John Opie
"A wondrous Cornishman, who is carrying all before him" is Sir Joshua Reynolds' description of John Opie the painter, who was born the son of a poor carpenter near Truro in 1761, became an R.A. and portrait-painter of great note, and died in 1807. His second wife was Amelia Opie the novelist, daughter of the Norwich physician, Dr Alderson. Henry Bone, the enamellist, is also of sufficient distinction to deserve mention here.
Of the astronomers of modern times few have attained the eminence of John Couch Adams, the discoverer of the planet Neptune, who was born at Laneast in 1819. As a shepherd boy he loved to lie on his back and watch the stars, and he at once devoted himself to the study of astronomy when he was sent to school at Saltash. He became Senior Wrangler at Cambridge in 1843, and soon after taking his degree, being struck with irregularities in the motion of Uranus, he made a series of calculations and observations which resulted in the discovery of the new planet, the French astronomer Leverrier having simultaneously recorded its existence. A distinguished geologist and one of the pioneers of scientific cave exploration was William Pengelly, whose great work was the thorough examination of Kent's Cavern near Torquay, a labour which lasted from 1865 to 1880. Last, but by no means least worthy of mention in our list, must come Davies Gilbert, a great discerner of rising genius, to which he was ever ready to lend help and encouragement. The patron of Davy, Trevithick, Horn-*blower, and Goldsworthy Gurney, he was himself a man of remarkable and varied abilities, scientist, mathematician, and antiquary, and President of the Royal Society. He died in 1839.
27. THE CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF CORNWALL.
(The figures in brackets after each name give the population in 1901 and those at the end of each section are references to the pages in the text.)
Bodmin (5353), now held to be the county town. Formerly there was a priory here, founded in 938. The church, the largest in Cornwall, is Perpendicular, except the tower and a part of the chancel, which are earlier. In it is the fine monument of Prior Vyvyan (1533). Bodmin is a municipal borough, market, and union town, and head of a county court district. The Assizes are held here. The town is pleasantly situated nearly in the centre of the county. A branch of the G.W.R. leads from Bodmin Road station on the main line. The L. & S.W.R. has also a branch to Bodmin from Wadebridge. The prison stands about half a mile north-west of the town; and the County Lunatic Asylum a little to the west. Bodmin has also a Hospital and Dispensary, and Barracks for military. (pp. 9, 14, 18, 24, 67, 96, 102, 104, 111, 131, 132, 135, 137, 139.)
Bude (see Stratton).
Callington (1714), a small market town, formerly a parliamentary borough returning two members. Callington is in the ecclesiastical parish of North Hill, and the church is merely a chapel of ease. It is in the Perpendicular style, and has the unusual feature in Devon and Cornwall of having a clerestory. The L. & S.W.R. has constructed a light railway from Beer Alston to Callington and Calstock. (pp. 105, 124.)
Calstock (5874) is a large village and township. The church is at a distance from the village or town. Gunnislake, two miles north of Calstock, is in the parish. Both places have declined in numbers and prosperity through the abandonment of the mines in the neighbourhood. (pp. 15, 69, 72, 87, 101.)