Nant’s,” with a cross of palm, and after making the priest a present,
they were allowed to throw the cross into the well; if it swam the
thrower was to outlive the year, if it sank he was not.[23]
THE PRESERVATION OF HOLY WELLS.
It is a very common notion amongst the peasantry, that a just retribution
overtakes those who wilfully destroy monuments, such as stone circles,
crosses, wells, and the like. Mr Blight writes me—“Whilst at Boscaswell,
in St Just, a few weeks since, an old man told me, that a person who
altered an old Holy Well there, was drowned the next day in sight of his
home, and that a person who carried away the stones of an ancient chapel,
had his house burned down that very night.” We hope the certainty of
punishment will prevent any further spoliation. Cannot we do something
towards the preservation of our antiquities? I quote from a local paper
the following:—
“If the attention of the members of the Penzance Antiquarian
Society were directed to the state of the ‘Holy Well’ at
Laneast, and the remains of the Old Chapel Park, St Clether,
they might perhaps induce the proprietors of these ‘remnants
of antiquity’ to bestow a little care on the same, and arrest
their further ruin and destruction. Many other ‘objects of
interest’ are in a sad state of neglect, and fast ‘fading
away.’ Slaughtor Bridge, near Camelford, has completely
vanished. This is much to be regretted, and is a double
loss—first, to those who delight in these ‘memorials of the
past,’ and also to the town and neighbourhood, depriving them
of an attraction that has induced many strangers of taste to
pay them a visit.”
KING ARTHUR.
“There is a place within
The winding shore of Severne sea
On mids of rock, about whose foote
The tydes turne—keeping play.
A towery-topped castle here,
Wide blazeth over all,
Which Corineus ancient broode
Tintagel Castle call.”
_Old Poet—Translated by_ CAMDEN.
ROMANCES OF ARTHUR.
ARTHUR LEGENDS.
“For there was no man knew from whence he came;
But after tempest, when the long wave broke
All down the thundering shores of Bude and Boas,
There came a day as still as heaven, and then
They found a naked child upon the sands
Of wild Dundagil by the Cornish sea;
And that was Arthur.”
_Idyls of the King_—TENNYSON.
The scarcity of traditions connected with King Arthur is not a little
remarkable in Cornwall, where he is said to have been born, and where
we believe him to have been killed. In the autumn of last year (1863) I
visited Tintagel and Camelford. I sought with anxiety for some stories of
the British king, but not one could be obtained. The man who has charge
of the ruins of the castle—was very sorry that he had lent a book which
he once had, and which contained many curious stories, but he had no
story to tell me.
We hear of Prince Arthur at the Land’s End, and of his fights with
the Danes in two or three other places. Merlin, who may be considered
as especially associated with Arthur, has left indications of his
presence here and there, in prophetic rhymes not always fulfilled; but
of Arthur’s chieftains we have no folk-lore. All the rock markings, or
rock peculiarities, which would in West Cornwall have been given to the
giants, are referred to King Arthur in the eastern districts.
Jack the Giant Killer and Thomas Thumb—the former having been tutor, in
his own especial calling, to King Arthur’s only son,[24] and the latter
the king’s favourite dwarf[25]—are, except in story-books, unknown. Jack
Hornby,[26]—if he ever lived near the Land’s End, unless he is the same
with “Little Jack Horner,”—has been so long a stranger, that his name is
forgotten.
The continuance of a fixed belief in the existence of Arthur is easily
explained. The poets and the romance writers have made the achievements
of a British chieftain familiar to all the people; and Arthur has not
only a name, but a local habitation given to him equally in Scotland,
England, Wales, and Ireland.
Mr Campbell, in his “West Highland Tales,” gives a “Genealogy Abridgment
of the very ancient and noble family of Argyle, 1779.” The writer says
this family began with Constantine, grandfather to King Arthur; and he
informs us that Sir Moroie Mor, a son of King Arthur, of whom great and
strange things are told in the Irish traditions—who was born at Dumbarton
Castle, and who was usually known as “The Fool of the Forest”—was the
real progenitor of “Mac Callen Mor.” From this Moroie Mor was derived the
mighty Diarmaid, celebrated in many a Gaelic lay—“to whom all popular
traditions trace the Campbell clan.”
“Arthur and Diarmaid,” writes Mr Campbell, “primeval Celtic worthies,
whose very existence the historian ignores, are thus brought together by
a family genealogist.”
“Was the Constantine grandfather to Arthur one of the five tyrants named
by Gildas?”—I quote from Camden[27] and Milton.[28]
_Constantinus_, son of Cador, Duke of Cornwall, Arthur’s half-brother by
the mother’s side, “a tyrannical and bloody king.”
_Aurelius Conanus_, who “wallowed in murder and adultery.”
_Vortipore_, “tyrant of the Dimeta.”
_Cuneglas_, “the yellow butcher.”
_Maglocunes_, “the island dragon.”
It is curious to find a Scotch genealogist uniting in one bond the Arthur
of Dundagel and the ancestors of the Argyles of Dumbarton.
May we not after this venture to suggest that, in all probability, the
parish of Constantine, (pronounced, however, _Cus-ten-ton_,) between
Helstone and Penryn, may derive its name from this Constantinus, rather
than from the first Christian emperor.
Again, the family of Cossentine has been often said to be offsets from
Constantine, the descendant of the Greek emperors, who was buried in
Landulph church. Seeing that the name has been known for so long a period
in Cornwall, may not this family rather trace their origin up to this
Constantine the Tyrant?
THE BATTLE OF VELLAN-DRUCHAR.[29]
The Sea Kings, in their predatory wanderings, landed in Genvor Cove,
and, as they had frequently done on previous occasions, they proceeded
to pillage the little hamlet of Escols. On one occasion they landed in
unusually large numbers, being resolved, as it appeared, to spoil many of
the large and wealthy towns of Western Cornwall, which they were led to
believe were unprotected. It fortunately happened that the heavy surf on
the beach retarded their landing, so that the inhabitants had notice of
their threatened invasion.
That night the beacon fire was lit on the chapel hill, another was
soon blazing on Castle-an-dinas, and on Trecrobben. Carn Brea promptly
replied, and continued the signal-light, which also blazed lustrously
that night on St Agnes Beacon. Presently the fires were seen on Belovely
Beacon, and rapidly they appeared on the Great Stone, on St Bellarmine’s
Tor, and Cadbarrow, and then the fires blazed out on Roughtor and
Brownwilly, thus rapidly conveying the intelligence of war to Prince
Arthur and his brave knights, who were happily assembled in full force
at Tintagel to do honour to several native Princes who were at that time
on a visit to the King of Cornwall. Arthur, and nine other kings, by
forced marches, reached the neighbourhood of the Land’s-End at the end
of two days. The Danes crossed the land down through the bottoms to the
sea on the northern side of the promontory, spreading destruction in
their paths. Arthur met them on their return, and gave them battle near
Vellan-Druchar. So terrible was the slaughter, that the mill was worked
with blood that day. Not a single Dane of the vast army that had landed
escaped. A few had been left in charge of the ships, and as soon as they
learned the fate of their brethren, they hastened to escape, hoping to
return to their own northern land. A holy woman, whose name has not been
preserved to us, “brought home a west wind” by emptying the Holy Well
against the hill, and sweeping the church from the door to the altar.
Thus they were prevented from escaping, and were all thrown by the force
of a storm and the currents either on the rocky shore, or on the sands,
where they were left high and dry. It happened on the occasion of an
extraordinary spring-tide, which was yet increased by the wind, so that
the ships lay high up on the rocks, or on the sands; and for years the
birds built their nests in the masts and rigging.
Thus perished the last army of Danes who dared to land upon our western
shores.
King Arthur and the nine kings pledged each other in the holy water from
St Sennen’s Well, they returned thanks for their victory in St Sennen’s
Chapel, and dined that day on the Table-men.
Merlin, the prophet, was amongst the host, and the feast being ended, he
was seized with the prophetic afflatus, and in the hearing of all the
host proclaimed—
“The northmen wild once more shall land,
And leave their bones on Escol’s sand.
The soil of Vellan-Druchar’s plain,
Again shall take a sanguine stain;
And o’er the mill wheel roll a flood
Of Danish mixed with Cornish blood.
When thus the vanquished find no tomb,
Expect the dreadful day of doom.”
ARTHUR AT THE LAND’S-END.
Bolerium, or _Bellerium_, is the name given by the ancients to the
Land’s-End. Diodorus writes, Belerium; Ptolemy, Bolerium. Milton adopts
this name in his “Lycidas,” and leads his readers to infer that it was
derived from the Giant Bellerus. It is quite possible that in Milton’s
time the name of one of the numerous giants who appear to have made the
Lands-End district their dwelling-place, might have still lived in the
memories of men. Certain it is no such a giant is remembered now.[30]
In a map of Saxon England we find the Land’s-End called Penꞃiðꞅꞇeoꞃꞇ, and
in some early English books this promontory is named _Penrhin-guard_,
and _Penrlien-gard_, said to signify the “Headland of Blood.”[31] The
old Cornish people called this promontory “Pen-von-las,” the “End
of the Earth,” hence we derive the name of the Land’s-End. May not
this sanguinary name have been derived from a fact, and that actually
several battles were fought by the Britons under the command of Arthur,
with the Saxons or the Danes, in this neighbourhood? We have not far
off the _Field of Slaughter_, “Bollait,” where the ancient people of
Cornwall made their final stand against the Saxons. On this field flint
arrow-heads have frequently been found. The tradition of Vellan-Druchar,
which is but one of several I have heard of a similar character, points
to the same idea. Arthur, according to one story, held possession of
Trereen Castle for some time. Another castle on the north coast is said
to have been occupied by him. An old man living in Pendean once told me
that the land at one time “swarmed with giants, until Arthur, the good
king, vanished them all with his cross-sword.”
TRADITIONS OF THE DANES IN CORNWALL.
The Danes are said to have landed in several places around the coast, and
have made permanent settlements in some parts. We have already spoken
of the battle of Vellan-druchar. In Sennen Cove there was for a long
period a colony of red-haired people,—indeed, I am informed some of them
still live on the spot,—with whom the other inhabitants of the district
refused to marry. Up to a very recent period, in several of the outlying
villages, a red-haired family was “looked down” upon. “Oh, he or she is a
red-haired Daäne,” was a common expression of contempt.
There are several hills which bear the names of Danes’ castles—as
Castle-an-Dinas, near Penzance, and another in St Columb.[32] Another
very remarkable earthwork in Perran Zabula (_Caer-Dane_) is described by
Hals.[33]
Eventually the Danes are said to have made permanent settlements in
Cornwall, and to have lived on friendly terms with the Britons.
The Danes and the Cornish are reported to have concentrated their forces
to oppose Egbert the Saxon. In 835 the combined body are reported to have
met, and fought a pitched battle on Hengistendane, (now Hengistondown,)
near Callington. The Cornish were so totally routed, that Egbert obliged
the Danes to retire to their ships, and passed a law “that no Briton
should in future cross the Tamar, or set foot on English ground, on pain
of death.”[34]
In 997 the Danes, sailing about Penwrith-steort, landed in several
places, foraged the country, burnt the towns, and destroyed the
people.[35]
Many of the traditions which are given in different parts of these
volumes have much of the Danish element in them.[36]
KING ARTHUR IN THE FORM OF A CHOUGH.
I quote the following as it stands:—[37]
“In Jarvis’s translation of “Don Quixote,” book ii., chap. v.,
the following passage occurs:—
“‘Have you not read, sir,’ answered Don Quixote, ‘the annals
and histories of England, wherein are recorded the famous
exploits of King Arthur, whom, in our Castilian tongue, we
always call King Artus; of whom there goes an old tradition,
and a common one all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that
this king did not die, but that, by magic art, he was turned
into a raven; and that, in process of time, he shall reign
again and recover his kingdom and sceptre, for which reason it
cannot be proved that, from that time to this, any Englishman
has killed a raven?’
“My reason for transcribing this passage is to record the
curious fact that the legend of King Arthur’s existence in the
form of a raven was still repeated as a piece of folk lore in
Cornwall about sixty years ago. My father, who died about two
years since, at the age of eighty, spent a few years of his
youth in the neighbourhood of Penzance. One day he was walking
along Marazion Green with his fowling-piece on his shoulder, he
saw a raven at a distance, and fired at it. An old man who was
near immediately rebuked him, telling him that he ought on no
account to have shot at a raven, for that King Arthur was still
alive in the form of that bird. My father was much interested
when I drew his attention to the passage which I have quoted
above.
“Perhaps some of your Cornish or Welsh correspondents may be
able to say whether the legend is still known among the people
of Cornwall or Wales.
“EDGAR MACCULLOCH.”
“GUERNSEY.”
I have been most desirous of discovering if any such legend as the above
exists. I have questioned people in every part of Cornwall in which King
Arthur has been reported to have dwelt or fought, and especially have I
inquired in the neighbourhood of Tintagel, which is reported to have
been Arthur’s stronghold. Nowhere do I find the raven associated with
him, but I have been told that bad luck would follow the man who killed a
Chough, for Arthur was transformed into one of these birds.
THE CORNISH CHOUGH.
The tradition relative to King Arthur and his transformation into a
raven, is fixed very decidedly on the Cornish Chough, from the colour of
its beak and talons. The—
“Talons and beak all red with blood”
are said to mark the violent end to which this celebrated chieftain came.
SLAUGHTER BRIDGE.
Historians and poets have made the world familiar with King Arthur. We
know how Merlin deceived, by his magic, the beautiful Igerna, so that
she received King Uter as her husband. We know also that Uter Pendragon
died, and that his son, by Igerna, reigned King of Britain. How Arthur
ruled, and how he slaughtered all the enemies of Britain, is told in the
chronicles. But even at Tintagel[38] all is silent respecting the king or
his celebrated Round Table.
“In the days of King Arthur the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a monstrous
giant,” is familiar to us all; and it is curious to find a tradition
that the extirpation of these Titans was due to Arthur and Christianity,
as already related. At Slaughter Bridge I heard the story, but it did
not sound like a tradition; the true native character was not in the
narrative. That in 824 the Cornish and Saxons fought so bloody a battle
that the river ran red with blood. On Slaughter Bridge Arthur is said
to have killed his nephew, Modred, but that, previously to this last
fight, Modred wounded his uncle with a poisoned sword, nearly in front of
Worthyvale House. A single stone laid over a stream, having some letters
cut on its lower surface, is believed to mark the exact spot where Arthur
received his death-wound.
CAMELFORD AND KING ARTHUR.
At the head of this river Alan is seated Camelford, otherwise written
Galleford, a small town. It was formerly called Kambton, according to
Leland, who tells us that “Arthur, the British Hector,” was slain here,
or in the valley near it. He adds, in support of this, that “pieces of
armour, rings, and brass furniture for horses are sometimes digged up
here by the countrymen; and after so many ages, the tradition of a bloody
victory in this place is still preserved.” There are also extant some
verses of a Middle Age poet about “Camels” running with blood after the
battle of Arthur against Modred.[39]
“Camulus is another name of the god of war, occurring in two of Gruter’s
inscriptions.”[40]
Seeing that Arthur’s great battles were fought near this town, and on
the banks of the river, may not the names given to the town and river be
derived from Camulus?
“O’er Cornwall’s cliffs the tempest roar’d,
High the screaming sea-mew soar’d;
On Tintagel’s topmost tower
Darksome fell the sleety shower;
Round the rough castle shrilly sung
The whirling blast, and wildly flung
On each tall rampart’s thundering side
The surges of the tumbling tide:
When Arthur ranged his red cross ranks
On conscious Camlan’s crimson’d banks.”
_The Grave of King Arthur_—WHARTON.
In a Welsh poem it is recited that Arthur, after the battle of Camlan
in Cornwall, was interred in the Abbey of Glastonbury, before the high
altar, without any external mark. Henry II is said to have visited the
abbey, and to have ordered that the spot described by the bard should
be opened. We are told that at twenty feet deep they found the body
deposited under a large stone, with Arthur’s name inscribed thereon.
Glastonbury Abbey is said to have been founded by Joseph of Arimathea, in
a spot anciently called the island or valley of Avolmia or Avolon.
Bale, in his “Acts of English Votaries,” attests to the finding of the
remains of Arthur:—
“In Avallon, anno 1191, there found they the flesh bothe of Arthur and of
hys wyfe Guenever turned all into duste, wythin theyr coffines of strong
oke, the bones only remaynynge. A monke of the same abbeye, standyng and
behouldyng the fine broydinges of the wommanis heare as _yellow as golde_
there still to remayne. As a man ravyshed, or more than halfe from his
wyttes, he leaped into the graffe, xv fote depe, to have caugte them
sodenlye. But he fayled of his purpose. For so soon as they were touched
they fell all to powder.”
DAMELIOCK CASTLE.
This ancient British castle once stood in savage grandeur a rival to
Tintagel. Its ruins, which can scarcely be traced, are in the parish of
St Tudy. Here Gothlois of the Purple Spear, Earl of Cornwall, fortified
himself against Uter Pendragon’s soldiery, and here he was slain.
Gothlois, or Gothlouis, was the husband of Igerna, who was so cruelly
deceived by Uter, and who became the mother of Arthur.
CARLIAN IN KEA.
One of the most celebrated of Arthur’s knights, Sir Tristram, is said
to have been born in this parish. A tradition of this is preserved in
the parish, but it is probably derived from the verses of Thomas of
Erceldoune, better known as Thomas the Rhymer.
SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT.
“And, wow! Tam saw an unco sight—
Warlocks and witches in a dance.”
_Tam o’ Shanter_—BURNS.
ROMANCES OF WITCHES, ETC.
THE “CUNNING MAN.”
“And as he rode over the more,
Hee see a lady where shee sate
Betwixt an oke and a greene hollen;
She was cladd in red scarlett.
“Then there as shold have stood her mouth,
Then there was sett her eye;
The other was in her forhead fast,
The way that she might see.
“Her nose was crook’d and turn’d outward,
Her mouth stood foule awry;
A worse-form’d lady then shee was,
Never man saw with his eye.”
_The Marriage of Sir Gawaine._
That a deep-rooted belief in the power of the witch still lingers in the
remote districts of Cornwall cannot be denied. A gentleman, who has for
many years been actively engaged in a public capacity, gives me, in reply
to some questions which I put to him relative to a witch or conjurer,
much information, which is embodied in this section.
A “cunning man” was long resident in Bodmin, to whom the people from all
parts of the country went to be relieved of spells, under the influence
of which either themselves or their cattle were supposed to be suffering.
Thomas ——, who resided at Nanstallan, not far from the town of Bodmin,
was waylaid, robbed, and well thrashed on his way home from market.
This act, which was accompanied by some appearance of brutality, was
generally referred to one of the dupes of his cunning. Howbeit, Thomas
—— appears to have felt that the place was getting too hot for him, for
he migrated to one of the parishes on the western side of the Fowey
river. Numerous instances are within my knowledge of the belief which
existed amongst the peasantry that this man really possessed the power
of removing the effects of witchcraft. Thomas —— took up his abode for
some time with a small farmer, who had lost some cattle. These losses
were attributed to the malign influences of some evil-disposed person;
but as Thomas —— failed to detect the individual, he with the farmer
made many journeys to Exeter, to consult the “White Witch,” who resided
in that city. Whether the result was satisfactory or otherwise, I have
never learned. Thomas ——, it must be remembered, was only a “witch.” The
term is applied equally to men as to women. I never heard any uneducated
person speak of a “wizard.” There appear to be, however, some very
remarkable distinctions between a male and a female witch. The former
is almost always employed to remove the evil influences exerted by the
latter. Witches, such as Thomas, had but limited power. They could tell
who had been guilty of ill-wishing, but they were powerless to break the
spell and “unbewitch” the sufferer. This was frequently accomplished
by the friends of the bewitched, who, in concert with Thomas ——, would
perform certain ceremonies, many of them of an obscene, and usually of
a blasphemous, character. The “White Witch” was supposed to possess the
higher power of removing the spell, and of punishing the individual by
whose wickedness the wrong had been inflicted.
Jenny Harris was a reputed witch. This woman, old, poor, and, from the
world’s ill usage, rendered malicious, was often charged with the evils
which fell upon cattle, children, or, indeed, on men and women. On one
occasion, a robust and rough-handed washerwoman, who conceived that she
was under the spell of Jenny Harris, laid violent hands on the aged
crone, being resolved to “bring blood from her.” The witch’s arm was
scratched and gouged from the elbow to the wrist, so that a sound inch of
skin did not exist. This violent assault became the subject of inquiry
before the magistrates, who fined the washerwoman five pounds for the
assault.
My correspondent writes:—“I was also present at a magistrates’ meeting at
the Porcupine Inn, near Tywardreath, some years ago, when an old woman
from Golant was brought up for witchcraft. One farmer, who appeared
against her, stated that he had then six bullocks hanging up in chains in
his orchard, and he attributed their disease and death to the poor old
woman’s influence. The case was dismissed, but it afforded a good deal
of merriment. There was a dinner at the inn after the meeting, and some
of the farmers present were disposed to ridicule the idea of witchcraft.
I said, well knowing their real views and opinions, ‘Gentlemen, it is
all well enough to laugh, but it appears to me to be a serious matter.’
Upon which Mr ——, a farmer of ——, said, ‘You are right, Mr ——; I’ll tell
of two cases in which one family suffered severely,’ and he gave us the
details of the cases. All the others present had a case or two, each one
within his own experience to vouch for, and the whole afternoon was spent
telling witch stories.”