EGLES-KERRY.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north North Petherwin; east, St. Thomas; south, Trewenn; west, St. Cleather. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Capella de Egleskerry in Decanatu de Major Trigshire xll.; after which time, but before the statute of Richard the Second
against the total impropriation of vicarages, it was, by its patron and endower, the Prior of Launceston, alias St. Stephen’s, wholly impropriated; so that it is not named in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and I take it Tremayne vicarage was then as a daughter church consolidated into it by the said Prior: whereby it is only a lectureship, the Vicar subsisting on a small stipend.
In the Domesday Roll, 20 William I. (1087), this district was taxed under the name of Pen-hall-an, now Penheale, then and still the voke lands of a considerable manor. Soon after the Norman Conquest, if not before, the De Boterells, alias De Botreauxes, were possessed of this place; for in the time of Henry the Second and Richard the First, Richard de Botreaux held 12 knights’ fees in Cornwall (Carew’s Survey thereof, p. 49); one of which was held of the King in this place by his posterity to the 3d Henry the Fourth; where we further read, p. 41: “William de Boteraux tenet dimid. part. feod. de Morton, in Penhele, de Rege.” From the Botreauxes, for want of issue male, those lands, by a daughter, with much other, were carried in marriage to Hungerford; as Hungerfords’ heirs, in like manner, carried it to Hastings. By Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, it was sold to George Grenvill, Esq. that married Julyan, one of the daughters of William Vyell, of Trevorder, who sold it to John Speccot, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 20th James I. grandfather of my kind friend the Hon. John Speccot, Esq. three times chosen Shire Knight for this county, temp. William III. (in order to which the writer hereof and many of his friends were his votes). He married the Lady Essex Robartes, daughter of the Right Hon. John Earl of Radnor, who died without issue, and settled those lands upon his kinsman Thomas Long, Esq. now in possession thereof; and who giveth for his arms, Sable, a lion rampant between eight cross-crosslets Argent: descended from the Longs of Wiltshire.
John Speccot, Esq. gave by his last will and testament a thousand pounds for the benefit of a mathematical school
in the county of Cornwall, where all children were to be taught gratis; the master to have the interest of the 1,000l. This school was first opened at Penryn, but is now at Looe.
Tre-lyn-ike, in this parish, i. e. the town of the lake, leate, or bosom of waters, is the dwelling of Christopher Baron.
Since the writing hereof this gentleman is dead; and this place, for want of issue, is descended to his sister’s son, Mr. Saltern, now in possession thereof.
TONKIN.
This church is dedicated to St. Kyryasius, or Carisius, Bishop of Ostia, in Italy, and who is said to have suffered martyrdom in the year 226. But Moreri relates of this person, or of one similarly named, that he pointed out to the Empress Helena the spot where the true Cross had been concealed.
The Hon. John Speccot, three times Knight of the Shire, married the Lady Essex Robartes, daughter of the Right Hon. John Earl of Radnor, but on the very day subsequent to their marriage Mr. Speccot was seized with the small-pox; and the lady experienced a fatal attack from the same dreadful disease about a month afterwards, just as her husband was getting well. His father married a daughter of John Eliot, of Port Eliot, Esq. Mr. John Speccot died in August 1703, without issue, and gave a great deal to charitable uses; but he devised the bulk of his estate to the heirs of his aunt, and, after many lawsuits and disputes, his first cousin, Thomas Long, came into possession of Penhele. He was Sheriff of Cornwall In 1724, and left one son, John Speccot Long, and three daughters. This gentleman died sine prole. He was the last male heir, and the property went among his sisters.
The arms of Speccot are, on a bend Gules, three millrinds pierced Argent. Penhele, or Penhale, is the head of the river.
THE EDITOR.
Of the three sisters of Mr. John Speccot Long, one remained single. Another married Mr. Charles Phillipps, of Camelford, eldest son of Mr. John Phillipps, attorney-at-law. This gentleman represented Camelford in Parliament, and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cornwall Militia. He survived his wife, and acquired through her a third part of the Long property, which, with all his other possessions, he bequeathed in equal portions to his two brothers, Mr. Jonathan Phillipps, a Captain with him in the militia, and the Rev. William Phillipps, Rector of Lanteglos, the parish including Camelford. These two brothers came to some arrangement with the two sisters, by which this share of Penhale at least reverted to them.
The third sister, Margaret Long, first married Mr. Charles Davie, of the family settled at Orleigh, in Devonshire. He carried on, however, some business in Bristol, and is said to have been in very bad circumstances. He died after a few years, and in her old age the widow was induced to marry Mr. John Bridlake Herring, a Major in the army, who resorted to all possible methods for extorting money from the old lady; one that will scarcely be credited, by terrifying her with supposed apparitions. The three sisters are reputed to have excelled in beauty of person, but to have been so utterly neglected in their education, as scarcely to possess the common acquirement of reading.
The Editor remembers to have seen Penhale and the old lady in 1788. Her appearance, then near eighty, justified the report respecting her youth, and the house seemed to rank among the very finest specimens of ancient buildings in Cornwall, as well for size as for architectural decoration. Near the entrance stood a very curious dial, probably placed there by Mr John Speccot, who founded a mathematical school.
The barton of Penhale is again divided; one portion
belonging to a grandson of Major Herring, who has taken the name of Cloberry, and another to the Rev. Charles Sweet, of Kentisbury, in Devonshire.
This parish measures 2,829 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 181 | 2195 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 301 | 17 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 307 | in 1811, 395 | in 1821, 436 | in 1831, 537 |
giving an increase of 74 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. John Serjeant, instituted in 1826.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Egles-Kerry is almost entirely situated on that extensive chain of downs, which runs across the country from Launceston to the Bristol Channel; composed of rocks which are very quartzose, but in many parts appear to be almost entirely felspar, commonly, however, united with some colouring material which stains them to a dark blue. This is particularly the case near the church, where the rocks very strongly resemble those at Rosecradock, and in other parts of St. Cleer. Northward, these rocks appear to pass into the Dunstone; but it must be confessed that their geological position is not yet elucidated; for, like the compact rocks of King Arthur’s Castle in Tintagel, of St. Stephen’s, and Pentire Points, on each side of Padstow Harbour, and elsewhere, they yet require to be carefully and patiently investigated.
ST. ENEDELLYAN, or ST. DELYAN.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Trigminor, and hath upon the north the Irish Sea; east, St. Teth; south, St. Kewe; west, St. Minvor. This is that Delian taxed in Domesday Roll, 20th William I. (1087,) and refers to the name of the tutelar guardian and patron of this church, here extant before the Norman Conquest, viz. St. Delian, or Telian, a British saint, said to be made Bishop of Menevia, or Landaff, after St. David’s death, anno Dom. 563, (see [Davidstow],) (who was born in Merionethshire, and had his education under St. Dubritius, Bishop of Landaff, anno Dom. 520,) by whose instruction and piety he became a learned and pious divine, and was furthered and confirmed therein by St. David, afterwards Bishop of Landaff, alias Menevia.
This St. Delian accompanied St. David in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to visit the holy cross and sepulchre, from whence they safely returned again into their own country; and finding the same greatly infected with the plague, St. Delian, as was generally said, by his sincere and fervent prayers soon delivered that country from the malignity of that fatal disease, which long time before had destroyed great numbers of its inhabitants. He is placed by Harpsfield and Campion in the Constat of the Bishops of Landaff, and that he died about the year 570.
In this church of St. Delian, (now called Ene-Delian, or Ene-Dellian,) soon after the Norman Conquest, some gentlemen, lords of tenements in this parish, set up and endowed here a court, corporation, or college, of six Prebends, or Canons Augustine, as council or assistants to the Bishop, Dean, or Rector, viz. the Lord of the Barton of Trearike, now Peter’s, and two others, who alternately are patrons of this church, and present the rector thereto.
The Prebend of Trearick was given by Richardson to one Grey; the patronage of which is in the Earl of Radnor.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, the revenues of Ecclesia de Enedelian-ta, (id est, the church of the good soul of Delian,) then a vicarage, were thus charged:
1. Prebend. Dom. Paganus de Liske, in eadem, xls.
2. Prebend. John Moderet, lxs.
3. Prebend. Henricus de Monkton, iiiil. iis.
4. Prebend. Dominus Reginald Thick, iiiil. iis.
5. Prebend. Magister Osberti, iiii. xs.
6. Prebend. Magister William de Wymondham, iiiil. xs.
Vicarius ejusdem xxs.
In all 23l. 4s.
In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, this church of Endelian is rated to First Fruits 10l. The Incumbent Wills; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 180l.
Within this district now stands the barton and manor of Ros-cur-ok, rated as the voke lands of two manors or parishes in Domesday Roll, 20th William I. (1087.) The same, I suppose, mentioned in Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 47.
Tre-freke, alias Tre-vreke, alias Tre-frege, synonymous words in British, (that is to say, the wife’s town, or a town pertaining to some wife,) is the dwelling of John Hamly, Gent, that married Treffreye.
Pen-nant, in this parish, (i. e. the head of the valley,) is the dwelling of John Rawe, Gent. that married Kelly.
Tresongar, or Tresongadh, is the dwelling of John Matthews, Gent. that married Vivian of Truan. The present possessor, Mr. Matthews, leaving no issue male, his only daughter and heir is married to Henry Bond, Gent. attorney-at-law, steward to the Earl of Radnor.
In this parish, as I take it, is situate the barton of Cheny (see St. Teth).
It is now, I suppose, in possession of Mr. Danell.
TONKIN.
Roscarrake, in this parish, gave name and residence to the old and famous family of gentlemen, from thence denominated De Roscarrake.
Richard de Roscarrack held in this place the fourth part of a knight’s fee in the reign of Henry the Fourth, as appears from Carew’s Survey.
John Roscarrack was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 6th Henry VII. Richard Roscarrack was Sheriff in 4th Edward VI. again 2d Elizabeth. And John Roscarrack was Sheriff 17th Elizabeth.
They received great augmentation to their estate by the daughter and heir of Pentire of Pentuan, who brought to them the whole patrimony of that family: but, alas! so true is that saying, “Man doth not always flourish,” the great estate of this family, by ill conduct, was much wasted; and in the reign of Charles the Second, this very barton and manor of Roscarrack was sold by Charles Roscarrack to Edward Boscowen, Esq. in whose son and heir, Mr. Hugh Boscowen, of Tregothen, it now resteth.
Trefreke now belongs to Mr. John Hemley, who giveth for his arms, Argent, three hounds passant Azure.
THE EDITOR.
Port Isaac, a small town of the sea coast, with a harbour for boats and sloops, is situated in this parish.
The church, standing on a high hill, is a landmark from the Bristol Channel.
The rectory, and one of the prebends, are in the gift of the Crown. Another of the prebends belongs to Mrs. Agar, the representative of the Robartes. The third is in the presentation of Mr. Gray.
The north aile of the church is said to have been built by the Roscarracks, and to have remained their private property, with a burial-place below it.
This parish measures 3,083 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 5215 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 745 | 6 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 727 | in 1811, 950 | in 1821, 1149 | in 1831, 1218 |
giving an increase of 67½ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
St. Enedellyan has been long celebrated for its mines of antimony. This metal occurs in the state of a sulphuret, associated with iron pyrites, in quartz veins, which run east and west, traversing a blue lamellar slate, very similar to that which frequently abounds in the calcareous series, and to which, indeed, this slate belongs. Some curious varieties of rocks in this series are found in St. Enedellyan, one of which, in particular, abounds between the church and Port Isaac, which was noticed by Sir Humphrey Davy in a decomposing state, under the name of mandelstone. In this state it is a dull earthy argillaceous rock, of an ochreous colour, full of small, roundish cavities. In its perfect state this rock is a greenish-grey, glossy, compact felspar, containing granules of flesh-coloured calcareous spar, and minute prisms of hornblende. During decomposition, the calcareous spar is dissolved, and washed away by the rainwater, which produces the honeycomb appearance; and the ferruginous stain is derived from the iron contained in the hornblende. This rock has been described by Mr. Prideaux as occurring in Devon. It is very rare in Cornwall.
ST. ENODOR.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Pidre, and hath upon the north Little Colon; east, St. Stephen’s and St. Denis; south, Ladoch; west, Newland. In the Domesday Tax, 20th William I. (1087,) this district was taxed under the names of Borthy and Resparva. And Berthy is still the voke lands of a manor pertaining to Penrose, now Boscawen and others. The 3d Henry IV. one Ralph de Borthy held in Dinbegh, in Pidre, by the tenure of knight-service, a small knight’s fee. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 41.)
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish Benefices, (1294,) Ecclesia Enadori in Decanatu de Pidre, is rated viil. vis. viiid. Vicar ejusdem xxs. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, and Valor Beneficiorum, Enador Vic. is valued at 26l. 13s. 4d.; the patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it; the Incumbent Martin; the Rectory, or sheaf, in possession of Davy’s heirs; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, (1696,) 141l. 6s.
Some of the inhabitants of this parish have told me that one St. Athenodorus is the tutelar guardian of this church, from whom it is denominated Enador. Athenodorus, the stoic philosopher of Athens, was born before Christ Jesus, and was tutor to the Emperor Augustus, who taught him that he should neither do or say any thing, but take respite till he could say over the Greek alphabet, that so he might neither say or do any thing through rashness or anger; for which advice he is specially remembered.
Car-vin-ike, alias Car-fyn-ike, (i. e. the rock spring, fountain, leat, or riveret of water, so called from the natural circumstances of the place,) is the dwelling of Anthony Tanner, Gent. that married Carthew; his father Arundell,
by whom he had this place. Originally descended from the Tanners, late of Court and Boderick, in St. Stephen’s, and giveth the same arms.
Pen-coll, or Pen-cooth, in this parish, (i. e. the head-wood, a name also of old taken from the ancient natural circumstances of the place,) is the dwelling of Arthur Fortescue, Gent. that married Verman; his father Elford, being of the Fortescues of Filleigh, in Devon, and gives the same arms.
Gon-rounsan, in this parish, is the dwelling of John Flammock, Gent. that married Coode, and giveth for his arms the same as the Flammocks of Bodmin. This land is since sold to Philip Hawkins, Esq. son of Mr. Hawkins of Creed.
Tre-wheler, in this parish, is the dwelling of Edward Hoblyn, Gent. that married Williams; his father Cosowarth; a younger branch of Nanswhiddon family, and giveth the same arms.
This parish of St. Enedor is the flattest or levellest parish of lands in Cornwall, and, by consequence, the storehouse or preserver of moisture, or water; and in testimony of the wateryness of this soil, I do remember that in the latter end of the reign of King Charles the Second, the tower of this church sunk in its foundation, so much that the whole fabric fell to the ground, and greatly damnified the church with its stones; which church and tower, by the Bishop of Exeter’s grant of a collection throughout his diocese, are both again well-built and repaired as it now stands.
This parish is enriched with lodes of tin and copper.
At Pen-hale, or haile, in this parish, that is to say, the head-river, or the head of the river; and suitable to its name, in the low lands thereof are the original fountains or springs of two notable rivers, viz. that on the south side of those lands, making its current or flux to Tresillian Bridge, in Merther, on the south part of this county; that on the north side of Penhale lands, making its course to Lower
St. Colomb Port, on the north part of Cornwall; both which rivers abound with fishes proper to the country in their seasons, as trouts, eels, peal, and salmon, &c. before they empty themselves into the North and South Seas of the British Channel, and the Irish or Atlantic Ocean.
TONKIN.
I have to remark on this parish, that all the southern part is in the hundred of Powder, although it is wholly rated to that of Pidar.
Athenodorus, to whom this church is dedicated, is a saint in the Roman Calendar, and brother to Gregory Thaumaturgus, or the miracle-worker, both natives of Neocæserea, in Pontus, or Cappadocia; of noble extraction, very well skilled in the sciences, the knowledge of tongues, and philosophy; who, hearing of the great fame of Origen, came to hear him, and were by his learned lessons, and holy exhortations, brought to leave the Pagan philosophy and all mundane sciences, and to embrace the holy theology, in which they made so great a progress in the space of five years, under so good a master, that, although they were both very young, they were honoured with the office of Bishops in the churches of Pontus. This St. Athenodorus suffered martyrdom about the year 272, under Aurelian.
THE EDITOR.
In this parish are situated three villages, called Summercourt, Penhale, and Fraddon, each of which had formerly the privilege of holding an annual fair. All are now transferred to Somercourt. One held on the 25th of September, is considered to be the most important in Cornwall. The name is obviously modern, although the village itself seems to be quite as ancient as any in the neighbourhood.
There is in this parish also another village, of considerable importance up to the year 1832, called Michell, St. Michael, or Modeshole.
This place, although never entitled, by the utmost stretch of courtesy, to the appellation of a town, was privileged with sending Members to Parliament in the time of King Edward the Sixth, probably to increase the political power of the Lords Arundell, who then possessed the paramount manor of Michel, together with an unrivalled influence in that part of Cornwall.
Many of the small places in Cornwall received this privilege from the Tudors, for the express purpose of becoming close or nomination boroughs, withdrawn as they then were from public view or attention.
The system thus created has acted at different periods in various ways. At first, many of the small Boroughs returned neighbouring gentlemen to Parliament, the natural aristocracy of the country, and practically the peers of other gentlemen holding hereditary seats, and distinguished by the shadowy appellation of offices long since extinct. These representatives formed the strongest bulwark of national liberty in the subsequent reigns of the Stuarts. So that Charles the Second, and his brother King James, endeavoured to smooth the way for their progress towards despotism by invading chartered or prescriptive rights; and thus the inviolability of these rights became associated in men’s minds, after the Revolution, with the very idea of liberty itself; and this union remained so permanently fixed and strong at the distance of a century, as to dash in pieces the otherwise powerful administration of Mr. Fox and Lord North, because they proposed to interfere authoritatively with the Charter of the East India Company. Times were, however, at that period completely changed. The English Empire had extended itself into all parts of the globe; an immense manufacturing and commercial interest had grown up; and, of still greater consequence, the national debt had created a vast monied capital, not subject to the laws of primogeniture, and therefore inclined towards democracy. All these obtained representatives through the small Boroughs, but tempered in most cases
by the media through which the seats were acquired. Statesmen by profession, and many inclined to support the existing order of things by their situation in life, and by their connection, obtained admission also into Parliament in the same manner, and all these, united with the representatives of counties, and of large towns, formed an assembly, owing its existence, no doubt, to accidental causes, but, in the opinion of many wise and experienced men, better adapted to the government of a great country than any one that the world had seen, or than could be established by systematic arrangements.
That House of Commons has been swept away by the enactment of 1832; and it remains to be proved by an experiment, at which bold men might shrink, whether a more direct delegation will as effectually represent all the varied materials of the State, and whether a body so powerful may not ultimately absorb into its immediate superintendence the whole legislative and executive functions.
Michell had to boast among its representatives of Sir Walter Ralegh, of Mr. Carew, the historian of Cornwall, and of many distinguished gentlemen of the county. It used to be said, that Colonel Clive spent so much money in a contest for this place as to occasion his return to India, where he gained the battle of Plassey, and established the Eastern Empire.
The right of election seems to have been vague and undefined at Michell, as it was in early times at almost all other places; but repeated decisions of the House of Commons tended to ascertain, and usually to abridge the right, as this was deemed most favourable to the new Government; and finally, by Act of Parliament in 2d George II. the last decision of the House of Commons on any right of voting acquired the force and authority of law.
Such a decision took place with respect to Michell in the year 1700, fixing the right of voting in the possessors of five burgage tenures, here denominated mesne lordships, and in all resident payers of scot and lot. Property
within the limits of the borough being divided, and each possessor of land wishing to multiply voters, they were raised to the amount of sixty or eighty, till at last the whole property coming into the hands of two Cornish gentlemen, they, in promotion of a system which may yet be regretted, consolidated the land, let the better houses on conditions, such as to prevent the occupiers from appearing on the parish rates, and converted to farm shelters, or took down, hovels that were originally constructed for election purposes. Contests were thus avoided, and the borough rendered close; the two proprietors having mutually pledged themselves in writing to support each other in their equal shares.
One of the proprietors died, and his son continued to act on the agreement. The other proprietor also died; and his brother having verbally ratified the compact, continued also to act on it, and a joint return was made in 1830. But a total change of men and measures having taken place in the administration of Government, the Reform Bill was introduced, and so powerful is the action of party feelings on the most honourable minds, heightened as they were, on this important occasion, by an honest conviction generally entertained on all sides, of the real and permanent welfare of the country being involved, that one of the proprietors thought himself absolved from adhering to the contract, unless his associate would take the same line of politics on this great subject as himself. A poll was thereupon called for, and the numbers were, for Kenyon five, for Best three, and Hawkins two; one voter having been got over by the infringing party.
Pencoose is now the property of Mr. William Basset, having been purchased from the Fortescues.
Trewhele belongs to Mr. John Basset, of this parish.
Treweere is held in joint tenantry by Mr. Retollock, son of Mr. Retollock who resided at Michell as agent for the borough, and Sir Richard Vyvyan, of Trelowarren. This place is considered to be a barton; and it must
formerly have been the residence of some gentleman, although the place is now reduced to a common farm.
Gomronson, heretofore the property of the Flammocks, now belongs to Hawkins.
Boswallow was purchased by Mr. John Stephens, of St. Ives, about the middle of the last century, and now belongs to his grandson, Mr. Samuel Stephens, of Tregenna.
The paramount manor of Michell has passed into various families, on account of its political importance. Originally Arundell’s, it for some time belonged to the Scawens, an ancient race of Cornish gentlemen now extinct. One of the family held the honourable, and then gratuitous, office of Vice Warden, on the Restoration of King Charles the Second.[42] This manor was finally purchased by the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, and belonged to his devisee at the period of the general dissolution of close boroughs.
St. Enodor measures 6,140 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 5303 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 399 | 12 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 869 | in 1811, 881 | in 1821, 833 | in 1831, 1124 |
giving an increase of 29⅓ per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. S. M. Walker, collated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1828.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Its extreme eastern corner is situated on granite, where it meets with the parishes of St. Columb Major and St. Dennis. The remainder of this parish rests on rocks of the schistose group; the part next the granite belonging to the porphyritic, and that more remote to the calcareous series, conformably, in all respects, to the geology of St. Colomb Major.
[42] The last representative of this family resided in Surrey, and died about the year 1770.
ST. EARME, or ST. HERME.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the east Probus, north Newland, west St. Allen, south Clements. As for the name it is derived from St. Herme, the tutelar guardian saint of this church, extant and endowed long before the Norman Conquest, by the Lord of the Manor of Polsew or Polduh, taxed in Domesday Roll, and therefore the Church again is taxed in Domesday Roll 20 William I. 1087, by the name of Ermen-hen, i. e. old or ancient Herme. In the taxation of benefices to the Popes in Cornwall, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia de Hermita in Decanatus de Powdre is rated at 6l. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, by the name of Erme 22l. 13s. 4d. The patronage in Lutterell, Lord of the Manor of Polsew, aforesaid. The incumbent Carthew, and the parish rated to the 4s. in the pound Land Tax, 1696, 120l.
The following short account of the patron saint is substituted for six or eight pages of uninteresting legend given by Mr. Hals.
St. Hermes or St. Ermes, the supposed patron saint of this parish, is said to have suffered martyrdom at Rome in the persecution raised by the Emperor Adrian, about the year 132. His tomb in the Salian Way was ornamented by Pope Pelagius the Second, who filled the chair of St. Peter from 577 to 590. The name of St. Hermes is much celebrated in the ancient martyrologies.
In the Missale Romanum is the following prayer, to be used on the 28th of August, the day consecrated to his memory:
Deus, qui beatum Hermetem Martyrem tuum virtute constantiæ in passione roborasti, ex ejus nobis imitatione
tribue, pro amore tuo, prospera mundi despicere, et nulla ejus adversa formidare. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum filium tuum.
Tre-gasa, alias Tre-gaza, in this parish, id est, the wood town, to prove which etymology there is still extant a considerable wood adjoining to the town place thereof, was the dwelling of Thomas Coke, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 27 Charles I. that married Lance, his father Herle. His grandfather John Coke, Gent. attorney at law, of Trerice, in St. Allen, who first came into those parts temp. Elizabeth, from St. Mary Ottery, in Devon, without money or goods, placed himself a servant or steward under Sir Francis Godolphin, Knight, where he began from, and with his inkhorn and pen, to turn all things that he touched into gold (as King Gyges), and that by indirect arts and practices as tradition saith; for that Sir Francis taking a great liking to him, left the management of his estate and great tin works to him, his said steward Coke. He accordingly took care that all such tin of his master’s as was melted at the blowing-house into slabs or blocks, was justly marked with the dolphin stamp, as is customarily done on those gentlemen’s tin to this day. After some years, Mr. Coke remaining in service as aforesaid, by his subtle arts and contrivances, out of Sir Francis’ toll, and the shares of other adventurers, and the wages of labouring tinners, he produced considerable quantities of his own block tin, which, when melted at the blowing-house, as aforesaid, to distinguish it from his master’s, he marked thereon the figure of a cat; the same, it seems, being the coat armour of his family or ancestors. At length, against coinage time there was more tin brought by Mr. Coke to be coined at the coinage towns, marked with the cat, than there was of his master’s marked with the dolphin.
Whereupon, Sir Francis’s Lady being informed of his ill practices, and resolving by the next coinage to be better instructed in this mystery, at such time as Godolphin blowing-house was at work, privately, with one of her
maids, in a morning, on foot, went to that place, where according, as common fame reported, she found many more blocks or slabs of tin marked with the cat than there were with the dolphin; the one part pertaining to Sir Francis, the other to Mr. Coke. Whereupon, abundantly satisfied, the returned to Godolphin House, but could not be there timely enough against dinner; whereat Sir Francis was greatly distasted, having at that time several strangers to dine with him. At length the lady being arrived, she asked all their pardons for her absence, and told them it did not proceed from any neglect or want of respect, but from an absolute necessity of seeing a strange and unheard-of piece of curiosity, which could not be seen at any other time; viz. to see the cat eat the dolphin (indeed cats are great lovers of fish elsewhere as experience shews) and then gave an account of the premises, to their great wonder and admiration: whereupon, soon after, Sir Francis dismissed him from his service. But by that time he had gotten so much riches, that forthwith he purchased the little barton and manor of Trerice, in St. Allen, and made that place his habitation till he purchased this barton and manor of Tregasa, and seated himself here; where, by parsimony and the inferior practice of the law, he accumulated a very considerable estate in those parts. But, maugre all his thrift and conduct in providing wealth for himself and posterity, his grandson Thomas Coke, aforesaid, succeeding to his estate, upon the issueless decease of his elder brother Christopher Coke, and buying in his widow’s jointure at a dear rate, and also undertaking the building of the present new and finely-contrived house at Tregasa, though never finished, yet the said fabric was so costly and chargeable to him, together with the vain extravagance of his wife (Lance), that he was necessitated to sell divers parcels of lands, in order to raise money for his necessary occasions; and finally to mortgage this manor and barton of Tregasa, and all his other lands that were before unsold, for about fourteen thousand pounds, to Hugh Boscawen, of Tregothnan,
Esq. and lastly, for that consideration and others, did, by lease and release, fine and proclamation, convey the same to the said Hugh Boscawen, his heirs and assigns, for ever, who are now in possession thereof. Soon after this fact Mr. Coke fell into great want and distress, together with his wife and children, and died suddenly by a slip of his foot into a shallow pit, wherein he was searching for tin, out of a conceited opinion he had that he should at last raise his fortunes by tin, as his grandfather before him had done.
The arms of Coke are, in a field Argent, upon a bend cotised Sable, three cats Or, with a crescent for distinction of a second house.
Truth-an, in this parish, parcel of Cargoll manor, held of the Bishop of Exeter, (that is to say, the trath or trudh-an, id est, the trout fish,) is the dwelling of John Williams, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 4th of Queen Anne, by lease, who married Courtney, of Tremeer; his father Maunder; originally descended from that Williams, of Probus, mentioned in Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 140; and giveth for his arms, Argent, within a bordure enurny and enaluron, a greyhound in full course Sable.
Tre-worg-an, in this parish, was formerly the lands of Tencreek, by whose heir it came in marriage to the Polwheles, and became their seat, till John Polwhele, Esq. barrister-at-law, sold it to John Collins, Gent. now in possession thereof, who married May, of Truro, and giveth for his arms, Sable, a chevron gouté of blood Argent, between three Cornish choughs Proper.
Tre-worg-an Vean, in this parish, parcel of the Duchy manor of Moris, is the dwelling of Andrew Ley, Gent. First Lieutenant of her Majesty’s ship the Medway, that married Gibbs, of St. Colomb; and Bourchier, daughter of Henry Bourchier, Rector of Creed, his father Tonkyn, of Trevawnas; his grandfather Bligh, and giveth for his arms, Argent, three pine trees Vert.
Innis, in this parish, that is to say an island, viz. a fresh water island, a place, as many others in Cornwall, so denominated,
where two rivers, whose original fountains are above such lands, form between them, in their current towards the sea, a piece or promontory of land, shaped in form of a corner, or triangle, at the meeting or confluence of those two rivers beneath the same (as amnicus, and mediamnis in the Latin), is the dwelling of Itai Jago, Gent. that married Bauden, his father Tonkin; his grandfather Molesworth and Herle, who was steward to Francis Buller, of Shillington, Esq. The arms of Jago are ——.
As for the name Jago, whether it be derived from the Celtish, British, Jago, and signifies James, or from Gago, or Jago, a spear, or military tuck, I determine not, or from gages and pledges for battle; however, this name was of ancient use in Britain; for Galfridus Monmouthensis tells us of a king named Jago, before Julius Cæsar landed in Britain, that reigned twenty-five years, and lies buried at York.
Trehane, in this parish, i. e. old or ancient town, is the dwelling of William Courtney, Gent. a younger branch of Trethurfe family, that married Seawen, his father Trevanion, of Tregarthyn, and giveth the same arms as the Trethyrie Courtneys do.
TONKIN.
A part of this parish is within the manor of Cargaul, belonging to the Bishop of Exeter, but long held by the Borlases, of Treladra, on a lease for lives, and under them by the Jagos, a family of antient standing in this parish. During the Civil Wars and the subsequent usurpation, John Jago, of this parish, Esq. was a Justice of the Peace, and a mighty sequestrator, so that he got into his possession the greater part of Mr. Borlase’s estate, and drove his family to great extremities. Mr. Jago died before the Restoration, leaving one son by his first wife, a daughter of John Molesworth, Esq. of Pencorrow; and three daughters by his second wife, a daughter of —— Herle, of Prideaux,
Esq. and widow of Williams, of Truthon. His three daughters were married to three Clergymen, to Mr. Charles Tremayne, Vicar of St. Austell; to Mr. Carthew, Vicar of St. Erme; and to Mr. Drinkwater, Vicar of Mevagissey. His son John Jago enjoyed this and the rest of his father’s estate till the Restoration; when Mr. Borlase got his own again, and among the rest this barton, the lease under him having expired by the death of Mr. John Jago, sen. Mr. Borlase settled Truthon on his son Humphry Borlase on marriage with a daughter of Sir John Winter, of Sydney, in Gloucestershire, Bart. maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, but had not any children that survived their infancy, except one son, Nicholas Borlase, who was taken off in the flower of his youth. Mr. Borlase built here a very convenient new house, and made it the place of his constant residence; but Mr. Borlase being deeply engaged in the interest of the late King James, and Sheriff during the two last years of his reign, sold his copyhold lease of Truthon to the before-mentioned Mr. Williams, who was Sheriff of Cornwall, in the 4th year of Queen Anne, 1705. He left four sons and three daughters. His eldest son John Williams, Esq. now lives here in the commission of the peace, and as yet unmarried.
The manor of Killigrew, which signifies the Eagle’s Grove, from Kelly, a Grove, and Eriew or Erigrew, an Eagle, gave name to that ancient and very eminent family of Kelligrew, whose seat it was for a long time; till on their marriage with the heiress of Arwinick, they removed thither, as being the more pleasant and convenient seat. This place, however, continued in their possession till the reign of King James the First, when Sir John Kelligrew first mortgaged it to his kinsman —— Mitchell, of Truro, and after that dismembered and sold it in parcels. The barton and various high rents were purchased by the said Mitchell, who sold them again about the year 1636, to the before mentioned Mr. Jago, of Truthan, who left the barton to his son John Jago, who on the recovery of Truthon, by Mr. Borlase,
at the Restoration, removed to a farm adjacent, which his father had purchased with the barton.
Ennis or de Insula, which explains the meaning of the word, was formerly the seat of the Opies, for here resided, in Queen Elizabeth’s time, John Opie, sen. whose son Robert Opie, married Jane, the daughter of Agnes Jago, of this parish, widow, and the said Robert or his son sold the barton to John Jago. These Opies I take to be a younger branch of the Opies of Towton, who give for their arms, Sable, on a chevron, between three garbs Or, as many hurtleberries Proper.
The above named John Jago married, in 1664, Juliana, the second daughter of Thomas Tonkin, of Trevawnance, by whom he had several children; he survived her, and dying in the early part of this century (i. e. 1700) left the two bartons of Killigrew and Ennis to his eldest son Itai Jagoe, who married the daughter of John Bowden, of Trelassick, in the parish of Ladock, who is still living, but has sold the manor or manors to Robert Corker, of Falmouth, Esq. lately deceased, reserving to himself the barton of Ennis, and a part of the barton of Killigrew on lease. The arms of Jagoe are, Argent, a plough Proper, between three fleurs-de-lis Azure (Mr. Lysons says, Or, a chevron between three cross crosslets Sable.) Mr. Itai Jagoe has since sold the fee of Ennis to John Stephens of St. Ives, Gent. reserving to himself the lease for three lives; which Mr. Stephens, has this March, 1737, bought also the manor of Killigrew of Sir J. Molesworth and Edmund Prideaux, Esq.
Polglase is not far from Killigrew, and was anciently a part of that manor. It signifies the green pool, and was sold by the above-named Sir John Killigrew to John Luxton, Gent. inter alia, in the 8th year of King James the First, who, two years afterwards, sold it to John Rosogan, sen. of the Rosogans of St. Stephen in Bronnel, who came to live in this place, and left it to his son John Rosogan, of Lyon’s Inn, Gent. This John Rosogan married in 1632 Elizabeth,
the daughter of John Haulsey, Esq. by whom he had one daughter, Elizabeth, married to Edward Westbury, of Winston Westbury, in the County of Southampton, Gent. and they joined in conveying this estate, January the 20th, 1660, to Thomas Tonkin, of Trevawnance, in whose posterity it still continues.
The arms of Rosogan are, Argent, a chevron between three roses Gules, bearded Proper, seeded Or.
To the south is Trevillon. This was the seat of a younger branch of the Langhernes, for here, in the reign of Edward the First, lived Thomas Langherne, Gent. and this place continued in his posterity till the reign of Charles the Second.
THE EDITOR.
Cornwall is indebted to this parish for introducing the very respectable family which now (1833) gives a member for the County.
The advowson has belonged in succession to the families of Luttrell and Wynne. Doctor William Stackhouse is said to have acquired this living by exchange, but it appears to be more probable, on account of his connection with the patrons, that the presentation came immediately from them. He was the brother of the Rev. Thomas Stackhouse, Vicar of Benham, in Berkshire, author of the well known History of the Bible, first published in 1732, in two volumes folio, and of various other works.
Doctor William Stackhouse resided on his living, and there married the heiress of the parish, Miss Williams, of Trehane. He had two sons, William, who married and spent his life at Trehane, and lived till June 1830, in his ninetieth year; and John, to whom Mrs. Perceval, heiress of the Pendarveses, of Pendarves, in Cambourne gave her whole estate. Mr. John Stackhouse married Miss Acton, of Acton Scot, near Church Stretton, in Shropshire, and acquired with her a very extensive property, which through the liberality of Mrs. Stackhouse (living in 1833) is possessed by
hes second son, on whom the estate was settled after her decease;[43] and through a similar act of liberality on the part of his father, Mr. Edward William Stackhouse, the eldest son, had the property in Cornwall placed in his possession on his marriage with Miss Trist, an extensive heiress in Devonshire.
This gentleman has moreover derived a very considerable addition to his fortune by the will of the Reverend Doctor Wynne, patron and some time Rector of this parish, and in remembrance of the family of Pendarves, and of the family of Wynne, to both of which he is related, and from both of which he has obtained ample possessions, Mr. Stackhouse has exchanged his original name for those of Wynne Pendarves, under which he now represents the County in Parliament. Mr. Pendarves has erected a monument to Dr. Wynne, on the western wall of the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, with the following inscription:
Α ☧ Ω
Lutterello Wynne, LL.D.
Prosapia antiqua et generosa oriundo
Coll. Omn. Anim. Oxon. olim Socio,
Ecclesiæ de Sto Erme, in agro Cornub.
Rectori et Patrono,
Viro
litteris humanioribus et philosophiæ studiis
feliciter imbuto,
mira morum comitate, summa animi benevolentia,
incorrupta fide, simplici pietate,
spectatissimo.
Obiit iii kal. Decembris, A. S. M.DCCCXIV. ætatis lxxvi.
Hoc quale quale sit μνημοσυνον,
optime de se merito,
P. L. C.
Edws Guls Wynne Pendarves, de Pendarves,
in agro Cornub. Arm.
cognatus et hæres.
The manor of Pelsew, or Peldu, in this parish, is said by Mr. Lysons to have belonged to Robert Earl of Cornwall at the period of the Domesday Survey; that it was forfeited by John Vere, Earl of Oxford, to Edward the Fourth, in 1471; and that it passed through the families of Mapowder and Luttrell to Doctor Wynne, conveying with it the advowson of the church. Dr. Wynne held the rectory for many years on his own presentation, deputing the care of his parish to the very eminent scholar and preceptor Dr. Cardew; but when residence became necessary for all incumbents, under the provisions of an act of parliament, he bestowed the living on the distinguished individual who had long been his curate. Dr. Cardew departed from this life in December 1831, having advanced into his 84th year. A monument is placed to his memory in St. Erme church, bearing an inscription written by himself, which might otherwise have the unusual blame imputed to it, of not sufficiently recording the merits of him whom it is intended to praise:
H. S. E.
Cornelius Cardew, S. T. P.
Proba et innocua
quamvis humili stirpe editus,
benigno tamen Numine,
ab anno M.DCCLXXXII.
Ecclesiæ de Ewny Lelant Vicarius,
Regiæ Celsitudini
Georgio Walliæ Principi e Sacris,
per annos triginta quatuor
Scholæ Grammaticæ apud Truronenses
præsidebat Archididasculus,
Prætorio munere bis ibidem functus.
Ab anno M.DCC.LXXI. ad annum M.DCCC.IV.
in hac Ecclesia Sancto Ermeti dicata
Rectoris Luttrell Wynne, LL.D.
vicem supplebat;
deinceps
ejusdem jam patroni munificentia
ipse Rector.
Uxorem duxit primo Elizabetham Brutton,
secundo Mariam Lukey Warren,
quarum ex illa quatuor, ex hac novem
suscepit liberos.
Natus decimo tertio die Februarii, anno M.DCC.XLVIII.
obiit decimo-octavo die mensis Septembris,
anno Salutis M.DCCC.XXXI.
vixit annos lxxxiii. menses viii. dies xviii.
Qualis erat
suprema indicabit dies,
cui propitius sit
DEUS OPT. MAX.!
The manor of Pelsew is a part of the property devised by Dr. Wynne to Mr. Pendarves, who is in consequence patron of the church. Present incumbent, Mr. Pomery.
Treworgan and Truthan are now the property of Mr. Edward Collins, descendant in the fifth degree from Mr. John Collins, mentioned as having purchased Treworgan.
Truthen, with the whole manor of Corgol, was acquired by the late Sir Christopher Hawkins from the See of Exeter in 1805, under the act of Parliament for redeeming land tax, and since his decease Mr. Collins has purchased the freehold of Truthen, and resides there.
The manor of Killigrew, purchased by Mr. John Stephens, of St. Ives, descended to his only surviving son, Mr. Samuel Stephens, Member for St. Ives, about the year 1750, who built the house at Tregenna; and it has passed from him, by will, to his second son, the late Samuel Stephens, Esq. who also represented St. Ives, and who resided in the house at Tregenna, which his father built. He died at Leamington, Feb. 25, 1834.
This parish measures 4,155 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual Return of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 2935 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 232 | 8 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1800, 358 | in 1810, 431 | in 1820, 561 | in 1830, 586 |
giving an increase of 63½ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY.
Dr. Boase observes on this parish of St. Erme, that it is composed of the same rocks as the adjoining parishes of St. Allen and St. Clement.
[43] Mrs. Stackhouse died at Bath in the beginning of 1834.
ST. ERVAN, ST. ERUM, alias ERBYN.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Pyder, and hath upon the north St. Merryan; east, Little Pedrick; west, St. Evall and Mawgan; south, St. Colomb. For the modern name, if it be not taken up in memory of Gerint ab Erbin, one of King Arthur’s admirals at sea, slain by the Saxons at London, (see [Dundagell],) the same is derived from the divine service or worship of God performed in this church, for Ervan, Ervyn, in the British tongue signifies a humble request or supplication, and properly signifies at the holy Litany, as Litania in Latin. In the Domesday Book or Roll, 1087, this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Trewinock, now Trewinicke, that is, the beloved lake, or spring of waters, running to the sea; still the voke lands of a manor. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Ervanis, in Decanatu de Bolton, was valued at cs. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it was rated 19l. 6s. 8d.; the patronage formerly in the Prior of Bodmin, who endowed it, now Morice. The incumbent Vivian, and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 100l. 8s.
Trembleigh, Trembleth, alias Trembleith, alias Tremblot, (see Tremblethick, in St. Mabyn) synonymous terms, signifies the wolf’s town.
From this place was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen, surnamed De Trembleth; who, suitable to their name, gave the wolf for their arms; whose sole inheretrix, about Henry the Second’s time, was married to John de Arundel, ancestor of the Arundels of Lanherne; who, out of respect and grateful remembrance of the great benefit they had by this match, ever since gave the wolf for their crest, the proper arms of Trembleth.
In this town they had their domestic chapel and burying place, now totally gone to decay, since those Arundels removed from hence to Lanherne. This manor was anciently held of the manor of Payton, by the tenure of knight’s service. And here John de Arundel held a knight’s fee (Morton, 3d Henry IV.) as I am informed. In digging up the grounds of this old chapel and burial-place not long since, was found an urn, wherein were contained certain pieces of bones, ashes, and coals. The remains of some human creature, that after death had his body burnt, and committed to that kind of burial; which must be at least 1500 years past.
Tre-ranall, alias Tre-ranell, alias Tre-renell, (synonymous words,) in this parish, is the dwelling of George Beare, Gent. that married Lanyon; his father Arundel of Lanherne; his grandfather Keate; and giveth for his arms, after the English, in allusion to his name, in a field —— a bear ——.
The barton of Trembleigh aforesaid is exempt and free from paying tithe, either great or small, to the rector, by reason, as tradition saith, there was a bargain or compact made betwixt the Trembleiths or Arundels, lords thereof, the Prior of Bodmin, and the Rector of the said church, at such time as it was first endowed, that the possessors or owners of the said barton’s land should for ever annually pay upon the high altar, to the said Rector, the full sum of ten shillings.
TONKIN.
At Treravall, in this parish, lived George Bere, the representative of a very ancient family. There was formerly in the hundred of West a family of the same name, of great wealth and account in Henry the Eighth’s days; but whether or not related to this family, I cannot resolve. Their great estate went with a daughter and heiress to John Bevill, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 16th Eliz. and was no small advancer of that gentleman’s estate, at that time much impaired, by the elder brother’s daughter. Their arms are to be seen in the windows and seats of Leskeard church, where they had much lands.
In this parish is a manor called Trenowith, or the new town; and on it resided for many generations the family of Hare, who give for their arms, Azure, on a bend Argent three Torteauxes.
THE EDITOR.
This parish measures 3,034 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 2812 | 0 | 0 |
| 263 | 11 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 358 | in 1811, 331 | in 1821, 422 | in 1831, 453 |
giving an increase of about 26½ per cent in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. W. Molesworth, instituted in 1817.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The southern part is a barren down, a continuation of that of St. Breock, with which this parish is parallel, and has a similar geological structure. The northern part is fertile, gradually passing into the calcareous series.
ST. EVALL.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Pider, and has upon the north St. George’s Channel, or the Irish Sea; west, Mawgan; south and east, St. Ervyn and St. Colomb Major. In the Domesday Tax it was rated by the name of Avalde. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester (1294,) Ecclesia de Avello, in Decanatu de Polton, was valued to first fruits vil. xiiis. iiiid. Vicar ejusdem xxs. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, (1521,) rated at the same value; the patronage in the Bishop of Exon, who endowed it; the incumbent Bagwell: the rectory, or sheaf, in Hawkins; the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, (1696,) 82l. 15s. 6d. The sheaf, or rectory, pays an annuity of 20l. per annum as an augmentation yearly to the vicar incumbent for ever, by virtue of an act of parliament. Probably the tutelar guardian and patron of this church is St. Ewalld or St. Evalld, from whence it obtained the appellation of St. Evall, or Avalld; who, as Malmesbury, in his Chronicle, and Herbert, in his Festivity of the Saints, tell us, was the son of Ethelbert the Second, martyred by the Danes, anno Dom. 749, brother to St. Edmund, king of the Saxon East Angles, who also was martyred by those people, and had his country wasted by them, till reduced by the West Saxon king, Edward the Elder; and though, after the death of St. Edmund, his brother Ewalld had right and title to the crown, and was requested by the people to take it upon him, yet he told them in answer that he preferred a religious and solitary life before all the kingdoms in the world, and therefore retired to Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, to a monastery called Cornehouse, where in great piety and holiness he lived, and died anno Dom. 850, and was interred, and held in great veneration for many supernatural facts done there after his death, whereby he obtained the reputation of a saint.
Trethewoll, Trethvall, in this parish, was the seat of John Nanfan, Sheriff of Cornwall 7th Henry VI. who at first, as tradition saith, was a servant to one of the Eriseys, temp. Henry V. and in that prince’s wars with the French was by them promoted to a captain’s post in that expedition, wherein he behaved himself with such valour and conduct, always attended with success, that he was highly rewarded by that prince, with much lands in England and France; upon which foundation, and by his thrift and good conduct, he laid up a very great estate in lands, and particularly was the purchaser of this manor and barton of Trethvall, and Tregenyn in Padstow, where he seated himself. He was again, because of his great advancement by his prince’s bounty, made Sheriff of Cornwall 15th Hen. VI. Again, his son John, 29th Hen. VI. Again 35th Hen. VI. by the name of John Nanfan, Esq. who is the first gentleman, on the Records of the Pipe Office for Cornish Sheriffs, distinguished by the name of an Esquire, which appellation or terminative distinction in Cornwall, was not given generally to those officers till about the middle of Henry the Eighth’s reign. He was also made Sheriff of Wiltshire 30th Henry VI. He had issue Richard Nanfan, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 20th Edward IV. also 4th Henry VII. who dying without issue male, in grateful remembrance of Mr. Erisey’s kindness and favour to his grandfather, he gave this barton and manor, and Tregerryn also, to James Erisey, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 4th Henry VIII. by some of whose posterity it was sold to Grenvill; and by the Grenvills to Smith of Exeter; and by the Smiths to Leach, father of Sir Simon Leach, Knt. of the Bath, temp. Charles II. who married Vivian of Truan; his father Gully; and giveth for his arms, Party per fess engrailed Gules and Ermine, in chief three ducal crowns Or. The arms of Nanfan were, Sable, three martlets, 3, 2, 1, and Argent.
TONKIN.
Mr. Tonkin has nothing of the least consequence different from Mr. Hals.
THE EDITOR.
This parish measures 2,707 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 2399 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 175 | 6 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 288 | in 1811, 309 | in 1821, 323 | in 1831, 354 |
giving an increase of about 23 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. Walter Kitson, collated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1803.
GEOLOGY.
Doctor Boase observes that this parish is composed of the same rocks as the adjoining parish of St. Ervan.
ST. EVE, or ST. IVONIS.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Eastwellshire, and hath upon the north Northill; south, Quethiock; west Menhynyet; east, St. Mellyn. For the modern name of this parish, it is taken from the tutelar guardian of the church, not St. Eve, that is to say, life or living, the first woman created by God, whose history is to be seen in the third chapter of Genesis; but, as the parishioners tell us, St. Eve is a corruption of St. Ivonis, in British St. John, viz. St. John Baptist, to whom the same is dedicated. And suitably in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294,
this church is called Ecclesia Sancti Ivonis in Decanatu de Eastwellshire, and valued to First Fruits iiiil. xiiis. iiiid. In Wolsey’s Inquisition and Valor Beneficiorum 26l. The patronage heretofore belonged to the preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John Baptist, at Jerusalem, who endowed it; now to Coryton. The incumbent Holden; and the parish rated to the 4s. in the pound Land Tax, by the name of St. Ive, 1696, that is to say, St. Ivonis or John, 170l. 8s. 8d.
At the time of the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Bicketone, id est, little town, then and long before, by prescription, the voke lands of a manor, barton, and court leet; the same now extant by the name of Tre-bighe, or Tre-bicke, that is town little; but not so little but that it was a kind of franchise royal, exempted and privileged in some respects against the common law, and within its precincts held pleas of debt and damages before the steward thereof, life, land, and limb, excepted, and had its prison and bailiff for the public service, as the hundred courts have. Now the writ to remove an action at law depending in this court must be thus directed: Senescallo et Ballivo Manerii sui de Trebiche, alias Trebighe, in comitatu Cornubiæ salutem.
This lordship was either by King Stephen or King Henry II. given to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John Baptist of Jerusalem, about the year 1150; (who endowed this church as aforesaid), where they had their preceptory or commandery, a corporation under a preceptor or commander, who took care of all their revenues, lands, and tenements, churches, chapels, and tithes; and those, their churches, were wholly appropriated to them, though they were not in holy orders, to preach or administer the Sacraments. These followed the rules of Augustine and Bernard.
This order originated in the time of the first Crusade, about the year 1100, when the members were called Knights of the Military Hospital of St. John Baptist of Jerusalem. They were most amply endowed throughout Christendom,
and especially from the spoils of the Knights’ Templars. The prior of the order for England, had his residence in St. John-street, London, and was accounted the first Baron of the land.
When the Franks were driven from Jerusalem and the whole of Palestine, this order of monastic warriors took refuge in the Isle of Rhodes, where it continued to rule till the Turks expelled them in 1523. The Island of Malta was then given to them by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, where they have remained as Knights of Malta, opposing an impenetrable barrier against the progress of the Turks.
In the 31st year of Henry the Eighth, all the possessions of the Knights of Malta in England were seized, together with all other monastic property; and the last prior of the English, William Weston, is said to have died from grief.
This lordship of Trebich, or Trebigh, passed from Henry the Eighth to John Wrey, Esq., and from him to John Wrey, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 28th of Elizabeth, that married Killigrew, and had issue by her William Wrey, Esq. afterwards knighted, that married Courtney of Powderham, Sheriff of Cornwall 41st of Elizabeth; and had issue William Wrey, Esq. created the 209th Baronet of England, that married and had issue Sir William or Sir Chichester Wrey, Bart. that married Frances daughter of Richard Bourchier, the fifth Earl of Bath, who by her had issue Sir Bourchier Wrey, Bart. that married Rolle of Stephenston, now in possession thereof; who also, for that his uncle, Henry Bourchier, sixth Earl of Bath, died without issue, in right of his mother is become one of his heirs. The arms of Wrey are, Sable, a fess between three hatchets Argent.
TONKIN.
Hay, in this parish, is the residence of Thomas Dodson, Esq. a commissioner for the peace and taxes, and burgess in this parliament (1702) for Liskeard. He married a daughter of John Buller, of Morvell, Esq.; his father a
daughter of Lidley. Originally from the Dodsons of London. Their arms, Argent, a bend engrailed Azure, between two birds Sable; quartering, Argent, an etoile Gules.
The parish is so called from St. Ivo, or Ives, a Persian bishop, as says Mr. Camden; who, they write, about the year 600, travelled over England with a great reputation of sanctity, all the way carefully preaching the Gospel, and left his name to this place, where he left his body too, meaning St. Ive’s, in Huntingdonshire. Perhaps in his peregrination, though vix credo, he might take this place in his way.
Trebigh manor had formerly lords of its own name, from whom is descended the Hon. George Treby, of Plymston, in Devonshire, Master of his Majesty’s Household, and some time Secretary at War, only son of the late Lord Chief Justice Treby. He bears, Sable, a lion rampant Argent, armed and langued Gules, three Plates in chief.
The manor of Bickton was one of the 288 manors in this county given by the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton with the Earldom of Cornwall. Under him, I suppose, it was held by a family of the same name, Bickton, who gave for their arms, Gules, a fess Or between four fleurs-de-lis Argent in chief, and three annulets in base of the Second.
THE EDITOR.
The town and parish of St. Ives, in Penwith, are universally believed to have for their patroness a female missionary from Ireland. The ruins of an old fortress is there called Dinas Iva; and various other circumstances tend to confirm the tradition. It seems to be much more likely, therefore, that another parish in Cornwall should be dedicated to the same person, than to a Persian bishop, of whose pilgrimage to England there can be little assurance.
The church stands on the top of a hill; and the tower is remarkable from the circumstance of having the two buttresses at each corner, as well as the corner itself, terminated
by a pinnacle, making twelve in all. The patronage is in the Duke of Cornwall.
This parish measures 5,085 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 3767 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 404 | 3 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 486 | in 1811, 535 | in 1821, 602 | in 1831, 656 |
giving an increase of 35 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. J. Jope, presented by the King in 1806.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The southern part of this parish touches on the great eastern patch of granite. Its rocks are similar to the rocks of St. Cleer, with the exception of those in the southern part, which contain a portion of calcareous spar.
ST. EWE.
HALS.
Alias Hewa, or Hevh, is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the north and east, St. Mewan and Mevagissey; south, Geran; west, Cuby, and St. Michael Caryhayes.
At the time of the Norman Conquest, this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Goran, Caryhayes; or is rather that Nantvat mentioned in Cornwall in the Domesday Book, 1087, which signifies in Cornish at the side of the valley, near some high lands, as perhaps this church is situate.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia de Sancti Ewe in Decanatu de Powdre, was valued viiil. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, by the name of Ewa, 21l.
The patronage formerly, I take it, in the Prior of Tywardreth; now in St. Aubyn, Tredinham, et aliis. The Incumbent, May or Pineck; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax for one year, 1696, 279l. 16s. But, when all that is said or done in this matter, St. Tue may be a corruption of St. Hugh, the tutelar guardian and patron of this church’s name; who, in all probability, was either St. Hugh, the twenty-sixth Bishop of Lincoln, 1186, who died 1203, or St. Hugh who was also born and lived at Lincoln, as Copgrave out of Matthew Paris informs us; who was stolen from his parents at nine years old by the barbarous and bloody Jews (first brought and tolerated in England by William the Conqueror), who, in derision of Christ and Christianity, in a private place, was by them inhumanly crucified, the 7th of July, 1255. Nevertheless, this fact was not so secretly performed but that at length it came to the magistrates’ ears, who thereupon apprehended the malefactors, and so ordered their indictment that severe justice was done upon all those offenders, that could be discovered to have had a hand in shedding the blood of this innocent youth. But, alas! this punishment of part of them did neither fully content or satisfy the prince or people at that time; for soon after King Henry the Third, by proclamation, set out all Jews in his dominions at a certain rent to such as would poll and rifle them, and amongst others to his brother Richard King of the Romans; who, after he had plundered their estates, committed their bodies as his slaves, to labour in his tin-mines of Cornwall; the memory of whose workings is still preserved in the names of several tin-works, called Towle Sarasin, and corruptly Attall Saracen, i. e. the refuse or outcast of the Saracens; that is to say, of those Jews descended from Sarah and Abraham. Other works were called Whele Etherson, the Jews’ Works, or Unbelievers’ Works, in Cornish.
But, alas! this matter did not rest here; for King Edward the First, out of an abhorrence of them for the aforesaid
crime, and for that they were accused of clipping and corrupting the sterling money of the kingdom, caused two hundred and ninety-seven of them to be executed on the gallows, and the remainder of them by public proclamation banished out of this land, and all their goods and chattels confiscated to his use, after they had been in England two-hundred and twenty-three years. Lastly, Copgrave further assures us, who lived tempore Edward the Fourth, that at the shrine of this St. Hugh at Lincoln, divers supernatural facts or miracles were done; for which reason he was put into the Catalogue of Roman Saints. Hugh, ugh, in British-Cornish, is a matter or thing high, large, and lofty.
In this parish is the barton and manor of Lan-hadarn, alias Lanhaddarne, alias Lanhadden, alias Lansladarne, the thieves’ or robbers’ place.
Which place gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Lanhaddarne; of which family was Serlo de Lanhaddarne, called by writ of summons to Parliament as a Baron tempore Edward the First or Second: of whose posterity Serlo de Lanhaddarne, 3 Henry IV. held in this place Guran and Lantine, by the tenure of knight service, one fee and a half of lands; whose issue male failing in Henry the Sixth’s days, he left only two daughters, that became his heirs, the one married to Sir John Arundel, of Lanherne, Knight, the other to Sir John Arundel, Knight, of Trerice; in whose issue the name, blood, and estate of those gentlemen is terminated; which was no small augmentation of the wealth and revenues of those Arundels; and as the present possessor of this lordship, Sir John Arundel, of Lanherne, Knight, hath for many years made of his toll-tin out of the wastrel lands thereof at Tolgoath above fifteen hundred pounds per annum; so in like manner the Lord Arundel of Trerice, out of the manor of Allett in Kenwen, at a place called the Garrows, parcel of those Lanhaddarns’ lands, hath had considerable benefit from an ancient lead-mine there, out of which divers thousand pounds’ worth of lead and silver have been extracted. (See Kenwen.)
Treg-on-an, in this parish, i. e. the dwelling on the valley or on the level valley, is the seat of Sir Joseph Tredinham, Knight, that married the daughter of Sir Edward Seymour, of Berry Pomeroye, in Devon, Bart. His father, an attorney-at-law, married the daughter of Molesworth, of Pencarrow, Esq.
Sir Joseph Tredingham succeeded to his estate, upon the issueless decease of his elder brother, Sir William Tredingham, Knight; and had issue by —— Seymour, John Tredinham, Esq. Member of Parliament for St. Mawes, that married —— Jones, of Wales, as I take it, but died without issue by a fall from his coachbox; and also two daughters, the eldest married to John Nicholls, of Trewane, Esq. the other to Francis Scobell, Esq. Member of Parliament for Mitchell, now in possession of this lordship, and all other Sir Joseph’s lands, greatly encumbered with debts.
Hal-liggon, in this parish, is the dwelling of Sir John Tremayne, Knight, serjeant-at-law, who married, but died without issue. His father, Colonel Lewis Tremayne, married —— Carew, of Penwarne, by whom also he had issue —— Tremayne, Clerk, Vicar of St. Austell, whose son by —— Jagoe, —— Tremayne, Esq. is now in possession of this barton and manor, who married Clotworthy’s heir. Originally this family was descended from the Tremaynes of Collacomb, in Devon (for which see Mabe).
Tre-vethick, alias Trevithick, in this parish, i. e. the farmer, rustic, or husbandman’s town, is the dwelling of John Hickes, Esq. Commissioner for the Peace and Taxes, and sometime Member of Parliament for Fowey, who married ——; his father an attorney-at-law.
This gentleman’s father came to an untimely death by means of an unskilful nurse that attended him in his sickness, who being prescribed a medicine by the physician, wherein was to be compounded, amongst others, (the herb) mercury, which the woman not understanding, bought of the apothecary the poisonous drug mercury, or crocus metolorum,
instead thereof, which being administered to him soon caused his death.
In like manner a son of his, named Stephen Hickes, a youth of about eighteen years of age, at school with Mr. Halsey at Merther, carrying about a birding-gun charged with powder and shot in his hand, the gun accidentally went off at such time as the mouth thereof was opposite to his body, which shot him dead through the breast and heart, to the grief of all that knew him.
Tre-luick, alias Tre-luige, in this parish, signifies the lake or river of water town, or the town whose lands are situate upon some river or bosom of waters, is the dwelling of John Archer, Gent. that married Addis; his father —— Archer, Clerk, Vicar of Manaccan, married Sweet.
This I take to be that place taxed in the Domesday Book, 1087, as the voke lands of some manor, by the name of Treluwe, or else Treluick, in St. Allen parish.
TONKIN.
This parish is dedicated to St. Eva or Ewe, not from our grandmother Eve. It is a rectory, and in the gift of Sir John St. Aubyn and Dr. John Hawkins, from the Tredinhams.
Various manors are situated in this parish. Pelrew, i. e. the black park, includes two bartons, distinguished by the names of Trevelisick Wartha and Trevalisick Wallas, that is, the higher and lower, and belong to William Seccombe, Gent. who gives for his arms, Argent, a fess Gules between three lions rampant Sable.
Adjoining to these lands is Trelisick; for the meaning of which see St. Erth, a part of the said manor, but the property of Mr. Tremayne.
The manor of Precays. This being part of the possessions of Sir Henry Bodrigan, was on his attainder inter alia given by Henry the Seventh to Sir Richard Edgecumbe, Comptroller of his household, in whose posterity it
now continues; the Hon. Richard Edgecumbe being the present lord of this manor.
To speak now of the most noted places, the first we come to, and which joins with Trelisick in Tregonan, that is, the town on the downs, formerly the property of the Tredenhams; but on the death of John Tredenham, Esq. at Westminster, December the 25th, 1710, a gentleman of very bright parts and of great loyalty, which he often shewed in Parliament, this barton came to his second sister, Mary, the wife of Francis Scobell, esq. who makes this place his residence.
Next the manor of Treworick, that is, the town on the river, called in Domesday Book Treworoc, was one of the manors given by William the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton. This was also a part of the property forfeited by Sir Henry Bodrigan, and given to Sir Richard Edgecumbe.
The manor of St. Ewe or Eva, so called from the name of the parish. The church and glebe being taken out of it, and the advowson being still appurtenant, was anciently the inheritance of the family of Coleshul. Sir John Coleshul, slain at the battle of Agincourt, left a son of the same name, Sir John Coleshul, Sheriff of Cornwall the 17th Henry VI. and the 7th Edward IV. who dying without issue his sister Joan, married to Sir Remfry Arundel, became his heir.
Sir John St. Aubyn possesses one fifth and one sixtieth, or thirteen sixtieths of this property; the remaining parts came through different hands at last to Sir John Tredenham of Tregoran, and were sold, with the greatest part of the Tredenham estates, to Francis Scobell, Esq. in 1727; so that John Hawkins, of Pennemer, D.D. and Sir John St. Aubyn, are the actual proprietors.
Not far from the church, as the name signifies, a tenement called Lanewa, lately the seat, under the said lords, of George Slade, Gent. till he removed to Trevisick, in St. Austell.
The manor of Heligon was anciently the inheritance of the Whitleighs, of Efford, in Devonshire. Richard Whitleigh, Esq. had two daughters and heirs, Joanna, married to Richard Hals, of Kenedon, in Devonshire, Esq. and Margaret to Roger Granville, Esq. of Stow, between whom this and many more manors were divided. Roger and Margaret Granville gave their part of this manor to their third son, Degorie Granville, of Penheale, Esq. and in the 28th year of Henry the Eighth John Hals, of Efford, and his son Richard Hals, sold their half of the manor to Sampson Tremayne, senior, of St. Ewe: and, on the 8th of May, in the 10th year of Queen Elizabeth, Richard Granville, of Penhele, sold the other half to the said Sampson Tremayne, and the whole is now enjoyed by his descendant John Tremayne, who married in 1735 Grace, the youngest daughter, and in a manner sole heiress, of Henry Hawkins, of St. Austel, attorney-at-law.
Sir John Tremayne, serjeant-at-law, built the present house, in addition to some rooms of an old house in the same place. Those places, called Kestell, that is, castle, belong to the manor. Kestell Wartha, the Middle Castle, and Kestel Wallas, but why so named I cannot learn, there not being the least remains of any fortification. Kestell Wartha, or the higher castle, was for a time the residence of Lewis Tremayne, Esq. during the life of his father. This gentleman, great-grandfather of Mr. John Tremayne, the present possessor, was then a lieutenant-colonel under King Charles the First, and a very stout honest man.
The manor of Coran is now become a part of the manor of Pentnar, in Mevassary, the lord of which is the Hon. John Roberts.
Lanhedrar, the seat of thieves, belonged to Robert Earl of Morton. Serlo de Lanhedrar, of this place, had summons as a Baron, and also to attend the King beyond the seas, 25th Edward the First.
Lower Lanhedrar was the seat by lease under the Arundels,
of Thomas Maunder, Gent. who left three daughters his coheirs: Mary married to Henwood, Priscilla to John Wolridge, of Gorminick, the third to John Williams, who lived at Tregenna.
To the northward of Lanhedrar, is Trelean, memorable, or rather infamous, for having been the birthplace of that trumpeter of rebellion Hugh Peters, as the late Mr. Lewis Tremayne has often assured me.
Next to this is Rosecorla, that is, the valley of the sheepfold, lately the seat, in lease too from the Arundels, of Edward Maunder, Gent.
Next is Trelewick. This seems to have been anciently a manor of itself, although long since disfranchised. It is now the seat of William Archer, a minor. His father, John Archer, Esq. married —— Adis, of Plymouth. The arms of Archer are, Sable, a chevron engrailed between three sheens (i. e. spear-heads) Or.
The manor of Tregian gave name to the noted family of Tregian, and was their chief seat till they removed to Golden in Probus, when the ancient seat fell into decay, so that no traces are now left. This, with the rest of Mr. Tregian’s great estate, was forfeited, as will be stated under Probus.
Pensiquillis, the head of the dry copes, or the dry hill of wood, was the last seat of the Penkevills, in this county; where they retired after they had sold off the greatest of their considerable estates therein. The last heir-male of this ancient family, Benjamin Penkivill, Esq. died here unmarried, of the smallpox, the 21st of November, 1699, leaving his six sisters co-heirs.
To the north of this place is Lithony, commonly Luny, and is the modern seat of the Mohuns. Warwick Mohun, Esq. on his marriage with ——, daughter of —— Adis, Esq. built a house here in his father’s lifetime, where he resided till his death, which happened on the road to London in October 1736.
To the south is Borew, the bleak dwelling, but why so
called I cannot guess. This was formerly the seat of Cruffs, on lease from the Arundels.
And next to that is Tregenno, the town of the mouth or entrance, as I believe from the situation of its chief place just by the downs. This manor was for several generations the seat, on lease under the Arundels, of the family of Robins; the last of which, Stephen Robins, resided for the most part in St. Winnow. It has since been the dwelling of Richard Randyl, Gent. whose arms are, Gules, on a cross Argent, three mullets pierced Sable.
Further south lies Levalra, where lived Hugh Henwood, Gent.; but, on his decease in 1733, the place was sold.
To the north of Tregenno is the manor of Penstruan, that is, the head of the springs. This was a part of Sir Henry Rodrigan’s forfeited estate, and came by grant to the Edgecumbes.
I now come to the church of St. Ewe, which consists of a nave, a south aile, a vestry to the north, and a cross aile, At the western end is a square tower, with a steeple on the top, in which are three bells. Some of the windows have painted glass; in one, an angel holds in his hands an escutcheon, charged, Azure, on a fess Sable, three chevronels sideways of the Field. The church plate is very handsome. On the flaggon is inscribed:
Jacobus Robins, de Tregennoe, Arm.
nuper expirans
ex voto legavit.
On the cover: St Ewe.
On the cup: Εις Ευχαρισταν.
In the north-west corner of the churchyard is a rough altar tomb, without an inscription visible at present, but tradition says it had formerly the following:
Here lies Parson Hugh,
The famous Atwell, Rector of St. Ewe.
The church is built low, and at one end of the parish.
It had formerly but a low wooden cover for two bells; but the parishioners have taken that down, and are this present year, 1732, erecting a handsome square tower, at their own sole charge, wherein they design to have a ring of three bells.
In the nave, against the wall, is a small monument with this inscription:
M’æ Sm.
Roberti Quarme, Genosi,
ob. ximo Ap. anno Domi M.DCCVIII.
ætatis suæ LXXII.
Patri suo charissimo filius natu et amore maximus
Gualterus, apud Falmo in hoc Comtu postea residens,
sibiq. vivo, et suis
ponendum curavit.
Ad Lectorem Monitio.
Non omnibus omnes placuere.
Non Ambrosius, non Augustinus, non Johanes Chrysostomus,
Nec Petrus, nec Paulus, nec facundus Apollos,[44]
Nec Divus ipse noster Salvator Jesus:
Num tu Viator omnibus?
Deo placere cura, et valeto.
Arms, Barry lozengy Argent and Gules, Counterchanged. Crest, a tiger passant Proper.
THE EDITOR.
St. Ewe has to lament the loss of all the gentlemen’s families, with the exception of one, which are stated to have resided there in former times; but that one may well compensate for the absence of all the others.
Mr. John Tremayne, who married Grace, the youngest
daughter of Mr. Henry Hawkins, of St. Austell, had two sons, and a daughter married to Mr. Charles Rashleigh, of Desporth, as has been noticed under St. Austel. The eldest son, Lewis, died in the prime of life, when the second son, who had taken orders, became the heir of his family.
The Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne married Harriet, daughter and coheir of John Hearle, Esq. of Penryn, and of her mother heiress of the Paynters of St. Erth. They have left an only son, John Hearle Tremayne, married to Caroline, daughter of the late Sir William Lemon.
It is impossible to say too much in praise of the late Mr. Henry Hawkins Tremayne: possessed of good abilities, of a sound understanding, of practical knowledge of business, and of the utmost kindness of heart, he became the father of his neighbourhood, reconciling all disputes, adjusting all differences, and tempering the administration of justice with lenity and forbearance. So high and so extensive was the reputation of Mr. Tremayne throughout the whole county, that his son, buoyant on the father’s virtues, and before opportunities were afforded for displaying his own, passed by an unanimous election into the high station of representative for Cornwall; but experience soon proved that Mr. John Hearle Tremayne wanted no assistance from hereditary claims to make him worthy of that, or of any other distinction. And the Editor takes this opportunity of repeating what he had the honour of addressing to a county meeting, previously to Mr. Tremayne’s declaration of not allowing himself to be elected for the sixth time, to avoid the embroilment of a contest:
“I have had the happiness of witnessing Mr. Tremayne’s conduct in Parliament for twenty years; and knowing the high estimation in which he is held by all parties, and by all sides of the House of Commons, I venture to assert that Cornwall would fall in public opinion if Mr. Tremayne were not again returned, let his successor be who he may.”
The parish of St. Ewe measures 5,085 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 4,685 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 1211 | 8 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 1176 | in 1811, 1125 | in 1821, 1663 | in 1831, 1699 |
giving an increase of 44½ per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. John Cregoe, instituted in 1785.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Dr. Boase observes on the geology of this parish, that it has the same geological structure as the contiguous parishes of Creed and Cornelly.
On the parish of Cornelly Dr. Boase states that the prevailing rock is a fissile blue slate; that it probably contains beds of massive lamellar rocks; and that all belong to the calcareous series.
P.S. It should have been noticed that the late Mr. Tremayne greatly improved the house built at Heligon by Serjeant Tremayne; that his son has carried the improvements still further, and rendered the whole place one of the finest in Cornwall.
[44] Acts of the Apostles, ch. xviii. v. 24.