The country people here about will tell you, (as such are superstitious enough to do,) that this murder or manslaughter of Mr. Killigrew by Mr. Vincent, whereby the male line of that family is extinct, was a just judgment of God; for that Jane Killigrew, widow of Sir John Killigrew, Knt. aforesaid, his great-grandmother, in the Spanish wars in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, went on board two Dutch ships of the Hans Towns, (always free traders in times of war,) driven into Falmouth Harbour by cross winds, laden with merchandize, on account (as was said) of Spaniards, and with a numerous party of ruffians, murdered the two Spanish merchants or factors on board those ships, and took from them two barrels or hogsheads of Spanish pieces of eight, and converted them to her own use.
Now, though Fleta, Liber 1. chap. iii. temp. Edward II. tells us that it is no murder except it be proved that the party slain was English, and no stranger, yet afterwards, by the Statute 4 Edward III. his son, chap. 4, the killing any foreigner under the King’s protection, out of evil design or malice, is made murder, upon which Statute those offenders were tried and found guilty at Launceston of wilful murder, both by the grand and petty juries, and had sentence of death passed accordingly upon them, and were all executed, except the said Lady Killigrew, the principal agent and contriver of the barbarous fact, who, by the interest and favour of Sir John Arundell, of Tolverne, Knt. and his son-in-law, Sir Nicholas Hals, of Pengersick, Knt.
obtained of Queen Elizabeth a pardon or reprieve for the said lady, which was seasonably put into the Sheriff of Cornwall’s hands.
This Lady Jane Killigrew afterwards gave a silver cup to the Mayors of Penryn for ever, in memory of some kindness in her troubles received in that Corporation, 1612. Sir Henry Killigrew, Knt. temp. Elizabeth, was a younger brother to Sir John Killigrew aforesaid, and followed the Court for advantage, and to raise his fortunes (according to the constant genius of his family). He, as Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall saith, “after embassies and messages, and many other profitable employments, both of peace and war, in his prince’s service, to the good of his country, hath made choice of a retired estate, and was reverently regarded by all sorts, and places his principal contentment in himself; which to a life so well acted can no wise be wanting.” He married Katherine, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Giddy Hall, in Essex, Knt. who had issue by her a daughter, married to Sir Jonathan Trelawny, of Poble, Knt.
This Sir Henry Killigrew, by the favour of Queen Elizabeth, as a boon procured Gervase Babington, Lord Bishop of Exeter, 1594, by lease and release, fine and recovery, to dismember from the church and bishopric of Exeter, the great manor, barton, and lordship of Kirton, in Devon, worth 1,000l. per annum, rents of assize, which had been in the possession of the Bishops of Kirton and Exeter, from the time of Edulphus, the first Bishop thereof, anno Dom. 907, being 687 years to that time; but long since this manor of land is gone out of the name and possession of Killigrew. In like manner, about that time John Coldwell, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, passed the manor of Sherburne to the Crown, by whom it was given to Sir Walter Ralegh, Knt. which is also long since gone out of his name and family.
The arms of Killigrew are, within a field Argent, an imperial eagle with two necks, within a bordure Bezanté
Sable. Which arms and bordure seem to inform us that this family was indirectly descended from Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, by that concubine Jane de Valletorta, widow of Sir Alexander Oakeston [see St. Stephen’s by Saltash]. For that, as this bordure Bezanté Sable was the proper arms of Richard Earl of Cornwall, viz. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, the imperial eagle was the cognizance of the said Earl of Cornwall as King of the Romans.
Within this parish also now stands the borough town of Falmouth, which compound word is etymologized before. It was incorporated 14th Charles II. by the name of the Mayor and Aldermen and Magistrates of the Borough of Falmouth, with the jurisdiction of a Court-leet, wherein plea of debt and damage is tried within its precincts. But, alas! notwithstanding its present grandeur, neither this town nor its modern name is of any great antiquity, neither being extant 500 years past; for long since that time it was known by no other appellation than that of Smith-ike, that is, the Smith’s creek, leat, or bosom of waters, from a smith that lived at the creek, or cove, now in the centre thereof. And verily, I have been told by some aged persons lately living, that they remembered not above five houses standing in this place; though now, I suppose, they are increased to five or six hundred. And for its name Falmouth, it was not recorded till, at the request of Sir Peter Killigrew, it was inserted in its charter of incorporation as aforesaid. Which thing I do not mention to disparage this really good name, but to let the inhabitants of this place, and many other families now flourishing in Cornwall, know that many of them are mistaken in their antiquity and former appellations, if truly examined.
Moreover, concerning the first buildings of this town by John Killigrew, Esq. In 1613, happened a notable controversy between him and the Corporations of Penryn, Truro, and Helston, which suggested, by a petition to James the First, promoted and backed by the interest of the Burgesses
thereof, viz. Sir Richard Robartes, Bart. and John Arundell, Esq. for Truro; Sir Francis Godolphin, Knt. for Helston; Richard Penwarne, Esq. for Penryn; and others, “that the erecting of a town at Smith-ike would tend to the ruin and impoverishing of the ancient coinage-towns and market-towns aforesaid, not far distant from thence; and therefore humbly prayed the King’s Majesty that the buildings and undertakings of Mr. Killigrew might be inhibited for the future.” Who, upon receipt and hearing of this petition in Council, ordered the Lords thereof, Egerton, Buckhurst, Hume, Marre, Sir Robert Cecil, Principal Secretary of State, and others, to write to Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fentongollon, Knt. then Governor of Pendennis Castle, to be better informed of the true merits of this case, and to know his own particular sentiments about it. Which gentleman, as soon as he received this letter, made answer, that he well approved of Mr. Killigrew’s project for building a town and custom-house at Smith-ike, as being near the mouth of the harbour of Falmouth; and briefly, amongst many others, for these reasons especially: