The Parochial History of Cornwall/Volume 1/St Earth
ST. EARTH.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north, Philack; east, Gwyniar; west, Breage, Geenlow, and St. Hillary. For the modern name, it signifies holy or consecrated ground or earth, referring to the church and cemetery thereof. In Domesday Roll this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Trewinard, of which more under. At the time of the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, into the value of Cornish Benefices, this church was neither extant or endowed, since it is not named in that inquisition, in Decanatus de Penwid. But in Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, it is called San Etghi, or Yrghe; id est, the holy charge, cure, or command, viz. of souls, and was then valued 14l. 1s. The patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter; the incumbent Ralph. The rectory in Painter, by lease under the Dean and Chapter; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 125l. 19s. 2d.
Trewinard, taxed in Domesday Roll, by the name of Trewinerder, id est, the high, haughty, beloved town, alias Trewinar, id est, the town of the beloved lake or river of water, on which those lands are situate, viz. the Hayle River, gave name and origin to an old family of gentlemen surnamed De Trewinard, who flourished here for many generations in genteel degree down to the latter end of the reign of King Henry VIII. at which time John Trewinard, Esq. was Member of Parliament for the borough of St. Ives, and so became privileged against his creditors, being a man much encumbered with debts, who during the intervals of parliament kept house here and stood upon his guard, at which time one of his creditors obtained judgment and outlawry against him, after three terms in the county court, broke his house, took his person, and carried him prisoner to the sheriff's ward, where he remained till the next session of parliament, against which time he brought his writ of habeas corpus, and was brought up to Westminster in expectation of great damages against his creditor that put him in durance. Upon this restraint of Mr. Trewinard's person, the house resolved not to sit, looking upon it as a breach of privilege, but entered before their rising into a grand committee for hearing this case pro and con, betwixt Trewinard and his creditor, when it appeared as aforesaid Trewinard was outlawed and so out of the king's protection, and till that outlawry was reversed he could not lawfully sit as a member; by which expedient Trewinard was forced to compound with his creditor and sue forth the king's pardon, and then appeared in parliament in statu quo prius. This John Trewinard had, as I take it, issue Martin Trewinard, steward of the stannaries, who had issue Deiphobus Trewinard, that in his rage or anger killed an innocent man and buried him secretly in Trewinard Chapel, of public use before the Church of St. Earth was erected; however, this fact was not so covertly carried, but the coroners of the shire had notice of it, who accordingly came to this place, opened the grave, took forth the body, and impannelled a jury thereon, who upon oath gave their verdict, that this party's death happened by a wilful murder of Trewinard's, whereupon he was carried before a justice of the peace, and upon further examination of this matter, had his mittimus made, and was accordingly sent to Launceston gaol, where he remained till the next assizes.
In the mean time, foreseeing that this barbarous fact would tend both to the destruction of his life and estate, he applied to Sir Reginald Mohun, Knight, a favourite of the Queen Elizabeth's, and proposed to him, that he would make over and convey to him, his heirs, and assigns for ever, all his lands and tenements whatsoever, under this proviso or condition, that in case he were condemned for the murder aforesaid, that he should or would procure the Queen's pardon or reprieve for his life; which proposal being accepted by Sir Reginald Mohun, lease and release of his lands were made and executed for a valuable consideration accordingly to him, bearing date the day before this tragical fact was committed, whereupon Sir Reginald Mohun forthwith became seised of this barton and manor of Trewinard, and at the next assizes held for this county, Mr. Trewinard being indicted for this murder, was found guilty by the grand and petty juries, and accordingly condemned to be hanged to death, at which instant Sir Reginald Mohun having gotten the Queen's reprieve or pardon for Mr. Trewinard, put it into the sheriff's hands, whereby his execution was stopped, and himself afterwards, on sureties for his good behaviour, was set at liberty from the gaol, and subsisted upon some small stipend allowed him by Sir Reginald out of his lands during life.
The arms of Trewinard are yet extant in the glass windows of this house, viz. in a field Argent, a fess Azure, between three Cornish daws Proper. Sir Reginald Mohun took such pleasure in this place, that at some times he lived on it in the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and finally settled it upon his three daughters, one of whom was married to Sir Thomas Arundell, of Talvorne, Knight.
Sir Thomas Arundell's part of the premises was purchased by Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fentongallan, Knight, who having leases of the other two parts, some time also for pleasure resided on this barton, whose son and heir John Hals sold the same.
The present possessor of one third part in fee, and two third parts in lease of this barton and manor, from Praed and Penrose, as I take it, is Thomas Hawkins, Gent, who giveth for his arms the same bearing as Mr. Hawkins, of Creed.
Such another tragical story of murder is to be seen under Falmouth district, as also in Prince's Worthies of Devon, how that Sir John Prideaux, of Orchardton, killed in a duel Sir William Bigberry, of Bigberry, Knight, whose ancestors from the Norman Conquest had lived there, in worshipful degree, for nine descents, to the year 1360, when the two daughters and heirs of this murdered gentleman were married to Champernowne, of Beer Ferries, and Durneford, of Stonehouse. By this misfortune Prideaux being condemned to be hanged, gave most of his estate to obtain his pardon from Edward the Third.
In like manner he tells us that Sir Alexander Cruwys, Knt. temp. Henry VI. slew one Mr. Carew, and for that fact was condemned to be hanged, but in order to procure his reprieve or pardon, he sold twenty-two manors of land. Also that John Copleston, of Copleston, in Devon, Esq. commonly called the Great Copleston, in the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign, in a rage slew his natural son and godson, for which fact he was condemned to the gallows, but in order to procure a reprieve or pardon, he was forced to sell thirteen manors of land in Cornwall. His son left only two daughters that became his heirs, married to ——— Copleston and ——— Elford.
Lastly, he further tells us that Sir John Fitz, of Fitzford. Knight, slew in a rage one Mr. Slannen, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, after which fact, posting away to London, with his servant, in order to get his pardon, and at every stage shutting his chamber door, for fear of being taken where he lodged, it happened in the night that his servant knocking violently at his chamber door with some intelligence, and he not well awaked out of his sleep, or not well understanding his servant's voice in the dark, he rushed to the door, shot off a pistol, and slew his own servant, which as soon as he understood, he took another pistol and shot himself dead also.
Trenhayle, in this parish, that is to say, the stout, strong, or rapid river, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen, from thence denominated Trenhayle, whose sole inheritrix, temp. Edward III. was married to Tencreek, as Tencreek's daughter and heir, by her was married to Thomas Budeoxhed, of Budeoxhed, in Devon, by whom he had Thomas Budeoxhed, Sheriff of Devon, 26 Henry VI. whose son married Pomeray, his grandson Trevilload, his great-grandson Halwell, and his posterity successively Stroote, Trowse, and Champernowne, which last gentleman, Philip Budeoxhed, having no issue male or female, temp. Elizabeth, his sisters became his heirs, and were married, Winifred to Sir William Gorges, Elizabeth to John Amadis, of Plymouth, Agnes to Oliver Hill, of Shilston. Gorges sold Budeoxhed, temp. Charles I. to Mr. Trevill, a merchant of Plymouth, now in possession thereof. The arms of Budeoxhed are, Sable, three fusils in fess between three bucks' heads caboshed Argent.
Mr. Budeoxhed, aforesaid, Sheriff of Devon 26 Henry VI. at his own proper cost and charge, pulled down the old church of Budeoxhed, and built the new church of Budeox, as it now stands, wherein himself lies interred, some time after his eldest daughter died, who was the first person that was buried therein after the same was built and consecrated. Prince's Worthies of Devon, p. 71.
Trelizike, in this parish, the town or lands situate upon the gulph, cove, creek, or bosom of waters (see Landowenach Lizard), temp. Edward IV. as appeared from a deed that I have seen, was the lands of Otho de Trefusis, ancestor of the Oates of Peransabulo, from whose heirs it came to the Smiths and others. In particular, Sir James Smith, of Exeter, was seised thereof, temp. Charles II. who sold the reversionary fee thereof to Arthur Paynter, Gent, attorney at law, his father having a chattel estate therein before that purchase. The ancient name of those Paynters, as Mr. Arthur Paynter informed me, was De Camburne, from which name they were transnominated, upon this occasion; John, the son of John De Camburne, being bound an apprentice temp. Queen Mary to a painter in London, and happening, in some contest, to kill or murder a man there, he forthwith made his escape thence, and fled into Ireland, where he remained undiscovered for several years, at length returned into his native country, and fixed in St. Earth church town, where he set up a painter's shop, and surnamed himself Paynter, from whom those gentlemen so called are lineally descended. The present possessor Francis Paynter, gentleman, that married Sutherland, and Paynter, his father Praed, his grandfather ———, and giveth for his arms, in a field Sable, three slabs of tin Proper.
Gurlyn, id est, the husband's lake, or riveret of water, otherwise Gorlyn, is the fat or fertile lake of water in this parish, formerly held of the Crown by the tenure of knight's service, was, temp. Edward III. the lands of Dinham, from whose heirs it came to Nansperian, and by Nansperian's daughter and heir, to Matthew Prideaux, and by Prideaux' two daughters and heirs, in marriage to Gregor and Bickford, now in possession thereof. The arms of Nansperian were, Argent, three lozenges Sable. Nansperian signifies the valley of thorns.
TONKIN.
In the Taxation of 1291, the 20th Edward I. this parish is called, Ecclesia de Lanhudnow, the rectory being valued at xxvis. viiid. and was appropriated to the Church of Exeter, to which it still belongs. As for the present name, St. Earth, I take it to be a contraction of Sancta Hierytha, of whom Camden, in Devon, speaks thus: "Chettlehampton, a little village where Hierytha, calendered among the female saints, was buried."
Trewinard, in this parish, was of old the seat of a well regarded family of gentlemen, from thence denominated De Trewinard. It is now in the possession of Thomas Hawkins, Gent, attorney at law, that married, first, the daughter of James Praed, Esq.; and secondly, Anne, the daughter of Christopher Bellot, of Bochim, Esq. By the first he has only one daughter, but by the second a numerous issue. He giveth for his arms, in a field Argent, a saltire Sable, charged with five fleurs-de-lis Or.
Mr. Hawkins owns but a third part of the mansion and barton of Trewinard, of which Sir John St. Aubin, and Mr. James Praed, are joint lords with him. Mr. Thomas Hawkins is since dead; and this is now the seat of his son Christopher Hawkins, Esq. and Clerk of the Assizes. He hath married Mary, one of the daughters of Philip Hawkins, of Pennance, Esq.
I take the etymology of this name, Trewinard, to be a town or dwelling on a marsh.
The Trewinards lived here probably before the Norman Conquest, and were once possessed of an estate worth at the least three thousand pounds per annum, as I have been informed by one of their descendants, the late Rev. Mr. James Trewinard, Rector of St. Mawgor in Meneage.
James De Trewinard was one of the Knights of the Shire for Cornwall 20 Edward III. William De Trewinard was so likewise in the 28th year of this reign.
Martin De Trewinard, Esq. (whom Mr. Carew calls a merry Cornish gentleman, and tells a comical story of) I believe was the last of them that possessed this estate, for Norden, who wrote his description of Cornwall towards the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, saith, that Trewinard was the seat of Mannering.
Trelisick, compounded of Tre-lis-ick, a dwelling on the broad creek, suitable to its situation on that part of the river Hayle, where it openeth itself into a lake, is the seat of the ancient family of Painter. The present owner of which is Francis Painter, Esq. formerly one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, and now General Receiver of the Prize Money which shall become due to captors. He married a daughter of Sutherland, Esq. late one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, by whom he has only one surviving son Mr. James Painter. His arms are, Azure, three slabs of tin Argent, each charged with an annulet Sable.
Mr. Francis Painter is since dead, leaving two daughters by his second wife, a daughter of his uncle Mr. Francis Painter, of Boskina in Burian. William Painter, D.D. Rector of Exeter College in Oxford, was also a brother of his father Arthur Painter.
Painter, of Antron, was, I am informed, a younger branch of this family, and arrived at considerable eminence, but, like many branches, it has withered, while the parent stock remains fair and flourishing. But the family of Trelisick is now extinct in the male line, by the death of Mr. Francis Painter, jun.
THE EDITOR.
St. Earth, now invariably written without the a, is supposed to derive its name from St. Ergan, one of the female missionaries from Ireland.
The church stands at the side of what must have been an estuary in former times, pretty much like Egleshayle, near Wadebridge. The church is neat and plain, with three ailes of equal height, the roof has wooden ribs with bosses, and the whole was plastered about the year 1747. The tower is not inferior to most others, and the south porch is remarkable for its beauty. The whole eastern extremity of the south aile is said to have belonged exclusively to Trewinnard, but for want of asserting it, the right has been lost.
The walls of the church were covered with sentences, and the windows were ornamented by stained glass, but in the great repair bestowed on the church in 1747, all these were removed, as it is said, by the zeal of Mr. Collins, at that time Vicar, against all vestiges of the religion professed by our forefathers. A few small panes of glass only remain, and the cross engrailed Sable, on a field Or (the arms of Mahon), can alone be distinguished. The south wall of the church is supported by a continued buttress, added about the year 1760.
On a slab stone, just before the communion table, is the following inscription:
Here lyeth the body of the below named
John Ralph,
who ended this life the 10th of Feb. anno Dom 1729,
in the 85th year of his age.
The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
Here lyeth the body of Loveday, the wife of
John Ralph, Vicar of this parish,
by whom he had three children,
Mary, John, and Loveday;
the last died in her infancy.
The other two were alive at their
mother's death.
She was a virtuous and prudent wife,
a loving and indulgent mother,
a friendly and prudent neighbour,
and very charitable to the poor.
She exchanged this life for a better
the last day of November, in the year
of our Lord 1715, and in the 82d year
of her age.
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, yea, saith the spirit, that they rest from their labour." Rev. xiv. 13.
John Ralph, son of the above, obtained the living of Ingatestone, in Essex, and died there in 1755.
Adjoining to this stone is another, with an interesting inscription:
Underneath is deposited,
in hopes of a joyful resurrection,
the body of Elizabeth, wife of Edward Collins,
Vicar of this parish, whose filial piety and obedience,
conjugal love and fidelity, maternal care and affection,
unfeigned charity and benevolence, uniform and constant
perseverance in all the duties of Christianity,
have been equalled by few, excelled by none.
She was the daughter
of Nicholas Kendall, of Pelyn, Clerk,
Canon Residentiary of St. Peter's, Exeter,
and Archdeacon of Totness,
by Jane, daughter of Thomas Carew, of Harrabear, Esq.
son of Sir Alexander Carew, of East Anthony, Bart.
She was born Aug. 19, 1701; married July 22, 1731;
died Nov. 30, 1749.
M.
Conjugis opt. dilectissimæ
H.M.L.M.P.C.
Maritus amantissimus
juxta cum Deo visum deponendus.
The six letters stand for, Hoc Marmor Loco Monumenti Poni Curavit.
Mr. Collins died in October 1755, and was buried under the same stone, but without any additional inscription. Mr. Edward Collins was the eldest son of John Collins, Esq. of Treworgan, in St. Erme, and brother of Mr. John Collins, Rector of Redruth. He studied for some years at the Temple, with the view of being called to the bar, and it is said that he became a clergyman from principles of conscience.
Mr. Collins retained uniformly through life the respect of all around him; he appears to have been a man of learning and of taste, but of austere manners. I have heard from one who was present, that Mr. and Mrs. Collins meeting accidentally, at a neighbouring gentleman's, a lady who was not of the Established Church, they refused to hold any conversation with her.
Their only son, Mr. John Collins, Vicar of Ledbury in Herefordshire, supported the reputation derived from his father. He distinguished himself as a man of letters on various occasions; one of the editors of Shakspeare left his library to Mr. Collins, in gratitude for assistance afforded him, and there may be found a very curious note at the conclusion of Troilus and Cressida, in the edition by Johnson and Steevens, with Mr. Collins's name subscribed.
The next Vicar of St. Earth was Mr. Symonds, who acquired the living through a curious combination of circumstances. Mr. John Stephens, the principal merchant at St. Ives, and agent for the Earl of Buckinghamshire in the management of the borough, was a zealous Presbyterian. The living of St. Ives with Lelant, had been designed for some young man of the town, who indiscreetly, and probably in joke, declared that when he succeeded to the church he would preach furiously against Presbyterians, and teach that Hell itself was strewed over with their bones. This was said in a garden, in defiance of the Cornish proverb, Nynges gun heb lagas, na kei heb scover. "There is no downs without eyes, nor hedge or wall without ears." And Mr. Stephens walking in a garden adjoining overheard this declaration, and in consequence exerted his influence with the patron to obtain the living from the Bishop of Exeter for one who might prove less unfavourably disposed towards his sect, the only one at that time considered as formidably hostile to the Established Church; and to ensure this object Mr. Symonds was selected, because his father, who exercised the trade of a barber at Cambridge, discharged also the office of clerk to a Presbyterian meeting-house.
Mr. Symonds was received as a friend at St. Ives, and elected into the Corporation. But in the course of a few years a violent struggle arose respecting the election of a Recorder, when Mr. Symonds most prudently considering that nothing further was likely to be obtained from those who had already given him a living, sold himself to the opposite party, carried the election for them by his casting vote, and received the living of St. Earth. See various Essays in the London Magazine, with the signature Y.Z. for 1767, pp. 225, 456, 464, 628; for 1768, pp. 25, 199, 575; for 1769, pp. 18, 235, 578.
Mr. Symonds died in 1775, and was succeeded by Mr. George Rhodes, of Devonshire, some time a Fellow of Exeter College. This gentleman having obtained preferment near his immediate connections, resigned the living in 1781, and was succeeded by Mr. Mayow, of Bray near Looe, who never resided, and died in the year 1800, when the benefice was given to Mr. Samuel Gurney, recently deceased (1833) and to whose memory a marble slab has been immediately placed over the chancel door by his mother, in her ninety-fourth year.
The glebe land is more extensive and of greater value than in most other parishes, and the vicarage house is one of the best in Cornwall, a new front having been added by Mr. Collins, and some improvements made by Mr. Rhodes. There is also a rectorial glebe; and a large house near the eastern end of the bridge, stands on the spot where formerly was a barn for receiving the tithe corn.
There is a third slab stone in memory of Mr. Richard Shuckburgh, brother to the well-known mathematician and astronomer of Shuckborough, in Warwickshire. Mr. Humphrey Williams, then the resident curate, had married Miss Sarah Bate, his half-sister, who is also buried in St. Earth's church.
The church-yard is still too small for the parish, notwithstanding its being enlarged in the year 1817, chiefly at the expense of the Editor, and by virtue of a general Act of parliament which he brought into the House of Commons for that express purpose, 56 Geo. III. c. 141.
The bridge is said by Leland to have been constructed two hundred years before his time, or about five hundred years ago. The causeway is very long, but there were originally only three small arches. A fourth, somewhat larger, has been added at the eastern end. The roadway was so narrow that a single carriage had, at one part, great difficulty to pass, and the whole created a large expense to the county, occasioned by accidents to the walls, and by wheels always running in the same track. In the year 1816, the Editor procured a grant of fifty pounds, and, expending somewhat more than an equal sum himself, he got the road widened sufficiently for all useful purposes, more especially as in the year 1825 a causeway was made across the river, about a mile further down. St. Earth adjoins to no less than seven parishes: Lelant, Ludgvan, St. Hilary, Breage, Crowan, Gwinear, and Phillaek.
Trewinnard has been, without all comparison, the principal place in this parish.
I have not any means of affirming or of contradicting the relation of Mr. Hals, as to the tragical event imputed to the last Trewinnard: some indistinct tradition of a murder was handed down to within my remembrance. The transactions of this gentleman's grandfather with the House of Commons are given by Mr. Hatsell, as derived from authentic sources, in his Parliamentary Precedents, vol.i. p.59, of the edition of 1796, and p.60 in the last edition. I apprehend that he was then Member for Helston. One of the family resided till very lately in the Strand, London; for, struck by the name "Trewinnard," the Editor was induced to call at the house. Mr. Trewinnard said that his family came, as he had heard, from a town so called in Cornwall, and that he had some old deeds in his possession. These were exhibited, and proved to be leases of various farms in St. Earth parish. The Mohuns appear to have made this place a principal ressdence, for the cross engrailed exhibits itself not only on fragments of painted glass preserved in the church, but also on the seat or pew, quartered or impaled with various arms, and in one instance with the fleur-de-lis and the lions, of England and France.
Mr. Hals states that the estate was divided between the three daughters of Sir Reginald Mohun; that one of these daughters married Sir Thomas Arundel, of Talvorne, and that his part was purchased by Sir Nicholas Hals, of Fentongallon, who had the other two-thirds on leases for lives; but that John Hals sold the whole. It is probable that the purchaser must have been Mr. Bellot, of Bochym, whose daughter brought the one-third freehold, and the two-thirds lease for lives, to Mr. Thomas Hawkins; yet Reginald Mohun is said by Mr. Lysons, under Cury, to have given one of his daughters, with Bochym, to Francis Bellot; through whom Mr. Hawkins, the present possessor, connects himself with the ancient and baronial family of Mohun.
However Mr. Thomas Hawkins acquired Trewinnard, the property has now been possessed by his family above a century and a half.
The first of his ancestors who settled in Cornwall was Mr. John Hawkins, who is said to have come from Kent in the year 1554. He married a daughter of the officiating Minister of Blisland.
Second, John Hawkins, their son, designated merchant, married Jane Rother or Williams, of Grampound.
Third, John Hawkins, gent, married Paschas, daughter of Joseph Cooke, of Mevagissey.
Fourth, Thomas Hawkins, who died in the lifetime of his father, married Adry, daughter of Crudge.
Fifth, John Hawkins, gent, married Loveday, daughter of George Trenhayle.
Sixth, Thomas Hawkins, their son, married, first, Florence, daughter of James Praed, esq. of Trevethow, by whom he had one daughter, married to John Williams, of Helston, merchant. He married, secondly, Ann, daughter and coheir of Christopher Bellott, of Bochym, and died in 1716, leaving one son and one daughter.
Seventh, Christopher Hawkins, esq, barrister-at-law, married Mary, daughter and coheir of Philip Hawkins, of Pennance, esq. and practically his sole heiress, as well as of her brother Philip Hawkins, D.D. sometime Master of Pembroke college, Cambridge.
They resided during several years in London, where Mr. Hawkins practised as a lawyer; but, having lost several children, they determined on removing into the country, and finally settled at Trewinnard about the year 1750. They had one daughter, Jane, married to Sir Richard Vyvyan, of Trelo warren. And
Eighth, Thomas Hawkins, esq. who married Anne, daughter of James Heywood, esq. a merchant of London. He represented Grampound in Parliament, and died in 1766, leaving four sons and one daughter.
Philip died at Eton.
Sir Christopher, Member for Michell, Grampound, Penryn, and St. Ives, in different Parliaments, and created a Baronet July 28, 1791. He was a Fellow of the Royal, Antiquarian, and Horticultural Societies, and published in 1811 "Observations on the Tin Trade of the Ancients in Cornwall, and on the Ictis of Diodorus Siculus." He died unmarried in 1829.
Thomas died a young man.
John Hawkins, the present representative of the family, celebrated throughout Europe for his general knowledge on all subjects, his science, literature, and travels, especially through Greece, the most interesting portion of the ancient world, married the only daughter of Mr. Sibthorpe, Member for Lincoln, and has two sons and four daughters; the eldest, Mr. John Heywood Hawkins, is a distinguished Member of the present Parliament. His sister is the widow of Mr. Trelawney Brereton.
The house at Trewinnard has been so much altered and improved since Mr. Christopher Hawkins came to reside there, about eighty years ago, as scarcely to leave a trace of what it had been in former times; but the garden remains, a pleasing specimen of cut yew, trim box, and thorn hedges. There was also a building, detached from the house, supposed to have been the ancient chapel, although, I think, inaccurately, as it stood north and south. One of the upstairs rooms has tapestry representing the victory of Constantine, with his celebrated vision of the Cross. But, above all, here are preserved the remains of an old coach, suspended on long leathers without springs, and in general form corresponding with the coach exhibited by the Lord Mayor of London. I believe, however, that it is much less ancient than has generally been supposed, and it has been in actual use within seventy years.
Trewinnard has the advantage of a stream of water, brought with great art over very uneven ground from a distance of two or three miles, conducted into almost every field, and supplying the house.
The place of next importance in this parish is Trelisick. Perhaps the etymology of this word may be tre-les-ick, the town on the inclosed water, les, or lis, being an inclosed place; and the river Hayle here expands itself into the appearance of a lake; and the same circumstance applies to Trelesick as the head of Falmouth harbour.
The tale related by Mr. Hals respecting the change of name from De Camborne to Paynter, does not seem very probable. I remember, however, a man of that family who was a house-painter, and who would be driven into most violent fits of passion when boys hallooed after him, "Painter by name and painter by nature."
Mr. Francis Paynter is said to have married, first, a daughter of ——— Sutherland, Esq. one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, and to have had by her one son, who died in his father's lifetime. I apprehend that this son, James, too warmly espousing the politics then most popular in Cornwall, took an active part in proclaiming King James on the death of Queen Anne; that he was indicted by the victorious party, acquitted at Launceston, and welcomed by bonfire and by ball from thence to the Land's End.
Of the two daughters by his second marriage, with his cousin of Boskenna, one made a most imprudent match with a foreigner, and settled in France, leaving many descendants.
The other daughter, Mary, born in 1709, married a very respectable gentleman, Mr. Hearle, of Penryn. They acquired the other sister's share of the property by purchase, and the whole is now equally divided between the families of her three daughters. One married the Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne, of Heligon; another Francis Rodd, Esq. of Trebather; and the third Capt. Wallis, of the Royal Navy, well known for his discovery of Otaheite, in a voyage round the world.
The house at Trelisick has been greatly reduced in size; but the whole place continues to bear the appearance of a gentleman's seat, and the property is much improved by the rapid advance of trade and of establishments at Hayle.
This portion of the Hearle and Paynter estate has been assigned to Mr. Francis Hearle Rodd.
The place next of importance in this parish was probably Tredrea. The name, perhaps, imports the thoroughfare town, as it lies on the way from Trewinnard to the church.
There was here a large house inhabited by a family of the same name, who appear in the parish register two centuries ago as Esquires, a distinction then sparingly applied. The property is said to have passed, by a mortgage unredeemed, to the St. Aubyns of Crowan, who granted it on a lease for lives, in the year 1685, to Mr. Matthew Phillips. One of his daughters married Mr. John Davies, younger brother of Henry Davies, Esq. of Bosence. Mr. John Davies had a daughter, Catherine Davies, eventually heiresss of her brother Henry Davies, and through him of her father and uncle. Her son is the Editor of this work.
The old house at Tredrea having fallen into a state of decay, Mr. Henry Davies took it down about the year 1750, and built small a neat house on the same spot, where the Editor still occasionally resides.
Bosence, in St. Earth, has belonged time out of mind, (certainly from before the reign of Henry the Seventh,) to the family of Davies. On it there is a very perfect Roman entrenchment; and various articles of Roman workmanship, found on removing the earth, are described and figured by Dr. W. Borlase, in his Antiquities of Cornwall, p.316, edit. 1759; and also in a Paper communicated to the Royal Society in 1759, vol. xi. p.322, of the Abridgment; and the Articles themselves having been presented by Mr. Henry Davies to Dr. Borlase, were by him deposited in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, where they are now preserved. Another Roman intrenchment, but much less perfect, is situated on the summit of the hill on the south side of the road leading eastward, at about half a mile distant from St. Earth bridge: this is mentioned by Leland. The Editor availed himself of an opportunity for purchasing it about ten years ago, to prevent its further destruction.
In the church-yard are several monuments to the Davieses, particularly one to Mr. William Davies, the Editor's great-grandfather.
A flat stone, lying on a raised grave, having the arms of Davies, a chevron between three mullets pierced, impaled with the ancient arms of Noye, Azure, three crosses botony in a bend Argent. The more recent arms are, Argent, three bendlets and a canton Sable, on the canton a cross of the Field. There is this inscription round the edge.
Here lieth the body of William Davies, of Bosworgy, in this parish, Gent, who was buried the 28th day of February, in the 54th year of his age, anno 1690.
On the middle of the stone:
Virtus post funera vivit.
Must death divide us now, and close thine eyes?
How shall I live, when thou art gone, to hear
Our children's cries?
Look on, but spare your tears, forbear to weep:
My death's no death—in Christ a blessed sleep.
O blessed Sleep to me! that art both free
From sting of Death, and from Grave's victory!
O, Death, where's now thy sting, or, Grave, thy power?
My soul triumphs in Christ, my Saviour;
Cease, then your tears for me, who am in bliss—
Tho' here intomb'd, my soul in Heaven is.
Be sure always t' observe old David's song,
And never trust that man that did me wrong.
Survivors will be apt to act their part,
And seek all means they can to break thy heart;
But trust in God, and he will thee defend
From all thine enemies: and love thy friend.
Farewell, dear wife and children! Friends, adieu!
Observe those friends whose promises prove true.
I cannot account for this extraordinary epitaph.
Near this tomb stands a handsome marble sarcophagus, erected over a stoned vault, with the following inscriptions:
On the south side:
In memory
of Henry Davies, of Tredrea, Esq.
a Lieutenant in the Cornwall Militia.
He was a dutiful son, an affectionate brother,
an obliging relation, a sincere friend,
and in all repects a worthy gentleman.
He died of the smallpox at London,
December 10, 1760, aged 36,
justly lamented by all his friends and acquaintance:
On the north side:
Here lyeth interred the remains
of John Davies, Gent,
who departed this life May the 29th, 1737,
in the 51st year of his age.
And of Mary and Philippa, his daughters.
Mary Davies died Jan. 2d, 1740, aged 8.
Philippa Davies died at Bristol Wells,
August the 18th, 1755, in the 25th year of her age.
On the northern end:
Elizabeth Davies,
widow of Mr. John Davies,
and daughter of Matthew Phillipps,
of Tredrea,
died April the 21st, 1775,
aged 80.
On the west end:
In memory of
the Rev. Edward Giddy, M.A.
during 43 years an active and most useful Magistrate,
who departed this life March the 6th, 1814,
in his 80th year.
Also of
Catherine, his wife,
sister and heir of Henry Davies, Esq.
who died February the 3d, 1803, aged 75,
leaving one son and one daughter:
Davies Giddy,
and
Mary Philippa Davies Guillemard.
The Editor is desirous of preserving a short memorial to a relation, whose kindnesses to him were unceasing from infancy to the fifty-fifth year of his age; and to a servant whom he has ever regarded with gratitude as the one whose precepts and instructions he imbibed with the utmost pleasure and delight, and whose tales of the times of old remain deeply impressed upon his mind.
To the memory of
Mrs. Grace Jenkins,
born at Treloweth, 1734,
died April 7th, 1823,
having passed the greater part of her life
in this parish, universally
esteemed and respected.
This memorial,
in gratitude for her long and faithful service,
is inscribed to the memory of
Jochebed Hoskin,
who died March the 23d, 1814, aged 86,
by Davies Gilbert.
She came to live with Mrs. Elizabeth Davies,
at Tredrea, in 1750,
and continued in the family ever afterwards.
That danced our infancy upon their knee,
And told our wondering childhood legends store
Of strange adventures happ'd by land or sea,
How are they blotted from the things that be!
There is a vault belonging to the family of Hawkins; and Mr. Christopher Hawkins, in 1767, and his widow, Mrs. Mary Hawkins, in 1780, are laid in it, I believe with some of their children; but there is not any inscription.
Perthcolumb presents some appearance of antiquity. There is a tradition of its once having given a sheriff to the county. The place now belongs to Mr. Andrew Hoskin, descended from a very ancient family in the adjoining parish of Lelant.
Gear has a good house, once the seat of another branch of the Davieses, but bought by the Editor's father.
Tregethes belonged for several descents to the Penroses. It is now the property of Mr. Ellis, who resides in it.
About the year 1782, a mill was constructed on a part of Trewinnard, for rolling copper and iron, by a company established at Hayle thirty years before, on the supposed patriotic principle of smelting our own copper ore; but, after many years of competition against the smelting-works in Wales, it was discovered that one shipload of copper ore required three shiploads of coal, and that by importing coal from Swansea to work the steam-engine, and by exporting the ores to be smelted there, vessels were enabled to obtain cargoes in both directions; and, in consequence, the works at Trewinnard and at Hayle are no longer employed for their original purposes.
The rage for importing coals to reduce our own ores at home, which was epidemic about the middle of the last century, seems to have originated from a confusion of ideas in the application of analogies, the most abundant source of error. It would be absurd to send our food across the seas to be roasted or boiled; therefore the same principle was extended to copper ore.
These establishments were, however, maintained for some considerable time by the genius and the abilities of one man. Mr. John Edwards had been taken as a clerk for general business by Mr. Hawkins, just at the time when he and other Cornish gentlemen set on the copper-works. Mr. Edwards soon forced himself into the chief management, became a partner, and continued the works during the whole of his life; not being distinguished merely as a merchant or manufacturer, but as a scholar and a gentleman.
Gurlyn is said by Mr. Lysons to have been the residence of various considerable families. It has, for perhaps a century, been the joint property of Messrs. Gregor and Harris. About the year 1760, Mr, John Millett, possessing a lease of this place for lives, built an entirely new house there; but the lease has been bought in by the gentleman seised of the freehold, and the house taken down.
Treloweth is a manor heretofore the property of the Tredreas. On a part of this manor stands a tin-smelting house. Tin, by the laws of the Stannaries, must be reduced to the metallic state in Cornwall; and much less quantities of coal are required than in the case of copper. Till about the commencement of the last century, all the tin ores of Cornwall were smelted in small blast furnaces, by means of charcoal or of peat. At that period some Germans introduced the reverberatory furnace, and with it the use of coal. Several smelting-houses were immediately constructed by the gentlemen of the county, and although not among the first, that at Treloweth. I have ascertained the exact period of its building, from this circumstance, that the workmen were interrupted by the total eclipse of the sun, which happened about 15 minutes before nine on the 22d of April, 1715, O.S.
Mr. Henry Davies, the Editor's great-uncle, was among those who contributed to the building, and the crest of his arms, a lamb carrying a flag, was adopted as a mark to distinguish the slabs of this house; all the different smelting and blowing houses having always used specific marks. The crest, had, I presume, been originally taken in allusion to the Welch and Cornish sound, at least of his name; davas being Cornish for a sheep, or perhaps a shepherd. This mark, however, conveyed to the minds of persons in Catholic countries some idea of consecration, and procured a preference for the Lamb Tin, although it never claimed to have the slightest superiority; and finally, all the other houses have taken the same, or similar marks.
Among the Germans who introduced the reverberatory furnace, was the celebrated Becker. His son became a bricklayer, and his grandson's widow died about twenty-five years ago in the poorhouse at St. Earth.
The Rev. John Ralph, Vicar of Ingatestone, son of the Vicar of St. Earth, gave in 1754 a hundred pounds towards founding a school at St. Earth, to be applied as Mr. Collins, the then Vicar, and Mr. Hawking, of Trewinnard, should direct. Some portion of the 100l. was expended in repairing a small house in the church-yard. The remainder, together with another hundred pounds, given by Mr. Hawkins, remain in aid of the schoolmaster.
This parish measures 3,791 statute acres.
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | £. 4,708 |
s. 0 |
d. 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 558 | 2 | 0 |
| Population,— | in 1801, 1122 |
in 1811, 1317 |
in 1821, 1604 |
in 1831, 1922 |
giving an increase in 30 years of 71 per cent.
The feast is the nearest Sunday to all Souls, Nov. 2.
Present Vicar, the Rev. John Punnett, collated in 1835 by the Right Rev. Henry Phillpotts, present Bishop of Exeter, on a lapse from the Dean and Chapter. Mr. Punnett has wonderfully improved the house and the vicarage generally, which had previously been considered one of the best in Cornwall.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
St. Earth is situated on felspar and hornblende rocks belonging to the porphyritic series. In many parts these rocks are so silicious as to give rise to very unproductive soils; but in other places, where the felspar predominates, the land is very fertile. These rocks are traversed by metalliferous veins, which are richer in copper than in tin ores.