from Mr. John Tregeagle. The incumbent, Mr. Edward Stephens, Mr. Croker’s nephew.
The ancient name of this parish was Lanow.
THE EDITOR.
If Saint Kebius is really the patron of this parish, and has given it his name somewhat disguised in the sound of St. Kew, he has the unusual felicity of being honoured in his own country. Doctor Borlase states, on the authority of Archbishop Usher, (Antiquities of Cornwall, 2d. ed. p. 369.) “About the middle of the fourth century, Solomon Duke of Cornwall seems to have been a Christian; for his son Kebius was ordained a Bishop by Hilarius, Bishop of Poictiers, in France; and afterwards returned into his own country to exercise that high function.”
Saint Kebius, however, stands in the Roman Calendar on the 26th of April; but the parish feast is kept (I believe) on the nearest Sunday to the 25th of July, the day of Saint James the Apostle.
This parish is one of the most fertile in Cornwall, as well for corn as for grass. The church is situated in a pleasant valley; and near it is Skinden, for many years the residence of Mr. Joseph Bennet, a clergyman, but without preferment; and after his decease, of Mr. Clode, a native of Camelford, who having risen to the situation of a major in the East India Company’s army, returned with a fortune, and purchased this place; it now belongs to his sister Mrs. Braddon.
The principal seat in St. Kew was in former times Trewane, the residence of an ancient and opulent family the Nichollses. The house, partly converted into a farmhouse and partly in ruins, appears in a style of grandeur quite unusual in the houses of this county. It is believed to have been built before the Civil Wars. These four descents are recorded in the Heraldic Visitation of 1620.
John Nicholls—His son and heir, John Nicholls, married Catharine, daughter of John Trowbrigge, of Trowbridge in Devon.—Their son John Nicholls married to Elizabeth Fortescue, of Fallowpit in Devon;—and their son, the fourth John Nicholls, aged seven years, with other children. The granddaughter, or great-granddaughter, from these last recorded, became an heiress possessed of the whole property, and married Mr. Glynn, of Glynn; but being left a widow, and childless by the death of her only son, she devised her estate in certain portions, to Mr. Glynn, of Helston, with the whole of Trewane; and to Mr. Bennet her steward, father of the Rev. Joseph Bennet, who built or improved Skisden. The arms of Nicholls, of Trewane, were, Sable, three pheons Argent.
The rectorial tithes of this parish belonged to the priory of Plympton in Devonshire, and now belong to Molesworth of Pencarrow. The advowson has passed by purchase with their other property, from Mahon to Pitt and Glanville.
The church contains some monuments and painted glass. Mr. Hals has given the details of a law suit, which may tend to reconcile the admirers of olden times to those in which they live; nor can the Editor, who is the descendant and heir-at-law of Attorney-general Noye, and of his son Colonel Humphrey Noye, be supposed to entertain much respect for the memory of the Earl of Bath.