One collecting the wonders of Cornwall, rimed touching this, as followeth:
Tintogel in his ruines vauntes,
Sometimes the seate of Kings,
And place which worthy Arthur bred,
Whose prayse the Breton sings,
A bridge these buildings ioynd, whom now
The fallen clifs diuorce,
Yet strength'ned so, the more it scornes,
Foes vayne attempting force.
There, caue aboue, entrie admits,
But thorowfare denies;
Where that beneath alloweth both,
In safe, but ghastly wise.
A Spring there wets his head, his foote
A gate of Iron gardes:
There measure due to eche ones length,
The Hermits graue awards.
IN the mids of the wilde moores of this Hundred, far [122] from any dwelling or riuer, there lyeth a great standing water, called Dosmery poole, about a mile or better in compasse, fed by no perceyued spring, neither hauing any auoydance, vntill (of late) certaine Tynners brought an Audit therefrom. The countrey people held many strange conceits of this poole; as, that it did ebbe & flow, that it had a whirle-poole in the midst thereof, and, that a fagot once throwne thereinto, was taken vp at Foy hauen, 6. miles distant. Wherefore, to try what truth rested in these reports, some Gent, dwelling not farre off, caused a boate and nets to be carried thither ouer land. Fish, they caught none, saue a fewe Eeles vpon hookes: the poole prooued no where past a fathome and halfe deepe, and for a great way very shallow. Touching the opinion of ebbing and flowing, it should seeme to bee grounded, partly vpon the increase, which the raine floods brought thereinto from the bordering hils (which perhaps gaue also the name; for Doz, is, come, and maur, great) and the decrease, occasioned by the next drowth, and partly, for that the windes doe driue the waues to and fro, vpon those sandie bankes: and thus the miracle of Dosmery poole deceased. Of this other wonder hee sayd,
Dosmery poole amid the moores,
On top stands of a hill,
More then a mile about, no streames
It empt, nor any fill.
Camelford, a market and Fayre (but not faire) towne fetcheth his deriuation from the riuer Camel, which runneth thorow it, and that, from the Cornish word Cam, in English, crooked, as Cam, from the often winding stream. The same is incorporated with a Maioralty, & nameth Burgesses to the Parliament, yet steppeth little before the [123] meanest sort of Boroughs, for store of Inhabitants, or the Inhabitants store.
Vpon the riuer of Camel, neere to Camelford [525.], was that last dismal battel strooken betweene the noble king Arthur, and his treacherous nephew Mordred, wherein the one took his death, and the other his deaths wound. For testimony whereof, the olde folke thereabouts will shew you a stone, bearing Arthurs name, though now depraued to Atry.
Master Camden letteth vs vnderstand, that this towne is sometimes termed Gaffelford: wherethrough we may marke it for the lists of a great fight betweene the Bretons & Deuonshire men [812.], which Houeden assigneth to haue bene darrayned at Gauelford, and perhaps the same, which the said Master Camden voucheth out of Marianus Scotus [820.], and describeth by these verses of an elder Poet:
—————— Naturam Cambala fontis,
Mutatam stupet esse sui, transcendit inundans
Sanguineus torrens ripas, & ducit in aequor
Corpora caesorum, plures natare videres,
Et petere auxilium, quos vndis vita reliquit.
The riuer Camel wonders, that
His fountaines nature showes
So strange a change, the bloody streame
Vpswelling ouerflowes
His both side banks, and to the sea
The slaughtered bodies beares:
Full many swimme, and sue for ayde,
While waue their life outweares.
In our forefathers daies, when deuotion as much exceeded knowledge, as knowledge now commeth short of devotion, there were many bowssening places, for curing of mad men, and amongst the rest, one at Alternunne in this Hundred, called S. Nunnes poole, which Saints Altar (it may be) by pars pro toto, gaue name to the Church: and because the maner of this bowssening is not so vnpleasing to heare, as it was vneasie to feele, I wil (if you please) deliuer you the practise, as I receyued it from the beholders.