In the Domesday Tax, 1087, this parish passed under the jurisdiction of Pen-fon, or Pen-foun. In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Jacobstow in decanatu de Trigmajorshire was valued vil.; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum 19l.; the patronage in Elliot; the incumbent Holden; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 113l. 14s.
Pen-fon, now Penfowne aforesaid, i. e. head well, spring of water or fountain, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Penfowne, who have lived here in good fame and reputation for many generations.
TONKIN.
I take St. Jacob to be the patron Saint of this parish, and not the patriarch Jacob, as some have imagined.
The termination Stowe comes from the Saxon, and means a home or a dwelling.
THE EDITOR.
Mr. Lysons mentions some few particulars respecting this parish. He says that Sawacott, or Southcot, is the
sole village in the parish; and that a manor called Penhallam, having belonged to a Sir John Stowell in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, has passed through various hands, and that it had been finally purchased about the year 1802 by the Rev. Charles Dayman.
The barton of Berry Court has its mansion surrounded by a moat, indicative of ancient importance, but nothing seems to be known of its history.
In Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses may be found the following account of a native of this parish: