DAVIES GILBERT, (continued 7)

Mr. Mayo claimed the farm or toll of the copper-ore, 303 as well as of the tin, in right of his bounds; but the suit was very justly determined in favour of Mr. Boscawen, as Lord of the Soil, for that the right of the tin as bounder was only by the custom of the Stannaries, and that no such custom could be pleaded for copper ore.

This one suit put an end to all disputes between the lords of the soil and the bounders, which otherwise would have been endless, and very much to the discouragement of copper mines; and there have not been wanting some designing people of late, who made application to King George II. then Prince of Wales, falsely representing that much tin ore was carried into Wales with the copper ore, and there separated from the copper, to his great loss of duties.

Guddern. This place hath been for several generations the seat, on lease from the family of Boscawen, of the Bowdens; perhaps ever since the Albalonda’s time, although they were possessed of fair estates in fee elsewhere.

Reginald Bowden, Esq. is the present possessor.

Nansavallan. Avallan is an apple-tree, and the name signifies the valley of apple-trees. This I take to have been the chief seat of the Albalondas, as it hath been since of some of the Boscawens; and particularly of late years that of Charles Boscawen, Esq. a younger son to Hugh Boscawen, Esq. and sometime Member of Parliament for Tregony, and a Justice of the Peace. The arms of Albalonda were, Gules, three bends Argent; Mr. Bowden’s, Azure, a chevron between seven griffins’ heads couped Or, each head transfixed by a dagger, the pommel Or, the blade Proper.

Adjoining to Nansavallan is Kelliou, the groves, this name being the plural of Kelli, a grove. It was once the seat of a family of the same name, but whether they were of the same stock with the Kellios of Lanleke and Rosiline I am yet to learn. By a daughter and heir, this place, if I am not mistaken, came to Edward Vivian, Esq. a younger son to Vivian of Trenoweth, by whom he had only 304 one daughter and heir Jane, married to John Howeis, of Redruth, whose great-grandson Reginald Howeis, Esq. is the present owner of it. He was Sheriff of Cornwall in the tenth year of George I. 1724, and hath married Susanna, the eldest daughter and coheir of Edward Harris, Esq.; and his brother Edward Howeis, Jane her younger sister, and both have issue. The family of Howeis, give for their arms, Azure, a fess wavy between three lions passant Or, armed and langued Gules.

Trevoster. This place is very pleasantly situated on Truro river, facing the town, from which it is but two miles distant by water. This was a seat of a younger branch of the Trevanion family, for here lived John Trevanion, youngest son of John Trevanion, of Carhays, Esq. which John Trevanion had by his wife, the daughter of —— Holland, Esq. of Devonshire, a son of the same name, who married Marianne, the daughter of John Somaster, of Painsford, in Devon, Esq. by whom he had three daughters and coheiresses. Mary, married to Richard Trefusis, of Trefusis, Esq.; Joan, to William Bligh, of Botathon, Esq.; and Alice to Nicholas Boscawen, of Tregothnan, Esq.

Since that, Trevoster has been held on lease by one of the family of Davies, and now Mr. Howeis, of Killion, has a lease of it on lives.

All these estates before mentioned, I take to be within the manor of Blanchland, and I have passed by one place in it to the north-west of the Great Works, called Kelly freth: this was for several generations the seat, in lease from the Boscawens, of the Winters, a younger branch of that eminent family in Gloucestershire, and the family remained here till very lately, giving for their arms, Sable, a fess Ermine.

I don’t know whether it be worth while to take notice of a place to the south of it, called Chase Water, which being on the great road between Truro and Redruth, and very near the Great Works, hath now several houses built in it.

The manor of Key, alias Landegay. 305

I take this to be the same with that called by Mr. Carew Landegy. I find this parish called Ecclesia de Landigay.

This manor was forfeited by Francis Tregion, Esq. with the rest of his estate, as may be seen in Probus.

About the 8th or 9th Charles I. this manor was given or sold for a small sum by the King to William Coryton, of Newton, Esq. in whose family it hath remained ever since. On the commons belonging to Guddern is a large barrow called Guddern Barrow, near which are several large moorstones; and also at no great distance is another barrow, called Craig Vrause, or the large barrow, remarkable for giving name to some good mines of tin and copper near it.

THE EDITOR.

All the legends of this parish concur in claiming for their patron Saint Kea, one of the great company of missionaries, and as the ludicrous, almost from a species of fatality, appears to have blended itself with these ancient tales, a large block of granite, hollow on one side, which happened to lie near the bank of the river, was for centuries pointed out as the boat used by St. Kea to waft himself from Ireland to the Cornish shore; and so currently was this story repeated, that, if persons went to sea in a vessel not adequate to the service, it was observed they might as well have made a voyage with St. Kea in his moorstone trough.

Mr. Hals having used a strange orthography for Nansavallan, and given as fanciful a derivation of the word; both are omitted, since Nans or Nance is known to be a vale; and Avallan may be proved to be the Celtic name of an apple, by referring to the History of Glastonbury. This seat of the Albalandas presented within fifty years one of the most venerable specimens in all that neighbourhood of the dwellings used by gentlemen of consideration in former times.

It was entirely surrounded and sheltered by large trees, 306 and at some little distance stood a wood more extensive than any one west of it; and both were conspicuous and pleasing objects from the whole district round Truro; but the auri sacri fames has swept away the whole, and the place is now become very little preferable to an open down. The Editor expresses himself with some feeling on this subject, having passed at Nanceavallan many happy weeks of his childhood; and fancied the wood an exact counterpart of that in which the favourite objects of infantine compassion perished from want of food, and were painfully covered over with leaves by the little bird, doubly consecrated by this effort of his kindness.

In the hands of the proprietor, the farm of Nanceavallan is however now improving, by extensive drainages, and by a system of husbandry, that cannot fail of extending the benefit derived from example to all the neighbourhood.

Killiow is now the seat of Mr. Robert Lovell Gwatkin, where he has built an almost entirely new house with extensive gardens and plantations, improved the land, and made the whole into a handsome modern residence.

To this gentleman the parish is also mainly indebted for a removal of the church.

Either cultivation began on the banks of the river, or a strong feeling of veneration was entertained for the spot where St. Kea landed from his granite trough, but so it happened that the church stood at one extremity of the parish, and that by far the least populous. Mr. Gwatkin led the way, and contributed largely towards constructing a new church much nearer to the great mass of the inhabitants; in this he was followed by other proprietors, and a spacious church is now in use for divine service between Killiow and Nanceavallan. Prayers, with a sermon suited to the occasion, were first given, after reading the Bishop’s license, on the 3d. of October 1802, being the feasten Sunday, to a congregation so large as almost to fill the churchyard as well as the church itself, which is decorated by Mrs. Gwatkin, niece of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with paintings which that great artist could not have failed to admire. 307 The tower alone remains to point out the site of the former church.

Mr. Reginald Haweis, mentioned as the possessor of Killiow by Hals, received his education as a Gentleman Commoner of Exeter College; but he spent the whole of the remainder of his life in retirement. One Oxford anecdote he used to relate with peculiar pleasure. It seems that he was selected to recite some Latin verses in the theatre, commemorating the victory of Blenheim, an event without parallel in the modern history of Europe till the year 1815. In the verses occurred this apostrophe, Quo, Tallarde! ruis? and as Mr. Haweis was actually pronouncing these words, the Duke of Marlborough with Marshal Tallard entered the theatre, amidst thunders of applause. But possibly the entrance of Marshal Tallard may be a mistake.

Mr. Reginald Haweis and his brother Edward, both stated to have families, died childless; and the estate devolved on Mr. David Haweis, the grandson of an uncle.

That uncle had been a beneficed clergyman, but was deprived with the two thousand turned out to poverty and to suffer persecution (see St. Hilary parish) on St. Bartholomew’s day 1662; a day ill chosen by those who might recollect what happened on the same festival ninety years before.

This gentleman having a family, and being without support, found himself obliged to dispose of them in any way to procure their own maintenance, and his eldest son submitted to become a barber. His son was apprenticed to the same trade; and on him the estate devolved. He married a gentlewoman, Miss Kempe, of Roseland; but persevering in low habits of intemperance, the peculiar vice of that time, he died at an early age, leaving the property to his widow for her life, with the remainder to his sisters. They were married, and in stations not more elevated than his own; their husbands were ready to pursue a line of conduct similar to that which had cut short the ’squire’s life; and in consequence, the whole reversionary interests 308 were soon dissipated, with the exception of one subdivided portion, transmitted by a sister’s daughter, who died early in life, to her only daughter, Mary Ann Jenkins, of whom it may be sufficient to say, that if the whole estate had devolved on her, it would have been in hands worthy of her best ancestors.

On the banks of the river, directly opposite to Tregothnan, the magnificent seat of Lord Falmouth, is a farm called Trelease, belonging to the Editor; for beauty of natural situation and for command of prospect, scarcely inferior to Tregothnan itself.

But if ancient romances could be relied on as authorities, the place most deserving of regard in this parish, or in the whole county, after Tintagell Castle, would be Carlian, since Thomas of Erceldowne, the celebrated northern poet of the twelfth century, universally known by the appellation of Thomas the Rhymer, describes Carlian as the birth-place of the renowned Sir Tristrem, Knight of the Round Table, companion of Arthur and the chief hero of chivalry, where all exceed not merely the prowess, but whatever the imagination can create in these degenerate times. Yet perhaps the armies and fleets of England may say,

Chase Water is now grown almost into a town. A chapel has recently been built there for the accommodation of a dense population; but in such wretched taste as to burlesque the worst imitation of Gothic.

The parish of Kea measures 7382 statute acres.

£. s. d.

Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 4306 0 0

Poor Rate in 1831 1254 7 0

Population,—

in 1801, 2440 in 1811, 2766 in 1821, 3142 in 1831, 3837

giving an increase of 57 per cent. in 30 years.

In 1821 and in 1831 the population of Tregavethen is subjoined, 66—59.

309 The present Vicar of Kea is the Rev. George J. Cornish, collated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1828.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The southern part of Kea is formed of the same rock as the adjoining parish of Feock; the northern part runs towards the granite, and is similar to the corresponding part of Gwennap; and, like it, has been much explored by mines.

Baldue, the Black Work, about a mile east of Chase Water, has produced great quantities of the sulphate of zinc, called by the miners Black Jack.

KELLINGTON, or CALLINGTON.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Eastwellshire, and hath upon the north Stoke Clemsland and South Hill, east St. Dominick, south St. Mellin, west St. Eve.

At the time of the first inquisition into the value of Cornish benefices by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, anno Dom. 1294, this church had no endowment, neither was it then consolidated into South Hill; but before Wolsey’s inquisition 1521, they were both united, and were then valued for revenues at 38l. per annum; the patronage in the Duke of Cornwall, who endowed it; the incumbent Trelawnye; the town and parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax 1696, 120l. 16s.

This church or chapel town bailiwick is now known by the name of the town, manor, and borough of Killiton, i. e. chapel town, privileged with the jurisdiction of a Court Leet, and sending two Members to sit in the Commons’ House of Parliament, which are chosen by the tenants of the said manor that are freeholders; as also by a 310 jury chosen out of them, is elected the Mayor or Portreeve that governs the said borough yearly; the arms of which are in a field, a wreathed flourish. This borough is also privileged with a weekly market on Wednesdays; and fairs yearly on April 23, September 8, and November 1.

The writ to remove an action at law depending in this town Court Leet, as also the precept for electing Members of Parliament, must be thus directed: Preposito et Burgensibus Burgi nostri de Killiton in com. Cornubiæ salutem; and for the same purpose, to remove an action at law depending in the Hundred Court Baron of this Bailiwick, the writ must be thus directed: Senescallo et Ballivo Hundredi et Libertatis nostri de Eastwellshire in comitatu Cornubiæ salutem.

Near this place is situate Hengiston Downs, the place mentioned by Roger Hoveden in his Latin Chronicle, which says, that in the year of our Lord 806 a great fleet of Danes arrived in West Wales, which some conjecture to be Cornwall, not North or South Wales (in all thirteen shires); especially for that he says, the Welsh joined in insurrection with them against Egbright thirteenth King of England or the West Saxons, by whom they were all overthrown at a place called, Hengis-ton·dun, i. e. Hengis-ton-dun; that is to say, Hengist’s fenced, fortified or camp town, which some take to be Hengiston Downs aforesaid, which place in former ages so abounded with tin that it gave occasion to those rhimes, (neither is it at present altogether destitute thereof)

In this town or borough of Killington, for retirement and delight, lived Sir Edward Bray, Knight, originally descended, as tradition says, from the Brays of Bray, in St. Just in Cornwall, that came into England with William the Conqueror, otherwise from Ralph de Bray, Sheriff of Hampshire, third of King John.

311 The Bray’s arms were, in a field Argent, a chevron between three eagles’ legs erased at the knees Sable. He gave also in a field Varry Purple and Argent, three bendlets Gules.

Sir Reginald Bray, Knight Banneret and of the Garter, Privy Councillor to King Henry VII. and Speaker of the House of Commons in his eleventh year, is noted to have made the usual protestation for himself to that King, without any petition for the liberty of the Commons, as is to be seen in modus tenendi Parliamentum: he was a brother of the Lord Bray, or descended from the same family. (See Camden in Hampshire.) Others will not allow those Brays to be of British, but of French descent, from the province of Bray in that country, and that they came into England with the Conqueror, and that the many places in Cornwall distinguished by the name of Bray were denominated from them after their coming into England: but of this query.

A Knight Banneret was made in the field or camp of war, under the King’s standard, who was personally present, by cutting off the point of his standard, and making it a banner; after which they might display their particular arms in a banner in the King’s army, and take place of Knights Bachelors.

TONKIN.

As for the name of this parish, which is a daughter church to South Hill, and has for its patron saint St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Lycia, I take it to be Killy-Ton, the town in a grove of trees.

Then follows a long conjectural account of the lords of this manor, which is wholly uninteresting, and therefore omitted.

THE EDITOR. 312

Mr. Tonkin does not state on what authority he has assigned the town and parish to the care of St. Nicholas. The popularity of this saint is now, and always has been, so great as to render the fact of his being the patron very probable. He is held in the highest veneration throughout Russia.

St. Nicholas ran through the ordinary course of those days. He became a monk, succeeded to the abbacy of his convent; and when the clergy of Myra assembled to elect a Bishop, and almost agreed in their choice, they were divinely instructed to wait till the next day, and then to choose the person who first offered himself to their notice, on their opening the church-door. They obeyed; and in the morning St. Nicholas was led to the spot by an irresistible impulse. He assisted in overthrowing the Arians, under the direction of Constantine, at the Council of Nice. All these, however, were matters of frequent occurrence. The fame of St. Nicholas rests on something more unusual; and if the tale is of a date sufficiently early, it may have been the cause of his subsequent advancement, and of his having obtained an influence so great as to effect the change of his simple bishoprick into a metropolitan see, with thirty-six suffragans.

So very early was the præcox ingenium of this saint directed towards observances, then deemed most acceptable to the Divinity, that when an infant in arms he rigidly abstained, every Wednesday and Friday, and on all other days kept as fasts by the church, from touching his nurse’s breast; for this truly wonderful ascetic achievement he has been deservedly accounted the peculiar patron of children, and more especially the preserver of their health.

He died in 342, and was buried in the Cathedral at Myra; but in the year 1087 his relics were forcibly taken from a country no longer Christian, and were enshrined 313 in the Cathedral of St. Stephen at Bavi in Italy, where pilgrims have ever since resorted in great numbers to witness or to experience miraculous cures effected by his intercession with Almighty God.

His festival is kept on the 6th of December, and on this day the ludicrous or profane ceremony of the Boy Bishop used to be exhibited in most Cathedrals. At Salisbury a boy is represented on a monument, dressed in the habit of a bishop including the mitre; and this is said to have been occasioned by the lad dying in his mock pontificate.

Mr. Lysons states, that the manor of Callington has passed through various families, Ferrers, Champernowne, Willoughby, Dennis, and Rolle.

The heiress of Samuel Rolle brought it to Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, son of Sir Robert Walpole; and on the death of his son George Walpole in 1791, sine prole, this property passed to Mr. Robert George William Trefusis, of Trefusis in Cornwall, together with the barony of Clinton, created by writ of summons to Parliament in the reign of Edward the First.

George Walpole, Earl of Orford, executed a deed by which, after reserving a life interest to himself, and a power of revocation never acted on, he settled the remainder in fee of all such property as came to him from his maternal relations, on the right heir of Samuel Rolle, son of Robert Rolle and Arabella Clinton, his ancestor, from whom the Barony had descended; but his legal adviser forgot a most important distinction between deeds and wills; a will not coming into action till after the testator’s death, when Mr. Trefusis would have been the undoubted heir of Samuel Rolle; but the deed, being effective from the instant of its execution, vested the remainder in Mr. George Walpole himself, the then heir of Samuel Rolle; and on his decease carried the property which had vested in him by act of law, although in direct opposition to his wishes and intention, from the 314 maternal line to that of his father. Fortunately, however, in this instance, the whole was under mortgage, which brought the cognizance of the affair into Chancery. Mr. Trefusis took possession unopposed; and proceedings to obtain the property in consequence of the mistake, were not commenced till after twenty years, when a solemn decision of the House of Lords declared that the interference came too late for disturbing matters in equity.

It is obvious that Mr. George Walpole should have settled the remainder in fee on such person as would be the heir of Samuel Rolle after his own decease, or perhaps in trustees for such person. Mr. Trefusis (Lord Clinton) has since disposed of the Callington property to Mr. Alexander Baring.

This town or village received a Tudor charter in the 27th year of Queen Elizabeth, and continued to fulfil the duties, for which the corporation was instituted, till 1832, when the privilege of sending Members to Parliament ceased to exist.

Callington parish measures 2387 statute acres.

£. s. d.

Value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 4142 0 0

Poor Rate in 1831 950 17 0

Population,—

in 1801, 819 in 1811, 938 in 1821, 1321 in 1831, 1388

giving an increase of 69 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The north-eastern part of this parish extends to the foot of Kitt Hill, the most elevated point in Hingston Down, which is composed of granite. The slate adjoining thereto resembles that which occurs in similar situations in the parishes of St. Austell and St. Blazey; and it has also been the scene of mining speculations. As the town of Callington is approached, the slate becomes of a darker 315 blue, and passes into hornblende rock, which prevails in the other parts of this parish; but where quartz predominates, the land is barren. This rock, however, does not possess here a very marked character, nor is it frequently exposed to view; near St. Eve it appears to graduate into the calcareous series.

KENWYN.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the north Peran Sabulo, and St. Allen, east St. Clement’s, south Truro, west Kea.

In the Domesday tax 20 William I. 1087, this district was rated under the jurisdiction of Edles. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish benefices, 1294, there is no such church as Kenwen named then in the hundred of Powdre; if it were then extant, at that time it had no endowment; however, I find in the 15th granted by the Clergy, the 24th Henry VI. 1447, the parish of Kenwen in Powdre was rated 2l. 19s.; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, Landegge or Keyewis consolidated into Kenwen (the elder church into the younger) and rated as aforesaid 16l. The patronage in the Bishop of Exon, who endowed them; the incumbent Mitchell, and the parish of Kenwen rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax 1696, 196l. 14s. 6d.

Near Edles, or Ideless, i. e. narrow breadth (formerly the voke lands of a considerable manor, taxed in Domesday Book as aforesaid, privileged then with the jurisdiction of a Court Leet) is yet to be seen the ruins and downfalls of St. Clare’s consecrated and walled well; chapelwise built, by the Nuns of the nunnery-house of Poor Clares in Trurow, called An-hell, i. e. the hall; but yet, alas! as tradition 316 saith, they were not so poor as their rule obligeth them to be, for in the walls of this well they had deposited or hid away considerable sums of money, which, by tradition or some dream, was discovered tempore James II. to some of the inhabitants of this parish, who one night pulled down the walls and totally defaced this chapel-well in quest thereof, and probably succeeded in their design and undertaking, for soon after some poor labourers in agriculture became rich farmers and landed men, and others. From this place was denominated a family of gentlemen, surnamed de Idless, whose heir was married to Hamley, tempore Edward III.

Trega-veth-an, in this parish, the grave town or dwelling, so called from the cemetery and free chapel yet extant here, of public use before the church of Kenwen was erected; which barton and manor for several descents was the lands of a Welch family of gentlemen surnamed de Langhairons; i. e. holy or sacred laws; till the latter end of the reign of King Charles II. when Mr. Langhairne sold this barton to Walter Vincent, Esq., barrister at law, and the manor to Mr. Bawden and others. The arms of Langhairne were Azure, a chevron between three escallops Or.

Chyn-coos in this parish, i. e. the wood-house, formerly surrounded with woods, is the dwelling of Thomas Hawes, Gent., that married Hawes of Kea, and Paynter; and giveth the same arms as the Hawses of Kea.

TONKIN.

The manor of Tregavethan.

This signifies the dwelling in the meadows, vethen being the same with bither, a meadow; and whoever sees the place will be soon convinced of the truth of this etymology.

Tregedick was lord of the manor and sometimes dwelt here, but having only one daughter and heir, the barton passed with her to —— Langhairne, Esq., but the father having 317 reserved the manor, he in consequence of some difference sold it. The Langhairnes, however, continued to reside on the barton in much esteem till the great Civil Wars, in which this family suffered so much as to be compelled to sell it; and it came at last into the possession of Henry Vincent, Gent., of Tresinsple, who let out the barton in leases to several tenants, so that it is now become a village, and little of the mansion or house left standing.

To the west of Tregavethan, or the high town, on the confines between this parish and those of St. Agnes and Perran in the Sands, are three great barrows, called the Three Barrows; and about a mile to the westward of these on very high ground are four barrows, one belonging to this manor and the other three to Lambourn in Perran. These barrows give name to the downs, and the great road from London to the Land’s End passes between them. They were doubtless the burying places of some principal commanders, and probably Danes. To the left of Tregavethan and within the manor, is Roseworth, the Green Valley. This was once a seat of the family of Cosens; and here lived Nicholas Cosens, Esq. who was Sheriff of Cornwall in the year 1660. He dying without issue left it to his widow, and after his death it became the property of Samuel Enys, Esq. by purchase.

THE EDITOR.

Kenwyn may be said to include the old part of Truro, which occupies the mere extremity of a point or tongue of land stretching from this parish and enclosed between two rivers. The land immediately round the town is fertile, in a high state of cultivation, and decorated by trees and villas; but towards the Four Barrow Down and Chasewater, nothing can be more desolate than the barren commons studded with heaps of rubbish from deserted mines.

In this parish are situate two of the earliest establishments for smelting tin by means of coal, and on the largest scale of any in the county, Calenick and Cavedras; but 318 of late years this business has taken an entirely new character; tin ores are sold, like those of copper, by public tender or ticketings, and smelting houses are constructed in some cases for the use of particular mines.

The manor of Newham formed part of the Bodregan property, and after the despoiling of Sir Henry Bodregan by King Henry VII. it was given to Trevanion, of whom it was purchased by the late Mr. Ralph Allen Daniell, sometime member for West Looe, by whom a handsome house has been built on the side of the river, half a mile below Truro; Bosvigo is also a gentleman’s seat.

And at Comprigney, near Bosvigo, the Editor apprehends that several ancestors in succession of General Sir Hussey Vivian resided. Kenwyn church and tower, with an excellent glebe house adjacent, built about the year 1780, are very conspicuous objects, and command themselves a fine view of the town and river. The church is provided with a set of bells said to surpass all others in the country; and to have been placed there when ringing was a favourite amusement with the neighbouring gentlemen.

This parish measures 8,094 statute acres.

£. s. d.

Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 13,296 0 0

Poor Rate in 1831 2133 1 0

Population,—

in 1801, 4017 in 1811, 5000 in 1821, 6221 in 1831, 8492

giving an increase of 111 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This large parish does not appear to offer anything peculiar in its geology, as Doctor Boase merely remarks that Kenwyn lies entirely on slate, which is of the same nature as that of St. Allen and St. Clement’s.

319

ST. KEVERNE.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Kerryer, and hath upon the north St. Martin’s, east St. Anthony, west Ruan Minor, south the British Channel. As for the modern name, whether it be derived from the Saxon Geferon, Geforan, Geuoran, i. e. Geferon, Geforan, Geuoran, synonymous words, signifying a fraternity, seers, equals, fellows, inspectors, with reference to the six, eight, or twelve men of this parish, who as a body politic, corporation, or fraternity, govern the same in joint or equal manner; or from the British Keveren, as schism, separation or division in church matters or religion (see Lhuyd upon Schisma); or from Kieran, a famous Bishop amongst the Britons about the fifth century, who perhaps was born in this place, and is the tutelar guardian and patron of this Church; and to him also is dedicated St. Kieran rectory, in decanatu Christianitatis in Exeter: of which every man may think as he please.

In the Inquisition made into the value of Cornish Benefices by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, ecclesia Sancti Kierani, in decanatu de Kerryer, xxiil. viiis. iiiid. Vicar ejusdem iiiil. vis. viiid. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, 18l. 11s. 4d. The patronage in Bulteel; the Incumbent Gerry; the Rectory in possession of Heale; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, by the name of St. Keverne, 310l. 16s. 4d.

Part of this new parish of St. Keverne, at the time of the Norman Conquest, was rated in the Domesday Book, 1087, under the jurisdiction of Treleage (i. e. Physician or Surgeon’s Town, or the Law Town); it is now the possession of Robert Buggin, Esq. (id est, Bacon) who married Prudence, 320 daughter of John Arundell of Trethall, Esq.; his father, Jane, the daughter of Sir Francis Vyvyan, Knight, a younger branch of Gatcomb House in Devon, originally descended from Zacharias Boggan, Gent., Mayor of Totness, A.D. 1550, whose ancestors were merchants of that town, and gave for their arms, Sable, a cocatrice displayed Argent, membered and taloned Gules.

Note further, that as ker, kerr, kyr, kir, signifies dear, beloved, choicely affectioned, in British, Cornish, and the Armorick languages, answerable to dilectus in Latin; so from thence proceeds Kerryer, a lover, or one dearly affectioned. See Floyd upon dilectus.

Tre-land in this parish (either the temple town, or a town notable for land) was another district or manor, taxed in Domesday Roll; and I take it, there are yet extant two tenements here called Tre-land Vear, and Tre-land Vean; i. e. the greater and less Tre-lands. One of those places, as I am informed, is the dwelling of John Hayme, Gent. (Saxon, i. e. a house, home, or covering; see also Verstegan upon this word) that married Tregose; his father Boggans.

In this parish is situate Condura and Tregarne, manors formerly pertaining to Condura, Earl of Cornwall.

Lanareh, also Lan-arth, in this parish is the dwelling of Sampson Sanns, Gent., that married Cood, which tenement or barton was formerly the lands of Kensham, who sold it to the present possessors.

This Mr. Sanns died without legal issue about the year 1696, and left his estate to his brother’s son, John Sanns, that married Hamley of St. Neot, now in possession thereof, who in the month of January, in the afternoon, in the year 1702, with seven other persons, men and women of this parish, coming by sea from Falmouth town and harbour towards their own homes in a fishing boat of about five tons burden, without deck or covering, on a fair day; and having got off at sea about a league beyond the said harbour, and within two leagues of their dwelling to the west; suddenly 321 there happened to arise a high and mighty storm of wind against them, which rose the rapid waves of the sea to that degree, that the boatmen or oarmen, with all their skill or strength, were not able to put the boat further forward without its being filled with water or swallowed up with the raging sea.

Whereupon, despairing of getting home to St. Keverne, they all resolved if possible to return back to Falmouth harbour before this tempestuous storm of wind that blew that way, or to run on shore on any other part of the country as they could. But, alas! they no sooner attempted those expedients, and turned their boat, but instantly the wind turned and thwarted their design. In this extremity they knew not what to do; both wind and water being thus outrageous against them: and that which added more to their calamity was, that, through their long toiling at sea, the light of the sun was past and night approached.

Then every person present being at their wit’s end, called upon his God for pardon of their sins, and mercy upon their souls, as despairing of the preservation of their bodies from the merciless element of the seas; when at length, after much fervent prayers, tears, and cries, the watermen proposed, all other their endeavours failing, that the boat must be left to drive before the wind and sea, to such port or place as God in his infinite mercy and providence should guide it.

This course was taken, and the boat forthwith, by letting loose its helm, in a dark long night and most tremendous storm or hurricane, followed the current of the wind and waves all night; the passengers every minute casting out of the boat such water as the outrageous seas cast in upon her, least she might thereby be overwhelmed or filled therewith. At length the glimpse of daylight appeared, when they beheld themselves environed with the billows of the great ocean, without sight of either sun, moon, stars, or land. The storm still continuing all that day and the night after, 322 also the third day and the night after, the boat and mariners in the same condition as aforesaid, when afterwards the fourth day in the morning, the wind and seas being somewhat abated of their fury and violence, about ten of the clock they discovered land, and forthwith rowed and steered the boat to the sea-shore thereof, where they arrived with the boat safely; which happened to be, as I was informed, on the coast of Normandy in France, about a hundred leagues distance from the place the boat first was driven off at sea. Which happened to be at such time as Queen Anne had wars with the French King. As soon as Mr. Sanns and his companions stept on land, they were met by three or four men with fusees, demanding what they were (as they judged, for they understood not French), to which they replied they were English; which one of them that understood the English tongue hearing, demanded the occasion of their coming there, and by what expedient they came over; the particulars of which hearing, as aforesaid, they were all astonished to hear of their hazardous passage, miraculous preservation, and to behold the boat, the instrument thereof next Providence.

Upon which discourse, a gentleman of the company asked Mr. Sanns what part of England he was born in, to which he replied Cornwall; and further interrogated him whether his name were not Sanns, to which he replied that it was; ‘Why then,’ said the gentleman, ‘I know your person, and well remember the kindness you shewed me in my distress many years since at your house, when the ship in which I was, was cast away and lost on the coast of St. Kevern;’ understanding which, after they embraced each other. Then, he demanded their arms and money, if any; whereupon Mr. Sanns having with him forty guineas that he had received at Falmouth for pilchards, the day before his boat was driven off at sea, he forthwith delivered it to his friend, who told him he and his companions must yield themselves prisoners of war; which accordingly they did, and Mr. Sanns was taken home to the gentleman’s house. After 323 which they were all examined concerning the premises before a justice of the peace, who finding matters as aforesaid, ordered that they should not be kept in custody as prisoners of war, but be all permitted to go at liberty and beg the alms of the people; whereupon they found extraordinary charity and favour amongst them, since they were not enemies, but persons by fate or Providence, brought there after an especial manner, and preserved from the violence of the seas by the great Maker and Protector of all things.

The news whereof forthwith not only flew over the country, but was transmitted to the cognizance of King Lewis XIV., who thereupon ordered that by the first transport ship for prisoners of war, they should all be sent home freely into England; which happening soon after, Mr. Sanns took his leave of his kind landlord, in whose house he had been dieted and entertained, and was content to leave the forty guineas aforesaid with him, as his recompence; but contrary to his expectation the gentleman gave the same to him again, saying he would take nothing of that kind at his hands, since God in such a wonderful manner had preserved him and his companions from the great danger of the seas. Whereupon, he presented five or six guineas to his wife, who after some reluctancy accepted thereof, and so they parted and went on board a transport ship, and safely landed at Portsmouth; and in about eight weeks after their departure from England, returned safe to St. Keverne, to the great joy and astonishment of their friends and relations, who concluded them all drowned long before.

And that the reader may not think those people’s subsistence three nights and four days in their dangerous sea voyage, was as supernatural as their preservation, it must be remembered, that one of Mr. Sanns’ companions being a woman that was an inn-keeper, had bought at Falmouth town before they departed thence, for to sell to her customers, twelve pennyworth of white bread and three 324 or four gallons of brandy, which proved the material support of their lives. Matthew of Westminster, our Chronologer, tells us that about the year 900, Dusblan, Machreu and one Maxlium, in a boat made of one ox skin and a half, with seven days provisions, in two days and a night arrived miraculously into Cornwall from Ireland, at the Mount’s Bay.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin does not add any thing to Mr. Hals’s narrative, except the single observation,

It takes its name from the famous St. Keven.

THE EDITOR.

St. Keverne’s fame does not extend out of Cornwall. He must have been one of the Irish missionaries who crossed the seas in granite troughs, or in skiffs made of bullocks’ hides. Tales were in circulation about mutual visits from St. Perran and St. Kevern, but they contain only vulgar incidents of modern fabrication.

The extraordinary escape of the passengers from Falmouth, is retained at the full length in which Mr. Hals relates it, as the narrative bears evident marks of authenticity, and the incidents are creditable to all the parties introduced.

This parish is amply provided with small harbours or coves affording shelter to boats, and the shore admits of using seine nets for taking pilchards. The principal of these harbours, Coverack, has been long noted for an extensive trade, still more lucrative than fishing; the other two are Porthoustock (Proustock) and Porthalla (Prala).

About seventy years since a large shoal of pilchards came into the cove at Porthoustock, while the seine boats were on the outside. One of these extended its net across the entrance and shut in the whole; but salt in sufficient quantity 325 could not be procured for saving them, when the fishermen resolved on the hazardous expedient of sailing to France for a supply; the weather continued fine till their return, and they are reported to have prepared for exportation above a thousand hogsheads. The Church is situated on the highest ground in this whole district, having the addition of a spire instead of the lofty tower usual in Cornwall. The existing spire is of recent date, although probably on the model of that which was destroyed by lightning on the 28th of February 1770.

For a very accurate and able account of this thunder storm, which occurred during divine service, and seems to have been one of the most violent on record, see a paper in the 61st vol. of the Philosophical Transactions, p. 71, art. 8, 1771; (and vol. 13, p. 98, of the Abridgment,) by the Rev. Anthony Williams, then Vicar.

The spire was rent in pieces. The roof of the church almost entirely destroyed; large stones scattered over the floor, and small stones on the outside carried to a distance little short of a quarter of a mile. Mr. Williams himself was rendered insensible, the whole congregation, with very few exceptions, fell on the ground deprived of all recollection; but no life was lost, nor did any sustain a serious injury; about ten were slightly hurt.

In the church are several monuments; and in the churchyard stands a large sarcophagus, having sculptured on it the representation of a shipwreck, and military emblems, with the following inscription.

To the memory of Major-General H. G. C. Cavendish, Capt. S. C. Duckenfield, Lieut. the Hon.E. Waldegrave, Sixty-one non-commissioned officers and privates of the regiment, who in returning from Spain in the Despatch transport unhappily perished in Coverack Cove, the 22nd of December 1809.

326 The ship was known to be very old and in bad repair; but, although the wind blew with some violence, it would have been a matter of no difficulty whatever to clear the Mein Egles, or Manacles Rocks. Seamen have therefore conjectured that the Captain kept near the shore for the purpose of stranding his vessel, to obtain the exaggerated value contracted for with the Government; and that in attempting this fraud, he fell on the rocks which caused the loss of every one on board.

Mr. Cavendish was a son of Lord George Cavendish, of East Bourn, Sussex, afterwards created Earl of Burlington.

The great tithes of this parish have been sold to the various proprietors of the land.

The tithes of fish belonged, however, to Mr. Matthew Wills of Helston, in right of his marriage with the only daughter of Mr. Tonkin of Trenance near Porthoustock. For some years they were of considerable value, but as all tithe of fish is allowed to be in this country the mere creature of custom, the custom then acted on was attacked at law, and after a trial, on which the celebrated Mr. Dunning attended by a special retainer, it was overturned. Trenance and the other property in St. Kevern are now possessed by his son, the Rev. Thomas Wills, Vicar of Wendron, for about fifty years.

Kilter, in this parish, was the birthplace and probably belonged to the individual of that name, who with Humphry Arundell and others, excited the common people to take arms against the government of King Edward VI. in 1549, by holding out those unattainable objects which have misled the ignorant to their own destruction in all ages and nations, in union with others certainly of a different description; one of which was the re-establishment of the Bloody Statute, or the Six Articles, by which every person refusing to acknowledge the King’s supremacy over the church was adjudged to be hanged; and every one conscientiously disbelieving the real presence of Christ’s body in consecrated bread and wine, was condemned to be burnt alive.

327 Lanarth has been for a considerable time the residence of the Sandys family. The Rev. Sampson Sandys lived there to a very advanced age. He was probably grandson to the gentleman whose wonderful escape to the coast of France is detailed by Mr. Hals under the name of Sanns, which the editor remembers to have heard was the original appellation of their family, till they adopted the name and cross-crosslets of the Sandys of Ombersley.

Mr. Sampson Sandys was succeeded at Lanarth by his nephew, Mr. William Sandys, a colonel in the army of the East India Company, who rebuilt the house, and greatly improved the place.

The rectory was, before the Reformation, appropriated to the Abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire, founded by King John.

In the schedule of the property returned to King Henry the VIII. on its surrender, are the following entries, which may be found in the Augmentation Office.

Com. Cornub.

St. Kivion—Redd. Assis. lib. ten. 2 15 10

Redd, et Firm. ten. ad volunt’ 8 2 4

Terr. dominic. 1 16 8

Tregonon, firma molend. 1 2 6

Opera autumpnal’ 0 1 6

Perquis’ cur’ 1 7 2

Firma rector’ 57 4 0

Helston red. annual’ 6 3 4

The reasons assigned for King John founding this magnificent Cistercian Abbey of Beaulieu, or De Bello Loco, are so curious, and so illustrative of the profligacy and weak superstition united in forming his character, that the Editor thinks it right to insert the following original, with a translation.

Anno sexto Regis Johannis idem Rex construxit quoddam Cœnobium ordinis Cisterciensis in Anglia, et Bellum Locum nominavit; quod quidem Cœnobium tali occasione narratur ab eo factum. Quia enim idem Rex versus Abbates, 328 et alias personas ordinis Cisterciensis prænominatas, supra modum, sine causa, est iratus, et eosdem non mediocriter per ministros suos gravaret, ad quoddam Parliamentum, quod ipse apud Lincolniam tenuit, Abbates dicti ordinis venerunt, si quo modo Regis ejusdem gratiam et favorem potuissent aliquatenus invenire. Quibus visis, sicut crudelis animi erat, præcepit suis ut dictos Abbates sub pedibus equorum viliter conculcarent; Regis vero injustum tam facinorosum et inauditum hactenus mandatum ab aliquo principe Christiano, perficere nolentibus, hii Domini Abbates, jam fere desperantes de Regia benignitate, ad sua hospitia festinanter accesserunt. Nocte vero sequenti, cùm idem Rex Johannes in lecto suo dormiret, ei quod coram quodam Judice, prædictis Abbatibus illuc assistentibus, ductus fuerit: qui eisdem Abbatibus jusserat dictum regem supra dorsum suum cum flagellis et virgis verberare: quam quidem verberationem, mane vigilans, se sensisse dixit. Sompnium vero suum cuidam personæ ecclesiasticæ de curia sua narravit, qui dixit ei, quod Deus erga eum supra modum esset misericors, qui eum tam clementer et paternè in præsenti seculo dignatus est corripere, et eidem sua misteria revelare; et consuluit Regem ut pro Abbatibus dicti ordinis velociter mitteret, et ab eisdem de reatu suo veniam humiliter imploraret.

Rege siquidem acquiescente, pro eis, ut ad Regem venirent, missum est. Quod audientes per nuncium Regis, putaverunt se ab Anglia fore exterminandos; Deo tamen, qui suos non deserit, aliter disponente, cùm nunc ad conspectum Regis venissent, indignationem suam quam ergo eos habuit Rex remisit.

“In the sixth year of his reign King John founded a certain monastery of the Cistercian order in England, and gave it the name of Beaulieu; and the following account is given of the cause which induced the King to found this abbey.

“The King, without any just cause of offence, having taken the most violent and unbounded anger against the Abbats and others of the Cistercians, and having immoderately oppressed 329 them through the medium of his officers, the Abbats of the said order came to a Parliament which the King held at Lincoln, to try if they might be able by some means to obtain a small share of the King’s grace and favour. But when the King saw them, he became so cruelly disposed towards them, as to order that the said Abbats should, in the most disgustful manner, be trodden under the horses’ feet; but his people being unwilling to execute a command so unjust, so atrocious, and hitherto unheard-of from any Christian prince, those Lord Abbats, now despairing of any kindness on the part of the King, hastily retired to their hostels. But in the following night, as the said King John lay sleeping on his bed, it seemed to him that he was brought before some judge, these Abbats standing by, whom the judge ordered to scourge him on the back with whips and rods; and when the King awoke in the morning, he declared that he actually felt the scourging. Having related his dream to a certain ecclesiastic of his court, this person assured him that God had been merciful to him beyond measure, by deigning thus kindly and paternally to correct him in this present life, and by revealing to him his mysteries; and he advised the King to send immediately for the Abbats of this order, and humbly to implore from them the pardon of his offence.

“The King consenting, a message was sent to them that they should come to the King; which they hearing from the messenger, thought that they should be banished from England: but God, who never deserts his servants, disposed things otherwise; so that when they came into the King’s presence, he put away the anger which he had entertained against them.”

There is not any trace of the advowson of the vicarage having belonged to this splendid abbey, which afforded sanctuary to Queen Margaret and Perkin Warbeck. It is now possessed either by Mr. Pascoe, the present incumbent, or by his family.

330 Mr. Lysons has given the descents and alienation of various manors or farms of little general interest.

St. Keven measures 8792 statute acres.

£. s. d.

Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 10,433 0 0

Poor Rate in 1831 1,310 17 0

Population,—

in 1801, 2104 in 1811, 2242 in 1821, 2505 in 1831, 2437

giving an increase of about 16 per cent. in 30 years.

The Rev. James Pascoe was instituted to the vicarage in 1817.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

There are few spots that have excited greater geological interest than the serpentine tract of the Lizard, and no part of it will be found more instructive than this parish.

By far the greater part of St. Kevern rests on magnesian rocks; but north of a line drawn from Porthalla, nearly due west to Goonhilly Downs, the rocks belong to the calcareous series. The latter rocks may be seen on the coast from Porthalla to the Nare Point, and will be found to resemble the series between Gorran and the Dodman Point. On the left side of Porthalla Cove the blue slate abounds in veins and in irregular nodules of calcspar; and at low-water-mark a more compact variety is exposed, which evidently forms the passage into the black limestone, loose fragments of which are sometimes found on the shore. In a small creek within the Nare near Bostowda, is a large patch of conglomerate, the pebbles and fragments of which have been derived from the rocks which line the banks of the river Hellas as high up as Gweek; but which bear no resemblance to the rock of the immediate vicinity. This is the most decided instance of a fragmentary rock in Cornwall.

The hollow occupied by the little stream which discharges itself at Porthalla divides the calcareous shale from a rock of totally different nature, videlicet serpentine, 331 several varieties of which form the neck of land stretching thence to Dranna Point.

At Porthoustock a glossy lamellar rock, already noticed as joining the serpentine at Cadgwith, forms each side of the cove; but here, on proceeding to the Manacles Point it may be seen passing into diallage rock: the latter extends so far as Coverack, and also inland to the foot of Goonhilly Downs. At Coverack the diallage rock appears to pass into serpentine; but here again, as at Porthalla, the junction is a concrete. The varieties of serpentine near Coverack Pier are numerous, and several of them may be seen passing into each other, which in other parts of the Lizard district form large and apparently independent masses. From Coverack to Kennick Cove the cliffs are very bold, and display different kinds of serpentine and diallage rocks, and at Blockhead a large stratum of indurated steatite, beautifully marked with brown arborescent figures on a yellow ground. At Kennick Cove, red and olive green serpentine, abounding in scales of diallage, and traversed by numerous veins of asbestos, talc, and calcareous spar, are exposed to view on a grand scale; and at Gwinter, a little north of the cove, diallage rock is accompanied by layers of beautiful violet-coloured jade, or compact felspar, containing large plates of diallage as metalloide as at Coverack.

It may be noticed here, that all the uncultivated land extending over serpentine formation, is clothed with the most beautiful of European heaths; the Erica Vagans of Linnæus, so named on account of its being found in various parts of the world on particular spots. Hudson named it “Multiflora” from its splendid inflorescense; and Dr. Withering, with some others, didyma, with reference to double antheræ on each flower. This heath bounds itself almost within a yard to the limits of the magnesian earths.

332

ST. KEW.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Trigg, and hath upon the north Endellyan, east St. Eath, south St. Mabyn, west Egleshayle and Minver. In the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. 1087, this parish was rated by the name of Lan-guit, or Lan-cuit; that is to say, the Church or Temple Wood, or a church or temple in a wood; not unsuitable to the former circumstances thereof, surrounded with copse trees and oak woods; from whence it appears here was an endowed church or temple of that name before the Norman Conquest, implied in the word Lan. In the Inquisitions of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices 1294, it was rated by the name of Lan-owe, i. e. my Church or Temple, or the Egge Church or Temple, for owe is an egg, in decanatu de Minor Trigshire viiil. xiiis. iiiid. Vicar ejusdem xls. In Wolsey’s Inquisition 1501, by the name of St. Kuet, i. e. holy, sacred, or consecrated wood, 19l. 10s. The patronage, formerly in the priory of Bodman, who endowed it, now Tregagle. The incumbent Nation; the rectory or sheafe in possession of Tregagle; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax 1696, by the name of St. Kewe 356l. 15s. 10d.

The manor and barton of Lanew in this parish, was formerly the lands of the Beavills of Gwarnack or Killygarth; by one of whose heirs, as I am informed, it came in marriage to the Grenvills of Stowe; and was entailed, together with the barton of Bryn, and other lands, upon the issue of the said Beavill, by Grenvill to be begotten.

Now it happened, tempore Charles I., that Sir Bevill Grenvill, being much encumbered with the debts of his ancestors, in order to free the same, sold for a valuable consideration this manor of Lanow and barton of Bryn to William 333 Noye, Esq. Attorney-general to King Charles I. the which William Noye and his heirs quietly enjoyed the same for about thirty years’ space, till King Charles II. returned from his exile beyond the seas, and was restored to his dominions 1660; at which time Sir John Grenvill, Knt. afterwards created Earl of Bath, (son of the said Sir Bevill Grenvill) then also in exile with the said King beyond the seas, came back to his native country with the said King; and some time after delivered leases of ejectment, on writs of ejection, firme formedon, or right, to the tenants of Humphrey Noye, Esq. then in possession thereof, son of the said Attorney-general Noye, and brought down a venire facias and trial for the same, at Lanceston assizes, where, on the issue, the verdict passed for the said Earl of Bath; and after judgment was entered up and recorded thereupon, writs for possession were sued forth, and his lordship became seised of those lands, and forced the tenants thereof to double their accustomed rent, on condition of holding their leases. Afterwards Noye’s son aforesaid, files his bill in chancery, suggesting the wrong he had received by this verdict at law, whereby he lost his lands and purchase money, which matter coming to a hearing on bill and answer, an issue was directed out of Chancery to try once more this title at common law, on which Noye proved Sir Beavill Grenvill to be tenant in tail for those lands, and that he levying a fine thereon, come ceo qui il eit de son done, according to due form of law, with deeds declaring the same to be for the use of the said William Noye, his heirs and assigns for ever, that was a sufficient dock of the entail, and bar to the son and heir of the said Sir Beavill Grenvill, whereupon the sense and judgment of the Court then was, that according to law the verdict must be for Noye: as accordingly it then passed. Notwithstanding which, a cross bill was filed by the Earl of Bath against Noye, about the premises, praying a writ of injunction for stopping further proceedings at common law; whereupon his lordship still kept possession, and Noye grew weary of 334 this controversy, who, otherwise, was a man much depressed with debt, and therefore an unequal contester with the then great Earl of Bath; wherefore he sold his title to those lands in dispute to Mr. Christopher Davies, of Burnewall in Buryan, who revived Noye’s drooping case and title to the premises, and delivered ejectments to the Earl of Bath’s tenants, then in possession thereof, and accordingly brought down a trial at Lanceston upon that plea and demise, tempore James II., when it was manifest his lordship relied more on his privilege as a Peer or Baron of this Realm than the right or justice of the merits of his case, for he served all the council, officers, and attornies of the court at that assizes with writs of privilege; so that no person was permitted to speak or act publicly on the part or title of Noye or Davies; but the case or trial was immerged or was swallowed up without due course or form of law, so that Mr. Davies was only permitted to plead his case himself, which he did with so much judgment, sense, law, and equity, as the Court admired at it, being no lawyer. But, alas! he wanted instruction in the grand point in such cases, to have cried out a merger or emerger, and the verdict must have been for him or Noye the second time.

After which bad success, and for that Mr. Davies was threatened to be sued on the statute of scandalum magnatum, for words said to be spoken by him reflective on his lordship’s honour and reputation, he was terrified into a composition or agreement with the said Earl, by the end of Hilary term then next ensuing, for the consideration of 500l. to levy a fine sur cognizance de droit, with proclamation on those lands, with deeds declaring the uses thereof to be only to the proper use and behoof of the said Earl of Bath, his heirs and assigns for ever, as accordingly was performed, and so this controversy ended. But, alas! when too late it appeared further, that when Mr. Davies had sold his title to this manor of Lanow as aforesaid, that there were two tenements of Mr. Noye’s paternal estate whilst he was in possession thereof, after his purchase from 335 Grenvill, that he had annexed to the said manor, situate in this parish, and worth 900l., which Mr. Davies ignorantly debarred himself of, to his greater loss. See Withell parish for Bryn, the lands of Bevill and Grenvill.

Bo-Kelly in this parish was the dwelling of the genteel family surnamed Carn-sew, i. e. dry, sterile, or barren spar-stone, or rock; perhaps so called from the local place of Carnsew in Mabe, altogether under such circumstances; otherwise Mr. Carew tells us the name of those gentlemen was Carn-deaw, i. e. black spar-stone or rock. William Carnsew of this house was sheriff of Cornwall 18 Edward IV.; William Carnsew was Sheriff of Cornwall 3 Henry VIII.

Richard Carnsew, Esq. afterwards knighted, was Sheriff of Cornwall 17 Charles I. 1642, whose heir George Carnsew, as I am told, sold it to Tregagle, and is now by lease in possession of John Nicholls, of Trewane, Esq. The two only daughters and heirs of Sir Richard Carnsew, of Tregarne, were married to Prideaux, of Fewborough, and Godolphin of the younger house, whose arms were, Sable, a goat passant Argent, attired Or.

Tre-havar-ike, alias Tre-ar-ike, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Trehauarike, whose sole inheritrix was married to Cavall, tempore Henry VII. who, out of a supposed allusion to this name, as appears from the glass windows of this house, gave a calf for their arms, viz. Argent, a calf passant Gules; whereas Leugh is a calf in British-Cornish, and Cavall is a bee-hive, cradle, or flasket. They gave also, Azure, three sails of a ship Argent; for that, as tradition saith, one of this family was admiral of a squadron of ships at sea, under King Henry VI. against the French; finally, about the year 1612, the two sole daughters and heirs of those Cavalls were married to Vivian, of Trenowth in St. Colomb, and Hore of Trenowth in St. Ewan. Upon the division of Cavall’s lands, this barton and manor fell to Vivian’s share, whose grandson Thomas Vivian, Esq. 336 sold this barton to John Peter, of Treater, gentleman, for 2,100l.; and the manor to other persons, now in possession thereof, about the year 1700.

At the top of those lands is a field called the Dower Park, i. e. the water field, where a spring or pool of water commonly stands, which gives the spring, or original of the aforesaid riveret of water, from whence Trehavarike is denominated.

At Tregeare in this parish, and Resurra in St. Minver, was the seat of the Penkivells, gentlemen of ancient descent, and heretofore of great revenues, now comparatively extinct.

Pen-pons in this parish, now Pen-pont, synonymous words, signifies the head bridge, or the bridge at the head or top of the sea in this place, according to the natural and artificial circumstances thereof, which was the voke lands of an ancient and extensive manor, privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet before the Norman Conquest; for by the name of Penpont it was rated in the Domesday Tax 20 William I. 1087; from whence was denominated an ancient family of gentlemen now extinct, surnamed Penpons, whose sole inheritrix was married to Arundell of Tolverne, tempore Queen Mary, from whose heirs and assigns it came to Cole and Arscott of Devon, and others, now in possession thereof. By the inquisition 12 Edward III. it was rated for twenty-one Cornish acres, before the judges Solomon de Ross and others, at Lanceston, that is to say, 1260 statute acres. I take the tenure of this manor to be either customary or copyhold lands; near which is still extant Chappell Amble, or Ambhull, i. e. the dull, blockish, or ignorant chapel or chaplain, a free chapel, where the Bishop never visited.

In this parish at Middle Amble is the dwelling of Jonathan Webber, Gent. (id est, in Saxon, a weaver, so called from his first ancestor, who was of that trade or occupation,) who married Williams, and giveth for his arms, Gules, on a chevron engrailed Or, charged with three annulets 337 or round plates Azure, pierced in the middle, Or, between three round plates or platters, two in chief and one in the base, Argent. This family, as it branched downwards to the year 1640, had married with Mathew of the said parish of St. Kew, who gave for his arms, Sable, a crane Argent, legged and beaked Gules; also with Prewbody and Polwhele. This arms of Webber, consisting of four colours in its field and in its charge, is a ridiculous or contemptible bearing, as heralds tell us all such bearings are.

Note further that Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, A. D. 1602, tells us, p. 55, that John, the son of Thomas, living at Pendarves, took up the name of John Thomas Pendarves, and that Richard his younger brother took up the name of Richard Thomas Pendarves; and that Trengone, living at Nance, took up the name of Nance; and Bonython, living at Carclew in Milor, took up the name of Carclew; and for the same reason two brothers of the Thomases, living at Carnsew in Mabe, another at Roscrow in Milor or Gluvias, took up the names of Carnsew and Roscrow; as did also one of them living at Caweth in Mabe, take up the name of Caweth; and in further testimony thereof, give one and the same coat armour as Thomas did, viz. in a field Argent, a chevron between three talbots Sable, though Pendarves gives a different arms from that of Thomas. See Cambourne. Query, whether Carnsew of Bokelly does not derive his name from Carnsew? i. e. dry rock, in Mabe parish.

TONKIN.

This parish takes its present name from the patron saint Kew, which, says the author of the English Dictionary, 8vo. London, 1691, is certainly the same with Kebius the Briton. The impropriator of the sheaf and patron of the vicarage, is at present Robert Croker, Esq. by purchase 338 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.

339 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.

St. Kew measures 6343 statute acres.

£. s. d.

Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 8598 0 0

Poor Rate in 1831 1029 6 0

Population,—

in 1801, 1095 in 1811, 1113 in 1821, 1218 in 1831, 1316

giving an increase of 20 per cent. in 30 years.

The Rev. John Pomeroy was presented to the vicarage in 1777 by W. Pitt, Esq.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE. 340

Doctor Boase says of the geology of this parish, that the northern part resembles Endellion, and that the southern part is similar to Egloshale and Helland.

KILKHAMPTON.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north Morwinstow, west St. George’s channel, south Stratton and Poughill, east part of the county of Devon. For the modern name, it is derived from the church, compound of Saxon-British Kirk or Kilk-hampton, i. e. church home or habitation town, answerable to church town in English. In the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. (1087), this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Orcett, of which more under. In the Inquisition made into the value of Cornish Benefices, in decanatu de Major Triggshire, ecclesia de Kilkhampton was rated xiiiil. xiiis. viiid. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, 26l. 3s. 10½d.; the patronage in the Earl of Bath; the incumbent Corringdon; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 352l. 10s.

Stowe for many ages hath been the seat of that famous and knightly family now Earls of Bath.

[Mr. Hals goes on with a long account of this family in the early Norman times, apparently without much authority, and quite unconnected with Cornwall.

I shall therefore select particular passages, more especially as a genealogy in sufficient detail is given by Mr. Lysons.]

341 It appears that the Grenvilles settled near Bideford, where they are stated to have held knights’ fees under the Crown, and also under the honour of Gloucester; and Sir Theobald Grenville in the latter part of the reign of King Edward the Third, was the principal founder and promoter of building the bridge at Bideford; John Grandison was then Lord Bishop of Exeter, who caused it to be proclaimed in his Cathedral, and throughout all other churches in Devon and Cornwall, that all persons whatsoever that would promote or encourage such a work should partake of all spiritual blessings for ever. Sir Richard Gurnard or Gurney was then parish priest of Bideford, who it seems was admonished in his sleep to undertake this work, as Bishop Bronscomb was to build Glasney College in Cornwall; the Goldneys, Octanetts, and most other families of note in Cornwall and Devon (as Risdon’s Manuscript informs us) were benefactors to this work, which bridge was finished tempore Richard II., assisted by a bull of indulgencies from Rome.

John Grenvill of Bideford, that married Burghert, was the first Sheriff of Devon of this family, 15 Richard II., son of Sir Theobald. Thomas Grenvill, that married Gilbert, was the first Sheriff of Cornwall of this family, 21 Edward IV., 1480, also the first of Henry VII., 1485, and probably the first of those gentlemen that settled at Stowe, for at such time as he was Sheriff of Cornwall, 21 Edward IV., one George Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon.

One Robert Grenvill was Sheriff of Cornwall the 2nd, 10th, and 14th Henry VIII. Richard Grenvill was Sheriff of Cornwall 36 Henry VIII. Richard Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon 18 of Elizabeth. Bernard Grenvill was Sheriff of Devon 38 of Elizabeth.

Roger, younger son of Sir Richard Grenvill that married Bonvill of Killigarth, who in the Mary Rose frigate, 37 Henry VIII., 1545, commanded by Sir George Carew, Knight, with more than four hundred men besides, after 342 they had for several days fought the French fleet off the Isle of Wight under the command of the Lord Dambolt, Admiral of France, with great victory and success, unfortunately afterwards as the said ship passed out of the harbour of Portsmouth into the sea, by the neglect and carelessness of the gunner and mariners, one of which had left the cannon or ordnance untrigged or chained, and the latter having left the under port or gun-holes open, by means whereof, when the ship turned upon her lee, the guns fell all on that side of the ship and bore the port-holes under water, so that the sea in an instant abundantly flowing in through those port-holes filled her with water, whereof she sunk into the deep (in the sight of King Henry himself), whereby the captain and all his men were suddenly and violently drowned in the sea.

Of his father, Sir Richard Grenvill, the elder, thus speaks Mr. Carew in his Survey of Cornwall, “he interlaced his home magistracy with martial employments abroad, whereof the King testified his good liking by his liberality.” Again, his son, the second Sir Richard, after his travel and following the wars under the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, for which his name is recorded by sundry foreign writers, and his undertaking to people Virginia and Ireland, made so glorious a conclusion in her Majesty’s ship the Revenge, of which he had charge as Captain, and of the whole fleet as Vice-Admiral, that it seemed thereby, when he found none other to compare withal in his life, he strived through a virtuous envy to exceed it in his death; a victorious loss for the realm, and of which the Spaniard may say, with Pyrrhus, that many such conquests would beget his utter overthrow. Lastly, his son John took hold of every martial occasion that was ministered him, until, in service against her Highness’ enemies, under the command of Sir Walter Raleigh, the ocean became his bed of honour. Thus Mr. Carew, page 62. See also Baker’s Chronicle in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

343 Sir Beville Grenvill, son of Bernard, by Beville’s heir of Killigarth in Talland, was a gentleman of such urbanity, valour, and integrity in those parts, that my commendations cannot make the least addition thereto, nor I think that of a more florid or abler pen; who, as his duty obliged, engaged himself, his life and fortune, on the part and behalf of King Charles I.; and being first a horse Colonel in the militia for this County, was afterwards obliged to head or lead those soldiers he had raised in Cornwall, by virtue of the King’s Commission, under command of Sir Ralph Hopton, Knight, his General in the west, from Launceston into Somersetshire, at a place called Lansdowne, five miles from Bristol, where Hopton with the King’s army met and gave battle to the Parliament forces under command of Sir William Waller; in which engagement Sir Beville Grenvill, Knight, charging boldly in the head of his troop, was unfortunately slain, the 5th of July 1643.

Orcot, now Orchard, in this parish, was the jurisdiction under which Kilkhampton was taxed in Domesday Roll, 1087; from which place, I take it, was denominated the family surnamed de Orchard, now in possession thereof; particularly Charles Orchard, gentleman, steward to Sir John Rolle of Stevenston. This gentleman was sheriff of Cornwall about the year 1703.

Mr. Hals’ concluding part of this parish is lost.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has merely copied from Mr. Hals.

THE EDITOR.

The following extract from Mr. Lysons’s Cornwall is the best account that the Editor can give of the distinguished family of Grenville.

The manor of Kilkhampton is supposed to have belonged to the Grenville family from nearly the time of the Conquest; 344 Dugdale says, that they were seated here in the reign of William Rufus. Richard de Grenville, who came over with William the Conqueror, is said in the pedigrees of the family to have been a younger brother of Robert Fitzhamon, Earl of Carbill, Lord of Thurigny and Grenville, in France and Normandy, and to have been lineally descended from Rollo, Duke of Normandy. It is on record that Richard de Grenville held certain knights’ fees at Bideford, in Devonshire, in the reign of Henry II. We have not found any record of the Grenville possessions at Kilkhampton of an earlier date than the quo warranto roll before mentioned; but it appears that it had at that time been long in the family: they continued to reside at Stowe, in this parish, for many generations, and frequently served the office of sheriff for the county. William Grenville, or Grenfield (as the name was at that early period generally written), son of Sir Theobald, became archbishop of York, and distinguished himself as an able statesman: he died in 1315. Sir Richard Grenville, son of Roger, (who was himself a captain in the navy, and lost his life, as Carew tells us, in the unfortunate Mary-Rose) was a celebrated military and naval commander in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He first distinguished himself in the wars under the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, for which his name is recorded by several foreign writers. In the year 1591, being then Vice-Admiral of England, he was sent in the Revenge, with a squadron of seven ships, to intercept the Spanish galleons; when, falling in with the enemy’s fleet, consisting of fifty-two sail, near the Terceira Islands, he repulsed them fifteen times in a continued fight, till his powder was all spent; his ship, which sunk before it arrived in port, was reduced to a hulk, and himself covered with wounds, of which he died two days afterwards, on board the vessel of the Spanish commander. Sir Richard’s grandson was the brave and loyal Sir Beville Grenville. This distinguished officer was one of king Charles’s generals in 345 the West, and shared the glories of the successful compaign in Cornwall, in the autumn of 1642; in the summer of the following year he lost his life at the battle of Lansdowne, near Bath. Sir Richard Grenville, who had been created a Baronet in 1631, was, after his brother’s death, made General of all the King’s forces in the West. He was an active and zealous officer, and so particularly obnoxious to the Parliamentary party, that he was perpetually the subject of abuse to their journalists, who seldom spoke of him but by the appellation of Skellum Grenville. During the dissensions between the civil power and the military in 1645, Sir Richard Grenville was superseded and imprisoned by the advice of Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon. That noble author gives a very unamiable character of Sir Richard, who is represented as having been in the highest degree oppressive, tyrannical, and unprincipled; but other writers attribute much of this to the personal enmity which subsisted between them. Sir Richard Grenville died, in reduced circumstances, at Ghent, in the year 1658, leaving no male issue; the title became extinct. Sir John Grenville, son of the brave Sir Beville, succeeded to the Kilkhampton estates: at a very early age he had a command in his father’s regiment, and was left for dead in the field at Tewkesbury. He was appointed Governor of Scilly Islands when they revolted from the Parliament, and was one of the chief instruments in effecting the restoration of King Charles II. He gave the living of Kilkhampton to Nicholas Monk, and employed him to influence his brother (the General) in favour of the exiled Monarch; having succeeded in his negociations, he had the satisfaction of being the bearer of the King’s letters to General Monk and to the Parliament. In April 1661 Sir John Grenville was created Lord Grenville of Kilkhampton and Bideford, Viscount Lansdowne, and Earl of Bath. On the death of his grandson, under age, in 1711, these titles became extinct; and the Kilkhampton estates 346 passed to his aunt and coheiress Grace Grenville, who married George Lord Carteret, and was afterwards (being then a widow) by King George the First created Countess of Granville, with remainder to her son John, who inherited that title and the Kilkhampton estate. On the death of Robert the second Earl of Granville, in 1776. that title became extinct, and the Kilkhampton estate passed, under his will, to his nephew Henry Frederick Thynne, second son of Lord Viscount Weymouth, who had married his sister Louisa. Mr. Thynne was created Lord Carteret in 1784, and is the present possessor of Kilkhampton; the remainder of which, as well as the title of Carteret, is vested in Lord George Thynne, second son of the Marquis of Bath.

John Grenville, Earl of Bath, in the reign of Charles II. built a magnificient mansion at Stowe in this parish, of which scarcely a vestige remains. It stood on an eminence, overlooking a well-wooded valley; but not a tree near it, says Dr. Borlase, to shelter it from the north-west. That writer speaks of it as by far the noblest house in the west of England, and says that the kitchen-offices, fitted up for a dwelling-house, made no contemptible figure. It is a singular circumstance, that the cedar wainscot which had been brought out of a Spanish prize, and used by the Earl of Bath for fitting up the chapel in this mansion, was purchased by Lord Cobham at the time of its demolition (the house being then sold piecemeal), and applied to the same purpose at Stowe, the magnificent seat of the noble family of Grenville in Buckinghamshire, where it still remains. Defoe, in his Tour through Great Britain, speaking of Stowe in Cornwall, says that the carving of the chapel was the work of Michael Chuke, and not inferior to Gibbons.

Ilcombe, now a farm-house belonging to Lord Carteret, is described by Norden as the residence of a younger branch of the Grenvilles.

347 Alderscombe, formerly a seat of the Orchards, is the property of the Rev. Thomas Hooper Morrison, nephew of the late Paul Orchard, Esq. of Hartland Abbey.

Elmsworthy, some time a seat of the Westlakes, is now a farm house, the property of Mr. Galsworthy, of Hartland. The last of the Westlakes died in very indigent circumstances about the year 1772, having been reduced to the situation of a parish pauper. It is a singular circumstance, that he was twice pricked for Sheriff after he was an inhabitant of the poor-house. In the parish church are monuments of the Grenville family, and memorials of the Orchards of Alderscombe, the Westlakes of Elmsworthy, and the Waddons of Tonacombe in Morwinstow. On the monument of Sir Beville Grenville, which is surrounded by military trophies, is the following inscription: “Here lyes all that was mortal of the most noble and truly valiant Sir Beville Grenville, of Stowe in the county of Cornwall, Earl of Corbill and Lord of Thorigny and Granville in France and Normandy, descended in a direct line from Robert, second son of the warlike Rollo, first Duke of Normandy; who, after having obtained divers signal victories over the Rebels in the West, was at length slain with many wounds at the battle of Lansdowne July 5, 1643. He married the most virtuous lady, Grace, daughter of Sir George Smith, of the county of Devon, by whom he had many sons, eminent for their loyalty and firm adherence to the Crown and Church; and several daughters, remarkable examples of true piety. He was indeed an excellent person, whose activity, interest, and reputation was the foundation of what had been done in Cornwall, and his temper and affection so public that no accident which happened could make any impressions on him, and his example kept others from taking any thing ill, or at least seeming to do so; in a word, a brighter courage and a gentler disposition were never married together to make the most cheerful and innocent conversation. Vide Lord Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion.

348 “To the immortal memory of his renowned grandfather this monument was erected by the Right Honorable George Lord Lansdowne, Treasurer of the Household to Queen Anne, and one of Her Majesty’s most Honorable Privy Council, &c. in the year 1714.

Sir Beville Granville was forty-eight years of age at the time of his death, as appears by the following record of his birth in the parish register at Kilkhampton:

“Bevell, the sonne of the worshipful Bernarde Greynville, Esquire, was borne and baptized at Brinn in Cornwall, Ao. Dni. 1595.”

In the margin, “Marche 1595, borne the 23d day, baptized the 25th day of Marche.”

His brother Sir Richard’s baptism is thus entered, “Richard, the son of Barnard Granevile, Esq. baptized 26 June 1600.”

Lord Carteret is patron of the rectory of Kilkhampton. In the registers of the see of Exeter, mention is made of a chapel at Brightley in this parish, dedicated to St. Catharine.—Thus far from Mr. Lysons.

All the accounts and traditions of Sir Beville Granville represent him as a hero bordering on romance, as the rival of Sir Philip Sidney, and of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He fell, however, into all the political errors of that age, by attaching himself to the existing form of Government, not 349 because it appeared, on the whole, to prove most conducive to human happiness, but from some fanciful, superstitious, or blasphemous analogy it was supposed to bear with the Divine administration of the universe. Then he concurred with those who thought it expedient and right to destroy the resemblance, by limiting that which, on the supposition, should exist without restraint or control; and entertaining that opinion, he nevertheless endeavoured to prove by arguments, and still more powerfully by his arms at Stratton and at Bath, that no resistance could in any case be lawfully exercised against the individual who happened to hold the chief magistracy from the accident of his birth. Such glaring inconsistencies were, however, almost obscured by the splendour of undaunted courage, of disinterested generosity, and, by adherence to principles honestly entertained, however erroneous or contradictory.

It would be unfair to the memory of Sir Beville Granville not to insert his letter to Sir John Trelawny, recently printed in the Memorials of John Hampden, 2 vols. 8vo., by George Grenville Nugent Temple, Lord Nugent, vol. 2, p. 195.

Most Honourable Sir,

I have in many kinds had trial of your nobleness, but in none more than in this singular expression of your kind care and love. I give also your excellent Lady humble thanks for respect unto my poor Woman, who hath been long a faithful much obliged servant of your Ladyes. But Sir! for my journey, it is fixed. I cannot contain myself within my doors, when the King of England’s standard waves in the field upon so just occasion. The cause being such as must make all those that die in it little inferior to martyrs. And for my own part, I desire to acquire an honest name, or an honourable grave. I never loved my life or ease so much as to shun such an occasion; which if I should, I were unworthy of the profession I have held, or to succeed those ancestors of mine, who have so many of them in several ages sacrificed their 350 lives for their country. Sir, the barbarous and implacable enemy, notwithstanding His Majesty’s gracious proceedings with them, do continue their insolences and rebellion in the highest degree, and are united in a body of great strength; so as you may expect, if they be not prevented and mastered near their own homes, they will be troublesome in yours, and in the remotest places ere long.

I am not without the consideration, as you lovingly advise, of my wife and family; and as for her, I must acknowledge, she hath ever drawn so evenly in the yoke with me, as she hath never prest before, or hung behind me, nor ever opposed or resisted my will. And yet truly I have not, in this or any thing else, endeavoured to walk in the way of power with her, but of reason; and though her love will submit to either, yet truly my respect will not suffer me to urge her with power, unless I can convince with reason. So much for that, whereof I am willing to be accomptable unto so good a friend.

I have no suit unto you in mine own behalf, but for your prayers and good wishes; and that if I live to come home again, you would please to continue me in the number of your servants.

I shall give a true relation unto my very noble friend Mr. Moyle, of your and his Aunt’s loving respects to him, which he hath good reason to be thankful for. And so I beseech God to send you and your noble family all health and happiness, and while I live I am, Sir,

Your unfeigned loving and faithful servant,

Beville Granville.

With the death of Sir Beville Granville, in the moment of victory at Lansdown, the splendour of this family seems to have fallen under a temporary eclipse.

His brother is represented by Hyde, the partial historian of these civil wars, as unworthy of the character supposed to distinguish Cavaliers.

John Grenville, his eldest son, created Earl of Bath, appears to have been rapacious and oppressive.

351 But all this was amply compensated by the subsequent conduct of his son and heir Charles Grenville, who served with honour in the continental wars, and participated with John Sobieski in the preservation of Christendom under the walls of Vienna in 1683.

George Grenville, son of Barnard Grenville, brother to the first Earl of Bath, is known to every one by his literary attainments and by his talents for poetry. This gentleman had the honour of being elected member for the county of Cornwall, with Mr. John Trevanion, after the great contest of 1710, amidst shouts of

In the following year an hereditary seat in Parliament was bestowed on him, with the appellation of Lord Lansdown, and he was succeeded in the representation of Cornwall by Sir Richard Vyvyan.

Lord Lansdown suffered imprisonment after the accession of George I. and retired from public life. His genuine works in prose and verse were collected in 2 vols. 4to., London 1732. He died, sine prole, in 1734.

The old house at Stowe was taken down by John Grenville the first Earl of Bath, and a superb mansion erected in its place, partly, as it is said, at the national expense; having the internal decorations suited to the size and magnificence of the exterior; but soon after the decease of his grandson in 1711, when the property passed into a female line, this house was taken down and the materials of all kinds sold.

It used to be said that almost every gentleman’s seat in Cornwall had received embellishments from Stowe. Mr. Prideaux’ house at Padstow received an entire staircase, and some carved wainscot has, by a singular fate, found its way to Stowe, in Buckinghamshire.

Alderscombe, in this parish, was for many years held on lease for lives by the family of Cottell.

Mr. Alexander Cottell, about the year 1720, having 352 served his clerkship in Penzance, as an attorney, married Sarah Phillips, one of the daughters of Mr. Samuel Phillips, of Pendrea. There is a monument to her memory in the church, stating her decease on the 7th of August, 1727, in her thirtieth year, with the arms of Cottell, Or, a bend Gu. This gentleman married again and dissipated his whole property.

The church is one of the finest in Cornwall, containing splendid monuments; and under, is a most spacious vault belonging to the Glanville family.

It is perhaps worth noticing that here, while he served the curacy, Mr. Hervey composed his Meditations among the Tombs.

Kilkhampton measures 7,234 statute acres.

£. s. d.

Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 3,959 0 0

Poor Rate in 1831 792 5 0

Population,—

in 1801, 808 in 1811, 852 in 1821, 1,024 in 1831, 1,126

giving an increase of 39 per cent. in 30 years.

Present Rector, the Rev. John Davis, presented by Lord Carteret in 1810.

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.