MAKER.

HALS.

Maker Vicarage is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the east Plymouth Harbour and St. Nicholas Island, north Millbrook and East Anthony, south and west Rame and St. John’s.

In the Domesday Book 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed in Cornwall by the name of Macret-tone.

In the Inquisition into the value of Cornish Benefices 20 Edward I. 1294, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, Ecclesia de Macre, in decanatu de Estwellshire 100s. Vicar ejusdem 53s. 4d. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it is rated by the name of Meker 23l. 11s. The patronage in Edgcumbe, the incumbent Mitchell, and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax 1696, 143l. 11s.

Part of Maker, and those lands called Mount Edgcumbe, were formerly the lands of Durneford of Devon, of which family, Stephen Durneford was Sheriff of Devon 6 Henry V. 1413, and of Cornwall 7 Henry V. 1419, whose great granddaughter, (the issue male failing) the sole heir of the family, was married to Sir Piers Edgcumbe, Knight, Lord of Cotehele in Cornwall by long inheritance, and of East Stonehouse in Devon, whose ancestor Peter Edgcumbe, Esq. 12 Henry VI. 1443, was certified by the Commissioners to be one of the gentry of the county of Devon. He was the father of Richard Edgcumbe, afterwards knighted, Sheriff of Devon 2d Henry VII. 1487, when John Tremayne was Sheriff of Cornwall; the which Mr. Edgcumbe was a gentleman that hazarded his life and fortune in espousing the Earl of Richmond’s case and title to the Crown in opposition to King Richard III. He then lived at Cotehele aforesaid in Calstock parish; and being

discovered to be one of that faction or party, he was forced to abscond and retire into the thick woods that then were and still are about Cotehele; nevertheless, King Richard, having notice of his absconding, ordered his officers to make diligent search for him, and in all probability had taken him, had he not rescued himself from their pursuit by an unparalleled accident, as Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 114, (page 270, Lord Dunstanville’s edition), informs us, viz. “at such tymes as those searchers were in his woods, and himself hid in a secret hole of the sea cliffe, the tide being full up, he put a small stone into his wearinge cap and threw it into the sea, which swimming in the water the winds and waves tossed it to and fro that it soone came to those seekers’ sight and observation.”

Whereupon they concluded he had leapt into the sea and drowned himself for fear of their discovery and being taken by them, and so left over further quest after him, which gave him opportunity soon after in a small ship to waft over the British Channel to Britany to the Earl of Richmond, with whom afterwards he returned again into England, and was engaged with him in the battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, where King Richard’s army was overthrown and himself slain upon the spot. When soon after the said Mr. Edgcumbe was by King Henry VII. knighted and made one of his Privy Council; and as a further reward of his good services, rewarded with the whole estate and lands of inheritance of Sir Henry Trenoweth, of Bodrigan, Knight, of a very great value, then forfeited by attainder of treason on the part of King Richard III. against King Henry VII.; as also with the Castle and Lordship of Totnes in Devon, with much other lands of John Lord Zouch, then also for the same fact forfeited by attainder of treason against King Henry VII.

This Sir Richard Edgcumbe, Knight, married Tremayne, and had issue Peers, afterwards knighted, that married Durneford’s heir aforesaid, and had issue Richard, afterwards knighted, that married Tregian, of Walveden,

who had issue Peter, that married Margaret, daughter of Sir Andrew Luttrell, Knight, in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, who gave for his arms, Gules, on a bend Ermine between two cottices Or, three boar’s heads couped. Sir Richard Edgcumbe, Knight, Privy Councillor to King Henry VII. as Mr. Carew saith, in the place where he hid himself in Cotehele woods aforesaid, built a chapel to the honour of Almighty God, in testimony of his thankful remembrance of God’s preserving him from the hands of his enemies then at his heels.

Him or his father I take also to be that Edgecumbe which founded at West Conworthy, on the west side of the river Dart, between the towns of Totnes and Dartmouth in Devon, a priory of Benedictine monks, whose revenues out of Zouch’s lands was valued 26 Henry VIII. when dissolved, 63l. 2s. 10d. as the Monasticon Anglicanum informs us.

At which time it was purchased of the Crown by William Harris, Esq. father of Sir Thomas Harris, of Hayne, Knight and Sergeant-at-law, tempore Elizabeth, who made it the place of his residence; but in the third descent it came to be divided between the daughters and heirs of Sir Edward Harris, Knight, the house being now comparatively demolished. Now as from the premises it appears those gentlemen’s estates were greatly augmented by the bounty of King Henry VII. so after a grateful manner they have converted great sums of money towards the service of their prince and country; and to this purpose I find it recorded, that as

Sir Richard Edgcumbe the first was Sheriff of Devon 2d Henry VII. so his son Sir Peers or Peter Edgcumbe aforesaid, was Sheriff of Devon 10th Henry VII. also the 13th; also the 9th of Henry VIII. also the 20th; also Sir Richard Edgcumbe that married Tregian, and built the present house here called Mount Edgcumbe, 36th Henry VIII. also the 1st of Queen Mary; also Peter Edgcumbe his son 9th Elizabeth.

And of Cornwall Sir Peter Edgcumbe 14th and 15th of Henry VII. also 21st; also 8th of Henry VIII. also 26th. Sir Richard Edgcumbe 2d and 3d of Queen Mary, also Peter Edgcumbe 11th of Elizabeth, Richard Edgcumbe 8th James I. in all or total sixteen times Sheriff of Cornwall and Devon, from the year 1487 to the year 1640, which is but 150 years; the like instance of Sheriffs not to be given of any other family in England except the Arundels, of Lanhearne, Trerice, and Tolverne, who have been twenty times.

Richard Edgcumbe, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 8th of King James I. had issue Richard Edgcumbe, Esq. created one of the Knights of the Bath, at the Coronation of King Charles II. He married the Lady Anne Montagu, daughter of the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Sandwich, and had issue Richard Edgcumbe, Esq.

Finally, Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, hath written so large a history of this family, the magnificence of the house, and sweetness of the dwelling, that I refer the reader thereto as not being able to make further addition.

Half of Millbrook in this parish and of Mount Edgcumbe lands, are part of the county of Devon, though severed from it by the Tamerworth sea or harbour ever since King Athelstan, anno Dom. 930, separated Devon from Cornwall, and made them several jurisdictions, which before were but one county or regniculum; and the reason in all probability why several parcels of land, not only here in this place, but in divers others on the east and west side of the Tamer river, the Devonshire side lands are annexed to Cornwall, and the Cornwall side lands to Devon, was in all probability by reason the owners of those lands were possessed of lands both in Devonshire and Cornwall; and it could not in any sense consist with justice that the Cornish men should lose their lands in Devon, or the Devonshire men lose their lands in Cornwall, because those counties were divided by the river Tamar, and both people under the dominion of one king.

This town of Milbrook, as I am informed, amongst others was once privileged with the jurisdiction of sending of two Members to sit in the Lower House of Parliament, but was divested of that privilege propter paupertatem, tempore Henry VIII. for that the town was not able to pay their Burgesses’ salary of 4s. per diem whilst they sat in Parliament; however, Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 101, tells us, that within his memory this town had near forty ships and barks at one time pertaining to the inhabitants thereof, that followed trade, merchandize, and fishing; but upon the breaking out of Queen Elizabeth’s wars with Spain, the townsmen neglected their usual honest employments and took up a more compendious though not so honest way of gaining, and began by little and little to reduce those plain dealers to their former undeserved plight, &c. id est, by piracy and privateering at sea.

In this parish standeth Cremble Passage, the common place of transferring passengers by boat or barge over the rapid and dangerous waves of the Tamerworth Harbour or Sea Haven from the Cornish shore to the Plymouth or Devonshire side or lands, wherein many persons heretofore by the violence of the seas and wind in their passage have lost their lives.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not noticed this parish.

THE EDITOR.

This parish, forming the western boundary of Plymouth harbour, and extending between Hamoaze and the sea, occupies a situation more beautiful than any other on the whole coast.

The church stands on the summit of the ridge, and its lofty tower was long an object of curiosity on account of

the signals displayed on it to indicate the arrival of ships or fleets. From ten to twenty arbitrary signals were made, by means of differently shaped and coloured flags, displayed from a perpendicular staff, and by balls suspended on two others, rising at an inclined angle from the opposite parapets.

The tardy adoption of a method, so simple and universal as that of conveying intelligence through the combination of signals, and of alphabetic writing, may be reckoned among the most curious anomalies of the human mind; when the common mode of what is called talking with the fingers actually does the thing itself, and Polybius, the friend of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, and his companion, at the destruction of Carthage, 145 years before our æra, gives a detailed description of a method by which this object may be attained, and dwells on its immense advantages. He admits indeed that difficulties must be expected in the execution; but adds, “In the present age the sciences are advanced to so great a perfection that almost every thing is capable of being taught by method.” See the General History of Polybius, book 10, extract 7, chapter 2. It was, however, reserved for the French, in their Revolutionary War, to practise this art, and for the first time in the spring of 1794, more than nineteen hundred years after the suggestion by Polybius, and notwithstanding repeated recurrences to nearly the same effect by various writers in modern times.

Mr. Hals states, that in the valuation of Pope Nicholas this parish was assessed, the Rectory at 100s. the Vicarage at 53s. 4d.

In the folio edition of the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliæ et Walliæ, auctoritate Papæ Nicholai IV. printed by command of King George III. 1802, the entries stand thus:

£.s.d.£.s.d.
Taxatio.Decima.
Eccl’a de Sacre5000100
Non ex’ {Vicar ejusdem2134——
Eccl’ia de Rame268——

The bracket may perhaps be wrongly placed, and Maker may be a corruption of the name here used.

Inceworth appears to have been the principal manor in this parish, and belongs to the family of Trefusis; it includes Milbrook, formerly a town of some consequence. Here were till very lately the brewhouses attached to the great naval establishment of this port; they are now removed to The Point on the Devonshire side, where one of the most extensive and most useful works ever constructed for such purposes has been recently completed. Walls have been laid in deep water, by the use of diving bells, so as to allow of the largest ships coming quite in contact with the wharfs, and there receiving, in the course of a few hours, all the supplies of meat, bread, beer, water, &c. that are requisite for their going to sea.

The object however which attracts the attention of strangers from all others in this parish, is the place formerly called Vaultershome, and afterwards West Stonehouse, but which Mr. Edgcumbe, who acquired it by a marriage with the heiress of the family of Durneford, its former possessors, chose to name Mount Edgcumbe, a proceeding now sanctioned by time, as are those of the change from Port Prior to Port Eliot, and some others. It would be useless to describe this most beautiful and superb place, considered by many as altogether the finest gentleman’s seat in the West of England. Nor can it be the least necessary to say any thing here of the distinguished family after whom it is called; who have possessed an hereditary seat in Parliament since the year 1741, and for two descents have been Lord Lieutenants of Cornwall.

By a strange absurdity this south-eastern extremity has been, notwithstanding that the whole river is attached to Cornwall, artificially considered as a part of Devonshire; but this and other similar anomalies are in some degree corrected by modern acts of the legislature, the authority of magistrates for any county having been extended over these insulated portions of another, and the right of voting

for Members of Parliament is brought back to its natural state by the enactments of 1832.

A small town or village, partly in Maker, but extending into Rame, is distinguished by the double appellation of Kingston and Cawsand; the latter name is applied to the bay formed by a recess of the land at this place, a bay capable of containing the largest ships, and esteemed the least dangerous part of Plymouth Sound.

The Harbour of Plymouth consists of three distinct parts, the Sound, entirely exposed to the violence of south and south-western winds, and two inner harbours, Catwater and Hamoaze; the former adapted only for small vessels; and Hamoaze rendered utterly inaccessible in bad weather by a ridge of rocks extending from Drake’s Island to the western shore, thus restricting the only passage to a narrow and winding channel round that Island under the Hoe, and between Mount Edgcumbe and the Point.

To remedy this most essential defect, by making a safe anchorage in the outer harbour, an immense work was commenced in August 1812, which should be called the Artificial Reef, from its close resemblance to a natural reef, and from its having been avowedly planned in imitation of the coral reefs, abounding near all the Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The Plymouth reef consists of a middle part a thousand yards long, and lying directly across the entrance of the Sound, and of two wings bending inwards at a small angle, each 350 yards long, making in all 1700 yards, or very nearly a mile. Advantage having been taken of a shoal, the depth under low water averages about 36 feet, and the height above low water is just 20 feet. The slope towards the sea forms an angle of 22° with the horizon, giving an increase of breadth of nearly two feet and a half for each foot of descent; the slope towards the land forms an angle of 33° with the horizon, and increases one foot and a half for each foot of descent: consequently the increase of breadth on the whole is four feet for one of descent. The whole

mass is composed of stones blown by the force of gunpowder from limestone rocks on the river side, from whence they are rolled at once on board barges, which sail to the spot and drop them into sea.

The whole weight of the reef is estimated at 2,500,000 tons. It may be curious to compare it with the largest building in the world. The Great Pyramid of Egypt measures 687 feet on each of its four sides, and the perpendicular height is 480 feet; these dimensions, supposing the Pyramid to be solid, give a content of 76,500,000 cubic feet, and a weight exceeding 5,500,000 tons, more than double the weight of the reef, and the materials are large blocks hewn into regular forms, transported from a considerable distance by land carriage, then raised into the air, and finally laid with cement in their exact places.

The artificial reef has cost a million of money; the Pyramid must have required an amount of labour represented at present by perhaps twenty times that sum, a building without use or beauty, while the reef has made Plymouth one of the best harbours in the whole world.

Maker measures 1867 statute acres. If the artificial arrangement were attended to, 967 acres must be deducted.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property as returned to Parliament in 1815, including the part returned as in Devonshire under the name of Vaultershome346500
Poor Rate in 1831821160
Population,—
in 1801,in 1811,in 1821,in 1831,
Cornwall1691367817961545
Devon1614156912221092
3305524730182637

The fluctuations in the number of people are evidently caused by the difference of war and peace, in a parish so much blended with the great naval and military establishments of Plymouth.

Present Vicar, the Rev. Daniel Stephens, presented by the Lord Chancellor in 1796.

GEOLOGY.

The geology of Maker is not noticed by Doctor Boase; but it is obviously the same as that of the adjacent parish, Rame, which Doctor Boase says is composed in great measure of red and greenish grey slate, enclosing two and three beds of compact quartzse rock. They are all similar to the formations in St. Anthony, and in the cliffs under Mount Edgcumbe and at Saltash; but whether they belong to the calcareous series or to a more recent one, associated with the fossiliferous limestone of Plymouth, remains to be ascertained.