ST. TUDY.

HALS.

St. Tudy, alias St. Tidy or Tudy, is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the north Michaelstow, east Brewar, south St. Mabyn, west St. Kew. For those names, they are all synonymous, and signify St. Udye, or St. Udith, (or the Holy Udith,) referring to the name of St. Udith, the tutelar guardian and patroness of this church, and by the name of Mama Tedy or Tidy,[13] i. e. Mother Udith, it was taxed in the Domesday Book 1087, which plainly shows here was an endowed rectory church dedicated to her before that time. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, Ecclesia de St. Tudy, in decanatu de Minor Trigshire, was valued 1294 for its revenues, cs. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, £31; the patronage in ——; the incumbent Trelawny. This parish was rated to the four shillings per pound Land Tax for one year, by the name of St. Udy, £144.

The history of St. Udith is as followeth: she was the natural daughter of King Edgar, by the lady Wolfchild, who was afterwards made Lady Abbess or mother of the maids of the Nunnery of Wilton in Wiltshire, wherein she demeaned herself so well as to her conduct, piety, and purity, that, as Capgrave tells us, she obtained the reputation of a saint, though the author of Polychronicon, Liber 6, chapter 9, tells us, that Bishop Ethel wold sharply reproved her, for deviating from her rule, and being too curious in her attire; to whom she replied that God regarded the heart more than garments, and that sin might be

covered as well with rags as robes; to which the Bishop answered, that, though our corrupt mortal bodies were covered with silk, silver, and gold, it could neither procure a minute’s life or health for us, nor hide our sins from God’s sight, but were rather an argument of our pride and vanity, than sincerity or humility.

After the brother of St. Udith, Edward the Martyr, was slain, St. Dunstan had a mind to make her Queen of England to defeat Etheldred the lawful heir, but her piety or policy would not permit her to accept the proffer: she died Anno Dom. 984, and was buried in the church of Denis of her own building at Wilton. She is commonly called Udith the younger, to distinguish her from St. Udith her aunt.

Hengar was formerly the seat of the Billings, alias Trelanders, whose daughter and heir was married to John Trelawny of Coldrinick, esq. by whom she had no issue; after his decease she was married to Dr. Lower, Physician in Ordinary to King Charles the Second, by whom he had three daughters, one married to Edward Morice of Werrington, esq. (by whom she had no issue); after his decease she was married to the honourable Major-General Charles Trelawny, governor of the Royal Citadel of Plymouth, now in possession of this place. Another daughter was married to Captain Mitchell; the third to —— Lower of St. Winnow.

Pen-vos, alias Pen-vose. It is now the dwelling of Humphrey Nicoll, esq. Commissioner for the Peace, that married —— Cudworth.

In this parish as I take it, or St. Kew, is still to be seen the ruins of a once famous and treble intrenchment of our ancestors the Britains, called Dameliock Castle, and taxed by the name of Dimelihoc, in the Domesday Book 1087, wherein Gothlois, (i. e. purple back or spear,) Earl of Cornwall immured or fortified himself against Uter Pendragon’s soldiers: in which place he was by them slain about the fifth century, as our annalists tell us (see Dundagell).

Damelyock, alias Daimelack, as a monosyllable in British,

Scotch, and Irish, signifies the hazard, skirmish, or battle house or place. The lands about this fort and castle, since its first erection, have been enclosed and cultivated, so that now it is comparatively defaced, but not so much as to obscure this treble ditch, camp, or intrenchment, from the sight of spectators or observators, or to obliterate its ancient name aforesaid; but query, whether this Dameliock Castle be not in St. Kew and St. Teath?

Those Billings, alias Trelawders, mentioned on the other side, were gentlemen of blood and arms of three or four descents, and at Hengar, alias Hanger or St. Mabyn, married with the daughters of Blewet of Colon (who gave for their arms, Gules, a chevron between three eagles displayed Vert), Babb of Tingraze in Devon, Hockyn of Helland, and Helston in Cornwall, and gave for their own arms, in a field Or, on a bend Sable three stag’s or buck’s heads couped at the neck Or, attired and armed of the Field. The which Billing, heir of St. Mabin, was married to Hamley of Treblethick 1630.

Note further, that Tredinick of St. Breock gave the same arms as Billing or Trelawder of Hengar, only differenced with the colour of the stag’s or buck’s heads, viz. in a field Or, on a bend Sable, three buck’s heads attired or armed Argent.

TONKIN.

St Tudy, in the hundred of Trigg, hath to the northwest St. Kew, to the north that and St. Teath, to the east Michaelstow and Brewer, to the south St. Mabin.

In anno 1291, 20 Edward I. this church by the name of St Tudy, was valued (Tax. Ben.) at cs. having never been appropriated.

This church is a rectory, valued in the King’s Book very high, £31; the patronage in Christ Church College, Oxford; the present incumbent Mr. George Allanson (vicar likewise of Budock and Gluvias) who succeeded —— Collier.

The manor of Tinten, id est [as the name appears below to be Tynton, Din Don, Tin Ton, the hill house. W.]

In the extent of Cornish acres, 12 Edward I. (Carew, fol. 47 b.) this is valued in twelve.

This was anciently the seat of the family of the same name. Johannes de Tynten is named among the knights of the county of Cornwall, 17 Edward II. when John de Treiagu was Sheriff (Ibid. fol. 51). Johannes de Tynton (probably his father, for this was no knight) was one of those that had £20 per annum of land or rent or more, in the county of Cornwall, 25 Edward I. John de Tinten held one fee Mort. [of the honour of Morton] in Tynten, and in Trewinneck, 3 Henry IV. (ibid fol. 42 b.)

THE EDITOR.

The church of this parish is adorned with several splendid monuments, one to Mr. Anthony Nicoll, who distinguished himself in the Civil War, and another representing a mother and three daughters kneeling, with various arms emblazoned over them, Reskymer, Courtenay, Mohun, Trelawny, &c.

St. Editha, the patroness of this church, as Mr. Hals conjectures on the assumed authority of Domesday Book, must have acquired a high degree of sanctity at a very early period of life, having died in her twenty-fourth year, after passing her time from childhood in the convent at Wilton, of which her mother was abbess; and, therefore, as it is observed in the Roman Martyrology, “She may be said rather not to have known the world than to have left it;” but she fasted, wore hair-cloth next her skin, and chose to perform every office that was most disgusting or loathsome. In recompense, her beatitude was attested, according to William of Malmesbury, in a most decisive manner; who says, that while Canute celebrated the festival of Whitsuntide at Wilton, he spoke with ridicule of St. Editha, adding, that he never could believe the daughter

of King Edgar could be a saint, who had always addicted himself to acts of tyranny, and to the indulgence of bad passions. Ethelnodus, the archbishop, then present, contradicted the king, and proceeded to open the tomb of the virgin saint; when, raising herself up so as to sit, she seemed to attack the contumaceous king; and he, terrified, fell prostrate on the ground, apparently without life; but recovering, he expressed great joy, that by a renovation of his existence he found himself in a situation to be penitent for his fault.

The presentation to this rectory is in the Dean and Canons of Christ Church. The Rev. Charles Hodgson, late student, presented in 1817, is the present incumbent.

The whole parish appears to be well cultivated, notwithstanding that it adjoins the granite district of St. Breward or Simonward, and it is agreeably diversified by hill and dale.

It appears from Mr. Lysons that the manor of St. Tudy belonged to the family of Nicoll, but that it was sold together with Penrose, the family seat, to Mr. Trehawke of Leskeard, by whom they have been devised to Samuel Kekewich, esq.

The manor of Tinten, like so many others, either gave its name to the ancient proprietors, or received it from them. An heiress took it to the Carminows of Boconnoc. The Carminow property passed to the Courtenays, and fell to the Crown on the attainder of the Marquis of Exeter. This manor was included by King Henry the Eighth in the exchange given for the honour of Wallingford.

The manor of Kellygreen belongs to Walter Raleigh Gilbert, esq.

Tremeer was a seat of the Lowers, the birth-place of Sir William Lower, the author of various works.

The Phœnix in her flames, a Tragedy.

Polyenetes, or the Martyr, a Tragedy.

Horatius, a Roman Tragedy.

The Enchanted Lovers, a Pastoral.

The Amorous Fantasme, Tragi-Comedy.

Noble Ingratitude.

Journal of the Travels of King Charles the Second in Holland; and others.

He died in 1662.

Here also was born Richard Lower, M.D. brother of the former, who lived to the year 1690. This gentleman published various medical works, and some papers in the Philosophical Transactions. One of his works, “Tractatus de Corde, item Motu et Calore Sanguinis et Chyli in eorum transitu,” reached a third edition in England, and was reprinted abroad.

Hengar is a handsome seat, very pleasantly situated on a rising ground, and at a small distance from the house a prospect is obtained of great extent and beauty, in consequence of an admixture of all the varieties of scenery which distinguish Cornwall —granite mountains, undulating hills of the slate formation, deep valleys with streams of water, and trees, and finally the sea. This place was the occasional residence of Matthew Michell, esq. acquired under the will of Samuel Michell, a Colonel in the Guards, who died there in 1786, after attaining his eighty-fifth year. Mr. Matthew Michell has left this place with all his property to his widow, who is again married to a gentleman of the name of Searle.

St. Tudy measures 2881 statute acres.

£.s.d.
Annual value of the Real Property as returned to Parliament in 1815428600
Poor Rate in 183139880
Population,—
in 1801,
502
in 1811,
512
in 1821,
605
in 1831,
658

giving an increase of 31 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish no where reaches so far as the granite hills. Its eastern part is composed of rocks which pass into the

porphyritic series of St. Breward; the western part rests on the same kind of rocks as those of the adjoining parish of St. Teath.

[13] No such name appears in the index to Domesday Book; nor should we expect it. On the contrary, this place is probably the Tewardevi of the Domesday survey. Edit.