With deep convulsions rends the solid oak:
’Till like the mine, in whose infernal cell
The lurking dæmons of destruction dwell,
At length asunder torn, her frame divides,
And crashing spreads in ruin o’er the tides.
Quitting Padstow, the lover of the picturesque will be much delighted with the village of Little PETHERICK, where a bridge across the road, an old mill, the church, a few rustic cottages, and some luxuriant foliage, form a picture highly interesting.
After crossing the river Camel at Wadebridge, over which there is a bridge, built in the year 1485, of 17 Gothic arches, and 320 feet long, in the parish of Egleshale, is Peucarrow, the handsome seat of Sir Arscott O’Molesworth, Bart. The house has lately undergone a complete repair, and is fitted up in an elegant style, with a good library, billiard room, and the usual comforts attached to a gentleman’s residence. Here are also a few good pictures, but mostly portraits. The gardens and hot-houses are very beautiful, and kept in excellent order.
In the Church of Egleshale, is a very handsome carved stone pulpit, and a neat monument to the memory of Sir John Molesworth and his lady.
The road from hence to Camelford, a distance of 11 miles, contains little to interest the traveller, excepting perhaps, the celebrated Slate Quarry of Delabole, in the parish of St. Teath, and which has been already described in page [7].
The town of Camelford is a place of considerable antiquity, and has returned members to Parliament, since the reign of Edward VI. The right of election is vested in the freemen, and the town is governed by a Mayor and eight Burgesses.