TREWEN.
HALS.
Trewen or Trewenn vicarage is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north and east Egloskerry and South Pederwin, south Lawanack, west Altarnun. As for the modern names, it signifies a white town or dwelling. The same, I suppose, in the Domesday Book 1087, taxed by the name of Trewin, i. e. the beloved town. The value of this Church’s revenues is not mentioned in any Inquisition, the same being wholly impropriated by the Abbat or Prior of St. Stephen’s, who endowed it, and was Patron thereof till the dissolution of the Abbey of St. Stephen’s aforesaid, 26 Henry VIII. when it fell to the Crown; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax for one year, 1696, £46. 8s. 8d.
In this parish, September 29th, is held yearly a public fair or mart for goods and cattle.
In this parish is Polyfunt or Polyvant, synonymous words, i. e. the top spring or fountain of water, so called from some spring of water that rises in some high lands of that tenement, in which place the Prior of Minster in Kerryer, by the tenure of knight service, held one little knight’s fee of lands of Morton, 3 Henry IV. Survey of Cornwall, p. 41. It is now, as I am informed, the lands of —— Hicks, Gent.
Trewen, in the hundred of East, hath to the west Altarnun, to the north Laneast, to the east Egloskerry, to the south Pederwin; as for the name, the plain meaning of it is, the White Town, but from whence so denominated I must plead ignorance.
[Tre Wen (C.) is the white or fair house, the manor house of the district, so called from its elegance, and then lending its name to the district and parish. W.]
THE EDITOR.
This parish is supposed to have belonged to the Priory of St. German’s as an appendix to South Petherwin, to which it is now united.
Trewen is not noticed by name in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of the 26th Henry VIII.; but South Petherwin, probably with the daughter parish included, is there stated to have paid to St. German’s annually,
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Decim. Garb | 15 | 13 | 4 |
| —— Feni | 0 | 13 | 4 |
The great tithes belong to the University of Oxford, as does the presentation to the vicarage through the Mother Church.
This parish measures 868 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 796 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 134 | 11 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 193 | in 1811, 190 | in 1821, 206 | in 1831, 213 |
giving an increase of 10 per cent. in 30 years.
This parish is situated on rocks of the calcareous series, which are for the most part like those of Laneast; but where Trewen joins Alternun, bounded only by the small river Inney, some strata occur which deserve more particular notice. It has already been stated, that on the opposite side of this stream, a potstone or ollareous serpentine occurs; on the Trewen side a talcose schist first appears, which is followed by a calcareous schist, with its surface talcose and glossy, resembling the slate at Cotele on the Tamar. This slate gradually passes into a compact limestone, which is light-coloured and talcose, especially in such parts as come in contact with masses of hornstone diffused through the mass. This limestone is quarried and burnt on the spot, but after the selection of such portions as abound with calcareous spar.