Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/93

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BOTUS FLEMING— BROWN WILLY length figures of St. Michael, St. Giles, and St. Corantine or Cury. In the tower hangs the largest bell in Cornwall ; a former vicar is said to have so disliked the pealing that he had the old bells melted into one, so heavy that it takes three men to ring it. Perhaps this is why it is not now rung ; the tone is very rich. The men of Breage and district had formerly a re- putation for wrecking ; an old couplet runs as follows : — " God keep us from rocks and shelving sands, And save us from Breage and Germoe men's hands". St. Breward, locally called Simonward (about 4 ra. S. of Camelford), is evidently so named from Bishop Brewer, who built and endowed the church in the thirteenth century, and stipulated that his anniversary should be observed. This is one of the moorland parishes, and embraces the highest hills in Cornwall. The church is a blend of Norm., Dec, and Perp. Brown Gilly, perhaps a corruption of bryn geled, " prominent hill," is a bare and bold hill of about I loo ft., on the Bodmin moors. Here are to be seen cairns, barrows, and the remains of a prehistoric village. Every mile of this district is written thick with the handwriting of antiquity. Not many miles distant is — Brown Willy (probably bryi uhella, "high- est hill "), the loftiest peak in the duchy (1380 feet). It may be reached from Launceston or from Bodmin, but the easiest journey is from Camelford, about 5 miles. This and its twin 71