PERRAN ZABULOE, commonly PERRANSAND, or PERRAN IN THE SANDS.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN AND WHITAKER.
St. Piran lies in the hundred of Pider, and hath to the west St. Agnes, to the north a very troublesome neighbour,
the tempestuous ocean, to the east St. Cuthbert and St. Newlin, to the south St. Allen and Kenwin; and is so named from that famous Irish saint, to whose sanctity, saith Mr. Camden, a silly childish writer has attributed the finding provision for ten Irish kings and their armes, for eight days together, with no more than three cows, as also bringing to life dead hogs and dead men. It seems those kings were not very grateful to him, for he was forced (as the same tradition saith) to swim over from Ireland hither on a millstone. And saith Mr. Carew (fol. 58), if my author, the legend, lie not, after that (like another Johannes de Temporibus) he had lived two hundred and six years with perfect health, [he] took his last rest in a Cornish parish, (viz. this) which therethrough he endowed with his name. He is also looked upon as the patron of the Tinners, who keep his feast on the 5th of March, and tell twenty idle stories of him, much derogating from his sanctity. Note, that on that day, 5th of March, there is a fair held near the church, the profit of which belongs to the parish.
This church is a vicarage, and valued, together with St. Agnes, in the King’s Book, £24. 9s. 0d. The patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter: the sheaf held by lease of the said Dean and Chapter, by Thomas Tonkin, the writer hereof; the incumbent Mr. John Petvin.
All the lands in this parish, except the manor of Penhall and Halwyn, are either part of or held from the manors of Tywarnhaile and Tywarnhaile Tiers. I shall, therefore, first treat of these two manors, and then of the other most memorable places, &c.
The manor of Tywarnhaile is so called from the situation of the once principal place in it, and signifies a house on a river of salt water, it being seated on the west side of Piran Bay, on a small river to which the tide cometh every day.
This, and the manor of Tywarnhaile Tiers, were originally but one manor; and the toll of tin is still amain between them, though all the lands are divided, and the
toll of all other metals goes with the lands and owners of the several divisions; but the royalty is amain, and they both hold courts cum visu franci plegii, &c.
THE MANOR OF TYWARNHAILE TIERS.
Sir Henry le Tyes, Lord Tyes, or (as Mr. Camden calls him) de Tiers, was lord of the manor.
Not far from Tywarnhaile house is a small island, upon which are the ruins of a chapel, called Chapel Angarder.
The manor of Penwortha, alias Penwartha, I take to signify the higher head or hill, according to its situation in regard to the places adjacent.
The ancient lords of this manor were the Pentires of Pentire in Minvor, and of Pentewan in Mevagissey; the last of whom, Philip Pentire, esq. left one daughter and heir, Jane, married to Thomas Roscarrock, esq. which Jane died possessed of this manor, 5 Jac. I. 1607 (rent of Tywarnhaile-Tiers, penes me Thomas Tonkin). In Penwortha village is an old chapel still standing, but profaned. This manor is held from that of Tywarnhaile-Tiers, at £1. 2s. rent yearly.
—— Roscarrock, esq. sold this manor in 16 Car. I. to Sir Francis Vyvyan of Trelowarren, knt. in whose posterity it still continueth, Sir Francis Vyvyan, bart. being the present lord thereof.
There have been small parcels of tin discovered in the north-west parts of this manor, as also a vein of lead some few years since, between the village of Penwortha and Lambrigan; but neither have turned to any account.
Lambourne-Wigan, vulgo Lambrigan, is adjoining to Penwortha, and commonly called by abbreviation Lambrigan. The meaning of Lambourn is Lam or Lan, an inclosure, and Wigan, the same as Vycan, Vean, little; the little Lambourn, to distinguish it from the other. This estate is likewise held from the manor of Tywarnhaile-Tyes, and has passed through the same hands as the manor
of Penwortha, for two-thirds of it, of which Sir Francis Vyvyan is now lord.
The other third, commonly called the Lower Town, one Bartholomew de Trewenethick (Trenethick in St. Agnes) did possess one half of, in the 21st of Richard II.; which, together with Trevanythick, &c. he settled on Joan, his daughter and heir, and John Hayme: which, by their grand-daughter and heir, came to Luke Beauchamp of Chyton, and was, I suppose, sold by Peter Beauchamp, to the ancestor of Francis Gregor of Trewarthenick, who now possesseth it.
The other sixth, or half of the said third, came through several hands, which I have not been able to get a true account of, to one Thomas Carter, of Dartmouth in Devon, and he sold it 22 Car. I. to John Tregea of St. Agnes, who haxing acquired a pretty estate by tin, and taken a lease of Vyvyan’s two thirds, and Gregor’s sixth, settled himself here, and began to build upon it; but, dying soon after, he left it to finish to his son, Captain William Tregea; who having married Mary, the daughter of Richard Cross of Bromfield, in Somerset, esq. by whom he had no surviving issue, he soon after her death run out a handsome estate, partly left him by his father, and partly of his own acquiring; and in 1694 sold his right in this barton to Michael Tonkin of Penwenick, gent.; after which he went into the army, and was some time a captain in the late Lord Mohun’s regiment. He died in London or near it in 1730, and gave for his arms, Azure, three boar’s heads couped Argent. Michael Tonkin parted with it again in 1702, to the writer hereof, who had settled himself here on his marriage in 1699, where he lived during his father’s life, being as pleasant a seat as any in those parts, especially for all country exercises of hunting, fishing, and fowling, the fine downs round it, and the moors under, abounding in game.
THE MANOR OF LAMBOURN.
To the east of Lambrigan and contiguous, is Lambourn, which gives name to this lordship, and which is held partly from Tywarnhaile, and partly from Tywarnhaile Tyes. I take the name to be a softening of Lan Bron, the hill inclosure, and so it is written in old deeds, and the situation agrees with it.
This was the seat, and gave name to a considerable and knightly family. Sir John de Lambron, temp. Hen. III. (Exeter Reg.) gave Caerkief, in this parish, to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, and they still enjoy it. John de Lambron (Carew, fol. 51) was one of the men ad arma, 17 Edw. II. Sir John de Lambron, (idem, fol. 52) I suppose his son, was one of those who had £20 lands of rents or more, in the county of Cornwall, 25 Edw. III. (as the former John is certified to have had £40); and was summoned to attend the King at London, the next Sunday after the Octave of St. John the Baptist, and to go with him in the parts beyond sea. The next that I meet with, and the last of his family, was William Lamborn (Heralds’ Office) who had only one daughter and heir, married temp. Henry V. to Sir John Arundell of Lanhearne, and called Amara, who brought the whole estate into that family. Their arms were, Argent, a fess between two chevrons Sable.
Sir John Arundell gave this manor, inter alia, to their third son Sir Renfry Arundell; who, by Joan the daughter and heir of Sir John Colshull, knight, (killed at the battle of Agincourt, Oct. 25, 1415,) had one son, Renfry, and one daughter, Elizabeth, married: 1. to William Whittington, esq.; 2. to Edmund Stradling, esq. Renfry Arundell had only one son, Sir Edmund Arundell, knight, who died without issue, leaving his aunt Elizabeth his heir; who, by her second husband Edmund Stradling, had only one daughter, Ann, married to Sir John Danvers, knight. Between whom, and her eldest son (by her first
husband) John Whittington, esq. she divided her large estate, no less than thirteen good manors of land.
This manor, by this division, falling into two hands, the mansion house fell by degrees into decay, the stones of it were employed to build several mean houses for tenants (for it is now a village), and nothing remains but the chapel dedicated to St. Edmund, now too turned to a dwelling, and part of the wall of the chapel yard, now a garden, but formerly a burying place. There was likewise in it lately a font. From all which I gather, it was a place of public worship, perhaps sometimes served by the vicar (on account of the said donation of Caerkief), by reason of its great distance from the church, being at least three miles. [Caerkief was probably given by the Lambrons, for leave to erect this chapel, which appears to have been a chapel of ease to the parish church, but was erected for the use of the Lambrons, their servants, and their tenants.] Thomas Whittington, esq. grandson of William Whittington, and Elizabeth Arundell, died 38 Henry VIII. (Dugdale’s Warwickshire, page 619), leaving six daughters and coheiresses, whereof Blanche, the youngest, became the wife of John St. Aubin of Clewance, esq.; and some of them, though all married, dying without issue, her posterity became intituled to one fifth and one sixtieth of all the Cornish lands; and this part of this manor is in the possession of Sir John St. Aubyn, bart. The remaining part of Whittington’s moiety, was sold by the other coheirs to —— Davy of St. Cuthbert, gent. whose posterity enjoyed it till the latter end of the reign of Charles II. when Davy sold his part to Humphry Borlace, esq., and this went with a great part of his estate (as you may see in Newlin) to Sir William Scawen, knight, whose nephew, Thomas Scawen, is now lord thereof.
Danvers his moiety continued in his family till Queen Elizabeth’s time, when Sir John Danvers of Dantesey in Wiltshire, knight, dismembered and sold it in several parcels:—viz. 18 Elizabeth, 1577, one half of a tenement
(in which is St. Edmund’s chapel, and computed at one sixth of the whole township of Lambourn,) to John Trevellans, alias Nicholas, alias Williams; whose son, Nicholas Williams, alias Trevellans, sold it, 13 Jac. I. to James Jenkyn Trekynin, gent. from whose heirs it is come at last to Thomas Oats, and the writer thereof. Another part of a tenement, being one fourth of the town of Lambourne, [was sold by Sir John Danvers] much about the same time to —— Oats, whose son John Oats sold it to the ancestor of Francis Gregor of Trewarthenick, esq. who now enjoys it; and the remaining one twelfth part (which maketh up his half of the said town), together with all his claim to the one half of the lordship of Lambourne, and its appurtenances, (Aut penes Authorem) to Edward Arundell of Lanherne, esq. (being a younger brother of that family) 19 Elizabeth, 1577-8, whose son, Thomas Arundell of St. Columb Major, esq. settled the same, inter alia, 24 Car. I. 1648, on Richard Bluet, gent. a younger son of Colan Bluet, of Little Colan, esq. on the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth, to the said Richard Bluet; which said Richard Bluet, and Elizabeth his wife, sold the said part to John Cordall, Jan. the 1st, 1650; and Ralph, the son of the said John Cordall, and John his son, joined in a sale to the writer hereof, of the said premises, July 1, 1701: so that the present lords of the township of Lambourn, are Sir John St. Aubin, and Thomas Scawen, esq., Francis Gregor, one fourth, Thomas Tonkin, esq. one sixth, and Thomas Oats, one eighteenth. Where note that the said Thomas Oats, a wealthy farmer in the said village, (great-grandson to John Oats, who owned one fourth, now Mr. Gregor’s,) I have reason to think (Aut. penes Authorem, at orig. pen. Thomas Oats) descended from Otho Trefusis, who released his right in villa de Trelisick (in St. Earth) to John Cornwall, 7 Junii, 28 Henry VI.; from which Otho or Oats his posterity took the name of Oats, as was then very common to do; and have, therefore, in my map of the hundred of Pider, set the arms of Trefusis (which I think he may lawfully give) over his name.
The said Richard Bluet and Elizabeth his wife, soon after, viz. 30 Maii, 1650, sold the half of this manor, and what remained indisposed of, which was only one half of Millinoweth, alias Vellonnoweth [the New Mill], and Nampetha, with Goynlase in St. Agnes, and a small part in Fenton Vease [the outward well] and Collrun in this parish, with a few high rents, unto Walter Vincent of Trigowethan, esq.; which, as the rest of the Vincent’s estates, is gone (as you may see in Mevagissey) to John Knight, who, Sir John St. Aubin, and Thomas Scawen, esq. are the present lords of this manor.
In the commons belonging to the town of Lambourn, is a Barrow, called Creeg Mear, the Great Burrow, which one Christopher Michell digging into some years since, whilst I lived at Lambrigan, in hopes to find stones for an adjoining hedge of his, came to an hollow place (as usual in such), and found nine urns full of ashes; which, being disappointed of what he sought for, for the barrow was all of earth, except three or four rough stones which formed the hollow, he brutally broke immediately to pieces; and when I expostulated with him about it, and told him I would have paid him his charges, his reply was, that whenever he met with any more, he would bring them to me, but these were a parcel of old pitchers good for nothing. That these were Danish, I believe there is no doubt. [They were British, as appears at once, from the Kist Vaen discovered within, and from the hinted badness of the pottery.] But they were, I suppose, the ashes of some chief commanders slain in battle, (for which the place is very fit, it being a large open down) from the great number of them. [One barrow cannot mark a battle.] And on a small hill just under this barrow, [and, as under the barrow, bearing probably no relation to it,] is a Danish encampment, called Castle Caer Dane, vulgo Castle Caer Don, i. e. the Danes’ Camp, consisting of three intrenchments finished, and another begun with an intent to surround the inner three, but not completed; the whole containing
about —— acres. And opposite to this, about a bowshot, the river only running between, on another hill, is another camp or castle, called Castle Kaerkief, castrum simile, from Kyfel, similis, alike, alluding to Castle Caerdane. But this is but just begun, and not finished in any part; from whence I guess, that there were too different parties, of which the first attacked the other, before they could finish their intrenchments: or perhaps these attacked the first, having only thrown up a few intrenchments for the present, on which a battle ensuing, these were the ashes of the chief men that fell in it. And this being called Creeg Mear, the Great Barrow, seems to carry a more special regard with it. This Castle Caerkief is on the estate which the forementioned Sir John de Lambron gave to the church at Exeter, and no doubt had its name from this fortification.
[These opposed camps have no other pretence to a Danish origin, than what a Cornish critic should be ashamed to own, the mere coincidence in sound of Din or Dines with Danish. This is the sole foundation for all the Danish camps, with which the antiquarian oscitancy of Cornwall has replenished the county. All built upon hills, they naturally take the name of Din, Dinas, or Don, in Cornish, to denote their site; and while the common people, unseduced by the surmises of literature, still retain the name in its original purity, the scholars come forward and mould it to their own follies. We see this very livelily in the name of the former of these two camps, which the common people call Caer Don, but the critic writes it Caer Dane, and then interprets into the Danes’ camp, but it signifies only the hill fortress. Opposed to this, on another hill, and beyond a rivulet, is another camp, which is called Caerkief, the companion or mate of the other. Kyfel, says Mr. Tonkin, signifying similar or like in Cornish, Kyvedk (C.) being a fellow, or colleague, Kyvadhas (C.) a companion, and Kuf (C.) a wife, Cyfaill, Cyfailt (W.) a friend, a companion, and Cyfalle, (W.) a husband or wife, a partner,
a fit match. The very opposition of the camps is thus denoted in the name. But then Caer Don is considered as the principal, and Caer Kief has its appellation from its relation to that. They are a British and a Roman camp. The Roman appears from the smallness, lying “on a small hill,” from the finished state of its intrenchments, from its having no less than three, and from its having even a fourth begun, to encircle all. These marks of military attention and of patient industry, all unite to point it out decisively for a Roman one. Nor has the other a signature less lively of its British origin; it is “but just begun, and not finished in any part.” The Romans, probably seeing the Britons begin to fortify their ground, desisted from their fourth work, marched out of their own camp, and attacked the Britons in theirs, before they could form it; and in this view of the camps, the barrow, which is over the Roman, and not between it and the British, could have no reference to either, and was only the tomb of some family residing in the vale below. Whitaker.]
Next to Lambourne, and within the manor, which extends itself over several parishes, (Treluddro in Newlyn being held from it) is a great village called Callestock Veor, or the Great Callestock, to distinguish it from another in this parish, which is by interpretation hard broad oak, (though stock properly signifies the stem or stock of a tree,) which formerly grew here in great abundance, though there are now but few remaining. Here lately lived a younger branch of the Tebbots, vulgo Tippets, of St. Wen; the last of which, John Tippet, had an estate of £100 per annum, partly fee, partly lease, which he chiefly spent in law, and was in his old age, more than 90, maintained by the parish: he died about 1712. As likewise, as appears by the confirmed rate 1612, one Mr. Torr; but I can at present say no more of him for want of better information.
There are in the commons of this village some remaining intrenchments, but not worthy of notice. But at a place, also within this manor, about three quarters of a mile from it,
called Tresawsen, alias Bosawsen, i. e. the English town or dwelling, on the top of the hill to the south of the village, is a double Danish intrenchment, of which the outer one has been almost filled up by often ploughing, but the inner one is very entire, and they both contain about an acre of land. It hath no particular name that I know of, but is within sight of Castle Caer Dane, from which it is distant about two miles. And from this you see another in St. Allen, about the same distance from this; vide St. Allen. [Tresawen, alias Bosawsen, from Tre and Boss (C.) a house, and Saisson, Saxon, or English, is evidently from its name, not Danish, but Saxon. It is a Saxon fort, constructed on the reduction of the West of Cornwall by Athelstan, and maintained as a bridle and a curb upon the natives; and it seems to mark the advance of the Saxon arms from Camelford, where Egbert gained his great victory over the Cornish, to St. Burien’s, from which Athelstan probably embarked for, and at which he certainly landed on his return from reducing the Scilly Isles.]
Having taken notice of the most remarkable things in this manor (for I have spoken of the three barrows and four barrows in Kenwin, only I forgot to mention, that in the middle of Callestock stood a chapel, of which the very ruins are now scarce visible; and that in Caerkief, near the highway to Mitchell, is a fair arched well called Fenton Berran, i. e. St. Piran’s Well,) I come next to
The Manor of Fenton Gymps, which takes its name from its capital place, Fenton Gymps Veor, or the Great Fenton Gymps; which adjunct, Gymps, is a contraction of Thesympes, not intermitting, [and means] the well that always flows, as not freezing in winter, or dying [drying] in the summer. And such a one there is in the town place of the manor house. [The aim of the etymon is very right here, I believe; but the manner in which it is directed is wrong. Adjoined to the word Fenton, and explained by the existing reality, Gymps assuredly means what Mr. Tonkin says, not intermitting, but always flowing. But
how does Gymps signify this? That it is a contraction of thesympes can hardly be allowed. The contraction is too violent. Thesympes also signifies nothing but immediately in Borlase, which can have no association with the general idea. Whence then shall we derive the word? We have it without any derivation, and without any contraction, in Kympez (C.) always. And Dr. Pryce I since find so derives the word.] This gave name to an ancient race of gentlemen. John de Fentongemps (Aut. pen. Author.) lived here 21 Edward I. [Edward III.] 1346. John Fentongymps, “D’nus et hæres de Fentongympys,” grants to John, the son of Ralph de Fentongympys, all his messuages lands, &c. in Fentongympis, and elsewhere, in the county of Cornwall; dated the Feast of the Purification, 12 Henry IV. John Fentongemps of the parish of Pirran in Treth (the sand) grants to John, the son of Thomas Martin, a lease for term of years of Marghessen-foos (Marasan vose) in the said parish, dated at Marghessen-foos, in festo Petri et Pauli, 3 Henry VI.
Note. That Marghessen-foos, or Marasan-vose, i. e. the Maids’ Market, is a village in the manor of Fenton-gymps in Piran sands, but why so named I cannot guess, except that, being in the great road to Mitchell, the maids came there to offer themselves in service, a custom taken notice of, particularly by Dr. Plot, Nat. Hist. of Oxf. c. 8, 29, p. 208; but not (that I know of) practised now anywhere in this county. [Mr. Tonkin has here misled himself by an etymon forced and false. He considers foos or vose as Môz a maid. But the name is merely this, Marghes or Marhas an Fôs or Vôs, the market on the ditch or trench. Fos, indeed, Borlase interprets wall, and has this very appellation, Marhas an Fôs, which he renders the market on wall, obviously without any sense. But under Vôs he recollects himself—“Vôs for fôs;” he then says, “a ditch, wall, or fence,” as Penvôs, head of the trench, Marhas an Vos, the market on the foss.” Dr. Pryce adopts both these etymons in his vocabulary, and prefers the former in his
names very injudiciously. From this name the village appears to have been formerly a market town. The market was perhaps held on some boundary ditch, and took its name from it; but in all probability, as “being in the great road to Mitchell,” it lay upon a Roman road, which, like the great road from Lincolnshire to Bath, and through Somersetshire to the south or west, bore the appellation of foss; and very probably the Foss itself is continued by Stratton, Camelford, Wadebridge, and St. Columb, direct by Newlyn into Piran parish, Lamburn, Lambrigan, Marghessan-fos, and White Street there. See the map in Borlase. Whitaker.]
William Pennalyky releases to John Fyntengympys all his claim, &c. in Fyntengympys Veor, Fyntengympys Vyan [little Fyntengympys], Marhasen-fos, Rekellythye, Chyendur, Paddestock, and Chywarton, “dat. apud Truro Burg. 14 Julii, 24 Henry VI.” Which John Fentongympys had (I suppose) only one daughter and heir, Joan (for so she is said to be in a deed from John Laurens, cler. and Edmund Santy, capell.), to her of a tenement in Fentongympys Vyan, and the heirs which Benedict, the son of John Bernard of Bodmyn, has or shall beget on the body of the said Joan, “dat. apud Truru Burgh,” the day before the feast of Bartholomew, 24 Hen. VI. Which Joan, I guess, by a deed bearing date 8 Henry VII. was afterwards married to John Penrose, in which he and Richard Penrose (I suppose his second son) release to William Penrose, his son and heir, and Isabel, the daughter and heir of John Hayme, an annuity of twenty shillings, lately granted to them by the said William, and issuing out of Fentengympys Veor, Fentengympys Bian, Chyandouer, Marghassan-fos, and Chywarton. The next that I find possessed of any right here, are Richard Penwarne, esq. and William Wayte of Trewenethick, gent. Wayte sells his part to Henry Dotson of Roskymer in Mawgan Meneg, gent. (which said Henry had an estate before in Fentongymps, &c. but by what right it doth not appear,) the 4th and 5th
of Philip and Mary 1558; by which means Penwarne and Dotson had each a moiety of this manor. Sir John Arundell of Tolverne, knight, John Dotson of Reskymer, gent. (whose trustee I take Arundell to have been[10]) convey their half to John Code of St. Wen, gent. 20 9ber, 31 Elizabeth.
John Code and his brethren sell the same, 10 Dec. 40 Eliz. to John Carter of St. Columb Major, gent. Richard Penwarne of Penwarne in Mawnan, esq. sells the other half to the said John Carter, 20 Jan. 38 Eliz.
In which family of Carter this manor continued till 165—; when his grandson, Richard Carter, esq. sold it to John Cleather, senior, gent. whose posterity lived here some time in good repute. And in the year 1691, his grandson Samuel Cleather, gent. together with some lands in the manor of Lambourn, sold it for £1500, to Hugh Tonkin, esq. and the writer hereof is at present lord of it. Mr. Cleather gave, in a field Vert, a chevron Or, between three clethes (swords in Cornish,) the blades Proper, the pommels of the Second.
Within this manor is Chywarton (vulgo Chyton) i. e. a house on a hill. [Tshei, Chi, a house in Cornish, War upon, and Don, a hill.] This was the seat in lease (though John Resogan, senior, bought the fee about the year 169—, of the heirs of John Lord Arundell of Trerice) of a branch of the Resogans, of St. Stephen’s in Brannel. Here lived in Queen Elizabeth’s time, Bennet Resogan, gent.
But this and a pretty little estate, in all about £100 per annum, was consumed by a dependant of his, John Resogan, jun. who lived at an estate called Callestock-Ruol, i. e. Cullistock always adjoining to this. [This etymon is so unmeaning that the mind rejects it at once. A good one also presents itself. Ruy (C.) is a prince or king, and Ryel (C.) is royal. The adjunct, therefore, denotes the mansion to be royal, or one of the many mansions which
the Kings of Cornwall had upon their demesnes.] Chyton he sold to John Andrew of Trevellance in this parish, in the year 1724.
I must go backwards now, and come to the manor of Trevellance, alias Pencaranowe, id est, Pen-Carnow, the hill of rocks.
Trevellance, i. e. the dwelling in the Mill Valley (alluding to Mellingy Mill in its neighbourhood, from whence another estate under the said mill is called Nancemellin, i. e. to the mill valley.) [N.B. Mr. Tonkin apparently forms Trevellance of Tre Melin Nance, three words that could never by any contraction be shrunk within the compass of it. The name appears below to be Trefelens; and Trevelin is the house of the mill.] was the dwelling house of Mr. William Trefelens (so writ by the error [when it appears below to be no error] of the scribe) which, 12 Henry VIII. he settled by the name of Trefelens, Penkaranowe, Trevelles, Polleowe, Coysgarne, the rights and services in Nampara, and the rents and services in Runewartha, on Ralph John, cler.
He sold it to William Tregea of St. Agnes; who in 16…, was forced to sell it to pay his debts, to John Thomas in 1694; whose father —— Thomas, was of the Thomases gent. [he died in 1733, and his son Andrew Thomas, gent. hath the whole estate,] having married Jane, [in a later hand Anne,] the only surviving daughter and heir of Mr. John Andrew of Trewellance, will, after his decease, have in conjunction with his own, a pretty estate in this parish. Mr. Thomas’s arms are [N.B. in a later hand, Gules, a chevron and canton Ermine.]
To the east of Penkaranowe, and joining with it, is Reenwartha, the higher hill, to distinguish it from another
called Reen Wollas, the Lower Hill [Rhyn (W.) a mountain or promontory, Ryn (C.) a bill, a nose, Rynen (C.) a hillock. Penryn in Cornwall, a projecting hill on which the town of that name is built, and Penrhyn, the most common word in Wales for a promontory; Wartha (C.) on high, above; and Wollos, Wolas (C.) below.] Between which two Penkaranowe lies. This was sold by the said R. Haweis to Cottey, whose grandson, Christopher Cottey, gent. now enjoys it; but one fifth part of it distinct from the other, as also one fifth part of Hendrawna and Nampara (all within the manor) were the lands of inheritance of Hugh Jackman, gent.; and by him sold about the year 1670, to Walter Vincent of Truro, esq. who (Aut. pen. Author.) Feb. 22, 1678, conveyed them to John Catcher of St. Clement’s, reserving to himself the tin and royalty. From Catcher they came to Henry Gregor of Truro, merchant, whose grandson, Samuel Ennys, esq. now enjoys them.
After the said Reginald Haweis had dismembered it thus, he sold the lordship and the little that was left, one fifth of Trevelles in St. Agnes, and some trifle more, to the said Walter Vincent, which is gone, with the rest of the estate, to Mr. Knight.
This manor, and the several estates therein, are held partly from Tywarnhaile, and partly from Tywarnhaile Tiers.
Note, that between Reen Wollas and Trevellance runs a fine rivulet, which in the winter season overflowing its banks, and making the passage over it very dangerous, occasioned a county bridge of two arches of stone, and a long causeway, with a smaller arch at the eastern end of it, to be constructed in 1708, chiefly procured by the writer hereof (several people having been drowned here, it being a great thoroughfare), who was at the general sessions appointed treasurer for the building it; this is called Melingybridge, from the adjacent village of Melingay, i. e. the mill in the river [that is, the water mill,] under which are
fine moors for fowling and fishing, abounding with all sorts of wild fowls, and peal, salmon, shots, eels, and flounders.
THE MANOR OF ST. PIRAN
Lyeth joining to the east, with Penkaranowe and Reen Wartha between them, and the church lands of St. Piran, from whom it takes its name.
This is now wholly destroyed by the sands, but was once the seat of a family of the same name: by a daughter of one of which it came to the Rendalls of Pelint; and by Elizabeth, the only daughter and heir of Walter Rendall of Lostwithiel, to her husband, Henry Vincent of Tresimple, whose son Walter Vincent, esq. claimed a free warren here under the Duke of Cornwall. It hath some good tin works in it, but so chargeable, by reason of the depth of sand, that they do not turn to much account, and are gone with the rest of the estate as above. This manor is in Carew, fol. 46, rated at three acres Cornish, 12 Edward I.
At the back side of this manor, to the south, is a large down or wastrell.
[N. B. here a page 460 e. is lost; and since I saw it last, I think. But from the marginal note, “Piran Round,” it contained a description of that Cornish amphitheatre.]
THE EDITOR.
It is rather a curious circumstance that the word Zabuloe added to Perran, for the distinction of this parish, is not derived from the Celtic, but through the French sable from sabulum, a word frequently used by Pliny as indicative of sand or gravel.
Unfortunately, some leaves are wanting from Mr. Tonkin’s manuscript of this parish, so that no account is found in it, either of the amphitheatre, or of the consecrated well which belongs to Perran Zabuloe; although, by a singular anomaly, the Perran in Kerrier bears the name as an
addition, at least in common parlance. Doctor Borlase has given a description and a plan of this curious Round, as it is usually called, in his work on the Natural History of Cornwall, printed at Oxford in 1758, where, at p. 298, he says:—“The area of the amphitheatre is perfectly level, and about one hundred and thirty feet in diameter. The benches, seven in number, rise eight feet from the area. The top of the rampart is seven feet wide; it slopes externally into a foss, which rises by another slope to the level of the country. There is a circular pit nearly in the centre, thirteen feet in diameter, and three feet deep, the sides also sloping. Half way down is a bench of turf, so formed as to reduce the bottom to an ellipsis; and a shallow trench four feet six inches wide, and one foot deep, runs in an easterly direction to the nearest part of the circle, where it terminates in a semi-oval cavity extending eleven feet from north to south, and nine feet from east to west, making a breach in the benches.”
This and other similar works in Cornwall, are believed to have accommodated great numbers of spectators when the Guary Mir, or miracle plays, were performed. One of them, mentioned by Doctor Borlase, “The Creation of the World,” with Mr. Keigwyn’s Translation, the editor of this work has given to the public, and also the Metrical History of the Passion of our Saviour on Mount Calvary.
The well consecrated by St. Perran is not understood to possess any peculiar qualities, but up to the present time its waters, accompanied by the ceremony of passing children through the cleft of a rock on the sea shore, are believed to cure various diseases, and particularly the rickets.
The encroachments of the sand have caused no less than three churches to be built after considerable intervals of time in this parish. The last was commenced in 1804; and in this year (1835) a building has been discovered more ancient than the first of the churches, and not improbably the oratory of St. Perran himself.
The length of this chapel within the walls is 25 feet,
without 30 feet; the breadth within 12½ feet, and the height of the walls the same.
At the eastern end is a neat altar of stone covered with lime, four feet long by two and a half feet wide, and three feet high. Eight inches above the centre of the altar is a recess in the wall, where probably stood a crucifix; and on the north side of the altar is a small doorway through which the priest may have entered. Out of the whole length the chancel extended exactly six feet. In the centre of what may be termed the nave, in the south wall, occurs a round-arched doorway, highly ornamented. The building is however without any trace of window, and there is only one small opening, apparently, for the admission of air.
The discovery has excited much curiosity throughout the neighbourhood, which has unfortunately manifested itself by the demolition of every thing curious in this little oratory, to be borne away as relics.
Very little is known concerning the saint who has given his name to the three Perrans. He is however held in great veneration, and esteemed the patron of all Cornwall, or at least of the mining district. By an anachronism of fifteen hundred years or more, he was considered as the person who first found tin; and this conviction induced the miners to celebrate his day (the fifth of March) with so much hilarity, that any one unable to guide himself along the road, has received the appellation of a Perraner; and that again, has been most unjustly reflected as a habit on the saint.
It may here be worthy of remark, that, as the miners impute the discovery of tin to St. Perran, so they ascribe its reduction from the ore, in a large way, to an imaginary personage, Saint Chiwidden; but chi-wadden is the white house, and must therefore mean a smelting or blowing house, where the black ore of tin is converted into a white metal.
In the Lives of the Saints, published by Doctor Butler, where all miraculous adventures, like swimming on millstones,
are carefully omitted, the following history is given of our saint.
“St. Kiaran or Kenerin, Bishop and Confessor, called by the Britons, Piran or Perron.
“Among the Irish saints, who were somewhat older than St. Patrick, the first and most celebrated is St. Kiaran, whom the Irish style the first-born of their saints. According to some, he was a native of the county of Ossory, according to others, of Cork. Usher places his birth about the year 352. Having received some imperfect information about the Christian faith, at thirty years of age, he took a journey to Rome, that he might be instructed in its heavenly doctrine, and learn faithfully to practice its precepts. He was accompanied home by four holy clerks, who were all afterwards bishops; their names are Lugacius, Columban, Lugad, and Cassan.
“The Irish writers suppose him to have been ordained Bishop at Rome; but what John of Tinmouth affirms seems far more probable, that he was one of the twelve whom St. Patrick consecrated Bishops in Ireland, to assist him in planting the Gospel in that island. For his residence he built himself a cell in a place encompassed with woods, near the water of Fueran, which soon grew into a numerous monastery. A town was afterwards built there, called Saigar, now from the saint Sîer Keran. Here he converted to the faith his family, and his whole clan, which was that of the Osraigs, with many others. Having given the religious veil to his mother, whose name was Lidain, he appointed her a cell or monastery near his own, called by the Irish Ceall Lidain. In his old age, being desirous to prepare himself for his passage to eternity in close retirement, he passed into Cornwall, where he led an eremitical life, near the Severn sea, fifteen miles from Padstow. Certain disciples joined him, and by his words and example, formed themselves to a true spirit of Christian piety and humility. In this place he closed his mortal pilgrimage by a happy death. A town upon the spot is to this
day called from him St. Piran’s in the Sands; and a church is there dedicated to God in his memory, where was formerly a sanctuary near St. Mogun’s church, upon St. Mogun’s Creek.[11] See John of Tinmouth, Usher, &c. collected by Henschenius; also Leland’s Collectanea, published by Hearne, tom. III. pp. 10 and 174.”
It seems to be much more probable, that St. Perran took an active part with the Irish missionaries, perhaps as their chief, since he obtained such great celebrity in this county, than, according to Doctor Butler, that he should have come over to Cornwall in extreme old age, and have done his utmost to render the remaining years of his life utterly useless to the service of his Maker or to mankind. A white cross on a black ground was formerly the banner of St. Perran, and the standard of Cornwall; probably with some allusion to the black ore and the white metal of tin. Capgrave says that St. Perran attained an age exceeding two hundred years.
In the new edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon, vol. VI. p. 1449, an account is given of a college supposed to have been here; but, excepting that the church was given by King Henry the First to the Bishop and Church of Exeter, who still enjoy the great tithes and the advowson of the vicarage, it clearly refers to the college dedicated to St. Perran in the parish of Keverne. The shrine of St. Perran, however, containing his head and other relics, was at this place; Lysons quotes a deed in the registry of Exeter, showing the great resort of pilgrims hither in 1485; and in the will of Sir John Arundell 1433, occurs this bequest: “Item lego ad usum parochie S’c’i Pyerani in Zabulo ad claudendum capud S. Pierani honorificè et meliori modo quo sciunt xls.[12]”
The great tithes of this parish have long been held on lease for lives under the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, by the family of Enys of Enys. The present incumbent is
the Rev. John Buller, instituted in 1818, who is also vicar of St. Just in Penwith, son of Mr. Edward Buller of Portlooe, and brother of the judge.
Chiverton, having belonged to the Arundells, was sold in 1703 to John Rosogan, esq. In 1724 it was again sold to Mr. John Andrew of Trevellance, maternal great-grandfather to the late John Thomas, esq. an eminent attorney, and afterwards Vice Warden of the Stannaries, where Mr. Thomas built an excellent house with extensive gardens and plantations; this place has descended to his only daughter, who married William Peter, esq. of Haslyn, member for Bodmin in the Parliament of 1832. They have still further improved the place, and made it their chief residence.
Perran Zabuloe measures 9499 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 3,385 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 851 | 14 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 1389 | in 1811, 1527 | in 1821, 1702 | in 1831, 2793 |
giving an increase of 101 per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The greater part of this parish belongs to the calcareous series, its rocks resembling those of Cubert, Newlyn, and St. Allen; but the extreme western, adjoining to St. Agnes, is composed of the porphyritic series, being a continuation of that of the latter parish.
[10] Arundel had a mortgage from Dotson.
[11] This refers to the college in the parish of St. Keverne near Mawgan in Kerrier.
[12] Collectanea Topogr. et Geneal. vol. iii. p. 392.