LEZANT.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lezant is in the hundred of East, and hath to the west Lewannick and Linkinhorne, to the north South Pederwin and Lawhitton, to the east the river Tamar, to the south Stoke Climsland.
Lezant is an abbreviation of Lansant, the Holy Church, and so it is written in the Taxatio Beneficiorum; so called, perhaps, as being dedicated to All the Saints: so that Lezant may signify the same as All Hallows.
It is a rectory, valued in the King’s Books at £32. The patron is the Bishop of Exeter. The incumbent is the Rev. Mr. John Grant, Rector likewise of Ruan Lanyhorne, Canon of Exeter, and son-in-law to the present Bishop, Dr. Stephen Weston.
The first place of note that offers itself in this parish, is the manor of Trecarell, which gave name to an eminent family, seated here (as it is said) before the Norman Conquest, who gave for their arms, Ermine, two chevrons Sable.
Next, Landew, the black inclosure; aptly enough (in my opinion) so called, as being under a dismal hill.
This place was for several descents the seat of a younger branch of the family of Trefusis: the last of which, Nicholas Trefusis, of this place, was chosen Knight for this county in Parliament, to succeed Sir Bevil Granville, as Mr. Hugh Boscawen, of Tregothnan, was to succeed Sir Alexander Carew; both which knights fell for the King’s cause in 1643 and 1644, the first by the sword, at the battle of Lansdowne, the other by the axe, on Tower Hill. The said Nicholas Trefusis had by his wife two daughters
and coheirs: Mary, married in her father’s lifetime to Edward Herle, of Prideaux, Esq. and Catherine, married after his death to Richard Kelliow, Esq.
Mr. Trefusis, by his will, bearing date August 13, 1647, settled (inter alia) this barton, with its appurtenances, called his barton and demesnes of Landew and Dinham’s land, with the Almes Pool Meadow, and Greston Moor, on the said Mr. Herle and Mary his wife, and their heirs for ever.
Mr. Herle settled in this place his eldest son, who new-built the house here, but did not live to finish it, for he died in his father’s lifetime, leaving by his wife two sons, Edward and Nicholas, and several daughters.
Edward Herle, Esq. seated himself and family here, was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 12th year of Ann, 1713; and was a Member in the last Parliament for the town of Launceston. A gentleman of bright parts, a lovely aspect, and admired and esteemed by all that had the happiness to know him,—I may say by all that ever heard of his name and character; but being miserably tormented by the gout, so as to be a perfect cripple with it, he died in the best of his time, at this place; leaving by his wife, the daughter of —— Northmore, of Oakhampton, in Devon, Esq. Northmore Herle, Esq. who is now about twenty years of age. His mother is since married again to Charles Kendall, M.D. second son to Archdeacon Kendall, of Killigarth, who has left her a widow, for the second time, with five daughters.
Since the above was written, Northmore Herle, Esq. has died at Oxford, unmarried, in May 1737, in the 22d year of his age.
THE EDITOR.
This parish seems to be inserted among others belonging to the hundred of East, in the valuation of Pope Nicholas, under the name Ecclesia de Sacre, and valued at £5.
Trecarrell, but slightly noticed by Mr. Tonkin, appears
to have been a place of considerable consequence. The last of the original family bearing the same name, was living there in the year 1540, when, having lost his only son, Sir Henry Trecarrell built the beautiful church at Launceston. On this gentleman’s decease, the property became divided among his three daughters; but at the period of the Civil Wars Trecarrell had passed into other hands, and Mr. Maneton, then proprietor, entertained King Charles the First, on the 1st day of August 1644, previously to his proceeding to Leskeard, and from thence to the surrender of the army commanded by Lord Essex. Mr. Maneton died in 1654, since which time it has ceased to be a mansion. The property is now vested in Sir Thomas Acland, and Mr. Geake who resides on the place, where some portions of the ancient building are still to be seen, especially the remains of a hall, and of a chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen.
Landew also bestowed a name on its ancient proprietors, or received it from them; two of whom occur in the list of Members returned to Parliament for Launceston.
Mr. Tonkin has mentioned the early death of Mr. Northmore Herle: this gentleman devised Landew to one of his half-sisters, daughter of Dr. Kendall, from whom it descended to the late Mr. Humphry Lawrence, of Launceston, who sold it to Mr. William Bant. But the place has been sold again, and is now the residence of John Thomas Phillipps, Esq. representative, with Mr. Carpenter of Mount Tavy, of the Phillippses of Newport and Camelford.
Landew had formerly a chapel dedicated to St. Bridget; and there was a third in the parish, dedicated to St. Lawrence.
Carthamartha, a part of the great manor of Lawhitton, leased by Bishop Lavington to his daughter, is the occasional residence of Mr. John Gould, a place beautifully situated on the banks of the Tamar river, the most romantic of all the mountain torrents in the West of England.
The church and tower are of granite; and in it are several
monuments to the eminent possessors of Trecarrell and of Landew.
There is also one to the Rev. Charles Mayson, D.D. late Rector of Lezant, and who is stated to have succeeded his father, the Rev. Peter Mayson, in 1784, and to have died here in 1815.
Lezant measures 4357 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 3303 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 613 | 19 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 610 | in 1811, 671 | in 1821, 853 | in 1831, 841 |
giving an increase of 38 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. John Bull, D.D. Canon of Christ Church.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
Dr. Boase says of the geology of this parish, that the rocks and the substrata belong entirely to the calcareous series, and resemble those of Lawhitton.