NOOKS AND CORNERS FROM LISKEARD TO LAUNCESTON
_King Dungarth and King Alfred: Menheniot: St. Keyne: Looe: A Cage for
Scolds: Looe Island and the Smugglers: The Armada: Sheviock: The
Eddystone: Mount Edgcumbe: The Tamar: Trematon Castle: Markets: Saltash:
Moditonham: Paleologus: Pentillie: Cotehele: Hingston Down: Polyfant:
Launceston._
KING DUNGARTH AND
KING ALFRED
It is pleasant, after following the footsteps of an English king so
foolish that his people out of sheer exasperation presently rose up and
slew him, to come upon traces of one whom the nation, from his day even
until now, has blessed and called great. To the north of Liskeard lies
the big parish of St. Neot, once called Gueryr, and St. Neot, 'tis said,
was a near relative of King Alfred, a relative noted for sanctity and of
whom many wonderful stories are told. He appears to have been on
friendly terms with Dungarth, King of Cornwall, who lived at Liskeard,
and at whose palace Alfred stayed in order to hunt the red deer on the
surrounding moors. Nor was it only for the hunting that Alfred came to
Liskeard. Gueryr, St. Neot's fellow saint, was supposed to have had some
medical knowledge, and the King, delicate from boyhood, was in bad
health. He went across the moors to pray, and possibly to bathe in the
spring of clear water, still known as the well of St. Neot; and as faith
in the doctor is half the battle we may hope his ills were alleviated.
Dungarth--a fine monarch we must believe or else no friend to
Alfred--was drowned in the River Fowey when hunting near Redgate, 875.
In the parish of St. Cleer is a fractured granite pillar about 8 ft.
high, and in digging near, a second fragment was found, inscribed in
Latin, "Doniert (possibly Dungarth) asks you to pray for his soul."
To think that a thousand and odd years ago, Alfred was staying in this
little old market town with a friend; that they were planning hunting
expeditions; and that Dungarth was recommending his own doctor--"just
like any other man." How queer it all is and how little human nature
changes.
The corporation at Liskeard has some interesting silver, and in the
church is a monument to Joseph Wadham said to have been "the last of
that family whose ancestors were the founders of Wadham College,
Oxford." This church is unique in Cornwall in having thirteen
fifteenth-century consecration crosses cut on the north and south
aisles. In the town is Stuart House, where Charles I. stayed for about a
week in 1644.
A little south of Liskeard, on the way to Menheniot, is Clicker Tor, a
mass of serpentine rock resembling the rocks of the Lizard. That
beautiful heath (_Erica vagans_) that grows on the serpentine is found
here.
MENHENIOT
Until the introduction--at the wish of the Cornish--of the English
liturgy during the reign of Henry VIII., the ancient tongue was the
language of the county. Dr. Mooreman, Vicar of Menheniot from 1530 to
1554, was the first parson in Cornwall to teach his parishioners the
Lord's Prayer, the Belief and the Commandments in English. Nowadays,
while it is not uncommon in Wales--which had only the Welsh liturgy--to
hear the "Dim Sassenach," which means that some old person is unable or
unwilling to speak English, the Cornish equivalent, "Mee a navidra cowza
Sawzneck," has been entirely forgotten.
Menheniot (after St. Columb Major) is the most valuable benefice in the
county, and the church possesses two interesting flagons of
sixteenth-century Lambeth stoneware, with lid and collar of silver dated
1578 and 1581.
ST. KEYNE
On the other side of the valley, not far from the famous old mine of
Herodsfoot, is the Well of St. Keyne. Over it, in an astonishingly small
space, are five trees, oak, elm, and ash, and although these were
planted in 1750, it was only in the place of older trees mentioned in
1602. Concerning the water of this celebrated well, it is fabled that if
after marriage the wife should drink of its waters before her husband
she shall have the mastery and vice-versa. Southey's ballad tells us of
a bride who took some to church with her in a bottle and drank it while
her husband was running to the well.
At Duloe is a circle which probably encloses a burial place. The stones
are all of quartz, which is unusual, and they are large, the biggest
being 8 ft. high and 7 ft. wide. In this church lies gallant old Sir
John Arundell, the defender of Pendennis Castle.
LOOE
East and West Looe are two quaint fishing-villages divided by the
estuary and joined by a bridge. They are, as usual, huddled together as
near the bottom of their hills as possible and consist of a few crooked
and narrow streets, with houses built anyhow and anywhere. Like Fowey,
they look as if presently they might slip a little, make a tiny splash,
and disappear into the water, to be talked of by succeeding generations
as a "great city of seven churches and thousands of inhabitants that for
some forgotten crime on the part of its people had been overwhelmed by a
sea wave," and to prove this thing they would quote from the _Chronicle_
(not the Saxon this time but the _Daily_), "in this year came that great
sea flood, widely through this land, and it ran up so far as never at
any time before, and it drowned many towns and mankind too innumerable
to be computed."
A CAGE FOR SCOLDS
Meanwhile East and West Looe still lie poised insecurely above the tide,
while donkeys laden with panniers scramble up the precipitous streets,
and in this way your groceries and so forth come to your door. It is
thoroughly in keeping with the place that the old ducking stool and they
say the cage for scolds should still exist. About the latter Mr. Bond
tells the following appropriate story:
"At East Looe Hannah Whit and Bessy Niles, two women of fluent tongue,
having exerted their oratory on each other, at last thought it prudent
to leave the matter in dispute to be settled by the Mayor. Away they
posted to his worship. The first who arrived had scarce begun her tale
when the other bounced in, in full rage, and began hers likewise, and
abuse commenced with redoubled vigour. His worship, Mr. John Chubb,
ordered the constable to be called and each of the combatants thought
her antagonist was going to be punished, and each thought right. When
the constable arrived, his worship pronounced to him the following
command: 'Take these women to the cage, and there keep them till they
have settled their dispute.' They were immediately conveyed thither, and
after a few hours' confinement became as quiet and inoffensive beings as
ever breathed, and were then liberated to beg Mr. Mayor's pardon."
LOOE ISLAND
AND THE SMUGGLERS
Except the Scillies, the only inhabited island of Cornwall is St. George
(or Looe Island). It measures fourteen acres and was once exceedingly
useful to smugglers. Not many years since, the floor of a respectable
looking building gave way, and the reason thereof became apparent when
it was found that it had been hollowed underneath to form a receptacle
for those good spirits which came from France by way of the Looe
galleys. The most wonderful hiding-place in this part of the country is
the now well-known duckpond, said to have been at Lansallos, near
Polperro. This swung on a pivot, and when moved disclosed a cavity. At
all other times it presented an innocently rural appearance, so much so
that the preventive officers often sat, all unsuspiciously, within a few
feet of it.
East of East Looe is the little hamlet of Crafthole, with two crosses,
one known locally as "Stump Cross," a fine specimen of a plain Latin
cross with chamfered angles, and another of earlier date with a broken
top. This bay, which stretches from Looe to Penlee, was once a valley
filled with trees, but, as Florence of Worcester says, "The sea comes
out upon the shore and buries towns and men very many, oxen and sheep
innumerable."
THE ARMADA
It is a quiet strip of coast, yet it was here between Rame Head and the
Dodman, that on a breezy Sunday morning the Spaniards of the Armada
first caught sight of the English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham,
and the volunteer flotilla that was led by Francis Drake. The Spanish
plan was to divide fleet from flotilla, but as the light English boats
could sail closer to the wind and were generally more easy to handle, it
met with little success. The Spanish admiral was soon to discover that
his little enemy's guns could carry further than his own, thus enabling
the English to remain out of reach and yet pour in their raking
broadsides. The light winds blew from the east, and the opposing navies
fired and drifted and fired again, passing the Rame, passing Plymouth,
and drifting up the coast. The engagement lasted till late on that
Sunday afternoon, and later still the _Capitana_, first fruits of the
demoralising tactics of the English, was towed into Dartmouth harbour.
"_Keepe then the sea, about in special,
Which of England is the towne wall,
Keepe then the sea that is the wall of England,
And then is England kept by Goddes hand...._"
In other words: "God helps those who help themselves."
SHEVIOCK
Above Crafthole lies Sheviock, on one of the creeks of the Lynher, with
a good fourteenth-century church. The Dawneys were lords of Sheviock,
and we have it from Carew that while the husband was building the
church, his more practical wife was erecting a barn. When they came to
compare accounts it was found that the lady's expenditure had exceeded
her lord's by three half-pence, "and so it might well fall, for it is a
great barn and a very little church."
THE EDDYSTONE
Henry VII., when Earl of Richmond, is said to have landed near Rame
Head, and seeing that he had in his train such energetic Cornishmen as
Sir Richard Edgcumbe and Sir Hugh Trevanion, men who could help him to a
good few of their relatives and retainers, no doubt he was well advised.
From the headland can be seen the Eddystone, which is nine miles south.
This ridge of rocks is a mile long, but has only one small rock
appearing above the water and has for ages been the terror of seamen.
The first lighthouse was built in 1699, and four years later was swept
away by a storm. A second, built in 1708, was burnt in 1755. The third,
built by Smeaton in 1759, resisted the wind and weather for over a
hundred years. The rocks on which it was built were then found to be
giving way, and it was removed to Plymouth Hoe, and a new and higher
lighthouse built on another part of the ridge.
MOUNT EDGCUMBE
The Rame forms the outer boundary of Plymouth Harbour; Penlee Point the
western boundary of the sound; and a little to the north lies Mount
Edgcumbe, which, though few people seem to know it, is in Cornwall. This
interesting house was built in the time of Mary, but the park dates from
Henry VIII., when the property came to the Edgcumbes by marriage. The
grounds contain a great number of fortifications, from the battery and
blockhouse built to oppose the Spanish Armada to more modern defences.
The second Lord Edgcumbe, when a boy, was the friend of Sir Joshua
Reynolds, a friendship which has resulted in the family portraits of
three generations being painted by that artist. The house is as
beautifully situated as the grounds are worth seeing and is on the end
of a promontory several miles long and three wide.
THE TAMAR
The Tamar and Torridge spring from a rushy knoll on the eastern wilds of
Morwenstow, three miles from the sea. From that, practically the most
northern spot in the county, the larger river with some windings flows
south, forming the eastern boundary of the county. It finally widens
into the Hamoaze and, by way of Plymouth Sound, finds its way into the
sea. Many are the bridges and ferries from the one county to the other,
and every army that has come to invade, to subjugate, or even to punish
the insurgent west, must have come by way of this peaceful stream. The
first ferry is at Tor Point, where the Tamar is about a mile wide. It
was the old coach route and thither came the people who would catch the
packet at Falmouth, thither also in yet earlier times came the Cornish
pack-horses, laden with tin at their going and merchandise on their
return. It was the highway when roads were only tracks and the boats in
which men voyaged were of wattle covered with hide. Now it is crossed by
a "steam bridge" which starts every quarter of an hour!
Where another ferry crosses the estuary of the Lynher is the church and
village of Antony East. Carew, whose amusing Survey supplies us with so
many stories of old Cornwall, is buried here, the doggerel verses on his
monument having been found in his pocket, after his sudden death when at
prayer in his study. There is also a memorial to Margery Arundell, which
is of interest, as it is the only example in the county of a canopied
brass.
TREMATON CASTLE
When Robert, Duke of Normandy, died, Arlette, the tanner's daughter, was
sought in wedlock by one Herlwin, and in due course she bore him two
sons, Odo, afterwards Bishop of Bayeux, and Robert, whom she named after
the unforgotten lover of her youth. These twain, worthy half-brothers of
the stern and rigorous Bastard, rode one on each side of him at the
battle of Hastings--that fatal battle which delayed for so many years
the consummation of our English liberties! Over against the Normans were
the equally loyal brethren of Harold, the King. But William's star was
in the ascendant, and two at least of the sons of Godwin and Gytha were
among the slain. As soon as the Conqueror was firmly settled on the
throne that he had seized, he bethought him of his favourite brother and
added to Robert's earldom by the Breton march the more famous earldom
of the kindred land of Cornwall. Robert of Mortain, riding gaily down to
the west, found a wealth of manors awaiting him and two
castles--afterwards to be mentioned in Domesday--those of Launceston and
Trematon.
Trematon is on the Lynher which, rising near Five Lanes towards the
centre of the county, flows steadily south until it is joined by the
Tidy near Ince Castle, (the only sixteenth-century brick house in the
county), and with a sharp easterly turn flows broadly and genially into
the Tamar below Saltash. Above its placid waters rises the old keep, the
keep that was built to keep the unruly Cornish in order. Tintagel,
Restormel, and Launceston are ruinous, but Trematon is still in fairly
good repair. The wall crossing the motte is of early date, probably
thirteenth century, while the archway of the square entrance tower
carries portcullis grooves, and the keep, once 70 ft. by 50 ft., is
still about 30 ft. in height. The castle with its park and manor and the
borough of Saltash was granted by Edward III. to the Dukes of Cornwall
for ever. It is not generally known that in some respects this dukedom
differs from all others. The eldest son of the reigning sovereign is the
duke, and he comes of age as soon as he is born and preserves all the
rights of the dukedom without patent of creation; the essential
difference between this and the princedom of Wales being that the latter
is specially conferred by the sovereign.
ST. GERMANS
Not far from Trematon is St. Germans, birthplace of the famous Sir John
Eliot, after whom Port Eliot was called. This worthy, though
consistently loyal to Charles I., opposed that monarch's illegalities
and died in the prison to which he was consequently consigned. He was
one of the noblest of the fine band of Cornishmen who came to the front
at that period of the nation's history, an honest, just, and fearless
man. Port Eliot, though charmingly situated where the Tidy widens into a
lake, is otherwise only interesting on account of its pictures, of which
there are several by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
St. Germans is thought to have been the seat of the ancient bishopric of
Cornwall, but there is no evidence in support of the theory. The "see,"
or bishop-stool as it was called by our fathers, was nothing more than
the seat of the bishop, the church in which it rested being his
cathedral church. In early times the bishop was generally attached to
some monastery or else he moved from place to place, taking his "seat"
with him. In course of time, a suitable place being found, the see would
become fixed, but there is no evidence of any fixed see in this county
until 1877, when it was placed at Truro.
MARKETS
The following entry in the exchequer book at the time of the Domesday
survey marks one of the contrasts between then and now: "In this manor
there is a market on Sunday, but it is reduced to nothing on account of
the Earl of Mortain's market, which is very near thereto." Robert, Earl
of Mortain and Cornwall, held his market by his Castle of Trematon, and
so we are confronted with two markets on a Sunday in Sabbatarian
Cornwall! The boldness of the folk, with all those petrified pipers and
fiddlers and merry maidens to point a moral! And to think that nothing
happened.
A good deal of water has flowed under Tamar bridges since those days. In
the reign of Henry VIII. Andrew Furlong, priest and schoolmaster at
Saltash, was imprisoned for having a Bible in his possession--and this
is the tercentenary of that Bible's translation into the vulgar tongue.
Verily times have changed.
SALTASH
From the Hoe to Saltash, low hills flank an estuary of great width which
narrows sharply where Brunel's triumph, the Royal Albert Bridge, spans
the flood. This great railway bridge, which was opened by the Prince
Consort in 1859, cost over three-quarters of a million and is still one
of the wonders of engineering.
Saltash suffered considerably during the wars between King and
Parliament. It was taken and retaken any number of times, occupied by
first one party and then the other, fortified, attacked, and generally
treated with scant courtesy. It has several points of interest; an old
shop dated 1584, fine corporation regalia, a church containing a very
ancient font bowl (brought from Wadgworthy), and an exquisite silver
vessel of 1624 now used as a communion cup.
MODITONHAM
This part of the county is noted for its strawberries, its gooseberries,
and for a sweet kind of small cherry called mazzards.
"_Let Uter Pendragon do what he can
The Tamar water will run as it ran,_"
says the Celtic proverb, embodying no doubt some forgotten story. It is
certainly a fine sheet of water above Saltash and he would be a bold man
who would seek to divert its flow. Not far from the town is the manor of
Moditonham, which was built not long after the Restoration by Colonel
Waddon, who, from long residence abroad, had gathered a love of foreign
architecture, and who chose for his model a French chateau. John
Grenville, Sir Beville's son (who attended Charles II. in all his
wanderings, was sent by him to negotiate with Monk, and was King's
messenger with his letter to the Parliament), had been made Earl of Bath
and Governor of both Pendennis and Plymouth. He was the most loyal of
Charles's subjects, but under James II. his long faith wavered, and it
was at Moditonham that, with Colonel Waddon, the Deputy Governor of
Pendennis, he treated with the commissioner of the Prince of Orange. His
brother, Denis Grenville, Dean of Durham, less wise, but more loyal,
followed James over seas and died in exile.
PALEOLOGUS
The river winds in such deep curves above Botus-fleming that Landulph is
almost surrounded by its waters. In the quiet churchyard lies Theodore
Paleologus, the last descendant of the Christian emperors of the east.
Some years ago the vault in which he lies was accidentally opened and it
was seen that he had been a tall man with a long head and a beard of
unusual dimensions. During his lifetime this man, who might have been an
emperor, had been reduced to such straits of poverty, that he had
written to that soldier of fortune, the first Duke of Buckingham,
praying to be taken into his service. In the letter, which has been
preserved, he pathetically describes himself as a gentleman, born of a
good house, a soldier from his birth, accomplished and worthy of the
name he bears, but unfortunate in the reverse of fortune.
PENTILLIE
Above Landulph the curving flood gradually narrows into the semblance of
an ordinary river and goes softly between woods and orchards and
farmlands till the finely placed grey towers of Pentillie, built by that
eccentric charlatan, Sir William Tillie, come into view. It is a mistake
to hurry through this scenery in the bustling steamer that ploughs up
from Plymouth, gives you barely time to swallow a fine strawberry at
Calstock and rushes back again. The Tamar, with its forest-clad
declivities, its rocks and crags and cliffs, its long reaches of shining
water fringed with deep green meadows and woodland, is essentially a
river for the man with leisure. In the opinion of those who have seen
both, the scenery far surpasses that of the belauded Dart. The
production of arsenic has discoloured the water in parts, as the mine
shafts have destroyed the sylvan charm of the shore, but this is only
for a short distance above New Bridge, the New Bridge over which Essex
so foolishly led his troops in 1644.
COTEHELE
The Tamar is navigable for good sized vessels as far as the Weir Head,
but that is away beyond first Cotehele and then Calstock, past Harewood,
the most easterly part of the county, a peninsula which, like Landulph,
is nearly an island, and even past the craggy Morwell Rocks.
Cotehele, a Tudor mansion, "antient, large, strong, and fayre," was once
the chief seat of the Edgcumbe family. On the cliff can be seen the
little chapel built by Richard Edgcumbe in gratitude for his escape from
the myrmidons of Richard III. (see page 136). The chestnut trees in
these woods are large and of great age, but suffered severely from the
blizzard of 1891. Within the house is an interesting chapel with, under
the pulpit, a small apartment, known as "the Leper's Room." In the
vault, the mother of the first baron was buried (1742) while in a
trance. "The knave of a sexton, the night after the funeral, broke open
the coffin with intent to steal the rings which adorned the body, when,
to his utter alarm, she who was thought to be dead opened her eyes and
began to move; thereat the thief fled amain as though chased by the
awakened spirit, leaving his lanthorn behind him, which served to light
the lady out of the vault."
The simple brevity of the account is delightful. No nerves on the part
of the dame, whose motto must have been "noblesse oblige." We picture
her stepping gracefully out of her narrow bed, taking that lanthorn, so
conveniently left, and in her white shroud making her way to the
supper-room, where no doubt her sorrow-stricken descendants were
sustaining life with beef and beer and bread. Were they really and truly
glad to see her? She must have been a woman, not only of great presence
of mind, but of strong character, and we, at this distance, can look
back admiringly; but as to her dutiful and obedient children--well, one
wonders.
HINGSTON DOWN
The New Bridge leads directly out to the high land of Hingston Down,
where before stannary laws were enacted and coinage towns assigned, the
tinners of Devon and Cornwall met on Kit Hill and held their parliament.
During the fourteenth century difficulties arose, and after that only
the Cornish came to the old earthwork for their debates. An interesting
light is shed, by a speech of Sir Walter Raleigh's in Parliament, when
Lord Warden of the Stannaries, on the men and their earnings. In those
days it would appear that the pay of a working tinner was 4_s_. a week,
finding himself. Of this Sir Walter boasts as a great change for the
better inasmuch as previously the tinner had received but half that
amount.
These hills used to be famous for their tin, hence the saying:
"_Hingston Down well wrought
Is worth London Town, dear bought._"
In 835 the Cornish were defeated by the men of Devon on this open
ground, and some centuries later Charles I. crossed it on his way to try
conclusions with Lord Essex. A little beyond Callington is St. Ive, one
of the most lovely churches in the duchy. The east end and north side
are fourteenth-century work of great merit, and the remainder is
fifteenth century. The beautiful tower has clustered pinnacles, but the
chief interest lies in the chancel window with its fine tracery, and the
ogee-headed niches in the jambs of the scoinson arch, while some of the
glass in the east window is of the same date as the tracery.
The river no longer curves in upon itself so frequently, but the
landscape, deeply wooded and with the fine Carthamartha Rocks above the
junction of the Inny with the Tamar, is softly beautiful. Greston Bridge
crosses the river between Lezant and Lawhitton, and at Trecarrel House
in the former, Charles I., with his army sleeping round him in the
fields, lay on the night of August 1, 1644. At Lewannick, west of
Lezant, a cresset stone has been preserved. This structure resembles a
font, but with the top hollowed out into a number of bowls to contain
oil and floating wicks. Before the days of matches, a light was kept
perpetually burning in the church in order that the parishioners might
resort to it, if by any chance their hearth-fires, always carefully
sodded up, should be extinguished. Cresset stones are now rare. The one
at Calder Abbey has sixteen bowls, but that at Furness resembles the one
at Lewannick in having only five.
POLYFANT
In this parish, at a little distance from the church town, is the famous
stone quarry of Polyfant. The greater number of the Norman arches in
this part of the county are made from this stone, the quarry having been
worked for over a thousand years. There are three old crosses in this
neighbourhood, the one at Holloway being of unusual design, while the
"four-holed" cross at Trelaske has projections at the neck. Trelaske is
a well-wooded and picturesque country-place, and contains the remains of
an encampment, while the view from Trelaske Beacon is extensive. A
couple of miles above Greston Bridge the river takes a bend almost at
right angles to its former course, and runs east and west until it
reaches Poulston Bridge, across which Charles I. led his army that
never-to-be-forgotten August and marched on Launceston.