The Vicarage has passed through other hands. It is related by Hals and Tonkin to have belonged to Fleming and to Harris, and then by purchase to the corporation of Penzance, from which body it passed by sale to the family of Borlase, and is now vested in the heir-at-law, or in the devisee of the late Samuel Borlase, Esq.
But at a remote period the baronial residence of an extensive lordship was at Alverton, held by the Pomeroys; and Mr. Lysons says that it passed successively through the Tyes, Lisles, and Berkeleys, till reverting to the Crown it was granted to Whitmore and others, and has been divided and subdivided. Scarcely a trace can be seen at Alverton
of its former magnificence. The portion still claiming the nominal distinction of Manor of Alverton, Penzance, and Mousehole, was bought of the Keigwins by the late Mr. George Veale, second son of Mr. Veale, of Trevaila, who acquired a considerable fortune at Penzance by the practice of the law; afterwards divided between his three daughters,—one married to Mr. Hickens, of Poltair; another to Mr. Baines, a Captain in the Navy; and the third to Mr. Jenkin, an officer in the army. These ladies, or their families, have since disposed of Alverton, and the whole is now vested in James Halse, Esq. M. P. for St. Ives.
Maddern Well is one of the numerous springs of water almost revered in former times on account of imputed supernatural virtues; and it has in reality, from time out of mind, diffused health and comfort over the thousands of persons inhabiting Penzance, the stream having been conducted there by a winding channel of some miles in extent, and arriving at the highest part of the town, it is enabled to flow down to the sea through every street.
Penzance, the most western market town in Cornwall, is one of the most flourishing. It appears to have been in former times no more than a small village, occupying the promontory now distinguished as the Quay, where stood a chapel, dedicated to St. Anthony, the Patron of fishermen, which in all probability gave it the name of Pen-sance, or the holy head (land), and it seems further probable that the new church or chapel yard may have been an ancient fortress for the protection of the place. Houses however gradually extended beyond this narrow limit; and the place had acquired some magnitude, when, in the year 1595, on the 23d of July, a predatory squadron of ships from Spain, stood into the bay, and landing about two hundred men, destroyed Mousehole, burnt Paul Church, and did much injury to Penzance; see Carew, Lord Dunstanville’s edition, p. 381. But, as appears from history to be very usual in such cases, the town arose with increased
splendour from its ashes, and a charter of incorporation having been soon after, in 1614, granted by King James the First, measures were taken by this new body of trustees for insuring the increase and prosperity of the district committed to their charge. The most material of these were purchasing the seignorage of the harbour, and of the market, and of fairs, which according to the rude policy of former times had been vested in private persons, for individual benefit; the first of whom was Alice de Lisle, lady of the manor of Alverton, about the year 1332.
The Corporation also acquired a piece of ground called the three-cornered spot, on which a spacious market house was constructed, and buildings proper for shops and for merchandize, were raised on the three faces of the triangle. Penzance acquired also the privilege of being a coinage town. From this period it continued gradually to increase in size, in wealth, and in consideration, notwithstanding some adverse events in the Civil War, till the progress received an almost unlooked-for acceleration by another effort of the faithful trustees for the place, the body corporate. They, by a series of judicious efforts, continued for many years, at last completed a Pier, so extensive and well placed as to afford shelter for perhaps a hundred vessels, to admit several of the largest size used for traders, and to afford every accommodation and facility for the shipping or unshipping of merchandize. From the completion of this great work in 1813, up to the present period, Penzance has flourished beyond example; and though much may be imputed to the general prosperity of the times, and to the diffusion of knowledge, yet by far the greater part must be ascribed to the management of an unappropriated fund, by a body of honest and disinterested trustees, for the public benefit; and the Editor is especially disposed to bear this testimony to one Corporation, at a period (1835) when all municipal bodies are about to be remodelled, on the alleged ground of their insufficiency for useful purposes.
Penzance, for all ecclesiastical matters forming a part of
the parish of Maddern, has long had a chapel of ease, with a lecturer appointed for life by the corporation, on an endowment made in 1680 by Mr. John Tremenheere, at that time a merchant residing in the town, and either the direct or collateral ancestor of the very respectable family of that name still remaining in the town and neighbourhood.
It has since been augmented by Queen Anne’s Bounty; but, the chapel having become wholly inadequate to the population, a church has been built in its place, accompanied by a lofty tower, and all constructed of granite, so as to add, in a most extraordinary degree, to the beauty of the town, and at the same time to afford every convenience that the space could possibly admit; and it is pleasing to add, that the work has been conducted and executed by all the parties concerned, in a manner highly creditable to their taste, to their judgment, and to their care in the expenditure of public money. But among the gentlemen who have exerted themselves in different ways, it would be unfair not particularly to mention Mr. Vibert, whose general skill, ability, and accurate knowledge of details have been most conspicuous throughout the whole undertaking; and the Editor hopes that the ties of consanguinity will not be thought of a nature to preclude him from referring here to the late Mr. Edward Giddy, who, in the situation of chief magistrate, conferred on him, over and over again, in every other situation, on all occasions, and especially in regard to this splendid and useful building, proved himself the active, zealous, and intelligent friend of the town and of all its inhabitants; and it is further gratifying to state, that the existing members of the family of Tremenheere, in emulation of their ancestor, to whom the chapel is indebted for its original endowment, have added the splendid decoration of painted glass over the whole east window of the chancel. The new church will be opened for divine service in the present year; and in this year also, as perhaps the last act of a select corporate body, which, in the