most violent and unbounded anger against the Abbats and others of
the Cistercians, and having immoderately oppressed them through
the medium of his officers, the Abbats of the said order came to
a Parliament which the King held at Lincoln, to try if they might
be able by some means to obtain a small share of the King’s grace
and favour. But when the King saw them, he became so cruelly
disposed towards them, as to order that the said Abbats should,
in the most disgustful manner, be trodden under the horses’ feet;
but his people being unwilling to execute a command so unjust, so
atrocious, and hitherto unheard-of from any Christian prince,
those Lord Abbats, now despairing of any kindness on the part of
the King, hastily retired to their hostels. But in the following
night, as the said King John lay sleeping on his bed, it seemed
to him that he was brought before some judge, these Abbats
standing by, whom the judge ordered to scourge him on the back
with whips and rods; and when the King awoke in the morning, he
declared that he actually felt the scourging. Having related his
dream to a certain ecclesiastic of his court, this person assured
him that God had been merciful to him beyond measure, by deigning
thus kindly and paternally to correct him in this present life,
and by revealing to him his mysteries; and he advised the King to
send immediately for the Abbats of this order, and humbly to
implore from them the pardon of his offence.
“The King consenting, a message was sent to them that they should
come to the King; which they hearing from the messenger, thought
that they should be banished from England: but God, who never
deserts his servants, disposed things otherwise; so that when
they came into the King’s presence, he put away the anger which
he had entertained against them.”
There is not any trace of the advowson of the vicarage having belonged
to this splendid abbey, which afforded sanctuary to Queen Margaret and
Perkin Warbeck. It is now possessed either by Mr. Pascoe, the present
incumbent, or by his family.
Mr. Lysons has given the descents and alienation of various manors or
farms of little general interest.
St. Keven measures 8792 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 10,433 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1,310 17 0
Population, {in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
{ 2104 2242 2505 2437
giving an increase of about 16 per cent. in 30 years.
The Rev. James Pascoe was instituted to the vicarage in
1817.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
There are few spots that have excited greater geological interest than
the serpentine tract of the Lizard, and no part of it will be found
more instructive than this parish.
By far the greater part of St. Kevern rests on magnesian rocks; but
north of a line drawn from Porthalla, nearly due west to Goonhilly
Downs, the rocks belong to the calcareous series. The latter rocks may
be seen on the coast from Porthalla to the Nare Point, and will be
found to resemble the series between Gorran and the Dodman Point. On
the left side of Porthalla Cove the blue slate abounds in veins and in
irregular nodules of calcspar; and at low-water-mark a more compact
variety is exposed, which evidently forms the passage into the black
limestone, loose fragments of which are sometimes found on the shore.
In a small creek within the Nare near Bostowda, is a large patch of
conglomerate, the pebbles and fragments of which have been derived
from the rocks which line the banks of the river Hellas as high up as
Gweek; but which bear no resemblance to the rock of the immediate
vicinity. This is the most decided instance of a fragmentary rock in
Cornwall.
The hollow occupied by the little stream which discharges itself at
Porthalla divides the calcareous shale from a rock of totally
different nature, videlicet serpentine, several varieties of which
form the neck of land stretching thence to Dranna Point.
At Porthoustock a glossy lamellar rock, already noticed as joining the
serpentine at Cadgwith, forms each side of the cove; but here, on
proceeding to the Manacles Point it may be seen passing into diallage
rock: the latter extends so far as Coverack, and also inland to the
foot of Goonhilly Downs. At Coverack the diallage rock appears to pass
into serpentine; but here again, as at Porthalla, the junction is a
concrete. The varieties of serpentine near Coverack Pier are numerous,
and several of them may be seen passing into each other, which in
other parts of the Lizard district form large and apparently
independent masses. From Coverack to Kennick Cove the cliffs are very
bold, and display different kinds of serpentine and diallage rocks,
and at Blockhead a large stratum of indurated steatite, beautifully
marked with brown arborescent figures on a yellow ground. At Kennick
Cove, red and olive green serpentine, abounding in scales of diallage,
and traversed by numerous veins of asbestos, talc, and calcareous
spar, are exposed to view on a grand scale; and at Gwinter, a little
north of the cove, diallage rock is accompanied by layers of beautiful
violet-coloured jade, or compact felspar, containing large plates of
diallage as metalloide as at Coverack.
It may be noticed here, that all the uncultivated land extending over
serpentine formation, is clothed with the most beautiful of European
heaths; the Erica Vagans of Linnæus, so named on account of its being
found in various parts of the world on particular spots. Hudson named
it “Multiflora” from its splendid inflorescense; and Dr. Withering,
with some others, didyma, with reference to double antheræ on each
flower. This heath bounds itself almost within a yard to the limits of
the magnesian earths.
ST. KEW.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the north Endellyan,
east St. Eath, south St. Mabyn, west Egleshayle and Minver. In the
Domesday Tax, 20 William I. 1087, this parish was rated by the name of
Lan-guit, or Lan-cuit; that is to say, the Church or Temple Wood, or a
church or temple in a wood; not unsuitable to the former circumstances
thereof, surrounded with copse trees and oak woods; from whence it
appears here was an endowed church or temple of that name before the
Norman Conquest, implied in the word Lan. In the Inquisitions of the
Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices
1294, it was rated by the name of Lan-owe, i. e. my Church or Temple,
or the Egge Church or Temple, for owe is an egg, in decanatu de Minor
Trigshire viii_l._ xiii_s._ iiii_d._ Vicar ejusdem xl_s._ In Wolsey’s
Inquisition 1501, by the name of St. Kuet, i. e. holy, sacred, or
consecrated wood, 19_l._ 10_s._ The patronage, formerly in the priory
of Bodman, who endowed it, now Tregagle. The incumbent Nation; the
rectory or sheafe in possession of Tregagle; and the parish rated to
the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, by the name of St. Kewe 356_l._
15_s._ 10_d._
The manor and barton of Lanew in this parish, was formerly the lands
of the Beavills of Gwarnack or Killygarth; by one of whose heirs, as I
am informed, it came in marriage to the Grenvills of Stowe; and was
entailed, together with the barton of Bryn, and other lands, upon the
issue of the said Beavill, by Grenvill to be begotten.
Now it happened, tempore Charles I., that Sir Bevill Grenvill, being
much encumbered with the debts of his ancestors, in order to free the
same, sold for a valuable consideration this manor of Lanow and barton
of Bryn to William Noye, Esq. Attorney-general to King Charles I. the
which William Noye and his heirs quietly enjoyed the same for about
thirty years’ space, till King Charles II. returned from his exile
beyond the seas, and was restored to his dominions 1660; at which time
Sir John Grenvill, Knt. afterwards created Earl of Bath, (son of the
said Sir Bevill Grenvill) then also in exile with the said King beyond
the seas, came back to his native country with the said King; and some
time after delivered leases of ejectment, on writs of ejection, firme
formedon, or right, to the tenants of Humphrey Noye, Esq. then in
possession thereof, son of the said Attorney-general Noye, and brought
down a venire facias and trial for the same, at Lanceston assizes,
where, on the issue, the verdict passed for the said Earl of Bath; and
after judgment was entered up and recorded thereupon, writs for
possession were sued forth, and his lordship became seised of those
lands, and forced the tenants thereof to double their accustomed rent,
on condition of holding their leases. Afterwards Noye’s son aforesaid,
files his bill in chancery, suggesting the wrong he had received by
this verdict at law, whereby he lost his lands and purchase money,
which matter coming to a hearing on bill and answer, an issue was
directed out of Chancery to try once more this title at common law, on
which Noye proved Sir Beavill Grenvill to be tenant in tail for those
lands, and that he levying a fine thereon, _come ceo qui il eit de son
done_, according to due form of law, with deeds declaring the same to
be for the use of the said William Noye, his heirs and assigns for
ever, that was a sufficient dock of the entail, and bar to the son and
heir of the said Sir Beavill Grenvill, whereupon the sense and
judgment of the Court then was, that according to law the verdict must
be for Noye: as accordingly it then passed. Notwithstanding which, a
cross bill was filed by the Earl of Bath against Noye, about the
premises, praying a writ of injunction for stopping further
proceedings at common law; whereupon his lordship still kept
possession, and Noye grew weary of this controversy, who, otherwise,
was a man much depressed with debt, and therefore an unequal contester
with the then great Earl of Bath; wherefore he sold his title to those
lands in dispute to Mr. Christopher Davies, of Burnewall in Buryan,
who revived Noye’s drooping case and title to the premises, and
delivered ejectments to the Earl of Bath’s tenants, then in possession
thereof, and accordingly brought down a trial at Lanceston upon that
plea and demise, tempore James II., when it was manifest his lordship
relied more on his privilege as a Peer or Baron of this Realm than the
right or justice of the merits of his case, for he served all the
council, officers, and attornies of the court at that assizes with
writs of privilege; so that no person was permitted to speak or act
publicly on the part or title of Noye or Davies; but the case or trial
was immerged or was swallowed up without due course or form of law, so
that Mr. Davies was only permitted to plead his case himself, which he
did with so much judgment, sense, law, and equity, as the Court
admired at it, being no lawyer. But, alas! he wanted instruction in
the grand point in such cases, to have cried out a merger or emerger,
and the verdict must have been for him or Noye the second time.
After which bad success, and for that Mr. Davies was threatened to be
sued on the statute of _scandalum magnatum_, for words said to be
spoken by him reflective on his lordship’s honour and reputation, he
was terrified into a composition or agreement with the said Earl, by
the end of Hilary term then next ensuing, for the consideration of
500_l._ to levy a fine _sur cognizance de droit_, with proclamation on
those lands, with deeds declaring the uses thereof to be only to the
proper use and behoof of the said Earl of Bath, his heirs and assigns
for ever, as accordingly was performed, and so this controversy ended.
But, alas! when too late it appeared further, that when Mr. Davies had
sold his title to this manor of Lanow as aforesaid, that there were
two tenements of Mr. Noye’s paternal estate whilst he was in
possession thereof, after his purchase from Grenvill, that he had
annexed to the said manor, situate in this parish, and worth 900_l._,
which Mr. Davies ignorantly debarred himself of, to his greater loss.
See Withell parish for Bryn, the lands of Bevill and Grenvill.
Bo-Kelly in this parish was the dwelling of the genteel family
surnamed Carn-sew, i. e. dry, sterile, or barren spar-stone, or rock;
perhaps so called from the local place of Carnsew in Mabe, altogether
under such circumstances; otherwise Mr. Carew tells us the name of
those gentlemen was Carn-deaw, i. e. black spar-stone or rock. William
Carnsew of this house was sheriff of Cornwall 18 Edward IV.; William
Carnsew was Sheriff of Cornwall 3 Henry VIII.
Richard Carnsew, Esq. afterwards knighted, was Sheriff of Cornwall 17
Charles I. 1642, whose heir George Carnsew, as I am told, sold it to
Tregagle, and is now by lease in possession of John Nicholls, of
Trewane, Esq. The two only daughters and heirs of Sir Richard Carnsew,
of Tregarne, were married to Prideaux, of Fewborough, and Godolphin of
the younger house, whose arms were, Sable, a goat passant Argent,
attired Or.
Tre-havar-ike, alias Tre-ar-ike, gave name and original to an old
family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Trehauarike, whose sole
inheritrix was married to Cavall, tempore Henry VII. who, out of a
supposed allusion to this name, as appears from the glass windows of
this house, gave a calf for their arms, viz. Argent, a calf passant
Gules; whereas Leugh is a calf in British-Cornish, and Cavall is a
bee-hive, cradle, or flasket. They gave also, Azure, three sails of a
ship Argent; for that, as tradition saith, one of this family was
admiral of a squadron of ships at sea, under King Henry VI. against
the French; finally, about the year 1612, the two sole daughters and
heirs of those Cavalls were married to Vivian, of Trenowth in St.
Colomb, and Hore of Trenowth in St. Ewan. Upon the division of
Cavall’s lands, this barton and manor fell to Vivian’s share, whose
grandson Thomas Vivian, Esq. sold this barton to John Peter, of
Treater, gentleman, for 2,100_l._; and the manor to other persons, now
in possession thereof, about the year 1700.
At the top of those lands is a field called the Dower Park, i. e. the
water field, where a spring or pool of water commonly stands, which
gives the spring, or original of the aforesaid riveret of water, from
whence Trehavarike is denominated.
At Tregeare in this parish, and Resurra in St. Minver, was the seat of
the Penkivells, gentlemen of ancient descent, and heretofore of great
revenues, now comparatively extinct.
Pen-pons in this parish, now Pen-pont, synonymous words, signifies the
head bridge, or the bridge at the head or top of the sea in this
place, according to the natural and artificial circumstances thereof,
which was the voke lands of an ancient and extensive manor, privileged
with the jurisdiction of a court leet before the Norman Conquest; for
by the name of Penpont it was rated in the Domesday Tax 20 William I.
1087; from whence was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen now
extinct, surnamed Penpons, whose sole inheritrix was married to
Arundell of Tolverne, tempore Queen Mary, from whose heirs and assigns
it came to Cole and Arscott of Devon, and others, now in possession
thereof. By the inquisition 12 Edward III. it was rated for twenty-one
Cornish acres, before the judges Solomon de Ross and others, at
Lanceston, that is to say, 1260 statute acres. I take the tenure of
this manor to be either customary or copyhold lands; near which is
still extant Chappell Amble, or Ambhull, i. e. the dull, blockish, or
ignorant chapel or chaplain, a free chapel, where the Bishop never
visited.
In this parish at Middle Amble is the dwelling of Jonathan Webber,
Gent. (id est, in Saxon, a weaver, so called from his first ancestor,
who was of that trade or occupation,) who married Williams, and giveth
for his arms, Gules, on a chevron engrailed Or, charged with three
annulets or round plates Azure, pierced in the middle, Or, between
three round plates or platters, two in chief and one in the base,
Argent. This family, as it branched downwards to the year 1640, had
married with Mathew of the said parish of St. Kew, who gave for his
arms, Sable, a crane Argent, legged and beaked Gules; also with
Prewbody and Polwhele. This arms of Webber, consisting of four colours
in its field and in its charge, is a ridiculous or contemptible
bearing, as heralds tell us all such bearings are.
Note further that Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, A. D. 1602,
tells us, p. 55, that John, the son of Thomas, living at Pendarves,
took up the name of John Thomas Pendarves, and that Richard his
younger brother took up the name of Richard Thomas Pendarves; and that
Trengone, living at Nance, took up the name of Nance; and Bonython,
living at Carclew in Milor, took up the name of Carclew; and for the
same reason two brothers of the Thomases, living at Carnsew in Mabe,
another at Roscrow in Milor or Gluvias, took up the names of Carnsew
and Roscrow; as did also one of them living at Caweth in Mabe, take up
the name of Caweth; and in further testimony thereof, give one and the
same coat armour as Thomas did, viz. in a field Argent, a chevron
between three talbots Sable, though Pendarves gives a different arms
from that of Thomas. See Cambourne. Query, whether Carnsew of Bokelly
does not derive his name from Carnsew? i. e. dry rock, in Mabe parish.
TONKIN.
This parish takes its present name from the patron saint Kew, which,
says the author of the English Dictionary, 8vo. London, 1691, is
certainly the same with Kebius the Briton. The impropriator of the
sheaf and patron of the vicarage, is at present Robert Croker, Esq. by
purchase from Mr. John Tregeagle. The incumbent, Mr. Edward Stephens,
Mr. Croker’s nephew.
The ancient name of this parish was Lanow.
THE EDITOR.
If Saint Kebius is really the patron of this parish, and has given it
his name somewhat disguised in the sound of St. Kew, he has the
unusual felicity of being honoured in his own country. Doctor Borlase
states, on the authority of Archbishop Usher, (Antiquities of
Cornwall, 2d ed. p. 369.) “About the middle of the fourth century,
Solomon Duke of Cornwall seems to have been a Christian; for his son
Kebius was ordained a Bishop by Hilarius, Bishop of Poictiers, in
France; and afterwards returned into his own country to exercise that
high function.”
Saint Kebius, however, stands in the Roman Calendar on the 26th of
April; but the parish feast is kept (I believe) on the nearest Sunday
to the 25th of July, the day of Saint James the Apostle.
This parish is one of the most fertile in Cornwall, as well for corn
as for grass. The church is situated in a pleasant valley; and near it
is Skinden, for many years the residence of Mr. Joseph Bennet, a
clergyman, but without preferment; and after his decease, of Mr.
Clode, a native of Camelford, who having risen to the situation of a
major in the East India Company’s army, returned with a fortune, and
purchased this place; it now belongs to his sister Mrs. Braddon.
The principal seat in St. Kew was in former times Trewane, the
residence of an ancient and opulent family the Nichollses. The house,
partly converted into a farmhouse and partly in ruins, appears in a
style of grandeur quite unusual in the houses of this county. It is
believed to have been built before the Civil Wars. These four descents
are recorded in the Heraldic Visitation of 1620.
John Nicholls――His son and heir, John Nicholls, married Catharine,
daughter of John Trowbrigge, of Trowbridge in Devon.――Their son John
Nicholls married to Elizabeth Fortescue, of Fallowpit in Devon;――and
their son, the fourth John Nicholls, aged seven years, with other
children. The granddaughter, or great-granddaughter, from these last
recorded, became an heiress possessed of the whole property, and
married Mr. Glynn, of Glynn; but being left a widow, and childless by
the death of her only son, she devised her estate in certain portions,
to Mr. Glynn, of Helston, with the whole of Trewane; and to Mr. Bennet
her steward, father of the Rev. Joseph Bennet, who built or improved
Skisden. The arms of Nicholls, of Trewane, were, Sable, three pheons
Argent.
The rectorial tithes of this parish belonged to the priory of Plympton
in Devonshire, and now belong to Molesworth of Pencarrow. The advowson
has passed by purchase with their other property, from Mahon to Pitt
and Glanville.
The church contains some monuments and painted glass. Mr. Hals has
given the details of a law suit, which may tend to reconcile the
admirers of olden times to those in which they live; nor can the
Editor, who is the descendant and heir-at-law of Attorney-general
Noye, and of his son Colonel Humphrey Noye, be supposed to entertain
much respect for the memory of the Earl of Bath.
St. Kew measures 6343 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 8598 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1029 6 0
Population, {in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
{ 1095 1113 1218 1316
giving an increase of 20 per cent. in 30 years.
The Rev. John Pomeroy was presented to the vicarage
in 1777 by W. Pitt, Esq.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that the northern
part resembles Endellion, and that the southern part is similar to
Egloshale and Helland.
KILKHAMPTON.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north
Morwinstow, west St. George’s channel, south Stratton and Poughill,
east part of the county of Devon. For the modern name, it is derived
from the church, compound of Saxon-British Kirk or Kilk-hampton, i. e.
church home or habitation town, answerable to church town in English.
In the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. (1087), this district was taxed
under the jurisdiction of Orcett, of which more under. In the
Inquisition made into the value of Cornish Benefices, in decanatu de
Major Triggshire, ecclesia de Kilkhampton was rated xiiii_l._ xiii_s._
viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, 26_l._ 3_s._ 10½_d._; the
patronage in the Earl of Bath; the incumbent Corringdon; and the
parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 352_l._ 10_s._
Stowe for many ages hath been the seat of that famous and knightly
family now Earls of Bath.
[Mr. Hals goes on with a long account of this family in the early
Norman times, apparently without much authority, and quite unconnected
with Cornwall.
I shall therefore select particular passages, more especially as a
genealogy in sufficient detail is given by Mr. Lysons.]
It appears that the Grenvilles settled near Bideford, where they are
stated to have held knights’ fees under the Crown, and also under the
honour of Gloucester; and Sir Theobald Grenville in the latter part of
the reign of King Edward the Third, was the principal founder and
promoter of building the bridge at Bideford; John Grandison was then
Lord Bishop of Exeter, who caused it to be proclaimed in his
Cathedral, and throughout all other churches in Devon and Cornwall,
that all persons whatsoever that would promote or encourage such a
work should partake of all spiritual blessings for ever. Sir Richard
Gurnard or Gurney was then parish priest of Bideford, who it seems was
admonished in his sleep to undertake this work, as Bishop Bronscomb
was to build Glasney College in Cornwall; the Goldneys, Octanetts, and
most other families of note in Cornwall and Devon (as Risdon’s
Manuscript informs us) were benefactors to this work, which bridge was
finished tempore Richard II., assisted by a bull of indulgencies from
Rome.
John Grenvill of Bideford, that married Burghert, was the first
Sheriff of Devon of this family, 15 Richard II., son of Sir Theobald.
Thomas Grenvill, that married Gilbert, was the first Sheriff of
Cornwall of this family, 21 Edward IV., 1480, also the first of Henry
VII., 1485, and probably the first of those gentlemen that settled at
Stowe, for at such time as he was Sheriff of Cornwall, 21 Edward IV.,
one George Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon.
One Robert Grenvill was Sheriff of Cornwall the 2nd, 10th, and 14th
Henry VIII. Richard Grenvill was Sheriff of Cornwall 36 Henry VIII.
Richard Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon 18 of Elizabeth. Bernard
Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon 38 of Elizabeth.
Roger, younger son of Sir Richard Grenvill that married Bonvill of
Killigarth, who in the Mary Rose frigate, 37 Henry VIII., 1545,
commanded by Sir George Carew, Knight, with more than four hundred men
besides, after they had for several days fought the French fleet off
the Isle of Wight under the command of the Lord Dambolt, Admiral of
France, with great victory and success, unfortunately afterwards as
the said ship passed out of the harbour of Portsmouth into the sea, by
the neglect and carelessness of the gunner and mariners, one of which
had left the cannon or ordnance untrigged or chained, and the latter
having left the under port or gun-holes open, by means whereof, when
the ship turned upon her lee, the guns fell all on that side of the
ship and bore the port-holes under water, so that the sea in an
instant abundantly flowing in through those port-holes filled her with
water, whereof she sunk into the deep (in the sight of King Henry
himself), whereby the captain and all his men were suddenly and
violently drowned in the sea.
Of his father, Sir Richard Grenvill, the elder, thus speaks Mr. Carew
in his Survey of Cornwall, “he interlaced his home magistracy with
martial employments abroad, whereof the King testified his good liking
by his liberality.” Again, his son, the second Sir Richard, after his
travel and following the wars under the Emperor Maximilian against the
Turks, for which his name is recorded by sundry foreign writers, and
his undertaking to people Virginia and Ireland, made so glorious a
conclusion in her Majesty’s ship the Revenge, of which he had charge
as Captain, and of the whole fleet as Vice-Admiral, that it seemed
thereby, when he found none other to compare withal in his life, he
strived through a virtuous envy to exceed it in his death; a
victorious loss for the realm, and of which the Spaniard may say, with
Pyrrhus, that many such conquests would beget his utter overthrow.
Lastly, his son John took hold of every martial occasion that was
ministered him, until, in service against her Highness’ enemies, under
the command of Sir Walter Raleigh, the ocean became his bed of honour.
Thus Mr. Carew, page 62. See also Baker’s Chronicle in the latter end
of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Beville Grenvill, son of Bernard, by Beville’s heir of Killigarth
in Talland, was a gentleman of such urbanity, valour, and integrity in
those parts, that my commendations cannot make the least addition
thereto, nor I think that of a more florid or abler pen; who, as his
duty obliged, engaged himself, his life and fortune, on the part and
behalf of King Charles I.; and being first a horse Colonel in the
militia for this County, was afterwards obliged to head or lead those
soldiers he had raised in Cornwall, by virtue of the King’s
Commission, under command of Sir Ralph Hopton, Knight, his General in
the west, from Launceston into Somersetshire, at a place called
Lansdowne, five miles from Bristol, where Hopton with the King’s army
met and gave battle to the Parliament forces under command of Sir
William Waller; in which engagement Sir Beville Grenvill, Knight,
charging boldly in the head of his troop, was unfortunately slain, the
5th of July 1643.
Orcot, now Orchard, in this parish, was the jurisdiction under which
Kilkhampton was taxed in Domesday Roll, 1087; from which place, I take
it, was denominated the family surnamed de Orchard, now in possession
thereof; particularly Charles Orchard, gentleman, steward to Sir John
Rolle of Stevenston. This gentleman was sheriff of Cornwall about the
year 1703.
Mr. Hals’ concluding part of this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has merely copied from Mr. Hals.
THE EDITOR.
The following extract from Mr. Lysons’s Cornwall is the best account
that the Editor can give of the distinguished family of Grenville.
The manor of Kilkhampton is supposed to have belonged to the Grenville
family from nearly the time of the Conquest; Dugdale says, that they
were seated here in the reign of William Rufus. Richard de Grenville,
who came over with William the Conqueror, is said in the pedigrees of
the family to have been a younger brother of Robert Fitzhamon, Earl of
Carbill, Lord of Thurigny and Grenville, in France and Normandy, and
to have been lineally descended from Rollo, Duke of Normandy. It is on
record that Richard de Grenville held certain knights’ fees at
Bideford, in Devonshire, in the reign of Henry II. We have not found
any record of the Grenville possessions at Kilkhampton of an earlier
date than the _quo warranto_ roll before mentioned; but it appears
that it had at that time been long in the family: they continued to
reside at Stowe, in this parish, for many generations, and frequently
served the office of sheriff for the county. William Grenville, or
Grenfield (as the name was at that early period generally written),
son of Sir Theobald, became archbishop of York, and distinguished
himself as an able statesman: he died in 1315. Sir Richard Grenville,
son of Roger, (who was himself a captain in the navy, and lost his
life, as Carew tells us, in the unfortunate Mary-Rose) was a
celebrated military and naval commander in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. He first distinguished himself in the wars under the
Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, for which his name is recorded
by several foreign writers. In the year 1591, being then Vice-Admiral
of England, he was sent in the Revenge, with a squadron of seven
ships, to intercept the Spanish galleons; when, falling in with the
enemy’s fleet, consisting of fifty-two sail, near the Terceira
Islands, he repulsed them fifteen times in a continued fight, till his
powder was all spent; his ship, which sunk before it arrived in port,
was reduced to a hulk, and himself covered with wounds, of which he
died two days afterwards, on board the vessel of the Spanish
commander. Sir Richard’s grandson was the brave and loyal Sir Beville
Grenville. This distinguished officer was one of king Charles’s
generals in the West, and shared the glories of the successful
compaign in Cornwall, in the autumn of 1642; in the summer of the
following year he lost his life at the battle of Lansdowne, near Bath.
Sir Richard Grenville, who had been created a Baronet in 1631, was,
after his brother’s death, made General of all the King’s forces in
the West. He was an active and zealous officer, and so particularly
obnoxious to the Parliamentary party, that he was perpetually the
subject of abuse to their journalists, who seldom spoke of him but by
the appellation of _Skellum_ Grenville. During the dissensions between
the civil power and the military in 1645, Sir Richard Grenville was
superseded and imprisoned by the advice of Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards
Earl of Clarendon. That noble author gives a very unamiable character
of Sir Richard, who is represented as having been in the highest
degree oppressive, tyrannical, and unprincipled; but other writers
attribute much of this to the personal enmity which subsisted between
them. Sir Richard Grenville died, in reduced circumstances, at Ghent,
in the year 1658, leaving no male issue; the title became extinct. Sir
John Grenville, son of the brave Sir Beville, succeeded to the
Kilkhampton estates: at a very early age he had a command in his
father’s regiment, and was left for dead in the field at Tewkesbury.
He was appointed Governor of Scilly Islands when they revolted from
the Parliament, and was one of the chief instruments in effecting the
restoration of King Charles II. He gave the living of Kilkhampton to
Nicholas Monk, and employed him to influence his brother (the General)
in favour of the exiled Monarch; having succeeded in his negociations,
he had the satisfaction of being the bearer of the King’s letters to
General Monk and to the Parliament. In April 1661 Sir John Grenville
was created Lord Grenville of Kilkhampton and Bideford, Viscount
Lansdowne, and Earl of Bath. On the death of his grandson, under age,
in 1711, these titles became extinct; and the Kilkhampton estates
passed to his aunt and coheiress Grace Grenville, who married George
Lord Carteret, and was afterwards (being then a widow) by King George
the First created Countess of Granville, with remainder to her son
John, who inherited that title and the Kilkhampton estate. On the
death of Robert the second Earl of Granville, in 1776. that title
became extinct, and the Kilkhampton estate passed, under his will, to
his nephew Henry Frederick Thynne, second son of Lord Viscount
Weymouth, who had married his sister Louisa. Mr. Thynne was created
Lord Carteret in 1784, and is the present possessor of Kilkhampton;
the remainder of which, as well as the title of Carteret, is vested in
Lord George Thynne, second son of the Marquis of Bath.
John Grenville, Earl of Bath, in the reign of Charles II. built a
magnificient mansion at Stowe in this parish, of which scarcely a
vestige remains. It stood on an eminence, overlooking a well-wooded
valley; but not a tree near it, says Dr. Borlase, to shelter it from
the north-west. That writer speaks of it as by far the noblest house
in the west of England, and says that the kitchen-offices, fitted up
for a dwelling-house, made no contemptible figure. It is a singular
circumstance, that the cedar wainscot which had been brought out of a
Spanish prize, and used by the Earl of Bath for fitting up the chapel
in this mansion, was purchased by Lord Cobham at the time of its
demolition (the house being then sold piecemeal), and applied to the
same purpose at Stowe, the magnificent seat of the noble family of
Grenville in Buckinghamshire, where it still remains. Defoe, in his
Tour through Great Britain, speaking of Stowe in Cornwall, says that
the carving of the chapel was the work of Michael Chuke, and not
inferior to Gibbons.
Ilcombe, now a farm-house belonging to Lord Carteret, is described by
Norden as the residence of a younger branch of the Grenvilles.
Alderscombe, formerly a seat of the Orchards, is the property of the
Rev. Thomas Hooper Morrison, nephew of the late Paul Orchard, Esq. of
Hartland Abbey.
Elmsworthy, some time a seat of the Westlakes, is now a farm house,
the property of Mr. Galsworthy, of Hartland. The last of the Westlakes
died in very indigent circumstances about the year 1772, having been
reduced to the situation of a parish pauper. It is a singular
circumstance, that he was twice pricked for Sheriff after he was an
inhabitant of the poor-house. In the parish church are monuments of
the Grenville family, and memorials of the Orchards of Alderscombe,
the Westlakes of Elmsworthy, and the Waddons of Tonacombe in
Morwinstow. On the monument of Sir Beville Grenville, which is
surrounded by military trophies, is the following inscription: “Here
lyes all that was mortal of the most noble and truly valiant Sir
Beville Grenville, of Stowe in the county of Cornwall, Earl of Corbill
and Lord of Thorigny and Granville in France and Normandy, descended
in a direct line from Robert, second son of the warlike Rollo, first
Duke of Normandy; who, after having obtained divers signal victories
over the Rebels in the West, was at length slain with many wounds at
the battle of Lansdowne July 5, 1643. He married the most virtuous
lady, Grace, daughter of Sir George Smith, of the county of Devon, by
whom he had many sons, eminent for their loyalty and firm adherence to
the Crown and Church; and several daughters, remarkable examples of
true piety. He was indeed an excellent person, whose activity,
interest, and reputation was the foundation of what had been done in
Cornwall, and his temper and affection so public that no accident
which happened could make any impressions on him, and his example kept
others from taking any thing ill, or at least seeming to do so; in a
word, a brighter courage and a gentler disposition were never married
together to make the most cheerful and innocent conversation. Vide
Lord Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion.
“To the immortal memory of his renowned grandfather this monument was
erected by the Right Honorable George Lord Lansdowne, Treasurer of the
Household to Queen Anne, and one of Her Majesty’s most Honorable Privy
Council, &c. in the year 1714.
“Thus slain thy valiant ancestor did lye,
When his one bark a navy did defy,
When now encompass’d round the victor stood,
And bath’d his pinnace in his conquering blood,
’Till, all his purple current dried and spent,
He fell, and made the waves his monument.
Where shall the next famed Grenville’s ashes stand?
Thy grandsire fills the seas, and thou the land.
MARTIN LLEWELLIN.”
Vide Oxford University Verses, printed 1643.
Sir Beville Granville was forty-eight years of age at the time of his
death, as appears by the following record of his birth in the parish
register at Kilkhampton:
“Bevell, the sonne of the worshipful Bernarde Greynville, Esquire, was
borne and baptized at Brinn in Cornwall, Ao. Dni. 1595.”
In the margin, “Marche 1595, borne the 23d day, baptized the 25th day
of Marche.”
His brother Sir Richard’s baptism is thus entered, “Richard, the son
of Barnard Granevile, Esq. baptized 26 June 1600.”
Lord Carteret is patron of the rectory of Kilkhampton. In the
registers of the see of Exeter, mention is made of a chapel at
Brightley in this parish, dedicated to St. Catharine.――Thus far from
Mr. Lysons.
All the accounts and traditions of Sir Beville Granville represent him
as a hero bordering on romance, as the rival of Sir Philip Sidney, and
of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He fell, however, into all the political
errors of that age, by attaching himself to the existing form of
Government, not because it appeared, on the whole, to prove most
conducive to human happiness, but from some fanciful, superstitious,
or blasphemous analogy it was supposed to bear with the Divine
administration of the universe. Then he concurred with those who
thought it expedient and right to destroy the resemblance, by limiting
that which, on the supposition, should exist without restraint or
control; and entertaining that opinion, he nevertheless endeavoured to
prove by arguments, and still more powerfully by his arms at Stratton
and at Bath, that no resistance could in any case be lawfully
exercised against the individual who happened to hold the chief
magistracy from the accident of his birth. Such glaring inconsistencies
were, however, almost obscured by the splendour of undaunted courage,
of disinterested generosity, and, by adherence to principles honestly
entertained, however erroneous or contradictory.
It would be unfair to the memory of Sir Beville Granville not to
insert his letter to Sir John Trelawny, recently printed in the
Memorials of John Hampden, 2 vols. 8vo., by George Grenville Nugent
Temple, Lord Nugent, vol. 2, p. 195.
Most Honourable Sir,
I have in many kinds had trial of your nobleness, but in none
more than in this singular expression of your kind care and love.
I give also your excellent Lady humble thanks for respect unto my
poor Woman, who hath been long a faithful much obliged servant of
your Ladyes. But Sir! for my journey, it is fixed. I cannot
contain myself within my doors, when the King of England’s
standard waves in the field upon so just occasion. The cause
being such as must make all those that die in it little inferior
to martyrs. And for my own part, I desire to acquire an honest
name, or an honourable grave. I never loved my life or ease so
much as to shun such an occasion; which if I should, I were
unworthy of the profession I have held, or to succeed those
ancestors of mine, who have so many of them in several ages
sacrificed their lives for their country. Sir, the barbarous and
implacable enemy, notwithstanding His Majesty’s gracious
proceedings with them, do continue their insolences and rebellion
in the highest degree, and are united in a body of great
strength; so as you may expect, if they be not prevented and
mastered near their own homes, they will be troublesome in yours,
and in the remotest places ere long.
I am not without the consideration, as you lovingly advise, of my
wife and family; and as for her, I must acknowledge, she hath
ever drawn so evenly in the yoke with me, as she hath never prest
before, or hung behind me, nor ever opposed or resisted my will.
And yet truly I have not, in this or any thing else, endeavoured
to walk in the way of power with her, but of reason; and though
her love will submit to either, yet truly my respect will not
suffer me to urge her with power, unless I can convince with
reason. So much for that, whereof I am willing to be accomptable
unto so good a friend.
I have no suit unto you in mine own behalf, but for your prayers
and good wishes; and that if I live to come home again, you would
please to continue me in the number of your servants.
I shall give a true relation unto my very noble friend Mr. Moyle,
of your and his Aunt’s loving respects to him, which he hath good
reason to be thankful for. And so I beseech God to send you and
your noble family all health and happiness, and while I live I
am, Sir,
Your unfeigned loving and faithful servant,
BEVILLE GRANVILLE.
With the death of Sir Beville Granville, in the moment of victory at
Lansdown, the splendour of this family seems to have fallen under a
temporary eclipse.
His brother is represented by Hyde, the partial historian of these
civil wars, as unworthy of the character supposed to distinguish
Cavaliers.
John Grenville, his eldest son, created Earl of Bath, appears to have
been rapacious and oppressive.
But all this was amply compensated by the subsequent conduct of his
son and heir Charles Grenville, who served with honour in the
continental wars, and participated with John Sobieski in the
preservation of Christendom under the walls of Vienna in 1683.
George Grenville, son of Barnard Grenville, brother to the first Earl
of Bath, is known to every one by his literary attainments and by his
talents for poetry. This gentleman had the honour of being elected
member for the county of Cornwall, with Mr. John Trevanion, after the
great contest of 1710, amidst shouts of
Grenville and Trevanion as sound as a Bell,
For the Queen, the Church, and Sacheverel:
In the following year an hereditary seat in Parliament was bestowed on
him, with the appellation of Lord Lansdown, and he was succeeded in
the representation of Cornwall by Sir Richard Vyvyan.
Lord Lansdown suffered imprisonment after the accession of George I.
and retired from public life. His genuine works in prose and verse
were collected in 2 vols. 4to., London 1732. He died, sine prole, in
1734.
The old house at Stowe was taken down by John Grenville the first Earl
of Bath, and a superb mansion erected in its place, partly, as it is
said, at the national expense; having the internal decorations suited
to the size and magnificence of the exterior; but soon after the
decease of his grandson in 1711, when the property passed into a
female line, this house was taken down and the materials of all kinds
sold.
It used to be said that almost every gentleman’s seat in Cornwall had
received embellishments from Stowe. Mr. Prideaux’ house at Padstow
received an entire staircase, and some carved wainscot has, by a
singular fate, found its way to Stowe, in Buckinghamshire.
Alderscombe, in this parish, was for many years held on lease for
lives by the family of Cottell.
Mr. Alexander Cottell, about the year 1720, having served his
clerkship in Penzance, as an attorney, married Sarah Phillips, one of
the daughters of Mr. Samuel Phillips, of Pendrea. There is a monument
to her memory in the church, stating her decease on the 7th of August,
1727, in her thirtieth year, with the arms of Cottell, Or, a bend Gu.
This gentleman married again and dissipated his whole property.
The church is one of the finest in Cornwall, containing splendid
monuments; and under, is a most spacious vault belonging to the
Glanville family.
It is perhaps worth noticing that here, while he served the curacy,
Mr. Hervey composed his Meditations among the Tombs.
Kilkhampton measures 7,234 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3,959 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 792 5 0
Population, { in 1801,| in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 808 | 852 | 1,024 | 1,126
giving an increase of 39 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. John Davis, presented by
Lord Carteret in 1810.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that Kilkhampton is
entirely situated on the dunstone, which forms the substratum
throughout the north-eastern part of Cornwall.
LADOCK, COMMONLY PRONOUNCED LASSICK.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Ladock is in the hundred of Powder, and confines on the west to St.
Erme, on the north to St. Enodor, on the east to St. Stephan’s in
Branwell, on the south to St. Probus.
This parish takes its name from Saint Ladoca, whom I take to be an
Irish Saint; and probably she came over with St. Breage.
This parish is a rectory, valued in the King’s Books at £18. The
patronage in Kelland Courtenay, and Thomas Pitt, Esqrs. Governor Pitt,
grandfather of Mr. Thomas Pitt, purchased this alternate right of the
Lady Mahon, together with all the Mahon property in Cornwall. The
incumbent Mr. Wm. Wood.
The manor of Nansoath, in this parish, signifies the fat (i. e.
fertile) valley, the name being compounded of nans, a valley, and
soath or soa, fat, tallow, &c.
To the north of Nansoath is Hay. This was the seat of the Randyls, and
was sold to Mr. William Tregea, of Lambrigan, who did not keep it
long, but parted with it to Richard Bone, Gent. who dying without
being ever married, left it by will, with several other estates, to
his kinsman Richard Bone, Gent. who now lives there, and hath married
Anne, the daughter of Mr. John Andrew, of Trethurfe, by whom he has
issue. Mr. Randyll’s arms were, Gules, on a cross Argent, three
mullets pierced Sable. Mr. Bone’s are, Ermine, a fess indented Sable.
Joining with Hay is Boswaydel, usually called Boswidle, which I take
to signify a house in an open place, or one easy to be seen from.
The manor of Bedocke or Bessake. Francis Tregian, Esq. forfeited this
manor, with his other lands (see Probus). To the east of this is the
church and rectory house; and the manor of Trethurfe or Tretherf. This
was anciently, perhaps before the Norman Conquest, the seat of a very
eminent family of the same name, who gave for their arms, Azure, a
buck’s head cabouched Argent. John Tretherfe was one of the Knights
returned to Parliament for this county in the 15th year of King Henry
VI. Reginald Trethurf married Margery, the second daughter and coheir
of John St. Aubyn, Esq. by Catharine his wife, the daughter and heir
of Sir Robert Challons, of Challons Legh in Devonshire, as appears by
a bill in the Treasury, of 7 Henry VI.
THE EDITOR.
In the Taxation of Ecclesiastical Benefices by the Bishops of Lincoln
and Winchester, under the authority of Pope Nicholas, will be found:
Taxatio. Decima.
Ecclesia de Sancto Ladoca £6 0 0 0 12 0
In Wolsey’s Valuation, Ladocke 18 0 0 1 16 0
Besides the church town there is one considerable village in this
parish called Bedock or Besock, after the manor of which it forms a
part.
Mr. Pitt not only acquired the alternate presentation to this rectory
by purchase from the family of Mahon, as is stated by Mr. Tonkin, but
also the manor of Ladock, which had previously belonged to the
Carminows and Courtenays. The barton of Trethurfe has passed by the
heiresses of Kelland Courtenay to the families of Poyntz and Boyle.
The barton of Nansaugh is the property and the residence of Mr.
Andrews.
Hay, noticed by Mr. Tonkin as belonging to Mr. Richard Bone, came by
purchase to the Hearles of Penryn, and in the division of the lands
belonging to that family, it has fallen to Mrs. Stephens, of Tregenna.
The manor of Bessake was acquired by Mr. Francis Tregian, son of the
gentleman from whom it had been seized, but soon afterwards it passed
by sale to the Arundells, from them by gift to the Moncktons, who have
added the name of Arundell; and finally Robert Monckton Arundell,
Viscount Galway, sold it in 1780 to the late Sir Christopher Hawkins.
The Rev. John Eliot, rector of this parish, and of Truro, who died in
1760, founded two exhibitions at Exeter College for young men from
Truro school.
The vale, extending from north to south quite across this parish, is
one of the most beautiful in Cornwall: it was, however, little known
beyond the immediate neighbourhood, till the line of road forming the
great communication from Falmouth, and the whole western part of the
county, with London, was carried through it in the year 1830. The
church and tower, which are handsome in themselves, stand on a
commanding situation, and are seen to great advantage from the new
road.
Ladock measures 4,859 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 4,566 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 310 2 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 542 | 651 | 806[8] | 761
giving an increase of 40 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is entirely situated on rocks belonging to the slate
series; its northern corner, however, approaches very near to the
boundary of the granite.
Its different kinds of slates are the same as those of the adjacent
parishes of St. Enoder and St. Erme; the rocks of its northern and
eastern boundaries resembling those of St. Enoder, the southern part
corresponding to those of St. Erme.
Most of the vallies have been excavated for stream tin, and these have
yielded some of the largest pieces of gold that have been found in
Cornwall.
[8] This parish presents a very singular anomaly in respect
to its Population Return. It would obviously occur that the
8 might possibly have stood for a 7 in the place of hundreds
in the return for 1821; but that return at large, as printed
by the House of Commons, has
Families Families Other Males. Females. In all.
employed in employed in families.
Agriculture. Trades, &c.
90 19 15 418 388 806
This gives however 6½ for each family.
If the rate of increase had continued for the last ten
years, as it did in the former twenty, the final number
would have been 983, with an increase at the rate of 81 per
cent. in 30 years.
LAMORAN.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lamoran is in the hundred of Powder, and hath on the west and north
St. Michael Penkivell; on the east Cornelly; on the south the river
Fale, between it and Ruan Lanyhorn.
The right name of this parish is Lan Morun, the church of St. Morun,
to whom it is dedicated; but as to who St. Morun was I must plead
ignorance, except that I believe him to have been one of those who
came from Ireland in the fifth century.
This parish is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book at £6. The
patronage is in Sir John Molesworth, in right of the manor of
Lanmoran, to which it belongs.
The incumbent Mr. Samuel Ley.
This little parish hath but one manor in it, and that is called by its
own name.
THE EDITOR.
In the valuation of Pope Nicholas the taxation is £1, the tenths
nothing.
This parish has but two villages, the Church Town and Tregenna.
The manor of Lamoran, including the whole parish, has passed through
various families; Halep and Trevenor, from that family by coheiresses
to Roscarrack and Chamond, then Vermans and Sparks, and Molesworths,
from whom by purchase, it passed to Boscawen. The advowson is an
appendage to the manor.
The church is said to be most curiously situated on the edge of the
river, and with a tower more venerable than itself, at a certain
distance from it.
The church has some monuments to the Vermans. Their old manor house is
fallen into decay.
This parish measures 1130 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 895 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 25 3 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 78 | 94 | 93 | 96
giving an increase of 23 per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The geology of this little parish is precisely the same as that of
Filley, of the lower part of Kea, and of other parishes situated
around the numerous creeks communicating with Falmouth harbour.
Present Rector, the Rev. William Curgerven, presented in 1803 by the
Earl of Falmouth.
LENDAWEDNACK, OR LANDEWEDNACK.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Landawednack lies in that part of the hundred of Kerrier which is
called Meneage. It hath to the west, south, and east, the English
Channel, to the north Ruan Major and Grade.
The name signifies the church of St. Wednack, or Wynnock; (although
Mr. Carew, I know not on what authority, calls it St. Landy,) to whom
is likewise dedicated Towednack, in the hundred of Penwith, and St.
Winnow. It is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book at £11. 16_s._
8_d._ The patronage in the heirs of George Robinson, Esq.
The manor of Lizard, so called from the famous Point of that name,
which is a part of it. This manor was one of those given to the Earl
of Morton.
THE EDITOR.
This parish has but two villages. The Church Town and an assemblage of
small houses near the Point, and called Lizard, or Lizard Town.
Mr. Lysons says, that the very extensive manor of Tretheves, Lucies,
and Rosswick, extends over a great part of this parish, and into Ruan
Minor and Grade: it belonged to the Carminows, then to the Reskymers,
and to Robinson, by whom it was sold in 1768 to Mr. Thomas Fonnereau,
after whose death it was purchased by the late Sir Christopher
Hawkins.
Mr. Fonnereau came into Cornwall as an adventurer, and chiefly for the
purpose of constructing Lighthouses on the Lizard Point, under one of
the improvident grants which were frequently made in those times.
A single lighthouse stands on St. Agnes Island at Scilly, and three,
forming a triangle, on the rocks of Guernsey. Two towers were
therefore built on the Lizard, that each Point might be distinct from
the others, and experience has proved their utility to be very great.
For many years after their construction the lights consisted of coal
fires in each lantern, after the manner of a smith’s forge, and urged
in a similar way by bellows; but the blowing could not be always
maintained, and when that had been intermitted for a short time the
lights nearly disappeared.
Since the expiration of the grant made to the first projector, the
affairs have been under the intelligent, scientific, and liberal
management of the Trinity House. They have substituted large Argand
lamps, each placed in the focus of a parabolic mirror, plated with
burnished silver; and these cast a continued and steady light, visible
in clear weather to the extremity of the horizon.
Latitude of the Lizard flagstaff 49° 57′ 55″.8; longitude west from
Greenwich 5° 11′ 17″.7. From the Trigonometrical Survey.
In Mr. Lax’s Table, the Western Light House is stated to have latitude
49° 57′ 44″, and longitude 5° 11′ 5″.
This parish measures 1,843 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1,187 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 126 4 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 244 | 303 | 387 | 406
giving an increase of 66 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. H. T. Coulson, presented in
1827 by Henry Coulson, Esq.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
By far the greater part of this parish is composed of serpentine,
which is generally of the red variety, with dark-coloured and shining
scales of diallage.
South of a line drawn east and west, a little north of the church,
across the peninsula of the Lizard, the rocks are for the most part
schistose, and are covered with a deep soil, which is exceedingly
productive.
The cliffs around this part of the parish are very interesting, and if
minutely scrutinized would probably throw some additional light on the
nature and position of the serpentine. To this end it would be
necessary to make the survey from the sea, which could only be
effected occasionally, and under very favourable circumstances.
At Perranbonse Cove, near the church, the slate is a variety of
schistose diallage rock, such as has been already described at
Cadgwith.
Near the lighthouses the cliff is formed of a glossy decomposing
talcose slate, which has been called by some geologists Micaceous
schist, but talc appears to be the characteristic mineral, as it is
present in a distinct form throughout the veins, with nodules of
quartz abounding in this slate.
At Hensall Cove the blue slate is much intermixed with calcareous spar
in various forms, resembling the slate adjoining the calc shists, and
blue limestones at Veryan, Padstow, and some other parts of Cornwall.
* * * * *
The Editor would take the liberty of adding that in this parish veins
of steatite run through the serpentine formation; and that
considerable quantities have been raised by the late Mr. Wedgwood from
some veins larger than the others, and near the cliff. The soft and
unctuous qualities of this substance gave it the popular name of soap
rock. Thin veins of native copper traverse also the serpentine
formation; but never in sufficient quantities to bear the expense of
mining. In some places specimens of semitransparent serpentine are
found shot through by branches of native copper, forming what has been
termed dendrites.
At Kynans Cove the assemblage of rocks possesses such an extraordinary
degree of beauty and magnificence as to render it one of the spots
most worthy of attention on the whole coast. The interest excited by
the general effect is heightened, on a more close inspection, by
natural caverns, and the intervals between the rocks are perpetually
varied in their appearance by the swell and by the subsidence of waves
from the sea.
This spot possesses further interest to a botanist by the production
of some rare plants. The asparagus officinalis, the beta maritima, the
carduus acoulis, rare in Cornwall, and some others.
Doctor Borlase records some instances of great longevity in this
parish, but such generally occur in all dry and unconfined districts,
more especially when they are somewhat elevated above the ordinary
level of alluvial countries.
* * * * *
A manufactory has been recently established for producing ornamented
trifles from the beautifully coloured and variegated serpentine of
this district, and with so much success that vases have been turned in
lathes, exceeding a foot in height, and they hope to polish
chimney-pieces on a large scale.
LANDRAKE.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this perish is lost.
TONKIN.
Landrake is situate in the hundred of East, and hath to the west St.
Germans; to the north Quethiock; to the east Pillaton, Botus Fleming
and St. Stephan’s; to the south St. Erney.
This church, in A. D. 1291, the 20th Edward I., is valued at £4.
13_s._ 4_d._ being then appropriated to the Priory of St. Germans; the
vicarage at £10.
The vicarage is valued by Wolsey at £18. 12_s._ 4_d._ The patronage in
Lord Hobart, as heir to Sir John Maynard.
The manor of Lanrake, as the parish should also be written, is
reckoned to be the very best in the county. It was valued in the 1st
year of Edward I. at £100, which no other estate came up to but
Sheviock and Pawton, which last however was valued at £120.
THE EDITOR.
There seems to be but little of importance connected with this parish.
The extensive manor of Lanrake is said by Mr. Lysons to have belonged
at an early period to the family of St. Margaret, and in the
seventeenth century to have belonged to Sergeant Maynard, from whom it
passed by marriage to the family of Hobart, and from that to
Edgecumbe. This manor includes the advowson of the vicarage; and the
impropriation of the great tithes belonged also to Sergeant Maynard,
having been a part of the endowments taken from the Priory of St.
Germans.
The church town is rather a large village, and the church and tower
are of the form and size common throughout Cornwall. The church
contains several monuments.
In this parish is another village, called Wotton Cross, and part of a
third called Tidiford, where a small river, navigable for barges, and
communicating with the Tamar at Hamoaze, divides Landrake from St.
Germans.
The facility of water communication has established some trade at
Tidiford, but it is chiefly remarkable by the great quantities of
Plymouth limestone burnt there for manure.
The system of using lime in agriculture does not date further back in
this district than the early part, or perhaps than the middle, of the
last century; and it is supposed at the least to have doubled the
value of all the land, and in consequence to have increased the
population, improved the country, and largely added to all the sources
of honest industry and employment.
Wotton, as a seat of the Courtenays, must have been in former times a
place of some consequence. It belonged to the family of Blake, the
heiress of which family has married Francis Dogherty, Esq.
ST. ERNEY.
The little parish of St. Erney, being in fact a part of Landrake,
except that its church still exists as a chapel supported by a local
rate, is not noticed by Mr. Hals under the letter E, and his account
of it is therefore lost, with this part of his manuscript.
TONKIN.
St. Erney, St. Erna, or St. Erne, stands in the hundred of East, and
hath upon the north Landrake, upon the south St. Germans Creek, upon
the west St. Germans, upon the east Botus-Fleming.
San Erna in the Cernawish tongue signifies holy hour, with reference
to, I apprehend, the time set apart for the celebration of divine
service. In the Saxon and Kernawish combined, San Erna is an holy or
sacred eagle; and if so, I take it, the name must be construed as
relating to the person that officiates at divine service, who, as an
eagle, ascends up to heaven for metaphysical or supernatural
mysteries――as St. John the Evangelist, whose similitude is an eagle.
In this sense we have Eagle vicarage in Graffo hundred, Lincolnshire.
This is a daughter church to Landrake.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Lysons notices the manor of Trelugan, of which Wotton in Landrake
seems to be the barton; and also the manor of Markwell, which he says
belonged to Thomas Earl of Lancaster, attainted in the reign of Edward
II. Then to the Bodrugans, and after the attaint of Henry de Bodrugan,
in the reign of Henry VII. it was granted to Sir John Paulet, and
descended to the late Duke of Bolton.
Mr. Lysons states, that this being a daughter church to Landrake, is
entitled to service but once a month; it is probably entitled once in
three weeks, which is the general custom or canon.
Landrake measures 2217 } statute acres.
St. Erney 881 }
----
3098
Annual value of the Real Property in both £. _s._ _d._
parishes, as returned to Parliament in 1815 5818 0 0
Poor Rate in both parishes 1831 459 2 0
Population of } in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
both parishes. } 613 | 768 | 841 | 872
giving an increase of 42 per cent. in 30 years.
Rector of Landrake, the Rev. Wymond Cory, presented in 1802 by
the Countess of Mount Edgecombe; of St. Erney, the Rev. H.
Molesworth, presented in 1823 by Lord de Dunstanville.
GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.
St. Erney consists principally of a blue slate or calcareous schist,
and it probably also contains limestone, as is the case in St.
Germans, the two parishes being separated only by a small creek.
Landrake. This parish is entirely constituted of rocks belonging to
the calcareous series, like those of the adjacent parishes, St. Erney
and St. Germans.
LANDULPH, OR LANDILIP.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Landulph is in the hundred of East. To the west of it is Pillaton and
Botus-Fleming, to the north St. Dominick, to the east and south the
river Tamar.
This signifies the church of Dilp.
It is a rectory, valued in the King’s Books at £20. 3_s._ 6_d._ The
Duke of Cornwall patron.
This church was valued in the time of Pope Nicholas at £4, having
never been appropriated, the prior of St. Germans receiving out of the
rectory a pension of £8; and if I understand the entries rightly, the
same did the abbat of Tavistock.
THE EDITOR.
The church of Landulph is situated almost on the margin of the shore,
and looks directly down the river. It contains monuments of the
Lowers, but it has one monument of extraordinary interest, to the
memory of Theodore Paleologus, descended from the last Emperors of
Greece, or as they styled themselves in the single city of
Constantinople, Emperors of Rome.
A very ample account of all that can be collected with respect to this
personage, has been given by the present learned and ingenious rector
Mr. Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell, in a communication to the Society of
Antiquaries, in 1815.
“In the parish church of Landulph, in the eastern extremity of
Cornwall, is a small brass tablet fixed against the wall, with
the following inscription:――
‘Here lyeth the body of Theodore Paleologus, of Pesaro in Italye,
descended from yᵉ Imperyal lyne of yᵉ last Christian emperors of
Greece, being the sonne of Camilio, yᵉ sonne of Prosper, the
sonne of Theodoro, the sonne of John, yᵉ sonne of Thomas, second
brother of Constantine Paleologus, the 8ᵗʰ of that name, and last
of yᵗ lyne yᵗ rayned in Constantinople until subdued by the
Turks, who married wᵗ Mary, yᵉ daughter of William Balls, of
Hadlye in Souffolke, Gent. and had issue 5 children, Theodore,
John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy; and departed this life at
Clyfton, yᵉ 21ˢᵗ of Janʸ, 1636.’
“Above the inscription are the imperial arms proper, of the
empire of Greece――an eagle displayed with two heads, the two legs
resting upon two gates; the imperial crown over the whole, and
between the gates a crescent for difference as second son.
“The Paleologus dynasty were descended from the imperial race of
the Comneni; and the first of the family was Michael Paleologus
about 1270; to whom succeeded Andronicus the First and Second,
John I., and Emmanuel, who died 1425, leaving six sons. The
eldest, John II., who was associated with his father in the
government during his lifetime, succeeded him. Andronicus, the
second son, had the principality of Thessalonica, and died of a
leprosy soon after the sale of that city to the Venetians. Some
fortunate incidents had restored Peloponnesus, or the Morea, to
the empire; and in his more prosperous days Emmanuel had
fortified the narrow isthmus of six miles with a stone wall and
153 towers. The wall was overthrown upon the first blast of the
Ottomans; the fertile peninsula might have been sufficient for
the four younger brothers, Theodore and Constantine, Demetrius
and Thomas, but they wasted in domestic contests the remains of
their strength, and the least successful of the rivals were
reduced to a life of dependance in the Byzantine palace. On the
death of John II., who survived four years the Hungarian crusade,
the royal family by the death of Andronicus, and the monastic
profession of Isidore (or Theodore), was reduced to three
princes, Constantine, Demetrius, and Thomas. Of these, the first
and last were far distant in the Morea; but Demetrius, who
possessed the domain of Selybria, was in the suburbs at the head
of a party. His ambition was not chilled with the public
distress, and his conspiracy with the Turks and the schismatics
had already disturbed the peace of the country. He would have
supplanted his brother, and ascended the throne, but for his
mother and the great men, who prevented him. His younger brother,
the despot Thomas, also accidentally returning to the capital,
asserted the cause of Constantine, who was crowned emperor.
“Demetrius and Thomas now divided the Morea between them; but,
though they had taken a solemn oath never to violate the
agreement, differences soon arose, and Thomas took up arms to
drive Demetrius out of his possessions; Demetrius hereupon
retired to Asan, his wife’s brother, by whose means he obtained
succours from Amurat, and compelled Thomas to submit the matters
in dispute to the emperor’s (Constantine’s) arbitration. But that
prince refusing to deliver to his brother the territories that
fell to his share, Mohammed ordered Thuraken, his governor in the
Morea, to assist Demetrius, and demolish the wall that shut up
that country. Hereupon Thomas gave him the city of Kalamata, in
lieu of the territory of the Skortians, which he detained.
Immediately on this event, Mohammed besieged and took
Constantinople, in defence of which Constantine was slain.
“The dissensions of the two brothers may be considered a
principal cause of the fall of the Greek empire.
“After the capture of Constantinople, Mohammed makes war on
Demetrius and Thomas, under pretence of recovering the tribute
due to him from them as despots of the Morea; but he is obliged
to retire, and soon after comes to agreement with them. At this
time the Albanians, Thomas’s subjects, revolt, and attack
Pattras, a city of Achaia, where Thomas resided, but are
repulsed; they would have been, however, ultimately successful,
had not Mohammed sent his general Thuraken to their assistance.
“The two brothers again falling out, and endeavouring to supplant
each other, Mohammed takes advantage of it, and in 1458 sends an
order to the despots of the Morea to pay three years’ arrears of
ten thousand ducats tribute, or quit the country. In spring
following, he marched to attack the Morea, and reduced Corinth,
without using force. At the first news of his appearance, Thomas,
one of the despots, retired to Italy with his wife and children;
and Demetrius, the other, submitted of his own accord to the
Soltân, who carried him away to Constantinople.
“Such is the account given in the Universal History from Dukas.
The relation of Khalcondylas in the same work is more particular,
as well as more favourable to the character of Thomas: ‘Prince
Thomas having retired from Pylos, repaired to the island of
Korfu, where he left his family, and set sail for Italy; at the
same time he sent an ambassador to know if Mohammed would give
him a great extent of country along the sea coast in exchange for
the city of Epidamnum. The Soltân, by way of answer, put the
envoy in irons, but soon after sent him back. Thomas arriving at
Rome 1461, was lodged in the Pope’s palace, and had a pension of
three thousand livres for his other expenses.’
“Rycaut, in his History, gives a still higher character of
Thomas: ‘Thomas getting into the castle of Salmenica, defended
the same against the infidels a whole year, when, despairing of
relief, he escaped into Italy, where the Pope allowed him a
pension till the day of his death.’ Of him Mahomet gave this
character: ‘That he had found many slaves, but never a man in the
Grecian province besides Prince Thomas.’
“But Gibbon has a very contemptible account of the ultimate fate
of this unfortunate family. He says, that Demetrius died at
Constantinople in a monastic habit, and abject slavery; that the
misery of Thomas was prolonged by a pension of six thousand
ducats from the Pope and cardinals; that he died leaving two
sons, Andrew and Manuel, who were educated in Italy; that Manuel
the younger returned to Constantinople, where he was maintained
by the Soltân, and died, leaving a son, who was lost in the habit
and religion of a Turkish slave. The elder brother, Andrew,
contemptible to his enemies, and burthensome to his friends, was
degraded by the baseness of his life and marriage, and sold his
title to the empires of Constantinople and Trebizond to Charles
VIII. in 1494, who assumed the purple and title of Augustus. And
in a note he says, from Du Cange, that the Palæologi of
Montferrat were not extinct till the next century, but they had
forgotten their Greek origin and kindred.
“So degrading is the account this historian gives us of the
remains of this celebrated family. It is a grateful task to
endeavour to prove his representation in some respects incorrect
and undeserved; as we shall then be authorised to hesitate upon
what he tells us as to the rest, and to put a more liberal
construction upon the whole.
“From the inscription at Landulph it is clear Thomas had _three
sons_: the third, called _John_, whose family, though we have no
particular mention of them, remained in Italy, at Rome probably,
and Pesaro, till the time of Theodore. From the inscription it is
also certain that this family was not extinct in 1636, and
perhaps some of the descendants are still living in England at
this moment.
“The imputation thrown on the _Montferrat_ Paleologi certainly
does not apply to this branch, that they had forgotten their
Greek origin and kindred; on the contrary, the inscription
proves, from the accuracy of the pedigrees and the arms with the
difference of second brother, that the family of Theodore
Paleologus, had neither forgotten their Greek origin nor high
descent, but still gloried in them, and were scrupulously exact
in perpetuating the same.
“The names of Theodore and John occurring in this pedigree, and
continued in the family of Theodore, are still stronger
evidences. Camillo, Prosper, and Ferdinando, were probably
acquired on their connection with Italian families.
“It would be absurd to make any conjectures as to the history of
Theodore’s predecessors, as we have no documents to warrant any
conjecture. If we hazard any opinion at all, we may suppose, that
when, in 1464, the Venetians under Vetorio Capelli warred against
the Turks and attacked _Pattras_, Thomas’s former residence, he
probably joined them, perhaps fell there; and in the frequent
wars which afterwards occurred between those powers, John,
Theodore, Prosper, and Camillo, were probably not idle
spectators, but joined against the common enemy, as well from a
recollection of former wrongs, as a hope to regain some part of
their ancient possessions. Indeed, their settlement at Pesaro
might have been whilst the duchy of Urbino belonged to the
Venetians, and in consideration of the part they took in those
wars.
“Theodore Paleologus was born, we may infer from the inscription,
at _Pesaro_. Of his mother we know nothing; his father was called
_Camillo_. The time of his birth is also uncertain; though, from
his marriage in 1615, _then a widower_, we may suppose him to be
then about forty, which carries back his birth to 1575.
“Theodore’s removal from Italy, and settlement in England, must
have been either compulsive or voluntary. If the former, it was
probably either on account,
“1. Of his religion; or,
“2. From other causes.
“As to the first, the Paleologus family, from the time of John
II., were reconciled to and in union with the Latin church; and
to this circumstance is probably to be attributed the protection
afterwards afforded to Thomas by the Pope, perhaps through the
interest of Cardinal Isidore, the resident nuncio at
Constantinople. But the Greek church still differed very
materially in many points from the Latin; and though Gregory
XIII. founded a college at Rome for the education of the Greek
children in the sciences and religion, (and here perhaps Theodore
was educated), yet we find him opposing what he called the errors
of the Greeks; and in particular, on his alteration of the
calendar he is much incensed against them for refusing to receive
it. And again, in the pontificate of Clement VIII. we find him
particularly anxious to reform the Greek church, and much enraged
at being imposed on by a pretended embassy from the metropolitan
of Russia, which proved to be a forgery. If Theodore, as is most
probable, was still of the Greek Church, these circumstances
might have induced the Pope to withdraw the protection and
support hitherto afforded to the family.――But if,
“2. To other causes, is to be attributed Theodore’s departure
from Italy, it was perhaps from the rigid decree of _Sixtus_ the
Fifth, (about the year 1585), prohibiting foreigners from living
at Rome, unless they brought a certificate that they were able by
some trade or profession to maintain their families. If
Theodore’s family were then at Rome, and in dependance on the
papacy, perhaps Sixtus might enforce this decree to rid himself
of a family whose high descent he possibly regarded with a
jealous eye, recollecting the meanness of his own origin. Or, the
severe famine, which in 1590 afflicted all the ecclesiastical
state, might oblige Theodore, among others, to emigrate to
another country.
“If, on the other hand, Theodore’s departure from Italy was
voluntary, as is most probable, it might be from having formed
some acquaintance, either with natives of this country, or with
foreigners who were coming hither.
“About the same time that the Greek college was founded at Rome,
(and where we may imagine Theodore to have had his education),
another was founded called the Scotch college, for children of
refugees from Scotland and England. Here we may suppose Theodore
to have had some acquaintance; nor is it unlikely that when the
jubilee in 1601 attracted a vast assemblage of persons from all
countries to Rome, some one of these might have prevailed on
Theodore to return to England with them. In the same year 1601,
the Duke of Braciano, a neighbouring state to Pesaro, came to
England, or rather Scotland, on a visit to the King of the Scots
his relation. Did Theodore accompany him? Again, we may suppose
him to have volunteered in the war against the Turks under
Rodolph II. in whose army were many Englishmen, and in particular
Sir Thomas Arundel, whose namesake, and probably friend, Thomas
Arundel, resided at Clifton, the subsequent residence of
Theodore. Did he come over with him? If not, we may lastly
imagine he came here through Sir Henry Killigrew, ambassador
about this time to the Venetians or Genoese. The connection
between the Arundel, Killigrew, and Lower families, give the most
plausibility to the two last conjectures.
“But whatever may be our conjectures as to Theodore’s removal
from Italy, we know that in 1615 he was actually in England, at
Hadley in Suffolk, and (then a widower) married Mary, daughter of
William Balls, of that town. No traces of the Balls family remain
at present, either from tradition or otherwise, except the
register of Theodore’s marriage; and even here, Mr. Wilkins, the
minister, who has favoured me with a copy of this register, says
that it is too mutilated and imperfect to decipher accurately the
name of Paleologus.
“The issue of this marriage, as the monument tells us, were five
children, Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy, all of
whom must have been born before Theodore left the eastern part of
the kingdom; for the register of Landulph, perfect till the year
1629, makes no mention whatever of the name. He could not
therefore have settled at Clifton in Landulph earlier than 1622
or 1623.
“Clifton, a few years before this, in 1600, was the mansion of
the Arundels; but in 1630, Sir Nicholas Lower, a Cornish
gentleman, who married Sir Henry Killigrew’s daughter, was living
at Clifton. Between these two dates Paleologus must have come
here; and what is more particular, he died at Clifton in 1636, at
the very time that Clifton was the residence of Sir Nicholas
Lower.
“I have made repeated inquiries of the old people of the parish,
but not the slightest tradition remains respecting him; and here
again conjecture must supply the place of fact. When Theodore
came to Clifton, he came with his family, for by the register it
appears one of his daughters married in the parish, and the other
died here unmarried. There must then have been some connection
either between the Arundel or Lower families and himself.
“As to the first supposition, if it is probable he came into
England with Sir Thomas Arundel from the battles in Hungary, we
may suppose Sir Thomas recommended him to Landulph, as from its
vicinity to the sea and warmth of climate, more nearly resembling
the climate and situation of Pesaro than any other place in the
kingdom. In this case we may suppose him to have taken Clifton
for a term, and as the house appears to have been originally
divided into two, the subsequent occupier, Sir Nicholas Lower and
Paleologus, might be both living at Clifton at the same time,
unconnected with each other.
“The more probable supposition, however, is, that he settled at
Clifton from the connection that subsisted between Sir Henry
Killigrew (who, I feel strongly inclined to believe, brought him
to England) and Sir Nicholas Lower. Sir Nicholas Lower married
Sir Henry’s daughter, and as they were now advanced in life,
without any family, the society of Paleologus and his children
might be desirable to them; particularly when we recollect that
this was the time when the Greek language was so much in fashion
in England, that even ladies studied it most zealously; that Lady
Killigrew was one of the learned daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke,
celebrated for her literary attainments, and particularly her
knowledge of Greek; and it is reasonable to suppose her daughter,
Lady Lower, wife of Sir Nicholas, was brought up with the same
fondness for the classic languages; and where could she expect to
find so able an instructor as a descendant of the first family in
the Greek empire; or what place could be more suited to classical
pursuits than the retirement of a country mansion, such as
Clifton.
“On the 21st of January 1636, as appears by the monument,
Theodore Paleologus died at Clifton, Sir Nicholas and Lady Lower
being still alive; of whom the latter died in 1638, and Sir
Nicholas in 1655.
“The Landulph register, perfect from 1540 to 1628, has then a
great chasm till the year 1649; and during this interval all the
entries that would have been probably most interesting to our
inquiries were made.
“Some little time since I examined the duplicates of parish
registers, deposited in the room of archives in Exeter cathedral;
and after a laborious search among the registers of two
centuries, thrown promiscuously together without arrangement as
to either parishes or dates, and those for the most part
obliterated by the damp, I had the good fortune to recover the
Landulph register for the year 1636, which had the following
entry:
“‘Theodore Palleologus was buryed the 20th daye of October.’
“By the monument Theodore is said to have died the 21st of
January 1636; from the register it appears he was buried October
20, 1636. It can hardly be supposed the body was kept from
January till October, and the difficulty is increased from the
knowledge, that by the mode of calculation in use at that time,
the year commenced at Lady-day; so that, if he died January 21,
1636, the 20th of October following must have been in 1637.
“The body, if it remained any considerable time uninterred, would
have been inclosed in a lead coffin; but this was not the case,
for about twenty years ago, when the vault was accidentally
opened, the coffin of Paleologus was seen, a single oak coffin;
and curiosity prompting to lift the lid, the body of Paleologus
was discovered, and in so perfect a state as to ascertain him to
have been in stature much above the common height, his
countenance of an oval form, much lengthened, and strongly marked
by an aqueline nose, and a very white beard reaching low on the
breast.
“Of the five children left by him, no traces remain of two sons,
John and Ferdinando. Whether they joined the brothers of Sir
Nicholas Lower, who were distinguished cavaliers on the king’s
side in the unhappy wars that distracted the country soon after
the death of Theodore, and in which Major Lower gallantly fell;
or whether the miserable state of England induced them again to
re-visit Italy, cannot be ascertained.
“Theodore was a sailor, and served on board the Charles II.
Captain Gibson. He died at sea 1693, as appears by a will and
power in the Commons, obligingly communicated to me by Francis
Townsend, Esq. Windsor Herald. This is dated August 1, 1693, and
solely in favour of his wife Martha. If he had any children they
are not named in it. The signature is Theodore Paleologey; and
though described simply as mariner, it should seem he was
possessed of landed estate, as there are four witnesses, Charles
Gibson, commander, J. Wright, John Corneth, Richard Roberts.
“Mary Paleologus died at Landulph unmarried in 1674; and her
sister Dorothy was married in 1656 to William Arundel, the
grandson probably of Alexander Arundel, of Clifton. This marriage
is registered at Landulph and St. Mellion, as solemnised in both
parishes; the entry at the latter is, ‘Dorothea Paleologus de
stirpe Imperatorum.’ Soon after their marriage they settled in
St. Dominick, an adjoining parish, the registers of which having
been accidentally destroyed, it is impossible now to determine if
they had any issue, though it seems highly probable. They were
both buried at Landulph, Dorothy in 1681, and her husband in
1684; and as some years after, a Mary Arundel was married to
Francis Lee, the imperial blood perhaps still flows in the
bargemen of Cargreen!”
The manor of Landulph is traced back to the family of D’Alneto, from
whom it passed to the Courtenays, and fell to the Crown on the
attainder of Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, in 1539, soon after
which it was annexed to the duchy of Cornwall.
The manor of Glebridge has passed through various families, and is now
the property of Mr. Bluett.
But the principal place in this parish was Clifton. Sir John Arundell
is said to have built the house about the year 1500. It is believed to
have afterwards belonged to the Killigrews, as it passed in succession
to Sir Nicholas Lower and Sir Reginald Mahon, who married the
daughters of Sir Henry Killigrew. The former died without issue; and
it was ultimately sold with the other property of the Mahons to Pitt.
The Lowers had their principal seat at St. Winnow, and were eminent
during several successions. Some of this family were distinguished by
their proficiency in science, and by their friendships with scientific
men. This has been very recently made prominent in a work that cannot
receive too much commendation, either for the accuracy, the ability,
or for the industry displayed by its author. The Life of Dr. Bradley,
by Stephen Peter Rigaud, M.A. Savilian Professor of Astronomy in
Oxford, and Director of the Radcliffe Observatory, 1 vol. 4to. 1832.
Landulph measures 1564 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3596 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 363 0 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 529 | 590 | 579 | 570
giving an increase of not quite 8 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. F. V. Jago, F.S.A. presented
by the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall in 1805.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that it is situated
like the last on the calcareous series, and that its rocks are similar.
LANEAST.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Laneast is in the hundred of East. To the west of it is St. Clether,
to the north Egloskerry, to the east Trewren, to the south Alternun.
This parish taketh its name from its situation to the east of St.
Clether.
It is an impropriation, belonging formerly to the Priory of
Launceston. The great tithes are at present in the hands of the Earl
of Radnor (Robarts); and the small tithes, out of which seven pounds
a-year are paid for the supply of the cure, are in the possession of
Mr. Arthur Squire and Mr. King.
THE EDITOR.
This parish contains three villages, the Church Town, Badgall, and
Trespearn.
The principal or only seat is Tregeare, belonging to the family of
Baron.
The late Mr. Jaspar Baron either rebuilt or greatly improved the
house. This gentleman was for some time a member of Pembroke College,
Oxford, but did not proceed to a degree. He died in early life,
leaving a son and a daughter. The son became a member of Wadham
College, Oxford. He died unmarried, and still earlier than his father.
The sister, heiress of the very considerable property possessed by
this family, has married a son of the late Mr. Christopher Lethbridge,
of Madford in Launceston.
The great tithes now belong to Mr. George Bennett, and the impropriate
vicarage to Mr. Baron and Mr. Cook.
This parish measures 2111 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 851 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 148 19 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 179 | 149 | 229 | 279
giving an increase of 56 per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The geology of this parish is precisely similar to that of the
adjacent parish of St. Clether.
The northern part is situated on that range of downs which extends
from Launceston to the British Channel. These downs consist
principally of varieties of dunstone, which are sometimes felspathic;
but in general they are very siliceous, and even quartzoze. They are
interesting in an economical point of view, as containing extensive
deposits of the ores of manganese. A mine of this substance has been
long worked at Letcot in Laneast. The ores occur in a lode or cross
course of capel, running north-east and south-west; the lode is about
twelve fathoms in width, and is composed of siliceous materials, or
rather varieties of compact felspar, in which silex greatly
predominates. The ore is arranged throughout the substances of the
lode in veins and branches. In the latter form it was originally
discovered, not many feet below the surface, and in such abundance
that it was obtained at a very trifling cost, for the hardness and
tenacity of the capel permitted the ore to be followed in all its
ramifications without needing support: and the result of these
operations has been to produce a large chasm, with curiously irregular
and indented sides.
LANHIDROCK.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lanhidrock is in the hundred of Pider; hath to the west Lanivet; to
the north Bodmin; to the east Fowey river, between it and St. Winnow;
to the south, Lanlivery.
This parish takes its name from St. Hidrock, and is the church of St.
Hidrock.
This probably may be the manor that in Domesday is called the
Lanredock; and if so, it is one of the manors given by William the
Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton, with the Earldom of Cornwall.
In the year sixteen hundred and ―――― John Lord Robarts, being
disgusted on some occasion or other with the town of Truro, left his
barony-house there, and new built a large one in this place,
quadrangularwise, to which he added afterwards a noble gate-house, and
enclosed a very handsome park, well-wooded, and watered by the river
Fowey.
This noble lord was afterwards, in 1662, made Lord Privy Seal, in the
place of William Lord Say, deceased. In Sept. 1669 he was made Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, but continued there no longer than the May
following; and about this time he received the honour of being made
Custos Rotulorum of Cornwall. In 1679, July 20, he was created Earl of
Falmouth and Viscount Bodmin, but he kept the title of Falmouth only
six days, when he got it changed to that of Radnor. In October of the
same year he was made Lord President of the Council, in the room of
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. He was twice married, 1st.
to the Lady Lucy Rich, daughter of Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, by
whom he had issue Robert Lord Viscount Bodmin. He married, secondly, a
daughter of John Smith, Esq. of Kent, a lady of great beauty, who, it
is said, was to have married his eldest son the Lord Bodmin; for which
reason there was never a good understanding between the father and
son. By her he had several children, the eldest of which was Francis
Robarts, a very ingenious man, and a great mathematician, author of
several small works. He was twice married, first to Penelope, daughter
of Sir Courtenay Pole, of Devonshire, by whom he had no issue;
secondly, to the Lady Ann Fitzgerald, daughter of the Earl of Kildare,
and widow of Mr. William Boscawen, of Tregothnan. The said John
Robarts, Earl of Radnor, died at his house in Chelsea, very aged, July
17, 1685, and was brought to Lanhidrock, where he had constructed a
vault for himself and family, and was succeeded by his grandson
Charles Bodville Robarts.
Robert Robarts, Lord Bodmin, his father, was much esteemed by King
Charles the Second, for his bright, lively parts and ready wit. He was
sent Ambassador to the King of Denmark in July 1679-80, but died soon
after his return. Charles Bodville Robarts, second Earl of Radnor,
married Mary, the daughter and heir of Sir John Cutler, by whom he
acquired a great accession of fortune, but no issue. He succeeded the
Earl of Bath as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, and he was also Lord
Warden of the Stanneries. He was succeeded by his nephew Mr. Henry
Robarts.
Trefry, that is, the house on the hill, (for bre, bray, vre, fray, are
synonymous terms, indicating a hill or a mountain,) adjoins
Lanhidrock, and was formerly a barton belonging to the Trefrys of
Fowey; although they took not their name from this place, but from
Trefry in Linkinhorne. It now belongs to the Earl of Radnor, who keeps
it as a domain to Lanhidrock. The Earl of Radnor’s arms are, Azure,
three estoiles, and a chief wavy Or; the crest, a lion rampant Or,
holding a flaming sword Proper, the pommel Or; supporters, two goats
Argent, with a ducal coronet round their necks Or; the motto, “QUÆ
SUPRA;” which coat was thus given by John Robarts Earl of Radnor, but
for what reason I cannot tell, since the arms of the family granted to
Sir Richard Robarts, afterwards Baron Truro, by the celebrated William
Camden, Clarencieux King-at-Arms, were, Azure, on a chevron Argent
three mullets Sable, as may be seen in their house at Truro, and also
in the church.
THE EDITOR.
Henry Robarts, the third Earl of Radnor, in possession of the property
when Mr. Tonkin wrote, was succeeded by his cousin John Robarts, son
of Francis Robarts, youngest son of John Robarts, the first Earl of
Radnor; and with him, who died in 1764, the family became extinct in
the male line; and the estate reverted to a sister’s son of Henry
Robarts, who had married Thomas Hunt, Esq. of Mellington in Cheshire.
Mr. George Hunt, the eldest son of this marriage, resided occasionally
at Lanhidrock, and represented Bodmin in several Parliaments. This
gentleman never married, and he was succeeded by his brother’s
daughter, Anna Maria, now (1834) the widow of the Hon. Charles Bagnal
Agar: left with an only son, who has assumed the name of Robarts.
It is obvious that all families, to whatever degrees of elevation they
may afterwards ascend, must at some period or another have emerged
from the ordinary fortunes of mankind. At the time of the Norman
Conquest, hundreds started forth at once by successful warfare and
confiscation; others have risen or fallen by the chances of civil war,
favouritism, marriages, adventures, or speculation in foreign
countries, by professions, or commerce; these last have recently been
more efficacious for ordinary individuals and families than force of
arms.
The family of Robarts, illustrious as it has since been, derives its
origin entirely from trade, and that too conducted in the town of
Truro, now indeed, and for a century past, a place of opulence, and
connected with a productive mining district, where several ample
fortunes have been acquired; but in the reign of the Tudors it could
have been no more than an obscure place in a remote province.
There is nothing known of any particularly fortunate occurrence which
might have heaped wealth on this family; they probably accumulated
patiently through several generations from father to son, when the
rate of interest on all capital gave a facility to the increase of
wealth unknown at the present day. That the family made their progress
in the world after this manner, is evinced by the nature of the
possessions transmitted to their heirs. Extensive on the whole, but
instead of being made up of large masses, like those acquired in
feudal times, it mainly consists of small pieces of land scattered
over the country, on which the successful merchant or dealer lent his
superfluous money on mortgage, and afterwards entered into possession
or foreclosed.
The first Lord Robarts, created a Baron through the influence of
George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, with King James the First,[9] who
emerged from Truro, and built or improved the house at Lanhidrock, and
planted in all probability the magnificent avenues, must have been a
man worthy of his high fortune.
The editor remembers the house, a complete square, with a superb
barbican in front, united to the house, or rather castle, by two lofty
walls.
These walls were first taken down, and then the front, by Mr. George
Hunt, which he replaced by green palisades. This gentleman had the
reputation of being a classical scholar, and he travelled into the
south of Europe, where Taste once fixed her abode, and where she still
lingers or loves often to return; but according to all the opinions
now entertained, he never met her in his walks, nor profited by the
contemplation of her works. Perhaps in his youth the prejudice had not
disappeared which confined all the elegance and beauty of architecture
to upright pillars with horizontal cornices, and esteemed the word
Gothic as of the same import with barbarous, and inviting destruction
wherever it was applied.
This parish was heretofore a complete impropriation to the priory at
Bodmin, in respect to small tithes as well as the great; and being
situated so near the monastery, it was probably served from thence,
and considered as exempt from the canon enjoining the residence of
some spiritual person on all benefices, and it has continued a
donative to the present time. Mr. Tonkin conjectures that the parish
is dedicated to a Saint Hydrock, or Hidrock. No such name is to be
found; but it may belong to the list of missionaries.
The Editor remembers to have heard as facts, from an old lady of
Bodmin, who died many years before the words ‘political economy,’ were
pronounced in England, that the last Lord Radnor kept house at
Lanhidrock in the style of ancient baronial magnificence; that a
bullock was killed every week, and a sheep every day; and that
whatever remained over-night of meat, of broken bread, or of certain
allowed quantities of beer, were on the morning distributed at the
gate; and that in consequence the whole neighbourhood became idle,
depraved, and vicious, to such a degree as to force itself on the
notice of every one, and to produce a full conviction of the utter
destruction that must ensue if it were possible that such mistaken
liberality could be common.
The manor of Lanhidrock belonged in former times to the Glynns, of
Glynn. Mr. Lysons says that it passed from them as a marriage portion
to the family of Lyttleton, and from them by a heiress to Trenance;
and that in the year 1620 Lyttleton Trenance, Esq. sold it to Sir
Richard Roberts, afterwards created Lord Truro. Mr. Tonkin has stated
that this gentleman built the house; but the whole place has the
appearance of much greater antiquity: that he improved and decorated
the building, and perhaps added the barbican and the connecting walls,
is very probable.
Lanhidrock measures 1659 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1213 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 137 6 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 187 | 235 | 251 | 239
giving an increase of 28 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The south-western corner of this parish touches on the granite; the
rest is composed of rocks belonging to the porphyritic series, being
principally varieties of compact and schistose felspar rocks,
containing mica or horneblende, or a mineral of an intermediate
nature, not easily discriminated.
[9] See Nichols’s Progresses, &c. of King James, iii, 230.
LANIVET.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lanivet, in the hundred of Pider, hath to the west Withiel, to the
north and east Bodmin and Lanhydrock, to the south St. Roach,
Luxilian, and Lanlivery.
This parish is a rectory, valued in the King’s books at 24_l._ The
patronage in Kelland Courtenay, Esq. and the heirs of Anthony Nicholl,
Esq. of Penrose, _alternis vicibus_. The incumbent Mr. Vasnoom.
A. D. 1291, 20th Edward the First (the valuation of Pope Nicholas)
this Church is rated at 8_l._ having never been appropriated.
In treating of the estates of this parish, I shall begin with Tremere,
the great town, called in Domesday book Tremer, being one of the
numerous manors in this county given by William the Conqueror to his
half brother, Robert Earl of Morton, with the Earldom of Cornwall. Mr.
Carew calls it Tremore.
It had formerly owners of the same name, who, I suppose, held it in
vassalage under the Earls of Cornwall; they gave for their arms,
Argent, three reap-hooks conjoined in the blades Sable. The last of
whom was John Tremere, Esq. of this place, who left two daughters and
heirs; Alice, married to Geoffrey St. Aubyn, of Clowance, Esq. which
Alice, as appears by the inscription on her husband’s tomb-stone in
Crowan church, died the 1st of May 1400.
And …
This place hath been for several generations the seat of the
Courtenays, whom I take to be a younger branch of those of Trethurfe,
to whom they have at length been heirs; for the present owner’s
grandfather, Humphry Courtenay, Esq. during many years, and up to his
decease, Representative in Parliament for the borough of Michell,
married the daughter of Sir Peter Courtenay, of Trethurfe, and
eventually sole heiress to her brother William Courtenay.
Their son, William Courtenay, married the daughter of ―――― Kelland,
of Peynsford in Devonshire, and their son Kelland Courtenay, Esq. is
the present possessor, 1734; Member of Parliament for Truro; he has
two daughters, both as yet unmarried.
THE EDITOR.
On the decease of Mr. Charles Courtenay, son of the last-mentioned
Kelland Courtenay in 1761, all the property devolved on his two
sisters; one of whom married William Poyntz, Esq. of Berkshire, and
the other Edmund Boyle, Earl of Cork.
Tremere, with much of the other property, has been sold; and Mr.
William Stephen Poyntz has acquired the Boyle share of what remains.
This extensive parish contains several villages. The Church Town,
Bodwanick, Bokiddick, Lamorick, St. Inganger, Trebell, Tregullan,
Tremoore, and Woodly, with a part of St. Lawrence, the locality of an
ancient incorporated lazar-house.
The church and tower may be considered as handsome models of western
ecclesiastic architecture, where all are superior to the average of
other districts. This tower, as well as the adjoining one of Roach,
are without the usual ornament of pinnacles.
In the church are some monuments; one to the memory of Mr. Richard
Courtenay and Thomasin his wife, dated in 1632, is remarkable for its
simplicity and quaintness of its inscription:
They lived and died both in Tremere,
God hath their souls, their bones lie here;
Richard with Thomsen his loved wife,
Lived sixty-one years――then ended life.
The advowson of this parish was purchased about the middle of the last
century by Mr. Phillipps, a substantial yeoman of Roach; and the
Editor has heard for a thousand pounds. It now belongs to his
great-grandson, the Reverend William Phillipps, who is the Rector.
This parish possesses the curious and interesting remains of a convent
or female monastery, dedicated to St. Bennet.
Very little is known of its history. The remote, and in former times
almost inaccessible, situation of Cornwall, and perhaps the frequent
insurrections during the reign of Henry the Seventh and of Edward the
Sixth, have involved the history of its religious institution in a
greater obscurity than what hangs over any other part of England.
This nunnery is believed to have been a cell to some foreign convent;
and it is not certainly known whether it was entirely suppressed by
Henry the Fifth, or whether, as some have conjectured, it became
attached to the priory of Bodmin, and remained a parcel of that house
till the general dissolution.
It belonged for a considerable period to the Courtenays of Tremere,
and in a state of repair, for there is a tradition of its having made
some defence in the great Civil War, till cannon were used against it.
It was sold in the year 1710; and about ten years afterwards became
the property of Mr. Grose, a farmer of the parish. His son or
grandson, about the year 1775, built a new house on the farm, when
some remains of a beautiful cloister, which the Editor faintly
remembers, afforded a ready supply of materials. It is said, that Mr.
George Hunt, of Lanhidrock, more impressed by the elegance of these
ruins than by the splendour of his own house, interfered to the extent
of remonstrance for their preservation; but when the proprietor
replied that he would willingly spare them, if the difference of
expense for getting stone from a neighbouring quarry were paid him,
nothing further was done.
The mere site of the building has been purchased within twenty years
by the Rev. Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell, Rector of Landulph; and in
the present year this sequestered spot――scarcely visible in any
direction at the distance of half a mile, inclosed in a deep vale, and
surrounded by trees more lofty than its half-ruined tower; the
appropriate retreat of those who choose their lot――
The world forgetting, by the world forgot,
Where round some mould’ring tow’r pale ivy creeps,
And low-brow’d rocks hang nodding o’er the deeps;
――is by the progress of recent improvement laid open to public view,
and above all to the inspection of strangers. A hill so steep as to be
dangerous for carriages, and extending to a mile in length, has been
avoided, by conducting the London road through this valley, which,
after an interval, perhaps, of a thousand years from the time when it
was devoted to superstitious observances, directly opposed to the
benevolence inseparable from the Author of all Good, and congenial
only to the demon of evil, has at last become subservient to general
utility.
This parish is possessed of certain lands, some within its own limits,
but others at considerable distances in other parishes. These are held
by twelve feoffees, called the twelve men of the parish, a species of
select vestry, which existed in all large parishes in Cornwall down to
the early part of the last century, till it was tacitly done away by
those improvident or insane acts of the legislature, made no doubt in
conformity with the existing prejudices of the times, which have
generated a rapidly increasing tribe of lazzaroni, threatening, if
their progress cannot now be checked, most infallibly to reduce this
once flourishing country, the favoured seat of arts, of science, of
morals, and of legitimate refinement, to a state of vice and of
degradation, worse than that of savages in their primeval condition of
wandering hunters.
The rents are applied to the support of a school, and to some specific
charities, and the surplus given in aid of the poor rate.
Mr. Lysons says, that these lands belonged to Credys in Padstow, a
cell to St. Bennet’s. This does not, however, seem to be very
probable, considering the nature of St. Bennet’s foundation. It is
more likely that the lands were the immediate possession of this
convent; and no such place as Credys is noticed by Tanner.
The history of Lanivet would here close, but the Editor hopes that he
may be allowed to bestow a few lines on the Reverend John Lake, Rector
of this parish more than thirty years; possessed of learning, piety,
and benevolence,
In wit a man, simplicity a child.
He was educated in Truro, according to a custom evidently derived from
Catholic times, in the acquirement of some classical knowledge, and
then placed in an inferior line of business at Leskeard, where at that
period resided Mr. Heydon as schoolmaster, an ornament to his country
by every species of learning and of acquirement. Here Mr. Lake,
forgetful of his having married early in life, and of a growing
family, devoted his time to assisting Mr. Heydon, and in obtaining
knowledge from his conversation, till on a sudden he found himself
deprived of his wife, left with two daughters, and his business
failed.
Thus circumstanced, Mr. Lake placed the two daughters with his father;
and having collected a hundred and thirty pounds, he proceeded to
Oxford, became a member of Magdalen Hall, and contrived, on this
scanty supply, to keep terms and to obtain orders. He then returned
into Cornwall, served the curacy of Roach, and there married the
daughter or sister of Mr. Phillipps, who had purchased the advowson of
Lanivet; and a vacancy occurring in the course of a few years, he
obtained the rectory.
Here he again became a widower, and married a third time Miss Bridget
Hoblin, of Bodmin, by whom he had two sons. The eldest became a Fellow
of Wadham, and the other of Exeter College. Both his daughters were
dead; and in May 1805, Mr. Lake departed this life, having completed
his 76th year, in peace with all men, having been pious without
fanaticism, and to the utmost of his power, a practiser of the good
doctrines which he taught.
His widow was left with a competence; and his sons were advanced by
their merits and their talents into situations at once honourable and
lucrative; but permanent happiness in this world was not to be their
lot. William went to sea, and was lost with Admiral Reynolds in a
first rate ship of the line; and the second, after struggling with a
consumption, expired in his mother’s arms.
Lanivet measures 4690 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 4086 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 375 12 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 513 | 687 | 803 | 922
giving an increase of 80 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The southern part of the parish reposes on granite; and proceeding
northward, the next portion is composed of rocks of the porphyritic
series, which are again succeeded by those of the calcareous series.
The middle portion is by far the most extensive, the other two
occupying only a narrow part, on the extreme southern and northern
parts of the parish. The middle, or porphyritic series, presents the
most interesting phenomena.
Lanivet Hill is covered with large boulders and projecting torrs of
massive rock, which have the appearance of granite; but on examination
it proves to be a felspar rock. The greater part of this hill is
composed of lamellar and slatey varieties of the same kind of rock, as
may be seen in the rubbish of the numerous shafts that occur on the
side of this hill. On the road to Bodmin, near the boundary of the
parish, is a very interesting elvan course. The upper part of it is
completely decomposed, resembling a mass of prepared China clay; the
perfect rock is a greenish yellow compact felspar, with disseminated
grains of quartz; it bears the same relation to the porcelainous
granite of this and of the adjoining parishes, that the hard
porphyritic elvans do to the common Cornish granite, near which they
generally occur.
LANLIVERY.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lanlivery is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath to the west
Luxilian, to the north Lanivet and Lanhidrock; to the east Lestwithiel
and the river Fowey; between it and St. Winnow, to the south,
Tywardreth and Golant.
The name Lanlivery signifies the church of bucks; for livrou in
Cornish is the plural of levar, or livar, a buck; but for what reason
I cannot so much as guess. This parish is sometimes called Lanvorch,
the church of St. Vorch, to whom it is dedicated.
It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at 13_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ The
patron, Walter Kendall, of Pelyn, Esq.; the incumbent, his father, Mr.
Archdeacon Nicholas Kendall.
In 1291, the 20th of Edw. I. this church was valued at 9_l._ 11_s._
8_d._ for the rectory, and the vicarage at 15_s._ being the
appropriate to the priory of Trewardreath.
Since the writing of the above I have thought upon another etymology,
which I believe to be the true one; that this name is no other than a
softening of Lan-le-Vorch, St. Vorch’s church-place, which is a very
easy and natural alteration.
THE EDITOR.
The church and town of Llanlivery are very conspicuous objects for
miles round, and especially from the Plymouth or great southern road.
The church contains various monuments to the family of Kendall. This
family were originally of Treworgy, in the parish of Dulo, but have
long resided at Pelyn, in this parish. The house is beautifully
situated in a small wooded valley, joining in a transverse course the
river Fowey, about a mile below Lestwithiel. There appears to be a
vague tradition of some religious establishment having existed here,
dedicated to St. Chad, or Ceada, the patron of Lichfield, Worcester,
and Shrewsbury. No trace, however, can be found of any such
establishment; and it is probable that these tales frequently rest on
no more solid foundation that the casual residence of some monk or
anchorite, or perhaps on the dedication of a domestic chapel. There
still exists at Pelin a small summer house, considered as under the
protection of this saint; and an inscription records the festivities
and friendly meetings of four gentlemen annually on the 2d of March,
to commemorate the day, when, according to the legend, this Saint
expired amid a company of angels, singing hymns for the solace of his
dying moments, and for joy of such an accession to the heavenly
mansions.
The inscription is as follows, under a portrait of the Saint:
Friend, within these walls St. Chad you see,
A place made sacred to his memory;
For here four friends did meet upon this day,
And heads, and hands, and hearts together lay;
And never dying friendship’s knot to tye,
And call this place St. Chad’s Society.
March 2, 1694.
The glory of this parish, however, is Restormel Castle, but these
buildings have been so amply described by almost every writer on
Cornish antiquities, that it would be idle to repeat what has been so
often done. It presents one of the finest objects in the whole
country.
Richard, King of the Romans, is believed to have kept court here, and
in his more commodious habitation at Lestwithiel, and he was the last
who exercised even the semblance of independent authority. The earldom
and dukedom of Cornwall have, since his time, done no more than afford
a revenue and bestow a name, like the shadows of a shade, with which
the private gentlemen, holding hereditary seats in Parliament at the
present time, continue to decorate themselves, by assuming the verbal
denominations of offices extinct above three centuries, and which
habit alone enables us to pronounce, as applicable to them, without a
smile; but which offices, like the ancient earldom of Cornwall, while
they had any existence, conferred real feudal sovereignty,
proportionate to their different degrees.
The palace at Lestwithiel has degenerated into a prison for the
stannary courts; and that town no longer witnessing the county
election, nor holding any of its own, may still boast of its being in
some degree at the head of a duchy jurisdiction.
There is a handsome seat almost at the foot of Restormel Hill now
called, Restormel, but formerly Trinity. It seems to have been built
after leases of the park were granted by the Crown. It has passed
through various hands, and finally into those of the Edgecumbe family,
who have been supposed desirous, up to very recent times, of acquiring
all species of property, and, most of all, gentlemen’s residences,
situated near Lestwithiel.
The late Mr. Francis Gregor lived here in 1790, when he was first
elected member for the county, and it is at present held under Lord
Mount Edgecumbe by Mr. Francis Hext, a gentleman of ancient family and
ample fortune, and universally esteemed.
This parish measures 5,951 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5,232 0 0
Poor Rates in 1831 622 17 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 778 | 965 | 1,318 | 1,687
giving an increase of 117 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Nicholas Kendall, instituted in
1815.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
A gently undulating line, drawn north and south through this parish, a
little to the eastward of the church, would divide it into two parts;
of which, the western is the larger, and rests entirely on granite;
the eastern division on schistose rock. Both of which exactly resemble
those of St. Blazey, already described.
LANREATH.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lanreath is situate in the hundred of West, and hath to the west St.
Veep, to the east Duloe, to the south Pelynt. This parish, in the
taxation of Pope Nicholas, is called Lanraithow, by Mr. Carew
Lanrethon, and the same in the King’s book.
Rhaith is in old British a law; Rhaithow the law; so that it
signifieth the church of laws, or of the laws, according to this
etymology, which I will not venture to say is a true one, but it is
the best that I can give at present.
This church is a rectory, valued in the King’s book at 32_l._ The
presentation in John Francis Buller, Esq. by purchase from the late
Charles Grills, Esq. The incumbent, Mr. Richard Grills, only brother
of the late patron.[10]
As I take Court to be the head place of this manor, from whence it is
so called, to have been the chief seat of these Seriseauxes, I shall
here insert what I find of them.
Richard de Seriseaux or Cereseaux, junior, was one of the men-at-arms
who had 40_l._ in rent of lands 17th Edward II. (Carew, p. 139, Lord
Dunstanville’s edition).
Richard de Cereseaux, I suppose father to the former, was one of those
that had 20_l._ per annum of lands or rent, or more, 25 Edward I., and
was summoned to attend the King, and to go into parts beyond sea.
Richard Sargeaux, son, I believe, of the former, was Sheriff of this
county the 12th of Richard II. A.D. 1389. This I take to be the same
person with that Richard de Seriseaux who sold his estate in the 3d of
Henry IV. He held lands also in Kelland and Kilkoid in the hundred of
Trigg. Carew, p. 126.[11]
This Sir Richard Ceriseaux or Sergieaux, for he was knighted, had one
only daughter and heiress, called Alice, who first was married to Sir
Guy St. Alban, Knt. and secondly, to Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford;
and, thirdly, to Sir Nicholas Throwley, Knt. By the first she had
issue; and the last Earl of Oxford of the Veres, Aubrey de Vere, who
died in 1702, quartered her arms, Argent, a saltire Sable, between
twelve cherries slipped Proper; from whence I guess that Sergiaux was
only by way of abbreviation, their coat alluding to his name, _cerise_
being in French a cherry. This Sir Richard Ceriseaux must have lived
to a great age, since his great-grandson, Geffrey St. Aubin, Esq. was
Sheriff of Cornwall but ten years after him, in 22d Richard II. A.D.
1399, or, I rather suppose, that this Sir Richard Ceriseaux may have
left a son, who was the Sheriff, and that upon his death, without
issue, Alice his sister became the heir.
THE EDITOR.
It appears from Mr. Lysons’s researches, that the manor of Lanreath,
with the barton of Court, passed from the Serjeaux to Pashleys,
Chudleys, and Chamonds, from which last they were carried by heiresses
to Trevanion and Grylls.
William Grylls, of Tavistock, is said in a pedigree of that family to
have married the widow of Knight, and to have settled at Court in
Lanreath; perhaps this lady was the coheiress of Chamond.