MORVA.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Morva is situated in the hundred of Penwith, and is bounded to the west by St. Just, to the north by the sea, to the east by Zennor, to the south by Sancred and Maddern. It is a daughter church to Madderne, the vicar of which performs divine service, and preacheth in the morning on the first Sunday in every month. The said vicar hath the small tithes.
Morva signifies Locus Maritimus, a place near the sea, as this parish is. The name is sometimes written Morveth, implying much the same sense.
The chief place, and almost the only one of note in this little parish, is Tregamynyon, that is, the stony dwelling, which was for several generations in the family of Lanyon, and the residence of a younger branch thereof ever since the 30th of Queen Elizabeth; for in Trinity term the 31st year of her reign was a fine passed at Westminster between William Lanyon, gent. and Richard Lanyon, esq. and John Lanyon, gent. of three messuages, ten acres of meadow, sixty acres of pasture, one hundred and fifty acres of furze, one water-mill, &c. in Tregamynyon. Here his posterity flourished in good repute till the reign of Queen Anne, when John Lanyon, of this place, gent. and John Lanyon, jun. his son and heir, joined in the sale of this estate to John Borlase, of Pendeen, esq. who is the present possessor thereof. The said John Lanyon, jun. married to his wife Frances Brydges, sister to James Lord Chandos, and aunt to the Duke of that name, who is since
dead without issue, being well stricken in years when he married, and twice a widower before. John Lanyon, the father, married —— Borlase, of Pendeen. His grandfather was commonly called the Golden Lanyon, as having gotten great riches by tin, which he divided among his numerous issue; but before I quit this place I must relate for the benefit of my readers what Mr. Lanyon, sen. told me respecting the covering of his house, as it may be of great use to persons building in high and exposed places. That not being able to keep his house here in good repair, it being rifled and uncovered by every storm, he at last resolved to plaster it with lime and hair on the lathes within, where the stones are fastened; after which he had not the least stripping of his healing for thirty years. This same thing was tried with the same success by Mr. Hector Trelevant, of St. Agnes; and it is, I verily believe, a certain and cheap prevention of damage.
THE MANOR OF CARVOLGHE, OR CORVAEGHE.
This manor was one of those forfeited by Francis Tregian, esq. (See [Probus]).
It appears by an inquisition taken in the fifth year of King Charles the First, that the manor then belonged to Ezekiel Grosse, of Comborne, gent.
THE EDITOR.
The church of this parish has been recently new built with the assistance of the parliamentary grant. Its situation near the sea adds much probability to Mr. Tonkin’s interpretation of the name. The great tithes are appended to those of Maddern, and belonged to the family of Nichols, now Le Grice.
This parish has to boast of an ancient military work, more curious perhaps than any other in the west of England. It consists of two inclosures nearly circular; the inner 174 feet in diameter, the inner wall 12 feet thick, and
still remaining from 10 to 12 feet high; outside this is a vacant space 30 feet wide, and then the second wall, having a diameter of almost 230 feet, and built like the other, but less solid and not so high. The stones are all laid after the Cyclopian manner, unhewn and without cement; yet, by great labour and repeated trials, so adjusted as to form a close, even, and apparently smooth front. All round the interior surface of the inner wall are traces of rooms resembling in their situation modern casemates, and near it appear the simple remains of an ancient town. A description and plan of this most interesting ruin called Castle Chiowne, or Chioune, contracted into Choon, which is well known to mean the house in a croft, have been given by Doctor Borlase, in his Antiquities, p. 346 of the 2d edition. There is also a description by Mr. Britton in the second volume of the Beauties of England and Wales; and a very accurate plan and section, with a full description, may be found in the Archæologia published in 1829, volume the 22d, p. 300, by William Cotton, esq. M.A.
It is to be hoped that the proprietors of the soil will take care to prevent any further destruction of this most ancient and curious fortress, by effectually prohibiting a practice which has disfigured even Rome itself, that of recklessly removing the materials for domestic purposes.
At about 500 yards to the south-west of the Castle, is a cromleigh noticed by Doctor Borlase, p. 232.
Morva also contains, either in the whole or in part, the most romantic granite hill of the western formation. Carn Galva is entirely covered with blocks of the largest size; and being deep in the granite district, they have escaped that destruction of natural grandeur which inevitably accompany the useful or beautifying improvements effected by the hands of men.
Morva measures 1060 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 775 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 282 | in 1811, 273 | in 1821, 325 | in 1831, 377 |
giving an increase of 33½ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish is entirely situated on granite, which presents the same varieties as the granite of Madron, of which indeed it is a continuation, the granite of both parishes belonging to one and the same mass.