DUNDAGELL, alias DYNDAGELL, alias BOSITHNEY.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and hath upon the north, the Irish sea; east, Trevalga; south, Lantegles; west, St. Teth. For the etymology of the first compound word, it signifies the safe, secure, or impregnable fort or fortress; for the second, safe, secure, impregnable, or invincible man; or a man so fortified, magnified, or fenced, by art or nature, that he was not liable to hurt or danger, referring perhaps to the King or Earl of Cornwall, whose fort or castle it was; as also the manor of Dundagell, contiguous therewith, privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet, and other marks of grandeur over the adjacent country, still pertaining to the Duke of Cornwall.
In the Domesday Roll, 20 William I. (1087), this place was taxed under the name of Dune-cheine. In the Inquisition
of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia Dundagell, alias Bosithney, was valued viiil. the vicar iiiil. vis. viiid. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, it was valued 8l. 11s. 2½d. the patronage in the Duke of Cornwall. The incumbent —— Chilcott. The rectory in possession of ——. The parish of Dundagell rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, which comprehends the boroughs of Trebennen and Bosithney, 200l. 4s., which from thence appears to be only adjectives, and fallen upon the parish, as several other boroughs in Cornwall are. Those boroughs have a weekly market, and a fair on October 8 yearly.
Trebennen, in the Exchequer, signifies the woman’s town, alias Trevenna, the spring, marsh, or well of water town.
The arms of these united towns are, King Arthur’s Castle of Dundagell, port open, on the top three turrets or watch towers. They are privileged with a court leet, and a mayor chosen annually by a jury out of the sworn free members, as also with sending two members to sit in the Commons House of Parliament, elected by the freemen of the borough that have lands of inheritance there. And the parliament precept from the sheriff, as also the writ to remove an action from this court to a superior, must be thus directed:—“Majori et Burgensibus nostris de Trebennen, alias Bosinny,” otherwise “Majori et Burgensibus Burgi nostri de Trevenna, alias Bosythny, in comitatu Cornubiæ, salutem.”
Dundagell gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, surnamed De Dundagell, now extinct, of which family was Robert de Dundagell, who, temp. Richard I., held in this county, by the tenure of knight service, five knights’ fees. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 44.
But that which made this place most famous was the castle and palace of Dundagell, wherein in all probability, the Kings, Dukes, or Earls of Cornwall, at some time had their residence, for pleasure and safety, before Cæsar came into this land; and for that it was the birthplace of Arthur