I take the etymology of this name, Trewinard, to be a town or dwelling on a marsh.
The Trewinards lived here probably before the Norman Conquest, and were once possessed of an estate worth at the least three thousand pounds per annum, as I have been informed by one of their descendants, the late Rev. Mr. James Trewinard, Rector of St. Mawgor in Meneage.
James De Trewinard was one of the Knights of the Shire for Cornwall 20 Edward III. William De Trewinard was so likewise in the 28th year of this reign.
Martin De Trewinard, Esq. (whom Mr. Carew calls a merry Cornish gentleman, and tells a comical story of) I believe was the last of them that possessed this estate, for Norden, who wrote his description of Cornwall towards the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, saith, that Trewinard was the seat of Mannering.
Trelisick, compounded of Tre-lis-ick, a dwelling on the broad creek, suitable to its situation on that part of the river Hayle, where it openeth itself into a lake, is the seat of the ancient family of Painter. The present owner of which is Francis Painter, Esq. formerly one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, and now General Receiver of the Prize Money which shall become due to captors. He married a daughter of —— Sutherland, Esq. late one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, by whom he has only one surviving son Mr. James Painter. His arms are, Azure, three slabs of tin Argent, each charged with an annulet Sable.
Mr. Francis Painter is since dead, leaving two daughters by his second wife, a daughter of his uncle Mr. Francis Painter, of Boskina in Burian. William Painter, D.D. Rector of Exeter College in Oxford, was also a brother of his father Arthur Painter.
—— Painter, of Antron, was, I am informed, a younger branch of this family, and arrived at considerable eminence, but, like many branches, it has withered, while the parent stock remains fair and flourishing. But the family of Trelisick is now extinct in the male line, by the death of Mr. Francis Painter, jun.
THE EDITOR.
St. Earth, now invariably written without the a, is supposed to derive its name from St. Ergan, one of the female missionaries from Ireland.
The church stands at the side of what must have been an estuary in former times, pretty much like Egleshayle, near Wadebridge. The church is neat and plain, with three ailes of equal height, the roof has wooden ribs with bosses, and the whole was plastered about the year 1747. The tower is not inferior to most others, and the south porch is remarkable for its beauty. The whole eastern extremity of the south aile is said to have belonged exclusively to Trewinnard, but for want of asserting it, the right has been lost.