MARHAMCHURCH.

HALS.

Marham Church rectory, called Marwyn Church, Marwon Church, in some old books and manuscripts, is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north Stratton parish, east Bridgerule and the Tamer river, south St. Mary Wick, west Poundstock. For the name, it signifies without doubt the house, home, habitation, or church-dwelling (for so the words Mar and Ham do signify in the British, Armorican, and Scottish tongues); and by the name of Mar-om-cerch it was taxed in the Domesday book 20 William I. 1087, from whence it appears here was a famous endowed rectory church before the Norman Conquest; for vicarage churches, especially in Cornwall, sprung not up till after that time. The first of those appropriations of the advowsons of churches that I find on record in England, is that of William the Conqueror’s, anno Dom. 1070, who by charter granted the patronages or advowsons of the churches of Feversham and Middleton in Kent to the abbey of St. Austin’s in Canterbury, in these words:

“Donatio Domini Regis Willielmi Anglorum de Ecclesiis Feveresham et de Middeltone.

“In nomine sancte et individue Trinitatis, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Ego Willielmus ineffabili Dei providentiâ Rex Anglorum, ex hiis que omnipotens Deus sua gratia mihi largiri est dignatus, quædam concedo ecclesiæ Sancti Augustini Anglorum Apostoli, que sita est in suburbio urbis Cantuarie, pro salute anime mee, et parentum meorum, predecessorum, et successorum hereditario jure.

“Hec sunt Ecclesie et decime duarum mansionum videlicet Faversham et Middeltona, ex omnibus redditibus que mihi redduntur ex hiis mansionibus, et omnibus ibidem

appendentibus, terra, silva, pratis, et aqua, exceptis decima mellis et gabbi-denariorum. Hec omnia ex integro concedo sancto Augustino et Abbati et fratribus, ut habeant, teneant, possideant imperpetuum. Si quis autem huic nostræ donationi contraire presumpserit, anathemati subjacebit.

“Facta est hec Donatio in villa que dicitur Wyndesor anno Incarnationis Domini Millesimo septuagesimo. Testibus, Episcopo Golfrydo de Seynt Loth. et Willielmo Tremle Londoniensi, et Hugone de Port, et aliis ejus quamplurimis optimatibus.”

Which grant was afterwards confirmed by Pope Alexander the Third, and ratified by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury, together with an establishment and ordination of a vicarage by the said archiepiscopal authority in each of the said churches respectively. Afterwards King Edward III. 1349, appropriated to the same Abbey three other church advowsons, viz. Wivelsberge, Stone, and Brockland in Kent, ratified and confirmed by Pope Clement the Fifth’s bull, and by Simon Mepham, then Archbishop of Canterbury, with the establishment of three perpetual vicarages in those churches.

Of these sort of vicarage churches appropriated to Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, Abbots, Colleges, and Priories, there are in England about three thousand eight hundred and forty-five, in Cornwall one hundred and twenty-two; most of them endowed with glebe lands and small tithes, except about fifteen of them wholly impropriate, the vicar subsisting only on a small salary or stipend by custom or subscription.

Wales-bury, i. e. the Wales or Welsh burying, or the place where some Welsh tribe lived and had their burying place or were interred, was another manor or lordship, under which jurisdiction this district was taxed 20 William I. 1087, from whence was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen surnamed de Walesbury, who flourished

here in worshipful degree and great affluence of wealth for many generations till the latter end of the reign of King Edward IV.; at which time, the issue male failing, this estate fell amongst daughters, one of which was married to Trevillian, who was no small advancer of the fame and wealth of that family. Of this family Thomas Walesbury was Sheriff of Cornwall 20 Henry VI. when William Wadham was Sheriff of Devon; Thomas Walesbury, his son, was Sheriff of Cornwall 32 Henry VI. when John Cheyney was Sheriff of Devon; his son John Walesbury was Sheriff of Cornwall 37 Henry VI. when Richard Hals, of Kenedon, was Sheriff of Devon. The arms of Walesbury were, Argent, a fess lozengy Gules.

Lang-ford-hill, in this parish, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Langford; and in particular, Humphrey Langford, Esq. Commissioner for the Peace and Taxes [was] in possession [of Langford Hill] tempore Charles II. and giveth for his arms, in a field —— a lion rampant. The which gentleman aforesaid had issue only daughters, one of which was lately married to her kinsman Walter Langford, of Swadle Downes in Devon, Esq. now in possession of this place.

In this parish liveth Alexander Cottle, Gent. who married Hawkey, his father Cosowarth.

TONKIN.

The name Marhamchurch is only an abbreviation of St. Morewen’s Church from St. Morwen, to whom it is dedicated.

It is a rectory valued in the King’s books at 15l. 11s. having never been appropriated.

Anno 1291, 20th Edward I. this church was valued at 6l. 13s. 4d.

The manor, Marwyn Church.—This is in Domesday

book named Marone Church, and was one of the manors given by William the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton.

In the 3d of Henry IV. Herbert de Pyn held in Marwen Church one knight’s fee.

THE EDITOR.

The church of this parish has the appearance of being very ancient; it contains several monuments to former residents on the principal estates.

Mr. Lysons says, that the manor of Marham Church has been in the families of Pyne, Stafford, and Rolles; from the last it has descended to Trefusis.

That the manor of Walesborough gave name to an ancient family residing there, from whom it went with an heiress to the family of Trevelyan, from whom it was purchased by the late Mr. Justice Buller, and now belongs to his grandson.

Mr. Lysons further states, that the manor of Hilton, also in this parish, was held jointly by the families of Cobham, Carminow, and Botreaux; that it subsequently came into the possession of a Rolle, and now belongs to the Rev. John Kingdon.

Wood-Knowle was formerly the residence of the Rolles, probably of the branch which came possessed of Hilton; it is now the residence of the Rev. Henry Badcock.

The Rev. John Kingdon is Patron of the rectory, and the present incumbent, instituted in 1818.

The whole parish is fertile, variegated by hill and dale, and moreover, notwithstanding its maritime situation, abounds with trees, so that the prospect is every where interesting, and the church, almost inclosed in a grove, presents a very pleasing object.

Marhamchurch measures 2,392 statute acres.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 18152,48500
Poor Rate in 183133930
Population,—
in 1801,
414		in 1811,
448		in 1821,
647		in 1831,
659

giving an increase of 59 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Doctor Boase says of the geology, that the whole rests on massive and schistose varieties of dunstone, a member of the calcareous series, similar to what may be found in the adjoining parishes of Launcells, Bayton, and Kilkhampton.

ST. MARTIN’S, near LOOE.

HALS.

St. Martin’s rectory is situate in the hundred of West, and hath upon the north Morvall by Looe, south and west the British Channel and Looe Haven, east Seaton River and St. Germans.

This parish is denominated from the church thereof, as it is from its tutelar guardian and patron St. Martin, Bishop of Tours in France, which was a famous endowed rectory church before the Norman Conquest, as is testified by the Domesday book in Cornwall 20 William I. 1087, wherein we read, Lant Martin, i. e. Martin’s church, chapel, or temple, now turned to St. Martin.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish Benefices 1294, Ecclesia de Sancto Martino in decanatu de West, was valued 9l. 6s. 8d. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, St. Martin juxta Looe 36l. The patronage in the Duke of Bolton;

the Incumbent Hancock. The Parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax 1696, 178l. 17s. 5d.; East Looe town, within its precincts, 53l. 9s.; in all 222l. 6s. 5d.

Within this parish stands the borough town of East Looe, that is to say, the town that stands on the east side of the River Looe; for as loo, looe, lough, in the old Scots and Irish tongues and the French, signifies a lough, a lake, or pool of water, so it is sometimes used in the same sense in old British. East and West Looe towns, situate in the Looe Haven or harbour thereof, afford opportunities to the inhabitants for foreign and domestic trades and merchandizes to be imported and exported, to their no small advantage. In which town of East Looe there is a chapel or oratory for divine service, wherein the rector of St. Martin’s, or his curate, officiates on Sundays for convenience of its inhabitants. It was of old a privileged manor by prescription, all which was confirmed by a charter from Queen Elizabeth, the 29th year of her reign, whereby it was also incorporated by the name of the Mayor and free Burgesses, consisting of a Mayor and eight chief Burgesses or Council, the two Members of Parliament elected by the majority of them. It is also privileged with administration of justice within the liberties or precincts thereof, as also with a market on Saturday weekly, and fairs on the 2d of February and the 29th of September yearly.

The arms of this town are a gallot (high ship) in the sea, rigged with ropes and yard, bearing three escutcheons, each charged with the arms of De Bodrugan.

The writ to remove an action of law, depending in this Court Leet of East Looe, to a superior; and the precept for election of Members of Parliament from the Sheriff must be thus directed: “Majori et Burgensibus Burgi sui de East Looe, in comitatu Cornubiæ, et eorum cuilibet, salutem.”

The history of Kevorall is by mistake placed under St. Germans, a contiguous parish, only parted by the Lynar or Seaton river, which should be placed here.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing relative to this parish or town, but a long quotation from Browne Willis, wholly uninteresting; and a conjecture that the chapel at Looe is dedicated to St. Kenna, usually pronounced St. Kayne, adding as a confirmation, that her festival is kept on the 30th of September, and that on the eve of that day a fair is established in the town.

THE EDITOR.

It will be unnecesary to enter on any details respecting either St. Martin’s parish or Looe, since every thing curious or interesting may be found in a most excellent work: “Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of East and West Looe, in the County of Cornwall, with an account of the Natural and Artificial Curiosities, and Picturesque Scenery of the Neighbourhood. By Thomas Bond, Esq. London, printed by and for J. Nichols and Son, 25, Parliament Street.”

Since Mr. Bond’s work was published, both Looes have lost the privilege of sending Members to Parliament; and it is said that a spirit of active exertion has already superseded the listless reliance on patronage which used to characterize small borough towns.

A canal has also been constructed to Leskeard, since the time of Mr. Bond’s publication, promising to diffuse cultivation and fertility over districts previously inaccessible to manure; and now at its commencement the canal transports coal, lime, and other bulky commodities, to such an extent as to amply repay the sums expended on its formation.

Another plan of a great work is in agitation, likely to render this beautiful and romantic neighbourhood the resort of strangers from all parts of the kingdom. Cornwall is stretched out into the sea by an interrupted chain of granite hills, extending from Dartmoor to the Land’s End.

The valleys follow a general course on either side, transverse to the granite chain; so that to avoid the perpetual recurrence of steep declivities, the main road has been carried along the middle line, above the formation of the valleys, or, as it is termed, on the backbone of the ridge, over a most uncultivated and dreary tract.

It is now proposed, in consequence of the safe conveyance at all times by steam across the Tamar river from Plymouth, and in humble imitation of the road connecting France and Italy by the maritime Alps, to convey a new line of road along the face of the cliffs, over the debouches of the vallies, and across the Looe and Fowey rivers on lofty bridges, thus to avoid the hills, and to shorten the distance nine miles between Tor Point and St. Austell; but the very large expense may possibly defeat the execution of a plan, which, in addition to the essential advantages already stated, would lead travellers to Falmouth, or to any part of the west of Cornwall, through a district as beautiful, as that which the road now traverses is unsightly and uncouth.

The situation of East Looe is at once singular and pleasing. The two rivers, uniting about half a mile above the bridge, expand into a lake, loch, or low, evidently bestowing its name on the towns, and are then contracted into comparatively a narrow channel by the near approach of two steep hills. A beach has nevertheless been formed on the eastern and least precipitous side, by the meeting of the sea with the descending stream; and on this beach, secured by artificial mounds, and on the slope of the hill, East Looe is built.

Perhaps the only other addition that I can make to Mr. Bond’s work is to state that he himself has been the chief ornament of Looe for many years past, and that his ancestors may be found among the mayors and aldermen of the corporation, up to the period when the charter was given to the town.

Mr. Hals has detailed at great length the history of St. Martin of Tours, the undoubted patron of this parish.

It may be sufficient to state a few particulars of this far-famed personage. He was born in Hungary, of parents elevated in life, and commenced his early career in the Roman army, but afterwards became an ecclesiastic, having obtained celebrity, influence, and power, by adopting the most baneful of all practical heresies, founded on a belief that the favour of the Almighty may be effectually obtained by reversing the order established by his Divine Providence, and bestowing on idleness, profligacy, and vice, the legitimate rewards of industry, frugality, and care; in consequence, he became the favourite of rogues, thieves, vagrants, and impostors, and has continued so in Catholic countries to the present time. A part of his high reputation has however been derived from a more pure source. He supported the orthodox faith against the Arians, who at that period are supposed to have more than numerically divided the Christian Church.

The most absurd and ridiculous legends are related of this Saint by his disciple St. Sulpicius, and by other writers. In one of these it is said that our Saviour himself appeared to him on a cold winter’s night, under the disguise of a half naked wandering beggar; and that Martin, then a soldier, not having any thing else to bestow, divided his cloak with a sword, and gave one portion of it to the supposed mendicant. In another, setting at defiance the precept “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” he allowed himself to be fastened with cords, immediately under the inclining trunk of a tree, as workmen were dividing the roots; but just as the tree was about to fall on him, he signed it with the sign of the cross, when instantly the trunk ascended, and reached the ground in an opposite direction. Raising people from the dead, and resisting personal temptations of the devil, appear to have been frequent and ordinary occurrences. He died at Tours, in the odour of sanctity, in the year 397, having held the bishoprick

26 years. The festival in honour of St. Martin is kept on the 11th of November, but parish feasts are not observed in the eastern parts of Cornwall.

The advowson of this living, appurtenant to the manor of Pendrym, came to the family of Paulet, through the same succession as that which brought Ludgvan Lease, including the high lordship of St. Ives; and a peculiar although well-known relationship having continued to exist between the two properties, the learned Mr. Jonathan Toup was translated from the borough town to this rectory in the year 1751, where he died, Jan. 19, 1785. A monument has been erected to Mr. Toup’s memory by the Delegates of the Oxford Press, and he is there related to have been born in Dec. 1713. Mr. Toup has been mentioned under St. Ives, the place of his birth.

There are other monuments:—to Walter Langdon, of Keveril, stated to be the last of his race; to Philip Maiowe, probably ancestor of John Mayo, or Mayow, M.D. Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and afterwards Physician at Bath[3] ; also to the Rev. Stephen Midhope, sometime Rector of this parish, who died in the year 1636; but this gentleman, hurried away by the whirl of fanatical opinions, growing out of the Reformation, had resigned his living some years before, on professing himself an Anabaptist.

This parish measures 2,719 statute acres.

Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815:£.s.d.
 The parish346900
 East Looe92100
£439000
Poor Rate in 1831:
 The parish231190
 East Looe32550
£55750
Population,—
in 1801,in 1811,in 1821,in 1831,
 The parish,344343411455
 East Looe467608770865
81195111811320
giving an increase
on the parish of32 per cent.} In 30 years.
East Looe42 per cent.
both39 per cent.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish entirely resembles St. Germans, to which it is contiguous.

[3] One of the most eminent chemists and natural philosophers of his age.

ST. MARTIN’S in MENEAGE.

HALS.

St. Martin’s Rectory is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, hath upon the north and east Helford Channel and Constenton, south Manaccan and St. Kevorn, west Mawgan: under what jurisdiction this parish was taxed in the Domesday Book in 1087 I know not. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices in Cornwall, 1294, Ecclesia de Sancti Martini in decanatude Kerryer, was valued at £4. 6s. 8d. At or before the time of Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, it was consolidated into its superior or mother church St. Mawgan, and therefore not mentioned by itself. I take it to have been founded and endowed by the Prior of St. Michael’s Mount, who formerly was patron of both, now Trevillian; the incumbent Trewinard; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, £105. 15s.

Tremayne, that is the town of stone, or the stone town, in this parish, is the dwelling of an old family of

gentlemen, surnamed Thoms or Tomys, Anglice Thomas; so called after the Cornish-British manner, after the font name of some of their ancestors. Of which family was Robert Thomy, who held by the tenure of knight’s service half a knight’s fee at Bliston, in Trigshire, now Blissland, temp. Henry IV. (Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 42). Also one little knight’s fee at Carnanton, in Pedyr, idem liber, page 43. The present posssessor is ——— Thoms, and giveth for his arms, in a field Argent, a chevron between three talbots Sable. From this family, as I am informed, by younger brothers sprang, from their dwellings at Carveth and Carnsew in Mabe, and Roscrow in Gluvias, three families, who were transnominated after the names of those places, from Thoms to Carveth, and Roscrow, and Carnsew, who in testimony thereof ever gave their arms as aforesaid as Thoms did.

Mudgan in this parish, is the corruption of Muchan, as I take it, which signifies a short chimney,[4] with a lovour or chimney-hole through the top of the house for the smoke. From whence was denominated a family of gentlemen, surnamed Mugaun, or Mudgan, whose sole inheritrix was married to Chynoweth, of Chynoweth, in St. Earth, temp. Queen Mary, that is new house, so called from a new house, the first of this name, built in that parish, when he parted with his old lands and name of Trevillizik there, (now Tre-liz-ik) which signifies the water gulf, creek, town, as situate upon the sea banks or cliff, which affords a bad passage over the Hayle river, at low water, for passengers on foot or horseback. The last gentleman of this family, viz. Anthony Chynoweth, that married Trevillian, dying without issue, his brother John Chynoweth’s three daughters, by Lannar, succeeded to his estate and became his heirs; who were married to Banfeild, Dunscomb, and Trelevan, lately in possession of

Mudgan, and other lands of value; which I hear is by them all spent through luxury and ill-conduct.

The arms of Chynoweth are Sable, on a fess Or, three eagle’s heads erased Gules.

TONKIN.

This parish is so called from the famous St. Martin of Tours. It is a daughter church to Mawgan, and valued in the King’s Books at £5. 10s. 8d. where the parish is designated St. Martin alias Dedimus.

The patronage in Trevelyan; the incumbent Mr. William Whiting, who succeeded Mr. James Trewinnard.

THE EDITOR.

This parish presents very little worthy of notice except Tremayne, which gave origin to both branches of the honourable and respected family, which flourished at Sydenham in Devonshire, and at Heligan in this county. The place is situated on the southern bank of Helford river. Mr. Lysons states that it passed with an heiress from the family of Tremayne to Reskymer. It has been frequently sold in recent times.

Mr. Hals mentions a Nunnery at a farm in this parish, called Hellnoweth, which Mr. Lysons says did belong to the Monastery of St. Michael’s Mount; but there is not the slightest trace to be found in any authentic work of a separate establishment having ever existed there; although Mr. Hals is so confident of it, as fancifully to derive the word Meneage from Menales, a supposed appellation of the nuns. All the parishes in the Lizard district, bounded by the Helford River and the Looe Pool, are said to be in Meneage, although no such division is recognised for any civil or ecclesiastical purpose. Under a supposition that this parish might be dedicated to St. Martin, pope and martyr, Mr. Hals has given his history at great length,

which is omitted as being wholly uninteresting, as well as irrelevant, since the parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to Nov. the 11th, the well-known festival of St. Martin of Tours. Some notice is taken of this Pope under Gulval, where he is honoured as the patron Saint. He was not born till about an hundred and fifty years after the death of St. Martin of Tours.

This parish measures 2023 statute acres.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815230600
Poor Rate in 1831193110
Population,—
in 1801,
336		in 1811,
391		in 1821,
504		in 1831,
508

giving an increase of 51 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The south-western corner of this parish near the Dry Tree, (a mark on Goonhilly Downs) is situated on serpentine; the remainder of the parish belongs to the calcareous series, corresponding with Manaccan, and the other parishes immediately bordering on the Helford river.

[4] From mog, or moge, smoke.

ST. MAWGAN in MENEAGE.

HALS.

St. Mawgan rectory is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north Gwendron and Helston, south Cury and St. Martin’s, west Gonwallo. Under what jurisdiction this parish was rated in the Domesday Tax, 1087, I know not, probably under the names of Gwendron, Helleston, Lizard, or Trevery; for the modern names of St. Mawgan, or Maneage, were not then heard of. However,

at the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish Benefices, Ecclesia de Sancti Mawgani in decanatu de Kerryer, is valued £10. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, Ecclesias de St. Maugani in decanatu de Kerrier, £35. 10s. 0½d.; the patronage formerly in the Prior of St. Michael’s Mount, who as I am informed endowed it, now Trevillian; the incumbent Trewinard; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, £148. 8s.

This district of Meneage is a kind of peninsula, formed between the lakes or rivers Looe and Hayle, conjoined at the neck only by a little part of this parish of Mawgan with that of Gwendron and Helleston; from whence further south in length and breadth, the land shooteth in towards the British Ocean, in the several parishes of St. Martin’s, Manaccan, St. Anthony, Kevorne, Ruan Major, Ruan Minor, Landawednack, Grade, Cury, Mullyan, Gonwallo. Which peninsula is further notable for its great fertility between the rocks for corn and grass; for as at St. Kevorne and other parishes, if wheat corn be seasonably tilled and well manured, it will produce commonly in the beginning of July a harvest of twenty bushels Cornish measure, that is to say sixty bushels Winchester to a Cornish acre of land; so in like manner this neck of land, being the most south-west part of this island of Britain, and situate between two seas, will in ten weeks time after the sowing of barley, produce a harvest in many places of much greater increase than that of wheat aforesaid. Moreover, it is also profitable for breeding and feeding bullocks and sheep of all sorts; and particularly Gon-hilly Downs, id est the Hunting Downs, is notable for the breed of an under-statute sort of mares and horses, swift and sure of foot, and of great strength and hardiness for travel and labour. Which Downs consist of many hundred acres of land, all overspread with grey cloos, or a kind of marble stones as aforesaid.

The barton and manor of Carmenow, Car-mynow, Carminou,

in this parish, words of one import, is the rockhill or mountain, a name given and taken from the natural circumstances of the place, viz. lands situate upon the rocks and hills abutting upon the sea-cliff of the British channel, and the Looe creek or cove therof. I know, contrary to this etymology, Mr. Carew tells us that Carminow is a little city, p. 55 Surv. Cornwall. But Caer-Vyan, or Caer-Byan, or Vyan-Caer, is a little city in Cornish; Caer-Broas, Bruse, a great, large, or extensive city. Again, page 142, he tells us that the interpretation of Car-mynow is often-loving; from which contradictory or cross etymology of this compound word aforesaid, it is evident he knew very little of the language of our ancestors the Britons, as his successor Mr. Camden did much less.

This local place gave name and original to an old British family of gentlemen surnamed de Carmynow, now extinct, who flourished there for many generations in great fame and riches; in particular here lived Robert de Carmynow, who held £16 per annum by the tenure of knight service, who was summoned by writ, 48 Henry III. to come and take his degree of knighthood. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 50.) This gentleman, as tradition saith, accompanied King Edward I. in the Holy War in Palestine. He had issue Ralph Carmenow, said to be Chamberlain to King Edward II.; who had issue Ralph Carmenow, Sheriff of Cornwall 2 Richard II. 1379. Betwixt whom and the Lord Richard Scrope, of Bolton Castle, in Richmondshire, Lord Chancellor of England temp. Edward III. (father of William Lord Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire and Lord Treasurer of England 21 Richard II. and Knight of the Garter, beheaded at Bristol for attainder of treason against Henry IV. anno Dom.. 1399,) happened a memorable trial in the Court of Chivalry, or Earl Marshal’s Court, about the bearing on their shields, or coat armour, viz. Azure, a bend Or.

In this action the Lord Scrope was plaintiff, who declared that he was lineally descended from one Scrope, a

French or Norman soldier, that came over into England under the banner and conduct of William the Conqueror, against King Harold, anno Dom. 1066; and that he gave for his arms, (portoit) d’Azur, à la band d’Or; and that his posterity till that instant (1360) ever gave the same arms, and to corroborate this their bearing, they produced a copy of the record thereof in the Earl Marshal’s Court; therefore Mr. Carmenow’s thus assuming and bearing their proper arms, it was contrary to law, and equity, and arms.

To this declaration the defendant pleaded not guilty, and in justification of the bearing aforesaid, said that his ancestors were Cornish Britons; and lived at Carmenow long before the Norman Conquest; and particularly, that one of them was sent by King Edward the Confessor an ambassador, either to the French King or Duke of Normandy; who gave those arms in and for his device, or shield; and that from that time to the time of King Edward III. aforesaid, which was about three hundred years, his posterity had ever given or borne the same arms, without interruption or alteration.

To this the plaintiff rejoined, that there was then no such public record extant in the Office of Arms, or Marshal’s Court, that appropriated any such bearing to this name or family of Carmenow, neither was the Provincial Herald called Clarencieux, for granting arms and recording the descents of private gentlemen for the south-west part of England, instituted but just before this action; and therefore, if the said Ralph Carmenow, or his ancestors, gave those arms, they were only personal badges or devices that terminated with their lives, and could not be hereditary or descend to posterity. And further it was alleged that in case Carmenow’s ancestor lived at Carmenow before the Norman Conquest, those arms could not be appropriated to him by the name of de Carmenow, for it was not the custom of the Britons till about a hundred years after, to style themselves from local places with the Latin pronoun

or particle, De, after the manner of the French. But before were generally distinguished by the names John Mac Richard, Richard Mac Thomas, Robert ap Ralph, &c. that is to say the son of Thomas, Robert, and Ralph, according to their lineal descents.

Whereupon, after a full view and hearing of what could be said and shown on either part, by learned council as to records, manuscripts, deeds and pedigrees, the Earl Marshal, in Westminster Hall, gave judgment for the plaintiff; and the definitive sentence was afterwards made and signed with the public seal of that Court, and read in open audience; and orders given to the Sub-Marshal to put the same in execution; which was, that Carmenow should never more give the arms aforesaid without a label of three points Gules for a distinction; when accordingly the same was first entered of record in Clarencieux, or the Provincial Herald’s books, as the subsequent hereditary coat armour of his family, (and as tradition saith Carmenow paid costs,) which rule was ever after by those gentlemen observed in their bearings.

And though Carmenow’s friends pleased themselves in this distinction of a label, because given by the Emperor of Rome’s son and heir whilst his father was alive; and for that it is the mark or cognizance of the eldest son and heir of a family of the greatest degree; yet it is manifest Carmenow himself was so distasted therewith, that he chose for the motto of this new bearing arms, a Cornish sentence which abundantly expressed his dislike thereof: Cala rag Ger da, id est, a straw for fame, or breath.

William Carmenow, his son and heir, married the sole daughter and heir of Rawleigh, of Smallridge, in Devon, and was Sheriff of that County 14th of Richard II.; he had issue by her Thomas Carmenow, Sheriff of Cornwall 2 Henry VI. He or his son was also Sheriff of Cornwall the 8th of Henry VIII.; who had issue William Carmenow, father of John, whose daughters and heirs were married to Arundell of Lanherne, and Sir John Reskymer, of Reskymer,

Knight. This John Carmenow suffered the barton and manor of Carmenow, with other lands, to go in marriage with his two daughters and heirs, married as aforesaid; whilst the greatest part of his ancient estate, by virtue of the entail, after his decease descended to his younger brother, John Carmenow, of Fentongollan, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 5 Henry VIII.

In this local place of Carmenow those gentlemen had their ancient domestic chapel and burying place, the walls and windows whereof are still to be seen; in which place also formerly stood the tombs and funeral monuments of divers once notable persons of this family; of which sort, in the beginning of King James the First’s reign, when this chapel was left to run to ruin and decay, the inhabitants of this parish of Mawgan, out of respect to the memory of those gentlemen, brought from thence two funeral monuments in human shape, at full length, made of alabaster, freestone, or marble, man and woman I take it, curiously wrought and cross-legged, with two lions couchant under their feet, and deposited or lodged them in this parish church of St. Mawgan, where they are yet to be seen, though the inscriptions and coat armour thereof are now obliterated and defaced by time. Now, though it was the custom to form the funeral monuments of such as had been in the Holy War temp. Richard I. and Edward I. cross-legged, yet I find that posture of monuments for the dead was much more ancient, and placed on the tombs of such as had never been in the Holy War, in memory of the cross whereon our Blessed Saviour suffered for our redemption and salvation. Lastly, it is further observable of this family of Carmenow, that, notwithstanding their great estate, gentility, and antiquity, they never had any higher title of honour or dignity conferred upon them by our English Kings than that of Knights Bachelors, of which sort two or three of them had been knights. This family was possest of five knight’s fees of land temp. Henry IV.;

in Trewint, in Lesnewith, also in Moteland there, also in Hernecoft in Stratton hundred, also in Merthyn and Winenton in Kerrier; by computation four thousand acres of land of this tenure. (See Carew’s Survey of Cornwall.)

Res-ky-mer, in this parish, was the seat of Rogerus de Reskymer, a military man or officer for conduct of the new levies for France, 15 Edward III. (Survey of Cornwall, page 52.)

Richardus de Reskymer, probably his son, was one of those forty-nine Cornish gentlemen that held lands by the tenure of knight service, or grand sergeanty, by attending the King personally in his wars, with a horse and arms furnished according to his degree. See the writ directed to the Sheriff of Cornwall for that purpose, commanding him to attend him in his wars in France, 25 Edward III. (Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 51.) He held by the same tenure above £20 lands per annum.

John Reskymer married Alice, the second daughter and heir of John Densill, Esq. Sergeant-at-Law, about the year 1508, and had issue by her Sir John Reskymer, Knight, that married —— one of the coheirs of John Carmenow, of Carmenow, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 31 Henry VIII.; who had issue by her, as I am informed, John Reskymer, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 3 and 4 of Queen Mary; who married Seyntaubyn, by whom he had issue only four daughters, that became his heirs; married to Trelawney of Poole, Lower of St. Wenow, Vyvyan of Trelowarren, and Courtenay of Trethyrfe; in whose families the name, blood, and estate of those Reskymers are terminated; though now this Reskimer barton is the lands and possessions of Pendarves of Roscrow, as I am informed, and purchased by Mr. Basset, who gave for their arms, in allusion to part of their name, in a field Azure three bars Argent, in chief a wolf or wild dog passant of the First.

Tre-lo-warren, alias Talla-warren. In this place, as appears from Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, page 42,

3 Henry IV. one Mathew de Trethake held by tenure of knight service half a knight’s fee of land, from whose heir I suppose it came by purchase or marriage to Ferrers; but whether those gentlemen were descended from the Ferrers of Tutbury Castle, in Staffordshire, whose ancestor came out of France, a collateral under William the Conqueror, 1066, (who gave for his arms, sex ferres de cheval de Sable,) or from the Ferrers of Newton Ferrers, in the county of Devon, (who gave for their arms, Argent, a bend Gules, and a chief Vert,) I know not. However, there is yet extant, in the stone wall of the tower of St. Mawgan, cut in chief in the same, the 1st the arms of Carmenow, 2d of Reskymer, 3d Ferrers, 4th Vyvyan; by which arms this family may be distinguished.

Originally the Vyvyans were possessed of Trevederne in Buryan, as they still are; and from thence matched with the daughter and heir of Skyburiow, afterwards with the daughter and heir of Ferrers of Trelowarren; which first brought those lands into the possession of Vyvyan; particularly as I am informed Richard Vyvyan, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 9 Henry VII. 1494; Richard Vyvyan, Esq. his son, was Sheriff of Cornwall 20 Henry VIII; Michael Vyvyan, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 22 of Henry VIII.; Hanniball Vyvyan, Esq. was Sheriff of Cornwall 43 of Elizabeth; whose son, Frances Vyvyan, Esq. afterwards knighted, was Sheriff of Cornwall 15 James I. who built the house now extant at Trelowarren, and married one of the coheirs of Vyell, of Trevorder. His son, Richard Vyvyan, Esq. afterwards, 12 February 1644, by King Charles I. was created the 384th Baronet of England, married Bulteel, and had issue by her Sir Vyell Vyvyan, Baronet, afterwards knighted by King Charles II.; who married Thomasin, daughter and heir of James Robins, of Penryn, Gent. Attorney-at-Law, who died without issue; afterwards he married Jane, daughter of Thomas Melhuish, of Penryn, Gent. the relict of Michael Cood, but

died without issue that lived. Note that the name Melhuish is local, viz. from the barton or tenement of Melhuish, near Kirton in Devon, which signifies a lark-bird, or larks, as alauda.

After Sir Vyell Vyvyan’s decease, his nephew Sir Richard Vyvyan, Baronet, that succeeded to his estate and honour, son and heir of Charles Vyvyan, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, (younger brother of Sir Vyell aforesaid) by Erisey, married Mary, daughter and heir of Francis Vivian, of Cosowarth, Esq. by Anne, daughter and heir of Henry Mynors, of St. Enedor, Gent. by Bridget, the only surviving child of Sir Samuel Cosowarth, Knight, and sole heir to her brother Nicholas Cosowarth, Esq. that died without issue temp. Charles II. By the which Mary Vyvian, his lady, Sir Richard is now in possession of Cosowarth and Vivian’s lands.

Sir Richard Vyvyan, Bart. first mentioned, had also issue by Bulteel five daughters, married to Robinson, Trewren, &c.

The arms of this family are in a field Argent, a lion rampant Gules.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing of the least consequence different from Mr. Hals.

THE EDITOR.

It is curious that this parish should have afforded residences to three families so distinguished as Carminow, Reskymer, and Vyvyan. The two first have been long extinct; Vyvyan still continues one of the first in Cornwall.

Sir Richard Vyvyan, mentioned by Mr. Hals, adhered to what was thought by many in those days to be the good old cause of the Cavaliers and the Restoration of Charles the Second; and in consequence King George the First

and his ministry, excusing themselves perhaps by the authority,

Res dura, et regni novitas me talia cogunt Moliri,

not only removed all their suspected opponents from the commission of the peace, and from places of trust, but committed several to prison. Among others Sir Richard Vyvyan, who was seized in his house at Trelowarren, conveyed by water to Pendennis Castle, and removed from thence to the Tower.

A story is related of a king’s messenger having been detained at an inn called Hallworthy, east of Camelford, while an adherent reached Trelowarren, and enabled Sir Richard Vyvyan to destroy many documents, which might have proved his being adverse, as well as many other Cornish gentlemen, to the new government.

As the persons then in power failed of being able to prove any overt acts taken against themselves, they were obliged to discharge this gentleman out of custody; but not till he had a daughter, Ann Vyvyan, born in the Tower, whom the Editor well remembers; and Sir Richard Vyvyan was, as a matter of course, chosen one of the representatives for the county at the next election, which situation he had however held in some former Parliaments.

He married Mary, only daughter and heir of Vyvyan of Cosowarth, in the parish of Little Colan, and left a numerous family.

His eldest son, Vyel Vyvyan, married Mary, daughter and heiress of the Rev. Carew Hoblyn, and left two sons, Richard, who married Jane, daughter of Christopher Hawkins, Esq. of Trewinnard, and of Mary, coheiress of the Hawkinses of Penzance:—they had not any family; and Carew the second son, a clergyman, never married.

Richard, the second son of Sir Richard Vyvyan, married the heiress of the family of Piper, and settled at their seat called Modford, almost in the town of Launceston.

Their eldest son Philip, married Mary, the daughter and heiress of Sheldon Walter, Esq. and through her mother heiress of the Medlands, of Tremail, in South Petherwin. Their son, Vyel, succeeded to the family estate, and having married Mary, daughter of Thomas Hutton Rawlinson, of Lancaster, Esq. has been succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, of whom it may be sufficient to say, that, having been very early in life elected member for the county of Cornwall, he so distinguished himself in Parliament as to receive an invitation from all the leading gentlemen of Bristol, to represent their city, when a difference of political opinion severed him from the constituent body of Cornwall, and that he has twice obtained the honour of being elected Member for the second city in England.

Trelowarren alone remains of the seats in this parish, and it amply compensates for the disappearance of the others. No place in the county, excepting perhaps Penhale in Egloskerry, comes into comparison with Trelowarren, as a gentleman’s residence in the style of former times. The house is believed to be more ancient than the time assigned to it by Mr. Hals, and that Mr. Francis Vyvyan only repaired and possibly enlarged a building at the least as old as the possession of the Ferrers. Sir Richard Vyvyan almost entirely reconstructed the interior of the house, soon after the year 1750, and great improvements have been made by the present proprietor, and by his father. Doctor Borlase has given a view of the house, page 86 of his Natural History.

The manor of Carminow continued long in the family of Arundell: it is now by purchase the property of the Rev. John Rogers.

A detailed account of the curious trial before the judges of the Court of Chivalry, and ultimately before the King himself in person, relative to the arms borne by the Carminows, has been given in “Anecdotes of heraldry,” published by a lady about thirty years since. The decision of the

King is there stated to be, that each claimant should bear the arms without differences. The motto given by Mr. Hals is literally in Cornish, Cala rag ger da, a straw for a good word.

Mr. Lysons, quoting from “The Scrope and Grosvenor Roll,” another controversy on the same armorial coat, (and which has been recently published by Sir Harris Nicolas) notices that testimony was adduced on behalf of the Carminows, tracing the use of their arms back to the reign of our renowned King Arthur! To such evidence on armorial bearings, as Lysons justly remarks, little credit is due.

The church is large, and contains some ancient monuments, believed to be of the Carminow family, with shields and other decorations.

The advowson of the living belongs to the Trevelyans, of Nettlecombe, in Somersetshire, and one of that family is the incumbent.

The patron saint is St. Martin of Tours; and the parish feast is kept on the nearest Sunday to November the 11th, St. Martin’s day in the Roman Calendar.

This parish measures 2023 statute acres.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815230600
Poor Rate in 1831193110
Population,—
in 1801,
363		in 1811,
391		in 1821,
504		in 1831,
508

giving an increase of 40 per cent. in 30 years.

The present rector is the Rev. Horatio Mann, instituted in 1816, on the presentation of Sir M. Blakiston, Bart.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The south-western corner of this parish, near the Dry Tree, is situated on the serpentine of Goonhilly Downs. The remainder of the parish belongs to the calcareous series, and corresponds with Manaccan and the other parishes immediately bordering on the southern banks of the Helford river.