GWINEAR.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north Gwythian, west Phelack, south Crowan and St. Erth, east Camburne.

In the Domesday Tax this district passed under the jurisdiction either of Caerton in Crowan, Lewellen in Gwythian, or Hella in Camburne. In the Inquisstion of the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln into the value of Cornish Benefices, 20th Edward I. 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Winer in decanatu de Penwid, was valued cxiiis. iiiid. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it is valued 12l. by the same name of Winer. The patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed it. The Incumbent Thomas

Paynter. The Rectory, or garbe sheaf, in possession of Howell, under lease from Exeter College, Oxford. And the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 147l. 7s. 2d. by the name of Gwiniar.

Lanyon, in this parish, a seat of the Lanyons, the first propagators of this family in Cornwall, came, with many other French gentlemen, into England, with Isabella, wife of King Edward II. and settled themselves in those parts; amongst which Lanyon’s posterity have ever since flourished in gentle degree in Cornwall; and for further proof of this matter, that originally they came from the town of Lanyon, situate upon a sea-haven, or harbour, in France, they give still the arms of that town for their paternal coat armour, viz. in a field Sable, a castle Argent, standing on waves of the sea Azure, over the same a falcon hovering with bells. The present possessor, Tobias Lanyon, Gent. that married Pineck; his father Reynolds.

Polkinhorne, in this parish (eminent or notable iron head). From this place was denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed Polkinhorne, who gave for their arms, Argent, three bars Sable; whose only daughter and heir, temp. Charles II. was married to Thomas Glynn, Gent. a younger branch of the Glynns of Glynn, whose father giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron between three salmon-spears handled and barbed Sable, two in chief, and one in the base part, with points downwards.

Coswin, in this parish (i. e. the white wood or fair) gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed De Coswyn, who lived reputably in this place for several descents, till John Coswyn, temp. Charles II. by ill husbandry, wasted his paternal estate, and sold this little barton to the person now in possession thereof.

TONKIN.

The right name of this parish is St. Wynnier, a corruption of St. Wymer, its tutelar saint, by which name it is called in the Taxatio Beneficiorum, Ecclesia Sancti Wymeri.

The great tithes of this parish are believed to have been bestowed on Exeter College, by its founder, Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, A.D. 1318.

A younger brother’s daughter of Coswin, who squandered the property, married Peter Pendarves, gent. and brought Bodrigge in Thellark into that family.

THE EDITOR.

The parish of Gwiner has been extremely productive in copper. Herland Mine, usually called the manor, produced so large a return to Mr. Hobbin, only part proprietor of the land, as paid for the building of Nansewidden in St. Columb, about the middle of the last century. It has been since wrought on a most extensive scale, and to a great depth.

Whele Alfred, Whele Trelistion, and others, have been very productive; but at present they are all discontinued.

The family of most consequence connected with this parish is that of Lanyon.

The first syllable certainly implies an inclosed place, from which it has become specifically applied to a church, to a castle, and even to a town. Mr. Hals’ conjectures as to the termination of the name, appear to be so utterly groundless that they are omitted.

Mr. Whitaker believes that Lanyon in Normandy bears only a castle for its cognisance, and that the falcon has been added on account of the similarity in sound of Lanyer to Lanner, the favourite bird in falconry.

It must be observed however that Lanyon is always in Cornwall pronounced La-nine.

The Gwinear and Madern branches of the Laryon family were together possessed of extensive property in the adjacent parishes; combinations of unfortunate circumstances have diminished their possessions, but hopes may be entertained that the Lanyons of Gwinear, who have never

lost the sense of what is due to the memory of their ancestors, may again resume the former station of their family.

The Rev. Malachy Hitchins, Vicar of St. Hilary, held this living for almost thirty years.

Gwinear measures 3,882 statute acres.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815518500
Poor Rate in 1831800180
Population,—
in 1801,
1651		in 1811,
1952		in 1821,
2383		in 1831,
2728

giving an increase of 65 per cent. in 30 years.

Present Vicar, the Rev. John Thomas Wilgress, collated, by the Bishop of Exeter in 1813.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish, like those adjoining, Camborne and Crowan, has been long celebrated for its mines, but it does not resemble them by reposing in part on granite, being confined entirely to rocks of the slate series.

The porphyritic courses are not so common here as in Gwennap; but they often assume a very interesting form, occurring as insulated masses, which in some cases are perfectly granitic, and at the same time afford every indication of their having been formed contemporaneously with the slate. The most curious geological phenomenon of this parish is to be met with in Relistion Mine, where one of the lodes, (metalliferous veins) at a considerable depth, is composed of rounded pedules, cemented together in a hard solid mass; at first sight it would be pronounced to be a decided conglomerate of derivative origin; but on a more close examination it is found to have the spheroidal structure, which is common to many rocks, and which in regard to this mineral was probably coeval with its original formation.