Caerhayes, Goran and the Dodman
It was at Caerhayes that Sir John Berkeley and Colonel Slingsby, who had been sent into Cornwall, during the autumn of 1649, to encourage their friends to rise for Charles II., were surprised by the watchful Roundheads. Lord Byron's grandmother was a Trevanion of Caerhayes, but the castle no longer shelters the descendants of the man who laid its foundation-stone, and if you would see relics of the wild Trevanions you must seek them in the arcade—where hang helmets, swords, and gauntlets—of the little church of St. Michael.
At Goran Church were once monuments to all three families, but those of the Trevanions have disappeared, while the Bodrugans are now only represented by the arms cut on the granite font. This church has a high embattled tower, a good day-mark for ships, and in the chancel a curious oak chair elaborately carved with the figure of a woman.
South of Goran is the Dodman, the pride of the southern coast, a headland which is 400 ft. high and about whose feet the water is so deep that vessels of large draught may sail by within a few feet. It is of dark weathered rocks with a ditch and rampart winch, crossing from one side to the other, cuts it off from the land. The finest beaches on the south stretch right and left from this headland, which gives a good view of the cliffs and fishing coves all up and down the coast from the Rame to the Lizard.
It is curious how frequently two or more places in Cornwall bear the same name. There are two St. Justs, two St. Anthonys, two Mawgans, Constantines, Pentires, while as to Pennare there are several. A Black Head (250 ft.) was the most important promontory between the Lizard and Falmouth, and here, after Chapel Point with its prehistoric remains, Mevagissey with its sardine factory—(All-British shoppers, please note)—and Pentewan with its quarries, the next blue point breaking the northward line is another—and a most bold and precipitous—Black Head!
Mevagissey
Near Mevagissey, locally and opprobriously termed Fishygissey, is Pencarne, seat of the one-handed Carew, whose portrait is in Heligan House. He lost his hand by a cannon-shot at the siege of Ostend (1601) and, returning to his quarters after the fight, held out the lopped member with a casual: "There is the hand that cut the pudding this morning!"
Antiquarian Finds
In this neighbourhood several interesting finds have been made. At Pentewan some curious oaken canoes buried in the soil were found by the tinners. Unaware of the unique nature of what they had discovered, the miners broke them up for firewood! Better luck, however, attended a remarkable and interesting find at Trewhiddle. Some miners, when searching for tin in a stream work, at 17 ft. below the surface, came on a silver cup which proved to be a chalice containing coins and some ornaments. These coins bore date from 757 to 874, and the names of such well-known Kings as Egbert and Alfred, with a unique silver penny of Eanred of Northumbria and a Louis le Debonnaire (King of the Franks 814). It is supposed that the hoard was buried when sea-robbers were harrying the coast, and that he who hid it did not live to come back. It is now in the British Museum.