage in Elliot; the incumbent
Holden; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696,
113_l._ 14_s._
Pen-fon, now Penfowne aforesaid, i. e. head well, spring of water or
fountain, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen
surnamed de Penfowne, who have lived here in good fame and reputation
for many generations.
TONKIN.
I take St. Jacob to be the patron Saint of this parish, and not the
patriarch Jacob, as some have imagined.
The termination Stowe comes from the Saxon, and means a home or a
dwelling.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Lysons mentions some few particulars respecting this parish. He
says that Sawacott, or Southcot, is the sole village in the parish;
and that a manor called Penhallam, having belonged to a Sir John
Stowell in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, has passed through various
hands, and that it had been finally purchased about the year 1802 by
the Rev. Charles Dayman.
The barton of Berry Court has its mansion surrounded by a moat,
indicative of ancient importance, but nothing seems to be known of its
history.
In Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses may be found the following account of a
native of this parish:
Degorie Wheare was born at Jacobstow in Cornwall; retired to the
habitation of the Muses called Broadgate Hall (Pembroke College) in
the beginning of the year 1592, aged 19; took the degrees in Arts,
that of Master being completed in 1600; elected probationer fellow of
Exeter College; and six years afterwards leaving that house, travelled
into several countries beyond the seas, by which he obtained as well
learning as experience.
At his return he was entertained by the Lord Chandois, and by him
respected and exhibited to. After his death our author with his wife
retired to Gloucester Hall, where Doctor Hawley, the Principal,
demised to him lodgings; and there he became so well acquainted with
Mr. Thomas Allen, that by his endeavours the learned Cambden made him
his First Reader of his History Lecture which he founded in the
University.
Soon after he was made Principal of the Hall, the which with his
Lecture he kept to his dying day; and was esteemed by some a learned
and genteel man, and by others a Calvinist.
Having entered at Oxford in the year 1592, aged, as his friend states,
nineteen years, the date of his birth must be 1573; and it appears
from the Fasti of Gloucester Hall, now Worcester College, that he died
in 1647, aged therefore 74. His chief works are,
Prælectiones Hiemales de Ratione et Methodo Legendi Historias Civiles
et Ecclesiasticas; this work has gone through several editions, and
been translated into English.
Oratio Auspicalis ubi Cathedram Historicam primum ascendit.
Parentatio Historica――Commemoratio Vitæ et Martis Gulielmi Camdeni,
cum Imaginis Camdenianæ Dedicatione.
Lord St. German’s (Eliot) is patron of the living, and the present
rector is the Rev. John Glanville, instituted in 1822.
Jacobstow measures 4,206 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2098 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 270 6 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 432 | 489 | 571 | 638
giving an increase of 47⅔ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is entirely situated on the Dunstone rocks, mentioned
under the heads of Boyton and St. Gennys. To the cursory observer few
opportunities offer themselves here for studying the nature of the
rocks; but perhaps many quarries or similar excavations may be known
to those who are resident.
ILLOGAN.
HALS.
Is situate in the Hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north the
Irish sea, west Gwithian, south Camburne, east St. Agnes.
In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294,
Ecclesia Sancti Illogani was valued to first fruits £8. In Wolsey’s
inquisition 1521, by the same name, £22. 7_s._ 5_d._; the patronage in
Basset, the incumbent Basset; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per
pound Land Tax 1696, by the same name, £191. 16_s._
The lordship of Ty-hiddy, alias Ty-lud-y, in this parish, hath from
the time of Henry the Third, how long before I know not, been the seat
of the ancient and knightly family of the Bassets, whose first
ancestor came out of Normandy with William the Conqueror 1066, and was
posted in those parts a soldier under Robert Earl of Morton and
Cornwall, of whose posterity (an officer or soldier 17th Edward II.)
was William Basset, who was then possessed of £40 _per annum_ in lands
and rents in knight service. Carew’s Surv. Corn. p. 51. William
Basset, of Ty-hyddy, 3 Henry IV. held in that place and Trevalga, one
knight’s fee of Morton, (idem liber); John Bassett was Sheriff of
Cornwall 28 Henry VI. when John Chudleigh was Sheriff of Devon; John
Basset was Sheriff of Cornwall 13 Henry VII. when Peter Edgecomb was
Sheriff of Devon; John Basset, Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall 13
Henry VIII. when William Courtenay was Sheriff of Devon. The present
possessor, Francis Basset, Esq. that married the relict of Sir William
Gerrard, Knight, and after her decease Pendarves, of Roscrowe family;
his father Lucy, the inheritrix of Heale, of Bradinge; his
grandfather, Sir Francis Basset, Anna, daughter of Sir Jonathan
Trelawney, Knight. Sir Francis Basset’s two younger brothers were bred
soldiers; and in the unhappy wars between King Charles I. and his
Parliament, were, for their valour and good conduct in his service,
knighted, but by the unfortunate end and success of that Prince and
his wars, afterwards lived and died under the pressure of misfortune.
And here I take it worth remembrance that Sir Francis Basset, Knight,
aforesaid, in the beginning of the reign of King Charles II. in the
morning about ten o’clock on Ty-hyddy downs, himself or his falconer
let fly a goshawk or tassell to a heathpolt or heathcock, which they
had there sprung or started on the wing, which birds of game and prey
in a short while flew eastwards, over St. Agnes parish, and quite out
of sight, so that they despaired of ever finding them again; but, the
next day, before twelve o’clock, to their wonder and amazement, a
person sent from the Mayor of Camelford, brought both to Ty-hyddy to
Sir Francis; the hawk well and alive, with his varvells on his legs,
whereon his owner’s name aforesaid was inscribed, but the heathpolt
was dead; which messenger gave this further account of this rare
accident, that the day before, as near as could be computed, about a
quartes or half an hour after ten o’clock in the morning, the said
hawk, in the midst of Camelford town, struck down his game dead upon
the spot; so that by computation their flight straight forward, only
in half an hour’s space, was at least thirty-two Cornish miles.
For what reason Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, gives such a
slighting relation of this famous family, I know not; his words be
these: p. 154, Beyond Nants Mr. Basset possesseth Ty-hyddy, who
married Godolphin, his father Coffyn, and giveth for his arms as
aforesaid.
In this parish, at ――――, liveth Reginald An-gove, Gent. i. e. Reginald
the Smith, a sirname assumed in memory of his first ancestor, who was
by trade and occupation a smith.
And of this sort of sirname in England, thus speaks Verstegan,
From whence came smith, all be it Knight or ’Squire?
But from the smith that forgeth in the fire.
This Reginald Angove is that subtle crafty tinner, whom common fame
reports to have gotten a considerable estate by labouring,
adventuring, and dealing in tin, both in the mines below and blowing
houses above ground, by indirect arts and practices; for which, about
the 8th of William and Mary, he was indicted before the jury of
tinners (whereof the writer of these lines was summoned for one)
amongst other things, for putting hard heads of false metal and lead
in the midst of slabs of tin, melted and cast in his blowing-house, in
testimony whereof some pieces or slabs thereof was cut in pieces, and
the fallacy detected; whereupon the Grand Jury returned the bill of
indictment, indorsed, Billa Vera. But on his trial there was given a
verdict of acquittal.
_Carne Bray._ Upon the top of a very high rocky mountain in this
parish, which takes a large view over the land from the north to the
south sea, that is to say, from St. George’s channel to the British
ocean, and also towards the Land’s End and Scilly islands, stands
Castle Carne Bray, erected long before the art of guns was invented.
It is situate upon the summit of a large, lofty, and tremendous rock,
built four-square of lime and stone, about forty feet high and twenty
feet square; wherein, as appears from the beam holes, windows, and
chimneys, were two planchins, besides the leads of the top thereof,
though now there are not to be seen either leads or beams, only the
walls, windows, chimneys, and garrets thereof are still extant and
uniform, which, maugre all the force of wind and weather, are likely
to stand firm till the final consummation of all things. It hath but
one way of access or entrance into it, through a little hole
artificially cut in the rock, under the foundation of its wall, about
four feet high; the other parts thereof being surrounded with
inaccessible rocks, carnes, and downfalls. Some such castle or
fortification Cæsar mentions in his Commentary at Uxelodunum, for
Uchell-dun-en, i. e. the lofty fort or fortress [in Gallia]. I take
this castle to be the Watch Tower mentioned by Orosius, opposite to
such another in Gallicia; which Mr. Carew and Mr. Camden conjecture
stood near St. Ive’s. Near this castle, on the top of this mountain,
are divers circular walls or fortifications, made of rocks and
unwrought stones, after the British manner (see Gonwallo); and a never
intermitting spring, or fountain of water, for the use of the
inhabitants thereof. Probably this castle was built by some of the
Brays of Cornwall, or those that came into England with William the
Conqueror of that name, otherwise so called from the natural
circumstances of the place, Carne.
In this parish also I take it stands another mountain, though of less
magnitude, called Carne-Kye; but this place is much more famous and
notable for the great quantities of tin that have been for many ages,
and are still found and brought to land from the bottoms thereof, than
for its appellation, to the great enriching its lords of the soil and
adventurers.
There is no tradition or memory of the person who built this costly
and tremendous castle aforesaid, or tower; or for what use it was made
other than to dwell in it, comparatively above the middle region of
the air in those parts, more than what is expressed in the name
thereof, Bray’s Castle. Undoubtedly whatever human creature it was
that dwelt in it and possessed the same, he was a person that had
unparalleled confidence in the strength thereof, for his safety and
protection, such as never any person after his quitting ever attempted
to enjoy for the pleasure of his five senses.
TONKIN.
Tehidy; this lordship of Tehidy has been for many ages in the
possession of the ancient, famous, and knightly family of Bassets,
whose ancestors came out of France with William the Conqueror, and
were posted among the standing troops in this county under Robert Earl
of Morton.
Most certainly they were possessed of this lordship some short while
after the Conquest; and from hence have sprung many noble and famous
men in their generation.
Then, after copying Mr. Hals, Mr. Tonkin goes on to say,
At Carnekye is a considerable tin-work, chiefly pertaining to the
Bassets, out of which has been raised above a hundred thousand pounds
worth of tin, to the no small profit of the adventurers and of that
family.
At Nants or Nance (the valley) was the dwelling of an old and
well-regarded family of gentlemen, the Trengoves of Warlegan, the name
from Gove, a smith.
These gentlemen have returned to their ancient habitation of Trengoff,
in the parish of Warlegan; and the present possessors are denominated
Nance from the place, giving for their arms, Argent, a cross Sable.
Mr. Tonkin then adds,
Tehidy. The first owner that I meet with of this noble lordship was
Dunstanville; and then Basset, who was his grandson or nephew.
Reginald de Dunstanville was a Baron of the Realm in the time of King
Henry the First, and I take him to be the person meant in Testa de
Neville; ever since which this lordship has been in this ancient and
noted family. I shall only add, that the family now residing here, are
descended from George Basset, the third son of Sir John Basset, of
Umberly in Devonshire, and of Tehidy, who had Tehidy for his portion.
Leland saith, “Basset hath a right goodly lordship called Tehidy by
the Cornish. There was some time a park, now defaced.” And well he
might call it a right goodly lordship, since it hath the advowsons of
three large parishes, this parish, Camborne, and Redruth, with the
royalties of wrecks, &c. thereto belonging.
The present lord of the manor is John Pendarves Bassett, Esq. a minor,
and at present a Gentleman Commoner of Queen’s College, Oxford, who is
heir in expectance to his mother of all the estate of Pendarves of
Roscrow, and is likely to come into the estate of the greatest of his
ancestors in this county, by means of this accession, and of a rich
copper mine called the Pool, within this manor, which has been and is
still productive of tin and copper very rich in the ore.
The arms of Basset are, Or, three bars wavy Gules; but sometimes these
bars are Dancette and the field Argent, as they are painted in the
church windows of Camborne and Redruth.
The castle and park wall are still standing; and I have been informed
by several old men, particularly by the late Mr. Udy West, of Redruth,
that all the rocky grounds under Carnbray Castle, and from thence to
Porth-Treth, were covered with stout trees in their remembrance; so
that squirrels (of which there were many) could leap from one tree to
the other all the way. These were mostly destroyed in the Civil Wars,
and the rest were cut down by the old Lady Basset, who had it in
jointure, so that now there is not the least sign of any trees ever
having grown there.
THE EDITOR.
All the attempts at etymology in relation to this parish have been
omitted, on the ground of their not bearing even the slightest
resemblance to probability.
It has been conjectured that Il-luggan may have some reference to St.
Luke, as the parish feast takes place on the nearest Sunday to St.
Luke’s day, October the 18th. But Luggan, indicating an uncultivated
or uninclosed tract of ground, would seem to bear a near relation to
the state of this district at no remote period.
Mr. Whitaker adheres to Saint Illuggan on account of the parish being
designated as Ecclesia Sancti Illogani by the Bishops of Lincoln and
Winchester in 1294; and by Cardinal Wolsey. It has been already
remarked that many of the missionaries from the learned and zealous
Convents of Ireland, have left no other trace of their existence than
the names of parishes where they are usually honoured as Saints; in
the sense probably of Holy, and without implying the technical
deification of the Church of Rome, borrowed from ancient Mythology.
Saint Illuggan may have been one of those who converted the Celts of
Cornwall; but in the total absence even of tradition, this must be a
mere conjecture, and the name does not seem to bear any analogy to
others established by unquestionable authority.
Every attempt to decipher Tehidy has utterly failed. Mr. Angowe, who
has been brought forward by Mr. Hals in a manner not likely to acquire
for him much respect from posterity, resided at Trevenson, and left a
son, Mr. Abel Angowe. This gentleman was for some time a student at
Oxford, but ultimately preferred the law as an attorney. He married
Jane, daughter of Mr. Henry Phillips, of Carnequidden in Gulval, who
lived but a very short time; and Mr. Angowe died in consequence of a
fall from his horse about the year 1767. His large property became
divided among a great many distant relations, and has almost entirely
disappeared. The Angowes held Trevenson on lease for lives; the
freehold being in the families of Basset and Praed. Mr. Thomas Kivell,
steward to Lord Dunstanville, built a very excellent house there about
the year 1800, which has been still further improved by his successor
in the stewardship, Mr. Reynolds.
Menwinnion existed for centuries as a second house and appendage to
Tehidy; but it is now reduced in size, and converted to a farm.
Few parishes in Cornwall have flourished in an equal degree with
Illogan. It has abounded in the most productive mines of copper; the
dense population consequent to these great sources of employment has
covered the tracts formerly waste, with houses, with gardens, and with
cultivated fields; and a safe harbour has been constructed at
Portreath, for the reception of vessels engaged in the reciprocal
trade of exporting annually more than a hundred thousand tons of
copper ore to Swansea, and of bringing to Cornwall a still larger
quantity of coal.
And lastly, on the 25th of October 1809, when a jubilee was held all
over England, on the epoch of King George the Third commencing the
fiftieth year of his reign, Lord Dunstanville laid the first bar of an
iron tram road, for extending far into the country the facilities
afforded by this harbour and port, which has since been done;
notwithstanding a most illiberal attempt by persons interested in the
trade on the opposite coast, to convert a local Act of Parliament for
improving turnpike roads, the sole object of which must be to render
the conveyance of individuals and of property less expensive and more
commodious, into the means of obstructing this great improvement. See
the Journals of the House of Commons for the year 1817, and
particularly on the 16th of May.
But these, and all other improvements in Illogan, and its general
prosperity, are mainly owing to the continued residence, during six
centuries, of one of the most distinguished among those families,
which, having entered England in hostile array, assimilated themselves
to its laws, its customs, and its institutions; and have been found,
in all succeeding ages, the foremost defenders of its liberties and of
its independence.
The family of BASSET appears to have taken root in various parts of
its adopted country. Some branches were probably Barons from the
earliest times, some attained that dignity in subsequent periods;
others were distinguished in the law, and all in arms; and what must
not be omitted, the signature of Basset is found in the great charters
of our liberties, at the ratification of Magna Charta more than six
hundred years ago.
Mr. Hals brings down the family of Tehidy to Mr. John Pendarves
Basset, whom he leaves a Gentleman Commoner of Queen’s College,
Oxford. This gentleman married Ann, the only daughter and heiress of
Sir Edmund Prideaux, of Netherton in Devonshire, by Ann Hawkins,
daughter of Mr. Philip Hawkins, of Pennance, and died of the small-pox
in 1789, at the premature age of twenty-five. His brother, Mr. Francis
Basset, then took possession of the estate; but, unexpectedly to all
parties, the widow proved to be with child, and a son was born, who
lived to be sixteen, when the uncle came a second time into
possession. During this interval, the guardians of young Mr. Basset
finished the splendid house at Tehidy, commenced by his father; but,
notwithstanding this large expenditure, so great was the product of
the mines, and so considerable were the rents of the estate, that Mrs.
Basset is said to have acquired above a hundred thousand pounds from
her son’s personal effects; all of which was naturally left by her
among her own relations.
Mr. Francis Basset then settled principally at Tehidy; married
Margaret, daughter of Sir John St. Aubyn, and represented Penryn in
Parliament. Mr. Basset had three sisters; one married to the Rev. John
Collins, afterwards presented to the rectory of Redruth; Lucy, the
second daughter, married Mr. John Enys, of Enys, where his great
grandson John Samuel Enys, is now the representative of that ancient
family; the third married Nicholas Sweet Archer, of Trelaske and of
Truro.
Mr. Basset died in 1769, having only completed his fifty-fourth year,
leaving two sons, the eldest called after his own name; and John, who
became a clergyman, held the family living of Illogan, married Miss
Wingfield, and has left one son.
There were also four daughters; one married Mr. John Rogers, of
Penrose, the other three remained single.
Having now arrived at the period when Sir Francis Basset, jun. came
into possession of the family estate, the Editor would have found it
his most pleasing task to trace an outline, however slight, of this
distinguished person, in his splendid career through public and
through private life. If the topics for his commendation had been in
the least degree doubtful, the Editor would, indeed, have distrusted
his own power of discrimination in reference to one, whom he is proud
to claim, as the most liberal, generous, warm-hearted, and
disinterested friend that it has been his fortune to obtain in the
whole course of a pilgrimage through life, now exceeding sixty-seven
years; but recent events have made recollections painful, which used
to be associated with every thing most agreeable to the human mind.
Mr. Basset received the earlier part of his education at Harrow; but
about the period of his father’s decease, he removed to Eton, where,
in addition to useful and ornamental learning, these principles of
honour and liberality identified with the character of a true English
gentleman, are imbibed, practised, and wrought into habit at the early
age when _sincerum est vas_. After which, one can truly say
You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will, But the scent of
the roses will hang round it still.
After a residence of five years, from twelve to seventeen, at Eton,
Mr. Basset became a member of King’s College, Cambridge; and after
taking a degree, proceeded on the usual tour through France and Italy,
accompanied by the Rev. William Sandys, who, being the son of a former
Steward, had received his education for the express purpose of
becoming tutor to Mr. John Pendarves Basset, who is stated above to
have died at sixteen.
On his return to England, Mr. Basset found himself in possession of
abilities, joined to energy of mind; of a large estate, accompanied by
great accumulations from the mines; and in addition, of a local
influence assuring his introduction to Parliament. Thus circumstanced,
it was natural for him to take an active share in the politics of his
country, especially at a time when party spirit had acquired a height
never to be attained but in the midst of civil commotions.
The two first Princes of the German line had remained firmly united
with the Whig aristocracy, to whom they mainly owed what was then
denominated their legitimate or lawful crown, as distinguished from
others acquired by conquest or usurpation, or derived from a
succession founded on no other title than a mere continuance of
possession; but the victory of Culloden having finally extinguished
all hopes in those maintaining, or rather, one may suppose, professing
to maintain, indefeasible hereditary right, and having apparently
established the Whigs and the legitimate crown, proved nevertheless to
be the cause of their separation, and of the removal of the Whig
aristocracy from power at the next accession.
A mutual feeling naturally grew up, that time must transfer rights,
popularly termed indefeasible, from one race to another, when no
prospect of restoration remained; and the advisers of a young monarch
might easily persuade him, that new friends, holding such tenets,
would prove more acceptable supporters of their adopted crown than
those who originally bestowed it on principles of limitation. Hence
the parts imputed to Lord Bute and others, the re-action led by Mr.
Wilkes, the letters of Junius, and the final separation of America.
From combinations of these and of other causes, Mr. Basset found Lord
North first Minister of a Tory administration, and engaged in war with
America, and with France, Spain, and Holland; he eagerly joined that
party, and was subsequently hurried with it into the most fatal
measure that had occurred up to that period, the well known and well
remembered coalition.
But previously to this time, an event had taken place locally
connected with Cornwall, equally honourable to him who conducted a
large of body of miners to the relief of Plymouth, and to the miners
themselves who volunteered their services.
In the latter part of August 1779, the combined fleets of France and
Spain most unexpectedly steered into Plymouth Sound, and anchored
nearer to the shore than the base of the present Breakwater.
After the splendid successes of the Seven Years’ War, marine
fortifications had been wholly neglected as utterly useless, as never
to be wanted in future times; but in the sixteenth year after the
peace of 1763, the course of events demonstrated, that a naval force
may be re-established with much less effect, and in a shorter space of
time, than had been fondly imagined; and perhaps it also proved, that
military navies are not necessarily based on those used for mercantile
purposes.
A well-founded alarm spread immediately throughout the whole country,
that Plymouth was incompetent to sustain an attack; when instantly the
Cornish miners, worthy of the reputation long enjoyed by their
predecessors, rushed from all directions, and offered themselves as
volunteers to assist in defending Plymouth, and to exert their skill
and labour in perfecting the works; and Mr. Basset, acting as his
ancestors had done before, immediately placed himself at their head.
Thus a large and efficient force was, in the course of a few days,
added to our most important western arsenal.
On this occasion a patent was conferred on Mr. Basset, creating him a
Baronet; a gift rendered honourable by the cause for which it was
bestowed.
Since the nautical events of this period have attracted but little
attention from general historians, as they failed of producing any
decisive result, it may be well to state the most prominent facts.
The English fleet had been detained at home by various causes, and
especially by the court martial which honourably acquitted Admiral
Keppel. It sailed, however, at last to prevent a junction of the
French and Spanish fleets, but that junction had been effected; and
the combined fleet appeared in Plymouth Sound, while the fleet of
England was cruizing near Ushant, or in the Bay of Biscay.
Plymouth was undoubtedly open to their attack; and the individual
having the civil government of the dock-yard, is said to have actually
deliberated about taking the last desperate measure, for depriving the
enemy of every advantage to be derived from acquiring such stores as
might be consumed by fire.
The Ardent, a sixty-four gun ship of the line, arrived from
Portsmouth; and not suspecting that a hostile fleet could appear upon
our coast, and still less occupy our harbours, continued its course
into the midst of the ships, and became a prize; but not without
making a brave resistance, and endeavouring to escape by running
ashore.
The combined fleet, instead of attacking Plymouth, sailed in quest of
the adverse fleet, having manifestly taken their original course with
the view of giving battle; and what must be mentioned to their honour,
not a single act of wanton hostility was committed on any part of the
coast.
Every thing remained in suspense; watch and ward was established at
all points. The gentlemen in every parish assembled, such as had arms,
to take hasty instructions in military evolutions, while no one
ventured to whisper the extent of his apprehensions to others, or even
to avow them in his own mind; when, on the last day of August, both
fleets appeared between the Land’s End and the Lizard. In the night,
or in a fog, the fleets had passed each other; and the Editor
remembers seeing the English fleet collected together in a close mass,
making its way up the channel, to the amount of about forty sail of
the line, pursued by the combined fleet of nearly double that number,
in what is termed, line of battle a-head.
An action now seemed to be inevitable; but for some unknown cause, the
combined fleet discontinued the pursuit and returned to Brest, while
the English fleet anchored in Tor Bay.
On the dissolution of Parliament in 1784, Sir Francis Basset exerted
himself to the utmost, and made large sacrifices of money in support
of the unpopular coalition ministry, and he remained stedfast with
that defeated party till the whole political hemisphere became changed
in every aspect, by an event manifested in one country alone, but
originating from causes long in action, and imperceptively working
throughout an entire change of ancient institutions, with the very
form and shape perhaps of civilized society as it previously stood.
The conflict of opinion which gave rise to the French Revolution, has
but one parallel in the history of mankind; in the mental agitation,
almost amounting to phrensy, which accompanied and urged forward the
great change of religion three centuries before. That agitation and
conflict still divides Europe, although with diminished violence; and
possibly, therefore, an equal period may elapse before the questions,
relative to civil government and social order, shall have received
their final settlement, if, indeed, the period is ever to arrive.
Most of those in the dawn of youth possessed of eager minds and
liberal sentiments, were borne along by the torrent of passions,
excited by new systems, promising universal happiness, with increased
wisdom and virtue; founded on plans for reconstructing human society,
derived, it was said, from philosophical investigation, to be
substituted in the place of patched and mended institutions,
originating with savages in the forests of Scandinavia.
But Sir Francis Basset had the advantage of several years passed in
active experience with the world. He had learnt that the human
faculties are unequal to the formation of systems _a priori_, but must
submit to follow the more humble course of adaptation, tentative
experiment, and induction; and it was manifest that the new political
reasoners had entirely omitted to consider the real nature of the ὑλη
αμεταχειριστη forming the wide basis of society; or that they were
devising plans not suited to the actual state of things, but to one
which they fondly imagined was about to be.
Every page of history, moreover, might prove to those willing or
desirous of obtaining information from what has actually past, that
the crisis of change is invariably bad; and that objects, attained by
the sacrifice of an existing generation, have very frequently proved
of less value than those for which they had been substituted. Parties,
from their very natures, are known to run into extremes; it is
probable, therefore, that the leaders opposed to Mr. Pitt professed
much greater admiration of the new principles than they really felt;
such professions were, however, made; and Sir Francis Basset
concurring in opinion with many of the wisest, the best informed, and
of those most deeply interested in the welfare of the country, that
the safety of the state was at issue, added his weight to what would
now be termed the Conservative scale.
Sir Francis Basset, so distinguished by personal qualities and
attainments, by the antiquity of his family, by the achievements of
his ancestors, and by fortune, had long been designated in public
opinion as a person proper to be placed in the House of Peers; and
accordingly, on the 17th of July 1796, an hereditary seat in
Parliament was bestowed on him by the King, together with the nominal
Barony of Dunstanville, so called after Barons of that name, in the
time of Henry the First, Henry the Second, Richard Cœur de Lion, John,
and Henry the Third, who were equally connected with his family and
with the reigning family of Plantagenet.
A second creation took place on the 7th of November in the following
year, of Baron Basset, with a special remainder to his daughter in
failure of male issue.
Lord Dunstanville has from this period continued to support the
genuine character of a dignified English gentleman; discharging his
parliamentary duties in the manner deemed most useful to the interests
of his country; executing the office of a magistrate to the benefit,
and to the entire satisfaction, of his neighbourhood; setting an
example most worthy of general imitation, as the possessor of an
extensive landed estate, and as a most liberal proprietor of mines.
Kind and benevolent to every one, esteemed in the highest degree by
his private friends and relations, and certainly placed by general
acclamation, in regard to all these qualities and circumstances taken
together, as by far the first man in the county which he has benefited
and adorned.
The Editor has written this imperfect and inadequate sketch of Lord
Dunstanville with a heavy heart; for although his countenance
brightens at the presence of a friend, and memory still presents some
images of things past by, and reason continues to discriminate the
ideas brought into view, yet such are the ways of Providence, leading,
as we hope, believe, and trust to universal good, that a wreck only
remains of what used to excite our admiration, our respect, and our
esteem.
Lord Dunstanville married, May the 16th 1780, Frances Susanna,
daughter of John Hippesley Cox, Esq. of Stone Easton in Somersetshire,
who has left an only daughter, the Hon. Frances Basset. He married
secondly, Harriet, daughter of Sir William Lemon.
Illoggan measures 8,028 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 11,334 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1887 0 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 2895 | 4078 | 5170 | 6072
giving an increase of 110 per cent. very nearly, in 30 years.
The present rector, the Rev. George Treweeke, presented
by Lord de Dunstanville in 1822.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This extensive parish resembles that of Camborne in its geological
structure. Its southern portion rests on granite, which at Carnarthen
abounds in shorl; and at Carnkie it contains a bed of porphyry, with
crystals of felspar and of shorl; and at the same place another bed,
the basis of which more resembles compact shorl rock than it does
compact felspar. Near Portreath, and from thence to Perth Towan, the
slate appears to differ from that of Camborne; and at Perth Towan it
contains short irregular veins of calcareous spar, as at Porthalla in
St. Kevern, and at other places on the borders of the calcareous
series.
ST. JOHN’S.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Anthony,
east Maker, west Sheviock, south the British channel. The modern name
John is derived from the tutelar guardian and patron of the Church,
St. John the Evangelist. In the Domesday tax this parish was rated
under the district or manor of Makertone. In the Inquisition into the
value of Cornish benefices, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and
Winchester 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Johannis, in decanatu de
Eastwellshire, is valued xl_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition
12_l._ 4_s._ 4_d._; the patronage in ――――, the incumbent Tarr. The
parish is rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 72_l._ 0_s._
8_d._
TONKIN.
The manor of Insworth,
A Peninsula on whose neck, says Mr. Carew, standeth an ancient house
of the Champernons; and descended by his daughters and heirs to
Fortescue, Monck, and Trevilian, three gentlemen of Devon. The site is
naturally both pleasant and profitable; to which the owner, by his
ingenious experiments, daily addeth an artificial surplusage. Mr.
Tonkin then adds, this estate (as I am better informed) being in the
parish of Maker, I shall there treat more fully of it.
Sir Richard Champernon, of Madberie in Devon, Knt. had by Catherine
his wife, daughter of Ralph Daubeney, Knt. two sons, Richard and John.
He died in 1418, and gave this place to the said John, who lived here,
and left only one son, a Richard Champernon, who by his wife, the
daughter and heir of Sir John Hamley, Knt. left three daughters, one
of whom married Humphrey Monck, of Potheridge in Devon, Esq.
The said Sir John Champernon was Sheriff of Cornwall 24 Henry VI.
1445, as his son Richard in the first year of Edward IV. 1461.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Hals has not gone into any particulars respecting this parish; but
he has occupied several pages with the real and with the legendary
histories of the Evangelist, to whom the Church is dedicated; these
are omitted as unsuited to a local history.
Mr. Lysons says, that the manor of Tregenhawke, situated partly in
this parish and partly in Rume, and feudatory to the manor of East
Anthony, did belong to the family of Eliot, by whom it was alienated
in 1635 to Richard Treville, merchant; and that from the Trevilles it
passed by coheiresses to the families of Cross and Trelawny. The whole
now belongs to Lord Graves, who has also the manor of Withroe, called
in this parish Winnow.
The right of presentation is appendant to the honour of East Anthony.
An excavation in the cliff at Whitsand Bay is noticed as having been
made by Mr. Luggan, the proprietor of a farm called Freathy, by way of
exercise and amusement.
The church is, perhaps, of less dimensions than any other in Cornwall,
being no more than fifty-six feet long by eighteen in breadth; it
bears the appearance of antiquity, and is decorated by some monuments,
one to the family of Beel, with their arms, Azure, three griffins’
heads erased Argent.
This parish measures 872 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1,016 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 108 19 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 110 | 143 | 178 | 150
giving an increase of about 36 per cent. in 30 years.
Present rector, the Rev. William Rowe, instituted in 1808.
Dr. Boase says of the geology of this little parish, that its rocks
are precisely similar to those of East Anthony, to which it adjoins;
and may almost be considered as forming a part.
ST. ISSEY.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Pedyr, and hath upon the north the
channel of Padstow habour, south and east St. Breoch and part of St.
Colomb, west little Pedyrick. In Domesday roll 20 William I. 1087,
this district was taxed either under the jurisdiction of Polton or
Burge, now Burgus (i. e. Turris). In the Inquisition of the Bishops of
Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia
de Sancti Issei, in decanatu de Pedyr, is rated iiii_l._ vi_s._
viii_d._ Vicar ejusdem xlvi_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition
9_l._; the patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter; the incumbent
Harris, the rectory in Wright. The parish is rated to the 4_s._ in the
pound Land Tax 1696, 161_l._
There hath been for many ages in Cornwall, a certain sort of unlearned
men called attornies, who have taken upon them to solve all questions,
debts, damages, and difficulties whatsoever, by exciting or increasing
them, under pretence of friendship and good council, who are often
called upon to the assistance of men of lazy or weak understanding to
their undoing.
For instance thereof, I well remember in this parish of St. Issey
there had lived two brethren of the surname of Warne, who having some
small disputes or controversies one with the other, not determined,
concerning a tenement of land in fee, containing about fifty acres, at
a place called ――――; they appealed to two attornies, viz. Joseph
Hawkey, of St. Colomb, and Degory King, of St. Breock in Pider, who
run this their controversy so far in law and equity, that they were
not able to pay the cost thereof as punctually as those attornies
expected; thereupon they brought actions at law against their clients
for the same, and at length obliged the two brothers of the Warnes
aforesaid, to sell the inheritance of their lands aforesaid to their
attornies, the one half thereof to Hawkey and the other moiety thereof
to King, now in quiet possession thereof.
The inhabitants of this parish will tell you by tradition, that the
tutelar guardian of this church is one St. Giggy, who in a place so
called in this parish, hath yet extant a walled consecrated well, or
spring of water, where heretofore he heard and judged cases of
conscience for the cure of souls; but all further history of him is
wanting, save that they tell me St. Issey is only a corruption of
Giggy.
Hale-wyn in this parish (or Hall-wyn, the fair or white hill, as Hal
is a hill, and Wyn or Gwyn white or fair. Goonwyn in Lelant the fair
downs; Hale is a moor. Whitaker.) This lordship was from Edward the
Fourth’s days one of the dwellings of the Champernons, of Intsworth,
near Saltash; and in this place they had a great and magnificent
house, as appears from the walls and ruinous rubbish and downfalls
thereof yet to be seen, as also their domestic chapel and burying
place; in the glass windows of which chapel was lately to be seen this
inscription: “Orate pro anima Domini Ricardi de Campo Arnulphi;” and
beneath the same his paternal coat armour, viz. Gules, a saltire
Varry, between twelve cross-crosslets Or; which shews that he derived
his blood and bones from the Champernownes, of Clyst Champernowne in
Devon. For the Champernownes of Umberleigh and North Taunton, near
Modbury, gave for their armes, the one Gules, a saltire Varry; the
other, Gules, a saltire Varry between twelve billets Argent. [The name
is originally Latin, De Campo Arnulphi, then formed by the Norman
French into Champernulph, and finally formed by them, or by the
Cornish, into Champernown. Whitaker.]
Cannall-Lidgye in this parish is the voke lands of a considerable
manor, now in several persons’ hands; much of those lands being in
possession of Boscawen as I take it; the high rents are in Hart. As
part of the same, is the possession and birthplace of my very kind
friend and neighbour Thomas Carthew, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, who by his
indefatigable study and labour, first in the inferior practice of the
law under Mr. Tregena, without being a perfect Latin grammarian,
always using the English words for matters or things in his
declarations, where he understood not the Latin; who was at length, by
a mandamus from the Lord Keeper North, called to the bar, and the
generous practice of the law for some years, when afterwards in the
latter end of the reign of King William the Third, he had a call for
being made a Sergeant-at-Law, under which circumstance he grew into
such great fame and reputation that he is likely to make a
considerable addition of riches to his paternal estate.
He married North, a relation to the Lord Keeper North aforesaid; his
father, Baker, of Lanteglos, by Fowey; his grandfather Lawry; and
giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron Azure, between three ducks
Proper. The name is local, compounded of Car-dew, or Car-thew, i. e.
Rock Black in this parish. Long since the writing hereof, those his
lands of Canaligye are all sold by Mr. Carthew’s son and heir to two
of the brothers of Trebilliocks.
Trevance in this parish, i. e. the town upon the rising or advanced
land, is the dwelling of Richard Harris, Gent. that married Vivyan, of
Tollskidy; his father Moyle.
Tre-vor-ike in this parish, [Pryce, in his Archæologia Cornu-Britannica
says, Ick I take to signify either a creek, rivulet, or brook, as
Trevorick, the town or the brook. Whitaker.] is the dwelling of
William Cornish, Gent. that married Cornish, his father Tonkyn;
originally descended from one William Cornish that settled here
tempore Queen Mary, a Welshman. To this place belongs a sea-mill, a
healing or slate stone quarry, and a lime kiln, commonly made in
jointure to those gentlemen’s wives, to win whom in marriage this
argument amongst others was commonly used,
She that will this Squire marry,
Shall have the mill, the kill, and the quarry;
now all spent and wasted by ill conduct, and those lands sold to a
relation of his surnamed Cornish, or some other.
At Carthew, or Legarike, in this parish, is a considerable lead or
copper mine in the lands of Bearford or Bond; wherein many labouring
tinners are much employed as miners, and reap much benefit thereby, as
well as the lords of the lands or soil thereof.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has not any thing in addition to what is transcribed from
Mr. Hals.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this parish is called in some ancient writings,
Eglos-Crock and Nansant. The Dean and Chapter of Exeter are
impropriators of the great tithes, and patrons of the vicarage. The
church is very old, but decorated with a lofty tower; there are
monuments to Mr. Thomas Carthew, and to some of the vicars. The church
town is the largest village in this parish, and lies nearly midway
between Padstow and Wade Bridge. Mr. Lysons says that the manor of St.
Ide, extending from this parish into the adjacent parishes of Little
Petherick, St. Ervan, Breock, Padstow, and Mawgan, belonged
successively to the families of Hiwis, Coleshill, and Arundell, and at
a later period to the Morices. It was purchased by the late Mr. Thomas
Rawlings, of Padstow.
And Mr. Lysons adds that, Blayble, a small farm in St. Issey, now
belonging to Mr. Richard Williams, who occupies it, was at an early
period the seat of a branch of the Arundell family.
This parish measures 3,932 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2,050 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 508 13 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 522 | 632 | 660 | 720
giving an increase of 38 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Dr. Boase says, that St. Issey has the same geological structure as
the adjacent parish of St. Breock.
ST. IVES.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the east and north
the Irish Sea, south Leland, west Tywednick; as for the modern name,
it is taken from the tutelar guardian of the Church, which, as Mr.
Camden tells us (upon what authority I know not) was one Iia, an Irish
woman that preached the Gospel here. In the Domesday Tax, the 20th of
William I. 1087, both the town and parish were taxed under the
jurisdiction of Ludduham, now Lugian-lese manor, still extant here,
formerly pertaining to the King or Earl of Cornwall, now to the Duke
of Bolton, of whom the town of St. Ives’ privileges are held; and the
same manor is held, as I take it, of the Earl of Cornwall’s Castle of
Lancaster under certain rents.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the
value of the Cornish benefices 1294, “ecclesia de Lelant in decanatu
de Penwith,” is only taxed xxii_l._ xviii_s._ iiii_d._ without mention
either of St. Ives or Tywednick, probably at that time they were
neither erected or endowed; in Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, Ewny juxta
Lelant and St. Ives are rated together 22_l._ 11_s._ 10½_d._; St.
Ewny, that is to say Tywednike, and St. Ives being consolidated in
their mother church Lelant, did pass in presentation with it; the
patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed them; the incumbent
Hawkins, now Polkinhorn, the rectory in possession of Pitz; and the
parish rated at 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 158_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._
This town, as Mr. Camden saith, was formerly called Pendenis or
Pendunes, the head fort, fortress, or fortified place; probably from
the little island here, containing about six acres of ground, on which
there stands the ruins of a little old fortification and a chapel,
betwixt which island and the bending shore, or sea cliff, stands an
indifferent safe road for ships to lie at anchor with some winds,
which gives opportunity of trade and merchandize to the townsmen
(whose town is situate thereon) and also for fishing, whereby they
have much enriched themselves of late years.
The manor of Ludduham, formerly comprehending the parishes of
Ludduham, Lelant, Tywednick, and St. Ives, now so many districts, is a
lordship of great antiquity, and was privileged with the jurisdiction
of a court leet before the Norman Conquest, for under that name it was
then taxed (as aforesaid) though its now transnominated to Luggyan
Lese; in which stands the borough of St. Ives, which claims the
privileges thereof by prescription and tenure, all which are confirmed
by a charter of incorporation from King Charles I. afterwards by
another from King James II. by the name of the Mayor, Aldermen, and
Burgesses, which consists of a Mayor, ten Aldermen, and eleven Common
Councilmen; the Members of Parliament elected by freemen, alias scot
and lot men free there, who sign the indenture; the arms of which
borough is a cluster and branch of grapes or pomegranates; and the
precept on the writs for electing Members of Parliament from the
Sheriff, or removing any action at law depending in the court leet of
St. Ives, the writ must be thus directed: Preposits et Burgensibus
Burgi sui de St. Ives in Com. Cornub. salutem.
The chief inhabitants of this town are, Mr. Hitchins, Mr. Beer, Mr.
Stephens, Mr. Hickes; in which town is held a market weekly on
Saturdays, and a fair annually on Saturday before Advent Sunday.
Sir Francis Basset procured their first charter of incorporation, who,
being a Burgess, gave a silver cup of 5_l._ value to this corporation
for ever, with this inscription,
If any discord doth arise,
Within the borough of St. Ives,
’Tis my desire this cup of love,
An instrument of peace may prove.
Trenwith in this parish, was the voke lands of a considerable manor,
privileged with a court leet before the Norman conquest, that
heretofore extended itself over divers parishes; for by that name it
was taxed in Domesday book, 20 William I. 1087, from which place was
transnominated an ancient family of gentlemen, now in possession
thereof, from that of Bayliff now to Trenwith, who have flourished
here in good fame and reputation beyond the memory of man, since Henry
VIII. The present possessor is Thomas Trenwith, Gent. that married
Lanyon; and giveth for his arms, Argent, on a bend cotised Sable,
three roses of the Field.
Those lands of Trenwith were of old pertaining to the Earls or Kings
of Cornwall, afterwards to the Kings of England; and were held by the
tenure of knight service by such as possessed them, if not from King
Arthur’s days, (see Dundagall) yet from William the Conqueror’s, who,
in imitation of him, gave bartons, manors, fields, large territories
of land to his favourites, under the tenures of villeinage and knight
service in capite, by means of which knight service those tenants were
obliged to do him any necessary service, either in wars or to his
royal person, for the performing whereof he took their oaths in public
courts, both of homage and fealty; and by reason of this tenure he
disposed of the bodies of their heirs in marriage as he listed, and
retained in his custody and wardship their whole inheritance till they
accomplished the age of twenty-one years; and by those examples other
men of great possessions did the like. Those lands of Trenwith,
tempore Henry IV. were held by that tenure in capite by Edmund
Plantagenet, alias Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset, grandchild to John
Duke of Lancaster, 21 Henry VI. 1442, consisting of four knights’
fees, 3 Henry IV. (See Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 39). He was
slain at the battle of St. Alban’s 1450, on the part of Henry VI.
against Richard Duke of York; as also was his son Henry on the same
part after the battle of Hexham, and his brother Edmund after
Tewkesbury 1471, beheaded by King Edward IV. and his whole estate
confiscated to the Crown; from whence Bayliff, now Trenwith, purchased
part of those lands, which still pays high rent to the Kings of
England. In like manner Humphrey Plantagenet, fourth son of King Henry
IV. held by the same tenure in Conerton, Binerton, Drineck, and
Ludgian, four knight’s fees of land in those places. He was impeached
of treason at the Parliament held at St. Edmund’s Bury in Suffolk;
afterwards murdered; and those and all other his lands confiscated.
TONKIN.
This church is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books, together with
Lelant and Towednack, with which it passeth in presentation, at 22_l._
11_s._ 10½_d._; the collation in the Bishop of Exeter; the late
incumbent Mr. Hawkins, now Polkinhorne. The sheaf in possession of
Edward Noseworthy, Esq.