MARTIN LLEWELLIN.
Vide Oxford University Verses, printed 1643.[[38]]
Clarendon, in his History of the Rebellion, speaks of Sir Beville Grenville’s death as “that which would have clouded any victory, and made the loss of others less spoken of: and the monument is indebted to that noble author’s own words for all the latter part of the panegyric it is so properly intended to perpetuate.
The Pulpit is a rich piece of carved work, and the Font very antient.
The magnificent and old residence of the Grenville family, called Stowe, in this parish, has been pulled down many years, and the park dismantled. It was one of the most superb residences in England, and the beauty of the grounds and scenery adjacent, have been frequently eulogized. John Grenville, Earl of Bath in the reign of Charles II., erected it. It stood on an eminence, overlooking a well-wooded valley; but not a tree near it, says Dr. Borlase, to shelter it from the north-west. That writer speaks of it as by far the noblest house in the west of England, and says that the kitchen offices fitted up for a dwelling-house, made no contemptible figure. It is a singular circumstance, that the cedar wainscot, which had been brought out of a Spanish prize, and used by the Earl of Bath for fitting up the chapel in this mansion, was purchased by Lord Cobham at the time of its demolition (the house being then sold piecemeal) and applied to the same purpose at Stowe, the magnificent seat of the noble family of Grenville in Buckinghamshire, where it still remains.
Kilkhampton is noticed in history, as the place where the renowned and pious Harvey conceived his Meditations among the Tombs.
EXCURSION III.
From Stratton to Bodmin; through Launceston, Callington, Saltash, St. Germains, and Liskeard.
The country between Stratton and Launceston, a distance of 12 miles, does not present anything requiring particular notice, except perhaps, within a few miles of the latter place bordering on Devon, Werrington Park, the seat of his Grace, the Duke of Northumberland. The house is rather a low building, and in point of architecture, is by no means imposing. The situation of the park, however, is particular fine, being highly diversified and embellished with some of the finest trees and foliage in the kingdom.