LUXILIAN, or LUXULIAN.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Luxilian is in the hundred of Powder, and hath to the west St. Roche and St. Anstell, to the north Lanivet, to the east Lanlivery, to the south St. Blasey and Tywardreth.
The right name of this parish is Lan Julian, the church of Saint Julian; but although the church was originally dedicated to him, it has since changed its patron, and belongs to St. Ayre.
It is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at 10l. The patronage in Sir Nicholas Trevanion and Mrs. Carverth, now married to Mr. Cole, the present incumbent, whose father was incumbent before him. This church was valued, if at all in the taxation of Pope Nicholas, together with that of Lanlivery, both being then appropriated to the priory of Tywardreth.
I shall begin with the principal as well as the most westerly estate in it,
THE MANOR OF PRIDEAUX.
This some would derive from a French original, as being pres d’eaux, near the waters; for that the sea formerly flowed up as high as this place, till the stream works choaked up its entrance, any one that views the high cliffs under this place, and those on the opposite side of the valley in Tywardreath, must needs be convinced of. And this leads me to another etymology for it, and as suitable to its situation, from Pir or Prid, clay, and Aus, the same with Als, the cliff or sea-shore.
But be this how it will, Prideaux Castle herein was for several ages (probably before the Norman Conquest) the seat of, and gave name to a family which hath been very eminent both in this county and in Devonshire, and still flourisheth in both. Thomas de Prideaux represented this county in the Parliament 26 Edward I. and Roger de Prideaux was Sheriff of Cornwall 15 Edward III. His father Dominus Thomas Prideaux de Prideaux, was one of those who had in the 25th of Edward I. 20l. per annum or more, in lands or rents in this county, which he held by knight’s service. This family gave for their arms, Party per pale Azure and Gules, three castles Counterchanged; which arms are now quartered by Mr. Prideaux of Padstow, who is descended, as well as all of the name, from younger branches of the family residing here.
THE EDITOR.
There does not seem to be any thing connected with the remaining property of this parish that is important or curious. The chief landholders are the Rashleigh family, and Mrs. Agar, representative of the Robertses.
Mr. Coleman Rashleigh, son of Mr. John Rashleigh of Penquite, a younger brother from Menabilly, has purchased Prideaux, built there an excellent modern house, and restored the place, although in a different style, to its ancient splendour. This gentleman has distinguished himself as one of the most active, most able, and most energetic among those who have supported in Cornwall the theories leading to recent organic change in the system of our representation, and he has been created a Baronet by the Reform administration.
The church is situated on very lofty ground, amidst granite rocks, so universally scattered over the surface, that many houses are built in such a manner as to make one or more of these rocks available in the walls. Yet the soil is good; and Mr. Grylls, the present vicar, has proved that taste and perseverance may create an elegant assemblage of whatever is useful or ornamental in a situation apparently the most unpromising. The tower as well as the church far exceed the average in size and beauty. The tower has a singular addition of a small room at the top; and in this room various records relating to the Stannaries and to the Duchy of Cornwall are said to have been preserved, while the armies on both sides, in the civil war, were ravaging the country, and destroying the towns.
Mr. Tonkin has remarked on the romantic and beautiful vale which descends from Luxilian Church by Prideaux to St. Blazey Bridge, and in explaining the phenomena of lofty and precipitous inland cliffs, he has anticipated the most recent theories of modern geology. See Principles of Geology, by Charles Lyell.
This parish measures 5,041 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 3,768 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 554 | 16 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 875 | in 1811, 1047 | in 1821, 1276 | in 1831, 1288 |
giving an increase of 47 per cent. in thirty years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish stretches north and south across the large patch of granite, which is situated between Bodmin and St. Austell, and also extends over the slate at its northern and southern extremities. The extent of surface covered by the northern slate is more than a square mile; but the southern slate forms only a small triangle north and north-east of St. Blazey Bridge. The northern half of this parish corresponds with the parish of St. Dennis in the nature of its rocks; the southern half with St. Austell and St. Blazey. The most interesting feature of this parish, in a geological point of view, consists of its numerous and extensive stream-works. This part of Cornwall, including the adjoining parishes, has long been celebrated for the fine quality of its stream-tin, which is, as to the greater part, either crystalline, or of the kind denominated wood-tin, on account of its fibrous texture. The gravel containing this stream-tin rests on the rock, or on its untransported debris; above this occurs a regular stratum of decayed trees and plants; in the deepest stream-works these are covered by another bed of gravel containing tin, having also a superincumbent layer of decayed trees and plants: but this second stratum of tin, always less in quantity than the first, is seldom of sufficient value to pay for the labour of separation. Over all occurs a layer of uncertain thickness, composed of the debris of adjacent rocks, and sustaining on its surface a coating of recent vegetable, and forming marshy, arable, or meadow land, according to the accidental situation of the spot.
THE EDITOR.
The greater part of the valleys in Cornwall having been long since streamed, exhibit little else than heaps of unsightly rubbish; instead of displaying, as in other districts, the most pleasing features of a country. The late Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed has, however, proved in the case of a valley at Lelant, that such deformities may be removed, and the meadows restored to their natural beauty, accompanied even by pecuniary advantage to the proprietor. But such improvements are greatly obstructed by an anomalous property called the right of bounds.