A Book of Cornwall

by S. Baring-Gould

On the north side of the marsh were some old cottages, that have been destroyed, and their materials employed for building purposes, in which coins of Elizabeth and Queen Mary were found. A vague tradition exists that a town existed at Tresillern, one of the reaches of the lake, which was submerged for the iniquity of the inhabitants.

A basin of bog--also once a lake--exists at Redmire, and near it is a small circle of upright stones. I was as near lost as might be in this bog in 1891. The Ordnance Survey Office had sent down an official to go over and correct the map of this district, and I was with him. When dusk set in we started for Five Lanes, and lost our way. We both got into Redmire, and had to trip along warily from one apparently firm spot to another. The winter and summer had been unusually wet, and the marsh was brimming with water. Six bullocks had already been lost in it that year.

All at once I sank above my waist, and was being sucked further down. I cried to my companion, but in the darkness he could not see me, and had he seen me he could have done nothing for me. The water finally reached my armpits. Happily I had a stout bamboo, some six feet long, and I placed this athwart the surface and held it with my arms as far expanded as possible. By jerks I gradually succeeded in lifting myself and throwing my body forward, till finally I was able to cast myself full length on the surface. The suction had been so great as to tear the leather gaiters I wore off my legs. I lay full length gasping for nearly a quarter of an hour before I had breath and strength to advance, and then wormed myself along on my breast till I reached dry land.

Some of the Cornish bogs are far worse than those on Dartmoor. Crowdy is particularly ugly and dangerous. In a dry summer they may, however, be traversed, as the surface becomes caked.

Dozmare Pool is, next to Loe Pool, the largest sheet of sweet water in Cornwall. It abounds in fish, and was formerly a great resort of the worker in flint, as innumerable traces of the industry testify. Arrow- and spear-heads, scrapers, and an almost unlimited amount of chips and flakes may be found near it. In the lake is a cranogue, or subaqueous cairn, on which was formerly a palafite dwelling. The bottom of the pool is certain to richly repay exploration.

For those who desire to enjoy moor air at a high elevation, there is a pleasant little inn at Bolventor, called the "Jamaca Inn"; but the visitor must take with him his own supply of liquor, as it is a "temperance house."

The moors about well reward exploration; they abound in prehistoric antiquities, and in scenes of great but desolate beauty.

Lewanick (Llan-Winoc) was an interesting church with good bench-ends, but an unfortunate fire destroyed the interior, and almost everything of interest has disappeared. There is, however, in the church a cresset-stone. This is a structure like a font, but with the surface scooped out into five little bowls for containing oil and floating wicks. Formerly, in the days when there existed a difficulty in kindling a fire, it was important that a light should be kept perpetually burning in the church, to which the parishioners might have resort in the event of their fires going out. But such cresset-stones are now extremely rare. There is one at Calder Abbey with sixteen bowls, one at Furness with five. At Ballagawne, in the Isle of Man, is one with one large bowl and nine small ones. A cresset-stone exists in the court before San Ambrogio, Milan, and I saw one set up before a very early church at Civeaux, in Vienne, upon which the schoolboys amused themselves with jumping and dancing.

There are inscribed stones and oghams in the churchyard. The village carpenter, an unusually intelligent man, has been zealous in search after, and the discovery of, these stones. In the porch, under the stone bench, a hare-hunt is carved on polyphant stone. The quarry of this beautiful stone is near by. There are several crosses and holy wells in the parish, one of S. Blaunder, which is a corruption of Branwalader, who is identical with S. Brendan, the great navigator and explorer in the sixth century. He is even supposed to have reached America, but actually, it may be suspected, visited only the Canary Isles and Madeira.

In Northill Church is a curious monument to a chrisom child.