Trembetha is said to have been the seat of John Hals, one of the judges in the reign of King Henry the Fifth,
and to have been sold by him to the Godolphins. In the time of Queen Elizabeth it belonged to the Mahons. The barton and manor are now the joint property of Mr. Praed and Mr. Champernowne, of Dartington, near Totnes, as to two-thirds; and the remaining share is divided between Mr. Tremayne, Mr. Rodd, and Mrs. Stephens, as coheirs of the family of Hearle.
Lelant was for centuries the residence of three old and respectable families—Praed, Hoskin, and Pawley. The Hoskins still remain possessed of their ancient freehold, and other property; and Mr. Henry Hoskins, the present head of the family, resides in a house at the northern extremity of Tredreath, or Lower Lelant Town, bearing all the marks which distinguished the dwellings of private gentlemen in the times of the Tudors or Plantagenets. The Pawleys are extinct, having declined through a series of years; Goonwhyn, or Gunwin, (the White Croft) where the family had long resided, together with some other remnants of property, came to Miss Jane Pawley, sufficient, however, to give her the reputation of an heiress: but misfortunes and disgraceful conduct reduced her so very low, that the Editor recollects her soliciting charity from those who once looked up to her superior station; and this representative of an ancient family closed her mortal career in a parish workhouse.
The Praeds are also extinct; but the name has, with singular felicity, arrived at tenfold splendour in a new dynasty.
The original family became at last represented by two brothers: the elder distinguished as Colonel Praed, married a Basset of Tehidy, but died soon after, leaving all the personal property to his widow: the younger brother succeeded to the real estate; but having been unsuccessfully engaged in trade, and finding the farms mostly leased on lives with the payment of small quit-rents, according to the custom of those times, he became more and more embarrassed; till, meeting with a gentleman of the family
of Mackworth, in Glamorganshire, bred to the higher department of the law, he arranged with this gentleman, that on being freed from all pecuniary difficulties, and receiving a certain annuity for life, the whole Cornish estate should be transferred to Mr. Mackworth; on the further conditions of his taking the name of Praed, and what seems almost ludicrous, of his engaging, so far as the consent of one party could be sufficient, to marry Miss Penrose, of Penrose, near Helston, the heiress-at-law to Mr. Praed’s estate.
Mr. Praed died about the years 1716 or 1717, when Mr. Mackworth came into possession, having performed every engagement to the utmost of his power; for the Editor recollects having heard from his son, the late Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed, that his father went to Penrose in execution of the condition dependent on another; but that, so far from obtaining success, he found some difficulty in escaping with his life.
The validity of the transfer was ultimately disputed on the part of Miss Penrose; and Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed has told the Editor that he was present at the trial in his nurse’s arms, when the agreement was finally established. The lady married a gentleman of the name of Pearse, and left an only daughter, who married Mr. Cumming; and their great-grandson, Sir Alexander Cumming Gordon, of Elginshire, is the present representative of the former family of Trevethow.
Mr. Mackworth Praed settled at Trevethow, where he was succeeded by his eldest son, Mr. Humphrey Mackworth Praed, one of the most distinguished men in his adopted country, for abilities, acquirements, wit, knowledge of the world, kindness, and unbounded hospitality. He once represented the county in Parliament, and on another occasion the borough of St. Ives. He married a lady of the eminent family of Forrester, in Shropshire, widow of Sir Bryant Broughton Delves, and had six children: William, his eldest son and heir; Herbert, Rector of
Ludgvan, who died in early life; and four daughters,—Catherine, Mary, Arabella, and Julia.