The Cornish Riviera

by Sidney Heath

TRURO CATHEDRAL FROM THE RIVER

The fine ancestral home of Port Eliot, the residence of Lord St. Germans, was formerly called Porth Prior, from an Anglo-Saxon religious house granted to Richard Eliot in 1565, but of this original building no trace whatever remains above the ground. Within the house are some good portraits of the Eliots, including a large number by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

From St. Germans our journey lies through pleasant vales and wooded hills to Liskeard, a quiet little market town situated partly on the slope of a steep hill, and partly in a valley traversed by the Looe and Liskeard Canal. The district abounds in mysterious piles of rock such as the Trethevy Stone, and the Hurlers; while the student of folklore will not fail to be attracted by the sacred wells of St. Keyne and St. Cleer. The latter was used formerly as a Bowssening Pool, and held in great repute for its efficacy in restoring the insane to "mens sana in corpore sano". Not far away is the interesting church of St. Neots', with a quantity of very fine mediæval glass.

The site of the old castle of Liskeard is preserved to some extent in a tree-planted public walk, while in the ancient Grammar School, "Peter Pindar" (Dr. Wolcot) and the learned Dean Prideaux received their education. St. Martin's Church has a set of curious gargoyles, while portions of a nunnery, dedicated to St. Clare, are said to have been built into the walls of one of the houses. In 1644, during the Civil War, Charles I was here, and again in the following year.

From Liskeard, Looe may be reached either by rail, road, or canal. The road passes St. Keyne, where the waters of the well are said to possess a remarkable property, according to Thomas Fuller, who says, "whether husband or wife came first to drink thereof, they get the mastery thereby". The well has been immortalized in Southey's well-known ballad, The Well of St. Keyne.

"A well there is in the west countrie,

And a clearer one never was seen,

There is not a wife in the west countrie

But has heard of the well of St. Keyne."

The ballad goes on to relate that a traveller, sitting beside the well, met a countryman, with whom he had a long chat about its tradition:

"'You drank of the water, I warrant, betimes,'

He to the countryman said;

But the countryman smiled as the stranger spoke,

And sheepishly shook his head.

"'I hastened as soon as the wedding was o'er,

And left my good wife in the porch;

But faith! she had been quicker than I,

For she took a bottle to church!'"

St. Keyne or St. Keyna, the tutelary saint of this well, is said to have been a pious virgin, the daughter of Braganus, Prince of Brecknockshire, who lived about the year 490. She is also said to have made a pilgrimage to St. Michael's Mount, and to have founded a religious establishment there.

Two miles in a southerly direction is Duloe, where some upright stones have been conjectured to be portions of a druidical circle some twenty-eight feet in diameter. A little to the west of the twin villages of East and West Looe is Trelawne, an ancient seat of the Trelawny family; but the house is not shown to visitors, although a request to view the fine collection of pictures, which includes a portrait by Kneller, is generally granted. Kneller's portrait is of the famous bishop, Sir Jonathan Trelawny, whose counterfeit presentment recalls the stirring times when every Cornish village echoed with the defiant strain:

"And shall Trelawny die? and shall Trelawny die?

There's thirty thousand underground shall know the reason why.

And shall they scorn Tre, Pol, and Pen? and shall Trelawny die?

There's thirty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason why.

Trelawny he's in keep, and hold; Trelawny he may die,

But thirty thousand Cornish men will know the reason why?"

The villages of East and West Looe are among the most picturesque on the southern seaboard. The estuary on the sides of which they are situated, is confined between lofty hills whose slopes are covered with allotment gardens and orchards. The bridge that crosses the creek a quarter of a mile from the haven mouth, was erected in 1855, when it displaced a remarkable old bridge of fifteen arches. In the days of the third Edward the combined Looes furnished twenty ships and a contingent of 315 men for the siege of Calais.

Some delightful boating excursions may be made from Looe, the one most in favour being that to Watergate up the West Looe river, which unites with the main stream half a mile above the town. The stream winds among lofty hills, covered with rich and abundant verdure.

The ancient Guildhall of West Looe, said to have been built originally as a monastic chapel, is a picturesque old building, the framework of which is composed of ships' beams. The cage for scolds has disappeared, but the stocks, of a very barbarous kind, have been placed across an open gable. The building was re-consecrated in 1852, since when services have been regularly held within it.

The eleven miles that separate Fowey from Looe should be traversed on foot by way of Talland, Polperro, and Polruan. Talland Church is delightfully placed, while its tower is connected with the main building by means of a porch. The bench ends within are very interesting, particularly a set with finials in the form of winged figures administering the Eucharist. These pew ends are quite unlike any others in the country, and they are somewhat of an ecclesiastical puzzle. From Talland a rocky coast walk of less than two miles leads to Polperro, with the narrowest of all the narrow little ravines that offer shelter to the mariner on this exposed portion of the coast. The antiquary Leland describes it as "a little fischar towne with a peere". It is an extraordinary jumble of habitations which press upon each other so closely that it is only by wriggling through the narrow streets and turnings that one can make any progress at all.

There is no coast track west of Polperro and both the roads to Fowey are very hilly. The pedestrian should proceed by way of Lansallos, where the church in the Perpendicular style forms a conspicuous sea-mark. From Polruan the descent to Fowey is very steep, but the view of the harbour from the high land is one of great charm.

As we look at the little stranded and sunlit port to-day, it is difficult to realize that Fowey once shared with Plymouth and Dartmouth the maritime honours of the south-west coast. In those days Looe, Penryn, and Truro were regarded as creeks under Fowey. The harbour, which is navigable as far as Lostwithiel, a distance of eight miles, is formed mainly by the estuary of the river Fowey, the town stretching along the western bank of the harbour for a mile.

Seen for the first time Fowey is a revelation. Much known and rather too much visited, it is yet one of Cornwall's most picturesque and interesting towns. Nature and art have combined to make it so; the art of the old village builder, not the so-called art of to-day. A modern element exists, but it is of small proportions. May it always remain so.

Standing on the heights one looks down upon the river below. On either side is a jumble of ancient houses with leaning and weather-stained walls. It is doubtful if we ought to admire such ill-ventilated and out-of-date dwelling houses, in this essentially scientific age. But the general effect of line, of light and shade produced by a mass of broken and highly unconventional contours—gables where there should be chimneys, and chimneys where one is accustomed to look for doorposts—is highly satisfactory and pleasing from the artist's point of view.

Steep hills and zigzag roads, at every alarming angle of declivity, intercept the labyrinth of houses, which stand on each other's heads, or peep over each other's shoulders, and settle down on the ledges of the river bank.