A Book of Cornwall

by S. Baring-Gould

Newquay is a very new place; it was projected by Mr. J. T. (Austin) Treffry, of Place House, Fowey, a very remarkable man, far in advance of his time, to whom not Fowey only, but Cornwall generally owes a debt of gratitude. His projects have been worked out since his death with complete success.

In itself uninteresting to the last degree, it is the key to very fine coast scenery, and the air is bracing without being cold. It possesses excellent sands, both at Newquay and Fistral Bays. There is further a long tract of sand, two and a quarter miles long, to the north of S. Columb Porth, the Tregurian Beach. The rocks will interest the geologist as well as form a subject for the artist.

The coast presents examples of several cliff-castles, as at Kelsey, Trevelgue and Griffith's Heads, and Redcliff above Bedruthan; but the finest example of a castle is Castel-an-Dinas, near S. Columb Major.

This fortress comprises about six acres of land, enclosed within three concentric rings of bank and moat, built up of earth and stone together, about a pyramidal hill. The innermost enclosure contains about an acre and a half, and there were at one time indications of habitations therein, but these have now disappeared. There are, however, traces of a pit that was a well or tank for rain-water, as there is no spring on the hill. There are two entrances to this interesting camp or dinas.

According to legend, King Arthur lived here and hunted the wild deer on Tregoss Moors.

Near Perranzabuloe are Caer Kieff (eyf, perfect) and Caer Dane (dinas).

To the south of Newquay is the curious creek called the Gannel (gan-hael, the mouth of saltings). A very slight thread of sweet water descends from the land into a creek of three miles of salt marsh and sand, filled at high water with the tide. Here it was that S. Patrick's companion, adviser, and friend, Carantock, on leaving Ireland, set up his residence. He was a remarkable man, for he was one of the three bishops chosen by Laogaire at Tara to revise the laws of Ireland. When the Irish accepted Christianity it was obvious that the laws needed modification. King Laogaire was not and never did become a Christian, but he accepted the situation, and appointed a commission for the revision of the laws, and on this sat Carantock. The result was the Senchus Mor, the great code by which the Irish were ruled till 1600. Carantock was an acquaintance of King Arthur, but he met him, not at Castel-an-Dinas, but on the Severn at Dinedor, and did not get on well with him.

An odd story is told of his fixing the site for his church at Crantock. After he had landed in the Gannel he went up on the land, and began to till a scrap of land granted him; and when not at work on the soil, he whittled his staff, to make the handle smooth. Then, when he resumed his mattock, he saw a wood-pigeon fly down, pick up the shavings, and carry them off. He was curious to know what she did with them, so he followed, and saw that she dropped them in one spot in a little heap. "There must be some meaning in this," said Carantock, and he resolved to build his church there. Those Celtic saints looked out for some omen to direct them in all their doings.

Crantock Church was collegiate; it fell into a condition of decay, and was shockingly mutilated, but is about to be restored carefully and conservatively.

Another interesting church, one with a fine screen and in good condition, is Newlyn. This is probably situated on the patrimony of S. Newlyna--"the white cloud," as her name signifies. She was of noble birth, but, like the rest of the Celtic saints, thought she must travel, so she took ship at Newlyn West, where she has also left her name, and arrived in Brittany with her foster-mother as chaperon. There she had an unpleasant experience. She caught the fancy of a local magnate, who pursued her when she fled from him, and as she stubbornly repelled his advances, in a fit of fury, struck her with his sword and killed her. She is commemorated at Noualen, or Noyal-Poutivy, where the screen was formerly painted with a series of subjects relative to her story. This was destroyed in 1684 by order of the vicar-general, because it concealed the new reredos in the debased style of the period. This tasteless construction has been in turn demolished, and the paintings that formerly decorated the jubé have been reproduced in coloured glass in the windows.