many noble men besides But not too much of this least a partiall affection steale at vnwares into my commendation as one by my mother descended frō his loynes and by my birth a member of the house Certaine olde ruines yet remaining confirme the neighbours report that neere the waters side there stood once a towne called Weststone house vntill the French by fire and sword ouerthrew it In the yeere one thousand fiue hundred ninetienine the Spaniards vaunts caused the Cornish forces to aduance there a kind of fortification and to plot the making of a Bridge on barges ouer that strait for inhibiting the enemies accesse by boates and Gallies into the more inward parts of the hauen But it may be doubted whether the bridge would haue proued as impossible as the Sconcefell out vnnecessarie Master Peter Edgecumbe commonly called Peers married Margaret the daughter of Sir Andrew Lutterel his father Sir Richard married the daughter of Tregian his father Sir Peers married the daughter and heire of Stephan Durnford and his father Sir Richard married the daughter of Tremayn These names of Peers and Richard they haue successiuely varied for sixe or seuen descents Hee beareth for his Armes Gules on a Bend ermine betweene two Cotises Or. 3. Bores heades coped arg armed as the three Langued is the field A little inward from Mountedgecumb lieth a safe and commodious Road for shipping called Hamose and compounded of the words Ose and Ham according to the nature of the place Here those vessels cast anchor which are bound to the Eastwards as those doe in Catwater who would fare to the West because euerie wind that can serue them at Sea will from thence carrie them out which commoditie other Roads doe not so conueniently affoord It is reported that in times past there was an ordinary passage ouer this water to a place on Deuon side called Horsecoue but long since discontinued At the higher end of a creek passing vp from hence Milbrook lurketh between two hilles a village of some 80. houses and borrowing his name from a mill and little brook running therethrough In my remembrance which extendeth not to aboue 40 yeeres this village tooke great encrease of wealth and buildings through the iust and industrious trade of fishing and had welneere forty ships and barks at one time belonging therevnto But our late broyles with Spayne haue set vp a more compendious though not so honest way of gayning and begin by little and little to reduce these plaine dealers to their former vndeserued plight Yet do they prescribe in a suburbiall market as I may terme it to Plymmouth for their reliefe by intercepting if not forestalling such corne and victuals as passing thorow their streights cannot for want of time or weather get ouer Crymell passage to the other and surely they are not vnworthy of fauour for this towne furnisheth more able Mariners at euery prest for her Highnesse seruice then many others of far greater blaze It chanced about twenty yeeres sithence that one Richaurd wife to Richard Adams of this towne was deliuered of two male children the one ten weekes after the other who liued vntil baptisme the later hitherto Which might happen in that the woman bearing twinnes by some blow slide or other extraordinary accident brought forth the first before his time and the later in his due season Now that a childe borne in the seuenth moneth may liue both Astrologers and Phisicions doe affirme but in the 8. they deny it and these are their reasons The Astrologers hold that the child in the mothers wombe is successiuely gouerned euery moneth by the seuen Planets beginning at Saturne after which reckoning he returning to his rule the 8. month by his dreery influēce infortunateth any birth that shal then casually befall whereas his succeeder Iupiter by a better disposition worketh a more beneficiall effect The Phisicions deliuer that in the seuenth moneth the childe by course of nature turneth itself in the mothers belly wherefore at that time it is readier as halfe loosed to take issue by any outward chance Mary in the eightth when it beginneth to settle againe and as yet retayneth some weakenes of the former sturring it requireth a more forcible occasion that induceth a slaughtering violence Or if these coniecturall reasons suffice not to warrant a probability of the truth Plynies authority in a stranger case shall presse them farther for hee writeth that a woman brought a bed of one childe in the seuenth moneth in the moneths following was also deliuered of twinnes A part of Mount-Edgecumb and of this Milbrook though seuered from Deuon by the generall bound yet vpon some of the foreremembred considerations haue bene annexed thereunto Aside of Milbrook lyeth the Peninsula of Inswork on whose neckland standeth an ancient house of the Champernons and descended by his daughters and heires to Forteskew Monck and Treuilian three Gentlemen of Deuon The site is naturally both pleasant and profitable to which the owner by his ingenious experiments daily addeth an artificiall surplusage Passing somewhat farther vp you meet with the foot of Lyner where it winneth fellowship with Tamer that till then and this yet longer retayning their names though their ouer-weake streames were long before confounded by the predominant salt water A little within this mouth of Lyner standeth East-Antony the poore home of mine ancestours with which in this maner they were inuested Sir Iohn Lerchedekne Knight and not priest for he was so called of his family and not by his calling as in Froissard you shall note the like to be familiar amongst the nobility of Gascoigne by Cecill the daughter and heire of Iordan of Haccumb had issue 9. sonnes Ralph Waryne Richard Otho Iohn Robert Martyn Reignald and Michael Richard married Ione the daughter of Iohn Bosowr that bare him Thomas in whome the heires male of this multiplyed hope tooke an end Warine afterwards knighted tooke to wife Elizabeth one of the daughters and heires to Iohn Talbot de Castro Ricardi and on her begate three daughters and heires Alienor wedded to Sir Walter Lucy Margery to Sir Thomas Arundel of Taluerne and Philip to Sir Hugh Courtney of Bauncton which I take is now named Boconnock From Lucy descended the Lord Vaux and others Margery dyed childlesse anno 1419. as is testified by her toomb-stone in West-Antony Church where shee lyeth buried Sir Hugh Courtney was second sonne to Ed. Earle of Deuon had 2. wiues the first Maud daughter of the L. Beaumond to whose children for want of issue in the elder stock that Earledome deuolued the later our foreremēbred Philip who left her inheritance to her only daughter Ione and she taking a patterne from her fathers fortune espoused likewise 2. husbands viz. Sir Nicholas Baron of Carew and Sir Robert Vere brother to Iohn Earle of Oxford to Sir Nicholas shee bare Thomas Nicholas Hugh Alexander and William to Sir Robert Iohn and became
THE SVRVEY OF CORNWALL Written by Richard Carew of Antonie Esquire AVT NVNC AVT NVNQVAM LONDON Printed by S. S. for Iohn Iaggard and are to bee sold neere Temple-barre at the signe of the Hand and Starre 1602. To the Honourable Sir Walter Raleigh Knight Lord Warden of the Stannaries Lieutenant Generall of Cornwall c. THis mine ill-husbanded Suruey long since begun a great while discontinued lately reuiewed and now hastily finished appealeth to your L. direction whether it should passe to your correction if it doe passe and to your protection when it is passed Neithervnduely for the same intreateth of the Prouince and persons ouer whose bodies and estates you carrie a large both Martiall and ciuill commaund by your authoritie but in whose hearts and loues you possesse a farre greater interest by your kindnesse Your eares and mouth haue euer beene open to heare and deliuer our gricuances and your feete and hands readie to goe and worke their redresse and that not onely alwayes as a Magistrate of your selfe but also verie often as a suiter and solliciter to others of the highest place Wherefore I as one of the common beholden present this token of my priuate gratitude It is dutie and not presumption that hath drawne me to the offering and it must be fauour and not desert that shall moue your Lordship to the acceptance and so I take humble leaue resting no lesse willing to serue you then vnder you Your Lordships poore kinsman Richard Carew of Antonie To the Reader WHen I first composed this Treatise not minding that it should be published in Print I caused onely certaine written copies to bee giuen to some of my friends and put Prosopopeia into the bookes mouth But since that time master Camdens often mencioning this worke and my friends perswasions haue caused my determination to alter to imbrace a pleasing hope that charitie good construction resteth now generally in all Readers Albeit I well know how Opere in vario no lesse then in longo fas est obrepere somnum And I acknowledge this playing work to come so farre short of satisfying euen my selfe though Suus cuique placet partus as I haue little reason to expect the applause of any other Besides the state of our Countrie hath vndergone so manie alterations since I first began these scriblings that in the reuiewing I was driuen either likewise to varie my report or else to speake against my knowledge And no maruaile for each succeeding time addeth or reaueth goods euils according to the occasions which it selfe produceth rather a wonder it were that in the ceaselesse reuolution of the Vniuerse any parcell should retaine a stedfast constitution Reckon therefore I pray you that this treatise plotteth downe Cornwall as it now standeth for the particulars and will continue for the generall Mine Eulogies proceede no lesse from the sinceritie of a witnesse then the affection of a friend and therefore I hope that where my tongue hath beene good no mans eye will bee euill and that each wel-minded Reader will wish a merrie passage to this my rather fancie-sporting then gaine-seeking voyage Farewell The Prosopopeia to the Booke I Craue not courteous ayd of friends To blaze my praise in verse Nor prowd of vaunt mine authours names In catalogue rehearse I of no willing wrong complaine Which force or stealth hath wrought No fruit I promise from the tree Which forth this blooth hath brought I curry not with smoothing termes Ne yet rude threats I blaste I seeke no patrone for my faults I pleade no needlesse haste But as a child of feeble force I keepe my fathers home And bashfull at eche strangers sight Dare not abroad to rome Saue to his kinne of neerest bloud Or friends of dearest price Who for his sake not my desert With welcome me entice THE SVRVEY OF CORNWALL The first Booke COrnwall the farthest Shire of England Westwards hath her name by diuers Authors diuerfly deriued Some as our owne Chroniclers draw it from Corineus cousin to Brute the first Conquerour of this Iland who wrastling at Plymmouth as they say with a mightie Giant called Gogmagog threw him ouer Cliffe brake his necke and receiued the gift of that Countrie in reward for his prowesse Some as Cerealis no lesse mistaken perhaps in that then in his measures from Cornu Galliae a horne or corner of Fraunce whereagainst nature hath placed it and some from Cornu Walliae which in my coniecture carrieth greatest likelyhood of truth For what time the Saxons after many bloudie inuasions as Pirates began at last to plant their dwellings and take roote in this Iland as Conquerors the Britons by them supplanted were driuen to seeke their safegard in the waste Moores craggie Mountaines and wild Forrests of Wales and Cornwall where the Countries barrennesse barred their pursuers from victuals and the dangerousnesse of the passages laid them open to priuie inuasions Such as had in this sort withdrawne themselues the Saxons termed Welshmen by interpretation strangers for so they were to them as they to the Countrie and their place of abode they called Welsh-land sithence turned to Wales euen as by the same reason they giue still the same name to Italy Now Cornwall being cast out into the Sea with the shape of a horne borrowed the one part of her name from her fashion as Matthew of Westminster testifieth the other from her Inhabitants both which conioyned make Cornuwalliae and contriued Cornwall in which sence the Cornish people call it Kernow deriued likewise from Kerne a horne Neither needeth this composition to be accompted any way vncouth seeing the same is made familiar vnto vs by the like in other Countries as of Herbipolis in Germanie Lombardie in Italy Paleocastrum in Crete and Neoportus in Carniola all which with many other are likewise compacted of double languages This ill-halsening hornie name hath as Corneto in Italy opened a gap to the scoffes of many who not knowing their owne present condition or at least their future destinie can be cōtented to draw an odious mirth from a publike infamie But seeing the wisest Enditer hath directed the penne of his holiest writers to vse this terme not only in a good meaning but also in a significant sense and to sanctifie the thing it selfe in sundrie parts of his seruice such iesters dishonest indiscretion is rather charitably to bee pittied then their exception either angerly to be grieued at or seriously to bee confuted I am not ignorant how sorely the whole storie of Brute is shaken by some of our late writers and how stiffely supported by other some as also that this wrastling pull betweene Corineus and Gogmagog is reported to haue befallen at Douer For mine owne part though I reuerence antiquitie and reckon it a kind of wrong to exact an ouer-strict reason for all that which vpon credite shee deliuereth yet I rather incline to their side who would warrant her authoritie
by apparant veritie Notwithstanding in this question I will not take on me the person of either Iudge or flickler and therefore if there be any so plunged in the common floud as they will still gripe fast what they haue once caught hold on let them sport themselues with these coniectures vpon which mine auerment in behalfe of Plymmouth is grounded The place where Brute is said to haue first landed was Totnes in Cornwall and therfore this wrastling likely to haue chaunced there sooner then elsewhere The Prouince bestowed on Corineus for this exployt was Cornwall It may then be presumed that he receiued in reward the place where hee made proofe of his worth and whose Prince for so with others I take Gogmagog to haue beene hee had conquered euen as Cyrus recompenced Zopirus with the Citie Babylon which his policie had recouered Againe the actiuitie of Deuon and Cornishmen in this facultie of wrastling beyond those of other Shires dooth seeme to deriue them a speciall pedigree from that graund wrastler Corineus Moreouer vpon the Hawe at Plymmouth there is cut out in the ground the pourtrayture of two men the one bigger the other lesser with Clubbes in their hands whom they terme Gog-Magog and as I haue learned it is renewed by order of the Townesmen when cause requireth which should inferre the same to bee a monument of some moment And lastly the place hauing a steepe cliffe adioyning affordeth an oportunitie to the fact But of this too much Cornwall is seated as most men accompt in the Latitude of fiftie degrees and thirtie minutes and in the Longitude of sixe The Shire extendeth in length to about seuentie miles the breadth as almost no where equall so in the largest place it passeth not thirtie in the middle twentie and in the narrowest of the West part three The whole compasse may hereby be coniectured It bordereth on the East with Deuon diuided therefrom in most places by the ryuer Tamer which springing neere the North Sea at Hartland in Deuon runneth thorow Plymmouth Hauen into the South For the rest the maine Ocean sundreth the same on the North from Ireland on the West from the Ilands of Scilley on the South from little Britaine These borders now thus straightned did once extend so wide as that they enabled their inclosed territorie with the title of a kingdome Polidore Virgil allotteth it the fourth part of the whole Iland and the ancient Chronicles report that Brute landed at Totnes in Cornwall a Towne now seated in the midst of Deuon Moreouer vntill Athelstanes time the Cornish-men bare equal sway in Excester with the English for hee it was who hemmed them within their present limits Lastly the encroaching Sea hath rauined from it the whole Countrie of Lionnesse together with diuers other parcels of no little circuite and that such a Lionnesse there was these proofes are yet remaining The space betweene the lands end and the Iles of Scilley being about thirtie miles to this day retaineth that name in Cornish Lethowsow and carrieth continually an equall depth of fortie or sixtie fathom a thing not vsuall in the Seas proper Dominion saue that about the midway there lieth a Rocke which at low water discouereth his head They terme it the Gulfe suiting thereby the other name of Scilla Fishermen also casting their hookes thereabouts haue drawn vp peeces of doores and windowes Moreouer the ancient name of Saint Michaels Mount was Cara clowse in Cowse in English The hoare Rocke in the Wood which now is at euerie floud incompassed by the Sea and yet at some low ebbes rootes of mightie trees are discryed in the sands about it The like ouerflowing hath happened in Plymmouth Hauen and diuers other places In this situation though nature haue shouldred out Cornwall into the farthest part of the Realme and so besieged it with the Ocean that as a demie Iland in an Iland the inhabitants find but one way of issue by land yet hath shee in some good measure counteruailed such disaduantage through placing it both neere vnto in the trade way betwene Wales Ireland Spaine France Netherland The neerenesse helpeth thē with a shorter cut lesse peril and meaner charge to vent forth make returne of those cōmodities which their owne or either of those Countries doe afford the lying in the way bringeth forraine shipping to claime succour at their harbours when either outward or homeward bound they are checked by an East South or Southeast wind and where the horse walloweth some haires will still remaine Neither is it to bee passed ouer without regard that these remote quarters lie not so open to the inuasions of forraine enemies or spoyles of ciuil tumults as other more inward parts of the Realme which being seated neerer the heart are sooner sought and easlyer ransacked in such troublesome times or if the Countries long naked sides offer occasion of landing to any aduerse shipping her forementioned inward naturall strength increased by so many Lanes and Inclosures straightneth the same to a preying onely vpon the outward skirts by some pettie fleetes For the danger of farder piercing will require the protection of a greater force for execution then can there be counteruailed with the benefit of any bootie or conquest were they sure to preuaile And if to bee free from a dammage may passe for a commoditie I can adde that the far distance of this Countie from the Court hath heretofore afforded it a Supersedeas from takers Purueyours for if they should fetch any prouisiō from thence well it might be masked with the visard of her Highnes prerogatiue but the same would verie slenderly turne to the benefit of her Maiesties house keeping for the foulenesse and vneasinesse of the waies the little mould of Cornish cattel and the great expence of driuing them would defaulke as much from the iust price to the Queene at the deliuering as it did from the owners at the taking Besides that her Highnesse shipping should heerethrough bee defrauded of often supplies which these parts afford vnto them Vpon which reasons some of the Purueyours attempts heretofore through the suite of the Countrie the sollicitation of Sir Richard Gremuile the credite of the Lord Warden and the graciousnesse of our Soueraigne were reuoked and suppressed and the same vnder her Highnesse priuie Seale confirmed Notwithstanding when her Maiestie made her pleasure afterward knowne that shee would haue a generall contribution from euerie Shire for redeeming this exemption Cornwall opposing dutie against reason or rather accompting dutie a reason sufficient yeelded to vndergoe a proportionable rate of the burthen So they compounded to furnish ten Oxen after Michaelmas for thirtie pound price to which by another agreement with the Officers they should adde fortie markes of of their owne Vpon halfe a yeeres warning either partie might repent the bargaine This held for a while but within a short space either the carelesnesse of the Iustices
his liberality Which domestical example encouraged his sonne Roger the more hardily to hazard the more willingly to resigne his life in the vnfortunate Mary Rose A disposition successe equally fatall to that house for his sonne againe the second Sir Ric. after his trauell and following the warres vnder the Emperour Maximilian against the great Turke for which his name is recorded by sundry forrain writers and his vndertaking to people Virginia and Ireland made so glorious a conclusion in her Maiesties ship the Reuenge of which he had charge as Captaine of the whole fleet as Vice-admirall that it seemed thereby when he foūd none other to compare withall in his life he striued through a vertuous enuy to exceed it in his death A victorious losse for the realme and of which the Spaniard may say with Pirrhus that many such conquests would beget his vtter ouerthrow Lastly his son Iohn took hold of euery martiall occasion that was ministred him vntill in seruice against her Highnesse enemies vnder the commaund of Sir Walter Ralegh the Ocean became his bedde of honour Neither may I without wrong passe ouer Captaine George Wray in silence who by a rare temperature of vertues breathed courage into his soldiers purchased loue amongst his acquaintance and bred dismay in his enemies Or captaine Hender the absolutest man of war for precise obseruing martiall rules which his dayes affoorded besides his commendable sufficiencie of head and hand for inuention and execution I will end with master William Lower late captaine of Sir Frauncis Veres companie in Netherland who hath opened the war schoole vnto a great many Cornish yong gentlemen that vnder his conduct sought to conforme themselues to his patterne euerie way accomplished with all the due parts of honour For Mechanical sciences the old Veale of Bodmyn might iustly expostulate with my silence if I should not spare him a roome in this Suruey while hee so well deserues it This man hath beene so beholden to Mercuryes predominant strength in his natiuitle that without a teacher hee is become very skilfull in welneere all maner of handy-crafts a Carpenter a Ioyner a Milwright a free-Mason a Clockmaker a Caruer mettall founder Architect quid non yea a Surgeon Phisicion Alchumist c. So as that which Gorgias of Leontium vaunted of the liberall sciences he may professe of the mechanicall viz. to be ignorant in none The Cornish minds thus qualified are the better enabled to expresse the same by the strong actiue healthfull constitution of their bodies touching each wherof a little in particular though we shall haue a fitter generall occasion to discourse therof where we handle their passetimes For strength one Iohn Bray well knowne to me as my tenant carried vpon his backe at one time by the space welneere of a Butte length sixe bushels of wheaten meale reckoning fifteen gallons to the bushel and the Miller a lubber of foure and twenty yeres age vpon the whole Iohn Romane a short clownish grub would beare the whole carkase of an Oxe and yet neuer tugged with him like that so famous Milo when hee was a Calfe For actiuity one Kiltor committed to Launceston Gayle for the last Cornish commotion lying there in the castle-greene vpon his back threw a stone of some pounds wayght ouer that Towres top which leadeth into the parke For health 80. 90. yeres age is ordinary in euery place and in most persons accompanied with an able vse of the body his sences One Polzew lately liuing reached vnto 130. a kinsman of his to 112. one Beauchamp to 106. yea Brawne the begger a Cornishman by wandring for I cannot say by inhabitance though Irish by birth out-scoreth a hundred winters by I wote not how many reuolutions And in the parish where God hath seated my poore dwelling I remember the decease of foure within 14. weekes space whose yeres added together made vp the summe of 340. Now to the degrees of their seuerall callings wherein as I will poast ouer the Dukes to another place so for Noblemen I may deliuer in a word that Cornwall at this present enioyeth the residence of none at al. The occasion whereof groweth partly because their issue female haue caried away the Inhabitance together with the Inheritance to Gentlemen of the Easterne parts and partly for that their issue male little affecting so remote a corner liked better to transplant their possessions neerer to the heart of the Realme Elder times were not so barraine for besides the Lord Tregoyes in Wil. Conquerours dayes Bottreaux Castle vaunted his Baron of that title both now descended to the Earles of Huntingdon the last deceased of which retayning the honour departed with the land to my kinde friend master Iohn Hender a Gentleman for his good parts employed by her Maiestie amongst others in the peace gouernment of the shire The Lord Bonuile his house was at Trelawne alias Trelawney lately purchased of her Highnes by Sir Ionathan Trelawny a Knight well spoken stayed in his cariage and of thrifty prouidence The Lord Bray dwelt at the Lord Brooke at Kellington where one of them hath his tombe the Lord Marney at Colquite and the Lord Denham at Cardenham Boconnock also appertained to the Earles of Deuon and was by Frauncis Earle of Bedford solde to Sir William Mohun who deriued his pedigree from the ancient Barons of that name and is also issued from one of those Earles of Deuons sisters and heyres This together with other fayre possessions now resteth in Sir Reignald Mohun his sonne one that by his courteous iust and liberall course of life maintayneth the reputation and encreaseth the loue alwayes borne his ancestours The most Cornish Gentlemen can better vaunt of their pedigree then their liuelyhood for that they deriue from great antiquitie and I make question whether any shire in England of but equall quantitie can muster a like number of faire coate-Armours whereas this declineth to the meane One cause there is of both proceeding from the want of those supplies which seruice law and marchandise afford the more inward Inhabitants of the Realme as I haue else where touched yet this rule is not so generall but that it admitteth his exceptions for there are diuers whose patrimonies extend to a large proportion for the residue the cheapnes of their prouisions and their casualties of Tyn and fines which 2. later ordinarily treble the certaine reuennue of their rents enable them with their few scores to equall the expences of those Easterne dwellers who reckon by the hundreds besides they finde meanes by a suruey to defray any extraordinarie charge of building marriage lawing or such like Yet I cannot denie but that some in gaping for dead mens shooes find their improuident couetous humour punished with going barefoot This angle which so shutteth them in hath wrought many interchangeable matches with eche others stock and giuen beginning to the
to the iurisdiction of the Stannary To the preseruation of which royalties our Parliaments haue euer carried a reuerend regard For by that Act 17. Edw. 4. which enioyneth forrayne Marchants to bestow such money as they receiue for their wares in English commodities or to pay the same vnto Englishmen the Kings part of all forfeytures within Cornwall is reserued to the Duke So doth that 11. H. 7. concerning the reformation of waights measures prouide that it shall not be hurtful or preiudiciall to the Prince within the Duchy of Cornwall nor to any waights of the cunnage and so doth that 1. H. 8. touching Excheators exempt that officer in Cornwal It should seeme that the first Earles bare a heauy hand in commaund ouer their subiects for both diuers ancient records as I haue learned make mention of tributes imposed almost vpon euery thing of profit and it may farther be gathered in that as well townes as particular persons were faine to procure Charters and graunts from them for corporations faires markets taking or freeing frō tolls mines fishing fowling hawking hunting and what not so as vpon the matter the plight of a Cornish Inhabitant and a French pezant did differ very little Which bondage one not long agoe sought in part to reestablish vnder pretence of reuiuing a rent decayed euer since 9. H. 2. and aduancing her Maiesties profit to this end procured Letters patents that none should falt dry or pack any fish in Deuon or Cornwall without his licence and warrant A matter that would by consequence haue made him an absolute disposer of all the Westerne shipping and traffike and their sea and land dependants Few words but folding vp a multitude of inconueniences to her Maiestic the whole Commonwealth Wherefore the Cornish Iustices of the peace became hūble suiters to the Lords of her Highnes priuy Councell for a necessary and speedy redresse herein and through the neuer fayling forwardnesse and backing of Sir Walter Ralegh obtayned a reuocation Howbeit this ill weed rather cut off by the ground then plucked vp by the roote once yea twice or thrice grew forth againe but yet maugre the warmers and waterers hath by her Maiesties gracious breath beene euer parched vp and as is hoped will neuer shoote out heereafter at least it shall still finde an vnited resistance of most earnest suit and pregnant reasons to beate it downe The Earles had foure houses builded Castle-wise for their residence viz. Trematon Launceston Restormel and Liskerd But since the principality of Wales and this Duchy became vnited in one person the larger scope and greater commaund of that hath robbed this of his Lords presence by consequence the strength of these Castles could not so gard them against the battery of time and neglect but that from faire buildings they fell into foule reparations and from foule reparations are now sunke into vtter ruine King H. the 8. affecting his honor of Newelin respecting the cōmodities which Wallingford Castle might afford it tooke this last by act of Parl. frō the Duchy in lieu therof annexed certain mannors lying in Corn. falne to the Crowne through the Marques of Excesters attainder which Qieene Marie afterwards restored in tayle to his sonne the Earle of Deuon and vpon his issue-les decease receiued them againe It were against duetie to make question whether in this exchange the kings meaning went with his pretence and yet wee finde it an ordinary policy amongst Princes to send their successours with a kinde of libera or honoraria legatio into the remoter quarters of their dominions as if they would shunne occasions of iclousie springing from an ouer-neere neighbourhood Howsoeuer the same king not long after passed away this Castle vnto Christs Colledge in Oxford who vse it as a place of retrayt when the Vniuersitie is visited with any contagious sicknes I haue vnderstood that question is made amongst men of knowledge what is become of this Duchy Some holding it altogether extinct for want of the kings issue male some auerring that it is suspended in 〈◊〉 as they say pro tempore and some supposing that it continueth in full power and that her Maiestie hath onely Custodiam Ducatus as of Bishopricks sede va 〈…〉 e Fenes Iudiceralis sit Once euery Sheriffe is summoned to enter his account in the Duchy Exchequer at Lostwithyel and from thence referred ouer to the Exchequer aboue Cornwall considered as a part of the Realme sorteth her gouernment into two kindes spirituall and temporall Touching the spirituall In ancient times this Shire had his particular Bishop and I find how in the yeere 905. Forinosus the Pope sent a sharpe letter to Edward the sonne of Alfride reproouing him for suffring the VVest Saxons to be destitute of Bishops seuen yeeres together Whereon by the aduice of his Councell and Arch-bishop Pleymund he ordayned seuen Bishops in one day amongst whome Herstane was consecrated to Cornwall and Eadwolfe to Crediton which last had three townes in Cornwall assigned him to wit Pontium Coelling and Landwhitton that thence he might yeerely visit the people to roote out as mine authour sayth their errours for before as much as in them lay they withstood the truth and obeyed not the Apostolike decrees Whereon I ground two collections the first that the light of the Gospell tooke not his originall shining into these parts from the Romish Bishop the other that the Cornish like their cousins the Welsh could not bee soone or easily induced to acknowledge his iurisdictiō The Bishops see was formerly at S. Petrocks in Bodmyn but by reason the Danes burned there his Church and palace the same remooued to S. Germanes After that Lumigius from a Monke of Winchester elected Abbot of Tauistoke and from that Abbey aduanced to the Bishoprick of Creditune by his grace with Canutus King of the Angles obtayned an annexion of Cornwal lately fallen voyd and so made one Dioces of that and Deuon as it hath euer since continued This Bishoprick had diuers faire houses and large reuenues in Cornwall but one Veyzy Bishop of the dioces in King H. the 8. time coniecturing as it is conceyued that the Cathedrall Churches should not long ouer-liue the suppressed Monasteries made hauock of those liuings before-hand some by long leasing and some by flat selling so as he left a poore remainder to his successours It oweth subiection to the Metropolitane of Canterbury and hath one onely Archdeaconry which place is now supplyed by master Thomas Sumaster who adorneth the Gentility of his birth with the honestie of his life and by both sorts of feeding approueth himselfe a liberall and commendable pastor Certaine Peculiars there are some appertaining to the dignities of the Cathedrall Church at Exon to wit S. Probus and S. Peran and some to priuate persons as Burien and Temple For religious houses I read that in the time of Paganisme Cunedag builded a Temple in Cornwall to Apollo
but where it stood I know not Since it made roome to Christianity my not ouer-curious enquiry hath learned out these Pryories at S. Germaines Bodmyn Tywardreth Nunries at S. Martine Fryeries at Launceston Truro Bodmyn Colledges at Peryn Crantock Buryen Hospitals at Helston Of parishes the County hath 161. as master Camden noteth and as others haue about 180. Doubtles the Hierarchy of our English Church if it were kept fast to his first institution might with his far better effects close vp their mouthes who would thrust vpon vs their oftē varying discipline But albeit neither our time can well brooke it nor the succeeding would long hold it yet it shal not do much amisse to look vpō the originall beauty thereof if at least I be able to tricke the same truly out doe not blemish it with my pensil At the planting of Christian religion Monasteries cathedrall Churches were likewise founded which serued for seedplots of the ministery sent them abroad in yerely progresses to labor the Lords vineyard Afterwards about the time of our last conquest the country was sorted by a more orderly maner into parishes euery parish cōmitted to a spirituall father called their Parson who stept into that roome not by election as some imagine but mostly by the nomination of him that eyther built the Church or endowed the same with some liuelyhood or was L of the soyle where it stood As for Vicarages those daies knew few for they grew vp in more corrupt ages by the religious houses encrochmēts Besides this Incūbent euery parish had certaine officers as Church wardens Sidemen and 8. men whose duety bound them to see the buildings ornaments appertaining to Gods seruice decently maintayned good order there reuerētly obserued And lest negligence ignorance or partiality might admit or foist in abuses corruption an Archdeacon was appointed to take account of their doings by an verely visitatiō they there sworn duly to make it He they againe had their Ordinary the Bishop euery 3. yere to ouerlook their actions to examine allow admit the ministers as they and the Bishop were sēblably subiect to the Metropolitanes suruey euery 7. yere For warning the Clergy imparting their superiours directions the Curats chose yerely their Deanes rurall The Bishop in his cathedrall church was associated with certaine Prebēdaries some resident who serued as his ghostly coūsel in points of his charge others not bound to ordinary residēce who were called to cōsultation vpon things of greater cōsequence for matters of principal importāce the Archbishop had his prouincial Sinod the whole clergy their national Now then if euery one thus entrused would remember that he had a soule to saue or lose by the well or ill discharging of so waighty a function and did accordingly from time to time bestowe his requisite endeuour what the least fault could escape the espiall of so many eyes or the righting amongst so many hands But I haue thrust my sickle ouer-farre into anothers haruest let my mistaking be corrected and in regard of my good meaning pardoned The Temporal gouernment of Cornwall shooteth out also into two branches Martiall and Ciuill For martiall affaires master Camden noteth out of Iohannes Sarisburiensis that the Cornish mens valiancy purchased them such reputation amongst our ancestours as they together with those of Deuon and Wiltshire were wont to be entrused for the Subsidiary Cohort or band of supply An honor equall to the Romanes Triarii and the shoot-anker of the battell With which concurreth the ancient if not authenticall testimony of Michael Cornubiensis who had good reason to knowe the same being that Countryman and more to report it his verses for which I haue also beene beholding to M. Camden are these Rex Arcturus nos primos Cornubienses Bellum facturus vocat vt put a Caesaris enses Nobis non alijs reliquis dat primitus ictum Per quem pax lisque nobis fit vtrumque relictum Quid nos deterret si firmiter in pede stemus Fraus ni nos superet nihil est quod non superemus I will now set downe the principall Commaunders Officers touching these martiall causes together with the forces of the shire Lord Lieutenant generall Sir VValter Ralegh Deputie Lieutenāts Sir Frauncis Godolphin or any 3. of them Sir Nicholas Parker or any 3. of them Sir Reignald Mohun Peter Edgecumb or any 3. of them Bernard Greinuile or any 3. of them Christopher Harris or any 3. of them Richard Carew or any 3. of them Colonell generall Sir Nicholas Parker Marshall Bernard Greinuile Treasurer Richard Carew Master of the Ordinance VVil. Treffry Colonell of the horse Iohn Arundell of Trerise Sergeant maior Humfrey Parcks Quarter Master VVilliam Carnsew Prouost Marshall Iohn Harris Scowt Master Otwell Hill Corporals of the field Osburne Rusall Rattenbury Sled Ammunition Master Leon. Blackdon Trench Master Cooke Regiments Cōpanies Number Arm pikes Muskets Caliuers Sir Fra. Godol 12. 1200. 470. 490. 240. Sir Will. Beuil 6. 670 225. 215 130. Sir Rei Mohun 6. 600. 200. 210. 190. Ber. Greinuile 10. 1000. 370. 390. 240. Ri. Carew 5. 500. 170. 300 30. Antony Rouse 6. 760. 270. 320. 170. Ch. Treuanion 5. 500. 180. 190. 130. Will. Treffry 4. 400. 140. 130. 130. Sir Nic. Parker 2. 200. 60. 80. 60. Ha. Viuian 1. 100. 40. 40. 20. Ar. Harris 1. 100. 40. 40. 20. Summa 58. 6030. 2165. 2535. 1330. This may serue for a generall estimat of the Cornish forces which I haue gathered partly out of our certificate made to the Lords 1599. partly by information from the Sargeant maior partly through mine owne knowledge There are many more vnarmed pikes which I omit as better fitting a supply vpon necessitie then to bee exposed for opposed to an enemie The number as it standeth much exceedeth the shires proportion if the same be compared with Deuon and other Counties which groweth for that their neerenesse on all quarters to the enemy and their farnesse from timely succour by their friends haue forced the Commaunders to call forth the vttermost number of able hands to fight and rather by perswasion then authority procured them to arme themselues beyond lawe and their ability Which commendable indeuour shall not I hope ought not I am sure turne them to the preiudice of any vnwonted charge hereafter They are all prouided of powder bullet match in competent sort order taken for furnishing of victuals and mounting a third part of the shot at least vpon cause of seruice Light horses the Lords in their directions enioyne for orders sake and the Lieuienants excuse it by insufficiency Hitherto neither hath the commaundement bin reuoked nor the omission controlled In the yeere 1588. when the Spanish floting Babel pretended the conquest of our Iland which like Iosuahs armie they compassed but vnlike him could not with their blasting threats ouerthrow our walles it pleased her
burial of a Duke whose heire was maried to the prince But who it should bee I cannot deuise albeit my best pleasing coniecture lighteth vpon Orgerius because his daughter was married to Edgar At the last Cornish commotion S. Richard Greynuile the elder did with his Ladie and followers put themselues into this Castle there for a while indured the Rebels siege incamped in three places against it who wanting great Ordinance could haue wrought the besieged small scathe had his friends or enemies kept faith and promise but some of those within slipping by night ouer the wals with their bodies after their hearts and those without mingling humble intreatings with rude menaces he was hereby wonne to issue forth at a posterne gate for patley The while a part of thoserakehels not knowing what honestie and farre lesse how much the word of a souldier imported stepped betweene him and home laid hold on his aged vnweyldie body and threatned to leaue it liuelesse if the inclosed did not leaue their resistance So prosecuting their first treacherie against the prince with suteable actions towards his subiects they seized on the Castle and exercised the vttermost of their barbarous crueltie death excepted on the surprised prisoners The seely Gentlewomen without regard of sexe or shame were stripped from their apparrell to their verie smockes and some of their fingers broken to plucke away their rings and Sir Richard himselfe made an exchange from Trematon Castle to that of Launceston with the Gayle to boote This Castle vaunteth the Lord Warden his steward by Patent Master Anthonie Rouse his Baylife by inheritance and Richard Carew of Antony his keeper by lease Of the ancient officers one yet retayneth the name though not the place viz. M. Porter to whose ancestor when Vantor was L. thereof one by a deed before date gaue land lying without the gate by the title of Russell Ianitori de Trematon which he still enioyeth M. Porters Armes are Sa. Three Belles Ar. a Canton Erm. It standeth in S. Stephens parish the sheafe whereof together with other farre reuennues M. George Wadham enioying in the right of his wife the daughter and heire to master Hechins liberally bestoweth in continuall hospitalitie Master Hechins Armes are Sa. a crosse Fleurty quarterly B. and G. betweene 4. Lyons heades erased Sa. langued of the second M. Wadhams G. a Cheuron betweene three Roses Ar. The same parish also compriseth Saltash in olde writings called Villa de Esse Esse his towne and such Gentlemen there haue bene of ancient descent and faire reuennues The word Salt is added thereunto because it standeth on the sea to distinguish it from other places of the same name It is seated on the declyning of a steep hill consisteth of three streets which euery showre washeth cleane compriseth betweene 80. and 100. households vnderlyeth the gouernment of a Maior his 10. brethren and possesseth sundry large priuiledges ouer the whole hauen to wit an yeerely rent of boates and barges appertayning to the harbour ancorage of strange shipping crowning of dead persons laying of arrests and other Admirall rights besides electing of Burgesses for the Parliaments benefit of the passage foreclosing all others saue themselues from dredging of Oysters except betweene Candlemas and Easter weckely markets halfe-yeerely fayres c. The towne is of late yeeres well encreased and adorned with buildings the townsmen addict themselues to the honest trade of marchandise which endoweth them with a competent wealth Some 7. or 8. ships belong thereunto It was not long since that the neighbour-ministers successiuely bestowed their paines in preaching there on the market daies and the bordering gentlemen yeelded their presence Sermon ended the Preachers resorted to one ordinary and the Gentlemen to another This affoorded commendable effects to many works of loue and charity but with the retorted blame from one to another it is now wholly giuen ouer Heere that great Carrack which Sir Frauncis Drake surprised in her returne from the East Indies vnloded her frayght and through a negligent fyring met with an vnproper ending In this towne also dwelleth one Grisling deafe from a long time who besides his merry conceites of counterseyting by signes like the Romane Pantamimi any kinde of occupation or exercise hath a strange quality to vnderstand what you say by marking the mouing of your lips especially if you speake deliberately of any ordinary matter so as contrary to the rules of nature and yet without the helpe of arte he can see words as they passe forth of your mouth and of this I haue caused him to giue often experiments And if Plyny now liued I suppose he would affoord a roome in his natural History to a dogge of this town who as I haue learned by the faithfull report of master Thomas Parkins vsed daily to fetch meate at his house there and to carry the same vnto a blinde mastiffe that lay in a brake without the towne yea that more is hee would vpon Sundayes conduct him thither to dynner and the meale ended guide him back to his couch and couert againe I had almost forgotten to tell you that there is a well in this towne whose water will neuer boyle peason to a seasonable softnes At the foot of Saltash there abbutteth vpon the sea a rock called Ashtorre alias Esses Torre which is inuested with the iurisdiction of a mannour and claymeth the sultes of many Gentlemen as his freeholders in Knights seruice Belowe this there is a rock on eche side of the riuer the one termed the Bull the other the Hen that on Deuon this on Cornwall side The Hen standeth a little distant from the shore which giueth occasion to a Packe how between it and the land the Queenes greatest ship may saile but it is meant of the farther distant Aboue Saltash Cargreen a fisher towne sheweth it selfe but can hardly muster a meane plight of dwellings or dwellers so may their care be greene because their wealth is withered Neere thereunto is Clifton a neat seated house appertayning to one of the Arundels descended by a yonger brother from those of Trerice he maried Hill his father Cole Neither hath your eye searcely quitted that when it receiueth Halton the pleasant and commodious dwelling of M. Anthony Rouse both which benefits he employeth to a kind vninterrupted entertainment of such as visit him vpō his not spare inuiting or their owne occasions who without the selfe guilt of an vngratefull wrong must witnes that his frankenesse confirmeth their welcome by whatsoeuer meanes prouision the fewell of hospitality can in the best maner supply His auncestours were Lords of little Modbury in Deuon before the descent of times grew to a distinguishment by the date of writings which mannour together with other lands through a lineall succession fell to be possessed by Raphe Wil. Raphe Iohn Wil. Raphe and Raphe whose daughter and heire Elizabeth bestowed the same with
thither hath lately remoued his residence he beareth party per Cheuron B. et E. in chiefe two stagges heads cabased O. Vpon the North-sea thereby bordereth Stow so singly called Rer eminentiam as a place of great and good marke scope and the auncient dwelling of the Greynuiles famous family from whence are issued diuers male branches and whither the females haue brought in a verie populous kinred Master Bernard Greinuile sonne and heire to Sir Richard is the present owner and in a kind magnanimitie treadeth the honourable steps of his auncestors Tonacumb late the house of Master Iohn Kempthorne alias Lea who married Katherine the daughter of Sir Peers Courtney is by his issuelesse decease descended to his brothers sonne hee beareth A. three Pine-apple trees V. Returning to the Westwards wee meete with Bude an open sandie Bay in whose mouth riseth a little hill by euerie sea-floud made an Iland and thereon a decayed Chappell it spareth roade onely to such small shipping as bring their tide with them and leaueth them drie when the ebbe hath carried away the Salt-water Vpon one side hereof Master Arundel of Trerice possesseth a pleasant-seated house and demaines called Efford alias Ebbingford and that not vnproperly because euerie low water there affordeth passage to the other shore but now it may take a new name for his better plight for this Gentleman hath to his great charges builded a Salt-water Mill athwart this Bay whose causey serueth as a verie conuenient bridge to saue the way-farers former trouble let and daunger It is receiued by tradition that his belsire Sir Iohn Arundel was forewarned by I wot not what Calker how he should bee slaine on the sands For auoyding which encounter he alwaies shunned Efford dwelt at Trerice another of his houses But as the prouerb sayth Fata viam inuenient and as experience teacheth mens curiosity Fato viam sternit It hapned that what time the Earle of Oxford surprized S. Michaels mount by policy and kept the same by strong hand this Sir Iohn Arundel was Sherife of Cornwall wherethrough vpon duety of his office and commaundement from the Prince hee marched thither with posse Comitatus to besiege it and there in a skirmish on the sands which deuide the mount from the continēt he fulfilled the effect of the prophecy with the losse of his life and in the said mounts Chappell lieth buried So Cambises lighted on Ecbatana in Egypt and Alexander Epirot on Acheros in Italy to bring them to their end So Philip of Macedon and Atis the sonne of Croesus found a chariot in a swords hilt and an Iron poynted weapon at the hunting of a Bore to delude their preuentiue wearinesse So Amilcar supped in Siracusa the Prince of Wales ware a Crown thorow Cheapside in another sort and sense then they imagined or desired And so Pope Gerebert and our King H. the 4. trauailed no farther for meeting their fatall Hierusalem then the one to a Chappell in Rome the other to a chamber in Westminster S. Marie Wike standeth in a fruitfull soyle skirted with a moore course for pasture and combrous for trauellers Wic by master Lambert signifieth a towne by master Camden Stationem vel Sinum vbi excercitus agit This village was the birth-place of Thomasine Bonauenture I know not whether by descēt or euent so called for whiles in her girlish age she kept sheepe on the fore-remembred moore it chanced that a London marchant passing by saw her heeded her liked her begged her of her poore parents and carried her to his home In processe of time her mistres was summoned by death to appeare in the other world and her good thewes no lesse then her seemely personage somuch contented her master that he aduanced her from a seruant to a wife and left her a wealthy widdow Her second mariage befell with one Henry Gall her third and last with Sir Iohn Perciual Lord Maior of London whom she also ouerliued And to shew that vertue as well bare a part in the desert as fortune in the meanes of her preferment she employed the whole residue of her life and last widdowhood to works no lesse bountifull then charitable namely repayring of high waies building of bridges endowing of maydens relieuing of prisoners feeding and apparelling the poore c. Amongst the rest at this S. Mary Wike she founded a Chauntery and free-schoole together with faire lodgings for the Schoolemasters schollers and officers and added twenty pound of yeerely reuennue for supporting the incident charges wherein as the bent of her desire was holy so God blessed the same with al wished successe for diuers the best Gent. sonnes of Deuon and Cornwall were there vertuously trained vp in both kinds of diuine and humane learning vnder one Cholwel an honest and religious teacher which caused the neighbours so much the rather and the more to rewe that a petty smacke onely of Popery opened a gap to the oppression of the whole by the statute made in Edw. the 6. raigne touching the suppression of Chaunteries Such strange accidēts of extraordinary aduancemēts are verified by the ample testimonie of many histories and amongst the rest we read in Machiauell how beit controuled by the often reproued Iouius that Castruccio Caestracani climed from a baser birth to a farre higher estate For being begotten in Lucca by vnknowne parents and cast out in his swadling clouts to the wide world he was taken vp by a widdowe placed by her with a Clergy man her brother giuen by him to a Gent called Francesco Guinigi and by Guinigi left tutor to his onely sonne From which step his courage and wisedome raysed him by degrees to the soueraignty of Lucca the Senatorship of Rome the speciall fauour of the Emperour and a neere hope only by death preuented of subduing Florence Lesnewith Hundred LEsnewith Hūdred taketh his name of a parish therein as Stratton doth of a towne memorable for nothing else It may be deriued either from Les which in Cornish signifieth broad and newith which is new as a new breadth because it enlargeth his limits farther into Cornwall on both sides whereas Stratton is straightned on the one by Deuon or from Les and gwith which importeth broad Ashen trees g for Euphonias sake being turned into n. The first place which heere offreth it selfe to sight is Bottreaux Castle seated on a bad harbour of the North sea suburbed with a poore market town yet entitling the owner in times past with the stile of a Baron from who by match it descēded to the L. Hungerford resteth in the Earle of Huntingdon The diuersified roomes of a prison in the Castle for both sexes better preserued by the Inhabitants memorie then discerneable by their owne endurance shew the same heeretofore to haue exercised some large iurisdiction Not farre from thence Tintogel more famous for his antiquitie then regardable for his present estate abbutteth likewise on the