C.i i ^v /- NOTES ON THE PARISH OF MYLOR /v\. (crt MVI.OK CII r RCII. -SO UIH I'OKCil AND CROSS O !• ST. MlLoKIS. [NOTES ON THE PARISH OF MYLOR CORNWALL. BY HUGH P. OLIVEY M.R.C.S. Uaunton BARNICOTT &- PEARCE, ATHEN^UM PRESS 1907 BARNICOTT AND PEARCE PRINTERS Preface. T is usual to write something as a preface, and this generally appears to be to make some excuse for having written at all. In a pre- face to Tom Toole and his Friends — a very interesting book published a few years ago, by Mrs. Henry Sandford, in which the poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, together with the Wedgwoods and many other eminent men of that day figure,—the author says, on one occasion, when surrounded by old letters, note books, etc., an old and faithful servant remon- " " strated with her thus : And what for ? she " demanded very emphatically. There's many a hundred dozen books already as nobody ever reads." Her hook certainly justified her efforts, and needed no excuse. But what shall I say of this } What for do 1 launch this little book, which only refers to the parish ot Mylor ^ vi Preface. The great majority of us are convinced that the county of our birth is the best part of Eng- land, and if we are folk country-born, that our parish is the most favoured spot in it. With something of this idea prompting me, I have en- deavoured to look up all available information and documents, and elaborate such by personal recollections and by reference to authorities. My object has been to convey the results in the simplest way possible with the least scientific dis- play. There is much to be found in old parish books, and much more might have been found if better care had been taken of them. Meagre as they are, they may be said to be the foundation of this volume. Remote as this county is from the rest of England, and this parish in particular, many primitive customs still exist, whilst others have died out within the memory of some still living, but deserve to be recorded. There have been numerous works and histories published relating to Cornwall. The earliest were Leland (1533), Norden (1584), Carew (1602), Hals and Tonkin contemporaneous (i 655-1 678), and, later, Polwhele and Davies Gilbert, who wrote respectively in 1806 and 1838. It is not every one who has access to these works, and I Preface. vii have quoted largely from them, more particularly the two latter, where the subject required it. I am also much indebted to Mr. Thurstan C. Peter for his excellent and exhaustive work on Glasney College, and also for his pamphlet, The Churches and Mabe and to for of Mylor ; Capt. Tremayne the loan of his family records and for other in- formation to Sir ; and last, but not least, J. Langdon Bonython for his careful revision of my notes relating to the early history of Carclew and the connection of his family with that estate, and several important additions to the same which have not hitherto been published. H. P. O. lor My y 1907- Contents. Section I ...... i Introductory and Topographical Description. Section II ...... 8 Climate, Place-Names. Section III . .16 Description of Mylor from old authorities. Section IV . .28 The Martyrdom of St. Miloris, Cornish Saints, Church- " yard Cross, Parish Feasts, the Mayor of Mylor." Section V ••••.. 37 Industries and Old Customs— In the Dairy, Agricul- tural Processes, Harvest Operations. Baking, Mining, etc. Section VI ...... 57 The Church —Old and Restored. Section VII ...... 87 The Vicarage of Mylor and Mabe. Account of Glasney College. List of Vicars. Section VIII . .100 The Vicarage House—Old and New ; Old Terrier ; Tithes; Old Church Town. Section . • IX . ^^9 Monuments in Mylor Church and Churchyard. X Contents. Section X 135 The Relief of the Poor and other Parish Charges Overseers' Accounts, Perambulations, Carnon Stream Works. Section XI .... 163 The Workhouse. Section XII ..... 171 Extracts from Churchwardens' Minute Books, etc. Section XIII . 180 Parish Apprentices. Section XIV ..... 184 Carclew and its Owners. Section XV ..... 217 Trefusis and Flushing. Appendices ..... 227 Index ...... List of Subscribers .... 259 Illustrations. Mylor Church— South Porch and Cross of St. Miloris .... frontispiece Map of Mylor .... 3 Mylor Old Church—South Porch 56 Ground Plan of Church before Restoration 57 Ground Plan of Present Church 64 Mylor Church —Interior . 66 „ „ North Door 74 „ Old Vicarage House 100 Old Chart of Falmouth Harbour and ad- joining Creeks 116 Plan of Mylor Churchyard I 32 Carclew House .... 184 The School House and Clock Tower 200 Plan of the Cregoes 229 NOTES ON MYLOR. I. Introductory and Topographical Description. HE County of Cornwall is one of the most interesting and remark- able of the English counties. When we consider its geographical position and insular character, sur- rounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel, except where it is nearly- divided from Devonshire the river Tamar its by ; shores traversed creeks and coves deeply by sandy ; its rocky headlands and fertile valleys, producing of the character its mineral scenery grandest ; is little treasures and its fisheries ; there wonder that it has attracted the notice and commercial in- tercourse of foreign nations, of which some exist at the present day only in the pages of ancient in its history. There are consequently remnants ancient language and customs, and antiquities de- rived from such sources. From its remote position it was almost a kingdom of itself. It was called " by the Romans Damnonium," which included B 2 Notes on Mylor. part of Devonshire, and this continued to be the boundary until after the incursion of the Danes, who, with the Cornish, were defeated at Exeter by Athelstan in 937, when the Cornish boundary be- came limited to the line of the Tamar, which is said to have divided England from Cornwall. A branch of the Cornish passed over into Brittany, which was called Armorica (or in Cornish, Ar- a the sea moric, from Armor^ wave of ; Armoric^ a country situated on the sea). The Cornish, Welsh, and Armoric languages were very nearly allied, the names of persons and places being very similar in each. They were called Celtic as dis- tinct from the Anglo-Britons. Cornwall retained for many centuries this original language in spite of the innovation of Phcenicians, Greeks and Romans, who were superseded by the Danes, Saxons and Normans. It was only natural that by frequent intercourse with these nations, they should have adopted certain of their customs and traces of their languages. The chief commodities of trade were fish, tin and copper. Although these few remarks refer to the county as a whole, they may to a very great extent be applicable to this parish of Mylor. The area of the county is about 1,356 square miles, or 868,220 acres, exclusive of the Scilly Isles. The population according to the last census was 322,571. It is divided into nine hundreds, namely. East, West, Powder and Kerryer in the southern, and Stratton, Lesnewith, Trigg, Pyder, and Penwith on the northern side. Rep/vduced fh>m the Ordnance map by permission oftJie Controller of H. Ms StaUonery OfTic MAP l»fi , , s'^f'-E OF THE '/* y-i iMiie '1 i *Ji '<-%i ISH OF MYLOR Parliiimqnlury Boundary _____^ Flushing CcolesMaticnl District Introductory. 3 Thi: Parish of Mvlor. This is situated in the deanery and hundred of Kirryer, which includes the most southern part of the county, and of which it is one of the most picturesque portions. It forms a peninsula, being bounded by water on all sides except where it joins the parishes of St. Gluvias and Perran-ar- Worthal. On the east and south Mylor is separated from the town of Falmouth and the parish of Budock by the Falmouth harbour, on the south and towards the west by a creek which is navi- gable up to the borough of Penryn, Restronguet Creek washes its banks on the north and joins Mylor Pool as it flows east, and separates it from Feock. Mylor abounds in most delight- ful views, which are presented to the eye in every direction. The prospects are charmingly diversified with hill and dale, woodland scenery and land-locked peeps of water, with good cottages and villas, towers of churches, and many objects which render the landscape interesting. On the south side from the grounds of Trefusis it com- mands a view of the magnificent harbour of Fal- mouth, enlivened by the shipping of all nations, and round the point towards Mylor Church is seen the Carrick Road, or King's Road, and beyond it St. Just-in-Roseland (or, as it should be, liosland)^ and here the river F^al (or Vale), after its winding course from Truro and various creeks, flows into the sea between the castles of Pendennis and St. Ba 4 Notes on Mylor. Mawes, and from here also are seen the house and grounds of Trelissick and Porthgwidden, and the venerable tower of St. Michael Penkivel Church, elevated above the surrounding woods which adorn Tregothnan. At the extreme north are the woods of Carclew, and on part of the western border those of Enys. The chief part of the population, which at the last census amounted to 2,147, ^^^ contained in the town of Flushing (formerly called Nankersey), which faces Falmouth and the pic- turesque village of Mylor Bridge, situated at the head of the Mylor Creek. These places are about a mile-and-half distant from each other, and form an almost equi-angular triangle with the church, which is situated on the eastern side of the parish, close to the sea, on the entrance to Mylor Creek, and is about four miles distant from the north- western boundary.