THE HOLLOW LOG Issue 45, December 2014 The Hollow Family Researchers’ Newsletter ISSN 1445-8772

Discovering Cornish Relations and I NSI DE T H I S I SSUE Family Roots Hollow Spotting Robert Hollow, catholic priest, from outback Queensland journeyed back to in I am always looking for Hollow Spottings from around the world. to where his great grandfather Thomas Hollow (b 1856) lived before leaving for Page 2 the antipodes in 1879. Robert tells of his experience in two articles in this Hollow Log. Non-Paternal Events A story showing the value of talking to people when researching your family history, often not all of the story is in the records. Page 3 In Search of Trevega A trip to Cornwall during Robert’s sabbatical hit an emotion spot when talking with distant cousins, breathing the air of his ancestors and retracing those ancestors’ footsteps. Page 4 Two Bobs Worth There are 37 Robert Hollow’s in my Hollow database. Two of them met this year in St Ives. Page 7 Robert Hollow with his fifth cousins, Charlotte Murt and Elizabeth Knowles outside the door of the Towednack Church. A Novel by a Hollow…at Last! I counted up the references to A Hollow Novel Hollow authors in editions of the Hollow Log. There are 17, all but Last Issue I reported finding a crime novel that one of their books are non-fiction had a Hollow as the main character. I am rapt to books. This one will break the say that 2015 will see the publishing of a crime drought. The exception is Victor Sydney Hollow’s childrens’ story, novel written by a Hollow. The Little Silver Ring published in Mike Hollow has been spotted as a book author 1947. before. Hollow Log 20 Page 8 Not so long ago I was in touch with Mike and in Origin of Hollow via the conversation was lamenting the fact that I hadn’t found a Hollow who had authored a Holla via place name novel. That is when Mike confided in me that he If Hollow originated from Hallow may be able to change that if his plans came to the name for moor then why isn’t pass. They did and here is the cover. the name more widely distributed? Read the background to how it came This has puzzled me since I began about in Mike’s article in this Hollow Log.. the Hollow one name study. I outline my current theory. Page 9

followed by interment at Towednack Church, the church Hollow Spotting where she was married all those years ago.. Another Perth Hollow Another Hollow Author The photo appeared in the Neil Hollow has co-authored this book. This exert from one Rossmoyne Raiders Football critique of the book. Cub Year Book 2014 (Western Australia) with the “The authors say the purpose of the following text. book is to raise awareness of oil depletion among Christians and to Deacon Hollow. Deacon had a suggest some practical solutions. It great first season of Auskick. He, does both of those and more besides, as like numerous other boys, has been this is a more comprehensive and in attendance virtually every week. analytical book than I expected. It is Deacon’s season has seen him full of well researched comparisons of develop into a confident player, different technologies, with detailed very fast, and always willing to sections on different renewable energy chase down the ball. Well done on your season. sources – all described with non- Deacon is the son of Corey and Leonie Hollow, (see Hollow technical clarity. It anticipates Spotting in Hollow Log 44). questions and common objections and addresses the oil situation in its full Obituaries environmental and economic context. HOLLOW. Ronald James (Ron) 09.12.1924 - 11.08.2014 Neil is descended from William Hollow and Urslea Cock via Passed away at Wantirna, Victoria. Husband to Thelma. Father the Hollow family that lived in during the 19th century. to Annette, Geoffrey, Garry and Tony. Father-in-law to Jenni. Grandfather to 7 grandchildren and great grandfather to 2 Hollows in Uniform great grandchildren. Brother and brother-in- law of Kath and These images courtesy of “Gravesecrets at your Fingertips!” at Jim Garner, uncle of Linda, Alan, Angela and Michael. Brother http://www.ww1anzac.com/ of Bernie (dec. ), brother- in-law of Nola Hollow. Member of the Ringwood Bowls Club If you are looking for WWI images or are willing to share yours this is an excellent site. HOLLOW Ann died peacefully at West Cornwall Hospital on Tuesday, 23rd September 2014. Doris Ann was aged 93 years I have included two images, Arthur Hollow, Son of John and lived at HOLLOW and Elizabeth nee LAWRENCE of Adelaide, SA. Newgate Arthur was killed in Belguim in 1917 (left), and Edward Bungalow, Campbell Hollow from Tasmania and son of John Hollow Trink Farm, St and Elizabeth Coullin. (right) Ives up until 16 days of her death. Wife of Robert, mother of Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emma, mother-in-law of Robert, Roy and David, grandmother to Christopher, Simon, James, Louis and Dominic and step grandmother to Ian and a proud great- grandmother. Doris Ann and her husband Robert celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this year. A Requiem Mass was celebrated at The Church of The Immaculate Conception, Rosevean Road, on Saturday, 4th October at noon

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Non-paternal Events Non-paternal events are one of the things that complicate DNA studies in genealogy. Such an event is usually an adoption or a birth out of wedlock. That is, an event that sees a male take on a surname that is not his biological father’s surname. Peter Arneson discovered a non-paternal event in Pennsylvania that had gone unnoticed when using the conventional family research methods of birth, death, marriage and census records.

The records seemed to indicate that Edward John Hollow and Edith Sickles had just one son, Edward James Hollow who in turn had eight On 29 August 1916 the Scranton Republican newspaper reported:- children. Peter when researching this family as part of his tree made contact with one of Edward James’ children, John. John confided that FORMER LOCAL WOMAN IS KILLED BY TRAIN his father found, when he applied for a wedding licence, that he was DURYEA, Pa., Aug. 28. not a Hollow but a Hensley. Mrs. Phillip Hensley, of this town, a former resident of South Scranton, was His parents were actually Philip Hensley and Elizabeth Johnson. killed Saturday night when struck by a Lehigh Valley freight train on the Phillip was a half brother of Edward John Hollow. They had the Duryea crossing in the Cut off. She was walking to her home after making same mother. What caused the name change was very tragic. purchases at a local grocery store. The woman is survived by her husband and ten children, the youngest of the latter being but nine months old.

Three years later a Scranton Republican, report on 23 August 1919 Hello There stated:- No news on the DNA front, no new tests to report. I am Philip Hensley, aged 49 years, ,for the past few years a car Inspector for the D., hoping to make a renewed effort to recruit Hollow males to L. & W. railroad, died yesterday afternoon at the home of his son, .Phillip join the DNA project, meanwhile family history continues Hensley, Jr., of 336,4 North Hyde park avenue. Mr. Hensley's death was due to to be made. I hope you find the contents here interesting. heart trouble and followed a lingering illness.

The ten children were taken in by various members of the family. Odd Spot Edward John Hollow and wife Edith brought up Edward James who A Cornish dad is attempting the world’s longest loom band, would have been four years old when his mother died. Edward after one that fits around the harbour at Mevagissey, his Cornwall home. Two weeks in his band was 6 metres long, 256 finding he was a Hensley, did change his name legally to Hollow, and metres to go. He expects the project to take a year. married as a Hollow.

But that’s not all. Phillip was one of three children of Richard and The Hollow Family Website Caroline Hensley. Richard died in 1870 and Caroline appears to have migrated to Scranton in Pennsylvania, her children eventually turned The website is updated on a monthly basis now. In the Hollow Log, details of families are often quite brief. You up there too .I have not found when they arrived. Caroline began a can use the Hollow Database section on the website to get relationship with a John Hollow probably in Pennsylvania in about further details of individuals and families. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chollo 1875 and is listed as Hollow in the 1880 census with two sons, w/ Edward and Charles Hollow. John was married to Mary Glasson in in 1872 and had one child in 1874. John may have moved to Pennsylvania to work as a miner, Caroline lived in Redruth before Contact moving to Pennsylvania where she had children to him in 1876, 1878, Colin Hollow edits the Hollow Log and welcomes contributions. 1882, and 1889. Meanwhile back in Cornwall Mary Glasson had two Write to 2 Keeley Lane, Princes Hill, 3054, Victoria, more children in 1879 and 1882 called them Hollow and remained Australia. e-mail: [email protected] there until her death in 1910. She did not marry again and in each Hollow and variants Holla, Hollah, Hallo and Hallow are census she was recorded as ‘married’ but was without her husband registered with The Guild of One-Name Studies. The Guild John. John looks to have been keeping two families; one family in St member is Colin Hollow (Member No. 3056). Material in this newsletter should not be used without Ives and one family in Dunmore Pennsylvania. He was recorded on permission. the 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 US censuses with his US family. ♣ Colin Hollow and Peter Arneson, image Jennifer Boone

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the fields where he was bailing hay. I introduced myself and In search of Trevega explained to him my quest for Trevega Mine, Hollow family By Robert Hollow history, and any details of my great grandfather. "What's his name?" were the first words from Philip. "Thomas Hollow" My recent sabbatical leave presented me with the possibility of an experience of a life-time, to travel to ‘the land of the was my answer. Philip responded, "Come and see this" as he beckoned me towards a shed that seemed to contain old cow Hollow’s’ and discover more of my ancestry as part of the bales. Hollow kordh. Colin Hollow had already provided me with extensive data on my forebears, so I was somewhat sceptical “I haven't seen it for years and don't know if it is still here" about how much more genealogical detail I could unearth. Philip uttered as his large farmer’s hand brushed across the The way things panned out, my journey was to be much less planks of a timber stall, removing years of honest agricultural about research and much more about a personal encounter grime to reveal the name Arth Hollow painted onto one of the with my ‘roots’. planks making up the cow bails. My main ambitions became to ‘walk in the footsteps’ of my ancestors and ‘to breathe the same air’. To do this I needed some ‘quest’ to facilitate that personal journey, some personal investigation that might enhance both my own knowledge of where and who I ‘came’ from, whilst at the same time adding to the Hollow genealogy project. And so began my search for Trevaga.

My great grandfather, Thomas Hollow, was born 17th April 1856 at Trevega Mine within the vicinity Towednack. I began to wonder if this Trevega Mine would shed some light on ‘who’ my great grandfather was, but tracking down Trevega Mine was easier said than done. Persistent ‘Googling’ before and during my trip turned up almost nothing. There would no better place ‘to walk in the footsteps’ of my forebears than to visit Trevega Mine, but I had almost nothing by way of a lead. We were joined by Phillip’s brother Michael as the story began I arrived in Cornwall armed with the names and contact details to unfold. Arthur Hollow had been a tenant farmer on of two living relatives, Charlotte Murt (nee Hollow) and John Trevaga Wartha which had originally been part of a huge Loosemore, and the location of a few ‘Hollow graves’ estate owned by Sir Edward Hain. Hain died during WWI, provided by Colin. As I turned to the internet again, the and later generations had decided to break up and sell off the closest thing to Trevega Mine that I could turn up was the Porthia Estate in 1930. Michael rushed off to the cottage to Trevalgan Touring Park. This was vaguely in the same area find the ‘advertising brochure’ that detailed the 1930 sale. This that I suspected the former Trevega Mine to be, so the touring revealed that, as part of the estate, Trevega Wartha Farm had park became my first ‘port of call’. A ‘long shot’ perhaps, but sold to Philip's grandfather, William Henry Hocking. The someone might have an idea as to where my ‘mythical’ tenant at the time, Arthur Hollow, was ‘kept on’ by William Trevega Mine might be found. Hocking, possibly as a ‘live in’ labourer. Further conversation with Phillip and Michael identified that the ruins of Trevega The proprietor, Neil Osborne, had never heard of Trevega Mine were actually on the property just a little way north of Mine, but suggested that there was a farm by that name up the the farm house, and that Trevega hamlet was just ‘a little very narrow lane, heading closer towards the coast. It felt like further down the lane’ in the opposite direction. At this point I was driving of time I had not even begun to address the location of into someone’s Trevega hamlet, and with Philip’s permission to explore the back yard as I mine site, I didn’t need any convincing to come back the very came across the next day. Trevega Wartha Farm Going back to the web I discovered in an article by Keith and the co- Hollow in The Hollow Log (Issue 23 September 2004) that the owner, Philip ‘Hollows’ had been farming in the Towednack area for over Hocking, 300 years. Whilst I had not discovered any more about my returning from ‘direct ancestor’ and great grandfather Thomas Hollow (1856-

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1909), I had had a somewhat ‘physical encounter’ with his 1st country, and occupied a roughly rectangular stretch of land about 400 cousin once removed who was born only 3 years after my yards further south. Their approximate locations are known, but their Thomas. Both born in the same area (Thomas at Trevega boundaries cannot now be distinguished … Mine, Arthur at Trevega according to the 1911 census), and In the southern part of the sett, Thomas's Lode was opened up from having spent the years before Thomas’ migration to New Engine Shaft in Wheal Trevega section [the mine where Thomas Hollow Zealand (1879) in the same area of Trevega, Trevalgan, was born in 1856], and Matthew's Lode from Matthew's Shaft in Towednack and St Ives, I could now postulate Wheal Matthews section. Thomas's Lode was at least a relationship, if not a close also accessed by two adits driven southwards relationship, between Thomas and Arthur. It from the coast. The first one, commencing in was not an irrational stretch to associate my Brea Cove, connects with the lode 40 fms NE great grandfather with Trevega Wartha Farm, of Engine Shaft in Wheal Trevega section, given the close proximity of both Thomas’ and then follows the lode to the shaft where it turns Arthur’s birthplaces and places of residence SE to meet Matthew's Lode at Matthews between the years of Arthur’s birth in 1859 and Shaft. The second adit starts about 150 yards Thomas’ departure for the Antipodes in 1879. west of the first one and meets Thomas's Lode In essence they had 20 years of growing up 50 fms SW of Wheal Trevega Engine Shaft. together into early adulthood. According to Hamilton Jenkin, the Inspired by this shared data for both Thomas intersection point was located in Wheal and Arthur, I set out to ‘walk in their Richards section of the sett. It appears that footsteps’. My walk to the ruined engine house there were shafts sunk on this adit, as several at the Trevega Mine (the birthplace of my great shaft mounds in a straight line from the coast grandfather) revealed views of the famous and can be identified in the fields at surface. Dines stunning South West Coast Path from which also mentions a third adit commencing in the mine is clearly visible. River Cove, more than half a mile further west, but Noall pointed out that this was related to Treveal Mine and did Later cross referencing disclosed one of the main reasons that not connect to the Trevega Bal workings. I had struggled tracking down Trevega Mine and Trevega hamlet. Like many place names, over time there have been Trevessa and Brea Mines were first mentioned in the early 19th century, various alternative names, groupings and spellings. These but they were only worked intermittently. An early period ended in 1842, included Treviga, Trevissa, Trevessa, Trevegia, and Trevigha when materials were offered for sale. Around 1860, the "Brea Bal. Having reacquainted myself with the ‘shifting sands’ of Consolidated Tin Mining Company Ltd." was formed, who operated the place names and spelling, further research came up with the mines under the name of Brea Consols until 1863, during which time following. they produced 93 tons of black tin. In 1868, they were started again as West St Ives Consols, but soon abandoned and sold with all their plant Trevega Bal (Trevegia Mine; West St Ives Consols; Brea and machinery in January 1872 for only 415 pounds. The workings then Consols; Trevessa and Brea Mines), Towednack, St Ives lay idle until 1907, when they were resumed under the name of Trevegia District, Cornwall, England, UK Mine. Operations continued until 1913, and 38 tons of black tin were An amalgamation of raised which were of a several small tin mines, high quality and fetched some of which are very old. exceptional prices. In July Records of workings in the 1911, a ton was sold for area date back to the 17th 113 pounds, compared to century, but it is not somewhat less than 104 known when they were pounds paid to St Ives started, nor when the Consols at the same time. individual mines were However, although rich, included with the sett. the lodes were small and Wheal Brea worked in the averaged only three inches coastal strip west of Brea in width. Mining Cove, which is composed of probably became killas and greenstones. The uneconomic and finally other mines were in granite forced the mine to close.

The Hollow Log, Issue 45 Page 5 http://www.mindat.org/loc-221495.html motherless but it was not long before he married his second wife, Cordelia Martins, in 1865, providing a step mother for After soaking up the atmosphere around the birthplace of my his children. Here another batch of children and the second great grandfather I set off for Trevega hamlet, the birthplace half of Thomas’ (b.1828) begins to appear. The 1871 census of Arthur. Whist this may be seen as more associated with attests to Thomas junior’s return to the family home, and Arthur, it is none-the-less only ‘minutes walk’ from Trevega Thomas senior’s new batch of children with new wife Mine, and Thomas, no doubt, would have spent time in the hamlet. I was most definitely ‘walking in the footsteps’ of my branch of the Hollows.

As a postscript, on my return to Australia, I came to realize that my first ‘port of call’ on the quest for Trevega Mine is probably also significant in my story. During my time in Cornwall I was completely unaware that the hamlet of Trevalgan was also part of my story. I am still unclear of where Trevalgan is, but I would be very surprised if it has not morphed into the Trevalgan Touring Park where I first learnt of Trevega Wartha Farm that had led me to Cordelia. Thomas senior’s children now living together at Trevega Mine and Trevega Hamlet. Trevalgan are listed as Thomas (b.1856), his full sister Jane (b.1860), and now the first of their half siblings Elizabeth The 1861 census lists my great grandfather Thomas Hollow (b. (b.1866), Sarah (b.1869) and Nancy (b.1870). As a tribute to 1856) living with his grandparents (William Stevens (c.1800) this place of significance for me that I ‘may have’ visited in the and Anne (c.1808)) at Trevalgan, whilst his parents and Trevalgan Touring Park, I have included the following image siblings are listed as living at The Digey in St Ives. The reason taken from what I now understand is called Travalgan Hill. for Thomas to be lodging with his grandparents at such a Although I had been in a ‘foreign country’ during my trip to Cornwall, and in a very remote part of the world from where I live, there was for me very much a sense of ‘being at home’ in and Towednack and Trevega. My great grandfather Thomas; along with my great grandmother Mary Jane George and their son (my grandfather) Thomas had left this beautiful place to pursue the dream of a new life in New Zealand and then Australia. My discovering Trevega Mine, Trevega, and Towednack in this little corner of the world, thousands of miles away from the place that I usually call home, revealed another large part of my story. My roots were clearly in this soil; both in the farms and the mines, and part of me will always be linked to this place, even if I never return. ♣ young age (5 years) can probably be found in the fact that his Images by Robert Hollow, map by Google mother (William & Ann Stevens’ daughter) Mary Ann may have been ill and possibly dying. Mary Ann Hollow did die on 14th November 1863 at Uny Lelant when Thomas was 7 ½ years old. Thomas Hollow senior’s children were left

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Knowles and Charlotte Murt, both of whom are so proud of Two Bobs Worth their ‘family church’. By Robert Hollow Finally there was our trip to Zennor, the Tinners Arms and St My recent trip to Cornwall was not just about ‘talking to the Senara’s Church. First we sought ‘liquid fortification’ at the dead’ in cemeteries and church yards, Tinners Arms, a place I would like to but included the wonderful experience think offered sustenance and of meeting actual living Cornish hospitality for generations of relatives. Hollows since its inception in 1271. I should be a little sceptical though, Colin Hollow had put me in touch given that at least the last two with Charlotte Murt who was gracious enough not only to meet me, but also generations of my ‘Cornish Hollow’s’ were Primitive Methodists. I am not to arrange for me to meet her sister sure ‘good Methodists’ would have Elizabeth Knowles, and most importantly, their parents Doris and frequented such places. Robert Hollow. Only after the fortification received at the Tinners Arms was I taken up to St Senara’s Church to see I come from a family of six boys, so my meeting with Elizabeth and Charlotte was all the more amazing because it the famous Mermaid Chair and receive some ‘spiritual fortification’. was like meeting the sisters I never had. Charlotte and Once again I Elizabeth are my fifth cousins, once removed, and a more delightful couple of women cannot be found, and cousins ‘to found myself inside a building boot’. That makes their father Robert my fourth cousin twice that bears removed. Robert lives in Trink, near his daughters, and Robert’s twin brother Augustus (Gus) still lives across the road witness, not simply to the from the old family farm. faith of so many I had a wonderful time meeting Robert, who is quite frail these Cornish folk, but days. He was quite animated during my visit, which apparently also to so much is not a common occurrence these days. We had quite a chat, Hollow history. and I think that he was as tickled as I was to be able to meet a Such a beautiful place with so much significance. ‘name sake’. And that was not the end of it. Charlotte told I came away from my day with Elizabeth and Charlotte, and me later that, although her father spent most nights falling Robert and Doris, feeling very much part of a rich heritage of asleep in his chair, that night “Dad was quite chatty and kept asking about you. Eventually he said "I can't get over that chap Hollow’s with their origins deep in Cornwall. I had certainly gotten more than my ‘two bobs worth’. ♣ being here and talking to me - wasn't it good"”. I must have had a similar effect on him as he had had on me. I also met Doris, Robert’s wife, that day. Doris was very frail and in ill health and I received the sad news recently that Doris passed away just a few months after my visit. My wonderful day continued when Elizabeth and Charlotte took me to St Winwaloe’s Church at Towednack. What a wonderful experience to walk through the graveyard seeing all the Hollow relatives who are buried there, and then to visit the church with its long history of Hollow ‘hatches, matches and dispatches’ engendering in me a deep sense of belonging. Once again Keith Hollow has provided an extensive ‘reportage’ on St Winwaloe’s and Towednack in “The Hollow Log” issue 23 September 2004. I can make no further comment except to say how wonderful it was for me to visit this place that is so much of the ‘Hollow’ story with both Elizabeth

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I like detective stories (my favourites are Dorothy L Sayers’ A novel by a Hollow – at Lord Peter Wimsey stories from the 1920s and 1930s), so last! that’s what I wanted to write. I also like historical fiction, so I wanted to set it in the past. I was born in West Ham, which as By Mike Hollow the borough that included London’s Docklands was the scene In 2012 my wife of some of the worst bombing during the Blitz, so I wanted to and I went to the set it there. The appeal of that place at that time was not just Olympic Games in that it’s where my family roots are but also that the London. It was background events were so extraordinary – people dealing exciting to be in the with life-and-death issues on an everyday basis, never knowing crowd watching the whether they’d be alive to see the next morning. world’s finest athletes competing, The result is the man I now feel I know very well, Detective but for me there Inspector John Jago of the Metropolitan Police, stationed in was a more the Essex County Borough of West Ham in 1940. The book, poignant feeling called Direct Hit, is the first of what is planned to be a series of too. It was the stories featuring Jago, the “Blitz Detective”. My intention has realisation that we were sitting just yards from where my dad been to create a book that is entertaining – and I hope used to work: Carpenters Road in Stratford, a decaying intriguing enough to keep mystery fans guessing! industrial area, nearly all of which is now buried beneath the My Hollow lineage green open spaces of the Olympic Park. He died in 1997, and would been incredulous if anyone had told him that this place I’m descended from John Holla and Chesen Thomas of Zennor, via their descendants John Holla, Matthew Hollow, would one day host the Olympics. John Hollow, Henry Hollow and John Resuggan Blake At the end of the day’s events we came out of the stadium and Hollow. The latter, my great-grandfather, from , moved walked past the old Stratford Town Hall building. I looked up to London sometime between the 1871 and 1881 censuses. He towards the roof, and tried to imagine the scene during the had one son (Albert James Hollow), who had one son Blitz, when my dad was a teenage Home Guard volunteer fire (Kenneth Rogerley Hollow), who had one son (me), and I watcher. His job was to look out for German incendiary have one son (David), so we are a tenuous line, but we’ve bombs and put them out if they landed and started burning. managed to stave off extinction for about 130 years! He later joined the Army and fought his way up Italy, but like many of his generation he was involved in the war long before And the novel? he put on a uniform. Direct Hit, by Mike Hollow, is published on 20 March 2015. It’s available from www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com Something else was on my mind too. I’d been turning over in my mind for a while the idea of a novel, set at that time and in and from bookshops. Amazon is advertising it now and you can place a pre-publication order. that place. I’ve been a writer in one way or another all my life, but had never had fiction published. I began my working life The advertising blurb. as a translator, translating Russian for the BBC after The jagged blast of high explosives rips through the evening air. In the sky graduating from Cambridge University, and later worked in over East London the searchlights criss-cross in search of the enemy. On communications for the international relief and development the first night of the Blitz, a corpse is discovered in a van in the back agency Tearfund, a job that took me all over Africa, Asia and streets of West Ham. Detective Inspector John Jago recognizes the dead Latin America to write about its work there. For the last 12 man as local Justice of the Peace Charles Villiers. But a German bomb years I’ve been a freelance writer, editor, project manager and obliterates all evidence. translator. Villiers was not a popular man, both powerful and feared. As the sirens But writing a novel? That’s a different challenge. It meant a lot wail, the detective must start matching motive to opportunity and it doesn't of work over a couple of years, but in March 2014 I finally help when his boss foists an intrusive American journalist on him. convinced a publisher it was a commercially viable Jago soon discovers the dead man held many secrets, some reaching back to proposition, and they gave me a contract. That’s when the World War I. A lot of people wished Villiers dead and an air raid is a hard work started: they also gave me a deadline, which meant I good time to conceal a murder. ♣ had three months to write 90,000 words. But as the publisher encouragingly said, “It’s remarkable how a deadline can concentrate the mind.”

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of Holla are a marriage in Madron in 1578 and a Origin of Hollow via Holla Christening also in Madron of 1593. The first times the via place name name Hollow was used in a parish record was in the 1600s but it wasn’t common. Sometimes Holla and The conventional wisdom in surname origin studies is Hollow were used in the same family. As time went on that the name Hollow is derived from hallow meaning the name Hollow was more frequently used. In the 1841 moor, so a dweller of or by the moor. Sometimes it is census in Cornwall there were 274 Hollow records and 22 explained as a contraction of the name Penhallow, which Holla records, by the 1851 census there were 334 Hollow means from the head or end of the moor. The Penhallow records and only 4 Holla records, from one family in family had an estate in Philliegh on the Roseland Sancreed. In the 1861 census there were no Holla names peninsular in mid Cornwall but Penhallow has by and but there were seven records, one family, with the Hallo large disappeared as a surname in Cornwall. name. When traced back this family had been recorded as

Distribution maps of the names Hollow, Hollows and Holloway in the 1881 Census. I have never been happy with this explanation of the Hollow, Holla but had used Hallo or Hallow for some name origin. Moors are defined as broad areas of open time and seemed to favour Hallo. The name is still used land that are not good for farming. Moors are known all by the family; there are Hallo descendents in Australia over England but Hollow is a name that is very much a today. Cornish name and more than that it is almost confined to My thought is that the surname Hollow is a the pointy end of Cornwall, the West Penwith region. transformation of the surname Holla and that we should This area does not have areas described as moors as far as concentrate on finding the origin of Holla. All the I am aware. The most well known moor in Cornwall is explanations of Hollow coming from the old English moor and it is not and never has been a Hollow word "holh", meaning hollow or sunken and thus the stronghold. The only Hollow residents have been inmates name for someone who lived in or by a "hollow" still of the Bodmin gaol. applies but why are we centred on Cornwall? This source A similar origin is given for the name Hollows but it is a of a surname is what is called a topographical surname. eg localized name too. Most Hollows were centred on Hill, Wood, Downs, Ford. Lancashire and Yorkshire; it was not a common name of My feeling is that it may be a locational name, i.e. a name Cornwall or any other county outside these two. It would derived from a place name. Many British surnames derive be logical, given the number of moors that the name from the village or manor or property where people would be found in other counties. The name Holloway is worked or lived. The British National Archives has an more widely used and it would seem that surname is more online catalogue and a search for “Holla” throws up likely to be associated with moors. mostly people with that surname or the surname Hollas Another argument against this origin is that in the but there are three records that indicate it was a place beginning of Cornish records the name was recorded name too. The first is a record from 1506, This record is mostly as Holla. In the subsidy rolls of 1549 and the held by the Devon Heritage Centre. The record’s muster rolls of 1569 Holla is used, the first parish records description (in the text box adjacent) shows that this

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family derived rents from place called orchard. This record is about Holla. The second record found at the Grant of wardship and marriage. d. Johanna fifty to seventy years before the Arundell, widow of Edmund Arundell, knight, and Cornwall Records Office and dated Elizabeth Radclyff' her daughter. Thomas Upcott. first muster, subsidy and parish 1546, is the “Rent roll of Travanion Wardship and marriage of John Wey son and heir of records of a Holla and it is in property”. The Trevanions were an William Wey, who held the lands and rents of Holla Penzance. and Underclyyff by grant of Edmund Arundell and aristocratic family with extensive lands held by knight service of the manor of Huwyssh. If the name Holla is linked to a in Cornwall. The roll consists of a list Warranty against Edmund Arundell's executor. 2 property in the middle of of nine manors each followed by a Tag seals, and signatures. Dated 9 January 1506 Cornwall how do we explain names of properties that are part of the the surname being used manor. These would be farms or other rent generating predominantly in the west of Cornwall? properties. One Manor, Grogoth Manor in the centre of Cornwall near Probus, has a list of twenty seven A possible explanation could be that the Holla family or properties belonging to it, one of which is Holla. families moved from one Trevanion holding to others. The Trevanion Manors are found over a wide area of The third reference refers to the same place and is also Cornwall. In the west they were found in the parishes of held in the Cornwall Record Office. The record is from St. Buryan, Ludgvan, Morvah, Sennen, Zennor, Gulval, 1677 and is a lease document of Trevanion lands, in St and St. Just in Penwith are included in two of the Michael Caerhays, Gorran, Veryan, Kenwyn all parishes in Trevanion manors. These are the areas that the Holla and the centre of Cornwall. Listed in this reference is ‘Holla Hollow families predominately lived. alias Lamellyn’. This apparent name change might explain why Holla is no longer to be found as a property in this Of course the surname may have originated much earlier district. There still is a Lamellyn Farmhouse near Probus. when the property called Holla was owned by the It is a grade II listed C17 and Arundell family. C18 Farmhouse with C20 The National Archives reference to wing. John Holla and his messuage in The three references to a Penzance in the late 1400s suggests he place called Holla are more could be the first of the Holla line, than likely the referring to the perhaps granted a messuage for same place. The Arundell and services to the Trevanion family or to the Trevanion families were the Arundell family, The Arundells linked by marriage. Cornish owned manors in the Penwith region, records in Devon are not the western tip of Cornwall. In uncommon as the churches Hollow Log 41 the report of Chris were under control of the Hollow’s work showed there was a Bishop of Exeter. Another distant link between the Holla and the possible reason is that a Arundell family in the 1700s. Trevanion was the bishop of There will have to be more done Exeter about this time. The before this theory of the origin of property known as Holla Holla could be confidently embraced. would have existed before the Researchers into surname origins are date of the 1506 record. It more and more are questioning the could be that people from surname origins explanations that that farm took the name have been included in references such Holla when they needed a as Reany and Wilson’s A Dictionary of surname. English Surnames. A study by the researchers at the The British Archives also contain the earliest record of a University of Western England, Bristol is beginning to person called Holla. In a record within the period 1486 to revisit and reinterpret commonly held ideas of surname 1515 and another in the period 1493 to 1500 a John Holla origins. My next move is to contact this group and find is mentioned in relation to the ownership of a messuage out if they have tackled the origins of the name Hollow. ♣ in Penzance, Cornwall. A messuage is an archaic term by Colin Hollow, maps by British Surname Atlas and GenMap used in conveyancing, and refers to a dwelling house and UK all the buildings attached or belonging to it, its garden and

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