THE FIELD NAMES of the MANOR of MULFRA by P.A.S. POOL, F.S.A
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THE FIELD NAMES OF THE MANOR OF MULFRA by P.A.S. POOL, F.S.A. The area The object of this study is to record the field names of six adjoining farms in the highland area of West Penwith, comprising the Manor of Mulfra, in the parishes of Madron and Gulval. The names are recorded over a period of two centuries, c. 1640-1840, during which the language generally spoken in the remoter areas of West Penwith changed from Cornish to English. Particular attention is given to the effects on field names of this change of language, following previous evidence that field names were more transient than farm names, and that changes in their language were quite common and nearly always involved a change in meaning also.1 The Manor of Mulfra was from 1549, and probably earlier, associated with that of Trezelah in Gulval, so that they came to be regarded as a single manor. It is first recorded as the property of the Killigrews, who c. 1537 sold it to the Millitons of Pengersick. In 1571 the latter family died out in the male line, and their lands were divided among six co-heiresses; in the 17th century, following various sales and marriages, the manor was owned in undivided shares by the families of Robartes, Buller and Godolphin.2 The main portion of the manor, the area here studied, comprised the farms of Mulfra and Ninnes in Madron parish, and Bodrifty, Carfury, Boskednan and Tredinnick in Gulval. Mulfra and Ninnes comprise a detached part of Madron, bounded on the north by Zennor and elsewhere by Gulval; the other farms comprise the north-west part of Gulval, bounded on the north by Zennor and on the west by the main part of Madron. In topographical terms, the area of study is bounded on the east by the Trevaylor stream in the Try valley, and on the west by the crest of the ridge beyond the valley of the next (Chyandour) stream. It contains, north of the cultivated farmlands, large areas of moor, Mulfra Hill and Boskednan and Tredinnick Commons, which extend to the boundary with Zennor, here largely coincident with the watershed of West Penwith and with the ancient track now styled the the Tinners' Way (Map 1). The area is renowned for its natural beauty and for its wealth of prehistoric antiquities; the latter include Mulfra Quoit, the Nine Maidens stone circle, Bodrifty ancient village, and many barrows, and the field names indicate sites of other antiquities (especially barrows) which have vanished. Agriculture has been, and is, the main occupation of the inhabitants, but tin streaming and mining were important from the 17th century (and probably earlier) to the 19th, and the growth of Ding Dong Mine caused much change in the topography of Boskednan and Tredinnick and in their field names. The most common field names in the whole area are those denoting barrows (nos. 49, 70, 86, 130) and blowing houses (nos. 5, 44, 56, 101). 43 fZ~ MORVAH ZENNOR 8 — Venton Bebibell 7 Venton Nine* m Nigga Maidens Tuban Broze \ Tredinnick 1 Boskednan Common \ Common Maen Ding CH Dour • Crofts Dong Dorlas Mine .TREDINNICK \ r > 0 9 a J: Z c j Crofts ; « I i i .' • o J5> A i i •. CARFURY 2 j Carfury •WARTHA C_ "I- a i Crofts LS c VD \3 \2 t.. MAP 1 CARFURY WOLLAS MANOR of MULFRA \ c with parish and farm \..-••• boundaries from the maps of 1696 & 1831 GULVAL K -DP. eMJt. MCIVIxciv 1/4 Mile i i 44 ZENNOR KEY Letters for field names A Aro 10 11 idrifty Common \Tolgreek B Bill \Common c Creeg J \ i Hensa\ CH Checouth Crofts i Manel \ CR Crouse / A o Dre(Bos- v. \ kednan) \ Mulfra Hill Common \ .'•' BODRIFTY F Farme v / G Grambley Quoit, LS Long- \ • A stone /Crofts'-.. M Menhere \ N Nenis : Crofts \ Ullas / p Pound «e,o /' v Vorne VD Vineyard . 'MULFRA i c . VEAN \ v - i 4) Farm •••A . ' Parish \ MULFRA • boundary \ N Farm 1 NINNES / boundary LS / CR 1-11 Parish boundary . M stones \.1 numbered :'MULFRA as in text 'MILL / \ v GULVAL A7 New V4 Mile "v7 Mill 45 Although the area is only three or four miles from Penzance, it is remote from urban and extraneous influences, and thus suitable for continuity and tradition in many aspects of human life, including language, agriculture, and the field names that link the two. The year 1700 is suggested as a round date by which Cornish ceased to be the normal spoken language of the majority of the rural inhabitants of West Penwith, and 1800 as that by which it ceased to be a spoken language at all.3 It seems reasonably certain that in the 17th century most inhabitants of the Manor of Mulfra would have been Cornish speakers, or at least only one generation away from such, and would have understood the meanings of their Cornish field names. By the 19th century, such understanding would have become limited to a small number of old people, and there is no actual proof of the survival of Cornish speaking in the manor. As their meanings were forgotten, the Cornish names became 'just names', and were increasingly subject both to corruptions making them appear meaningless, and to changes to different names in English. The sources The principal sources used in this study are as follows: A. Manuscript lists, in private hands, of field names of the Buller lands, undated but probably c. 1630-40. B. The Lanhydrock Atlas of the Robartes estates, by Joel Gascoyne, 1696, now in possession of the National Trust, Vol.1 p. 14 —17. C. Survey of the Manor of Trezella Mulfra, the property of James Wentworth Buller, by J.H. Rutger, 1831 (CRO, BU 1172). This is stated to be revised from a survey made by Thomas Corfield in 1787, probably referring to a survey of the manor made for the Duke of Leeds in 1788, which Charles Henderson saw but of which the present whereabouts is unknown.4 D. The Tithe Apportionments of the parishes of Madron (1841) and Gulval (1843). (These sources are normally cited hereafter as sources A to D, as above). The sources thus cover a period of two centuries, A and B being before, and C and D after, the assumed date of the change of spoken language and such changes in field names as it caused. Source A comprises lists only, without maps, so that doubts can arise as to the position of the fields named; the other sources comprise maps as well as lists, enabling the area covered by each name listed to be identified. The field names A Cornish field name typically comprises two parts or elements; a generic, a noun denoting a piece of land, and a qualifier, a noun or adjective describing the land and containing the essence of the name. To these may be added a third element, an adjective distinguishing adjoining fields of the same name. In English names the order of the elements is normally reversed; thus, the Cornish names Park Grouse Wartha and Park Grouse Wollas have as their English equivalents Higher and Lower Cross Fields. The Cornish field names in the Manor of Mulfra commonly used the generics gwel and park, both meaning 'field', found in 61 and 22 fields respectively in source B, and 46 dor, meaning 'ground', found in 17. Gwel is normally found in source A as gwele, in B as gwell, and in C and D as gweal (sometimes as guel or gwelch). No distinction in meaning is here apparent between gwel and park. Of the 61 gwel fields listed in source B, 48 were arable, 11 pasture, and 2 furze; of the 22 park fields, 20 were arable and 2 pasture. The gwel fields were spread evenly over the area, the parks concentrated on the eastern side at Mulfra, Ninnes and Bodrifty; there were only two parks (62, 77) at Carfury, one (101) at Boskednan, and none at Tredinnick. Two other Cornish generics found in source B are len, stitch (106, 107), and erow, acre (72). English generics found are 'Field', 'Meadow', 'Close', 'Stitch', 'Slip' (11), and 'Quillett" (120). When arranged by their qualifying elements, the field names show a wide range of themes. A field might be named from its size, as being large (50, 59), or small (3, 60); from its area (66, 82, 85, 94); from its position, as being higher (1, 47, 118), lower (13-15, 20, 50), or middle (2, 118, 124); or from its shape, as being long (17, 38, 42, 81), triangular (57, 86), square (65), round (88), or crooked (4). Its farming use might be indicated by reference to crops, as 'pillas' (40, 83, 84), rye (24, 47), wheat (65), oats (58), hay (72), cabbages (64), beans (68), and peas (96, 115); or to livestock, as sheep (57), horses (96), colts (9), cows (112), or oxen (16). A field might be named by reference to a natural feature, as a slope (6-7, 39-40), a earn (59, 61), a rock (10, 45, 107), a pool (53, 81, 85), a spring (8, 27), a down (23), a moor (128), or a hill (117); or an antiquity, as a prehistoric village (54-55), a longstone (20,34,71), a barrow (49, 70, 86, 130), a cromlech (99), or a cross (37). Some names record natural vegetation, as trees (26), furze (1, 33, 47), briars (72), thistles (91), ferns (108), and thorns (92, 106); others, the state of the ground, as black (25, 88), yellow (52, 93), stony (10, 103), rocky (44-5, 80, 102), or dry (Dore Seath on Carfury, source A only).