When the work was first announced, the Author regrets to state that many gentlemen declined to promote his endeavours, from the circumstance of his being a stranger to them; and many unforeseen difficulties have also presented themselves; but perseverance will, it is presumed, overcome most impediments. It is to be regretted that Cornwall contains so few Noblemen and Gentlemens’ Seats, compared with other Counties; but the kind assistance the Author has received from several eminent characters, will always be remembered. To Sir William Lemon, Sir Christopher Hawkins, the late Sir A. Molesworth, Joseph Carne, Esq., J. T. Austin, Esq., Colonel Trevanion, the Rev. George Moore, Jun., and the Rev. John Wallis, of Bodmin, he feels particularly indebted.
Owing to ill health a few years ago, the Author was unfortunately compelled to relinquish the situation of Assistant to the Military Secretary, East India Company; but from the feeling which he has always possessed for the picturesque, and as travelling agrees much better with his health, it is the Author’s intention to endeavour to bring to light many of the hidden Relics of Antiquity, which the several Counties of England contain. Much has already been done; and considering the improved state of the Arts, there is now sufficient talent in this country for the publication of works in any branch. It is also the Author’s intention, with some exceptions, to retrace the steps of the late Francis Grose, the celebrated antiquarian; for since his time, many antient buildings have been considerably altered; and such as were published in his work upon antiquities, were made when the art of engraving was not so generally known. The completion, however, of any work upon a similar plan to the present volume, is certainly most preferable; and will, it is presumed, be found not only useful to the tourist, but valuable to the lovers of the picturesque.
As an Antiquary, few Gentlemen possessed a higher claim to notice than the late Samuel Lysons, Esq., F. A. S.; and the Author cannot but participate in the feelings which exist with every one who knew him; especially in deploring the great loss the country has sustained by his lamented death.
In concluding, the Author begs to return his grateful acknowledgments to those Noblemen and Gentlemen who have been pleased to subscribe to the work; and takes the liberty of stating, that he is now engaged in completing a similar one, relative to the County of Devonshire, which he hopes will also meet their approbation.
LONDON, MAY 1, 1824.
EXCURSIONS THROUGH CORNWALL.
Cornwall is the most western county in England, and is almost wholly surrounded by the sea, excepting the eastern side, which is partly separated from Devonshire by the Tamar river. The greatest length of the county from Moorwinstow to the Land’s End, is nearly 90 miles; but its greatest breadth from Moorwinstow on the north, to Ram Head on the south, does not exceed 43 miles, and diminishes gradually till it is only, from Mount’s Bay to St. Ives, little more than seven miles. Its form, therefore, nearly resembles a horn, or as some historians term it, a cornucopia.—The surface of the county being extremely difficult to compute, owing to the many promontories and juttings on the coast, is stated at about 210 miles, containing 758,484 acres, but is supposed to have been much larger in former times.
According to the works of the most respectable historians, the original name of Cornwall was Cerwyn, and so called from its peculiar shape. The antient inhabitants were also called Carnibii, or Cerwyn and Gwyr, or Men of the Promontory; but after the Roman invasion, that name is supposed by Borlase, to have been latinized into Cornubia, which it retained till the Saxons imposed the name of Weales on the Britons driven by them west of the rivers Severn and Dee, calling their county in the Latin tongue, Wallia; after which, finding the Britons had retreated not only into Wales, but into the more western extremities of the island, the Latinists changed Cornubia into Cornwallia; a name not only expressive of the many natural promontories of the county, but also that the inhabitants were Britons of the same nation and descent as those of Wales; and from this Cornwallia, the name of Cornwall is derived.