The Parochial History of Cornwall/Volume 1/St Enedellyan
ST. ENEDELLYAN, OR ST. DELYAN.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Trigminor, and hath upon the north the Irish Sea; east, St. Teth; south, St. Kewe; west, St. Minvor. This is that Delian taxed in Domesday Roll, 20th William I. (1087,) and refers to the name of the tutelar guardian and patron of this church, here extant before the Norman Conquest, viz. St. Delian, or Telian, a British saint, said to be made Bishop of Menevia, or Landaff, after St. David's death, anno Dom. 563, (see Davidstow,) (who was born in Merionethshire, and had his education under St. Dubritius, Bishop of Landaff, anno Dom. 520,) by whose instruction and piety he became a learned and pious divine, and was furthered and confirmed therein by St. David, afterwards Bishop of Landaff, alias Menevia.
This St. Delian accompanied St. David in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to visit the holy cross and sepulchre, from whence they safely returned again into their own country; and rinding the same greatly infected with the plague, St. Delian, as was generally said, by his sincere and fervent prayers soon delivered that country from the malignity of that fatal disease, which long time before had destroyed great numbers of its inhabitants. He is placed by Harpsfield and Campion in the Constat of the Bishops of Landaff, and that he died about the year 570.
In this church of St. Delian, (now called Ene-Delian, or Ene-Dellian,) soon after the Norman Conquest, some gentlemen, lords of tenements in this parish, set up and endowed here a court, corporation, or college, of six Prebends, or Canons Augustine, as council or assistants to the Bishop, Dean, or Rector, viz. the Lord of the Barton of Trearike, now Peter's, and two others, who alternately are patrons of this church, and present the rector thereto. The Prebend of Trearick was given by Richardson to one Grey; the patronage of which is in the Earl of Radnor.
In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, the revenues of Ecclesia de Enedelian-ta,
(id est, the church of the good soul of Delian,) then a
vicarage, were thus charged:
1. Prebend. Dom. Paganus de Liske, in eadem, xls.
2. Prebend. John Moderet,lxs.
3. Prebend. Henricus de Monkton, iiiil. iis.
4. Prebend. Dominus Reginald Thick, iiiil. iis.
5. Prebend. Magister Osberti, iiii. xs.
6. Prebend. Magister William de Wymondham, iiiil. xs.
In Wolsey's Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, this church of Endelian is rated to First Fruits 10l. The Incumbent Wills; and the parish rated to the 4s. per pound Land Tax, 1696, 180l.
Within this district now stands the barton and manor of Ros-cur-ok, rated as the voke lands of two manors or parishes in Domesday Roll, 20th William I. (1087.) The same, I suppose, mentioned in Carew's Survey of Cornwall, p. 47.
Tre-freke, alias Tre-vreke, alias Tre-frege, synonymous words in British, (that is to say, the wife's town, or a town pertaining to some wife,) is the dwelling of John Hamly, Gent, that married Treffreye.
Pen-nant, in this parish, (i.e. the head of the valley,) is the dwelling of John Rawe, Gent, that married Kelly.
Tresongar, or Tresongadh, is the dwelling of John Matthews, Gent, that married Vivian of Truan. The present possessor, Mr. Matthews, leaving no issue male, his only daughter and heir is married to Henry Bond, Gent, attorney-at-law, steward to the Earl of Radnor.
In this parish, as I take it, is situate the barton of Cheny (see St. Teth).
It is now, I suppose, in possession of Mr. Danell.
TONKIN.
Roscarrake, in this parish, gave name and residence to the old and famous family of gentlemen, from thence denominated De Roscarrake.
Richard de Roscarrack held in this place the fourth part of a knight's fee in the reign of Henry the Fourth, as appears from Carew's Survey.
John Roscarrack was Sheriff of Cornwall in the 6th Henry VII. Richard Roscarrack was Sheriff in 4th Edward VI. again 2d Elizabeth. And John Roscarrack was Sheriff 17th Elizabeth.
They received great augmentation to their estate by the daughter and heir of Pentire of Pentuan, who brought to them the whole patrimony of that family: but, alas! so true is that saying, "Man doth not always flourish," the great estate of this family, by ill conduct, was much wasted; and in the reign of Charles the Second, this very barton and manor of Roscarrack was sold by Charles Roscarrack to Edward Boscowen, Esq. in whose son and heir, Mr. Hugh Boscowen, of Tregothen, it now resteth.
Trefreke now belongs to Mr. John Hemley, who giveth for his arms, Argent, three hounds passant Azure.
THE EDITOR.
Port Isaac, a small town of the sea coast, with a harbour for boats and sloops, is situated in this parish.
The church, standing on a high hill, is a landmark from the Bristol Channel.
The rectory, and one of the prebends, are in the gift of the Crown. Another of the prebends belongs to Mrs. Agar, the representative of the Robartes. The third is in the presentation of Mr. Gray.
The north aile of the church is said to have been built by the Roscarracks, and to have remained their private property, with a burial-place below it.
This parish measures 3,083 statute acres.
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | £. 5215 |
s. 0 |
d. 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 745 | 6 | 0 |
| Population,— | in 1801, 727 |
in 1811, 950 |
in 1821, 1149 |
in 1831, 1218 |
giving an increase of 67½ per cent. in 30 years.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
St. Enedellyan has been long celebrated for its mines of antimony. This metal occurs in the state of a sulphuret, associated with iron pyrites, in quartz veins, which run east and west, traversing a blue lamellar slate, very similar to that which frequently abounds in the calcareous series, and to which, indeed, this slate belongs. Some curious varieties of rocks in this series are found in St. Enedellyan, one of which, in particular, abounds between the church and Port Isaac, which was noticed by Sir Humphrey Davy in a decomposing state, under the name of mandelstone. In this state it is a dull earthy argillaceous rock, of an ochreous colour, full of small, roundish cavities. In its perfect state this rock is a greenish-grey, glossy, compact felspar, containing granules of flesh-coloured calcareous spar, and minute prisms of hornblende. During decomposition, the calcareous spar is dissolved, and washed away by the rainwater, which produces the honeycomb appearance; and the ferruginous stain is derived from the iron contained in the hornblende. This rock has been described by Mr. Prideaux as occurring in Devon. It is very rare in Cornwall.