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diff --git a/26907.txt b/26907.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b15cc5d --- /dev/null +++ b/26907.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9491 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cornwall Coast, by Arthur L. Salmon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Cornwall Coast + +Author: Arthur L. Salmon + +Release Date: October 13, 2008 [EBook #26907] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CORNWALL COAST *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Morgan, Chris Logan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: A HIGH SEA ON THE NORTH CORNWALL COAST. + +From a photograph by Mr. Alexander Old, Padstow.] + + + + +The Cornwall + +Coast + + +_By Arthur L. Salmon_ + + +_Illustrated_ + +[Illustration: 1 Adelphi Terrace, W.C.] + + +_T. Fisher Unwin_ + +_London: Adelphi Terrace_ + +_Leipsic: Inselstrasse 20_ + +_1910_ + + + + +[_All rights reserved._] + + + + +ROAD MAPS FOR THE CORNWALL COAST + + +Those who travel through Cornwall by cycle or motor-car will usually +find very good roads, but for the most part these only touch the coast +at special points; and in some cases it will be wise to leave bicycle +or car at hotel or farm if the coast is to be fitly explored. The +study of a map will show the tourist what to expect, and he may note +the parts where, if he thinks of easy travelling alone, he will have +to desert the sea. But by a judicious use of high-road and by-road he +need never be far from the shore, and in some places the road that is +actually best for him gives fine views of the coast. There are many +excellent maps issued, but it is best to go to the fountainhead, to +the publications of the Ordnance Survey. For the pedestrian those of +one inch to a mile are admirable; but the cyclist or motorist will +find the two miles to an inch more handy, as covering a wider range; +and even those of four miles to the inch are sufficiently full for the +motorist. If any special district is to be carefully explored, the one +mile to an inch should be carried, but the wise rider will not content +himself with a map of a single scale; he should at least carry one for +the entire Duchy and others for the sections. + +The maps of the Ordnance Survey for Cornwall are as follow:-- + + One mile to the inch, large series, in sheets about 27 x 18 + inches, paper (flat or folded), 1s. 6d. net; mounted, 2s.; cut + into sections and mounted to fold, 2s. 6d., Nos. 139, 146-7-8, + 151-2. + + One mile to the inch, small series, in contoured outline, with + hills shaded or coloured, Nos. 347, 353, 1s. 6d. and 2s.; 348, + 354, 1s. and 1s. 6d.; 322, 336, 1s. 6d. and 2s.; 335, 346, 1s. + and 1s. 6d.; 351, 359, 1s. and 1s. 6d.; 352, 360, 1s. 6d. and + 2s. These may be had flat or folded. + + Two miles to an inch (flat or folded, or on the new layer + system), Nos. 35-6, 1s. 6d., 2s., 2s. 6d. + + Four miles to the inch, Cornwall, 1s. (flat or folded). + + Four miles to the inch, Nos. 21, 22, 1s. 6d., 2s. (flat or + folded). + + Ten miles to the inch, No. II. (flat or folded), 1s., 1s. 6d. + +It should be mentioned that Mr. T. Fisher Unwin is sole wholesale +agent for these maps, which may be procured from any bookseller. +Fuller details of the maps are given in a special Catalogue issued by +Mr. Unwin. + + A. L. S. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE PLYMOUTH DISTRICT 13 + + II. LOOE AND POLPERRO 29 + + III. FOWEY 48 + + IV. ST. AUSTELL TO ST. MAWES 66 + + V. FALMOUTH AND TRURO 81 + + VI. FROM FALMOUTH TO THE LIZARD 106 + + VII. THE LIZARD TO HELSTON 126 + + VIII. MOUNT'S BAY 150 + + IX. THE PENZANCE DISTRICT 167 + + X. THE SCILLY ISLANDS 190 + + XI. FROM LAND'S END TO ZENNOR 211 + + XII. ST. IVES 231 + + XIII. FROM HAYLE TO PERRAN 253 + + XIV. CRANTOCK, NEWQUAY, MAWGAN 271 + + XV. THE PADSTOW DISTRICT 301 + + XVI. TINTAGEL AND BOSCASTLE 335 + + XVII. BUDE 354 + + XVIII. MORWENSTOW 363 + + INDEX 381 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + LOOE 33 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + FOWEY 55 + _Photo by Gibson, Penzance_ + + ON THE RIVER FAL 83 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + COVERACK 119 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + THE LIZARD LIGHTHOUSE 129 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + BENCH-ENDS IN MULLION CHURCH 133 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + MARCONI STATION, POLDHU 139 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + PRUSSIA COVE 155 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, FROM MARAZION 161 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + PENZANCE 171 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + LANYON CROMLECH 181 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + SHIPMAN HEAD, SCILLY 191 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + A SCILLY FLOWER GARDEN 201 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + CAVERN AT LAND'S END 213 + _Photo by Gibson, Penzance_ + + SENNEN COVE 219 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + GURNARD'S HEAD 227 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + ST. IVES 233 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + CHURCH OF ST. PIRAN 267 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + CRANTOCK CHURCH 283 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + BEDRUTHAN STEPS 293 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + MAWGAN CHURCH 297 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + PORTHCOTHAN BAY 303 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + RUINS OF CONSTANTINE CHURCH 307 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + TREVOSE LIGHTHOUSE 311 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + CLIFFS NEAR PADSTOW 317 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + A ROUGH CORNISH SEA 323 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + WADEBRIDGE 327 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + PORT ISAAC 331 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + TINTAGEL 337 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE 343 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + ST. KNIGHTON'S KIEVE 349 + _Photo by Alex. Old_ + + MORWENSTOW 367 + _Photo by Gibson & Sons_ + + + + +The Cornwall Coast + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PLYMOUTH DISTRICT + + +Britain is an emergent mass of land rising from a submarine platform +that attaches it to the Continent of Europe. The shallowness of its +waters--shallow relatively to the profundity of ocean deeps--is most +pronounced off the eastern and south-eastern coasts; but it extends +westward as far as the isles of Scilly, which are isolated +mountain-peaks of the submerged plateau. The seas that wash the long +Cornish peninsula, therefore, though they are thoroughly oceanic in +character, especially on the north, are not oceanic in depth; we have +to pass far beyond Scilly to cross the hundred-fathom line. From the +Dover strait westward there is a gradual lowering of the incline, +though of course with such variations and undulations as we find on +the emerged plains; but the existence of this vast submarine basis +must cause us to think of our island, naturally and geologically, as a +true part of the great European continent, rendered insular by the +comparatively recent intrusion of shallow and narrow waters. With some +developments and some limits, our flora and fauna are absolutely +Continental, the limits being even more noticeable as regards Ireland. +The extensive coast-line has played a most important part in +influencing national history and characteristics. The greater or less +resistance of different rocks and soils has affected not only +coast-configurations, but therewith also the very existence and +well-being of the inhabitants. + +The very appearance of Cornwall is eloquent of its granitic structure; +nothing less enduring could have survived the stress to which it is +daily exposed. All softer measures have been eroded by the fierce wash +of Atlantic seas; what we may consider a gaunt, bare backbone has +stood the test, and the Cornish coast to-day confronts forces that +would play havoc with the more yielding and gentle curves of east and +south-east England. We know what the narrow seas can do on +East-Anglian and Kentish shores; and the same work of coast-erosion +that we there see proceeding before our very eyes must have taken +place in Cornwall before the days when historians could note it. The +denudations that left our stark Cornish coasts as we know them now for +the most part occurred in times that are dim and legendary. We hear of +the havoc by an uncertain voice of tradition; we dream of a lost land +of Lyonesse, of which only the Scillies remain; but the underlying +truth of such romantic rumour must be carried back to Neolithic or +earlier times. Though inaccurate in detail, such legends are rarely +baseless. In places, such as Mount's Bay, there is still evidence of +what the sea has taken; in other parts the evidence has been washed +far from sight. The fact that the shallow seas extend far westward +cannot be ignored; when we speak of a lost Lyonesse we are not +dealing with absurdities. We must only be careful to date it far +enough backward, or rather to leave it without date, which is a matter +for the geologist rather than the historian to settle. It is an +alluring vision on which we can linger without the sense of being +actually unhistoric. We may even carry our thought further still, if +we choose, and dream of some old Atlantis, now lying submerged in far +greater depths beneath the waters of the ocean that perpetuates its +name. + +It will be seen that the peculiar shape of Cornwall has not been +attained by chance, but has been the result of natural forces. In its +appearance on a map there is a certain resemblance to Italy; while +some etymologists, taking this appearance as a guide, have imagined +that the origin of its name may be found in its horn-like figure. No +other British division--using the word "division" advisedly, for +Cornwall is not strictly a county--has such an extent of coast-line. +Its greatest direct length is 80 miles, but the broken nature of the +shore increases this very considerably; even at its juncture with +Devon the Duchy is not more than 46 miles in breadth, and at its +narrowest it is only six miles. Both the most western and the most +southern points in England are to be found in Cornwall, at Land's End +and the Lizard. The climate is delightfully equable, without extremes +of heat or cold, but it is naturally humid, as Cornwall has to bear +the first brunt of rain-storms that drive in from the Atlantic. To +find a fitting point of departure for a pilgrimage round these coasts +we have to step into Devonshire. In some sense Plymouth is the gateway +of Cornwall, and a very appropriate gateway it is. Of the three +rivers that give Plymouth its noble estuary the Lynher is purely +Cornish, and the Tamar is as much Cornish as it is Devonian, except +that it rises just over the Devon border. The population of Plymouth, +Stonehouse, and Devonport is so largely Cornish that the three towns, +which we conveniently but incorrectly group under the name of +Plymouth, have been styled the "capital of Cornwall"; and certainly no +single Cornish town contains so many Cornish folk as have gathered +together to assist and share in the prosperity of this Devonshire +locality. The majority of visitors to the Duchy approach it by this +avenue, and the old stage-coaches followed very much the same route as +the present railway, but conveyed their passengers to Saltash by ferry +instead of by bridge. The rail is the successor of an immemorial +trackway that linked Devon and Cornwall in days when they had not been +subdivided. Even in times long before shires had been dreamed of, it +is certain that the river must have been an important tribal boundary. +There was a British track by which Cornish tin was carried eastward to +a point of nearer contact with the Continent; that point may have been +the Isle of Wight, but was more probably Thanet. This track passed the +Tamar at Saltash and ran to Liskeard, where it joined a tributary path +from the Fosseway; after which junction it crossed the Bodmin Moors +and pushed on to Truro and Mount's Bay. This has been spoken of as a +Roman road, but it was certainly not of Roman construction, being far +earlier in date. There is no proof that the Legions ever entered +Cornwall at all, and such Roman remains as Cornwall has yielded may be +attributed to British residents of Roman culture and taste. Cornwall +was never conquered, in the sense of occupation, either by Roman or +Teuton; and the conquest of the Ivernians, or Iberians, by the Celts +must have been very partial and chiefly in the nature of a military +predominance, if we may judge by the comparatively short stature, dark +skin and hair, that are still largely characteristic of Cornish folk. + +Plymouth has another link with Cornwall, though it must be considered +a fabulous one. One of the suggested derivations for the name of +Cornwall is Corineus. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Corineus was +one of the companions of the Trojan Brutus, who landed at Totnes and +proceeded to bestow his name and his rule upon Britain. In support of +this we may quote Milton, with a suggestion that he was a greater poet +than historian: "The Iland, not yet Britain but Albion, was in a +manner desert and inhospitable, kept only by a remnant of giants, +whose excessive force and tyranny had consumed the rest. Them Brutus +destroies, and to his people divides the land, which, with some +reference to his own name, he thenceforth calls Britain. To Corineus +Cornwall, as now we call it, fell by lot; the rather by him liked, for +that the hugest giants in rocks and caves were said to lurk still +there; which kind of monsters to deal with was his old exercise." He +was indeed the father of Cornish wrestling, which has ever since been +so popular and so excellent. The poet proceeds to tell us how Corineus +wrestled with the giant Goemagog (or Gogmagog) and threw him into the +sea. Drayton, in relating the same legend, hints at the true cause +that enabled the smaller Neolithic Ivernians to subdue the taller +Paleolithic inhabitants; it being a fact that there was a difference +in height great enough to be magnified by fancy and exaggeration into +the myth of the giants. He tells how Gogmagog was brought forward as a +champion to daunt the Trojan invaders:-- + + "Great Gogmagog, an oak that by the rootes could tear; + So mighty were (that time) the men who lived there: + But, for the use of arms he did not understand + (Except some rock or tree that coming next to hand, + He raised out of earth to execute his rage), + He challenge makes for strength, and offereth there his gage." + +If there is any basis to this Brutus legend at all, it may be taken as +denoting an invasion of higher culture, of the later Stone or early +Metal Age, opposed to the greater physical strength but inferior +weapons of a lower scale in civilisation. Methods and materials of war +were the standard of advance then, as they seem to be still the +measure of dominance now. All tradition states that the struggle +between Corineus and the giant took place on Plymouth Hoe, on a spot +now partly covered by the Citadel. Plymouthians so devoutly cherished +the legend that they preserved the figures of the two wrestlers, cut +in the turf after the manner of the famous White Horses; but either a +greater scepticism or another need for the site has caused the figures +to vanish long since. As Corineus, by the same tradition, became first +Duke of Cornwall, it was supposed that he bestowed his name on the +Duchy; but the "Corn" is not so easily identified as this, and to get +at the true origin we should have to understand more definitely the +derivation of the tribal name _Cornavii_. But it does seem that the +Plymouth Hamoaze can claim to be the Hamo's Port which Geoffrey of +Monmouth wrongly identified with Southampton; and this proves that the +fine estuary, where the pulse of national life now beats so strongly, +was a haunt of navigators, defenders and invaders, in days before +Britain's story had begun to be written. Britain also can never forget +the part that Plymouth played in repulsing the Great Armada. It may or +may not have been true that Drake was playing bowls on the Hoe when +the Spanish ships were sighted; it may not be true that he said, +"There's time to play the game out and to thrash the Spaniards +afterwards." We can cherish this doubtful tradition or not, as we +happen to be credulous or sceptical; but in any case that was the +genuine spirit of the West Country in those days of stress, and that +was the spirit by which the British Empire was moulded. It was a +spirit born of rough seas and unruly winds, the confidence that sprang +from successful struggle with peril and difficulty, the pluck that +confesses nothing to be impossible. It was a spirit that loved sport, +yet never shrank from war. + +But the glorious memories that linger on Plymouth Hoe, perhaps the +finest promenade in the kingdom, must not hinder us from passing over +to the Cornwall coasts that are luring us with all their varied and +exquisite beauty. We cannot stay to recall the sailing of the +_Mayflower_ from Plymouth Barbican, nor the wonderful siege endured by +the town during the great Civil War--the fiercest siege of all that +sad conflict, successfully sustained by the Plymouthians against the +forces that the King's generals, backed by loyal Cornwall, could bring +against them. The tales and associations that belong to the "Three +Towns" are of the deepest interest; and surely no other English shires +have so grand a dividing-line as this mouth of the three rivers. We +must not forget that Devon itself was once a part of Cornwall or "West +Wales." + +We may well start our journey round the coast at Mount Edgcumbe, where +we find ourselves on Cornish soil, however eagerly Plymouthians may +claim the Mount as one of their special beauty-spots. There is good +excuse for the tradition that the Spanish Admiral, Medina Sidonia, +when he caught sight of Mount Edgcumbe on his way up the Channel in +charge of the Armada, was so impressed by its loveliness that he +selected the estate as his own future reward of victory. It is pretty +certain, however, that on this occasion the Admiral would not have +sighted Mount Edgcumbe at all until after-events had begun to render +him a little less cocksure of the result. But he may have seen the +manor during some earlier and more peaceful visit. The Edgcumbes are a +Devonshire family, coming from the neighbourhood of Tavistock; the +estate came to the possession of Sir Piers Edgcumbe by his marriage +with Joan Durnford, of East Stonehouse, and the present house was +begun by his son, Sir Richard, in 1553. It is possible that Sidonia +had been a guest of Sir Richard's in the following year, when there +was a notable gathering of Admirals here. There are some defences +still standing that were erected in anticipation of the Armada, and +these were brought into use by the Civil War, when Royalist Edgcumbe +frowned defiance at Parliamentary Plymouth across the Sound. But it +was Plymouth that had the last word, and Edgcumbe had to surrender in +1645. The peaceful memories of the spot are more in accord with its +beauty than those of discord and bloodshed; that beauty, and the +number of its distinguished visitors, had made it famous throughout +Europe. The place has been noted for its hospitality and for its many +guests, from the days of Cosmo de' Medici to those of our late King. +During his stay at Torquay, after the close of the Franco-German War, +the Emperor Napoleon III. came hither with his son; and it was only +two days later that the Crown Prince of Prussia, afterwards the +beloved Emperor Frederick, was here with his wife and sons, one of +whom, the Kaiser, now looms so large in the imagination of Europe. But +art has its associations with this spot, even more interesting than +those of royalty. The elder Vandevelde is supposed to have been here, +and to have painted his "Royal Charles" as the guest of Sir Richard +Edgcumbe; this and other paintings of his are preserved among the art +treasures. A little more certainty attaches to the visits of Sir +Joshua Reynolds. He was the son of the headmaster of Plympton +School--a school that can boast connection with three other famous +artists: Northcote, Eastlake, and Haydon; and as a boy young Reynolds +became a frequent companion of the second Lord Edgcumbe, then a lad of +about his own age. The two between them painted a portrait of Thomas +Smart, Vicar of Maker, who was the young Edgcumbe's tutor. The picture +was executed on a piece of sailcloth, in a boathouse at Cremyll. It is +probable that the portrait was done rather with mischievous than +artistic intent--a boy's picture of his tutor is not likely to be +flattering; but Reynolds had already begun to show signs of his +wonderful genius, and it may be guessed that he did the lion's share +of the work. The friendship between the two lads survived to maturity, +and there are many examples of the artist's ripe work at Mount +Edgcumbe. There are three generations of the family from his pencil; +and the marble busts in the saloon were purchased by him for this +purpose, at Rome, which he first reached chiefly through his friend +and patron's influence. There are also paintings here by Lely and +Mascall, and there is a good deal of fine statuary in the grounds. +When these grounds are hospitably thrown open to visitors, as they are +so often, the educative influence of art, as well as that of natural +beauty, is brought to bear on many, of whom we may hope that some are +susceptible. When Sir Joshua brought Dr. Johnson to Plymouth, in 1762, +we may feel sure that he took his great friend across to be introduced +at Mount Edgcumbe; and we know that others connected with the same +brilliant circle, such as General Paoli and Garrick, were visitors +here. Garrick, indeed, celebrated the place in verse, as surpassing +"all the mounts of England." Miss Burney came in 1789, on an occasion +when "all 'the Royals' went sailing up the Tamar"; and she was +delighted with the manor and its occupiers. There are therefore many +ghosts wandering about among these Upper and Lower Gardens--the +misnamed English Garden with its subtropical vegetation--magnolias, +cork, bamboo: the Italian Garden with its orange-trees; the French +Garden with its arbours and trellis and ilex-trees in the style of the +old Empire. But the ghosts that walk here among the crowd of +sight-seers, or at night when the moon glitters brilliantly on the +broad estuary, or when the dark, moonless expanse is pierced with +lights from pier and masthead and distant Eddystone--these ghosts are +not such as we dread; they are the gracious figures of old-time +guests, grizzled seamen of Elizabethan glory when men dreamed of new +worlds and found them: kings, nobles, poets, painters, they are all +here to greet us on our approach to the enchanted regions of the +Delectable Duchy. + +It is said that a parish clerk, more than a century since, wrote a +poem about Mount Edgcumbe in which he stated that-- + + "Mount Edgcumbe is a pleasant place, + It looketh on Hamoaze, + And on it are some batteries + To guard us from our foes." + +The batteries are certainly there, more numerous than ever, and we may +hope that they will fulfil the purpose ascribed to them. Picklecombe +Fort, on the cliff below the grounds, is particularly powerful, and in +conjunction with the similar forts on the opposite heights of Staddon +might be able to render a good account of itself if Plymouth Sound +were ever attempted. The massive breakwater might also become an +effective obstacle to unfriendly navigation. This defence, built to +protect the harbour from south-west and south-easterly winds, is a +very fine piece of engineering. It was begun in 1812, and its +construction took twenty-eight years. About four and a half million +tons of limestone were brought from the Oreston quarries, and two and +a half million cubic feet of granite from Dartmoor. The central +length is 1,000 yards, each of the wings being 350 yards, making the +total length nearly a mile. The original cost was L1,500,000, to which +may be added the expense on the lighthouse and on frequent repairs and +renovations. The utility of the work has amply repaid the outlay. +Though the surface rises several feet above normal high water, there +are many times when the breakwater is swept by waves from end to end. + +Mount Edgcumbe is in the parish of Maker, and there is a sensational +tale attaching to the interesting and finely situated church. It is +said that a former Lady Edgcumbe was brought here for burial, and the +sexton, left to himself, was trying to tear the rings off her fingers, +when she gave a sigh and awoke. She had been merely in a trance. +Returning to her home, she lived for many years after. This tale is +sometimes told of Cotehele, an earlier seat of the family; but in any +case it is one of those legends that have been told of many places, in +England and abroad. Maker church tower was used as a signalling +station during the French wars, in connection with another at Mount +Wise; there is now a regular signal station at Rame Head. The lychgate +and old font deserve attention. These heights, and especially the +Mount Edgcumbe woodlands, suffered severely from the great blizzard of +1891, many of the finest trees being uprooted. At the foot of Maker +heights are the twin villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, separated by a +small brook; some of the houses, built across this, claim to be in +both places at once. This provides one of the most frequent and +popular trips of the Plymouth pleasure-steamers, and the picturesque +spot, once haunted by smugglers, is now, during the summer months, a +lively playground of the excursionist. It is said that Richmond, +afterwards Henry VII., landed at this spot on his first attempt +against Richard Crookback, his fleet having been scattered by a storm. +Southward is Penlee Point, and westward Rame or Ram Head. This is the +most southern point of East Cornwall, and the nearest land to +Eddystone. There is an old saying-- + + "When Dodman and Ram-head meet," + +Dodman being the extreme point of Mevagissy Bay; and, as Ray tells us: +"These are two forelands, well known to sailors, nigh twenty miles +asunder, and the proverb passeth for the periphrasis of an +impossibility." The Head, which is nearly insular, has a chapel +dedicated to St. Michael on its summit. St. Michael was widely claimed +as a patron of lofty and exposed places (such as the two St. Michael's +Mounts); it was considered his especial function to disperse and set +at naught all evil forces of tempest and thunderstorm. Rame Church, +dating from the thirteenth century, is about a mile inland; it +occupies the site of a still earlier building. Whitesand Bay +(generally called Whitsand), which stretches westward towards Looe, +has many memories of the past to offer those who, in summer, come +hither in large numbers. It was here that Drake and Howard first +confronted the Armada, after the memorable but possibly fabulous game +of bowls. Whether the Spaniards intended making for Plymouth or no is +not quite certain; but it is certain that the Englishmen intended to +prevent them. It was in the early Sunday morning that the Spaniards +first caught sight of the English fleet--the royal or official +squadron under Lord Howard, the volunteers under Francis Drake. +Displaying his consecrated standard, the Duke Medina endeavoured to +interpose between the two sections of the opposing flotilla, thinking +to destroy them separately at his ease; but he was readily +circumvented in his design, finding to his cost that the English +vessels could sail closer to the wind than his own, and could be +manipulated more quickly, while their guns carried further. His +cumbrous ships also were too much crowded with men, being fitter for +transport than for action; the fighters were impeded by the press, and +every effective shot from the enemy's guns found many victims. The +English managed to keep at a distance while they delivered their +raking broadsides, which, according to the Spanish notions, was +against all principles of chivalrous sea warfare. But, as Froude says, +"it was effective, it was perplexing, it was deadly." Drake and Howard +did not wish to come to closer quarters with their formidable foes; a +near embrace of those heavy galleons, fully manned with brave men, +might soon have brought disaster; the struggle would have been too +unequal. It is the art of the weaker to be elusive. The engagement +lasted till late on Sunday afternoon, by which time the squadrons had +drifted past Plymouth Sound. Not many hours later the _Capitana_, +England's first prize, was being towed into Dartmouth harbour, giving +a welcome booty in bullion and powder. The Armada had received a first +blow, from which it never recovered; though recovery might yet have +been possible if the winds had not fought for the English. The +Spaniards' first taste of the West Country had probably satisfied +them, but other death-traps lay to the eastward. The later story of +the Armada belongs to distant Scottish and Irish coasts, whereon many +of its finest vessels drifted; it is a story of calamity, blunder, and +stubborn bravery; all the courage was not on one side of the +conflict--perhaps the Spanish were as great in their failure as the +English in their success. + +The shores of Whitesand Bay, though so beautiful, are treacherous both +to the seaman and the bather; their beaches have often been strewn +with wreckage. The Bay is fully exposed to south-westerly winds, which +often hurl tremendous seas upon its coast, and many a good vessel has +been driven to its destruction. There are shifting sands here also, +which are the source of peril to unwary bathers; and it was at this +spot that Mr. E. Spender, the founder of the _Western Morning News_, +was drowned, with his two sons; a memorial marks the spot. But many +parts of the extensive bay are perfectly safe, and there are several +nooks that are becoming increasingly popular with visitors from +Plymouth, such as Port Wrinkle, with its coastguard station, and the +pretty village of Downderry. A portion of the coast is in the parish +of St. John's, and here there is a grotto excavated by a lieutenant, +who is said to have cured himself of gout by this labour; the walls +and entrance are inscribed with verse. Another of the Whitesand +parishes is Antony East, so named to distinguish it from other +Antonies further westward, which extends from the Lynher to the coast. +In this is the seat of the Pole-Carew family, a branch of the old +Devonshire Carews. The house dates from 1721, and has some good +pictures by Holbein, Vandyke, and Reynolds. Carew, the Cornish +historian, who died in 1620, lived and wrote his works here. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LOOE AND POLPERRO + + +As we pass along the coast from Whitesand Bay towards Looe we are +approaching a spot that is now prized for its exceeding loveliness, +but that formerly took high rank among the seaports of the West +Country. In appearance and in ancient position it must be classed with +Dartmouth and Fowey, which both were likewise notable ports in days +when the English navy was in its sturdy infancy--days when the +national pulse beat most keenly in the south and east instead of in +the north and midlands. Commerce and industrialism have largely +changed all that; Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham have assumed +metropolitan importance in their densely populated districts. Only +Plymouth in the south-west is now of first-class consequence to the +nation; and Plymouth is a _parvenu_ compared with Looe and Fowey. The +actual decline of these two little towns may not be great, but +relatively it is enormous. Yet it deserves a milder term than decay, +for the present-day life here is still wholesome and in a certain +sense prosperous. It is a gentle and placid prosperity, very largely +the happiness of places that have no history. There is the +compensation of a glorious past, and there is the further +compensation that such places preserve for us the best picture of +what Old England truly was in days before she became "a nation of +shopkeepers." It is no use to go to the flourishing commercial cities +to find traces of earlier England; these cities have usually swept +away the traces of antiquity they once possessed--tortuous streets are +straightened and widened, quaint old houses are thrown down, the +picturesque makes way for the useful; even the old churches are looked +at askance, as occupying ground that might be devoted to warehouses +and offices. In these quiet corners of the West such temptations have +not presented themselves; population is thin, and there is little call +for the destructiveness of expansion; mediaevalism may still be found +here, in the streets and byways, in the houses, and sometimes in the +people. The chief peril is in the intrusion of the summer holiday and +the "week-end." Irreparable damage is sometimes prompted by the desire +to attract visitors. But those who come to the West Country are not +usually such as seek for the noise and glare of the conventional +watering-place. They come for natural beauty, pure air, and quietude. +The recreative pleasure that they crave must be of a different kind +from that with which they can daily become familiar if they please. +There are theatres and music-halls in town; it does not add to the +wittiness of the Pierrot or the humour of the comic singer to find +them exercising their functions on a hot dusty beach, densely packed +with humanity, strewn with torn newspapers, burnt matches, orange +skins, and banana peelings. Yet those who feel in this manner are a +minority, otherwise certain popular resorts would be less +flourishing. + +The crowds that flock to the average watering-place may leave their +toils behind them, but they apparently wish to carry their amusements. +Even the jaded mill-hand asks for the congested variety entertainments +of Blackpool or of Douglas, rather than for the solitudes of shore and +woodland. In moments of pessimism one may fear that the very capacity +of peaceful enjoyment is being killed, and that ceaseless grinding +work destroys the power of resting. When the ordinary tourist visits +places of peaceful solitariness he usually does so in crowds that +rifle and ravish the sacredness of this solitude; he ruthlessly +desecrates that which he does not understand; he never learns its +secrets; the most commonplace of public parks would have responded +fully to his needs and their gratification. But the West has long been +a resort of that wiser, certainly better endowed, minority that seeks +for direct personal contact with Nature, face to face, and not merely +as seen through the glass windows of huge pavilions or from the seats +of fashion-haunted promenades. Therefore the majority of Western +watering-places are not yet spoiled; their physical features have +often assisted to preserve them. They have not lost the quaint +simplicity of their parochialism, to become national if not +cosmopolitan. Constant intercourse with even the most sober of +visitors must take something from the provincialism, the cherished +traditions and local customs, the personal peculiarities and dialect. +But there is still a good deal left; there is still the possibility of +reaching Nature in her inmost sanctuaries, and at the same time +winning some of those elusive and shy confidences that are the charm +of locality. + +[Illustration: LOOE. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +In this sense Looe, or rather the two Looes, are purely delightful. +When we liken the place to Fowey or Dartmouth we must grant it the +advantages of being closer to the sea; it stands actually at the mouth +of its river, instead of retired within protecting sea-gates. To some +extent it has to submit to the tender mercies of the tripper, for +Plymouth steamboats are fond of bringing excursionists here; apart +from these invasions, the spot is as peaceful as could be desired +except by the veriest misanthropist. Approached by rail from Liskeard, +the journey is made in leisurely backward and forward stages, the +engine being reversed at times; so that passengers, who are requested +not to get out till "the train is at rest," sometimes imagine +themselves to be carried back to their point of departure. It is an +amusing little line, but it serves its purpose; and indeed has a +definite usefulness in reminding us that we have come away from bustle +and hurry to a region of placid leisure and quietness. Arrived at the +journey's end, one at first wonders how the people get in and out of +their houses, so higgledy-piggledy do they appear to be piled one on +top of the other; but the mystery may be solved by exploring the lanes +and allies. Deliveries of produce are still often made by panniered +donkeys, in quaint old-world fashion. There are two Looes, East and +West, and two rivers of the same name which meet above the bridge. +East Looe belongs to the parish of St. Martin's, and West Looe to that +of Talland; both were granted a corporation in the time of Elizabeth, +and each, before the Reform Bill, returned two representatives to +Parliament. The credit of having sent twenty vessels and 315 men to +the siege of Calais is given to East Looe, but it may be guessed that +all the residents on the banks of the Looe rivers joined in this +great patriotic effort. Those were the days of the town's fiercest +activities, though its business as a port trading with the Continent +endured till long afterwards; and the pilchard-fishery was once more +important than it is now. Pilchards now for the most part keep further +west. There is still much fishing done, and some small coastwise +shipping gives occasional bustle to the rugged little banjo-shaped +pier. There was anciently a great animosity between the two Looes, as +was natural with such near neighbours; and the two still nourish a +lurking contempt for each other, not always successfully concealed. +They are at one, however, in their scorn for the pretensions of Fowey. +An intense local patriotism, that really cannot tolerate outside +claims, is a feature of many Western towns; a man from the next parish +is almost as much a foreigner as if he came from "the shires." The two +Looes have been brought to an enforced companionship, but they are not +mutually conciliatory. East Looe can claim to be the business portion +of the town, having the pier and the principal shops, while West Looe +is more select and residential. The debate as to the greater antiquity +may be left for the two to settle between themselves, but its harbour +and pier must long have given East Looe the practical precedence. At +the harbour some coal and limestone are imported, and there is a +shipment of fish, bark, granite, and china-clay. East Looe boasts a +further relic of its past in the ancient pillory preserved at the +porch of its town hall. St. Martin's, the parish church, has a Norman +door, and a font that appears to be of the same date; there is also a +more modern church, St. Anne's, whose dedication recalls that of the +chapel which formerly stood on the old fourteen-arch bridge, long +since displaced. At West Looe the church of St. Nicholas was once used +as a town hall and room for general entertainment, and very curious +indeed were some of the amusements that used to come here. Mr. +Baring-Gould tells us that when he first saw Looe it struck him as one +of the oddest old-world places in England. There was a booth-theatre +fitted up, and luring the folk to its dingy green canvas enclosure. +"The repertoire comprised blood-curdling tragedies. I went in and saw +'The Midnight Assassin; or, The Dumb Witness.' Next evening was to be +given 'The Vampire's Feast; or, The Rifled Tomb.' This tragedy was +followed by Allingham's play, 'Fortune's Frolick,' adapted to the +narrow capacities of the company. It was performed in broad Cornish, +and interspersed with some rather good and I fancy original songs. But +surely nowhere else but at Looe could such a reminiscence of the old +strolling company-show of fifty or sixty years ago be seen." It is +said that there are still queer things to be seen at the annual fair +of May 6th, the West Looe "cattle and pleasure fair." But the contact +with outside influences has had its natural effect; Looe is not quite +what it once was; better approaches have been made, so that the +visitor no longer drops sheer upon the roofs of the houses as he did +once; the claims of local improvement and sanitation have done +something to remove quaint and characteristic features. Yet there are +still picturesque whitewashed houses with ragged gables and outside +staircases; there are still curious old porches and delightful +hanging-gardens where myrtle, hydrangea, and geranium can thrive all +the year round. The shops still partake of the dual character that we +find in quiet villages, so that the grocer is also the chemist and the +butcher is the greengrocer. In one case the grocer has not only a +chemist's store but also keeps a circulating library--a charming +confusion of trades that enables the visitor to do his shopping within +very limited range. The fishing done here, both professionally and as +a sport, is fairly considerable; the Looe fishing-fleet often goes as +far afield as the shores of Ireland, but when at home the men hang +about the quay in the usual fashion of their kind, getting an +occasional job with visitors, but more often enjoying that dreamy +laziness for which they appear supremely qualified. They have the +faculty of gazing long and intently at nothing, and of disputing for +hours over subjects of scarcely greater tangibility; but their +capabilities and efficiency must not be measured by their customary +longshore attitude. Sometimes their wrangling almost equals that of +the gulls that clamour in crowds about the small harbour, and that are +always on the look-out for refuse thrown from the boats or from the +quaysides. A special haunt of these gulls is the little Looe Island +lying off West Looe, which is about a mile in circumference and 170 +feet in height. This islet, also called St. George's Isle, because a +chapel to St. George once stood here, is of great value to the +river-mouth as a natural breakwater, and was once of further value as +an inestimable aid in smuggling. Traces of the chapel may yet be seen +on the summit of the isle, and human remains found here may possibly +date from an early Christian settlement; but the prevailing memories +of the island are by no means saintly. It was once occupied by a +reprobate pair who certainly lived the "simple life" to perfection so +far as locality was concerned, but whose simplicity may otherwise be +doubted. These were a man named Fyn and his sister "Black Joan," who +appear to have been born on the Mewstone, near Plymouth, and who were +as wild as their companion seabirds. Their desperate cleverness +assisted ably in the running of many an untaxed cargo; and even when a +coastguard was placed on the island itself, his vigilance was quite +insufficient to baffle them. The smugglers of Whitsand Bay well knew +the uses of Looe island, and made frequent expeditions to it. The +supposed fishermen of Cawsand did far more smuggling than they did in +their avowed avocation, finding it more exciting and profitable; they +were joined by many wild spirits from Plymouth, discharged navy men, +loafers, and dare-devils. A special kind of galley was built to suit +them, ostensibly intended for seine-fishing, but in reality adapted +for high speed and easy handling; and these boats often made the +journey to and from the French shores, in the face of terrible danger +not only from Preventive forces, but from sea and rock. Very often the +cargoes were not landed at all from these boats, but were sunk near +shore, to be fetched as opportunity offered. Suspicion soon attached +to these fleet Cawsand fishing-boats, and when they set forth on their +apparently innocent purpose, the coastguard men were in a state of +irritated expectancy; they knew too often that they were being fooled, +yet their task of prevention was both difficult and perilous. The +order used to be sent out that "a rocket and blue-light will be fired +from the Ramehead when the galleys go afloat, as a signal to +Polperro." Many of the smugglers' tricks reveal invention of a high +order. After their own galleys had earned too much of a risky +reputation, many having been taken in the act, their owners resorted +to the device of chartering French vessels, with which, under certain +limits, the revenue cruisers could not interfere. It may be guessed +that unscrupulous confederates on Looe island were able to play an +important part in such enterprises; so that Fyn and "Black Joan" +enjoyed a life of constant excitement, and an unlimited supply of the +best spirits. Not many years since the floor of a barn on the islet +collapsed, and underneath was discovered a cellar for the storage of +such spirits. It will be seen that St. George's Isle fully deserved +its share in the evil repute that formerly attached to such islands as +the haunt of desperadoes; Lundy, off the North Devon coast, is another +instance. It was probably in remembrance of this isle and its chapel +that the Looe ship was named the _George_, of which it is related +that, many centuries since, it attacked and captured three French +vessels single-handed. But of this, and of Looe's nobler memories +generally, there is small record. + +In place of such we have an interesting memorial of Looe's former use +of the "cage," a companion instrument to the pillory. It is stated +that "at East Looe Hannah Whit and Bessie Niles, two women of fluent +tongue, having exerted their oratory on each other, at last thought it +prudent to leave the matter in dispute to be settled by the Mayor. +Away they posted to his worship. The first who arrived had scarce +begun her tale when the other bounced in in full rage, and began hers +likewise, and abuse commenced with redoubled vigour. His worship, Mr. +John Chubb, ordered the constable to be called, and each of the +combatants thought her antagonist was going to be punished, and each +thought right. When the constable arrived, his worship pronounced the +following command to him, 'Take these two women to the cage, and there +keep them till they have settled their dispute.'" It is therefore +clear that the name of John Chubb must be added to the roll of Looe +heroes; and something may also be said for the constable--if he +accomplished his mission safely. + +There are many beautiful walks to be enjoyed from Looe, one being +along the cliffs to Downderry; still more delightful is the walk along +the banks of the West Looe River to Watergate, where the luxuriant +foliage and the rich undergrowth of ferns are a perpetual joy. Such +wooded loveliness is of a kind that we do not usually associate with +Cornwall, though it is amply to be found in different parts of the +Duchy; it is more like parts of the Lyn or the Wye than what is +generally attributed to Cornwall. Another beautiful walk or row is up +the east river to Sandplace. Talland also should certainly be visited; +it is about two miles from West Looe, of which it is the +mother-parish. The church, with its campanile tower, is most finely +situated among wooded hills, and contains some beautiful workmanship. +There is an altar-tomb of Sir John Beville, 1574; and there are +bench-ends bearing Beville and Grenville arms. The families were +connected, as we are reminded by the name of the noble Sir Beville +Grenville. The transept was formerly known as the Killigarth Chapel; +and Killigarth, close by, was formerly the Beville manor, noted in +old days for its prodigal hospitality. The house has been destroyed, +and a farm stands on the site, retaining the old name. A mile or two +inland is Trelawne, another notable Cornish manor associated with one +of the great old families. Parts of the house, which is in Pelynt +parish, date from the fifteenth century, but a great deal of +restoration has been done. The Trelawneys removed hither from Alternon +in 1600. Mrs. Bray's novel, _Trelawney of Trelawne_, gives many +particulars about the family and the locality; but this typical +Cornish name is now chiefly recalled by the refrain of Hawker's "Song +of the Western Men":-- + + "And shall Trelawney die? + Here's twenty thousand Cornishmen + Will know the reason why." + +Hawker's song, which both Scott and Macaulay took to be a genuine old +local ballad, was skilfully woven around those three lines and made to +apply to the committal of the Seven Bishops, Sir Jonathan Trelawney, +then Bishop of Bristol, being one of the Seven. The ballad had an +enormous circulation and reputation, but, being issued anonymously, +brought little renown to its author. The refrain is generally +supposed, and was believed by Hawker himself, to belong to a popular +ballad of the days when the bishops were committed; but it seems to +have been earlier still, and to belong directly to this neighbourhood +of West Looe. It has been revealed that an earlier Trelawney was +imprisoned in the Tower in 1627, and there seemed a probability that +his life would be taken. Being much beloved in the district of his +home, some one was inspired to write the quatrain:-- + + "And must Trelawney die, + And shall Trelawney die? + We've thirty thousand Cornish boys + Will know the reason why!" + +This circulated rapidly through the Duchy, and reached London, where +it is said to have procured the Cornishman's release. It is certain +that John Trelawney was committed to the Tower in 1627 by the House of +Commons, but was shortly released by order of the King and created a +baronet. It is very probable, therefore, that this occasion was really +the origin of the much-debated refrain, and that its use was revived +by the committal of Bishop Trelawney, if not on other occasions and +attached to other names as well. Hawker was not always sufficiently +explicit as to the derivations of his poems, and he was guilty of one +or two mystifications, some of which still survive in the popular +guide-books (such as his story of the "Silent Bells of Bottreaux"); +but he cannot be accused on this occasion, as he never asserted that +his ballad was really ancient; and he certainly did fine service in +embodying and perpetuating the stirring refrain. As Hawker states, he +never claimed the chorus, but he did claim the ballad. + +But after making all allowance for the beauties and varied +associations of the Looes and of Talland, it must candidly be +confessed that the great gem of the district is Polperro. From West +Looe it is reached by way of Portlooe and Talland; there are daily +excursions by brake from Looe in the season. Of course visitors can go +by boat if they prefer; the distance is about four miles. The little +port was once much more inaccessible than it is now; passengers +literally dropped into it by a path part of which was cut into steps; +no wheeled vehicle could possibly get down. The houses cluster at the +mouth of a deep ravine that runs up to the village of Crumplehorn. +Approaching the place by road, Mr. Norway says that "just at first one +sees nothing of the town, but all at once it bursts upon the sight as +the road runs round a bend, a striking huddled group of houses, cast +so strangely into a heap as to produce the impression that they must +have been built originally upon the hillside at comfortable distances +apart; and that by some slipping of the rock foundations the houses +have slid and slid until they can slide no further, but are brought to +a standstill in the very bottom of the hollow. + +"The confusion of the town is immense. It is a labyrinth of winding +alley often ending in a _cul-de-sac_. But the downward sweep of the +headlands is superb; and under the towering cliffs studded with bosses +of golden furze lies a little pier and harbour with the sea-foam +flying sharply round the jutting peaks of rock before a stiff +south-wester, while the gulls wheel shrieking overhead, and out at sea +a schooner is labouring heavily." Unfortunately, the cliffs, both here +and at Talland, have lately been somewhat disfigured by huge +scaffoldings erected by the Admiralty for speed tests; but it takes +more than this to spoil Polperro. In spite of its appearance of having +slipped, many of the houses look as if they were carved out of the +very rock itself, and in some cases their steps actually are so +carved. Polperro, part of which is in the parish of Talland and part +in Lansallos, remains more lonely and primitive than Looe, for it is +not touched by the railway, and its site offers little temptation to +expansion. But it is becoming more and more sought after; artists have +learned to love it and have introduced it to the art galleries; the +inevitable sophistication must follow, just as Clovelly and Robin +Hood's Bay have become sophisticated. But nothing can take from +Polperro the loveliness of its position at the mouth of this seaward +gorge, the beauty of the hills that surround it, the deep, restful +blue of its seas. There are three piers protecting its safe little +harbour, but even these are hardly enough in times of tempest, and +heavy baulks of wood are let down into grooves, further to break the +force of the waves. The sea has played a deadly part to Polperro folk +in the past, and is ready to do so again. Old Jonathan Couch, the +forefather of our present "Q," gives a striking picture of what +Polperro used to be like in a storm during the days when he was doctor +here, a century since:--"The noise of the wind as it roars up the +coomb, the hoarse rumbling of the angry sea, the shouts of the +fishermen engaged in securing their boats, and the screams of the +women and children carrying the tidings of the latest disaster, are a +peculiarly melancholy assemblage of sounds, especially when heard at +midnight. All who can render assistance are out of their beds, helping +the sailors and fishermen; lifting the boats out of reach of the sea, +or taking the furniture of the ground-floors to a place of safety." +Every fishing port round the coast knows what such a tempest means, +and the horror, the hopeless and helpless desolation it arouses in +the minds of the women at home, if it should overtake their men at +sea. In these aspects, at least, our shores are still primitive; they +still know the primal force of wind and waves: there is no +sophisticating, no taming of these. But days are not all of storm and +wreckage; there are many times here when the waves lap peacefully +against the old stone piers, when the air is soft and delicious, and +when the women at their doors, engaged in their everlasting task of +knitting jerseys for their men, can chatter of the happiest subjects +without dreaming of storm or shipwreck. This is the calmer mood in +which visitors generally find Polperro. + +Probably not many visitors will trouble to inquire into the derivation +of the name of Polperro; they will be content to know that it is +Cornish. There would be something to do indeed if tourists were to ask +the meaning of every place-name they meet with, and if they depended +on local replies their last state would certainly be worse than their +first. But an intelligent inquiry into the origin of place-names is +always delightful and useful. _Pol_, of course, is one of the +recognised Cornish prefixes; it is simply pool, the Welsh _pwll_, a +creek or inlet or "pill." The _perro_ is supposed to be a corruption +of Peter, and the whole name would thus mean Peter's Pool, so called +from a chapel to St. Peter that once stood on Chapel Hill. An earlier +name was Porthpeyre, which neither assists nor contradicts such a +derivation. That St. Peter should be the patron of an old fishing town +is only natural. Leland speaks of the place: "a fishar towne with a +peere." There are some who say that you really have to walk sideways +in Polperro, the streets are so narrow; but that is an exaggeration. +Small as the place is, it afforded abundant material to Mr. Jonathan +Couch, the country doctor who lived and died here (1788-1870), for his +_History of Polperro_, which is a very charming book; and he further +added to the reputation of the town by discovering certain +ichthyolitic remains known as the "Polperro fossils." Happily he was a +naturalist who recognised that the study of man is an important branch +of all natural history; and geologic curiosities, interesting as they +are, can hardly compete with the tales of old Polperro privateers and +smugglers. Polperro built its own boats as it bred its own seamen, and +both were excellent. That they were arrant smugglers was a +characteristic of the times and of the locality; it is not for us to +judge them. That they were men of piety is proved by the epitaph of +that smuggler who prays for the pardon of the Preventive man who had +shot him down:-- + + "I by a shot which rapid flew + Was instantly struck dead. + Lord, pardon the offender who + My precious blood did shed." + +They were able to show a clean pair of heels not only to the excisemen +but also to the King's enemies; as was proved by the Polperro captain +who escaped from right under the nose of two French frigates during +our last war with "that sweet enemy, France." + +Lansallos, one of the mother-parishes of Polperro, has a finely placed +church, useful as a sea-mark. It seems to have been in this parish +that a former resident had a very interesting duck-pond. It had all +the appearance of being like other ponds, and the revenue officers, +who sometimes dined here with their hospitable host, could see nothing +in the least suspicious. But, when desired, this duck-pond could be +made to swing round on a pivot, and underneath it was a most +convenient recess which was an admirable storehouse for such things as +it was not expedient for the Preventive men to see. The ingenuity +fostered by smuggling was notorious, but surely few cleverer devices +than this were ever conceived for the evasion of the King's revenue. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FOWEY + + +The traveller along the cliffs from Polperro to the Fowey estuary +finds himself first in the parish of Lanteglos, known as +Lanteglos-by-Fowey, to distinguish it from Lanteglos-by-Camelford. The +accent, locally, is laid on the second syllable; and the name is a +curious composite of Celtic and corrupted Latin. Taking the _t_ as +simply euphonious, we have the Celtic _lan_, first signifying an +enclosure, then a sacred enclosure or consecrated ground, finally the +church erected on such an enclosure; and _eglos_, a corruption of the +Latin _ecclesia_, found elsewhere in Cornwall at Egloshayle and +Egloskerry; the same word appearing usually in English place-names as +Eccles, in Welsh as Eglwys, in Irish as Aglish or Eglish (Gaelic, +_eaglais_). The _llan_ or _lan_ may generally be considered of earlier +date than the _eglwys_ or _eglos_. Lanteglos is a large parish, with +which visitors chiefly become familiar by means of Polruan, a kind of +suburb of Fowey across the river. To many persons the beauty and +grandeur of the scenery will be more attractive than any antiquarian +details, but there can be no harm in mentioning that the church of +Lanteglos is dedicated to St. Wyllow, who is supposed to have had his +cell here in the early days of Cornish saintdom, and to have been +murdered by a relative who was probably an unrepentant pagan. The +greater number of the parishioners live at Polruan, distant rather +more than a mile; the church is surrounded by fields and lanes, whose +luxuriant growth of bank and hedge suggest a rich humidity of soil. In +summer there is a remarkable abundance of ragged-robins by the +wayside, with honeysuckles and wild-roses clustering above them in +glorious profusion; here and there rises the stately spire of a +foxglove. Ferns of exquisite grace and loveliness dispute the right of +existence with brambles and grasses and moss; and golden grain comes +close to the churchyard wall. Standing as it does in such isolation, +it is surprising to find that the church is a building of considerable +size; but it is never rare to discover noble churches even in greater +solitude than this--our forefathers did not measure the size of their +churches in relation to the probable number of their congregations. +Also, the fact that a church is out of sight does not always mean that +it is out of mind; and when the fine, deep-sounding peal of Lanteglos +bells rings for service on Sunday mornings, a good number of +countryfolk wend their way through the lanes and meadows towards it. A +rugged and time-worn Celtic cross keeps guard beside the porch, +having, doubtless, stood here since the days when the first Christian +missionaries found these monoliths of granite serving a pagan purpose, +and transformed them with rough labour into the Christian symbol. +There is another such cross standing on the hill about a mile distant, +looking down on the little fishing harbour of Polruan, by which is +also a holy well. It is not many years since Lanteglos Church was a +disgrace to the country-side, by reason of the decay into which it had +been allowed to fall; but that period of neglect is past, and a +careful restoration has preserved the noble groining of the interior +and the fine woodwork of the benches. The building, chiefly Decorated +with Perpendicular tower, is specially notable for its admirable +ribbed vaulting. The font is of earlier date, and near it are the +parish stocks, once devoted to the confining of unruly legs. In the +Lady Chapel, south of the chancel, where an abortive stairway points +to the former existence of a rood-gallery, is a lovely altar, +constructed mainly of pure alabaster, and the flooring before both +altars is of highly polished marble. Here, too, are some fine old +brasses to members of a family that has played its part in the +nation's history; one member of which family, the duellist Mohun, is a +prominent figure in Thackeray's _Esmond_. The Mohuns, coming from +Dunster, settled at Hall House in this parish in the fourteenth +century; it was doubtless in connection with them that the church once +belonged to a Bridgwater foundation. But the Mohuns had removed to +Boconnoc by the time that they achieved their greatest notoriety, in +the person of Lord Charles, some of whose duels partook rather of the +nature of assassination than of fair fight, the most notable being his +slaying of the actor Mountford. It was in keeping with his life that +Mohun should die in a combat of such fierceness that both the +combatants, himself and the Duke of Hamilton, received mortal wounds. +Hall House, near the Bodinnick side of the ferry from Fowey, is now a +farm, embodying some remains of the old mansion. The Hall Walk above +this eastern bank of the river gives a magnificent view of Fowey town +and harbour. Fowey itself needs to be seen from such a spot to be +fitly appreciated. The house was taken and held for the King by Sir +Richard Grenville, and it is said that Charles, who was here in +August, 1644, was nearly struck by a ball from across the river, Fowey +being at that time in the hands of the Parliamentarian Essex. + +Bodinnick is just a tiny hamlet, a small cascade of houses tumbling to +the riverside, with its own stone slip to meet the ferry at its foot. +The road to this ferry is so steep as to be almost precipitous, and +the cottages abutting on its side are embowered in fragrant bloom. +There is a runnel of water at the roadside, and in one place this +water is collected in a round stone basin that looks immensely old; +from this it trickles forth again with coolness and musical plash. +Having reached this spot, we may as well pass over into Fowey by the +ferry here instead of by that from Polruan. If we had already come +from Fowey to Bodinnick we should find that the ferryman would carry +us back without further payment; the outward fee included a +return--not like the ferry of Charon which had no return for +passengers. The oars dip peacefully into the water, breaking its +surface of glistening light; a delicious coolness, that phantom +fragrance of water to which we can give no name, steals upward +soothingly and sweetly. + +Fowey, whose position is strikingly like that of Dartmouth, is named +from its river, which rises at Foy-Fenton on the Bodmin Moors and +passes through Lostwithiel on its journey to the mouth. Mr. +Baring-Gould derives its name, as that of the Fal, from the Celtic +_falbh_, which means the "running or flowing," but the point is +hardly clear. It is pleasant to turn from such disputations to the +place itself, which has become famous in present-day romance as "Troy +Town," the fanciful title bestowed by a gifted literary resident. The +true street of this town may be said to be its river, where it is +delightful to do one's business by water--much pleasanter than the +narrow and somewhat dingy road that lies out of sight behind. Each +garden has its boat moored at its foot, where the tide eternally +whispers and gurgles and ripples. Sometimes the stream flows silently, +though it may be with power; at other times it finds a voice by which +the air is possessed and thrilled. The old stained walls, the rugged +ladders by which the folk descend to their boats, are washed by the +clear, pure waters; the shimmer of water enters the dwelling-rooms and +is reflected on the ceilings, a fluctuating quiver of light, moved by +every breeze that ruffles the surface of the stream. The small gardens +are green to the edge of the walls that drop sheer to the river; these +ladders and gardens are the true household gates. Here and there may +be a small strip of quay, with the soil and grime of industry--perhaps +the blackness of coal-dust; but the prevalent flavour is domestic. +Higher up the river there may be more dissonance, where the steamboats +are being laden with china-clay and stone; there is a clang of cranes, +a rattle of machinery, a bustle out of unison with the placid water +beneath, the dense woodland behind. Maritime doings seem to lose much +of their beauty when they are dependent on steam--they cannot lose it +all. For pure beauty we must go to the sailing-boat, whether it be the +fisher's smack with red or tawny sail, the graceful yacht of +pleasure, the schooner or barque of commerce. All these are +represented in this lovely harbour within its protecting sea-gates; +but none of them are represented intrusively; there is plenty of room, +and there are delightful creeks running up into utter woodland +solitude, like that one which is the pleasantest way of reaching +Lanteglos Church. + +One feature of this Fowey creek is its constant clamour of seagulls. +From morning to night their voice can be heard, sometimes with a noise +of wrangling and discordance, sometimes in single cries of bodeful +complaint. Occasionally the din is such that it is difficult to hear a +friend speaking; the birds cluster and hover and swoop above with +fierce argument and angry parleying. They are so accustomed to human +presences that, even if sometimes a nuisance, they are more often a +joy. They are never molested; they have a sense of privilege--the good +women of the houses will come out and talk to them as one might to a +pet canary. Very often the house-wife throws broken food to them, and +laughs at their scramble for it--the birds' queer difficulty in +settling downward on the water, the wide sweeps they take to reach +what lies beneath, the awkward dives and tumblings when they are near +the surface. In full flight they are graceful and buoyant, with an +easy command of their passage; but in descending thus to snatch +something from the tide they often appear clumsy. When the object they +want is close beneath, they do not seem able to reach it without +fluttering and effort; whereas if they see anything from a distance +they can swoop down upon it with the greatest ease. Sometimes one will +gather some morsel from the water or exposed beach, and soar away with +it; if observed, another, or perhaps two, will pursue him, trying to +snatch the booty from him. A flying bird with his beak engaged in +holding a treasure is very much at the mercy of his pursuers; his only +resource is either to outstrip his covetous comrades, or else hastily +to gobble the desired morsel in a manner that must rob it of some of +its sweetness. These gulls are peculiarly fond of settling on the +boats that are moored at the foot of the gardens; sometimes as many as +fourteen or fifteen may be seen on one little rowing-boat, all sitting +solemnly with their heads turned in one direction. A single bird will +alight first, and others follow till the boat is occupied from stem to +stern. Such of the boats as are in frequent use are seldom visited in +this way; but the birds select those that are rarely used, and the +owners of these boats do not always appreciate the selection. Some are +covered with canvas as a defence, and a few are at times decorated +with streamers of coloured rags, like those that we innocently place +in our gardens in seed-time to scare the sparrows. The gulls soon +recover from their alarm, if they ever feel any; and it is somewhat +suggestive of irony to watch a gull calmly wiping his beak on a piece +of rag intended to scare him away. Whether meant as insulting or not, +such conduct does not provoke the inhabitants to severe reprisals; the +gulls are an institution of the place, to be grumbled at sometimes but +always to be tolerated. And all the grumbling is not on one side, as +one may judge from the noise the birds sometimes make. At times the +sharp cawing of black crows mingles with the croaking, and of course +other birds have their say as well, in the bright mornings and dreamy +eves. Out beyond the mouth of the harbour there are curlews and +puffins on the lonely sea-washed crags; and in quiet weather there +are more of the gulls seaward than up among the gardens. But they may +certainly be regarded as the presiding genius of Fowey. + +[Illustration: FOWEY. + +_Photo by Gibson, Penzance._] + +The village of Fowey--it calls itself a town--runs along in a single +street on the westward bank of the river. At first sight this street +is almost unattractive; it is narrow, with some awkward bends, and it +gives no view of the water except an occasional peep through a low +doorway. It runs to a considerable distance, and tries to increase its +importance by changing its name at intervals; a few small alleys and +by-roads strike off from it. One of its turnings is a sharp drop as +well as a curve, perilous to all but the initiated. In some parts when +a vehicle passes it is necessary to press very close indeed to the +wall or in the kindly shelter of a doorway; the ample omnibus of the +chief hotel spares little space for pedestrians. It may be with +something of a malicious chuckle that one notices that this +four-wheeled tyrant is often empty; but the malice is of evanescent +nature, born of narrow escape. There are some shops, respectable if +not imposing, and a goodly supply of inns; a fine church and a notable +old Cornish manor-house. But all the time one has a sense that the +real life of the place is the river behind these houses; even the +leisurely little railway station does not seem of much consequence, +though it acts as a feeder of the boats that busily ply here. Quite +obviously this is no resort of mere pleasure, and it is all the more +pleasurable for that; it has set itself to live sturdily, not +troubling to attract the idler and the luxurious. Fowey is not +altogether content to repose on its memories, though these are great. +Generations of those who laboured on deep waters have nestled in these +riverside homesteads, these nooks and corners and precipitous byways; +they were lusty fighters and dauntless smugglers; they rose for their +old faith, they fought loyally for their king, and they molested his +enemies when he was at peace with them. In general they were a tough +and independent lot, with a considerable scorn of those who live "in +England"--that is to say, beyond the Tamar; and to this day an +Englishman from the shires is very much of a foreigner with them. Even +the man from a parish a few miles distant is looked at somewhat +askance; after long years of residence they will still think him an +outsider, and they repudiate with scorn the idea that any interlopers +can understand them or their ways. They do not easily initiate +strangers into the local mysteries or bestow the freedom of their +township. Such an attitude may be out of date in this cosmopolitan +age, but it is not unpleasant to strike against it; it coexists with +the kindest of welcomes, the warmest of hospitalities. Yet it must be +confessed that there are moods in which these Cornish folk are neither +kind nor hospitable; their roughness is very rough, their +parliamentary elections are often conducted in a spirit notorious for +its violence. They are not all the gentle visionary dreamers that the +Celts sometimes claim to be; indeed, there is much in their very +physiognomy that proclaims them in large measure to be not true Celts +at all, but men of still more aboriginal blood. Where then, it may be +asked, shall we find the pure Celt? Yet it cannot matter greatly, +except to those who set far too much store on matters of race. The +weaving of ethnologic Britain would take more skill to unravel than +the most learned can now attain to; it is a weft of many strands, +strangely inter-knitted, and its result is infinite variety of +personality. But it may be that here in Cornwall some of its earliest +elements have lingered longer than in parts of the kingdom more +exposed to invasion and immigration. + +Both Plymouth and Falmouth may be spoken of as modern towns compared +with Fowey. Its antiquity is proved by the dedication of its church to +the Irish St. Finbar, who seems to have been a pupil of the Welsh +Dewi, or St. David. Very many of Cornwall's saints came either from +Ireland or Wales, and some from Brittany, to which the debt was +repaid. Not much is known of Finbar, and that little is probably +apocryphal. In 1336 the church was reconstructed and rededicated; +Bishop Grandisson, who did this, may have thought that a more firmly +established saint would be better, and he chose St. Nicholas, the +patron of sailors and fishermen. A good part of the present building, +including the north aisle, probably dates from that time; but the +tower, a hundred feet high, is true Perpendicular. The groundwork has +settled, causing a curious slope. The south-porch doorways appear to +be late Norman. Among the monuments of the Treffrys is one erected by +John Treffry during his own lifetime. Place House, the home of the +Treffrys, stands close by, dominating the little town that presses +around it. If its restoration had been conducted in better taste this +fine old house might have been more beautiful than it is; its best +features are the two exquisite fifteenth-century bay windows. The +original hall and porch-room also survive, the latter being now known +as the "Porphyry Room." Perhaps some visitors will take a deeper +interest in the residence of Sir A. T. Quiller-Couch, the "Haven," +standing pleasantly by the waterside, facing the mouth of the harbour. +Thousands of readers have made the acquaintance of "Troy Town" through +the romances of "Q"; and Mr. Couch is not only the writer of fiction +that is often delightful, he is also a fine literary critic. + +We do not know a great deal of Fowey in its earlier days, but its +manor passed to Robert de Mortain at the Conquest. The town sent +vessels to the Crusades, and in 1340 it shared with the port of Looe +in sending a representative to a Council at Westminster. But the usual +test by which historians now estimate the relative consequence of old +English ports is the number of vessels contributed to the siege of +Calais under Edward III., and by this test, which should not be +pressed too hard, Fowey would appear to have been the chief port in +the kingdom. She sent as many as forty-seven ships, the largest number +of any, manned by 770 seamen. Next came Yarmouth, with fewer ships but +more men; and Dartmouth was third. It is interesting to recall that to +this memorable expedition Ilfracombe contributed six vessels, and +Liverpool one. We may take it that the whole Fowey estuary shared in +the manning and maintenance of this gallant squadron. The Fowey men +had certainly the defect of their qualities, being proud and +stiff-necked under the successes that attended them. It is reported +that Fowey was made a member of the Cinque Ports, that very elastic +"five"; but its comradeship in that association was clearly of a +stormy and high-handed fashion. We read that certain Fowey men, +passing near Rye and Winchelsea, "would vaile no bonnet," by which we +may suppose is intended the customary salutation made in courtesy to a +fellow-port. + +Highly indignant, the men of Rye and Winchelsea sallied forth to teach +the Foyens better respect, our seamen in those days being as willing +to quarrel among each other as they were with the men of Normandy or +Brittany. In the quaint words of the Cornish Hals, this contempt shown +by the Fowey men, "by the better enabled seafarers reckoned +intolerable, caused the Ripiers to make out with might and maine +against them; howbeit with a more hardy onset than happy issue; for +the Foy men gave them so rough entertainment as their welcome, that +they were glad to depart without bidding farewell--the merit of which +exploit afterwards entitled them Gallants of Fowey." Of course the +Fowey men held their heads higher than ever after this, and even +presumed to wear the arms of Rye and Winchelsea interwined with their +own, in token of their supremacy. It was from such tough fibres that +the British navy was built; those strenuous days of constant conflict +and privateering were a grand tutorage for seamen, though not +unexceptionable from a moral standpoint. But a town that behaved as +Fowey did naturally had to suffer reprisals. + +To quote again from Hals, we learn that certain Normans, with a +commission from the King of France to "be revenged on the pirates of +Fowey town, carried the design so secret that a small squadron of +ships and many bands of marine soldiers was prepared and shipped +without the Fowey men's knowledge. They put to sea out of the river +Seine in July, 1457, and with a fair wind sailed thence across the +British Channel and got sight of Fowey Harbour, where they lay off at +sea till night, when they drew towards the shore and dropped anchor, +and landed their marine soldiers and seamen, who at midnight +approached the south-west end of Fowey town, where they killed all +persons they met with, set fire to the houses and burnt one half +thereof to the ground, to the consumption of a great part of the +inhabitants' riches and treasures, a vast deal of which were gotten by +their pyratical practices. In which massacre the women, children and +weakest sort of people forsook the place and fled for safety into the +hill country. But the stoutest men, under conduct of John Treffry +Esquire, fortified themselves as well as they could in his then new +built house of Place, where they stoutly opposed the assaults of the +enemies, while the French soldiers plundered that part of the town +which was unburnt without opposition in the dark." But the +country-side was aroused, and men began to gather in such force that +the French invaders found it prudent to depart with some haste, and +with such of their spoil as they could hurriedly carry with them. They +departed, says Hals, "with small honour and less profit." It was after +this attack that the twin forts were built, at Polruan and Fowey, to +protect the mouth of the river, and a chain was dropped at night +between the two, as was the practice at Dartmouth. + +It must have been on another occasion that the wife of Thomas Treffry, +as Leland tells us, "repelled the French out of her house in her +husband's absence." But the great days of Fowey were nearing their +end. When Edward IV. made peace with France the town declined to +countenance this termination of hostilities, and continued to wage +war on its own account; perhaps it felt that there was much yet to be +wiped off. "I am at peace with my brother of France," came the royal +message; but the Fowey men were not at peace, and they said so. It is +even stated that they slit the nose of the King's pursuivant, which +almost made it appear that they were willing to be at war with the +King of England also. Edward was not the man to be so trifled with, +but the course he took was unkingly and despicable. He sent a party of +men, who were clearly afraid to come nearer than Lostwithiel; and +these, pretending to be harbouring some new designs against the +French, invited the men of Fowey to come and take counsel with them. +The Fowey men were then treacherously seized and their leader hanged; +and the men of Dartmouth were fetched to take away the chain from +Fowey Harbour and to snatch its ships. It may be that Dartmouth had +some accounts to settle with its Cornish neighbour, but even these +Devonians must have felt some grudging at such an act. This was the +death-blow of Fowey's naval prosperity. She was now at the mercy of +her foes, home or foreign. Yet she continued to bear herself bravely. +Later, she erected St. Catherine's Fort as a defence; it is now a +picturesque ruin. In the Civil War Fowey, like Cornwall generally, was +loyal to her King, and though Essex took the town, it was soon +retaken, with six thousand prisoners, and held for a year and a half +longer. A few years later, (in 1666) the Dutch chased our Virginian +fleet into Fowey Harbour, and dared to follow the vessels with the +purpose of destroying them. But the Fowey forts had a word to say in +the matter, and they made the place so hot for the great Dutch +frigate of seventy guns, that it was glad enough to escape without +finishing its errand. Such are the leading incidents in the history of +this plucky little town, which formerly returned two members to +Parliament. Relatively, its eminent position is entirely lost, but it +has an eminence for loveliness of situation that can never be taken +from it, and it can educate its sons in a glorious though chequered +tradition. It has memories of occupation long before days of Cinque +Port emulation. Close to Menabilly Park (Menabilly is the seat of the +Rashleighs, a Cornish family of ancient repute) is a granite pillar +known as the Longstone, bearing the inscription _Cirusius hic jacit +Cunomori filius_, doubtless commemorating a Romanised Cornishman. At +this manor-house, about two miles westward of Fowey, on a height above +the sea, is a curious grotto built by a former Rashleigh to exemplify +the mineral wealth of the Duchy. It is octagonal, and its sides are +inlaid with native ores, fossils, shells, and stones. There is a +further remarkable mineral collection at the house, with fine +specimens of sulphuret of tin and copper, malachite, fluor, crystals, +topaz, with some blocks of prehistoric tin. The coast here extends to +Gribbin Head, and there is then a sharp bend inward to Par sands. Par +is not particularly attractive, except for its pleasant bay; but the +decay of its former mining activities is compensated for by its busy +shipping of china-clays at the quays built by the late Mr. Treffry. +Much of the china-clay goes to distant potteries, or is used for the +whitening of cheap so-called linens; of course, much of this is +despatched at the railway station which is the junction for Fowey. +This is a British export which seems to be advancing by leaps and +bounds; and this St. Austell district, with another active port at +Charlestown, is practically its centre. It is said that, in this +district alone, the royalties paid to ground landlords approach the +figure of L90,000 per annum, and foreign companies are keenly +endeavouring to establish a footing. But the presence of the powdery +clay is not alluring except to those who profit by its output, and we +may leave Par and Charlestown to their industrialism. Tywardreath (the +"house or town-place on the sands") claims mention for the memory of +its old Benedictine priory, now vanished. To pursue the Fowey River +inland, past the charming Golant and St. Winnow, is a delightful +excursion with a fitting termination in the beauties of Lostwithiel; +but on the present occasion it takes us too far from the coast. The +loveliness of this river resembles and equals that of the Fal and of +the Dart. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ST. AUSTELL TO ST. MAWES + + +The town of St. Austell is not exactly upon the coast, but it is only +about two miles inland, and visitors may be attracted by the +reputation of its fine church. It is a busy and self-respecting little +town, and is the commercial centre of a district that, for Cornwall, +is quite thickly populated; it is, indeed, one of the few Cornish +districts in which population has really shown an increase of recent +years. Much of its growing activity is due to the china-clay business; +St. Austell claims to be the china-clay metropolis of the world. Most +of the shipment is done from Fowey, Par, and Charlestown. The industry +is becoming a recognised lucrative field for investment. Yet the +immediate presence of the mines and yards is not a thing of beauty or +of comfort. St. Austell Church, dedicated to a companion of the famous +St. Samson, has a lofty Perpendicular granite tower, whose niches +contain statues of Christ, the Virgin, and many other saintly figures. +The implements and emblems of the Crucifixion are carved in the +southern buttresses. Older than the tower is the chancel; and there is +a Cornish inscription, _Ry Du_ ("give to God") above the porch. In the +churchyard is one of the sacred stones whose names at least we find +scattered in different parts of the kingdom, such as the _stan_ (or +Steyne) of Brighton, and the "folk's-stone" of a popular Kentish +watering-place. This St. Austell stone, the Menagew, is said to have +once stood at the junction of three manors, but its veneration +doubtless dates from a far earlier period. The historian Lake tells +us, "It is certain that on this stone all declarations of war and +proclamations of peace were read; and although at present it is +partially disregarded, a strong degree of veneration still attaches to +its name. All cattle that had been impounded for a given time, and for +which no owner could be found, were brought to this stone and exposed +for a certain number of market days, after which, if they remained +unclaimed, their sale became legal." But many visitors will probably +take greater interest in the famed Carclaze Mine, situated more than +600 feet above sea-level; the pit is about 150 feet deep, and nearly a +mile round. Once notable for its tin, this mine now supplies an +immense quantity of china-clay and stone. Charlestown may claim to be +the port of St. Austell, and is becoming also a popular residential +suburb. But St. Austell has another watering-place in Porthpean, a +mile or two westward, which, though it can boast of no shipping, has +features that may some day bring it a wide reputation. With good +sands, good bathing, a mild climate, Porthpean might easily develop +into a holiday resort of the conventional but highly prosperous type. +As yet its fame is hardly more than local. + +South of Black Head, an eminence of about 150 feet, is the little port +of Pentewan, noted for its elvan building stone, which is shipped, +together with some china-clay, from its excellent small harbour. +Pentewan stone has a good name for hardness and durability; its +qualities are well shown in the tower of St. Austell Church. In the +tin works here, carried on at some depth below sea-level, were found +horns of the Irish elk, not petrified, but completely metallised by +the tin ore; also definite traces of buried forest. It is said also +that some curious oaken canoes were discovered in the soil, but were, +unfortunately, destroyed for firewood by the tinners. It is hard to +estimate how many valuable antiquities have been similarly destroyed +by carelessness and ignorance; but such ruin has been more often +suffered by stone monuments, longstones, kistvaens, snatched for use +as gate-posts and walls by heedless farmers and builders. + +About two miles inland from Pentewan is Heligan, a very fine estate, +whose gardens display rare subtropical vegetation. Such vegetation is +rather a boasted feature in southern and western Cornwall, and is, of +course, interesting as a kind of _tour-de-force_, showing what the +British climate at its best can do. Apart from this use, however, it +may seem to some of us that such efforts are easily overdone; the +native beauty of an English garden or woodland has infinitely more +appeal, more freshness, more loveliness, than any grandeurs of the +exotic. The glories of Kew Gardens have their charm, their utility, +their educational value; but tropical growths are really as much out +of place in an English landscape as a Moorish palace or a Buddhist +temple would be. All who know anything of landscape gardening know +that it has been a fertile field for the growth and exemplification of +false taste. Yet the plea of botanical interest, educational use, may +be added to the attraction of rarity as a defence of all such +cultivations as we find not only at Heligan and Mount Edgcumbe, but at +Morrab Gardens and Tresco. Those of us who dislike them can keep away. +But Heligan has a reputation also for genuine English beauty. The old +mill here has been a favourite with many artists, and has become +familiar in many an exhibition-room. At Lanshadron, close by, is a +mutilated cross, which is perhaps unique in having an inscription +around its base; the inscription being Latin. Heligan is in the parish +of St. Ewe, which is usually supposed to be a dedication to St. +Eustachius; but non-Celtic saints are almost as much out of place in +Cornwall as exotic plants are, and St. Ewe was probably some forgotten +British or Welsh missionary. A former clergyman of this parish appears +to have been notable as a healer of bodies as well of souls. We read +of him that "Martin Atwell, parson of St. Ewe about 1600, was a +physician of body as well as soul: now and then he used blood-letting +or bleeding, and administered Marius Christi and other like cordials, +yet mostly for all diseases he prescribed milk, and very often milk +and apples, and recovered sundry out of desperate and forlorn +extremities: his liberality was very great, his affection for religion +sound, and he turned out with both hands _in pios usus_." Certainly a +most enlightened man for his time, and if we could only add that he +recommended the milk to be sour we should have brought his modernity +to the highest point. + +Mevagissey, about six miles south-west of St. Austell, was once one of +the most flourishing fishing-ports on the Cornish coast, and though +it has not quite maintained its relative position, it is not done with +yet. The town can also boast some fame as the Aberalva of Kingsley's +_Two Years Ago_, a book once far more popular than it is to-day. The +same claim has been made for Clovelly; but though some features in the +novelist's description may be applied equally to both, there are other +points that can only be attributed to Mevagissey. Kingsley, who wrote +the book fifty years since, says: "Between two ridges of high pebble +bank some twenty yards apart, comes Alva River rushing to the sea. On +the opposite ridge, a low white house, with three or four white +canvas-covered boats and a flagstaff with sloping crossyard, betokens +the coastguard station. Beyond it rise black jagged cliffs; mile after +mile of iron-bound wall: and here and there, at the glens' mouths, +great banks and denes of shifting sand.... Above, a green down +stretches up to bright yellow furze-crofts far aloft. Behind, a reedy +marsh, covered with red cattle, paves the valley till it closes in; +the steep sides of the hill are clothed in oak and ash covert.... +Pleasant little glimpses there are, too, of gray stone farmhouses, +nestling among sycamore and beech; bright green meadows, +alder-fringed; squares of rich fallow-field, parted by lines of golden +furze; all cut out with a peculiar blackness and clearness, soft and +tender withal, which betokens a climate surcharged with rain. Only, in +the very bosom of the valley, a soft mist hangs, increasing the sense +of distance, and softening back one hill and wood behind another, till +the great brown moor which backs it all seems to rise out of the empty +air. For a thousand feet it ranges up, in huge sheets of brown +heather, in gray cairns and screes of granite, all sharp and +black-edged against the pale blue sky." The description of the town +itself that follows might apply tolerably well to a number of such +fishing-ports in the West Country; but Kingsley is most clearly not +speaking of Clovelly, and he introduces Cornish names. That corner of +North Devon must be content with figuring in _Westward-Ho!_ and not +claim _Two Years Ago_. There was the cholera also, which was a very +terrible reality at Mevagissey in 1849, and which did its good work as +well as its evil, by causing the place to be thoroughly cleansed. The +truly Cornish name of the town derives from a double dedication to the +Saints Meven (or Mewan) and Issey; St. Mewan being a Welsh saint, and +St. Issey probably an Irishman. The place has won, and deserved, the +nickname of Fishygissey, but there is none the less a real charm about +it; its distance from the railway, however inconvenient for visitors, +brings compensations that many can appreciate. The pier dates from +1770, but the harbour is much more recent. A fine and costly harbour +constructed about 1890 was destroyed in the following year by the +great blizzard, which is distinctly "_the_ storm" in the West of +England; the present quays were built in 1897. At one time more +pilchards were taken here than at any other spot, but the pilchard is +a fickle fish, and has no consideration beyond the choice of +feeding-grounds; if better satisfied elsewhere, no sentiment +interferes with its migrations. But there are still a good many +pilchards taken off Mevagissey, and these are largely cured here--many +under their own name, but a large number find their way to the factory +of the Cornish Sardine Company established in the town. It has often +been debated whether pilchards and sardines are one and the same; Mr. +Aflalo says they are identical. It is certain that many so-called +sardines are pilchards--and some are sprats. Differences in size may +be accounted for by the fact that Cornish nets have often a rather +large mesh, and the smaller fish are not taken. Many such nets are +made at Mevagissey. The seine, or sean-net, was that commonly used +here when the pilchard schools came nearer, but is now almost +abandoned for the drift-net; we shall find seines still common further +west. The seine may be described as a wall of netting, buoyed at the +surface and weighted below; this is dipped in the thick of the shoal, +its ends drawn together, and the fish taken out with a tuck-net. The +leaded bottom of the net must touch the ground or the fish will +escape; thus seine-fishing is only practicable in shallow waters. With +it is associated the occupation of the "huers," who are stationed on +the look-out above the shore, and who signal the arrival of the +schools, easily seen in the daylight. But this method is now abandoned +at Mevagissey, where the fishermen go farther from port, sailing to +meet the schools in open sea instead of waiting close to shore for +them. In many details their drift-fishing differs from the seine. The +nets are long and deep, with a fairly large mesh: the object being for +the fish to become entangled as in a trap, into which they swim +blindly. A dark night is the most favourable; the drift-fishers start +from port about sunset, and are often back with their catch long +before dawn. The fish, indeed, are frequently caught, brought ashore, +and sold before daybreak; some are taken off by hawkers to be sold at +farms and cottages about the country-side, while others go at once to +the curers, or are pressed for export. Of course, mackerel and other +fish are caught, often in considerable quantity, but the distinctive +Cornish fish is the pilchard, and the pilchard has had most to do with +the prosperity of Cornish fishing-ports. Unless cooked by the +initiated, however, who get rid of the superfluous oil, the fresh +pilchard is a very bilious article of diet, and the visitor must be +wary. + +In Mevagissey Church there is a curious old font, probably Norman in +date as it is in appearance. The tower of this church was removed for +some reason, perhaps because it was out of repair; and it was slyly +reported in the neighbourhood that the townsfolk had sold their bells +to pay for the removal of their tower. Cornish parishes are fond of +these jibes against each other. Penwarne, the seat of "One-handed +Carew," is in this parish; he lost his hand at the siege of Ostend in +1601, and returning after the fight, he presented the amputated limb +to his hostess, remarking "This is the hand that cut the pudding +to-day." A little south is the fishing hamlet of Portmellin; and just +beyond Chapel and Turbot Points reach out into the Channel. There are +remains of entrenchment on the headlands, and a little inland the farm +of Bodrigan perpetuates the name of an old Cornish family, once of +power and reputation. The waste known as Woful Moor, and the rock on +the coast named Bodrigan's Leap, both have a tale to tell in relation +with the ruin of this ancient family. It seems that in the days of +Richard III. Sir Henry Bodrigan was engaged in a fierce feud with the +leaders of the Edgcumbe and Trevanion families, and in the hour of +his prosperity he pressed them hardly. When the day of adversity came +and he was attainted by the newly crowned Henry Tudor, Bodrigan's +enemies turned on him with vindictive zeal. Driven to bay, the +desperate Bodrigan met them in a last conflict on Woful Moor, so named +to commemorate his sorrow, and was so hotly pressed that he was +compelled to leap from the shore, at the spot still known as his +"leap." The drop was of a hundred feet, but he escaped without injury +and was picked up by a vessel that lay beneath. His later story is not +told; but Gilbert says that "he seems to have perished in exile. His +property was divided between the two families opposed to him, and, +after the lapse of three hundred and fifty years, continues to form a +large portion of their respective possessions." But much water has +passed by Black Head since Gilbert wrote. + +There is a recollection of Bodrigan at Gorran Haven, where he is said +to have built the old pier; this was rebuilt in 1888. Gorran Haven is +a most attractive little fishing-village, and may have a future before +it as a watering-place; at present it only draws the quietest of +visitors. The beach is excellent, pleasantly diversified with crags; +and there is a small outlying mass of rock known as the Guineas or +Gwinges, round which a rough sea breaks finely. There is a daughter +chapel here, late Tudor, dating from about 1450 and restored in 1885; +while the mother-church of St. Gorran at the church-town has a +pinnacled tower of 110 feet in height (late Perpendicular) with six +bells. This was renovated in 1896. There are some good initialled +bench-ends in the church. It is a district of grain culture. Gorran +men were rather made a butt of by their neighbours in the old days; +they "tried to throw the moon over the cliffs," and they "built a +hedge to keep in the moonlight." Such parochial witticisms may be +laughed at to-day, but they often provided a stinging grievance in the +past and were a handy weapon in neighbourly feuds. They were by no +means limited to Cornwall, though the Duchy was very plentifully +supplied. The typical instance in England is that of the unfortunate +men of Gotham, whom it is amusing to find old Ray seriously defending +in his _Proverbs_, where he says that "as for Gotham, it doth breed as +wise people as any which causelessly laugh at their simplicity. Sure I +am, Mr. William de Goteham, fifth Master of Michael House in +Cambridge, 1336, and twice Chancellor of the University, was as grave +a governour as that age did afford." All which may be very true; and +doubtless the men of Gorran were no more simple than their decriers. +Doubtless also they had a payment for all compliments. The local +dedication seems to be to the Gorran or Goron who surrendered his cell +at Bodmin to St. Petrock, perhaps because he recognised a better man. + +The coast around Gorran is very grand, and reaches its culmination in +Dodman Point, sometimes called the Deadman, which rises to about 370 +feet. The cliff has a sheer drop to the water, which is here deep, so +that large vessels can pass close inshore. The local saying linking +Dodman with Rame Head has already been quoted; and it is asserted that +Dodman and Rame really did meet when they both came into possession of +Sir Piers Edgcumbe. This bare, gaunt headland has proved disastrous to +shipping, and some will recollect that two torpedo-destroyers, the +_Thresher_ and the _Lynx_ collided with the rock here in a fog, +several lives being lost through the resultant explosion. This point +is the eastern gateway of Veryan Bay; in the heart of which bay lies +the very small parish of St. Michael Caerhayes, or Carhays. The parish +is inseparably connected with the old Cornish family of Trevanion, one +of which family, Sir John, fell at the siege of Bristol in the Civil +War, and left his name to the sad commemorative couplet in which +Cornwall recorded those by whose lives she had to pay for their +glory:-- + + "The four wheels of Charles's Wain, + Grenville, Godolphin, Trevanion, Slanning, slain." + +The list was not exhaustive. Speaking of Trevanion and Slanning, +Clarendon says: "They were the life and soul of the Cornish Regiment; +both young, neither of them above 28; of entire friendship to each +other, and to Sir Bevil Grenville, whose body was not yet buried." It +would be a poor thing if the horrors of war did not sometimes allow us +such glimpses of heroic friendship and valour. In the church of St. +Michael's are hanging many weapons that once belonged to Trevanions, +including the sword said to have been worn at the field of Bosworth by +Sir Hugh, who was knighted after the battle by the conquering +Richmond. There is a doorway supposed to be Saxon in this church. The +present Caerhayes House, beautifully situated at the head of +Porthluney Cove, is the successor of the old Trevanion mansion, and +was built about a century since by Nash, the architect of Buckingham +Palace and Regent Street. For the sake of contrast, it is interesting +to remember that the Brighton Pavilion was also Nash's work; and thus +the mind can wander from this peaceful Cornish cove to that most +populous of British watering-places. At Portholland is a small hamlet +wedged into a tiny cleft, where those who desire the uttermost +quietude might be satisfied; westward along the coast is the slightly +larger fishing village of Portloe. This is in the parish of Veryan, +one of the "Roseland" parishes whose name has really nothing to do +with roses. Roseland, formerly Rosinis (_Roz-innis_, "moorland" or +"heath island"), was in its origin a very early designation of this +strip of land lying between Veryan Bay and the Fal; and we find the +same original in the Rosen Cliff, just above Nare Head. + +Nare Head, a fine bluff of rock, is the southward point of Veryan +parish and the western extremity of Veryan Bay. There is some memory +of Tregeagle around this headland, but his tale belongs more fully to +Dozmare Pool on the Bodmin Moors and to the Land's End district. More +immediately concerning us is the story of Geraint--at least of one of +the rather numerous Cornish princes bearing that name--which is +associated with Gerrans Bay and Dingerrein, now opening upon us, and +with the great barrow of Carne Beacon. Perhaps Geraint, Latinised as +Gerennius and sometimes as Gerontios, was simply a title of +chieftainship or kingship; it is certain that the name was applied to +more than one British chieftain, though since Tennyson's Idylls there +has been only one Geraint in the mind of the general reader. Gerrans +Bay, of course, embodies the name, and so do the remains of the +entrenchment or camp at Dingerrein. It is possible that he whose name +thus survives was truly the Arthurian champion; we may certainly give +him the benefit of the doubt, and believe that this was the Geraint +who married the sweet Enid, who tested her faith so harshly, and who +died at Llongborth (probably Langport in Somerset) about the year 522. +He is claimed by the Welsh bards as one of their heroes, and there can +be no historic objection to such a claim. Llywarch Hen sang of his +death-- + + "In Llongborth Geraint was slain, + A brave man from the region of Dyvnaint, + And before they were overpowered they committed slaughter." + +Tennyson's version of the legend is mainly taken from the Mabinogion. +We usually think of this Geraint, son of Erbin, as a fighter, but in +Cornwall he appears as a saint and the father of saints; both +characters, indeed, have been united in the same person, before and +since. Geraint is claimed as the founder of Gerrans, as well as of St. +Geran in Brittany; and Dingerrein is supposed to have been his +residence, while Carn Beacon was his tomb. The last supposition is the +most dubious. There is a traditional rumour that he was driven from +Wales by Teutonic invaders, that he settled here near Veryan and built +this stronghold, that he embraced religion and resigned his rule to +his son, and died a holy man. If we accept this tale we must decide +that it was another Geraint who fell fighting at Langport. The Book of +Llandaff tells us that the great St. Teilo visited Geraint while on +his way to Brittany, and that he hastened back from the Continent in +time to administer viaticum to his dying friend, bringing a stone +coffin for the burial with him. Tradition further says that the dead +chieftain was buried with his golden boat and silver oars in which he +had been wont to row himself. The place of burial was Carn Beacon, and +there was long an expectation that these treasures would be discovered +if the barrow was opened. This was done about half a century since, +but the kistvaen that was found only contained some prehistoric ashes, +of far earlier date than Geraint; the gold boat and silver oars were +not visible. The remains were replaced and the excavation closed. +There was a later Geraint who fought against the Saxon Ina in 710. But +it is almost more difficult to identify these Geraints than it is to +attain any certitude about King Arthur himself. + +Gerrans is close to one of the lovely creeks that run inland from +Falmouth Harbour. On the coast is the little settlement of +Porthscatho, which is undergoing the transformation so common in +Cornwall, from fishing-village to watering-place. The artists came +first, and then the tourists. The charm of the place, with its +whitewashed houses and grey slate roofs, has not yet been destroyed; +and Porthscatho is still a delightful haunt. Southward is Zose Point, +or St. Anthony's Head, so called from the parish of St. +Anthony-in-Roseland, with its beautiful restored Early English church. +The Norman doorway and lighted steeple are noteworthy. Close by is +Place Houses (Places are common in Cornwall), a mansion erected by +Admiral Spry on the site of a priory founded by Athelstan, belonging +later to the monks of Plympton. There is a lighthouse, as well as a +prehistoric castle, on Zose Point, the light visible for fourteen +miles, and a valuable guide to vessels making Falmouth. This St. +Anthony Headland dominates St. Mawes Harbour, Falmouth Bay, and the +mouth of the Carrick Roads; the view is even more magnificent than +that from Plymouth Hoe or Staddon Heights. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FALMOUTH AND TRURO + + +About a century since Lord Byron was at Falmouth, waiting a favourable +wind that would enable the sailing of the Lisbon packet. He seems to +have been detained here about a week, during which time he made +characteristic observations and embodied them in a letter to his +friend Hodgson. With some sportive malice there was evidently a spice +of truth in his remarks. He tells his friend that Falmouth "is +defended on the sea side by two castles, St. Maws and Pendennis, +extremely well calculated for annoying everybody except an enemy. St. +Maws is garrisoned by an able-bodied person of fourscore, a widower. +He has the whole command and sole management of six most unmanageable +pieces of ordnance, admirably adapted for the destruction of +Pendennis, a like tower of strength on the opposite side of the +channel. We have seen St. Maws, but Pendennis they will not let us +behold, because Hobhouse and I are suspected of having already taken +St. Maws by a _coup-de-main_. The town contains many quakers and salt +fish--the oysters have a taste of copper, owing to the soil of a +mining country; the women (blessed be the Corporation therefor!) are +flogged at the cart's tail when they pick and steal, as happened to +one of the fair sex yesterday noon. She was pertinacious in her +behaviour, and damned the mayor." One might have expected that he +would at least have had a word for the town's beauty of position and +for its magnificent harbour; but such things were features that he +usually ignored in his letters, and his avoidance of the poetical +always amounted to an affectation. Defoe, who had been here about +eighty years earlier, found something to say about the harbour as +being, "next to Milford Haven, the fairest and best road for shipping +that is in the whole isle of Britain." Of Falmouth itself he says that +"it is by much the richest and best trading town in this county, +though not so ancient as its neighbour town of Truro." Truro might +have the honour, but "Falmouth has gotten the trade." He says further +that "Falmouth is well built, has abundance of shipping, is full of +rich merchants, and has a flourishing and increasing trade. I say +'increasing,' because by the late setting up the English packets +between this port and Lisbon, there is a new commerce between Portugal +and this town carried on to a very great value." The origin of this +trading, he suggests, was very much assisted by a species of +export-smuggling, whereby British manufactures were carried from +England to Portugal without paying custom at either end. But the +custom-house soon put an end to this, or at least greatly modified it. +Among other notable visitors it is interesting to remember that +Disraeli was here in his younger days, in 1830, detained before +starting on his own somewhat Byronic voyage to the Mediterranean; he +found the town "one of the most charming places I ever saw." In +days when Falmouth was a port-of-call for nearly every outward-bound +vessel, many another distinguished traveller must have put in here and +explored the town while the ship waited its sailing orders; but it +must be confessed that the records of such visits are rather scanty, +and the literary or other associations of Falmouth are not of the +richest. There are some, however, that claim a mention; and although +Falmouth as a town can boast of no antiquity, yet this noble estuary +of the Fal lies in a centre that must have witnessed many remarkable +scenes forgotten by history, and as early as man began to trust +himself to the waters its harbourage must have had a profound value +and significance. + +[Illustration: ON THE RIVER FAL. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +Long before men had begun to speak of Falmouth, except by applying +that name to the estuary of the river, the headland on the western +side of the river-mouth was known as Pendinas, now Pendennis; it was +evidently entrenched, for its Celtic name means the "headland +fortress." There was a settlement at Penmerryn, or Penmarin, now +Penryn; and the spot on which Falmouth stands appears to have been +known as _Pen-y-cwm_, the "head of the valley," to which the syllable +_quic_ was added, thus forming the familiar Penny-come-quick, for +which it has been easy to find a plausible but erroneous derivation. +If this _quic_ is merely a corruption of _wick_, meaning dwelling or +village, it would be obvious that Saxon influence had been at work +here, as in the other old name for Falmouth, Smithic or Smethic, +interpreted as Smith-wick. But we know very little with certainty +about the place until the Arwenack manor was acquired by the +Killigrews, through marriage with its heiress, which seems to have +been somewhere about 1385, though some of the rather confused records +tend to show that the Killigrews had connection with Arwenack earlier +than this. The family came from Killigrew, meaning a "grove of +eagles," in the parish of St. Erme, and they had everything to do with +the founding and prosperity of early Falmouth, championing it against +the rival claims and animosity of Penryn and Truro. There has been +some attempt to prove that Gyllyngvase, which is the present Falmouth +bathing-place, was the scene of the burial of Prince William, son of +Henry I., who was drowned off Barfleur, to his father's lasting +sorrow; the supposition being that Gyllyng was a corruption of +William. This seems purely imaginary; there is nothing to show that +William's body was ever recovered, and if it had been brought to +England his father would certainly not have let it be buried in this +far-distant and lonely spot. We must probably go to the Celtic for the +derivation of Gyllyngvase. One of the Killigrews erected a fort on +Pendinas, which, under the sanction or by the command of Henry VIII., +was expanded into Pendennis Castle, which it is said that king +visited. In 1552, on his return from the expedition to Guiana, Sir +Walter Raleigh was entertained at Arwenack, and was much struck by the +fine naval capabilities of Falmouth Harbour, laying the matter before +James I., and gaining that monarch's countenance for the Killigrews' +views for the furtherance of Falmouth in spite of the opposition of +its neighbours. + +During the Civil War Pendennis Castle was held for the King by its +aged and gallant governor, John Arundel, and it afforded brief +shelter both to the fugitive Charles II. and to his mother, the Queen +Henrietta Maria. The Sheriff of Cornwall, who saw her at this time, +described her as "the woefullest spectacle my eyes ever yet look'd on; +the most worne and weake pitifull creature in the world, the poore +Queene shifting for one hour's liffe longer." She escaped to France, +adverse winds preventing her capture by the Parliamentary fleet. It +was in the following year that the young King took refuge at +Pendennis, before he sought an asylum at Scilly; the approach of +Fairfax warned him to fly in time. Then followed one of the most +strenuous sieges of the war, John Arundel, "John for the King," +defending the place for about six months, and only surrendering on +honourable terms, when there was only one salted horse left as +provision. This brave old defender was in his eighty-seventh year. Two +hundred sick persons were left behind when the garrison marched out, +under the stipulation that none of them should be compelled thereafter +to fight against their king; and it is said that many died from eating +too heartily after their prolonged famine. Lord Clarendon tells us +that "the castle refused all summons, admitting no treaty, till they +had not victual for twenty-four hours, when they carried on the treaty +with such firmness that their situation was never suspected, and they +obtained as good terms as any garrison in England." Pendennis was the +last stronghold, with the exception of Raglan, to hold out for the +Royalist cause; and it was fitting that this most gallant defence and +dignified surrender should be placed to the credit of loyal Cornwall. +It tallies with the brave struggle of the previous century, on behalf +of the old faith and the old tongue. We may not wish that either +struggle had terminated differently, but they were both in keeping +with the tenacious character of the Cornish people. As a striking +proof of their desperate resolution, the defenders of Pendennis +themselves fired the manor-house of Arwenack, in order that it might +not be occupied by the Parliamentary troops, and these had to be +content with such trenches and defences as they could contrive from +the ruins. The mansion was never suitably restored, and there are only +a few relics of it to be seen at the present day in Arwenack Street. +Its beautiful avenue became a rope-walk, and the site of its park is +covered with buildings. Charles II. was not specially notable for +remembering those who had assisted him in the day of his +trouble--indeed, there were a great many for him to remember; but it +is pleasant to know that the son of the defender of Pendennis was +created a peer at the Restoration, while one of the Killigrews became +a baronet, and a charter of incorporation was granted to the infant +town. It was enacted that the settlements hitherto known as "Smithike +and Penny-come-quick" should become a corporate town under the name of +Falmouth. Sir Peter Killigrew had already obtained from the +Commonwealth a patent for a weekly market and two fairs, together with +the rights of ferry to Flushing; and the custom-house had been removed +to Falmouth from Penryn. In 1661 a quay was authorised, and two years +later a church was erected, with a dedication to King Charles the +Martyr. However incongruous such a dedication may now seem, it had +great significance at the time. By dint of effort, also, Falmouth was +created a distinct parish, freed from St. Budock and St. Gluvias. All +these steps were taken in face of much opposition, and against the +influence of Robartes, Arundels, and Godolphins, who supported Truro, +Helston, and Penryn in petitioning that "the erecting of a town at +Smithike would tend to the ruin and impoverishing of the ancient +coinage towns and market-towns aforesaid, not far distant from thence; +and they therefore humbly prayed the King's Majesty that the buildings +and undertakings of Mr. Killigrew might be inhibited for the future." +Such had been an earlier petition to James I., and the same spirit of +opposition pursued every development of the young town. Strife and +litigation pursued the Killigrews unremittingly, until the extinction +of the family in the direct line, somewhere about the middle of the +eighteenth century. There is one great literary glory attaching to +them. It was to Mistress Anne Killigrew that Dryden wrote his noble +elegiac ode, which Dr. Johnson thought the finest in the language. +With the dignity and melody that distinguished Dryden at his best, he +apostrophises the lady as one who had herself courted the muses of +poetry and painting-- + + "Hear then a mortal Muse thy praise rehearse + In no ignoble verse, + But such as thy own voice did practise here, + When thy first fruits of poesy were given, + To make thyself a welcome inmate there; + While yet a young probationer + And candidate of heaven." + +The ode was addressed to Anne, daughter of Dr. Henry Killigrew, born +in 1660, who died of smallpox in 1685; she was a Maid-of-Honour to +the Duchess of York. A volume of her poems appeared in the following +year, with Dryden's ode as an introduction. In painting she seems to +have done portraits of James II. and his queen. She was buried at St. +John the Baptist, Savoy. It is Dryden's verse, and not her own, that +has immortalised her. + +There is no need to follow in detail the somewhat unexciting tale of +Falmouth's growth. Its one event of national moment was the selection +of the port, in 1688, for the sailings of the Mail Packet service, +which proved to be of immediate consequence both to Falmouth and +Flushing, as the families of captains and crews soon chose one or +other of those places for residence, thereby bringing prosperity and a +keen rivalry. The story of the packets is very notable, and has been +worthily told by Mr. A. H. Norway. We may assume that it was one of +Mr. Norway's ancestors who lost his life while gallantly defending his +packet, the _Montague_, from the attack of an American privateer. At +first only three packets sailed, between Falmouth and Lisbon; but the +service soon extended to the West Indies, America, Barbadoes, and +elsewhere. They were not only a fine training-school for seamen, but +were in some sense an auxiliary to the British navy, frequently coming +in close contact with the King's enemies or with privateers, in which +conflicts they generally rendered a good account of themselves. They +seem at first to have been supplied for the use of the General Post +Office by contract, and sometimes belonged to their captains or to +companies of private shareholders; but about the year 1820 they were +taken over by the Admiralty, with the idea that a stricter discipline +was needed. The greatest days of the packets were before this +transference, and their diminishing splendour terminated entirely in +1850, when the port ceased to be a packet station, the mails having +been taken in charge by ocean liners. Plymouth has succeeded to the +position that once was Falmouth's. It is no exaggeration to say that +some of the actions of the packets and their dauntless crews recall +the palmy days of Elizabethan naval prowess and exploits such as that +of the immortal _Revenge_. The very name of the hero of that great +adventure was perpetuated by one of the packets, which accomplished +something worthy of his fine tradition. It is told by Gilbert how "in +the year of 1777 Captain William Kempthorne was opposed off the island +of Barbadoes in H.M. Packet _Granville_ to three American privateers, +two of whom were each of equal force to the _Granville_, and lay +alongside her in a raking position. After a desperate action, in which +the captain received a severe wound in the head and lost the roof of +his mouth, the enemy was compelled to sheer off, and the _Granville_ +with her brave commander returned safe to England." This is only one +example among many. It is said that within the three years, 1812-14, +"thirty-two actions were fought between Falmouth packets and +privateers, which resulted in seventeen victories for the Cornish +against superior numbers of men and guns, while the remaining +contests, in which also great numbers lost their lives, were in +respect to valour, as glorious." One of these grand struggles may be +best told in Mr. Norway's words:-- + +"On November 22, 1812, the _Townshend_ packet, armed with eight +9-pounder carronades, a long gun of similar calibre for use as a +chaser, and a crew of twenty-eight men and boys under the command of +Captain James Cock, was within a few hours of dropping her anchor at +Bridgetown, Barbadoes, when the first light of morning revealed two +strange vessels cruising at no great distance. These vessels proved to +be American privateers, the _Tom_, Captain Thos. Wilson, and the +_Bona_, Captain Damaron. The former was armed with fourteen +carronades, some 18- and some 12-pounders, as well as two long +9-pounders, and carried 130 men. The latter had six 18-pounders, with +a long 24-pounder mounted on a traverse, and a crew of ninety men.... +This enormous preponderance of force was greatly increased in +effective power by being divided between two opponents. A single enemy +might be crippled by a single shot; but if good fortune rid the +_Townshend_ of one antagonist in this way, there still remained the +other to be reckoned, more powerful at every point than herself. + +"If ever circumstances justified surrender after a short resistance +they were present in this case. It might even be thought that +resistance was a useless sacrifice of life; but such was not Captain +Cock's view. He held it to be his plain duty not only to keep the +mails out of the hands of the enemy--which could be done effectually +by sinking them at any moment--but to use every means in his power to +preserve them for their proper owners, and not to abandon hope of +delivering them at the office of the post-office agent at Bridgetown +until every chance of doing so was gone. Now, there were still two +chances in his favour: first, that he might hold out until the noise +of firing attracted some of the British cruisers which were probably +in the immediate neighbourhood; and secondly, if that chance failed, +he might run the _Townshend_ ashore on some shore of the coast where +the privateers could not follow him. Both these chances were desperate +enough; but Captain Cock saw his duty clear before him, and cared +nothing for the consequences. All his preparations were quickly made, +and every man was at his post before the privateers came within range, +which they did about 7 a.m. + +"At 7.30 the _Tom_ had placed herself abeam of the packet to larboard, +while the _Bona_ lay on the starboard quarter, and both their +broadsides were crashing into the _Townshend_ at pistol-shot distance, +all three vessels running before the wind. This lasted till eight +o'clock. The Americans, as was usual with them, made great use of +'dismantling shot,' _i.e._, chain- and bar-shot; the effect of which +upon the rigging of the _Townshend_ was most disastrous. It was not +long before her sails were hanging in ribbons, and her spars were +greatly damaged, and in some momentary confusion from this cause the +_Tom_ seized an opportunity of pouring in her boarders, while the +_Bona_ redoubled her fire, both of great guns and musketry, to cover +their attack. After a fierce tussle the Americans were driven back to +their own ship; but this success was won by the loss of four of +Captain Cock's best hands, who received disabling wounds in the fight. +Thereupon both privateers resumed the cannonade, maintaining the +positions which they had taken up at the commencement of the action, +and for another hour the _Townshend_ endured the fire of her enemies' +heavy guns, the courage of her commander and crew remaining as high +and stubborn as ever. But the packet was by this time so much +shattered that she could with difficulty be handled. Again and again +the _Tom_ bore down upon her, and hurled fresh boarders up her sides. +Time after time Captain Cock led his wearied men to meet them, and +each time drove them back. + +"But the post-office men were now so reduced in numbers that it was +with the greatest difficulty that Captain Cock could continue to serve +the guns and at the same time collect sufficient men to meet the +constantly recurring boarding attacks. It was plain that this +situation of affairs could not last: there was no sign of succour on +the sea, and when Captain Cock looked aloft he could not but admit +that in the crippled condition of his ship all chance of running her +ashore was gone. The _Townshend_ was in fact a mere wreck. Her +bowsprit was shot in pieces. Both jib-booms and head were carried +away, as well as the wheel and ropes. Scarcely one shroud was left +standing. The packet lay like a log on the water, while the privateers +sailed round her, choosing their positions as they pleased, and raking +her again and again. Still Captain Cock held out. It was not until ten +o'clock, when he had endured the attack of his two powerful enemies +for nearly three hours, that he looked about him and realised that the +end had come. There were four feet of water in the hold, and the +carpenter reported that it was rising rapidly. The packet was, in +fact, sinking. Nearly half the crew were in the hands of the surgeon. +The rest, exhausted and hopeless of success, had already fought more +nobly than even he could have foreseen, and were now being uselessly +sacrificed. Still Captain Cock's pride rebelled against surrender; and +as he saw the colours he had defended so well drop down upon the deck, +it is recorded that he burst into tears. He had no cause for shame. +Such a defeat is as glorious as any victory, and is fully worthy of +the great traditions of valour on the sea which all Englishmen +inherit." + +It would be easy to quote many such stories, which, together with the +siege of Pendennis, form the heroic memories of Falmouth. Otherwise, +the town's associations are chiefly provincial, not to say parochial. +The abiding glory of the place is its beauty of position, and the +magnificent views that it commands. Something of an old-world +atmosphere still lingers around the quays. One attraction is gone; +John Burton is no longer at the old curiosity shop bearing his name. +Memories of the Killigrews are preserved by the curious pyramidal +monument, erected in the Grove by Martin Killigrew in 1737, and now +standing at Arwenack Green. Perhaps there should be some memorial of +the Rev. John Collins, who, during the Commonwealth days, practised +here as a physician, having been ejected from his living at Illogan. +His diary proves how well he deserved remembrance. One entry tells how +he "did this day administer ---- to old Mrs. Jones for her ague." +Then, the following day: "Called on Mrs. Jones, and found she had died +during the night in much agony. N.B.--Not use ---- again." We may hope +he is now forgiven for his experiments. Falmouth, however, can only +claim him as a resident. There is little more to tell about Falmouth. +Its present docks, covering an area of 120 acres, were built in 1860. +There is some ship-building, some brewing, with oyster and trawl +fishing; the fishery engages nearly seven hundred persons. +Industrially, the town cannot hope for much, unless it should ever +become a naval base; but as a residential district it is very +delightful, combining the charms of sea and noble river. The Castle +Drive can hardly be surpassed, of its kind; and if we proceed past the +Gyllyngvase bathing-beach, there is a pleasant little lake known as +the Swanpool, which was once a swannery of the Killigrews. + +For antiquity as for present-day industry we must go to Penryn, which +lies about two miles up the Penryn Creek and is devoted to the export +of granite. The busy but not very lovely little town has very much of +a granite tone about it, and can boast that it supplied the material +for Waterloo Bridge; it can also boast that it was in existence before +the Conquest--how much earlier is difficult to say. Its parish church +was so largely restored in 1883 that it is practically new; it is +dedicated to "Gluvias the Cornishman," who was a Welshman. Among the +gardens at the back of Penryn's chief street are some remains of +Glassiney College, founded in 1246 by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter for +secular canons and vicars. It became perhaps the most important centre +of learning and literature in Cornwall, and was a nursery of the old +miracle-plays or interludes--some of which still survive in the +Cornish original and prove themselves to be no better, no worse, than +the average of such performances throughout the kingdom. Old Cornwall, +it must be confessed, did very little for literature; and if we +regret the extinction of the vernacular, it is not for any literary +treasures that remain embodied in it. But an event that took place at +Penryn is the theme of something a little better than the Cornish +interludes--namely, the "Penryn Tragedy," which inspired Lillo's play +_The Fatal Curiosity_. It is said that a Penryn man who had left +Cornwall in his early days and had become rich abroad, returned to his +home just as a present-day miner might return from South Africa. He +was recognised by his married sister, but, begging her keep the +secret, he proceeded incognito to his parents' house and asked their +hospitality for the night. Unhappily the old mother caught sight of +the treasure that he had about his person, and she persuaded the +father to kill the man in his sleep. Next morning the sister came to +share in their joy at the wanderer's return, and asked for her +brother. To their horror, the wicked old couple found that they had +murdered their own son. They had grace enough to commit suicide after +the discovery. The same tale seems to have been conveyed to Wales, +where it is related of a parish in Montgomeryshire; but a Welsh poem +that tells the story rightly attributes it to Cornwall. And yet it is +possible that the same event happened in Wales also; a few years since +the newspapers related an almost identical incident as having occurred +in Russia. Perhaps the story really belongs to folk-lore, reappearing +at times under a new guise and in a new locality. + +In the possession of the Penryn Corporation is a silver chalice, given +by Lady Jane Killigrew "to the towne of Penmarin when they received +mee that was in great miserie." It seems that about this time (1633) +the lady was divorced, and took refuge from her domestic troubles at +Penryn, where the animosity of the townsfolk towards the Killigrews +caused her to be received with great favour; she afterwards married +Francis Bluett. A mistake has been made by many in attributing to her +the piracy committed two generations earlier by Lady Mary Killigrew, +who illegally boarded some foreign vessels lying at Falmouth Harbour +and carried away treasure. There was some bloodshed over the matter, +and a considerable scandal; so much, that it is said the lady was +sentenced to death by the authorities, but escaped through influence. +In any case, poor Lady Jane, who, whether she had been frail or not, +had enough private sorrows of her own, must not be saddled with this +additional load of blame for an act that she never committed. + +Immediately opposite Falmouth, across the Penryn creek, the little +port of Flushing, with a climate supposed to be the mildest in +England, has survived to tell us of an extinguished glory. The passing +of the packet service brought comparative stagnation to Falmouth; it +actually crushed Flushing. It is a pleasant little place, and one +cannot wonder at its popularity with the naval men who resided here. +It is said to have been founded by Dutch settlers, who brought the +name with them. Some few of its old houses remain, suggestive of its +former life, and Flushing is left to luxuriate in the dreams of its +past. The church here is modern. Flushing is in Mylor parish, and +Mylor can claim a greater antiquity. There was once a royal dockyard +here. The dedication is to Melor, son of St. Melyan; both father and +son appear to have suffered martyrdom, or were victims of political +intrigue. The church was restored in 1869, but retains much of its +Norman character; and one of its best monuments perpetuates the memory +of the Trefusis family, whose name also attaches to the headland +eastward of Flushing. Lord Clinton is of this family. Mylor is most +pleasantly situated at the mouth of its own little creek, and looks up +the Carrick Roads towards Truro; but before taking the journey +thither, delightful in itself and delightful in its objective, it may +be worth while to cross the harbour for a peep at St. Mawes, which +somehow seems like an off-lying shoot of Falmouth. It is named +apparently from St. Maudez or Mauditus, of Ireland, though some have +asserted that the real dedication is to St. Maclovius of the Breton +St. Malo. The question is rather involved, and may not appeal to many. +The castle was built in 1542, about the same time as Pendennis, and +both forts were supposed to have been under the special fostering care +of Henry VIII., who realised the strategic importance of Falmouth +Harbour. Its first Governor was Michael Vyvyan, and its last Sir +Alexander Cameron. At the time of the Civil War it could not boast the +fine resistance that Pendennis offered, being easily commanded by +ordnance from the heights above; but as a defence on the seaward side +and a protection to the estuary its position is very powerful, and +must prove so should Falmouth ever become a naval base. At present the +castle has little but its size to recommend it; but the little town, +with its small jutting pier, has some attractiveness. An interesting +ingot of tin was discovered near here, many years since, showing how +the old tin-workers shaped their metal for transport. Truro can +hardly be said to be on the coast; but certainly no book on Cornwall +can ignore this town, which is, in fact, the capital of the Duchy +intellectually and ecclesiastically, however loudly Bodmin may claim +to be the assize town. Partly by reason of its shape, partly perhaps +from other causes, there has been little centralisation in Cornwall, +and the very selection of Truro to be the cathedral city was in some +sort an artificial and arbitrary arrangement. No doubt it was the best +that could have been made; but old Cornwall had no such centre, and +there were rival claims to be considered. It may not be incorrect to +say that Cornwall of to-day has several capitals: Penzance is the +commercial centre of the far west; Redruth and Camborne dominate the +mining districts; St. Austell is the metropolis of china-clay; while +Bodmin and Launceston perhaps more intimately represent agriculture. +Truro stands apart from them all, and represents the Church. In one +sense the real capital of Cornwall to-day is Plymouth, meaning by that +the Three Towns, as in old days it was Exeter. But of all existing +Cornish towns, none would be better qualified than Truro to play the +dignified part of the cathedral city; and, with its population of +about 13,000, Truro does this very well. Its honours sit well upon it, +and have been accepted with becoming pride. Undoubtedly the +pleasantest way of reaching the cleanly and agreeable little town is +by the boat from Falmouth, and the trip is one of the recognised +things that visitors to Cornwall are supposed to do. There can be no +question of the journey's beauty, though when it is contended that +this is the loveliest river in England, one remembers other beautiful +streams whose claims are at least equal. In Cornwall itself there is +the Fowey River, quite as rich in loveliness, if on a smaller scale; +and there is the Tamar, whose charm is so great that both Devon and +Cornwall are eager to claim it. Then there are the exquisite reaches +of the Dart, from its mouth to Totnes, to say nothing of its wilder +course beyond, among the fastnesses of the moors. In Monmouthshire +there is the "sylvan Wye." All these, and many other claimants, spring +to mind and enforce upon us the foolishness of any comparisons at all. +Beauty must be always complete and satisfying in itself, unless we let +our thoughts be disturbed by ideas of a possible better. It is certain +that the passage up the Fal, especially in suitable weather, is of +very real charm, with its numerous tempting creeks and pools, its +ferries and riverside hamlets, its sloping meadows and spreading +woodlands. But when we speak of going up the Fal to Truro, we are +speaking incorrectly; the true Fal turns eastward after passing King +Harry's Reach and runs to Ruan Lanihorne; the water on which we pass +to the Truro quayside is the Truro River. It has been spoken of by our +late Queen, among the many visitors who have admired it. She said, "We +went up the Truro, which is beautiful, winding between banks entirely +wooded with stunted oak and full of numberless creeks. The prettiest +are King Harry's Ferry and a spot near Tregothnan, where there is a +beautiful little boathouse." Tennyson was here a little later (in +1860) after a visit to the Scillies, and he made the river trip from +Falmouth to Truro. On the boat the poet was recognised, his portraits, +and perhaps some knowledge that he was in the neighbourhood, being +responsible for the discovery. Palgrave, who was with him, writes: +"Our captain presently came forward with a tray and squat bottle, and +said, with unimpeachable good manners, that he was aware how +distinguished a passenger, &c., and that some young men sitting +opposite, and he, would be much honoured if Mr. Tennyson would take a +tumbler of stout with them." The poet gave a gracious response, and +willingly drank the health of his admirers. But "presently the captain +reappeared, and this time it was the ladies in the cabin who begged +that the Laureate would only step down among them. But the height of +that small place of refuge, Tennyson declared, would render the +proposed exhibition impossible. Might he not be kindly excused? The +good women, however, were not to be balked; and one after another +presented her half-length above the little hatchway before us, gazed, +smiled, and retreated." It was well for Tennyson that he had overcome +some of his early shyness, or the ordeal might have tried him +considerably. There was no cathedral in those days, rising with +somewhat foreign aspect from near the waterside; but its germ was +there in the old parish church of St. Mary's, which now welds the +ancient and the modern into one beautiful and fairly harmonious whole. +It is difficult to over-estimate the value of this old church as a +component part of the new cathedral; and the atmosphere that it sheds +seems gently pervading the entire building, taking away the glare of +its modernity, softening what might otherwise be crudity, and giving a +vital sense of continuity to the worship of the bygone and the +present. It may have been impossible to include more of the old church +in the new edifice, but we are grateful that this south aisle +remains. It is generally supposed that the Cornish are a Dissenting +people, yet they all took kindly to the building of this minster, and +they all feel a pride in it. Gifts poured in from all parts of the +Duchy to assist in its erection, and, suitably enough, very little but +Cornish material was used in its construction--Cornish granite, +china-stone, polyphant, and serpentine, with Cornish copper in the +clock-tower. It might, perhaps, have been better if Perpendicular, the +prevalent church style in Cornwall, had been adhered to, instead of a +rather French-looking Early English; but even on this point opinions +may be divided. + +The cathedral has made Truro a place of pilgrimage for all loyal +Cornish folk, and they may feel proud that in a materialistic age such +an emblem of faith has been fostered and reared. Local guide-books +will sufficiently explain the details, but every visitor should notice +the beautiful marble paving of the choir, and the fine baptistery in +memory of the missionary, Henry Martyn, himself of Truro. This revival +of the Cornish see, some thirty years since, formed a link between the +present generation and the old days, nine hundred years earlier, when +St. German's was episcopal; further still, it takes us back to the +times of the old saints, fitly commemorated here, who came from +Ireland and Wales and Brittany to bring the Cornish people a knowledge +of that in which they believed. The Truro cathedral is a fact, and +certainly a fact of considerable significance. Its first bishop was +the beloved Dr. Benson, his memory perpetuated in the Benson Transept, +with its graceful rose-window. One thing is impressed upon us by this +new minster--that present-day architecture, when meritorious, is an +imitation. The closer it keeps to old models, the better is the +result. Did church-building really say its last word four centuries +since? + +For its greater antiquity we have to remember that Kenwyn, about a +mile inland, is the mother of Truro, and this place has been claimed +as a Roman station named _Cenion_. The Itineraries speak of the +stations on the rivers _Tamara_, _Voluba_ and _Cenia_. _Tamara_ is the +Tamar; _Voluba_ probably the Fowey; _Cenia_ the Truro or Kenwyn River. +But it is exceedingly doubtful that Rome ever had definite stations in +Cornwall at all. This does not affect the antiquity; Kenwyn was a +British settlement, if never Romanised. Truro is supposed to signify +the "town on the river"; its manor was held by Robert de Mortain after +the Conquest, and the place seems to have had a charter as early as +the days of Stephen. Its position, far retired up the river, is +eloquent of times when men dreaded to settle close to the sea--the sea +brought foes and deadly night attacks; it was when commerce became +more important that Falmouth sprang into being. We have similar +instances at Lostwithiel and Fowey, Totnes and Dartmouth, Exeter and +Exmouth, as well as a striking modern instance in Bristol and +Avonmouth. There was a castle at Truro, on the present site of the +cattle market, but it was "clene down" in the time of Leland; there +were also a Dominican friary and a house of Clare monks. As a port +Truro did its best to oppose the building and growth of Falmouth, but +the inevitable could only be delayed, not prevented. The town's +recompense came late, but it has come. Though it welcomed the fugitive +Charles II., the town itself does not appear to have seen any +fighting during the Civil War--it is certainly quite indefensible; but +at Tresillian Bridge, about three and a half miles east, at the head +of the creek so named, the desperate struggle of Cornish Royalists was +brought to a close by the surrender of Sir Ralph Hopton to Fairfax. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +FROM FALMOUTH TO THE LIZARD + + +The southward limit of Falmouth Bay is Rosemullion Head, which does +not rise to any great height, but it commands fine views, on one side +towards the Fal estuary, with Zose Point and the Dodman beyond, and on +the other commanding the mouth of the Helford creek. The "Rose" of +course means heath; and Mullion we shall meet again. Penjerrick, which +lies a mile or two inland towards Falmouth, will be visited by many +not only for its beautiful botanic gardens, but for its memories of +the Foxes; but our own steps must now be turned towards the Lizard. +Rosemullion is in the parish of Mawnan, whose church-town lies a +little south of it; the dedication appears to be to a certain St. +Mawnanus, but there is great difficulty in identifying him. From here +to the mouth of the Fal there is a raised beach, more or less perfect; +in fact, all along this Cornish coast there are plentiful signs that +the shore contours have been by no means permanent. When we reach the +Helford River we have come to another rival of the Fal, with creeks +and inlets, wooded banks and fields, differing in size but hardly in +degree of beauty. Strictly, the name Helford only applies to the +little ferry town; the river is the _Hel_, or Hayle, and affords +comfortable harbourage to many craft. There is a literary association +here of some interest; for Kingsley tells us how Hereward the Wake +sailed up this river to Gweek, hungry for adventure. "He sailed in +over a rolling bar, between jagged points of black rock, and up a tide +river which wandered and branched away inland like a land-locked lake, +between high green walls of oak and ash, till they saw at the head of +the tide Alef's town, nestling in a glen which sloped towards the +southern sun. They discovered, besides, two ships drawn up upon the +beach, whose long lines and snake-heads, beside the stoat carved on +the beak-head of one, and the adder on that of the other, bore witness +to the piratical habits of their owner. The merchants, it seemed, were +well known to the Cornishmen on shore, and Hereward went up with them +unopposed; past the ugly dykes and muddy leats, where Alef's slaves +were streaming the gravel for tin ore: through rich alluvial pastures +spotted with red cattle; and up to Alef's town. Earthworks and +stockades surrounded a little church of ancient stone, and a cluster +of granite cabins, thatched with turf, in which the slaves abode." If +this is a picture of Gweek, the church must be imaginary; the nearest +churches are those of Constantine and of Mawgan. This is +Mawgan-in-Meneage, so called to distinguish it from the +Mawgan-in-Pydar, near Newquay. The Meneage, which we find affixed to +several other parish names immediately north of the Lizard, clearly +derives from the Cornish _men_--a stone--and denotes the "stony +district"; just as Roseland signified the heath or moorland district. +Whenever we find _man_ in an early place-name, we can feel pretty +sure that it has no reference to the human species. Defoe, who took +Helford in the way of his journey to the Land's End, speaks of it as +"a small but good harbour, where many times the tin-ships go in to +load for London; also here are a good number of fishing-vessels for +the pilchard trade, and abundance of skilful fishermen. It was from +this town that in the great storm which happened November 27, 1703, a +ship laden with tin was blown out to sea and driven to the Isle of +Wight in seven hours, having on board only one man and two boys." He +proceeds to tell how the boat was loaded at "a place called Gwague +Wharf, five or six miles up the river," by which he must mean Gweek. +The captain and his mate stayed on shore for the night, not detecting +signs of anything unusual in the weather; but orders were given that +in case of wind the vessel should be moored with two anchors. As a +matter of fact, the gale soon increased so remarkably that the man on +board, with his two boy assistants, soon found it necessary not only +to drop their second anchor but also two others. "But between eleven +and twelve o'clock the wind came about west and by south, and blew in +so violent and terrible a manner that, though they rode under the lee +of a high shore, yet the ship was driven from all her anchors, and +about midnight drove quite out of the harbour (the opening of the +harbour lying due east and west) into the open sea, the men having +neither anchor or cable or boat to help themselves." Avoiding rocks as +best they could, they drifted past the Dodman and tried to make +Plymouth, but the first land they made was Peverel Point in Dorset, +and by seven o'clock next morning they were driving full towards the +Isle of Wight. One of the boys was for running the boat to the Downs, +where it would almost certainly have perished; but the other lad +remembered a creek in the Isle of Wight, where he thought there would +be room to run the boat in. Very wisely the man yielded to his advice, +and gave him charge of the helm. "He stood directly in among the +rocks, the people on shore thinking they were mad, and that they would +in a few minutes be dashed in a thousand pieces. But when they came +nearer, and the people found they steered as if they knew the place, +they made signals to direct them as well as they could, and the young +bold fellow ran her into a small cove, where she stuck fast, as it +were, between the rocks on both sides, there being just room enough +for the breadth of the ship. The ship indeed, giving two or three +knocks, staved and sank, but the man and the two youths jumped ashore +and were safe; and the lading, being tin, was afterwards secured. The +merchants very well rewarded the three sailors, especially the lad +that ran her into that place." A very fitting sequel, for it was +indeed a daring exploit. The storm was that tremendous tempest which +desolated the British coasts in 1703, commemorated by Addison in his +"Campaign":-- + + "So when an angel, by divine command, + With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, + Such as of late o'er pale Britannia pass'd, + Calm and serene he drives the furious blast, + And, pleased th' Almighty's orders to perform, + Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm." + +That simile, then considered the height of sublimity, had a powerful +effect in furthering the writer's fortunes. + +Helford is in the parish of Manaccan, which lies about a mile south of +it. The place was once known as Minster, which seems to evidence the +existence of a monastery. The creek and valley of the Durra stream are +very beautiful, and the church especially interesting. There is a +fig-tree of great antiquity growing out of the tower wall. Chancel and +south transept are Early English, and the south doorway very excellent +Norman. About a century since the Cornish historian and versifier, +Polwhele, was Rector at Manaccan, also having charge of the +neighbouring parish of St. Anthony, and though he liked the place less +than his former residence by the mouth of the Exe, he admitted that +"in the walks to St. Anthony, the tufted creeks, the opening sea, the +prospect of Pendennis Castle, there was picturesque beauty--there was +even sublimity." Polwhele was magistrate as well as parson, and on one +occasion the famous Captain Bligh (himself a Cornishman) was brought +before him, charged with plots of treachery by the officious Manaccan +constables; he had been detected surveying the harbour of Helford. +Bligh appears at first to have been in a great rage, but he melted +gradually, and after indulging in woodcocks for supper, with a variety +of wines, parted from his host on the very best of terms. Polwhele +also tells us of a brother-magistrate whom he invited to meet +Whitaker, the historian of the Cornish diocese, who was at that time +Rector of Ruan Lanihorne. The fellow-magistrate was a trifle lax in +his opinions, and on his expressing a sceptical view, "Mr. Whitaker +started up in a burst of passion. The justice turned pale, and his +lips quivered with fear. Not a culprit before him, at the moment of +commitment, ever trembled more; and Whitaker imperiously charging him +with infidelity, the old gentleman made a confession of his faith, to +an extent which surprised me." He seems to have been "at best an +Arian"; yet "he was on the whole a respectable man." Theology apart, +one cannot help sympathising with the culprit, and rejoicing in his +respectability. But times have greatly changed; men can now confess +something more than Arianism without trembling with fear. + +Dennis, or Dinas Head, running to the sea beyond St. Anthony, has some +ancient entrenchments which were put to practical use during the Civil +War, being occupied by Richard Vyvyan of Trelowarren in the Royalist +cause; they were surrendered to the conquering Fairfax. The church of +St. Anthony is said to have been erected as a thank-offering, after +escape from shipwreck, by Norman settlers soon after the Conquest. +Beyond Gillan stretches Nare Point, a bold bluff of rock, and a mile +lower is the little fishing-village of Porthallow, which is attracting +some of the visitors who are now coming increasingly to the Lizard +district. At Porthoustock (locally often called Proustock), a little +more than a mile beyond, we have come into the immediate presence of a +great wreck region, for Manacle Point lies close below, and the +Manacles themselves foam yonder with perpetual menace, their bell-buoy +sounding a dismal but quite insufficient warning. + +Ever since men began to navigate British waters, these half-covered +rocks and the whole of this Lizard coast must have been a deadly +peril. The number of their victims cannot be reckoned; for, as Sir +John Killigrew wrote three centuries since, "neither is it possible +to get parfitt notice of the whence and what the Ships ar that yearly +do suffer on and near the Lizard, for it is seldom that any man +escapes and the ships split in small pieces." The Manacles +(_meneglos_, "church rocks") lie about half a mile from the shore, and +extend for about a square mile; all but one are covered by the highest +tides, which of course renders them the more fatal. The name "church +rocks" has some connection with the far-seen landmark of St. Keverne +tower. If we could give the whole list of wrecks we should probably +find it rival that of the Scillies, perhaps surpass; the Manacles lie +even more directly in the route of navigation. It is just a century +since two vessels, the one homeward and the other outward-bound, were +wrecked almost at the same moment near here. One was the transport +_Dispatch_, returning from the Peninsula with many officers and men on +board; the other was the eighteen-gun brig _Primrose_, bound for the +seat of war. There is a graphic account in the now defunct _Cornish +Magazine_--a magazine that was obviously too good for the public, and +therefore died much regretted by its few but select admirers. It was a +bitter and rough January, 1809. "At half-past three on Sunday morning +the _Dispatch_, an old ship in bad repair, was driven on the rocks +near Lowland Point, and speedily became a total wreck. While men and +women were rushing through the gale with news of this disaster, and +men and horses were being dashed about by the roaring sea, there came +tidings that at the other end of the Manacles another ship filled with +soldiers was foundering. In those days there was no Lifeboat +Institution with its record of gallant services all along the coast. +But there were men of the sort that the grandest lifeboat crews are +made of, and six Porthoustock fishermen, taking the best boat they +could find, went out from their cove across the wind-torn sea towards +the rocks barely discernible in the early morning light. Little it was +that they could do, though, and worn out with their strivings against +the wind and sea, they returned with only one boy and the news that +the vessel disappeared almost immediately after she struck, at five +o'clock, and all except the boy were lost." In those two wrecks that +morning about two hundred lives were lost. The noble heroism of the +Porthoustock men came to the ears of Government, and ten guineas were +sent to each man. More than a hundred of the drowned were buried in +St. Keverne graveyard, an Act having just been passed that allowed +bodies cast up by the sea to be admitted to consecrated ground. +Another notable wreck was that of the emigrant ship _John_, in 1855. +This time the disaster may have been a result of carelessness, for the +weather was fine; in any case, the vessel got on the Manacles. Some +boats were launched and selfishly filled, but the captain apparently +thought there was no cause for alarm. Those in the boats took the +tidings to Coverack, but in the meantime a wind had sprung up; a +message was sent across and Porthoustock men set out to the rescue. +There were many children on board; the crew, unlike true Britons, +thought only of their own safety; the ship was settling fast, leaving +only the rigging for such survivors as could cling to it. After many +gallant attempts, and three journeys to and from shore, the brave +fishermen managed to save all that were left on the wreck, but 196 +were drowned. There was another rich harvest for St. Keverne +graveyard. The memorable blizzard of 1891 of course paid its tribute +of wrecks to these shores. The largest loss was the _Bay of Panama_, a +Liverpool boat of 2,282 tons, making for Dundee with jute from +Calcutta. Eighteen of her crew were lost, some being frozen to death. +On this occasion a most wonderful feat of courage and endurance was +accomplished by a man of Porthoustock, that village of brave men. It +was important that telegraphic messages should be despatched from +Helston, and a man named James volunteered to carry them. He reached +Helston with infinite difficulty, and found the place practically +snowed up, all communication broken. Against strong advice he resolved +to push on to Falmouth, distant at least fourteen miles by road, the +roads almost impassable with snowdrifts. He began his journey by pony, +but soon had to leave the animal behind. Once he was near succumbing, +but a rest in a wayside cottage restored him; the last two and a half +miles he covered by crawling on his hands and knees, being too +exhausted to walk. Falmouth was reached at last, and the messages from +Porthoustock, St. Keverne, and Helston were delivered. But the tale of +wrecks is not finished. In 1895 the _Andola_ was broken here, its crew +saved by the lifeboat from Porthoustock. More recent, and the best +remembered of all, is the wreck of the _Mohegan_, in 1898. She was a +boat of 7,000 tonnage, leaving Gravesend with about 150 persons on +board. She struck one of the Manacles, and within twenty minutes was +submerged with the exception of masts and funnel. Rescue proved very +difficult, but the lifeboat saved forty-four; all the remainder were +lost. One of the Porthoustock lifeboat crew that did the rescuing had +been also active in taking succour to the _John_, forty-three years +earlier. It needs these records of heroism to relieve the sadness of +such a chronicle. + +St. Keverne, whose church stands high at rather more than a mile's +distance from the sea, is a place of striking interest for its +situation and its traditions. It is not easy to say who Keverne was; +some, such as Leland, Whitaker, and Mr. Baring-Gould, say that he was +none other than St. Piran, retaining his original Gaelic name of +Kieran. But it is difficult to see why he should remain Kieran here, +while he became Piran or Perran in connection with all his other +Cornish churches; and there is the awkward fact that St. Piran's Day +is the 5th of March, while St. Keverne's is near Advent. Dr. Borlase +thought that the two are distinct persons; and, identifying St. +Keverne with the _Lannachebran_ of Domesday, he supposes a Celtic +saint named Chebran or Kevran. Tin has never been successfully worked +in this parish, and there was a local saying that "no metal will run +within sound of St. Keverne's bell," supported by a tradition that the +saint cursed the district because of the irreligion of its people. +Piran, the patron saint of tinners, would hardly have called down such +a curse, though he might have done so if greatly provoked. But if not +metalliferous, much of the parish is exceptionally fertile and +verdant, in contrast to the barrenness of the Goonhilly Downs. Without +attempting to decide authoritatively as to the personality of Keverne, +we may at least be amused by the curious story told about him, which +brings a strong touch of human nature into the record of one who is +otherwise so hazy. It is said that he was visited by St. Just of the +Land's End district, and that when the more western saint departed, +after freely indulging in Keverne's hospitality, he carried away +Keverne's drinking-cup--some say his chalice. Shortly after the +departure, Keverne discovered that his cup was missing, and he guessed +at once that his saintly friend had taken it. In great heat he +hastened after the guest, and while passing Crowza Downs he pocketed a +few large stones for future use. Presently he saw St. Just plodding +along in the distance, and shouted after him. St. Just was too deeply +absorbed in religious meditation to notice the cries. Finding shouts +were useless, Keverne began to throw his stones, and these proved more +effectual. St. Just dropped the chalice and hurried away home. Keverne +had three stones left, and he satisfied his still heated feelings by +hurling these after his visitor; which done, he took up his cup and +proceeded homewards. It is said that these stones lay in a field near +Germoe till last century, when they were broken up for road-metal, and +that they consisted of a kind of gritstone common enough to the Crowza +Downs, but quite unknown in the district where they lay. The field in +which they lay actually bore the name of Tremen-keverne, the "three +stones of Keverne"; and if we need further proof than that, we must be +sceptical indeed. The tale is valuable as a picture of Celtic +saintdom; no monkish fabulists would have told such stories of Latin +saints. Without approving of St. Just's action, he seems nearer to us +than if he had run about with his head under his arm or perpetrated +any other of the absurdities often attributed to the conventional +Romish saints. St. Keverne's is a large church, the largest in West +Cornwall, being 110 feet in length; and it was collegiate before the +Conquest, afterwards passing to the Cistercians of Beaulieu. There are +some curious traces of former rood-lofts which seem to speak of +eastward enlargements. The bench-ends bear the symbols of the Passion. +In the south aisle are the arms of Incledon, famous singer of a past +century, who began his career at Exeter Cathedral when eight years +old, and later became celebrated at Bath, at Vauxhall, and at Covent +Garden; he was a native of St. Keverne. + +In this parish, about a mile and half southward, is the delightful +little fishing-village of Coverack, which is deserving and winning a +quiet popularity. There is no pretension about the place, though it +can boast one hotel, a modern chapel-of-ease, and the usual small +conventicles. Being sheltered from the north, and with a rich soil, +every cottage garden luxuriates in great hedges of mesembryanthemum; +and, as we find further west, the fuchsias grow like trees. Coverack +indeed is an oasis in a district much of which is stony and desolate. +The down-lands around are purple in its season with the beautiful +Cornish heather, and golden with gorse, while dodder grows freely over +the hedges; near the shore there is abundance of squills, sea-holly, +and sea-campion. The descent to the village is a sharp drop; visitors +usually alight above from their coach, and walk down the steep zigzag +road. It is not surprising to read that this secluded spot was +formerly notorious for smugglers, but now it peacefully devotes itself +to fishing, and to the entertainment of guests who can appreciate +quiet loveliness. Pilchards are still caught here, with the +old-fashioned seine-nets; but their numbers have much decreased. We +can realise what the pilchard has been to Cornwall when we read that +in 1847 over 40,000 hogsheads were exported to Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, +Venice, &c., estimated at more than a hundred million fish. The annual +catch now is about half this quantity, and some proportion of these +are retained for home consumption. When we pass Black Head we come at +last in sight of the true Lizard, with the fine reach of Kennack Sands +lying between; and for those who can appreciate a walk of surpassing +beauty, the best thing to do is to take the path at the top of the +cliffs, leading through Cadgwith to the Lizard Point. The walk takes +us into the true serpentine region; at Coverack serpentine is largely +blent with felspar and crystal. Perhaps in the future these sands of +Kennack will be thronged by thousands of holiday-makers, but they are +better as they are, haunted by seabirds and washed by tides of +ever-varying aspect. Several small streams run to the sea here, and at +Poltesco the sands are broken by a gorge of lonely and romantic charm, +with a charming cascade, opening into Carleon Cove. There was a +serpentine factory here once, but it is deserted; the water-wheel +turns no longer. It may be said that this walk from Coverack along the +cliffs is not easy; it is rugged, undulating, tortuous, and Cornish +miles sometimes seem very long. But it repays. When we reach Cadgwith +we seem to be genuinely at the Lizard. We have come to a port of crabs +and lobsters, and of painters. + +[Illustration: COVERACK. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +Cadgwith is certainly a most picturesque and attractive little +place, and if it does not share the luxuriant fertility of Coverack, +it has the compensation of being nearer to the wonders of the Lizard. +It is in the parish of Ruan Minor, and this is a dedication to a saint +whose name we also find at Ruan Major, Ruan Lanihorne, and Polruan +near Fowey. He also appears at Romansleigh in Devon. He seems to have +been an Irishman, some say converted by Patrick, who travelled widely, +and when in Brittany was accused by a woman of being a were-wolf; she +said he had eaten her child. The king of that part, who favoured the +saint, said, "Bring him hither. I have two wolf-hounds; if he is +innocent they will not harm him, but if there is anything of the wolf +about him they will tear him to pieces." The dogs came and licked +Ruan's feet; and the child whom he was supposed to have eaten was +discovered hidden away. However, the saint found it well to leave +Brittany for Cornwall. He is said to have been buried at Lanihorne, +but Ordulf, who dedicated his abbey at Tavistock to the honour of Mary +and St. Rumon, professed to have brought the saint's relics to his +Devon foundation and there enshrined them. It proves how slightly +Saxonised that part of Devon was, and how powerful was the Celtic +tradition, that Ordulf should have selected a Celtic saint for his +monastery. A portion of Cadgwith is in the parish of Grade, which is +supposed to be a dedication to the Holy Creed; but here, as at +Sancreed and St. Creed, Grampound, we may be safe in believing that +there was a living personality behind the dedication, not a mere +abstraction. Churches had definite founders in Celtic days, and there +was a certain St. Credan who may be responsible for all these. But +does the ordinary visitor care much about these questions of +dedication and saint-lore? Probably not. South of Cadgwith are some of +the grand caves and rock-freaks that have a more immediate appeal, and +north of the hamlet some of the best serpentine is obtained. +Serpentine is a blend of silica and manganese, so named from its +imagined resemblance to a snake's skin; its colour varies from green +to red and brownish yellow, and is often remarkably beautiful. It has +been used with striking effect, architecturally, in Truro Cathedral; +while with regard to its use for ornaments and decoration, the visitor +has many opportunities of judging for himself. + +When we remember the seas to which these shores are exposed, it is +easy to understand how the coast has been eroded into its present +contorted and cavernous condition. Massive rocky frameworks have +resisted the action of the waves, but softer measures have yielded; +the shore has been licked into hollows, basins, caves, by continuous +water-action, and the process continues unendingly. One remarkable +excavation of this kind is the Devil's Frying-pan, covering about two +acres, which the sea enters through an archway of rock at high tides; +the pit is nearly 200 feet deep. Literally, it is a cave whose roof +has fallen in. Close to this is Dollar Hugo, a cave whose roof has not +fallen nor seems likely to, with a magnificent gateway of serpentine. +The name is sometimes spelt Dolor, suggestive of grief, but its origin +is not easy to trace; Hugo seems to be a corruption of the Cornish +word _fogou_, meaning a cave. Johns, who wrote a very interesting book +about the Lizard some sixty years since, said that "of all the caves +that I have ever inspected, this wears the most perfect air of +mysteriousness and solemnity. At the entrance it is large enough to +admit a six-oared boat, but soon contracts to so small a size that a +swimmer alone could explore it. Its termination is lost in gloom, but +as far as the eye can discriminate the water is unceasingly rising and +falling with a deep murmuring sound, which is reverberated from a +great distance, and falls on the ear with a most imposing effect. The +colouring of the rocks at the entrance is magnificent. The base is of +a deep rose-pink; the sides rich dark brown, with blotches of bright +green and rose colour; the roof purple and brown. The water is very +deep and of a fine olive green, and, being remarkably clear, the light +stones lying at the bottom are distinctly visible, among which at my +last visit we could descry great fishes, probably bass, pursuing +shoals of launces." By "launces" the writer meant what we should now +call the lancelet. Just south of Dollar is the old smugglers' cave +known as Raven's Hugo. Below this to the extreme point of the Lizard +the coast is a series of jagged cliffs and clefts, with tiny coves and +black chasms. For seaward and distant views it is best to take the +head of the cliffs, but for the caverns a boat should be used, and +this of course necessitates caution. We have now reached Lendewednack, +the true Lizard parish and the most southerly in England. Apparently +the dedication, like that of Towednack, near St. Ives, is to a St. +Winoc or Gwynog. There is a church with the same name (Landevenech) in +Brittany; yet there has been some attempt to prove that Winwaloe, +whom we find at Gunwalloe on the western side of the headland, was the +founder. This seems unlikely, unless it can be shown that Winwaloe and +Winnow or Winoc were the same person. The church is interesting in +itself, and beautifully placed, giving traces of many periods of +architecture, from Norman to Perpendicular. The font, which happily +was preserved by former coats of whitewash, is Early English; it bears +the inscription "Ric. Bolham me fecit." The lofty south doorway is a +very good specimen of Norman; the pulpit, which is modern, is of +serpentine, and there are serpentine tombstones in the graveyard. Like +St. Keverne, this is a burial-ground of the wrecked. It has also been +the sepulchre of persons dying from the plague, of which there was a +severe visitation in 1645. It is said that, about a century later, the +soil where its victims had been buried was dug to receive shipwrecked +seamen, and that, in consequence, the plague reappeared. The bells +have Latin mottoes and some curious bell-marks. The blending of +granite with darker local stone in the tower has a rather singular +effect; it makes the walls look like a chequer-board. Landewednack +claims to be the last place where a sermon was preached in the Cornish +tongue, in 1678; as was natural, the old language lingered longest in +isolated districts of the Lizard and Land's End. It may be guessed +that some of his younger hearers would not have understood the +preacher, for the language had already greatly decayed. It was never a +particularly rich dialect of the Celtic, and left no remains worthy to +perpetuate its existence. Norden, who wrote in the middle of the +sixteenth century, stated that "of late the Cornishe men have much +conformed themselves to the use of the English tongue, and their +English is equal to the best, especially in the eastern parts. In the +weste parts of the countrye, in the hundreds of Penwith and Kirrier, +the Cornishe tongue is most in use amongste the inhabitants." A little +later, a loyal Cornishman bewailed "our Cornish tongue has been so +long on the wane that we can hardly hope to see it increase again; +for, as English first confined it within this narrow country, so it +still presses on, leaving it no place but about the cliffs and sea, it +being now almost only spoken from the Land's End to the Mount, and +again from the Lizard towards Helston and Falmouth." The inevitable +happened, just as somewhat the same process has taken place in Wales, +in Ireland, and in the Scottish Highlands. In these three countries +the old tongue had the aid of a powerful literature. Welsh and Erse +may be very long in dying out, as we hope they will be; yet nothing +can prevent the people of Wales and Ireland becoming bi-lingual, and +this can only have one ultimate result. Commercially, a single +language is necessary to the nation, and there has never been any +doubt as to which that language must be. And some of those who cling +to their vernacular as a proof of their Celticism may be making a +great mistake; speech is never a proof of race, and survivals of other +blood than Celtic adopted dialects of the Celtic speech. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE LIZARD TO HELSTON + + +Mr. Norway says that it would be hard to find an uglier spot than +Lizard Town, but of course he fully admits the grandeur of the coast +of which it is the small metropolis. The name, which first applied +only to the most southern headland, was not given from any fanciful +resemblance to a Lizard, but appears to be a corruption of the Cornish +words _Lis-arth_, _lis_ being the secular enclosure, the palace or +court, as distinct from _lan_ the sacred enclosure, and _arth_ meaning +high. Lizard Town is a cluster of houses, growing in number to meet an +increasing popularity, of which Landewednack is the church town, about +half a mile distant; it is served by motor-buses from Helston, and in +time there will doubtless be a branch line of the railway here. Housel +Bay, formerly Househole, is the bathing-place, with a large modern +hotel standing close to the cliffs; on the east is Lloyd's signal +station, and on the west the lighthouse. Vessels that used to call at +Falmouth for sailing orders, or for other information, now receive +these instructions by signal from Lloyd's station here, flags being +employed by day and lights by night; a wireless telegraph has also +been established. All vessels, outward or homeward, are thus reported +at this most southern point of England. At the lighthouse there were +formerly two lights, whose double purpose was to warn seamen not only +of the Lizard but also of the Wolf rocks off Land's End; these rocks +have now a light of their own, and at the Lizard is displayed a single +electric lamp, of 1,000,000 candle power, revolving, whose reflection +is visible at over sixty miles' distance. It is said that when its +revolutions first turned its light towards the houses of Lizard Town, +some alarm was felt at this sudden searching gaze piercing into the +very heart of the dwellings; it was like the vivid illumination of a +flash of lightning, a great prying eye which no one could avoid. To +obviate this a screen has been placed on the landward side of the +lantern. The light stands about 200 feet above the sea; and in +addition to this there is a fog-siren, whose tremendous voice bellows +through thick weather at intervals of two minutes. West of the +lighthouse is the little fishing-cove and lifeboat station of Polpeor. +In old times this headland was lit by a bonfire beacon, kept burning +at night; and there is a story that a Government packet, passing in +the days of our French wars, noticing that the sleepy watchman had +allowed the fire to dwindle to a mere smoulder, discharged a +cannon-ball at the spot to arouse the neglectful watcher. It must be +remembered that the Lizard is rendered doubly perilous by a +sea-covered stack of rocks lying to the southward. Before oil was +introduced for the lamps it is said the lantern was lit by +coal-fires--a kind of first-hand use of gas. Below the lighthouse is +the striking Bumble Rock, and close to this the hollow known as the +Lion's Den, formed by a natural sudden subsidence in 1847. This +formation was an immediate object-lesson as to the manner in which +these remarkable hollows, caverns, and rock-freaks have been produced +in the course of time; and there can be no doubt that such natural +weathering alone accounts for the Belidden Amphitheatre, east of the +fine Penolver Point. Bass Point is the eastward bluff of this rugged +and bare old headland, known to ancient geographers as Ocrinum, the +southern extremity of the Britains. + +[Illustration: THE LIZARD LIGHTHOUSE. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +With many visitors, to speak of the Lizard is to speak of Kynance. It +is Kynance that the guide-books and the artists have chiefly +popularised; it is Kynance that is probably the most celebrated +beauty-spot on the whole south-Cornish coast. Is it worthy of its +reputation? Some visitors give an emphatic affirmative; others are a +little dubious. To some the spot is a little spoiled by its +popularity; during the season it is like a corner of a fashionable +watering-place, covered with tourists, refreshment booths, and sellers +of serpentine. But autumn and winter bring a grand solitude when all +traces of the tripper are washed away: the storms cleanse it with +their mighty lustrations; only the white sands, the black or richly +stained rocks remain, a haunt of homeless winds and crying gulls. The +cove is encircled by a group of off-lying rocks, insular at high tide; +it is only at low water that Kynance can be explored. The Gull Rock, +Asparagus Island, the Lion, the Steeple, the Kitchen, the +Drawing-room--these names of the crags and clefts have become +almost as familiar as household words; while every one knows that if +you post a letter in the Devil's Post-office, it will presently be +returned in a great outburst of water. It is of little use for the +local authorities to forbid such posting, as being dangerous to the +individual who waits too eagerly near for his reply; visitors will +still venture, and are sometimes drenched, if nothing worse, by the +natural blow-hole for their pains. There are other places here where +care must be exercised--steep sudden descents, unguarded chasms, nooks +and coves where it is easy to be entrapped by the tide; even the +active and skilful may get into trouble, and visitors who bring +venturesome boys must be prepared for alarms. It is natural that many +a parent of a family should prefer a level sandy shore for his summer +resort, and Cornwall happily has many such spots to offer, where +father and mother can recline restfully without constant anxiety for +their boys and girls. + +Passing westward from Kynance there are numberless features of the +coast that might cause one to delay; and the coastguard's walk above +the cliffs is rendered plain by the white stones that are so necessary +at night. In one place is the intervening cleft called Gue Graze, +which may be scrambled across or skirted, leading to the precipice +that rises above the cavernous Pigeon Hugo; this cave can only be +approached from the water, and then very rarely. Fields of buttercups +and clover come near to the shore, but inland lies the moorland waste +of Pradanack and Goonhilly Downs. Beyond Pigeon Hugo are two notable +headlands, Vellan and Pradanack. This brings us to Mullion, another +small metropolis of what is considered the Lizard district, though we +have now left the true Lizard five or six miles behind us. This is +another region of shipwrecks, but if we can forget them Mullion Cove, +with its outlying islet, is purely delightful, and is reaping the +fruit of its charms by the establishment of hotels, boarding-houses, +and golf-links. Both Polurrian and Poldhu share some of this favour. +The coast here is quite as fine, some think even grander, than it is +around the Lizard; while the air, though temperate, has a bracing +freshness from the Downs. The true name of Mullion Cove is +Porthmellin, and it is probable that Mullion itself is a corruption of +Mellin, for the church is dedicated to Melyan or Melanus, the father +of Mylor. The church-town is about a mile distant from the Cove, and +its church, with "black-and-white" tower of granite and serpentine, +somewhat resembles that of Landewednack. The tower dates from 1500, +but portions of the remaining building are obviously earlier; it was +restored in 1870. There is a curious crucifixion over the west window, +with the figure of the Father standing behind that of the Son; and in +front of the altar are carved wooden figures which may have formed +part of a screen; one of these is supposed to represent St. Cleer, or +Cleher. The bench-ends are of rare excellence for this part of the +Duchy--in fact, they are among the finest in the West of England, and +to say that is to say much. They probably date from the fifteenth +century, and bear all manner of devices, letterings, symbols. One +series, in the western nave, gives the arms of the Passion, while +others bear fleurs-de-lis and different crosses. The gallery that +was formerly here has been removed. In the chancel is an inscription +to the memory of Thomas Flavel, vicar, who died in 1682, being well +known locally as a ghost-layer. Such duties were at one time a +recognised part of a clergyman's vocation. The epitaph of this +reverend exorcist is quaint enough to bear quotation:-- + + "Earth, take mine earth, my sin let Satan havet, + The World my goods; my Soul my God who gavet; + For from these four--Earth, Satan, World and God, + My flesh, my sin, my goods, my soul, I had." + +[Illustration: BENCH-ENDS IN MULLION CHURCH. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +There is a ballad of Goethe's ("De Zauberlehrling") which tells how a +magician's apprentice, who had learned enough of his master's craft to +be dangerous to himself, once succeeded in raising spirits during the +wizard's absence, but was quite unable to dismiss them. A similar tale +is told of Flavel's servant-maid. During her master's absence at +church she unwarily opened one of the books in his study, "whereupon a +host of spirits sprung up all round her. Her master discovered this, +though then occupied at church, closed his book and dismissed the +congregation. On his return home he took up the book with which his +servant had been meddling, and read backwards the passage which she +had been reading, at the same time laying about him lustily with his +walking-cane; whereupon all the spirits took their departure, but not +before they had pinched the servant-girl black and blue." It is said +that this parson used to charge five guineas for laying troublesome +ghosts; but as there are no longer ghosts at Mullion, it is not +advisable to attempt a revival of the business. Nor are there +smugglers, though the locality had once a reputation not only for +smuggling but for wrecking. It may not have been often that persons +deliberately drew vessels on the coast by false signals, but that this +was sometimes done seems indisputable. More often still, boats may +have been deceived by lights that were merely displayed as signals or +warnings during operations of the smugglers. But there was little need +to do anything that might lead to shipwreck; the deadly coast itself +was enough. To relate the stories of even a few might be monotonous, +after those of which we have already spoken at the Manacles. Of a +fresher interest is the station of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph +Company, at Poldhu (formerly written Poljew), whose four highest +towers or scaffolds, each over 200 feet in height, have become a +prominent local landmark. It is not easy to describe these; an +illustration can best convey the impression, and no immediate scrutiny +is allowed to the public. The activities of this station must remain +mysteries to the uninitiated, but it must be a weird and wonderful +experience to ascend those white winding stairways around the iron +poles during a strong wind. Poldhu has one of the fine modern hotels +that come as a surprise to the rambler in the district that has +hitherto been so lonely and desolate. Around the wireless station is a +network of posts, wires, and lower towers. + +Poldhu was chosen in 1900 as the site of a station for the purpose of +establishing communication by wireless telegraphy with America, Mr. +Marconi being assisted at that time by Professor Fleming, of London. +No such distance had hitherto been attempted, and the employment of +very powerful magnetic waves was necessary. These were obtained, Mr. +Marconi has himself told us, "by means of a generating plant +consisting of an alternator capable of an output of about 25 +kilowatts, which, through suitable transformers, charged a condenser +having a glass dielectric of great strength." A corresponding station +was erected at Cape Cod, but in the autumn of 1901 the masts and +aerial at Poldhu were wrecked by a storm, and this caused delay. In +November, 1901, Mr. Marconi crossed to Newfoundland with the hope of +opening communication; and in December he was satisfied that he +received signals from Cornwall, proving to him that messages might be +transmitted by electric waves from a distance of 2,000 miles. Two +months later further satisfactory tests were carried out between +Poldhu and the American liner _Philadelphia_. In 1902 a new station at +Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, was put into touch with Poldhu; and at this +time the four wooden lattice-towers, 210 feet in height, were raised +at the Cornish station, the buildings for the generating plant being +placed in the space between them. The superior equipment at Glace Bay +caused the communication from Canada to be excellent, while the +reverse was not so good; Canada had granted a subsidy, and England had +not. But the communication was established; and a message from +President Roosevelt, sent to Cape Cod and transmitted to Glace Bay, +was safely received at the Poldhu station. Although the efficiency of +this station was greatly increased by the addition of the numerous +wires, sloping umbrella fashion, Mr. Marconi decided to establish a +new long-distance station in Ireland; and the Poldhu station is now +used for transmitting news to vessels on the Atlantic, whereby, with +the addition of intelligence received from the Cape Cod station, most +of the first-class liners to America are enabled to publish daily news +journals throughout their voyage--a very wonderful thing, when we +remember how completely a sea voyage used to cut one away from news of +home. Though it is not at the moment the foremost of the Marconi +stations, therefore, Poldhu has all the merit of having been the +earliest permanent wireless station; and in the near future it is +probable additions will be made to its plant, so as to bring it up to +the standard of the Company's station at Clifden in Ireland, when it +will become available for regular commercial communications between +England and America. + +[Illustration: MARCONI STATION, POLDHU. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +A little river flows into the Poldhu cove, running down from the +charming wooded estate of Bochym, mentioned in Domesday as Buchent. +There was formerly some fine old tapestry and stained glass in the +mansion, but these have gone; however, its oak room with sliding panel +and secret staircase remains, and the garden has some remarkable +tropic growths. A number of prehistoric relics have been discovered on +this estate. Close to Bochym is another old manor, Bonython; it is +said that the poet Longfellow was descended from one of the Bonythons, +who was an early settler in America. We are now in the parish of St. +Cury, or Corentin. He is a saint better known in Brittany that in +Cornwall, but it must always be remembered that the two countries +are very closely connected in race and tradition; also even in +name, for there was a Cornouaille in Brittany which former chroniclers +have sometimes confused with the English Cornwall. + +The church, which is chiefly late Decorated, has a very good Norman +doorway, and a most interesting hagioscope, resembling that of +Landewednack, with the difference that the Cury window is a single +light. Much change and mutilation seems to have taken place in this +church; a former vicar found many remains of alabaster figures hidden +among plaster and debris behind a slab. There is a very singular +aumbry or alms-box, formed in an oak bench-end near the door. The +rugged old building is finely placed, with a magnificent view over +land and sea. But the ordinary visitor takes more notice of +Grunwalloe, which is one of the most curiously situated churches in +the kingdom, standing where the sea-spray sometimes makes a clean +sweep over it. Its churchyard walls rise immediately from the sands of +Gunwalloe Church Cove--at times the very graveyard has been invaded by +dashing waves; and its little campanile tower is literally built into +the solid rock. Thus founded on rocks, it stands old and +weather-beaten, in a desolate district of sand-towans. The dedication +is to St. Winwaloe, and it must be left to more learned hagiologists +to decide who this Winwaloe really was, or whether he was identical +with the founder of Landewednack. There are about half a dozen +churches with detached belfries in Cornwall, but this of Gunwalloe is +perhaps the most striking; the campanile here stands 14 feet west of +the main building. It is difficult to account for the peculiarity, but +of course there are stories that attempt to solve the mystery. The +church itself is said to have been the votive offering of a survivor +from shipwreck; some, however, speak not of a single survivor, but of +two sisters whose lives were saved here, and who could not agree about +the exact position of the church they desired to erect as a +thank-offering. The result was a compromise. There are traditions of +buried treasure here, as well as of wrecked dollars; and in both cases +much time and money have been spent by treasure-seekers. + +It is possible that the Goonhilly Downs, which occupy the high-lying +and barren interior of this Lizard district, really embody a +corruption of the name of Gunwalloe, though the name is generally +explained as meaning "hunting down." These downs belong to the true +_meneage_ or stony district, but in the past they seem to have been +covered with thickets and wild beasts. It is still a lonely, deserted +track of country, with prehistoric hut-circles and entrenchments, +crossed by two good roads, now often traversed by brake and motor and +cycle, leading from Helston to St. Keverne and the Lizard. Leland +speaks of "a wyld moor, called Gunhilly, wher ys brood of catyle"; +perhaps the cattle were the once-famous Goonhilly nags referred to by +Norden. "There is a kinde of nagge," he says, "bred upon a mountanous +and spatious peece of grounde, called Goon-hillye, lyinge between the +sea-coaste and Helston; which are the hardeste naggs and beste of +travaile for their bones within this kingdome, resembling in body for +quantitie, and in goodness of mettle, the Galloway naggs." The breed +seems now to be extinct, though there are doubtless living +descendants; and Goonhilly remains an almost treeless table-land, +broken by streamlets where it meets the sea. There are many to whom +this inland portion of the Lizard country may seem dreary enough, but +others will be touched by its indefinite charm of breezy expanse, the +beautiful colour of its Cornish heath, the loneliness of its pools and +hollows, the call of its curlews, the hum of its summer bees. + +Just below Gunwalloe fishing-cove are the fine Halzaphron cliffs, on +which a transport was wrecked about a century since, and the bodies +then buried are said to have been the last shipwrecked persons to be +laid in unconsecrated ground. Public opinion rebelled against the +so-called heathen burial given to such remains, and an Act was passed +in Parliament sanctioning their interment in the churchyards of the +parishes on which they were cast. Whatever advantage there may be in +lying in consecrated earth is now freely granted; the unknown drowned +are given the benefit of the doubt, and their bodies committed to the +dust in Christian fashion. In parishes like these of the Lizard, and +on the north Cornwall coast at places like Morwenstow, this duty of +giving Christian sepulture has been no sinecure. + +We come across traces of an ancient Cornish family at Carminow, the +eastern creek of Loe Pool; but the most tangible relics of the +Carminows now remaining are the two effigies in the church of +Mawgan-in-Meneage, in which parish we find ourselves once more after +having made the tour of the Lizard peninsula. Various tales are told +of the Carminows; it is said they claimed descent from King Arthur--it +is even said that a Carminow fought against the Romans at their first +landing, which would carry them far eastward of Cornwall. Hals thought +that the Mawgan figures were brought from the old chapel of their +manor-house, which stood here by the Carminow creek; but Blight is of +opinion that the effigies were removed from Bodmin. In Loe Bar we have +a formation slightly resembling the famous Chesil Ridge of Dorset, and +the bar at Slapton Sands in Devon; but this Loe Bar is on a much +smaller scale. Being formed of very fine pebbles, the waters of Loe +Pool are in ordinary times able to percolate to the sea; but after +much rain there is more water than can thus be carried off, and it was +formerly the custom to cut the Bar at such times that the superfluous +flood might rush through. A culvert has now been constructed for this +purpose, so that the cutting of the Bar is now superseded. A writer +who was at school at Helston tells us that "when the floods became +serious, and the Loe too near Helston to be pleasant, there was a +solemn function performed by the men of Helston, with the Mayor at +their head, called breaking the Bar. The Loe was so full that a small +trench cut between it and the sea let out the waters; there was then a +rush of water and the Loe became connected with the sea by a deep +chasm through which the tide flowed. I have never seen the Bar broken, +but I have seen the deep chasm in the bar of sand with the tide +flowing in and out. The natural forces which originally made the Bar +restored it, and in the course of some months it became the same as +before." Mr. Hind says he was told by a sailor that "when he was a boy +Loe Bar used to be broken once a fortnight"; but we sometimes +exaggerate the things that we remember of our boyhood, and certainly +the cutting can never have been as frequent as this. C. A. Johns, who +knew Helston well, says that it was rarely necessary to cut the Bar +more than twice a year, sometimes not even once; and further, +describing a cutting, he says: "In a few hours a deep mighty river is +bursting out with inconceivable velocity, and engaging in violent +conflict with the waves of the ocean; as the two meet they clash +together with terrific uproar, while the sea for twenty, or even +thirty miles, is tinged of an ochreous hue. Even at the Scilly Islands +the cutting of the Loe Bar has been notified by the altered colour of +the water." As the pool belonged to the lord of Penrose, it was +customary to present him with a purse containing three-halfpence to +obtain his permission for the cutting of the Bar. All this is a thing +of the past, but Loe Pool remains as the only sheet of water in +Cornwall worthy to be termed a lake, with banks finely wooded and +carpeted with flowers. In shape it is more like a broad river than a +lake, and it is in fact the land-locked estuary of the Cober, cut off +from full intercourse with the sea by this pebbly and sandy spit. +Helston claims that it was once a seaport, with vessels sailing close +up to its walls; and the formation of the Loe Bar, which destroyed all +access, is said to have been one of the accidents of the doomed +Tregeagle, whose story will be told later. The Pool is about seven +miles in circumference, and affords some excellent fishing; it is the +one great attraction that Helston can boast. When Tennyson wrote his +"Morte d'Arthur," the germ from which all his Arthurian Idylls +sprang, and in some respects the finest portion of them, he described +how the knight Bedivere carried the wounded Arthur after his last +battle-- + + "And bore him to a chapel nigh the field, + A broken chancel with a broken cross, + That stood on a dark strait of barren land. + On one side lay the Ocean, and on one + Lay a great water, and the moon was full." + +It has been sometimes imagined that this "great water" was none other +than Loe Pool, and certainly the spot has a better claim than Dozmare +on the Bodmin Moors; but the placing this last battle in the West at +all is merely a concession to fancy, and to the desires of West +Countrymen. History tells us that Arthur's last fight must almost +certainly have taken place in Scotland. But Tennyson's localities are +a land of dream and myth; we do better not to try to identify +them--their beauty may go with us from place to place, their +atmosphere bring peace and soothing to us wherever our steps may be. + +It is probable that the origin of the name of Helston is the Cornish +_hel_, "water," as at Helford and Hayle; but some Saxon derivations +have been suggested, and certainly the name was once Henlistone. It is +a clean, bright little town of about five thousand inhabitants, with a +broad main street. Relatively, the town was once of greater +consequence than now; its earliest known charter was granted by King +John, with many later charters from other monarchs. It was an active +centre of mining, and became a stannary or coinage town. The Grammar +School (now extinct) was notable in the days of Derwent Coleridge, +son of the poet, who was headmaster here at a time when Charles +Kingsley was pupil; the second master was Johns, known to all +botanists by his _Flowers of the Field_, and to all lovers of Cornwall +by his _Week at the Lizard_. Kingsley utilised his knowledge of this +corner of Cornwall when he wrote his _Hereward_, and there is no doubt +that he derived much good from his schooling under such excellent +masters as Coleridge and Johns. When writing of Helston it is +customary to say a great deal about its Flora, or Furry Day, the 8th +of May--a relic of old Maytide saturnalia. Though the dance through +the streets to a special kind of hornpipe, in at the front doors and +out at the back, is still continued, the old spirit that actuated it +is dead--it has become very much of a make-believe, a show for +visitors, a galvanised custom that might as well be decently buried. + +If we believed the guide-books, we might imagine that Cornish folk +were still a gay, childlike, merry-making people, carrying on the +customs of their forefathers, cherishing the old traditions, nursing +the old myths and superstitions, dreaming dreams and seeing visions. +Even writers who might know better try to present them as a race +apart, sharing to the full in that character of mysticism and vision +which is attributed to Celtic peoples. As a matter of fact the Cornish +are by no means gentle-minded simpletons nor poetic visionaries, +though, of course, there may be a few of either class among them; and +these nominally Celtic folk have no greater power of imagination than +the natives of other English counties nominally Saxon. There is a +strain of difference--something that is possibly pre-Celtic--something +at times sinister, passionate, incoherent; but there is nothing that +is more romantic, more thoughtful, than may be found in the average +countryman of the southern counties. We have all met delightful +Cornish people--hospitable, kindly, lovable; but, thank God, such are +to be met with elsewhere. It is not that the Cornish are to be +under-valued or slighted, but they are to be defended from the foolish +claims of casual visitors and the equally unwise assertions of some +natives. There is one grave charge that may be laid against the +people--Mr. W. H. Hudson made it in his beautiful book on the Land's +End: this is a charge of cruelty, especially against birds. There +could be no good in repeating this--it is never pleasant to say things +that sound unkind and perhaps uncharitable--unless it be that when the +people realise that certain practices are thought cruel by outsiders, +they may in time come to see the cruelty themselves. There is also the +supposed religiousness of Cornwall. From reading certain books we +might be led to imagine that Wesley found the Cornish savages and left +them Christians. He did a great deal certainly--let no one say a word +against that noble-hearted man. But the aspects of Wesley's teaching +that took chief root in Cornwall, as also in Wales, were just those +parts on which he himself would have laid least emphasis--the +excitability, the emotionalism. We do a grave wrong to Wesley in +giving his name to those manifestations of frothiness and of undue +familiarity with the Deity that have too often been classed as +Wesleyanism. These, coupled with sectarian bitterness against the +Church of England, may flourish if their votaries desire; but why +should they take the name of one who was an earnest and sober-minded +Churchman? Of course there is much in Cornwall of which Wesley or any +other religious teacher might well be proud; but there are other +aspects also, and plenty of room for those who shall teach the people +love, charity, and tenderness towards all forms of sentient life. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MOUNT'S BAY + + +From Loe Bar the Porthleven sands take us on to the busy little +fishing-port of Porthleven itself, whose mother-parish is Sithney. It +is becoming quite a popular watering-place, not only with Helston +folk, who have only about two and a half miles to come, but with +visitors from a greater distance. Porthleven is now a separate parish, +with a modern church of its own, and a large Methodist chapel at +Torleven that cost L3,500. Its name clearly embodies that of St. +Levan, whom we shall meet again near Land's End. An association with +that saint gives it a tolerable antiquity, but the place lacks any +picturesque garb of the ancient, and its chief pleasantness lies about +the harbour. There are fine views of Mount's Bay to be gained from the +higher grounds. The harbour and docks were incorporated a century +since; the pier is 465 feet long, and the basin has stout granite +jetties. Granite and china-clay, fire-bricks and fish are exported +here, and the fishing done is fairly extensive. The harbourage is +good, but rather difficult to make in rough weather; south-westerly +winds drive the seas fiercely against its mouth. As might be imagined, +wrecks have been plentiful here, and along the Methleigh shore are +the graves of many drowned persons--interred here in days when the +right to consecrated earth was denied. The coast had also an evil +reputation for wrecking--not what the underwriters style "act of God," +but the dark and mysterious crime of luring vessels on a rock-bound +shore:-- + + "God keep us from rocks and shelving sands, + And save us from Breage and Germoe men's hands!" + +The parish of Breage has a specially attractive church, dedicated to +St. Breaca, who landed in the Hayle estuary some time in the sixth +century; she was an Irish lady, said to have been the sister of St. +Uni, of Euny Lelant and other churches. The church is large and +shapely, but its ancient character has hardly been preserved by the +redecoration that took place in 1890, though happily that restoration +revealed some fine frescoes that had been covered with whitewash. One +of the figures is the popular one of St. Christopher, like that of +Poughill in north Cornwall; other figures are St. Michael, St. Giles, +and St. Cury. The altar-slabs are old, and may once have been taken +from altar-tombs. There is a good tower-arch, a five-shafted font, and +excellent wagon-shaped roofs; chancel-screen and reredos are modern. +Of the two bells, one, the tenor, is the largest in Cornwall, with a +diameter of 54 inches; it is said that there was formerly a peal, but +that the bells were recast into this single form. It is natural to +find traces of the Godolphins here, their seat being so near. The +national history has much to say of one Godolphin only, Sidney, the +Lord Treasurer, whom Macaulay treated not too tenderly; but Cornwall +knows of many, and is especially loving to the memory of Margaret, the +wife of Sidney, whose tomb is in the church of Breage. She has had the +benefit of a memoir by John Evelyn, her faithful friend, and his +account of her is a beautiful picture of womanhood. Being appointed +Maid of Honour to the Duchess of York in her twelfth year, the girl +retained her purity in a Court that was notoriously impure, and it was +thus that she met her two friends, the young Godolphin who married her +nine years later, and the older man Evelyn, who gave her devotion and +tender counsel. It was in 1678 that Margaret Godolphin died, after the +birth of her only child. A few days before her illness she had written +to her absent husband: "If I might, I would beg that my body might lye +where I have had such a minde to goe myselfe, att Godolphyn, among +your friends. I believe, if I were carried by sea, the expense would +not be very great; but I don't insist on that place, if you think it +not reasonable; lay me where you please." To Cornwall her sorrowing +husband brought her, laying her in this church of Breage, where her +remembrance is of a very sweet savour; and when we recollect how +fondly her lord had loved her, and how he never sought to fill the +vacant place, we must needs think with greater gentleness of one who, +for his age, was a patriotic and high-minded statesman. An earlier +Godolphin had been one of the "four wheels of Charles's Wain." There +are heroic memories clinging to the now extinct family; and it is well +to find that at least the name survives in vital fashion here around +their old manor-house. That house is now a farm, but it retains traces +of old manorial grandeur--some panelled rooms with great windows, a +hall with lofty fireplace, and the fishponds of the gardens. On the +seaward side of the house rises Godolphin Hill to a height of about +500 feet, giving a noble view of St. Michael's Mount and Bay. There +are many remains of former mining. Tregonning Hill, close by, is +somewhat higher, and its summit has a fine entrenchment with a +striking inner vallum. The Latin epitaph to Margaret Godolphin upon +her altar-tomb was written by Evelyn, and the same inscription was +placed upon her coffin. It is followed by her favourite motto, the +beautiful _Un Dieu, un amy_ ("One God, one friend"). Evelyn knew +better than to write any fulsome compliments upon her tomb. + +A little westward of Tregonning is Germoe, its church dedicated to St. +Germoe, or Germoc. The pinnacles of the Perpendicular tower are +specially notable, while the gable-cross and corbels of the porch are +of a kind rare in this part of the country. The body of the church is +Decorated, but its font must be far earlier; it is rather like a huge +stoup, of remarkably rude formation, and may perhaps be Saxon in date. +But the structure known as St. Germoe's Chair, in the graveyard, is +even more curious; it consists of three roofed sedilia, fronted by two +pillared arches. W. C. Borlase thought that the erection was simply an +altar-tomb, but, as another writer has said, "there is more than one +story attached to this chair. One is to the effect that the saint sat +in the central chair with the two assessors, one on either side of +him; another legend is that the priests rested in the chair; whilst a +third is that pilgrims to the tomb of the saint also rested therein. +Be that as it may, however, it is possible that this is a shrine, and +that the body of St. Germoe rests underneath it." There is a +folk-rhyme attaching to the parish:-- + + "Germoe, little Germoe, lies under a hill, + When I'm in Germoe I count myself well; + True love's in Germoe, in Breage I've got none; + When I'm in Germoe I count myself at home." + +Pengersick in this parish has still some remains of a castle built in +the time of Henry VIII. by a man named Milliton, but there was +evidently a far older castle here belonging to the Pengersicks, and a +cluster of ancient legends gathered around the place. Cornish +imagination usually stopped short at folk-lore and gave nothing to +literature; in folk-lore it was certainly rich. One of the stories is +of a former inhabitant of the castle who had doings with a king's +daughter abroad, and when she followed him to his Cornish home, he +threw both the lady and her child into the sea. The boy was rescued by +a passing vessel (of course to return later); the woman changed into a +white hare, who one day ran in front of the man's horse, startling it +so that it rushed with its rider into the waves, and both were +drowned. White hares play a striking part in Cornish traditions. +Another story says that the castle was purchased by one of the +Millitons, who, having murdered a man, shut himself up here in terror +and remorse. A further legend speaks of another Milliton who lived +here with a wife whom he hated, and whom he often tried to get rid of, +but her wits proved equal to his. At last, feigning reconciliation, +he invited her to sup with him, and then suddenly told her that the +wine she had drunk was poisoned. "Then we die together," she answered, +"for I had my doubts and I mixed the contents of the goblets." A +terrible tempest came on, and wild shrieks came from the chamber; the +servants, hastening to the room in alarm, found their master and +mistress lying dead on the floor, while looking through the window +they could see their spirits being carried off in triumph by a winged +demon. It is singular how legends of this nature should attach +themselves to certain localities and persons; but the occupants of +Pengersick appear to have had differences with the clergy in old +times, and the priests generally contrived to blacken the characters +of those who became obnoxious to them. It was a terrible power, the +making or marring of future reputation. + +[Illustration: PRUSSIA COVE. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +On the coast the beautiful Praa sands stretch for a mile towards +Prussia Cove, with Praa Green at their head; the sands in its season +are glorified with wild convolvulus, and the gently lapping waves +often have little enough to tell us of their disastrous fury in time +of storm. But enough has been said on the dismal subject of wrecks. +Human remains, supposed to date from the Old Stone Age, have been +found at this spot; they, if they could speak, might tell us something +well worth listening to. But their memories would be of a Cornwall +very different from the present, and they would probably look to see +St. Michael's Mount in the midst of a forest. + +If we are tired of shipwrecks, perhaps we are not tired of smugglers, +and we come on their footsteps in very vivid fashion at Prussia Cove, +whose original name was Porthleah. The place was a veritable hot-bed +of smuggling long before the days of John Carter, prince of smugglers, +who went by the name of King of Prussia, and gave its present name to +the little cove. Some say that in boyish play-fights he always assumed +the name of King of Prussia, and the title stuck. In Cornwall his +reputation quite over-shadowed that of his Continental namesake; so +that when the news of the battle of Jena and the defeat of the real +King of Prussia reached West Cornwall, a Mousehole man exclaimed, +"Misfortunes never come single; I'm sorry for that man. Not more'n six +weeks ago he lost three hundred keg o' brandy, by information, so I'm +towld." Carter had a brother almost equally famous, Captain Henry, and +the two between them, with much able assistance, rendered this coast a +very hot corner for the Preventive men. Sometimes it very closely +resembled actual war, as when the smugglers, mounting a small battery, +fired openly on a revenue cutter. "A smuggler chased by a revenue +cutter, being somewhat pressed, ran through a narrow channel amongst +the rocks between the Enys and the shore. The cutter, not daring to +venture amongst the shoals, sent her boat in. And the King, with his +merry men, opened fire on the boat. They loaded up the little guns so +that every time they fired the guns kicked over completely backwards, +and had to be replaced. The boat was driven back, and the cutter held +off for the night. Next morning the fight was renewed, the cutter +opening fire from the sea, while a company of riders fired from the +hedge at the top of the hill on the rear of the men in the battery. +This turned the tables on the smugglers, who sought shelter in Bessie +Bussow's house." Nothing serious appears to have happened, however. +Bessie Bussow, who kept the "Kiddleywink" inn, has passed to +immortality in connection with Bessie's Cove, which Nature seems to +have contrived especially for the doings of smugglers. The tempting +caverns remain, but we cannot compass much smuggling now, however much +we might like to; and the coves are chiefly devoted to crabbing. Men +like the Carters were heroes in the profession and gave it a certain +amount of dignity; romance and picturesque colour it always had. + +Perranuthnoe, a little beyond the modern Acton Castle, whose situation +is of great beauty, is locally known simply as Perran; the second half +of its name seems to point to an earlier saint than Piran. Perhaps +there was a St. Uthnoe whose name survives also at Sithney. The +fourteenth-century church is very interesting, with a granite figure +of St. James over the south doorway, said to have been brought here +from Goldsithney, about a mile inland. Another mile along the coast, +and we are at Marazion-- + + "Where the great vision of the guarded Mount + Looks towards Namancos and Bayona's hold." + +It is the presence of the Mount that gives its wonderful charm to this +wide Bay, beautiful in itself, but from this feature receiving +something of the mystic and spiritual, a touch of varying +suggestiveness, a glamour of the remote and the unusual. There is +nothing else quite like it in Britain; to match and surpass it we have +to go to that other Mont St. Michel across the Channel. There is a +strange kinship in the two Mounts; but in spite of the superior +architecture of the Norman eminence, we might not perhaps be very +willing to take it in exchange for our own Cornish mount of St. +Michael. It is natural that myth and tradition should haunt here and +at Marazion, whose very name has an Oriental suggestion of romance +about it. And yet the name seems to mean nothing more romantic than a +market-place; and in spite of its alternative Market-Jew, seized +eagerly by those who are trying to prove that all Britons are +Israelites, neither name must be taken to denote any connection with +Jews or Jerusalem. The oldest name was doubtless _Marghas-iou_, +meaning "the markets" in an early form of Cornish; and in a later form +of Cornish we have _Marasion_, which meant the same thing. But Camden +says that the name Market-Jew arose from the town's having a market on +Thursday, the day of Jove or Jupiter--_quod ibi mercatus die Jovis +habeatur_; an explanation that is probably quite fanciful. Of course, +the name has been held to prove the claim of St. Michael's Mount to be +the Ictis of the ancients, but the idea that the natives would have +carried their tin across to this incommodious little islet for the +sake of selling seems absurd, when we consider that they could have +sold it much better on the mainland. The description by Diodorus +Siculus, often quoted, has a tempting look, but it cannot persuade us +that the Mount was Ictis. He says: "They that inhabit the British +promontory of Belerium, by reason of their converse with merchants, +are more civilised and courteous to strangers than the rest. These are +the people that make the tin, which with a great deal of care and +labour they dig out of the ground. Then they beat it into square +pieces like a die, and carry it to a British isle, near at hand, +called Ictis. For at low tide, all being dry between them and the +island, they convey over in carts abundance of tin." To suppose +that Ictis was the Isle of Wight would carry us too far back, for it +was only in prehistoric days that Wight was connected to the mainland +so closely; and the general conclusion now seems to be that Ictis was +the island of Thanet, in every sense convenient for the traffic. Our +connection with the Continent has always been most intimate at this +eastern corner, and the tin was conveyed along the trackways from west +to east. Sea passage was a consideration in those days. That +Phoenicians and other eastern merchants came to the Cornish coasts +cannot be denied, and for those who came by sea from the Mediterranean +Cornwall was more convenient than Kent; but the more regular centre of +traffic must have been at the eastern corner, and in no case can we +suppose that this steep rock would have been selected as a +market-place. Marazion is different, and may have welcomed many early +traders; but there is little to record of its past. It was certainly a +smelting-place for tin. Formerly in the parish of Hilary, it now has a +church of its own. Historically its chief incident seems to be the +attack by the French in 1514; and there was also trouble here in +connection with the religious revolt of 1549. The mother-church at +Hilary stands so high that it is said St. Ives folk used to make a +regular allowance to pay for its spire being whitewashed, that it +might serve as a mark at sea. Spires are rare in Cornwall, and this +one, of early Decorated style, is of special interest, having happily +survived the fire that destroyed the main building in 1853. There are +some curious blocked spire-lights. Outside the church is an oblong +stone of some size, of which the only decipherable words are +_Noti-noti_, with some indistinct symbols. This has been interpreted +as the inscription of a certain Notus; but others have regarded it as +simply a Roman milestone. + +[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, FROM MARAZION. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +There is another stone, formerly outside the church but now taken +within, which gives the name of Constantine Caesar, thus establishing +its date as 306. Marazion is a pleasant little place, but of course +its chief interest is as the stepping-stone to St. Michael's Mount. It +is well known that Mount's Bay gives many traces of submerged forest, +and the old Cornish name of the Mount, meaning "the hoar rock in the +wood," gives further evidence. William of Worcester tells us that it +once stood six miles from the sea, in a track of country that must +have been a portion of the lost Lyonesse. The archangel himself is +said to have appeared on its summit in the fifth century, but we need +not associate the name of the Mount with any visit of this sort, for +churches on high places were constantly dedicated to the charge of St. +Michael, with the idea that he could protect them from evil powers of +the air. There may have been a religious cell here at a very early +date, but the earliest establishment of which we are certain is the +chapel endowed by Edward the Confessor, and gifted to the monks of St. +Michel in Normandy. The position of the Mount caused it to become not +only ecclesiastic but a secular stronghold, and it is in this +connection that it chiefly claims historic notice. In the time of +Richard I. it was held for King John by Henry de Pomeroi, but in no +part of the country was John greatly beloved, and on the return of +Richard from captivity the garrison surrendered voluntarily, Pomeroi, +it is said, committing suicide. During the Wars of the Roses some +fugitives from the battle of Barnet gained admittance to the Mount in +the disguise of pilgrims, and then, declaring themselves, held the +castle against all comers. Doing his duty as sheriff of the Duchy, Sir +John Arundell was killed in attacking them, and they resisted till a +pardon was granted them. In those days almost the only danger in such +a spot was the risk of famine; apart from that the place was +practically impregnable. Yet during the religious rebellion of 1549 it +twice yielded to attack, being taken for the King during the absence +of its governor, Arundell of Lanherne, and retaken by the Cornish; in +both cases we must suspect that the defence was half-hearted or the +supplies insufficient. In the Civil War Sir Francis Basset held the +Mount for the Royal cause, but surrendered after a gallant defence +when his case became hopeless. The Mount is now the seat of Lord St. +Levan, the representative of the St. Aubyn family, who gained +possession after the Bassets; and the little hamlet of St. Michael +lying at its foot is occupied by their retainers. The entire rock is +only about a mile in circumference, yet room is found on the very +small portion of level ground for a tennis-court, and even golf is +sometimes played. Anciently a resort of pilgrimage as the shrine of +St. Michael, the pilgrims that now cross by the causeway at low tide, +or are rowed over to the small quay, are lovers of the romantic and +the picturesque; but they are not allowed to ramble at will about the +buildings. Only a part is shown, including the chapel, which is +Perpendicular with some older fragments. The tower was a sort of +lighthouse or beacon for the guidance of fishermen--churches have +often fulfilled this double purpose, a lighthouse for both worlds; and +the lantern is now known as St. Michael's Chair, with a tradition that +whichever of man and wife sits there first will thereafter rule +supreme in all domestic matters; but the true Chair, as Carew +described it, was "a little without the castle," a craggy seat on the +western side of the Mount, where there was once an oratory. There was +good reason why pilgrims should resort hither in the past: "Know all +men that the most Holy Father Gregory, in the year from the +incarnation of our Lord 1070, bearing an affection of extraordinary +devoutness to the Church of St. Michael's Mount, has piously granted +to all the faithful who shall reach or visit it, with their oblations, +a remission of a third part of their penances." The human aspect peeps +out in the mention of alms and oblations; centres of pilgrimage have +always had a rich pecuniary value. Southey deals with St. Michael's +Chair in one of his ballads, which reminds us that St. Keyne, whom he +also treated poetically, is supposed to have visited the Mount when +she came to Cornwall--to which we must add a surmise that this saint +may not have been a woman at all, but was really St. Kenwyn. The Mount +is only insular during high tide, yet at such times, exposed to the +full force of the sea, the passage sometimes becomes impracticable; +and there are many low tides when it is not safe or even possible to +cross the causeway. Perhaps at any time those who see the rock from a +distance can best appreciate its charm. From Marazion to Penzance +there are three miles of flat, uninteresting road--perhaps the dullest +bit of coast-road in all Cornwall, were it not for the beauty of the +Bay. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PENZANCE DISTRICT + + +Whatever claims other places may set up, Penzance is truly the +business capital of western Cornwall, the metropolis of the Land's End +district. It is first and foremost a market-town. Of course, it is +also a coasting port and fishing port and a watering-place; but none +of these things so wholly absorb it as do the weekly markets, when +countryfolk from all the neighbouring villages throng Market-Jew +Street with their conveyances, their parcels and packages, their +cattle, their eager chatter. These people and their forbears have made +Penzance what it is; they have not sought to beautify it much--a +reputation as a holiday resort has been thrust on the place by its +convenience, its commanding position as the gate-town of Land's End; +Penzance did little to advertise itself, but the visitors have come, +and are coming, and the town is doing its best to give them a fair +entertainment. Though from the coast or the sea it often makes a fine +appearance, the town is one of utility rather than of adornment. It +feels that its existence is fully justified, without having to resort +to artificial attractions. It builds no pavilions or glass-houses or +aquarium, it needs no constructed lakes to retain its sea, nor towers +to emulate rocks that Nature has denied. Primarily a place of business +rather than of pleasure, one soon learns to admire and to respect it; +there is nothing garish and little that is fashionable about it. Not +many of its buildings are calculated to make an impression on the +visitor, except the Market Hall that makes Market-Jew Street a rather +striking thoroughfare, and the church of St. Mary, which has at least +a charm of position. The Municipal buildings are a handsome piece of +architecture; but it is not in these features, nor in the Morrab +Gardens, in spite of their subtropical vegetation, that the charm of +the town lies. That charm is a certain homely friendliness in the +aspect of the place, the bustle, the soberness and geniality of its +people. Further, Penzance is a good place to get away from--which +sounds like a left-handed compliment, but has really quite other +meaning; it is a fine centre for the whole far west of Cornwall. + +As a town Penzance cannot claim great antiquity, though its district +is remarkably rich in prehistoric remains. The name is _pen-sans_, the +"holy headland"; evidently misread by the town authorities as "holy +head," when they adopted the head of John the Baptist as the town +arms. There was an ancient chapel standing on the present Battery +Rocks, and this without doubt was the sacred headland which the title +refers to. The mother-parish was St. Madron, about 2 1/2 miles to the +north-west; and it is by no means clear who Madron was. Some think he +was an Irish Medhran, some a Welsh Madrun; some even assert that he +was none other than the great Padarn of Wales. But in 1835 St. Mary's +was built at Penzance, on the site of an old chapel to Our Lady, of +which some relics are preserved. The town was granted a market in +1332, a charter in 1512, and in 1614 deeds of incorporation. But the +most important event in the history of early Penzance was its burning +by the Spaniards in 1595. There was an old Cornish folk-rhyme which +foretold that-- + + "They shall land on the rock of Merlin, + Who shall burn Paul, Penzance, and Newlyn"; + +and perhaps this led the inhabitants to regard the enemy as invincible +when they really did land, especially as their descent took place on a +rock at Mousehole that bore the name of Merlin. The Spanish were left +to do pretty well as they pleased, burning and pillaging Mousehole, +Paul, Newlyn, and Penzance, but they thought it advisable to retreat +to their galleons in Mount's Bay for the night, and next day, the +countryfolk having plucked up some heart, and there being rumours of +English seamen drawing near, it was found prudent to decamp +altogether. A new town rose from the ashes of the old one, but there +was further trouble in the time of the Civil War, and Penzance +suffered for loyalty to the King. Under the circumstances we must not +look for any remains of great antiquity in the town, though that which +is historical antiquity is mere youth in comparison with the +immemorial age that invests this farthest corner of Britain with a +garb of wonder and mystery. Close to Chyandour (the "house by the +water"), and not far from the Penzance terminus, is the Lescudjack +encampment, or castle, which carries us back to the early settlement +of the shores of Mount's Bay; only about three miles inland are the +huts of Chysauster, where there was evidently an extensive village in +days long before Penzance was dreamed of. Whether it was that this +farthest neck of land became the refuge of driven races, pushed +further and further westward by new encroaching hordes, it is certain +that the Land's End district offers more relics of prehistoric +antiquity than any other equal tract of land can show. + +[Illustration: PENZANCE. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +When Defoe came to Penzance, he seems to have been surprised to find +it so civilised and so comfortable, "being so remote from London, +which is the centre of our wealth." That is the remark of a true +Londoner, showing an attitude of mind towards the provincial that is +not quite extinct. He says: "This town of Penzance is a place of good +business, well built and populous, has a good trade, and a great many +ships belonging to it, notwithstanding it is so remote. Here are also +a great many good families of gentlemen, though in this utmost angle +of the nation." It is clear he expected to find a village of savages. +As a matter of fact Penzance now, with its admirable train service, +seems nearer to Paddington than many places that are not half so far +off; every express that comes westward brings a savour of the great +city with it, just as each train that leaves Penzance carries material +evidence of Cornwall's existence into the very heart of old London. +All the flowers from Scilly go by this route, and the Penzance +neighbourhood has many flowers, fruits, and early vegetables of its +own to dispatch to Covent Garden, together with a considerable +quantity of fish. The railway is carried by viaduct across Marazion +sands; in 1869 a large portion was shattered by the sea, and the +line had to be removed further back. Sea and winds remain as untamable +as they were when men of the Stone Age broke each other's heads at +Chysauster. In Alverton Street (retaining the name of the old +Alwaretone estate, mentioned in Domesday) are the museums and +buildings of the Natural History, Antiquarian, and Cornish Royal +Geological Societies, with the Guildhall, and a public room for +meetings; but the Penzance Library, containing about 25,000 volumes, +many of great rarity, is kept at Morrab House. There are Schools of +Art and of Mining--both subjects strongly to the front in Cornwall. +Immediately below the domed market-house, once the Town Hall, is a +statue of the town's most famous son, Sir Humphry Davy, born here in +1778, his father being a wood-carver. He was educated partly at Truro, +and early evinced that taste for poetry and angling that never left +him. After serving with a Penzance surgeon, he went to Dr. Beddoes at +Clifton, where he met Coleridge and Southey, and discovered the +curious effects of "laughing-gas." His further career does not belong +to Cornwall, but he proved himself a true son of the Duchy by +inventing the Davy safety-lamp for miners. Another great man in a +different school of activity, Pellew, better known as Lord Exmouth, +though born at Dover, spent much of his boyhood with his Cornish +grandmother at Penzance. His gallant deeds against the enemies of his +country form a stirring page in our national history, but Mr. Norway +has told us of one occasion on which he ran away from a pursuer. He +was a mischievous lad, and once, "having wandered with a friend up +Castle Horneck Avenue, he was inspired to discharge a few shots +through the latticed window of a cottage inhabited by two excellent +old maiden ladies. The pellets were aimed at pewter plates, and struck +those only, but the insult knocked at the heart of one of the old +ladies, who seized the firehook, as the nearest weapon, kilted up her +gown, and gave chase. Pellew's courage dissolved at the first sight of +this gaunt apparition, running as he thought no lady of her age could +run. He fled like a hare; she cast away her firehook and followed; he +threw away his musket and gained some ground; she caught him up again, +and in Madron church-town was almost on his back, when there came a +kindly hill. The old lady's wind was gone, she could spurt no more; so +while the culprit fled away in shameful rout without his arms, she +retreated honourably, the one person (if she could have known it) who +ever terrified Pellew." + +Penzance has quite a commodious harbour, as it deserves, having spent +at least L100,000 on it; there is a regular service to Scilly, a good +deal of coasting, much fishing, and some ship-building. The west arm +of the pier is built on a vein of felspar porphyry, visible at low +water. Around the harbour cluster the narrow streets of the older +town, with nothing particular to recommend them; beyond this is the +town's one conventional feature, its promenade. A rather dreary and +unkempt mile of road takes us to Newlyn; and in this part Penzance has +certainly unduly emphasised its carelessness of appearance. It need +not be quite so slovenly and slipshod. Newlyn, the paradise of +artists, deserves a better approach, and Penzance itself merits a +fairer exit. + +But before passing on to Newlyn something must be said both of Gulval +and of Madron. The tract of sheltered land in which Gulval lies, +reaching from Mount's Bay to Ludgvan, is one of the most productive in +Cornwall, being chiefly devoted to market-gardens and flowers; its +rare mildness and productiveness is proved by the wealth of exotic +vegetation around Gulval Church and Vicarage. In this respect the +place actually rivals Tresco, and the fields of narcissi are as +luxuriant as those of the Scillies. Much of this soil is worked by +hand, in the good old-fashioned style, whose results always seem +better than those of machinery. It is quite an idyllic corner of land, +with a tangible outcome that goes to the markets in the shape of early +vegetables and spring flowers. Below stretches the wide Bay, with its +gem, the Mount, of which it is so glorious a setting. There is another +gem close at hand, and that is Gulval Church itself, dedicated to a +St. Gudval or Wolvele. The general character of the church is Early +English, but there were two restorations in the past century, the last +being in 1892, and a great deal of modern decoration has been added, +largely in Derbyshire felspar, with excellent result. The church has +been under the special care of the Bolitho family, whose monuments +abound here, and it is a proof that old ecclesiastic buildings may be +beautified by modern adornment, without the disastrous result that +sometimes attends such attempts. Gulval holy well was one of the most +famous in Cornwall, and there can be little doubt that the saint's +early oratory was on the site of the church--a few traces, indeed, may +remain in the walling, a successful blending of the very ancient and +the recent. Even more famous was the well of St. Madron or Maddern, +which was quite a Lourdes in its way. The church here, probably on an +older site, dates from the time of Richard I., being built by one of +the Pomeroys; but little remains of this earlier building except its +very curious and apparently mutilated font. The present church is +chiefly Perpendicular. + +In the graveyard is the epitaph of George Daniell, the founder of +Madron schools in days when men built schools instead of quarrelling +about them:-- + + "Belgia me birth, Britaine me breeding gave; + Cornwall a wife, ten children, and a grave." + +Madron Feast (Advent Sunday) was always an occasion of prolonged +merrymakings and dissipation. It seems to have been in this district +that the last bull-baiting took place in Cornwall. A witness states +that it took place in Gulval parish, in the summer of 1814: "I +remember the black bull being led by four men. The crowd was dispersed +early in the morning by a severe thunderstorm, which much alarmed the +people, who thought it (I was led to believe) a judgment from heaven." +This proves that their minds were already uneasy. It is devoutly to be +wished that all those whose so-called sports cause suffering to +animals may be equally on the watch for judgments from heaven. The +village of old Madron is very beautiful and interesting. + +Newlyn, a long mile beyond Penzance, in spite of the painters who have +carried its name far and wide, is still largely unspoiled. It must be +said for painters that they do not spoil a place as other visitors so +often do; in fact, all change--modernising, restoring, destroying--is +opposed to their sense of fitness; they are champions of the +picturesque and sworn foes of the jerry-builder. Newlyn remains quaint +and fishy, though it has its little Art Gallery and its Rue des Beaux +Arts. There are artistic industries also--copper repousse and +enamel jewellery; a new Renaissance has come to this Cornish +fishing-village--its youths and maidens are learning mysteries of +beautiful craft which may save them from the deadly inanities of the +average British workman. When we speak of early Newlyn days, of course +we mean the days of the first artistic settlement, some thirty years +since; older Newlyn has little to tell, except that it was burnt by +the Spanish, and that its life has always been bound up with the +fortunes of the fishery. Mr. Stanhope Forbes has told us something of +the place as he first knew it. "I had come from France, where I had +been studying, and wandering down into Cornwall, came one spring +morning along that dusty road by which Newlyn is approached from +Penzance. Little did I think that the cluster of grey-roofed houses +which I saw before me against the hillside would be my home for so +many years." But he bewails that Newlyn is not what it was; there has +been some spoliation, some pulling down of old cottages, some +unsightly intrusion of the ugly and modern, though certainly less than +might have been feared. It was here that Frank Bramley painted his +"Hopeless Dawn" and "After Fifty Years"; here Walter Langley painted +"Among the Missing," and Mr. Forbes "The Health of the Bride." It +would be hopeless to attempt to name all the pictures that +have carried different aspects of Newlyn life to the London +exhibitions--the piers, the blue-guernseyed fishermen, the +brown-sailed smacks (now partly giving place to steam-drifters), the +rich-complexioned old men and women, the lovely bright-eyed children, +the sturdy lads, the gulls, the wonderful bay. From the first there +was an excellent understanding between the painters and the people; +great tact was shown by the artists, and a mutual pride sprang up +between them. What is true of Newlyn is true also of St. Ives and of +all the haunts around Land's End where painters have established; +rarely has there been any friction, even if the artists have sometimes +been regarded as amiable madmen. It is true that John Brett, the +marine painter, before Newlyn's most palmy days, managed to offend the +natives by his too outspoken religious opinions and his habit of +laying on colour with his palette-knife. "What can you expect," asked +a fisherman, "of a man who says there's no God and paints his pictures +with a knife?" It will be remembered that religious differences have +been a cause of strife before now between Cornish fishermen and +fishers who brought laxer views of Sunday fishing from the East +Country. Such things have still a strong hold on those who "do +business in great waters." But there are times when politics, blown to +white-heat by the Bethels, will drive even religion from the minds of +the fisher-folk, as we may judge by a story told by Mr. Hudson. It was +after the visit of a lady missioner, who usually reaped a rich harvest +of converts; some one asked the minister how many souls had been won +on this occasion. "Not one this time," he answered; "we were too busy +with the elections." + +The Newlyn corner of Mount's Bay is named Gwavas Lake, and it is said +that it once really was a lake. A little southward we get into the +parish of Paul, whose name probably embodies no dedication to any St. +Paul, but is a corruption of the Cornish _pol_--a pool or creek. +Mousehole, one of the most delightful fishing-villages in England, is +in this parish, far more unspoiled even than Newlyn. As has been +already mentioned, Paul was burned by Spaniards, July 23, 1595, on +which day, the parish register tells us, "the church, towre, bells, +and all other things pertaining to the same, together with the houses +and goods, was burn'd and spoil'd by the Spaniards in the said parish, +being Wensdaie the daie aforsaid, in the 37th yeare of the Reigne of +our Sovereigne Ladie Elizabeth, by the grace of God, of England, +Fraunce, and Ireland, defender of the Faith." It seems, however, that +the church was not so utterly destroyed as this might lead us to +believe; much of the stonework survived, including the lofty granite +tower. Most persons remember Paul as the burial-place of Dolly +Pentreath, whose claim to be the last person speaking Cornish can +hardly be maintained, though even she did not speak it habitually. Her +married name appears to have been Jeffery, but that did not matter; +when the wife was the better half her maiden name often prevailed over +that of the husband, in later days than this. In 1768 Daines +Barrington visited her, and was heartily abused by her in Cornish +because he slyly suggested that she did not understand the tongue. He +says: "She does indeed talk Cornish as readily as others do English, +being bred up from a child to know no other language, nor could she +talk a word of English before she was past twenty years of age, as, +her father being a fisherman, she was sent with fish to Penzance at +twelve years old, and sold them in the Cornish language, which the +inhabitants in general, even the gentry, did then well understand. She +is positive, however, that there is neither in Mousehole, nor in any +other part of the county, any other person who knows anything of it, +or at least can converse in it. She is poor, and maintained partly by +the parish and partly by fortune-telling and gabbling Cornish." The +stone above her grave was erected in 1860 by "the Prince Louis Lucien +Bonaparte, in union with the Rev. John Garrett, Vicar of St. Paul." +Prince Lucien, nephew of the first Napoleon, was an eager student of +philology. In 1854 George Borrow, then touring Cornwall (his father +was a Cornishman), visited Paul Church, and noticed a Cornish epitaph +on the walls--said to be the only inscription in the old vernacular +surviving in this fashion. It may be given as a specimen of the +extinct language:-- + + "Bounas heb dueth Eu poes Karens wei + tha Pobl Bohodzhak Paull han Egles nei"; + +which has been thus rendered:-- + + "Eternal life be his whose loving care + Gave Paul an almshouse and the church repair." + +Two words here prove how Cornish was affected by the Roman +occupation--_pobl_ for people, and _egles_ for church. + +[Illustration: LANYON CROMLECH. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +When Paul was burned Mousehole suffered also, and its only house that +survived was the manor of the Keigwins, now the "Keigwin Arms," whose +appearance quite justifies the antiquity claimed for it. Borrow, when +he came here, must have been struck by the similarity of the name +of Mousehole with that of Mousehold Heath, with which he was so +familiar at Norwich; there seems no satisfactory explanation of either +name. Perhaps both embody some Celtic root. Mousehole was once called +Porth Enys, the island-port; and there is a little islet, St. +Clement's, lying off it. The place is in every way quieter than +Newlyn; there are fewer visitors in the summer months, less bustle on +the quays, less stir of fish-auctions; even the artists are rarer. All +is quaintness and primitive seclusion. There may be a somewhat too +aggressive savour of pilchards; but we must excuse this when we +remember what the pilchards mean to these fisher-folk, who were once +considered somewhat of a race apart, with a supposed infusion of +Spanish blood in them. There was a quay here and a chapelry in very +early days, and the place was active enough before Penzance had come +forward as a port at all; it is said that there was also a small +oratory on St. Clement's Isle. The fisher-folk have spent a good deal +on improving their harbour. The coast is grand and cavernous. On both +sides, near Newlyn and at Lamorna, there is some busy quarrying; the +quarries at Lamorna supplied much of the granite for the Thames +Embankment. Being a favourite trip from Penzance, the cove at Lamorna +is pretty well known; it opens to the sea from a very beautiful little +valley formed by the Lamorna stream, wooded with hazels and alders. +There need be no complaint just here that Cornwall is treeless, though +beyond and above the land stretches unwooded and desolate. But it is a +grand sort of desolation; only in thick weather or fierce driving +storms do we feel in a kind of lost world. At the head of the Lamorna +valley is an estate known as Trewoofe, or Troove, with a remarkable +_fogou_ (subterranean passage), not easy to find and not easy to +enter. It runs for about 36 feet, being 6 feet high and nearly as +wide, and is formed of rugged unhewn blocks. Stories tell that it +successfully sheltered a party of fugitive Royalists once, and it may +also have been used by smugglers of later date; but for its origin we +must go farther back, and perhaps it takes us to the dim days when +race was struggling with race on this far western limit of land. There +are so many prehistoric relics near as to be almost bewildering, and +this is surely not the place in which to discourse learnedly of them +all; besides which, the utmost learning does little but reveal our +dense ignorance of their real significance. Troove belonged to the Le +Veales, or Levelis, family, who came over with the Conqueror, and +flourished in this spot for six centuries, dying at last in the person +of Arthur Levelis, who was buried at St. Buryan in 1671. The modern +house retains only a few fragments of the mansion; but the doorway +remains, its jambs sculptured with queer figures, and three calves' +heads carved above it as the family arms. About half a mile westward +is Boleigh, or Boleit, with the Pipers--two rough granite figures. +When Athelstan traversed Cornwall from end to end, about the year 936, +he is said to have fought his last battle against the defeated British +at Boleit; not content with the whole of Cornwall, he crossed to the +Scillies and took these also. It is quite possible that there was +fighting here at that time, but very certainly the Pipers were not +then raised as burial monoliths; they are clearly of far earlier date. +In an open field near is the stone circle of _Dawns men_, the +dancing-stones, known as the Merry Maidens; there are nineteen rough +boulders of granite, and there was probably a twentieth. Naturally, +there is the usual story that they were maidens who danced on the +Sabbath and were thus punished, the Pipers being similarly doomed for +playing the dances. + +Though St. Buryan lies about three miles from the coast, it must be +visited for the beauty of its church and the interest of its +traditions. The church is so named after Buriena, a beautiful Irish +girl who came to Cornwall to become a saint, but it is very difficult +to decide definitely as to her personality. We may conjecture that she +came to Cornwall about the same time as St. Piran, perhaps in his +company, and that she set up her cell in a field formerly called the +Sanctuary, and later the Sentry. The present church is always +understood to have been founded by Athelstan, when he sighted the +Scilly Isles from this high ground, and vowed that if he returned +safely from their conquest he would endow a collegiate establishment +here. The expedition to Scilly accomplished, he observed his vow, and +founded an establishment consisting of a dean and three prebendaries, +with jurisdiction over the parishes of Buryan, Levan, and Sennen. +There was trouble later, because the Buryan priests claimed freedom +from episcopal control; but we find the Bishop of Exeter dedicating +the church here in 1238, of which some Norman arches, font, and stoup +survive; Athelstan's church has quite vanished. The building is about +100 feet long, and compared with the nave the chancel is almost like a +cathedral choir, thus proving its collegiate character, the stalls +still remaining. Much foolish restoration has done irreparable +damage, but the church is still beautiful in design and detail; +unhappily the screen was badly mutilated, and many bench-ends +destroyed. When Blight wrote his admirable book on the churches of +West Cornwall the Miserere seats could be raised; later, they were +very stupidly fixed down. On the floor of the tower lies the ancient +tomb of "Clarice La Femme Cheffrei De Bolleit," with an inscription in +Norman-French characters of the thirteenth century, begging visitors +to pray for her soul, and promising a ten days' pardon to those who do +so; there can be no harm in our testing the efficacy of this offer. +The tower that rises above this remarkably interesting grave is 90 +feet in height, and as the church itself stands high it forms a fine +landmark. Outside there is a shaftless cross of Celtic appearance, but +not supposed to be Celtic in origin, though it certainly may have been +adapted from a Celtic original. There is another old cross outside the +churchyard gate, which may perhaps at one time have been included +within the sacred pale, as traces of burial have been found. But +churchyards were not often diminished in this manner, and the graves +must probably be otherwise accounted for. In the church is an +altar-cloth, now rarely used, worked by two maiden ladies more than +two centuries since. + +St. Buryan is familiar to all visitors to the Land's End, as the cars +usually make it a halting-place. Even more famous, and perhaps more +attractive to the conventional sight-seer, is the Logan Stone of +Treryn, or Treen; but what makes this spot truly worth seeing is not +the mass of poised rock, which certainly stirs clumsily when pushed, +but the grand headland itself, on which there is a _dinas_, or old +entrenchment. The coast here has more beauties than can be named, but +this immemorial stronghold of a vanished race, on its magnificent +bluff of granite that juts from a turf-clad neck of land, is far more +glorious than any logging-stone, even though it may have been +displaced and replaced by a nephew of the poet Goldsmith. The little +hamlet of Treen is just across the fields. Logan rocks are simply a +freak of nature, in spite of the Druidic nonsense that has been talked +about them; softer soils have been eroded beneath, and the rock has +remained balanced. Treen is in the parish of St. Levan, but we have to +pass Porthcurnow Cove before reaching that saint's immediate locality. +Porthcurnow, with its fine shore and grand seas, and its memories of +Tregeagle, whose doom is to sweep the sands from Porthcurnow to the +farther side of Land's End, has in some sense had its romance knocked +out of it by the establishment of the Eastern Telegraph Company, and +the presence of about a hundred keen, sport-loving telegraphists. They +have a comfortable settlement for their exile here, with excellent +cricket and tennis grounds and perfect accommodation. Their duties +resemble those of any telegraph instrument-room in the country, but +the locality should render their leisure hours delightful. Hunt tells +a tale of a Spectre Ship at Porthcurnow, but all these traditions were +dying when he told them, and that is a good while ago now. The name of +Porthcurnow is interesting, as it probably embodies the root of the +name of Cornwall itself; and there was once a very ancient chapel +here, raised on a burial cairn of far greater antiquity; very slight +traces remain. Perhaps Penberth and St. Loy's Coves ought to have been +mentioned; but we must pass on to St. Levan, who was a very attractive +saint, with an engaging touch of human nature about him. Even so, his +identity is a little doubtful. The prefix St. is quite modern in +Cornwall, and as this parish was once spoken of as Siluan, and is +still sometimes called Slevan, it is possible that the real saint was +Silvanus, and not Levan at all. Whoever he was, he had a little +oratory and holy well on the cliff below the site of the present +church; and he lived on a single fish each day. One day two fish +persisted in being caught; and when he reached his cell he found that +his sister Breaca (whose name survives at Breage) had paid him a visit +with her two children. This legend goes on the usual supposition that +the saint was really the Irish Levan, brother of St. Breage. Unhappily +the children ate so eagerly that they were choked by the fishbones, in +memory of which bream (or sometimes chad) used to be called +"choke-cheeld." Mr. Baring-Gould says this caused a coolness between +brother and sister. He had another unpleasantness with a woman Joanna, +who lived near, who was a rigid vegetarian, and quarrelled with the +saint for catching his fish on Sunday. He said that to fish was no +worse than to do gardening. We may repeat these old stories, but the +Cornish folk of to-day know nothing of them; they are dead, except as +matter for the guide-books. St. Levan Church is snugly sheltered. It +has been carefully restored and is very attractive, with a good tower, +some fine bench-ends, and a beautiful screen. Outside the church is a +cleft boulder of granite, and there used to be a local saying that +when a pack-horse should ride through St. Levan's stone the world +would come to an end. A little beyond is the really delightful +Porthgwarra, with its rugged stone slip and tunnels leading to the +little fishing-cove. Visitors are beginning to discover Porthgwarra, +and it is one of those quiet, lonely haunts where lodgings must be +booked long in advance. Cornwall has a good many such--the resort of +those who shun the ordinary watering-place. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SCILLY ISLANDS + + +Geologically, we are still on the mainland when we reach the isles of +Scilly; they belong to the axis of the Cornish peninsula, and are in +what may still be called, comparatively, the narrow seas. The +hundred-fathom line lies far beyond them; these waters, though +thoroughly oceanic in character, are not oceanic in depth. We may +regard the islands as the last upward thrust of the granitic backbone +that runs, at a diminishing gradient, from Dartmoor to Land's End, +while the submarine plateau follows a similar gradient. Structurally, +therefore, these isles are a continuation of Land's End, but the +granite has become less consistent and more friable; it is largely +broken into felspar, quartz, and mica, with schorl, chlorite, and +hornblende. No great elevation is attained--nothing above 160 feet; +the grandeur of the coasts, which certainly does not equal that of +North Cornwall, consists in their rugged wildness and the fantastic +weathering of their crags. Contorted formations, logans and +rock-basins, reveal the decomposition of softer measures that has been +proceeding for ages. The isles lie about 27 miles west of Land's End, +but the journey from Penzance to St. Mary's is about 40 miles, and +the small steamers that make the passage usually take about four +hours. More often than not this passage is an uncomfortable one; the +islands stand in the ocean gateway of the two Channels, and they catch +whatever is going in the way of sea, while of course winds play upon +them with unbroken force. It is rather surprising that their strategic +importance should be neglected by the Government. There was indeed +some talk of forming a naval base here, but the scheme seems to have +been abandoned; yet a station with extensive harbourage could be +planned without vast cost, and would be a dominant factor in +controlling the navigation of the English Channel. During the +Franco-German War, when the navy of Germany was much less powerful +than that of France, Germany made considerable use of the Scillies as +a neutral port for the convenience of vessels making the Channel; and +a time may easily come when a naval base here would be of untold +advantage to Great Britain, as its absence might become a positive +disaster. + +[Illustration: SHIPMAN HEAD, SCILLY. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +The archipelago occupies an area of about 30 square miles, the isles, +reckoning many that are mere fragments of rock, numbering about two +hundred; the principal of which range in size from the 1,600 acres of +St. Mary's to the five acres of Little Ganniley. St. Mary's is about +three miles long and two in breadth, with a circumference of nine +miles and a population of about 1,500--about three-quarters of the +entire population. It contains the capital, Hugh Town, which is more +often simply styled St. Mary's, and which stands chiefly on a neck of +land that appears to be rather perilously threatened by the sea. Four +other islands are inhabited--Tresco, St. Martin's, St. Agnes, and +Bryher; they are all considerably smaller. The first to come into +definite view from a vessel making the isles is St. Martin's, with its +day-mark standing at a height of about 160 feet. + +It must be confessed that, for their beauty, the islands depend very +largely on sunshine and atmospheric effect; without the sun they can +become very dreary. Meteorologic figures prove that the average summer +temperature is only 58 deg. Fahrenheit and the winter about 45 deg.; so +that there is little oppressive heat, and frost is very rare. But in +spite of these figures the islands can become sultry under a blaze of +sunshine; and in winter the winds are sometimes piercingly keen. No +trees will grow unless protected from this wind; yet the tropical +vegetation that flourishes in the open air conclusively proves the +remarkable equability of the climate; while rainfall, which is seldom +excessive, is quickly absorbed or evaporated. To the lover of history, +legend, and romance the Scillies are a rich mine of treasure, and +their inaccessibility keeps them immune from the spoiling tendencies +of fashion. At one time this inaccessibility was far greater, and only +those came to Scilly who had business there. It is claimed by +tradition that these islets are a portion of the lost land of +Lyonesse, the old-world haunt of Arthur and Tristram--a land of +villages, pastures, smiling vales, now buried beneath the waves. +Persons sometimes apply the name of Lyonesse to the whole of Cornwall, +but this is a mistake; the true Lyonesse of legend was a tract of +country lying to the south-west of Land's End, which we may connect, +racially or otherwise, with the Leon of Brittany. There are many +traces of submerged forest in Mount's Bay and elsewhere along the +southern coast; and the old Cornish name of St. Michael's Mount +represents that rock as having once stood in the centre of woodland. +It is impossible to say when or how the Scillies first became insular, +whether by sudden cataclysm or by gradual erosion; the latter seems +more likely, but tradition has preferred to speak of a sudden +catastrophe, such as that which is supposed to have overwhelmed +Cardigan Bay. There is a story which says that a member of the +Trevilian family was only saved from the inrush of waters by the speed +of his horse, which struggled inland from the pursuing waves, reaching +a rocky cleft on the shore at Perranuthnoe. It is possible that slow +erosion may have paved the way to some such immediate disaster, such +as that caused by a great storm in 1099, when, according to the Saxon +Chronicle, many villages and churches were swept away. It was this +storm, accompanied perhaps by a tidal wave, that converted the estates +of Earl Godwin into the dreaded Goodwin Sands; and it may have caused +tremendous damage, not definitely recorded, in the West. But another +tradition attributes the formation of the islands to magic. It was +said, by those who placed Arthur's last great battle in the West of +England, that, after the fight was over, the triumphant Mordred chased +the King's despairing followers to the extreme limits of Lyonesse, +where they lay "between the devil and the deep sea," like the +Israelites pursued by Pharaoh. The cruel Mordred was close at their +heels, rejoicing in the prospect of exterminating the last remnant of +Arthur's Round Table, when suddenly the wizard Merlin appeared in his +path. The magician raised his hand and summoned the elements to his +aid. The earth began to heave and the rocks to split; waters came +rushing into immense fissures and yawning chasms. Mordred and his men +turned back horror-stricken, attempting to flee from this upheaval of +nature; but the ocean was too quick for them. Where there had been +smiling acres of pasture and tillage, valley and moorland, waves were +now seething and foaming; there was no refuge to the east or to the +west; the breakers overtook them on all sides. But while they were +thus overwhelmed in the ruin of Lyonesse, the followers of Arthur +stood on land that had been spared. This far-west cluster of +hill-summits had been changed into a group of islets; and in this home +of refuge that was miraculously left to them, the fugitives settled +into peaceful residence, building houses and churches. Such, the story +says, is the ancestry of the Scillonians. + +All this belongs to the region of romance; history knows nothing of +it. Even the name of Scilly is a puzzle, though perhaps the best +authorities think that it derives from the widespread tribe of the +Silures. Strictly speaking, the name Scilly only attaches to one small +islet lying off Bryher, but somehow it has affixed itself to the whole +group. Many derive it from _silya_ or _selli_, meaning conger-eels, a +favourite Cornish dish; others suggest the Celtic _sulleh_, or +"sun-rocks," denoting the old sun-worship. It is interesting to note +that there is a Sully isle lying off Glamorgan, south of Cardiff, and +there may have been some connection between the two names, for Scilly +was sometimes spelt Sully; there is also a Scilly in Ireland. The +Romans usually called the islands _Sillinae_, but Sulpicius Severus +used the form _Sylinancis_, which Sir John Rhys associates with the +_Silulanus_ of an inscribed stone at Lydney. Another name was +_Silura_; Richard of Cirencester wrote of the _Sygdilles_, "also +denominated the Oestromenides and Cassiterides"; the Danes spoke of +the _Syllingar_; and in French charts the isles are "_les +Sorlingues_." The whole question is very difficult, and this is hardly +the place in which to discuss it. It is almost certain that the isles +cannot have been the Cassiterides, or tin-islands; they present only +slight traces of tin-working, and it is far from likely that the +tin-workers of Cornwall would have shipped their metal to this +isolated spot in order to find a market with foreign traders. It is +more probable that the name of Tin Islands was applied by the ancients +to the British Isles in general, whose number and extent were little +known in those days. Rome seems to have used the isles as a place of +banishment and penal settlement, and in days of early Christianity two +heretical bishops were exiled here. Early in the tenth century +Athelstan made a progress through Cornwall, ostensibly to conquer it +as a part of Wessex; and when he reached the high land near the +present St. Buryan it is said that he sighted these islands in the +distance and was not content till he had visited them. He vowed to +build a church on the spot where he then stood if he returned safely +from the expedition. The church of St. Buryan stands as a memorial of +his fulfilled vow. On the isles themselves he is said to have founded +Tresco Abbey, dedicated to St. Nicholas, which became a wealthy +religious establishment, though now only a few fragments remain. Later +in the same century King Olaf of Norway came hither during one of the +marauding cruises that made him a terror of the British shores. It is +related that a hermit living at St. Mary's gave him timely warning of +a mutiny among his seamen; Olaf crushed the mutiny, but received a +severe wound. He was carried to the monastery at Tresco, and consented +to be baptized; after which he became a saint himself, and churches +were dedicated to him--there is one such at Exeter. Longfellow has +told us of + + "His cruisings o'er the seas, + Westward to the Hebrides, + And to Scilly's rocky shore;" + +and he was probably not the only Norse Viking whose keel touched here. +Other saints have left their mark on Scilly: Samson of Glamorgan came +hither, about the middle of the sixth century, after founding a church +near Fowey; he is the same Samson that we find at Guernsey, who +afterwards became Bishop of Dol. The island that bears his name, +rendered familiar to many delighted readers by Besant's _Armorel of +Lyonesse_, is no longer inhabited, but bears many marks of its former +population. Traces of old habitation abound; there are many barrows +and one perfect kistvaen. Among other saints, Teilo seems to have been +at St. Helen's. St. Agnes, like the parish so named on the mainland, +is almost certainly a dedication to the Celtic Ann. It was natural +that Tresco should become the ecclesiastical centre of Scilly. The +abbey and all the churches of the islands were granted by Henry I. to +the monks of Tavistock; at the Dissolution the abbey reverted to the +Crown, and passed to the Godolphins, whose name survives at Dolphin +Town. It is likely that the private history of the isles was romantic +and exciting enough, but there is little to record until the days of +the Civil War, when they became a last refuge of the fugitive Charles +II. before his escape to France. In the meantime the Governor, Sir +John Grenville, had fortified the isles and held them for the King; +they became a centre of active privateering. The Royalist garrison did +not limit themselves to attacking Parliamentary vessels; they molested +Dutch shipping as well; so that the Admiral, Van Tromp, made an attack +on them, but without result. It is said that he parleyed with +Grenville, trying to induce that gallant soldier to yield Scilly into +Dutch hands; but Grenville was too loyal an Englishman for such +treachery--he would rather the Parliament took the isles than that +they should become Dutch. It was with no disgrace that he was forced +to yield, at last, to such worthy opponents as Blake and Sir George +Ascue. In the days of our French wars, a century since, the islands +were garrisoned, and became a port of supply for British ships, as +well as a rendezvous for vessels waiting convoy. A great deal of +smuggling was done here, and it has been said some wrecking; but, here +as elsewhere in Cornwall, the lights that were thought to be exposed +with such wicked intent were often merely meant as signals to those +who were watching for an opportunity to run a cargo. There was little +need indeed at Scilly for any artificial increase of wrecks; Nature +did her part far too well in this particular, from the disaster to Sir +Cloudesley Shovel to that of the _Minnehaha_ in the present year. A +small detachment of Royal Artillery and some engineers are stationed +here. Beyond this, the islands are practically defenceless, except for +the protection of their rough seas, fierce inter-channel currents, and +the off-lying deadly fangs of rock. + +The event of chief moment to modern Scilly was certainly the arrival +of Mr. Augustus Smith in 1834. The isles at that time were in a bad +way; the kelp industry had failed, fishing was poor and precarious, +smuggling could not longer be depended on for a living. Previous +"lords of the isles" had been absentees, taking little interest in the +welfare of the inhabitants; and the population had become too large to +support itself. But when Mr. Smith, a Hertfordshire gentleman, became +landlord by purchase, he came to live on his little kingdom, and to +rule as a benevolent autocrat. Just such a rule was needed, for +matters demanded a firm hand. There was some resistance, some kicking, +some difference of opinion between himself and his people; but the +strong will and the firm hand conquered in the end and a better time +dawned for Scilly. The squire sent the boys off to sea and the girls +to service on the mainland; he made new roads, improved the quay, and +even enforced a system of compulsory education. He resided at Tresco +Abbey, where the few remains of the old monastic establishment added +picturesqueness to a modern manor-house, and where he brought the +gardens into very much the state in which we still find them. It was +his wish that their character should be maintained. Tresco, in its +special style, is indeed beautiful. "The Cape geranium, the common +fuchsia, the sweet-scented verbena, and various kinds of myrtles and +veronicas, are grown as hedges to protect the crops. Looking across +Crow Sound from St. Mary's, these hedges are one blaze of colour, and +the air is heavy with their perfume. The Abbey stands in a rocky +valley looking south. The grounds are laid out in a succession of +terraces, and from every nook and crevice rare specimens of cacti, +sedums, and mesembryanthemums with their orange and purple bloom +sprawl over the rocks and run riot among the borders. In the gardens +South American aloes throw up their flowering stalks heavy with +aromatic fragrance, 20 feet high, and giant dracaenas wave their +feathery heads in the balmy breeze. Exotic palms, the bamboo, the +sugar-cane, and the cotton plant grow in the open, and tropical mosses +and orchids hang from the trees. Outside on the breezy downs one may +drink in pure ozone from the Atlantic, and revel in an atmosphere +untainted by microbes or bacilli. Wild duck, woodcock, and plover, +resting in their migratory flight, crowd the marshes, ponds, and +lagoons, and the sea is alive with fish." Such was the Tresco that Mr. +Augustus Smith made his home; such it is still in the hands of Mr. +Dorrien-Smith. It is certain that when Mr. Smith died in 1872, and was +buried at St. Buryan, he left the islands in a far better condition +than that in which he had found them; and his memory fully deserves +the striking monument of unhewn granite that has been raised to his +honour in his island-home. + +[Illustration: A SCILLY FLOWER GARDEN. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +Industrially, we chiefly think of Scilly in connection with flowers. +At one time there was some active ship-building, and Scilly-made boats +had an excellent reputation; but steam navigation put an end to this. +There was also a very lively business in potatoes, at first almost +without competition; but this trade has been hit very hard by the +Channel Islands, by foreign imports, and by the crushing cost of +freights. Vegetable cargoes cost less from the shores of the +Mediterranean than they do from Scilly; the foreigner is given every +advantage in his efforts to undersell the Briton, and the Briton, +though fighting at home, fights with one hand tied behind. Fishing at +Scilly was long in a precarious state, but is now a little better, +owing to the use of steam-drifters. The isles are too far from the +markets, but by catching the boat to Penzance the fishermen can now +get their fish away in most cases before it has had time to spoil. +With mackerel, the most profitable catch, this is very important, as +the mackerel so speedily deteriorates; but a good deal of the fishery +that takes place off the Scillies is not in the hands of +Scillonians--Cornishmen, East Anglians, foreigners, all compete. With +regard to flowers Scilly seems more happily placed, though to some +extent the same difficulties apply--the distance, the cost of +carriage, the competition of the untaxed foreigner. The story has been +often told--how, rather more than thirty years since, W. Trevellick, +of Rocky Hill, St. Mary's, sent a few bunches of narcissi in a hamper +to Covent Garden as a venture, and was astonished at the return they +brought him. These were simply "Scilly Whites," which had been growing +wild about the cottages without any one hitherto dreaming of their +financial possibilities. + +The knowledge of a demand soon roused the supply; new species were +cultivated, everything was done to ensure early flowering, the more +sensitive kinds were protected by wattle-fences and hedges of +escalonia or veronica; and from January till May every steamer to the +mainland carries tons of blooms. A ton of flowers is something rather +spacious; and in the height of the season as many as thirty tons are +taken in one boatload. The more severe the weather on the mainland, +the better is the demand. The bulbs are set in narrow fields, to +secure their shelter from the winds by thick hedges. As many as two +hundred kinds of narcissus, daffodil, and lily are now cultivated. +"The beds are renewed every third year. This is necessary to retain +the vigour of the plant, as if allowed to remain too long without +lifting, the bulbs crowd each other and send up barren and feeble +shoots. When the bulbs are lifted they are divided, and any surplus +stock either sold or replanted in fresh ground. The beds require very +little attention further than being kept free from weeds, and having a +top-dressing of stable litter or freshly gathered seaweed. Bulbs will +not stand forcing, and are always sturdier when grown in the open." +Men, women, and children find employment in the flower-fields, and in +the busy time are often engaged from early morning till long after +sunset. Picking must be done with great care, the blooms being +gathered before they are fully opened or they will not bear carriage. +A number are now sent by Parcel Post, as well as in more wholesale +method. Within twenty-four hours of being plucked they are exposed in +the London markets, or being offered for sale in the streets of large +towns by the flower-hawkers. Some even go as far as Scotland. During +1907 as many as 1,000 tons were despatched from St. Mary's Quay, the +cost of freight being L6 10s. per ton. Besides paying this heavy +charge, the Scillonians have to compete with growers in the south of +Cornwall, and even as far eastward as Dorset; while Continental +florists can pour their produce into England at a rate that further +hampers the home trade. + +Things are very different now from what they were when the mail +arrived irregularly from Penzance, and letters were distributed from +the window of the one small post-office in St. Mary's. Each of the +inhabited isles has now its own postal and telegraph office; and they +are also connected with the mainland by telephone, for coastguard +purposes. To be at Scilly is no longer to be quite out of the world. +There was a spice of romance about the manner in which the first cable +to Scilly was laid--or, perhaps we should say, was not laid. By the +Act that came into force in 1870 the Government had agreed to buy over +on favourable terms all telegraphs that at that time were found in +actual existence as working concerns. With a view to large profits, +companies sprang into being, hoping to get their wires into working +order, so as to be bought over on the appointed day. One such company +took the Scilly Isles into its charge--not from any benevolent +motives; Scilly had long been praying for telegraphic connection. A +cable of the supposed right length was procured and brought to Land's +End, where its shore end was fixed, and the vessel bearing it made +towards Scilly. Somehow or other the conveyors found themselves five +miles south of the Isles with every inch of their cable paid out. Time +was precious; it would never do to buoy the end and wait for a fresh +supply, and the present poor cable would not bear the strain of +picking up. But there was a clever man on board. He cut the cable a +few fathoms from the ship, carried its fag-end to St. Mary's, and +attached it to an old Morse instrument. Outwardly, things looked all +right; there was the cable attached at Land's End, and here was its +other end at Scilly. The difficulty was how to get messages through +in time to prove that an established telegraph was working. The +operator was equal to the occasion. Shutting himself in the little +instrument-room, he manipulated the current and produced messages. Mr. +Uren, the late Postmaster of Penzance, says, "I can testify that I saw +signals which purported to have passed over the cable, printed in +plain characters on the Morse slip; and on the faith of these signals +the contractors issued their certificate, and the Company took over +the cable. Needless to say, the whole thing was a ruse. The ruptured +cable lay dead and idle at the bottom of the Channel--lost past all +recovery." It was easy to explain afterwards that the fracture took +place naturally; and a new cable was soon laid to the island. Such +being one sample of the proceedings at the time, we may imagine that +the public paid very dearly when Government took over these +telegraphs, which have never yet shown a profit. + +It is frequently stated, as a reason for its equable climate, that +Scilly lies right in the course of the Gulf Stream. Of course this is +a mistake. The true Gulf Stream does not come within a thousand miles +of Britain. There is, however, a surface-current of warm water carried +north-eastward from hot latitudes, and this materially affects not +only Scilly, but the entire western coast. Although so mild, the +climate is dry and bracing; there are no unwholesome damps. Longevity +is the rule on the islands, and the single doctor has little to do +beyond assisting sturdy young Scillonians on their entrance into the +world. At the capital, St. Mary's, there are shops, banks, and hotels, +with a public hall, a modern church, and of course a fair supply of +the chapels that are so dear to these fervent Nonconformists. On +Garrison Hill is a fine promenade, close to Star Castle, which was +erected by Francis Godolphin, Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall in the reign +of Queen Elizabeth. The naval importance of Scilly was fully realised +in those days. There is a Cromwellian fort at Tresco, on a narrow rock +jutting into the sea. Prehistoric relics are too numerous to be +mentioned here in detail, and equally numerous are traces of +shipwreck. In Tresco Gardens there is one terrace devoted entirely to +the figure-heads of vessels that have been cast on these shores. +Almost every yard of the isles has its own tale of wreck; and in spite +of the lighthouses (the Bishop, the Round Island, St. Agnes, and St. +Mary's) navigators have still a lively dread of the Scillies, +especially in times of fog. Two lifeboats are maintained here, manned +by a dauntless crew; but it is very rarely that they can be of any +use; the area to be covered is far too large. The story of the wrecks +has been admirably told in the _Homeland Handbook_ to the Scillies, a +little work that also contains much excellent detail about their +natural history. There is one thing that the tale of wrecks should +strongly impress on the visitor. Unless he knows the locality +perfectly, even a skilled boatman should be wary of rowing or sailing +in and out among the isles, or of navigating around them. They are a +network of sunken crags, reefs, and currents; even in calm weather +there is usually more swell than appears, and the smoothest-looking +water may be racing with deadly velocity. The force of an immense +ocean is behind these waves. The Scillonians themselves are wonderful +sailors and pilots; under their guidance and in fitting seasons most +of the outlying rocks can safely be visited. Perhaps the best view of +the entire archipelago may be gained from the summit of Menavawr (the +"great rock"), though its position is by no means central; its height +is about 147 feet. It is a grand spot for seabirds--razor-bills, +puffins, guillemots, shags, and gulls. Annet, one of the largest of +the uninhabited isles, is positively honeycombed with birds' nests, +and at times it is ablaze with colour of the sea-pink and thrift. At +Rosevear gulls chiefly predominate, and at Rosevean the cormorants; +Gorregan is perhaps the best spot for seeing kittiwakes, while shags +often colonise numerously at Maledgan. In the clear water below these +crags fish are so plentiful that whoever takes the trouble to cast is +likely to reap a rich reward. + +But he who would fall in love with the Scillies before seeing them had +better read the first half of Besant's _Armorel of Lyonesse_. The +novelist was at his best when he wrote these pages. There is also good +literary use of the islands in Mr. Mason's _Watchers_. It is possible +that the first arrival will disappoint; it should not be expected that +Scilly can compare with the magnificent coast scenery of the mainland, +or with the verdant luxuriance of richer soils. But the spot has its +own special charm of effect and atmosphere, which it may not surrender +at once to its casual guest. The visitor must wait till he has seen it +in ruddy dawns and purple or golden sunsets, under chequered skies, or +wreathed in mysteries of sea-fog. He may then come to believe that +when saints of old legend touched on Islands of the Blest, situate +somewhere westward of Europe, they may really have simply drifted on +Scilly, and have found its loveliness like that of the "island-valley +of Avilion." Some small concession must be made to actuality. Large +portions of the isles are treeless down, salt-marshes, sand-hills; we +must not look for the wondrous native vegetation of an English +country-side. Sub-tropic plants cannot wholly compensate for such a +lack. But if trees are scarce, plants like the fuchsia grow to +tree-like luxuriance; there is a rich abundance of ferns, while both +the land and the marine flora are very rich. There is much to come +for, and those who come must be willing to brave a passage that may be +exceedingly unpleasant. When Dr. Benson, then Bishop of Truro, and +afterwards Archbishop, paid his single visit to the Scillies, his +episcopal dignity was entirely overwhelmed by the direst woes of +sea-sickness. On landing, he is reported to have said that before he +started he feared he would be drowned; when half-way across he prayed +that he might be; and now his one thought was how in the world should +he get back again. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +FROM LAND'S END TO ZENNOR + + +The western promontory of granite to which we give the name of Land's +End is not the grandest piece of coast in these parts; but it has the +prestige of a deep sentiment attaching to it, and there is no other +spot in England that draws visitors with such a powerful attraction. +In one sense the Scillies are the true Land's End, beyond which the +deeper gulfs of ocean lie; and, again, there is another land's end at +the Lizard, the southernmost point of England, and yet another at +Lowestoft, the most easterly. But Lowestoft looks towards the Teutonic +Continent, and the Lizard towards what we may call the Latin; both +remain European in their outlook. Land's End has a different attitude; +it looks westward, and the migratory instinct of European races has +ever taken them towards the West. It is the _Bolerion_ of Ptolemy, the +_Bolerium_ of Roman writers, the _Penwith_ of the Celts. Adding a +Saxon affix, Simeon of Durham named it _Penwithsteort_, the "tail of +Penwith." There is some doubt about the true meaning of Penwith; Mr. +Baring-Gould gives it as "headland of blood," which it might well be +as the last battle-ground of a defeated people; another interpretation +says the "wooded headland." To speak of it as wooded now seems +inappropriate, though we cannot forget the submerged trees of Mount's +Bay, nor can we say what might have been beyond when the point reached +farther westward. But it is as the last land in England that we cross +this windy moorland to reach the sea; and beyond, visible on days of +rare clearness, lie the Fortunate Isles of our dreams. Many a +pilgrimage is made through the length of Cornwall for this sole +purpose--to stand here at the dividing point of two channels, the +meeting of two seas, the Titanic outermost gateway that confronts the +fury or the rough sport of the ocean gods. The visitors come by +car-loads from Penzance or from St. Ives; not only during the summer +season but throughout the year--there are always some who wish to see +Land's End. They often bring the vaguest ideas of what the sight will +be; our visions of Land's End before we see it are often dim, immense, +mystical. Our dreams turn westward, to the land of the setting sun--to +the great ocean of the unknown that hems us in, beyond which lie the +promise, the golden hope, that have lured us onward from childhood, +through disappointment and failure and the bitter sorrow of loss-- + + "Still nursing the unconquerable hope, + Still clutching the inviolable shade." + +And so we come to the land's end--the end that is also a beginning. +When Tennyson came hither he saw a funeral somewhere near, and he has +the brief note, "Land's End and Life's End." The sun had just set in a +great yellow flare. There is no spot where sunsets seem more pregnant +of meaning than here, where winds are more haunted by crying +ghosts, where there is a deeper significance in the "murmurs and +scents of the infinite sea." + +[Illustration: CAVERN AT LAND'S END. + +_Photo by Gibson, Penzance._] + +But we must come to Land's End in the right mood--with sentiment and +inner vision, certainly, but without unrealisable expectations of a +mighty gigantic headland, an abrupt tremendous precipice. We shall +need the inner vision to contend with some jarring aspects of the +reality, which are naturally more aggressive if we come during the +holiday season. For the Land's End is a show-place, and we know what +that entails. There is a large modern hotel here, just as we find +similar edifices in some of the lovely solitudes of the Lizard and +confronting the very castle of Arthur at Tintagel. Being there, we +must take them philosophically--perhaps even make use of them. The +cottage once boasting in the name of the "First and Last House in +England" must now take a second place. There are some other aspects of +even more definite vulgarisation--the presence of the tripper with his +halfpenny newspaper, his bananas, and his mineral waters; there is +also too much building here, and the prospect of more. Mr. W. H. +Hudson makes an appeal for a national fund that shall buy Land's End +and sweep away much of this. He says: "The buildings which now deform +the place, the unneeded hotels, with stables, shanties, zinc bungalows +sprawling over the cliff, and the ugly big and little houses could be +cleared away, leaving only the ancient village of Sennen, the old +farmhouses, the coastguard and Trinity House stations, and the old +fishing hamlet under the cliff." It is a dream that should not be +impossible to realise. But the visitor who stays here after sundown, +when the throng has departed, can to some extent realise it for +himself. When the dusk of nightfall has veiled the defacements and +deformities, he can stay on this ultimate headland alone with the +immemorial rocks, the whispering wind, the brooding sea, greeted by +the lights of the Wolf and the Longships, with a far twinkle from the +Scillies. To the south the skies are searched by the great light of +the Lizard. This, indeed, is a vision of peaceful intensity, but there +are other times when there is no peace here--when winds buffet the +barren downs and waves crash furiously on the caverned crags, when the +sentinel rocks of the old country are a horror of wreck and death. Of +such a scene it would be more easy to say too much than too little. +Even Ruskin, when he attempted to describe Land's End seas in his long +convoluted sentences, failed to do anything but give a series of +phrases and figures that the mind follows with weariness. Such things +must be sketched vividly and briefly, or language only betrays its own +limitations. + +The rocks to which we immediately apply the name Land's End are only +about 60 feet above sea-level; there are many higher, even in the near +neighbourhood, and there are some more striking. Various fanciful, and +for the most part foolish, names have been applied to them, which need +not here be repeated. Both here and at the finer rock of Pordenack, a +little southward, the rock-formations somewhat resemble those of the +Giants' Causeway in appearance. But the noblest cliff of all on this +western promontory is that of Tolpedn-Penwith, to reach which we have +to pass Nanjisal Cove. Its name, the "holed headland of Penwith," +refers to a deep cleft or fissure, which can be explored from the sea +when tide and weather permit. Part of this fine bluff is known as the +Chair Ladder, and has traditions of a witch, Madge Figgy, who used to +take flight with her comrades from this magnificent point, and here +would shriek her incantations above the roar of wind and waters. The +spot was certainly well chosen. There are some hidden crags, and some +that are not hidden, lying off Land's End, such as the Armed Knight, +the Irish Lady, and Enys Dodman, which is pierced by a grand natural +arch. Rather more than a mile out is a cluster of islets, on one of +which, Carn Bras, stands the Longships lighthouse, built in 1883 to +replace one that had been privately erected; it has an occulting light +of over seven hundred candle-power, visible at 16 miles. The lantern +has sometimes been shattered by the force of the seas, and the tower +rocks so violently that on one occasion one of the keepers went mad +with terror and shot himself. When a boat had been signalled and +managed to approach, the supposed corpse was slung down to it, and a +fisherman accidentally touching the wound, the man revived. The Wolf +light is about seven miles out, erected with immense labour and cost +on a most perilous reef of rocks. Both lighthouses are often quite +isolated by stress of weather. + +[Illustration: SENNEN COVE. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +Immediately north of Land's End is the truly charming little Sennen +Cove, with its church-town nearly a mile inland. Formerly its beach +was haunted by pixies and mermaids; now, in the summer, it becomes +quite fashionable with the presence of those who are lucky enough to +get lodgings. There is quite a competition to obtain rooms at this +quaint little fishing hamlet; those who love it best prefer it when it +is left more completely to the gulls and the fisher-folk. Most of the +fishing here is still done by the seine-net, and there is still +"huing" from the cliffs to announce the arrival of the pilchards. +Sennen can boast a new breakwater, and every scrap of harbourage is +often badly needed. The church is dedicated to a saint who seems more +real than some that we meet with in Cornwall. Senan or Senanus was an +Irishman who came here some time in the sixth century. It is related +of him that one day his mother was changing houses, and the youthful +saint declined to help her; she was angry and poured some water over +him. Even a saint may dislike house-moving or spring-cleaning. +However, in this case the domestic articles very considerately moved +of themselves. Another thing told of him is, that when being carried +to burial he sat up on his bier and gave orders that his feast-day +should be March the 8th, not the 1st. This foolish tale must have been +invented later by some priest who wanted to change the festival. The +church has a good tower built of massive granite blocks, and there is +a fine granite cross in the new churchyard. Within, there is a curious +mutilated alabaster figure, apparently a Virgin and Child, and there +is an old mural painting. At the rock known as the Table Men there is +a tradition of a great battle between Arthur and some Danish invaders, +and there is a conjecture of Danes having settled in this district. +The wizard Merlin is said to have foretold another landing of Norsemen +here, to precede the end of the world; perhaps he meant the Germans. +In the past Sennen had a bad name for smuggling and piracy. Curving +northward is the beautiful and partially sheltered Whitesand Bay, +which has memories of some historic landings--Athelstan, Stephen, +John, Perkin Warbeck; but the coast is very dangerous, and is rendered +more so by off-lying rocks such as the Brisons. It is singular that +Cornwall should begin and end with a Whitesand Bay. Inland rises the +height of Chapel Carn Brea, which must be distinguished from the Carn +Brea of Redruth; it reaches about 660 feet, but Bartinney, or Bartine, +is still higher. Both are crowded with prehistoric remains, but Carn +Brea is the more interesting in this respect, for its cairn, whose +lower layer held the bones of some Stone Age chieftain, was crowned at +the summit by a Christian oratory. It is a great pity that this +chapel, probably one of the oldest religious structures in the +kingdom, was not preserved. Above the Stone Age burial was a dolmen of +the Bronze Age; and above this were layers that told of Romano-British +civilisation. But the antiquities of this district really need a book +to themselves. When we reach Cape Cornwall we are in the immediate +neighbourhood of mining again, and the fine headland itself is crowned +with an old mine-stack. Its formation gives Cape Cornwall the +appearance of reaching even farther westward than Land's End, and the +view from its summit is grandly impressive. This is the parish +of St. Just-in-Penwith (so called to distinguish it from St. +Just-in-Roseland). Mr. Hind thinks St. Just the dreariest town in +Cornwall, and its best friends do not call it lovely; but there is a +rather interesting Perpendicular church, with some earlier relics, and +there is also a _plan-an-guare_, like the Planguary of Redruth--an +old-world amphitheatre, first used for sports and later for +miracle-plays. The name means "place of play." It is now used for +religious and other meetings. The moorland country here is barren and +windswept, with disfigurations from mining; and the dismal summit of +Cam Kenidzhek is haunted with queer traditions. This is the "carn of +the howling wind" or the "hooting cairn," covered with traces of the +immemorial past and feared in old days as a special domain of evil +spirits. About a mile westward is the old Botallack mine, perhaps the +most famous in all Cornwall, which reached to the sea and considerably +beyond; it was long closed, and the decayed buildings had quite a +romantic appearance on the wild, bare cliffs, but the revival of +Cornish minings has brought a new activity. The old workings run for +about a third of a mile below the sea, and it is said that the pitmen +were often terrified by the roar of the waves above their heads, +dashing the loose boulders of rock. But the great Levant mine, a +little over a mile northward, runs for about a mile beneath the sea, +being worked for tin, copper, and arsenic. Once, not many years since, +the sea actually broke into its workings. This is mining, indeed, in +all its grimmest reality, and the arsenic-working in particular has a +bad effect on the miners. But it earns dividends. Pages might be +written about the old miners' superstitions, but even underground +these things have died out; even the perils are now lessened by modern +science. Yet at Wheal Owles, in 1892, eighteen men lost their lives +through the flooding of the workings. + +Just beyond Levant is Pendeen Village, with a new lighthouse on the +coast. At Pendeen manor-house, now a farm, was born the eminent +Cornish antiquary, Dr. Borlase, in 1695. For his age he was a +tolerably enlightened archaeologist, and his works on local antiquities +have supplied the basis of much subsequent writing; but of course they +present pitfalls for the unwary. He was Vicar of Ludgvan for fifty +years. The curious _fogou_ of Pendeen Vau was actually in the garden +of his birthplace, so that he had an early stimulus to research. +Pendeen has now its own church, which is of remarkable interest +although quite recent. In plan and exterior it is modelled on Iona +Cathedral, and was built by the Cornish missioner, Robert Aitken, who +influenced his people so powerfully that the granite was both given +and wrought free of cost. A castellated wall with a fine arched +gateway surrounds the building, which proves that under the right +impulse the people may still become church-builders--and will still +attend church. Eastward of Pendeen is the church town of Morvah. This +tract of coast from Land's End to St. Ives has perhaps been neglected +by visitors and writers, only one spot, and that not the finest, +Gurnard's Head, being really familiar. The stony barrenness of the +inland country is compensated by a real grandeur of coast-line, +invisible from the road and therefore often left unexplored. Morvah +has traditions of mermaids, with some idea that its name may be a +corruption of the Breton _morverch_; but we must probably seek some +other derivation. Tonkin says the name simply means _locus maritimus_. +Stories of mermaids are common enough, or rather were so, along this +north shore, doubtless explained by the seals that were once +frequent, and would be still if not shot off by the usual insensate +"man with a gun." The small church is Perpendicular, with a pinnacled +tower. In this parish is the magnificent Chun or Chywoon castle, on a +hill about 700 feet high. This western extremity of Cornwall was +guarded by a line of hill forts, of which this Chun, if not the most +powerful, remains in best preservation. We cannot speak with decision +as to the date of their earliest use, but this stronghold of Chun was +almost certainly utilised as late as the fifth or sixth centuries, and +may have seen fighting during the days when Irish invaders, even if +they came as travelling saints, were not always welcomed. The first +and second vallum can be traced with their ditches, and there was +doubtless an inner wall. The masonry is of different character from +that cyclopean piling of boulders which was all the earlier men had +known of building. Of such cyclopean style, though it is a small +specimen, is the Chun cromlech, standing near. In the near +neighbourhood are the _Men Scryfa_ (the inscribed stone), the +_Men-an-tol_ (the holed stone), the Nine Maidens, the Lanyon Quoit,[A] +the huts of Bosporthennis, the Mulfra Quoit--all being monoliths, or +other survivals of wonderful interest, with the strange fascination of +their mystery. Cairns, barrows, sepulchral monuments, we can +understand, for death and burial are ever with us; but what was the +meaning of these circles and standing-stones--who built them, and for +what purpose? They are interpreted astronomically now--the latest, +perhaps the correct, theory. The earliest peoples who brought any +culture to these shores came from the East, and we cannot tell what +profundities of astrologic science they carried with them. It is +generally acknowledged that when the rough Teutons came they +encountered and checked a mental culture higher than their own. But we +can only conjecture dimly, and leave the controversialists to wrangle. + + [A] See illustration, page 181. + +On the moorland beyond Morvah rises the tor of Carn Galva, standing +stern and solitary like a little patch of Dartmoor. On the coast is +the grand sheer cliff of Bosigran, the western protection of Porthmeor +Cove, with traces of prehistoric fortification; it is a noble bluff of +granite, with a drop of 400 feet. Puffins nest in the crevices below. +A little westward are the pinnacled rocks of Rosemergy, covered with +lichens and in parts clad in ivy; the neighbouring turfy slopes are +fragrant with heather and gorse. Little streams filter their way from +the moorland to the coves, reaching the sea through hollows rich with +ferns--there are still rare ferns to be found in the more inaccessible +shelters. Just beyond is another Treryn Dinas, like that of the Logan +near St. Levan; but this Treen is better known as the Gurnard's Head. +It is a favourite show-place, winning perhaps more attention than it +deserves in comparison with other places near it; but the rocky and +turf-clad headland, with its traces of a far-distant past, is really +very beautiful, reaching like a couchant beast into the waves that are +sometimes of the purest blue, sometimes white with seething foam. +There was an old chapel on the neck of the promontory, and near are +remains of some rude granite huts. The popularity of the place has +brought a modern hotel. + +[Illustration: GURNARD'S HEAD. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +The cove of Porthglaze with its strange turret-like rocks, the coves +of Pendour and Zennor--all these are beautiful, and cannot be seen +from the road; the visitor must explore them by scrambling along the +cliffs, crossing summits and gorges and gullies, not deterred by +difficulties that to a careless or nervous climber might become +dangers. Only so can this fine coast be fully known. + +In its situation the village of Zennor is like some of the wild, stony +parts of Ireland; but the cottages are too comfortable to be Irish. +Close to it stretches the stone-strewn moorland. Everywhere we have +proof of the abundance of stone, the scarcity of wood; hedges are of +rough boulders and pebbles; stiles are the charming Cornish +"gridirons"; there is a stream crossed by rugged little stone bridges. +The church is of the thirteenth century, restored in 1890; of course +there had been earlier restoration, for the tower is Perpendicular. +The dedication is to St. Sinara or Senar, a virgin probably of Irish +origin; but we know nothing about her, and little of the early +building itself, except that in 1270 the Bishop of Exeter granted it +to his college at Glassiney near Penryn, and the living seems to have +been starved. Zennor, indeed, was formerly known as the place "where +the cow ate the bell-rope," a sportive neighbourly reference to its +poverty and infertility. But the most famous feature of the church is +its carved mermaid. There are two good old bench-ends, now forming the +sides of sedilia, and of these the mermaid is one, represented with +comb, mirror, and fishy tail. The story tells that the men of Zennor +were very fine singers in the old days, and one, a squire's son who +sang in the choir, had so beautiful a voice that this mermaid came +all the way up from the sea-beach to hear him, Sunday after Sunday. +How she did it is not explained; but at last her importunity +prevailed, and the youth went away with her. She had lured him to the + + "Sand-strewn caverns cool and deep + Where the winds are all asleep; + Where the spent lights quiver and gleam, + Where the salt weed sways in the stream." + +The dial on the tower also bears the figure of a mermaid. There must +have been some origin for such a legend; perhaps some youth was +drowned off the coast, and it was imagined that a mermaid had beguiled +him away. The same sea-lady appears to have been heard of later, for +it is said that "a long time after, a vessel lying in Pendour Cove +cast her anchor, and in some way barred the access to a mermaid's +dwelling. She rose up from the sea and politely asked the captain to +remove it. He landed at Zennor, and related his adventure, and those +who heard it agreed that this must have been the lady who decoyed away +the poor young man." But why poor? The connection may have been a +happy one; the mermaid was evidently courteous in manners, though her +representation on the Zennor bench-end is not exactly beautiful. +Zennor Hill or Beacon rises to 750 feet in desolate grandeur, and on +this high land, often haunted by foxes and badgers, is the great +Zennor Quoit or cromlech, thought to be the finest in Britain. Its +slab, 18 feet in length, has slipped from its rest. It is an immense +titanic monument, whose story no one can tell us; yet in this +district these things are common, and utterly disregarded by the +countryfolk. They have forgotten even the tales of the giants who used +to play "bob-buttons" with them. He who wanders among these undated +relics and wild stony moorlands may easily go astray; the cairns and +tors are very like each other, and paths are few. Sometimes also there +are blinding mists or fierce winds heavy with rain; at other times a +glamour of loveliness steals over the desolate wastes, sunsets wrap +them in atmospheric glory, or dreamy noons brood over them with deep +calm. Between Zennor and St. Ives is the parish of Towednack, where +they tried to build a hedge around the cuckoo. It is just a symbol of +our craving to keep the springtime ever with us; the hedge was not +high enough, and the cuckoo flew out at the top. The name of the +hamlet was formerly Towynnok, which evidently embodies a dedication to +St. Winnoc--probably the same saint as we find at Landewednack. The +low, sturdy little tower has no pinnacles; when the folk were building +it the devil came each night and pulled them down. But this parish +does not touch the sea at all. Off the coast are the rocks known as +the Carracks, beyond which we pass Penynys and Hor Point, and so reach +the "Island" of St. Ives. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ST. IVES + + +Some years since, when the average man spoke of Cornwall he was +thinking of St. Ives--and perhaps of Tintagel. These were the two +places whose names had taken the public imagination, the one being +typical of the Duchy's romance, the other of her everyday life. But in +those days love of the picturesque had not quite overcome a dislike of +fishy and other smells. Walter White frankly told his readers not to +disenchant themselves by going into St. Ives; he recommended admiring +it from a distance. The town's name was familiar in popular songs, and +it was known as a prosperous fishing-port. Then the artists arrived, +and--perhaps more important still--a much improved railway service. At +the present day the reputation of St. Ives is assured, yet it is +certainly less popular as a holiday resort than some other places in +Cornwall; those who come here usually prefer the suburban district of +Carbis Bay. Newquay has attained an easy supremacy in popularity; Bude +is following in its wake; while South Cornwall has Looe and Fowey, the +Lizard, Penzance, with numerous small coast-side hamlets for the +delight of quieter guests. But St. Ives maintains its position as a +typically Cornish town; its past is thoroughly interesting, and its +records ample; it is a striking and in some respects fascinating link +between the bygone and the present. Old St. Ives seems to derive +entirely from the little headland known as The Island. It was just one +of those places that the ancients loved to fortify, almost insular and +easily defensible. The dry-stone defence known as the Two Edges was +probably constructed by men of the Stone Age; it is certainly +pre-Celtic. Other strongholds of the same date may be found at +Gurnard's Head, at Trencrom, and at Bosigran, to name only a few. The +Island may have been really insular when first fortified. There are +remains of an old chapel of St. Nicholas on the point of the headland, +and it is difficult to say whether this must be associated with the +name of St. Ia; there is also an oratory of St. Leonard, known as "the +Chapel," close to the stone pier. We may fairly conclude that both +these are later than the cell of St. Ia, which was on the site of the +present parish church. This saintly woman must on no account be +connected with the dedications of the Cornish St. Ive (pronounced Eve) +near Liskeard, or the St. Ives of Huntingdonshire. She appears to have +reached Cornwall late in the fifth century, coming in the company of +the Irish prince, Fingar, who renounced his kingdom in order to preach +Christianity. Fingar is claimed as a convert of St. Patrick. St. Ia is +said to have floated to the Island, anciently named Pendinas, on a +miraculous leaf, by which is clearly meant a coracle of the kind still +to be seen in parts of Wales. Her comrades went on to evangelise other +parts of Cornwall, but she remained here, living in a beehive-hut of +the style called "Picts' houses," and doing her best to soften the +faith and manners of the rude inhabitants. It is said that she was +martyred by a local king or chieftain, Tewdrig, or Theodoric. She +resided here long enough to impress her name permanently on the +locality, whose earliest Latin name that we can trace was _Parochia +Sancte Ye_, while the Cornish name was Porthia. The existing church +stands on the site of an oratory which was either her own foundation +or was erected soon after her death by loving disciples. Till 1409 St. +Ives, being only a small fishing hamlet, belonged ecclesiastically to +Lelant; but at that date the people petitioned the Pope, through their +lord of the manor, Champernowne, that they might have a separate +church: "As it had pleased the Almighty God to increase the town +inhabitants and to send down temporal blessings most plentifully among +them, the people, to show their thankfulness for the same, did resolve +to build a chapel in St. Ives, they having no house in the town +wherein public prayers and Divine service was read, but were forced +every Sunday and holy day to go to Lelant church, being three miles +distant from St. Ives, to hear the same, and likewise to carry their +children to Lelant to be baptized, their dead to be there buried, to +go there to be married, and their women to be churched." In response +to this appeal the Pope directed the Bishop of Exeter that the chapels +both of St. Ives and Towednack should be made parochial, "with font +and cemetery, but dependent on Lelant." The people set to work at +once, bringing the necessary granite from Zennor by boat, roads being +then quite unfit for transit of heavy burdens. Completed in 1426, the +church consists of chancel, nave, and two aisles, with a tower 119 +feet in height. The roofs are of decorated wagon-form, with figures of +angels at the springings of the braces. The Trenwith aisle was added a +little later. In the original church was an organ, very fine for those +days; it was destroyed in 1648 by the Puritans. There are some very +good bench-end carvings, not all in their original position, and there +is a Trenwith brass with the figure of St. Michael ludicrously +restored. Many other objects of interest may be noted, both within and +without the church, including a fifteenth-century cross in the +churchyard, thrown down by the Puritans and re-erected. + +[Illustration: ST. IVES. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +Historically, St. Ives has played no great part, but what may be +called its domestic annals are singularly varied and full. The chief +events that can be called historical are a landing of the French at +Porthminster during the reign of Henry VI., and the anchoring of +Perkin Warbeck in St. Ives Bay, in 1497, when he was proclaimed as +Richard IV. St. Ives was also concerned in the Western Rebellion of +1549, when the Cornishmen rose on behalf of their ancient religion. +There was a question of language also, as well as of faith, as we may +see from the articles of complaint:-- + + "We will not receyue the new Servyce, because it is but lyke a + Christmasse game, but we wyll have our olde Servyce of Mattens, + masse, evensong and procession in Latten as it was before. And + so we the Cornyshe men, whereof certen of us understa'de no + Englysh, utterly refuse this newe Englysh.... We wyll have holy + bread and holy water made every Sundaye; Palmes and ashes at + the times accustomed; Images to be set up again in every + church, and all other aunceint olde Ceremonyes used heretofore + by our Mother the Holy Church. Item we wyll have everye + preacher in his sermon and every Pryest at his masse, praye + specially by name for the soules in purgatory as owre + forefathers dyd." + +This rising, which began in Devonshire, rapidly spread throughout +Cornwall; it was, indeed, the fiercest and most serious of all the +risings against an enforced Reformation. It ended in disaster; many +Cornishmen were killed either in the field or by hanging afterwards; +among whom was John Payne, mayor or portreeve of St. Ives. Of the +religious aspect of the quarrel nothing need be said; but it is +certain that the compulsory introduction of the English Bible and +Prayer Book proved the death-blow of the Cornish language. It did not +die at once, but it speedily began to languish, and two centuries +later was practically extinct. During the Civil War St. Ives sided +with the Parliament, and its church, therefore, does not contain the +letter of thanks from King Charles that is so commonly seen in Cornish +churches. The little town was always strong in local patriotism, and +sturdily nursed its own interests as a fishing port; yet a study of +its Borough Accounts proves that it could be generous at times, and +these accounts are such delightful reading that a few extracts must be +quoted. They begin with the year 1573; the quaintness of diction and +the "indifferent spelling" add piquancy and remoteness to some of the +entries. + +Many of these have to do with expenses towards the keep of foundlings, +burying of the dead by the parish, and other charities; thus, a very +few years from the commencement, we have:-- + + "Pd. Eliz: Rodger to keepe a base childe founde by the p'rishe + and for half of a pecke of blye, XVIIId. + + "Pd. Alce caraway who releeveth certaine children of the + parishe, VId. + + "Pd. a poore man of Morestowe whose house was burnte and his + wiefe distracted of her witts, XIId." + +The charitable doings of these good St. Ives folk were evidently very +numerous and very varied; but these entries are not all of almsgiving. +Thus, in the same year as above, we have the following:-- + + "Easter Quarter. Impmis pd. for two dele boordes to make a newe + seate to the vicar, IIId." + +Also:-- + + "Item paid to the younge felow which is our clarke, IIs." + +Many of the entries have to do with licensed beggars, or shipwrecked +seamen, or the raising moneys for the deliverance of foreign captives; +but the variety is endless and delightful. Thus, after reading of a +shilling bestowed upon "a man of Irelande that had his barke stollen +by pirats," we have the record of a similar sum paid "ffor a paire of +breches ffor John the lasar." This John seems to have cost the parish +sundry amounts for his breeches and jerkins; but in 1596 it would +appear that St. Ives was quit of him, if it is he to whom the +following refers:-- + + "Pd. to a cople of women that shrowded ye lazar John Nyclis: + and ther breake faste yt tyme, VIs." + +Immediately after this eightpence is given "to a pore lame sowldior +hurted in the quenes servyce in yrland having a lisens." The town +could make merry at times, as we find when sixpence was paid "for a +pynte of Secke when our burgesse Mr. Harrys was chosen"--which is very +moderate compared with Falstaff's payments for the same liquor. In +1626 we read that special harbour-dues were levied to pay for the +repair of the "peere or Kay of St. Ives"; in which dues there were +special charges for English vessels and somewhat higher for "Alients." +The writer is of divided mind as to the spelling of pier, for he +passes from "peere" to "peor." It is interesting to note that "All +alients for roulinge on the sande te paye pr tonn IId."; which does +not refer to any merry sport of rolling on the sands, as sometimes +practised by exhilarated visitors, but to rolling of fish. It was +doubtless a useful provision that "noe garbadge of ffishe or stinkinge +ffishe should be cast above full sea marke att neape tide on the +sande." What with the queer wordings and the defective punctuation, it +is sometimes difficult to fathom the exact purport of entries. Thus, +about the year 1629, we have mention of two shillings given "to a +poore distressed scholler that came to our towne from Germanie the +27th of ffebruarie to seeke passadge home from Ireland." Query, where +was the poor "scholler" going? In 1640 the famous silver wishing-cup +was presented to the town by Sir Francis Basset, being about a foot in +height; it was really drunk from in old corporation festivities, but +the wine was latterly dipped from it in a ladle. It is inscribed as +follows:-- + + "If any discord 'twixt my friends arise + Within the Borough of beloved Saint Ies, + It is desyred that this my cup of love + To every one a peacemaker may prove; + Then am I blest, to have given a legacie + So like my heart unto posteritie." + +A little later we read of sixpence paid "to one that did whipp the +mayde that would drowne herself"; from which it is clear that the +town did not encourage suicide. Just below is, "Item, more to six +distressed Bristoll men their vessell being taken att Sea, 4s. 6d." +There are many such entries, of which St. Ives may well be proud. + +But these accounts also bear record of less peaceful proceedings. +Under the year 1681, after an entry of four shillings received from +"ffower offendors for their breach of the Saboth," we have a +chronicling of disturbance caused by St. Just men, and a fine on them +"for their riotous assembling into the Borough." A little later is the +item: "Pd constables to putt St. Just men to Lanceston, L6 9s. 6d."; +also 5s. "paid Mr. Robinson to dress their wounds." It is pleasant to +think that the St. Ives folk were such good Christians. In 1685 the +borough paid some attention to the condition of its drum: "Pd Henry +Anthony for new making the Towne drum 2s. 6d." Later, there is a +payment to Henry Barber for beating the same. Immediately after there +is much to-do about some sugar stolen by a man named Teage; sugar was +a costly luxury in those days. One of the items is this: "Spent by Mr. +Trentwith, Mr. Robinson, my self & Mr. May, at St. Earth, Gwynear, +Camborne and other places to discover the Sugar stollen by Teage being +out two dayes, L1 3s. 6d." It is amusing to notice how the writer's +modesty held good until he had recorded the names of Trentwith and +Robinson, after which it rebelled and insisted on taking precedence of +Mr. May. This Teage business caused a deal of trouble, and many +witnesses were carried to Launceston as evidence against him, at great +expense; yet the borough did not scruple, shortly afterwards, to +expend a shilling "for poynts to whip the boyes veiweinge the parish +bounds," and another shilling for the drummer on that occasion. In +1681 there was trouble with the vicar who served the three parishes of +St. Ives, Towednack, and Lelant, about the payment of tithes; the +vicar seems to have been non-resident, and often attended to his +pastoral duties at inconvenient times. In 1690 King William's victory +at the Boyne cost the borough a pound in merry-making, to which we may +add the following entry of 5s. 6d. "for a Tar Barrell and Syder." In +the same year an itinerant beggar seems to have won alms from the +authorities under a false ticket:-- + + "Given ffrancis Browne by consent who brought a Let pas by that + name, but afterwards his name apeared to bee ffrancis Jackson + 1s. 0d. + + "Pd. the Cryer to whip him and for thongs 1s. 1d." + +Under the year 1693 we are reminded of perils, now happily impossible, +that then lurked around these shores. There is an entry of +half-a-crown paid to William Thomas "for his labour to goe to +ffalmouth to give an account that two ffrench privateers lay in our +bay"; and a little later another half-crown was given "to ffower poore +boyes that were taken by a ffrench privateer." The beginning of 1698 +seems to have been especially devoted to charities; we have record of +sums given to two distressed men and their children whose houses were +burnt; to two poor Irishmen cast away at Zennor; to a poor traveller +and his wife, a seaman who had lost his hand, a captain who had lost +all his goods by wreck, and a poor disbanded soldier. Also, four +shillings given to two "poore soldiers which came from Silly." It has +generally been understood that Scillonians object to their name being +spelt in this manner; yet we have a later entry of expense "examining +the Silly Soldiers." One is tempted to quote much further from these +alluring records, and they certainly assist us considerably in +understanding the old-time ways of living, as we ramble about the +tortuous byways, nooks and corners of St. Ives. In the letter the +accounts are strictly local; in the spirit they may be taken as +typical of almost any West Country town of that date, and they have +the frequent touch of humanity that relieves bare figures from +monotony. + +In connection with the flourishing condition of Methodism at St. Ives, +it is important to remember that John Wesley paid the town as many as +twenty-seven visits, beginning in 1743 and ending in 1789. There was +already a society of his followers here when he began his visits, but +they were very unpopular with the majority of the townsfolk, who +accused them of sympathy with the Pope and the Jacobites. Wesley's own +reception was very mixed; he received some countenance and a good deal +of mob violence. Not only the vicar and curate of St. Ives were +against him, but he had a still more formidable opponent in Dr. +Borlase, the antiquarian vicar of Ludgvan. When a parishioner tried to +persuade Borlase that Wesley's preaching was doing good, he exclaimed, +"Get along; you are a parcel of mad, crazy-headed fellows." Yet two +years after his first visit Wesley was able to describe St. Ives as +"the most still and honourable post (so are the times changed) which +we have in Cornwall." But when he paid his fifth visit, in 1750, it is +clear that opposition had not died out. He tells us that: "Having +first sent to the mayor to inquire if it would be offensive to him, I +preached in the evening not far from the market-place. There was a +vast concourse of people, very few of the adult inhabitants of the +town being wanting. I had gone through two-thirds of my discourse, to +which the whole audience was deeply attentive, when Mr. S. sent his +man to ride his horse to and fro through the midst of the +congregation. Some of the chief men in the town bade me go on, and +said no man should hinder me, but I judged it better to retire to the +room." We may be sure it was no personal shrinking, but a regard for +the public peace, that caused the preacher's decision. Twenty years +later he wrote: "Here God has made all our enemies to be at peace with +us, so that I might have preached in any part of the town. But I +rather chose a meadow, where such as would might sit down, either on +the grass or on the hedges--so the Cornish term their broad stone +walls, which are usually covered with grass." Of his last visit he +says that "well-nigh all the town attended, and with all possible +seriousness. Surely forty years' labour has not been in vain here." +The numberless meeting-houses and Bethels throughout Cornwall bear at +least one form of testimony to the enduring fruits of that "forty +years' labour." + +There are other things besides Methodists at St. Ives; there are +painters and pilchards. The colony of artists here is almost as famous +as that of Newlyn, and there are at least sixty different studios. +Pictures from St. Ives have won world-wide fame; in fact, +artistically, Cornwall would have long since become stale were it not +for its inexhaustible charm. The painters bring something of a Latin +Quarter element with them, and are by no means limited to British in +nationality. Mr. Stanhope Forbes says: "I remember finding in a house +at St. Ives where I was calling, four painters of four different +nationalities. In that town Zorn, the well-known Swedish artist, +painted his first oil picture, which now hangs in the Luxembourg, and +for it his palette was set by an equally celebrated American painter +who at that time resided there." + +The studios are specially thronged during the winter months, as the +climate allows much open-air work; in the summer many of the painters +fly to other hunting-fields, leaving Cornwall to the tourist. The +Cornish have grown accustomed to the painters by this time, and cease +to regard them with wondering curiosity; they are recognised as having +distinct local uses. Many of the pictures now displayed in exhibitions +bespeak a close intimacy between the painters and the fishermen. But +the pilchards are of still more importance to the little huddled town +where the fishers live; and these usually begin to arrive about +August, when the huers have already taken up their position on the +high places around, in order to signal the first sighting of the +shoals. The huers are on watch from August till late October, and it +is the method of taking by seine that renders their signalling of +great importance. The exact position of the fish must be ascertained +before the seine-nets are dropped to enclose them. The takes are +sometimes enormous, but seasons greatly vary, as the fish are governed +by laws of feeding whose operation we cannot easily trace. The average +annual taking of pilchards in Cornwall is estimated at 20,000 +hogsheads. Gulls in countless numbers hover above the fishing-boats, +and swoop down for their share in the spoil; sometimes, however, +scared away by the more powerful gannets, with whom they dare not +dispute. At times the gulls are a distinct nuisance and something more +to the fisherman; they will snatch fish from his very boat, and the +constant loss must be very considerable; yet there is a superstitious +idea that the gull is the fisherman's friend--an idea in which we +might rejoice more if it led the men to be equally humane towards +other living creatures. The same mercy is by no means shown to the +gannet. But a more serious enemy of the men is the dogfish, who tear +their nets; and the fishers are taking their revenge by trying to +popularise this fish as an article of food, under the name of the +"flake." Besides the prevalent fishing with seines, there is much +drift-fishing from St. Ives, taking place at night; the boats being +dotted about within and outside the bay, with their headlights showing +like twinkling stars. The St. Ives men are not dependent on pilchards +only, happily for them; in winter their seines take many mullet, which +are mostly sent to Paris. The shore-seine used for these is +comparatively small; it is coiled and passed round the school, and the +two ends then drawn ashore. Here, as elsewhere, the men are usually +parcelled into companies--a kind of limited share-company; they take +turns in shooting the nets, and profits are shared. The control of +affairs by husband and wife is a different sort of share-company; the +wife is supreme mistress at home, but the man becomes "boss" as soon +as he gets his sea-boots on. Many mackerel are often brought to St. +Ives, and the men go still further afield after herring; but somehow +the catch of the pilchard seems the most distinctively local feature, +and the fish, once common much further east, is still an important +actuality to all the Land's End fishing ports. The typical Cornishman +has always been a fisher or a tin-miner; and both still flourish. + +Picturesque and artistic St. Ives clusters narrowly about the harbour +and on the neck of the Island; the more modern residences and +lodging-houses stretch above Porthminster Beach, with a popular +development at Carbis Bay. More inland suburbs are chiefly devoted to +the mining that has suffered so many vicissitudes--flourishing, then +decadent, and now flourishing again. One such centre is Halsetown, a +mining settlement founded something less than a century ago by James +Halse, of the old Cornwall Hals family; he was a solicitor and a mayor +of St. Ives, intimately connected with the mines. But in this rather +unattractive quarter we are less likely to think of Halse than we are +of Sir Henry Irving, who spent his childhood here. The reputation of a +great actor becomes very much a phantom affair after a few years; but +as we still associate the name of Garrick with a brilliant period of +the Georgian age, so the name of Irving must always be linked with the +later brilliant period of the Victorian. To the younger generation of +theatre-goers he is fast becoming like a half-mythical demigod--one of +those whom the elder folk mention with regretful shakings of the head +when newer favourites are lauded. The actor was not born in Cornwall, +but in Somerset; his mother, however, was a Cornish woman named +Behenna, and one of his aunts was Mrs. Penberthy, wife of Captain +Isaac Penberthy, whose captaincy of course referred to his position as +overseer of mines here at Halsetown. Hither Irving was brought in his +fourth year, and his memories of Cornwall remained vivid to his dying +day. "I recall Halsetown," he said, "as a village nestling between +sloping hills, bare and desolate, disfigured by great heaps of slack +from the mines, and with the Knill monument standing prominent as a +landmark to the east. It was a wild and weird place, fascinating in +its own peculiar beauty, and taking a more definite shape in my +youthful imagination by reason of the fancies and legends of the +people. The stories attaching to rock and well and hill were unending; +every man and woman had folk-lore to tell us youngsters. We took to +them naturally--they seem to fit in wisely with the solitudes, the +expanses, the superstitious character of the Cornish people, and never +clashed in our minds with the Scriptural teachings which were our +daily portion at home. These legends and fairy stories have remained +with me but vaguely--I was too young--but I remember the 'guise +dancing,' when the villagers went about in masks, entering houses and +frightening the children. We imitated this once, in breaking in on old +Granny Dixon's sleep, fashioned out in horns and tails, and trying to +frighten her into repentance for telling us stories of hell-fire and +brimstone. The attempt was not too successful." Mrs. Penberthy was a +Methodist and a teetotaler, of deeply religious instincts; yet the +boy's life with his cousins was evidently free and uncramped. The +uncle was strong, somewhat passionate, but lovable. If there was some +sternness in the home atmosphere, there was also plenty of affection, +and that is the most vital point. "Halsetown gave me a good physical +start in life, at any rate," said the actor. "I attribute much of my +endurance of fatigue, which is a necessary part of an actor's life, +to the free and open and healthy years I lived at Halsetown, and to +the simple food and regular routine ordered by my aunt. We rambled +much over the desolate hills, or down to the rocks at the seashore. +There was plenty of natural beauty to look for, and I suppose we +looked for it. I know the sea had a potent attraction for me. I was a +wiry youth, as I believe, when the time came for me to join a London +school." + +The Knill monument mentioned by Irving claims a little more attention. +John Knill, born at Callington in 1733, after being articled to a +Penzance solicitor, became collector of Customs at St. Ives, and in +1767 was chosen mayor. A few years later Government sent him to +Jamaica to inspect the ports; he was private secretary to the Earl of +Buckinghamshire, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; and in late life he +became a practising solicitor at Gray's Inn, as well as magistrate for +the county of Middlesex. He died in London, 1811. Long before this +date he had erected his own mausoleum on Worvas Hill, near St. Ives, +and to this his remains were brought. Among many legacies, his will +directed that certain ceremonies should be observed once every five +years, on the festival of St. James the Apostle; L10 to be spent "in a +dinner for the mayor, collector of Customs, and clergyman, and two +friends to be invited by each of them, making a party of nine persons, +to dine at some tavern in the borough; L5 to be equally divided +amongst ten girls, natives of the borough and daughters of seamen, +fishermen or tinners, each of them not exceeding ten years of age, who +shall, between ten and twelve o'clock of the forenoon of that day, +dance for a quarter of an hour at least, on the ground adjoining the +mausoleum, and after the dance sing the 100th Psalm of the old +version, to the fine old tune to which the same was then sung in St. +Ives Church; L1 to a fiddler who shall play to the girls while dancing +and singing at the mausoleum, and also before them on their return +home therefrom; L2 to two widows of seamen, fishermen or tinners of +the borough, being sixty-four years old or upwards, who shall attend +the dancing and singing of the girls, and walk before them immediately +after the fiddler, and certify to the mayor, collector of Customs, and +clergyman, that the ceremonies have been duly performed; L1 to be laid +out in white ribbons for breast-knots for the girls and widows, and a +cockade for the fiddler, to be worn by them respectively on that day +and on the Sunday following." These observances have been duly +performed, the last date being 1906, when many visitors attended to +witness the proceedings. + +A little eastward of Carbis Bay is Lelant, the mother-parish of St. +Ives. Its full title is St. Uny Lelant, and the dedication is to the +Irish Eoghain or Euinus, whom we find in Brittany as Uniac. There are +other traces of him in Cornwall, as at Redruth and Sancreed; and it is +probable that he arrived in Cornwall about the same time as St. Ia, +but the fullest traditions of him relate to his Irish life. The word +"Lelant" is explained as _Lan-nans_, the "valley-church"; in old books +we still find the parish named as Lanant. The stronghold of Tewdrig, +who murdered St. Ia and other saints, is supposed to have been on the +coast here, its traces concealed by the sweeping sands that very +nearly made an end of the village entirely, as they really did +destroy its one-time harbour. A number of skeletons of prehistoric +date were discovered when cutting for the railway to St. Ives, proving +the early occupation of these coasts. Norden, writing more than three +centuries since, says that Lelant was "sometyme a haven towne, but now +of late decayed by reason of the sande which has choaked the harbour +and buried much of the landes and houses; many devises they use to +prevent the absorption of the churche." But the cultivation of the +sand-rush, _arundo arenaria_, has done what the other "devises" failed +to do; and the rushy towans have now provided an ideal golf-course, +which prospers though the little town is somnolent. It is here that +St. Ives visitors do most of their golfing, and the ground is +described as "a natural seaside course, with charming views in all +directions. The holes are rather short and tricky, and put a premium +on local knowledge. Last, but not least, Lelant can boast a climate +absolutely ideal for golf in winter." Lelant Church is interesting, +but has lost its fine old bench-ends and screen. It is connected with +the memory of a former vicar, Parson Polkinghorne, who was a renowned +ghost-layer, a redoubtable fox-hunter, and a skilled hurler. His +exorcising formula is said to have commenced with the words "in Nommy +Dommy," and we are told it was in Latin throughout--as we may believe +from this specimen. But the days of the exorcist are over now--there +are no ghosts to lay, or only such as will not be laid. + +There is a ferry at Lelant, taking the traveller across the Hayle +creek to sandy Phillack, one of the mother-parishes of Hayle. This is +the narrowest section of the Cornish peninsula, and from Hayle River +to Mount's Bay is only about four miles across; a good road makes the +journey from sea to sea. It is just a neck of land dividing north from +south, and persons susceptible to climatic change say that the +difference can be noticed when they get half-way across. Hayle, a +little waterside town of less than two thousand inhabitants, is not +particularly attractive. There is a charm in the endless sand-blown +dunes that stretch on both sides of the estuary, but dismal weather +can make them desolate, and wild weather converts them into a howling +waste; while Hayle itself, with some small shipping and industry, is a +place that the lover of beauty does not often care for. But it is not +altogether to be despised, and it is conveniently situated on the main +Great Western line. This Hayle district was once the great +landing-place of saints from Ireland, who came here rather numerously +about fifteen centuries since; those who came from Wales usually +landed near Padstow or came to Cornwall by way of Devon. One such +Irish saint was Gwythian, who built his oratory a few miles north of +Hayle, and the remains of this rugged little church have lately been +rescued from the sands, with a special service of commemoration held +over it. The Irish saints brought their style of building with them, +and such relics as those of St. Piran and St. Gwythian are exactly +similar in style to the oldest memorials of the same nature in +Ireland. The masonry was of the simplest--a mere laying of rough +stones together without mortar. Some have supposed this oratory of St. +Gwythian to be the earliest religious building surviving in Britain, +but it is very difficult to say anything definite. If the little +church really survived as the saint left it its claim would be a good +one, but, like St. Piran's, it is more likely to be a century or two +later. Visitors must not expect to learn much about the saints or +about the monuments from the countryfolk, either here or anywhere else +in Cornwall. With luck they may get a few quaint notions and +superstitions out of the older people; but the younger folk are +educated in a different manner now--universal school systems tend to +uniformity and usually to a deadening of the imagination. For the +legends and traditions of the country-side it is necessary to go to +the guide-books, which are themselves often misleading. If a traveller +were to go through Cornwall compiling a book that should contain +solely what he saw and heard, it would be something quite different +from the ordinary handbook, and those who only know the Duchy by +reading about it would be chiefly struck by its omissions. The people, +here as elsewhere, no longer care much for the traditions of their +forefathers; and the delightful literary works that belong to +topography are the result and the supply of a culture in which the +ordinary men and women of the localities have small share. The visitor +should carry the best literary guide he can procure with him, +otherwise he is likely to learn little of the country's lore and its +antiquities--unless now and then he applies to a clergyman or perhaps +an intelligent schoolmaster. The days of oral tradition have passed +for ever. We need not complain when we remember that written +literature is a result of this decease. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FROM HAYLE TO PERRAN + + +A good road runs from Hayle to Gwythian, skirting the Phillack towans, +and then passes onward to Portreath. For the most part it keeps near +the sea, so that the cyclist need not feel he is losing everything +worth seeing; but the pedestrian, if he does not mind a few rough +places, will do better still by taking the cliff path. Camborne and +Redruth, lying some miles inland, are not likely to tempt the +traveller, unless he be a mining expert intent on studying newest +methods, or unless he be a lover of Rugby football, of which, in the +proper season, he might see some good games. Cornwall, having deserted +hurling for the more modern development of the ball game, has won high +position, and these two mining towns are the chief centres of the +sport. Something other than football, however, attracts most of those +who come to Cornwall, and one such attraction ought to be the lovely +view of St. Ives Bay to be enjoyed from the Godrevy headland. The reef +of rocks lying off this eastward point of the bay has been a deadly +trap for navigation, and the lighthouse, on an island close to the +mainland, was first erected in 1857. One early wreck on these crags is +connected with memories of the beheaded Charles I. On the day of his +execution a fierce storm broke on the coast, easily interpreted by +loyal Cornishmen as a judgment of God. A vessel containing the royal +wardrobe and other furnishings was riding at the time in St. Ives Bay, +being bound for France, and this was driven by the tempest on the +Godrevy rocks. Of the sixty persons on board all were lost with the +exception of a man and boy; these, with a wolfhound, swam to the islet +on which the light now stands and were carried to St. Ives as soon as +the storm permitted their rescue. With all the assistance that a +powerful light can give the Godrevy stones are still perilous. The +lighthouse is finely placed and its white tower is a conspicuous mark +along the coast. The eastward projection of this headland is Navax +Point. A little beyond is the deep and narrow gorge of Hell's +Mouth--not the only spot so named in Cornwall--whose dim caverns and +beach are said to be more frequented by seals than any other part of +the Cornish coast; but the seals will soon be a thing of the +past--they are foolishly and cruelly shot by men whose instinct is to +shoot everything. The caves were once haunted by smugglers also, and +their operations were admirably seconded by Nature. There is a +sprinkling of little islets along the shore here, one of which is +Samphire Isle. About a mile inland, on the left of the road, is Tehidy +House, with its parks and plantations of nearly one thousand acres, +said to have once reached to the foot of Carn Brea. This is the seat +of the Bassets, one of the most memorable of Cornish families, having +played a great part in the Duchy's history. The Bassets were among the +earliest Norman settlers in England and can be traced in Cornwall as +early as the time of Robert de Mortain, half-brother of the +Conqueror. They do not appear to have gained a permanent settlement in +Cornwall, however, till the reign of Henry II., when Thomas Baron +Basset, of Hedendon, Oxfordshire, married Adeliza de Dunstanville and +so took root at Tehidy. The family intermarried with the best local +families--Grenvilles, Trelawneys, Godolphins, Rashleighs, Prideaux. +Francis Basset, who was associated with Grenville in the glorious +victory of Stamford Hill, Stratton, was knighted by Charles I. after +the fight of Braddoc Down. Some of his letters to his wife at this +time are preserved, and they compare with Bevil Grenville's for +touching simplicity and whole-hearted affection. His joy at the +victories, which seemed to have established the Royal cause on a firm +basis--at least in the West--is expressed in several of these. +"Peace," he exclaims, "and I hope perpetual. Sadd houses I have seen +many, but a joyfuller pleasanter day never than this. Sende the money, +as much and as soone as you can. Sende to all our ffriends at home, +especially, this good news. I write this on my saddle. Every friend +will pardon the illness of it, and you chiefly, my perfect joy." To +this he adds in a postscript: "The Kinge and army march presently for +Plymouth. Jesus give the King it and all. The King, in the hearing of +thousands, as soon as he saw me in ye morning, cryed to mee, 'Deare +Mr. Sheriffe, I leave Cornwall to you safe and sound.'" The letter is +addressed "To my Lady Bassett, at her Tehidy, joyfull. After the +success near Lostwithiel." It was not long, however, before this +joyfulness was turned to mourning. Grenville and many another gallant +Cornishman fell in battle; stronghold after stronghold gave way before +the irresistible Fairfax; and Basset himself, after a brave defence +of St. Michael's Mount, had to yield and withdraw to a kind of exile +at Scilly. This dauntless loyalist was closely connected with the town +of St. Ives, which he represented in Parliament, and to which he gave +the silver goblet mentioned in the previous chapter. Tehidy House, +which was enlarged and nearly rebuilt in 1865, is beautifully situated +and contains an excellent collection of pictures, including specimens +by Reynolds, Vandyck, Lely, and Gainsborough. A later notability was +Francis, Baron de Dunstanville and Basset, of Tehidy, born at Walcot +in 1757, whose virtues were so greatly appreciated by the Duchy that +his monument was erected on the summit of Carn Brea, where it stands +as a striking landmark, rising 90 feet from its pedestal; this was +placed in 1836. The top can be reached by an inner stairway, and +commands a magnificent view of land and water. With the death of Lord +Francis the title de Dunstanville became extinct. Carn Brea cannot +actually be said to belong to the coast, being several miles inland, +but it is a dominant feature in any view from a far distance, and it +claims a visit partly on account of this monument and partly for its +prehistoric remains. This mass of granite, rising to a height of about +740 feet, bears traces of immemorial occupation that have been both a +delight and a puzzle to antiquaries. Those familiar with the works of +the artist Cruikshank will remember that the giant Bolster used to +take this hill with one stride from St. Agnes Beacon, and in addition +to this tale of giants there was the usual chatter about Druids and +Druidic monuments in connection with Carn Brea. It is safest to leave +the Druids alone--they are at a discount now; the place is +interesting enough without them, and the view from the summit is +magnificent, reaching as it does from sea to sea. Clusters of hut +circles and signs of neolithic military entrenchment are very obvious, +and a number of pure gold coins have been discovered here. There is +also a mediaeval castle, restored, and, of course, the inevitable +logan-stone. Nearer to Redruth is one of the Cornish "places of play" +(_plan-an-guare_), known as Planguary. These rounded hollows, such as +the famous Gwennap Pit, were formerly used for sports and dramatic +performances; they played an important part in the social life of the +past, and Cornwall had its own speciality in miracle-plays or +interludes. Carew tells us that "the Guary Miracle is a kind of +interlude compiled in Cornish out of some Scripture history. For +representing it they raise an earthen amphitheatre in some open field, +leaving the diameter of the enclosed plain some forty or fifty feet. +The country people flock from all sides to see and hear it, for they +have therein devils and devices to delight the eye as well as the ear. +The players speak not their parts without book, but are prompted by +one called the ordinary, who followeth at their back with the book in +his hand and telleth them softly what they must pronounce aloud. The +dramas were acted at one time for several days together and were +similar in character to the English mysteries of the same period." + +The parish of Illogan was the birthplace of the engineer Trevithick, +who was born here in 1771. His father, a prominent manager of local +mines, was a Methodist, often visited by Wesley. The boy, educated at +Camborne, was bright and precocious; he is said on one occasion to +have irritated his master by offering to do six sums to his one--a +proposition which no pedagogue is likely to appreciate. He was +powerfully developed physically, and at eighteen could lift ten +hundredweight. In 1794 he became engineer at the Ding Dong Mine, where +he introduced many improvements; and a few years later he was busily +engaged in designing a genuine steam-carriage, which was finished and +made its first short trip on Christmas Eve, 1801, carrying the first +passengers ever known to have been conveyed by steam. Locally this +contrivance was known as the "puffing devil," or as "Cap'n Dick's +Puffer." The next step was to produce an engine running on rails. This +was done in 1804, when Trevithick completed a machine which carried +ten tons of iron, five wagons, and seventy men for a distance of nine +and a half miles, the speed being about five miles an hour. Clumsy and +slow as it was, this was a very marked advance on anything that had +previously been accomplished. But the engineer's genius for invention +was not balanced by adequate business capacity, and he lacked the +means of perfecting and forwarding his devices; they had to wait. He +went to Peru in 1817, and suffered heavy losses through the war of +independence. At this time he was nearly drowned in the Magdalena +River, but was rescued by a Venezuelan officer, who drew him ashore +with a lasso. It is pleasant to learn that he made the acquaintance of +George Stephenson at Carthagena, and received generous help from one +who might have been considered his rival. He died poor and in debt at +Dartford in 1833, when the workmen with whom he had been labouring +clubbed together to give him a suitable funeral. There is now a +memorial window to his memory in Westminster Abbey. His character +seems to have been warm and sanguine, tender-hearted, and easily +depressed. He was notably one of those men into whose labours "other +men enter"--successful to a point, but lacking in the finishing +touches that bring fame and triumph; with all his courage he wanted +persistence. But when we think of Watt and Stephenson in connection +with steam transit we must never forget that the Cornishman Trevithick +deserves at least an equal share of honour. + +Illogan is a mining centre, and thickly populated, though when we +speak of population in Cornwall we must remember that the inhabitants +of the whole Duchy number far less than those of such towns as +Birmingham, Liverpool, or Manchester. The church here was rebuilt in +1848, when all the old monuments were carefully replaced. Portreath is +the thriving little port of the district, and is also popular with +Camborne and Redruth folk as a watering-place. But the presence of +active and prosperous mining does not make for beauty; a mine only +becomes picturesque when it has been deserted and taken back into the +bosom of Nature. Otherwise, Portreath has many attractions, and the +coast is grand. The port has four docks and a pier of about 260 yards +long. Lord de Dunstanville built the first dock here. Copper ore is +exported, and there is an import of coal and iron. What with +commercialism and pleasure, Portreath (formerly named Basset's Cove) +should do well; but the industries certainly bring some disfigurement, +and the stream that flows to the sea discolours the ocean waves with +its ruddy stain. From here to St. Agnes the coast is broken into +coves, one of which, Porth Towan, is popular with excursionists; but +the tripper cannot be here at all times, and when he is absent the +shores are left to majestic loneliness, their caves haunted by seals +and their crags by crying sea-fowl. We do not escape from the mining +when we come to St. Agnes, but we come to a district of notable +memories, and those who climb the Beacon can look towards St. Ives on +the one side and Newquay on the other. We must not suppose that the +Beacon is associated with any memories of the saintly maiden whom +Keats and Tennyson have poetically glorified; St. Agnes here is +pronounced St. Anne's, and it is supposed that this Ann is the +so-named goddess of the Irish Celts, but the identification is rather +difficult. More vivid is the legend that speaks of the love of the +giant Bolster for this saint, and the manner in which she contrived to +get rid of him. As a married man, the giant believed in the virtues of +quick change; he found that a new wife each year was a fairly +satisfactory allowance, and it is reported that he killed the old ones +by throwing stones at them. St. Agnes was much perturbed by his +attentions; she did not approve of his matrimonial methods, and she +had some sympathy with the existing Mrs. Bolster. "At last she +conceived a device, not very saint-like but perhaps necessary. Would +he fill a little hole in the cliff with his blood as a proof of his +affection? Of course he would. He cut his arm and let the blood run; +but the life-stream flowed and flowed, and his strength ebbed away, +and the hole did not fill. At last, when the sea had become red with +his blood, he died. The saint had deceived him; the small hole in the +rock led down into a cavern, and the cavern led to the sea; not even +the ocean could have filled it." Chapel Porth is named as the scene of +this incident. The village of St. Agnes lies at the eastward foot of +the Beacon, and Trevaunance, on the coast, is its port. It is a +neighbourhood where natural beauties contend with the ugliness of +industrialism, and usually emerge triumphant. There is a story told of +St. Agnes in connection with Wesley, which proves how rapidly +folk-lore may spring up; it is even more remarkable, because more +modern, than the manner in which Devonians have associated mythology +with the name of Francis Drake. It is said that "when Wesley visited +this part of Cornwall preaching, he was refused shelter elsewhere than +in an ancient mansion that was unoccupied because haunted by ghosts. +Wesley went to the house, and sat up reading by candle-light. At +midnight he heard a noise in the hall, and on issuing from his room, +saw that a banquet was spread, and that richly apparelled ladies and +gentlemen were about the board. Then one cavalier, with dark, piercing +eyes and a pointed black beard, wearing a red feather in his cap, +said, 'We invite you to eat and to drink with us,' and pointed to an +empty chair. Wesley at once took the place indicated, but before he +put in his mouth a bite of food or drank a drop, said, 'It is my +custom to ask a blessing; stand all.' Then the spectres rose. Wesley +began his accustomed grace, 'The Name of God, high over all'--when +suddenly the room darkened, and all the apparitions vanished." There +is yet another memory at St. Agnes. The painter Opie (said to have +been born Hoppie) was born at Harmony Cottage in the year 1761, his +father being a carpenter. At ten years of age he began to teach others +in the village school; and at twelve he opened an evening school for +poor children. Having already developed an extraordinary taste for +drawing, it is related that he once purposely irritated his father in +order to catch the expression of anger for a picture. He soon began to +practise in a humble way as a portrait-painter, and was advised by Dr. +Wolcot ("Peter Pindar") to raise his price to half a guinea a head; +from which we may guess that his previous terms had been excessively +modest. Wolcot was a good friend to Opie, though their intercourse did +not remain very cordial; but for a time they even entered into some +sort of partnership together, in London, and there can be no doubt +that the painter was thus introduced to a wider circle than he would +otherwise have reached. He became the "Cornish Wonder," and felt able +to tell Wolcot that he could get on by himself. This may sound like +ingratitude, but we do not know enough of the story to form a +judgment. When Northcote returned to London from abroad Joshua +Reynolds said to him, "My dear sir, you may go back; there is a +wondrous Cornishman who is carrying all before him." "What is he +like?" asked Northcote. "Like? Why, like Caravaggio and Velasquez in +one." Opie began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1782, and in the +same year he married a lady who eloped from him. Divorcing her, he +married, many years later, the novelist Mrs. Opie. The flood of his +popularity waned considerably, as such sudden fashions do, but still +he had plenty of work, and a solid reputation grew on a sounder basis. +In 1787 his "Assassination of David Rizzio" procured his election as +A.R.A., and a year afterwards he became full member. The lectures that +he delivered at the Academy were admirable both in matter and in +manner, and are worthy of ranking even with those of Reynolds, whose +life Opie wrote. Dying in 1807, after a second married period of great +happiness, the painter was buried at St. Paul's. Among those whose +portraits he painted were Dr. Johnson, Fox, Burke, Dr. Parr, +Northcote, and many other celebrities of his day. Apart from his own +special art, he was passionately devoted to poetry, and is said to +have had a wonderful memory for recitation. The house at which he was +born is situated about half-way between St. Agnes and Perranporth. +Trevaunance Porth, which now has some insignificant accommodation for +shipping, is notable for the difficulties that opposed even such small +harbourage. The manor belonged to the Tonkin family, who spent much +money in the attempt to build a pier, but the force of the sea always +frustrated them. About the year 1700 Winstanley, the famous builder of +Eddystone, constructed an excellent quay and basin, but a gale +destroyed this after a very few years. Tonkin, the parochial historian +of Cornwall, whose work is valuable in spite of its errors, laid out a +considerable sum in an effort to repair the quay, and to raise the +money he had to part with a small piece of land, which speedily repaid +its purchaser by the richness of its mineral wealth. A jetty built +later withstood the sea better than its more ambitious predecessors +had done. + +[Illustration: CHURCH OF ST. PIRAN. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +Beyond St. Agnes Beacon the coast is largely composed of clay-slates, +or killas, presenting much desolate grandeur; the slate showing the +jagged scars of its unending resistance to oceanic forces. At Cligga +Head this slate is blended with decomposed hard granite. Off the +shore, about two miles out, rise the two isolated rocks known as the +Man and his Men--sometimes also called the Cow and her Calf. "Man" and +"Men" are simply corruptions of the Celtic _maen_, a stone. Between +St. Agnes and Perranporth the passage along the cliffs is interrupted +by the extensive enclosures of a modern dynamite factory, and the +pedestrian who has known this walk of yore is not likely to bless this +manufacture of a deadly explosive. But there is a great industrial +demand for dynamite in the district, and it is well that its +production should be relegated to a neighbourhood where accidents +would do the least possible damage. At Perranporth we approach a grim +sand-driven tract of country sacred to the name of one of Cornwall's +most typical saints, the Irishman St. Piran. Perranporth itself, since +the advent of the railway, is drawing some visitors away from Newquay, +in quest of equal beauty and greater quiet. The village stands on the +cliffs above a small cove, from which there is some fishing, and +northward runs a fine stretch of sand. There are capabilities here for +almost unlimited growth, and the district, inland and seaward, is full +of charm. The coast is hollowed and arched into wonderful caverns, +where the deep blue and green waters break with gentle swell or dash +with infuriated violence. The church is a chapel-of-ease to +Perranzabuloe (_Piran-in-sabulo_); there are barrows and sand-dunes, +and a vague floating rumour of an immemorial past. In fog or grey +weather the spot can be dreary, weird, desolate; but in times of fair +sunrise or sundown it is glorified with a marvellous beauty, with +restful nooks where a dreamer may enter upon a heritage of beatific +vision. St. Piran, the dominant personality of the district, is the +patron of the tin-miners, but neither they nor others know much about +him; he is a ghost of the far past, but a ghost with a dim halo around +his head. He belongs to the sixth century, and was therefore a little +later than the saints of the Land's End country. In Ireland he is +reputed as St. Kieran of Saigir, but the British Celts, according to +their usual custom, changed the Gaelic _K_ into _P_. His Irish record +is much more full than his Cornish, but it must not delay us, except +to remember that he rescued an Irish girl, Bruinsech, from a chief who +had kidnapped her, and that she travelled to Cornwall, probably in his +company, to become the Buriena of St. Buryan. Piran is said to have +journeyed across the seas on a millstone, which is a mythical way of +saying that he brought his altar-stone with him. He is supposed to +have landed on these drifting sands that perpetuate his name, and to +have founded his first cell here, the oratory that still remains in +much mutilated ruin among the towans of Perran. So far as site is +concerned, this may be true enough; but the oratory, whose bare +foundations are now surrounded by a sheltering rail, is probably at +least two centuries later than the day of St. Piran, though it is just +possible that the huge skeleton found here might be his. There is no +reason why a saint may not also be a giant. But who shall establish +the identity of a mouldering skeleton? Only a fragment of gable, a +half-buried inscribed slab, and some loose rugged stones, have been +left to speak of what may be the earliest religious foundation in +England; but even in this matter of antiquity there are competitors. +We may suppose that the present oratory was raised over Piran's +original cell somewhere about the eighth century; and about two +centuries later it was found that the encroaching sands rendered its +further use impossible. It was deserted, and a second church raised a +little further inland, of which the site is now marked by a cross. +Visitors may be warned that both sites are very difficult to discover +without a guide. This second church became collegiate in the time of +the Confessor, with a dean and canons, being enriched by the offerings +of pilgrims who came from all parts of Cornwall to the shrine of St. +Piran. The establishment was presented by Henry I. to the canons of +Exeter. We may judge that at this time the first chapel was entirely +buried in the sands. In 1420 the second church was rebuilt; the older +church, even its site, was forgotten. At the close of the eighteenth +century the second church itself was threatened by the same peril; the +planting of reed-grass was not then understood as a means of binding +the sand. This time the parishioners moved their church to a greater +distance, establishing their church town at the present Perranzabuloe, +where the materials of the second church were largely used in the +erection of a new one; they also carried thither an old hexagonal +font, which is thought to have come from the original oratory. In +the year 1835 a shifting of sand revealed this earliest church, whose +memory only survived in vague tradition; the secret came to light +after a burial of eight or nine centuries. The discovery made a +considerable stir, and was announced to the public in books written by +two clergymen, W. Haslam and Trelawney-Collins, neither of whom, +however, is a quite reliable guide. Mr. Collins used the occasion as +an opportunity for proving that the Church in England was a Protestant +Church more than nine hundred years before the Reformation; while the +zeal of Mr. Haslam led him to an unfortunate attempt at restoring the +oratory. Then followed neglect, and the tourists who came hither were +left to pilfer and carry away the sacred stones piecemeal; now, when +it is almost too late, such depredation is stopped. The church was a +ruin when it was found; it is something almost less than a ruin now. +As revealed by the shifting sand, it presented an almost exact +resemblance to the oldest oratories in Ireland; its length was about +29 feet, its breadth 16 feet, with an arched doorway, and one little +window, walled up, above the altar. The masonry was of the roughest +description, the stones appearing to have been put together with +little selection; and the floor was a rude kind of concrete, china +clay being used instead of lime. Some skeletons were found within the +church, and many more without; in fact, human remains are still cast +up by the sands. Perhaps this was once a spot of thick population; or, +more probably, the fame of St. Piran may have rendered it a popular +burying-ground. A notice has been placed here, warning against any +disturbance of the soil or of the remains of the dead. The feast-day +of St. Piran falls on the 5th of March, and is not yet quite +forgotten; it was once an occasion of such merry-making as to furnish +a local saying--"As drunk as a Perraner." There is an unhappy +tradition that St. Piran himself died in drink, which we may connect +with the other rumour that he discovered Cornish tin in an effort to +distil Irish whisky. We have reason to believe that Celtic saints were +very human, but we need not credit every idle legend. The saint seems +to have been something of a farmer, possessing many horses and cattle. +We may question the statement that he lived to the age of two hundred, +and then dug his own grave in the sand; but the possibility that the +large skeleton found here was really his has some support from the +fact that it was headless when discovered, and this tallies with an +entry in the will of Sir John Arundell of Trerice: "To provide +honourable protection for St. Pieran's head, the sum of 40s." Those +who wish to find the ancient oratory had better first reach the site +of the second church, marked by a high granite cross; from this the +older remains lie about a quarter of a mile westward, towards the sea. +Another _plan-an-guare_, resembling that of Redruth, lies near the +hamlet of Rose (_ros_, a moorland); it is about 130 feet in diameter, +and has faint traces of seven tiers of seats, which afforded +accommodation for two thousand spectators. Originally it was probably +a natural subsidence, strengthened by artificial earthworks; and +whatever its first use may have been, it became a popular amphitheatre +for public performance of miracle-plays. There are many water-mills in +this district, and they provide a feature not common in Cornwall. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +CRANTOCK, NEWQUAY, MAWGAN + + +After passing the extensive sands of Perran Bay the coast once more +becomes rugged and broken. This is a very quiet and lonely part of the +Cornish seaboard, but the popularity of Newquay is bringing it within +the knowledge of an increasing number of visitors. The railway now +touches the coast here at two points, Newquay and Perranporth, between +which limits those who wish to explore the country-side must rely on +other methods of transit. The shore is not only broken into rough +headlands, but has a number of off-lying islets. Thus there are the +Gull Rocks, off Penhale Point; the Chick, off Kelsey Head; and the +Goose, off East Pentire. The sands in this district have wrought more +havoc than the sea; and if tradition may be trusted there was once a +far more dense population. Barrows and traces of encampment are fairly +common, but the sand is supposed to hold more secrets yet; and if it +surrendered the old lost church of St. Piran, why should it not some +day unseal still other mysteries? There is indeed an atmosphere of +mystery and of myth brooding over this region, with its gaunt, +turf-clad headlands, its drifting sand-towans, its tracks and stone +hedges and lonely church-towns. It is easy to yield to the spirit of +dream and imagination--to see with other eyes than we use in city +life, to hear with other ears, to believe more and dispute less; the +very air is an intoxicant and a stimulant to fantastic vision. It +comes pure from the Atlantic or from the down-lands, from craggy +cliffs or grassy uplands; there is the wonderful glamour of the sea +reaching inland to possess and dominate the peaceful charm of the +country-side. The inhabitants in this quiet stretch of coast depend +rather on agriculture than on fish for their maintenance; the coast is +too unprotected, and there is no tolerable harbour to which +fisher-boats might run for safety. The cottages for the most part have +a pastoral atmosphere, and not the savour of fish and tangle of nets +that we meet in so many seaside villages. The lowing of cows comes +pleasantly, and the incessant murmur of poultry-yards; in late summer +there is the cutting and garnering of golden grain. The stone hedges +that divide the fields are generally broad enough to walk on with +comfort; very often, indeed, they are the best and quickest of +footpaths. Or one can lie on them in delightful languor, after +scrambling about the cliffs and towans, basking in the mellow +sunlight, laying in a store of warmth and beauty and fragrance as +reserve for dreary months of wet and fog. Centuries old, some of these +massive walls must be--often constructed doubtless from older +monuments of dim religious purpose, just as some of the gate-posts +were once menhirs and monoliths. The villagers have their rugged old +churches, to which they resort for baptisms and burials, but on +Sundays they go in greater numbers to the chapel or meeting-house. In +those people whom we classify, often wrongly, as Celtic, there seems +to be something that the Anglican Church does not wholly satisfy, +though it is necessary to speak with reserve on such a matter. They +can be devout Catholics, as in Ireland, or zealous Dissenters, as in +Wales and the West of England; perhaps these manifestations of the +religious spirit, seemingly so opposed, have yet a common feature in +allowing more play to the fancy. Dissent has one great charm for all +countryfolk--it gives them a large share in its activities, it allows +them to preach and to pray. This is certainly one secret of its +success, not limited to Cornwall. Even a parson like Hawker, beloved +by all his parishioners as he was, could not win them from Dissent. +There is a chance that the priests of Rome will step in and win where +the parish clergyman has partly failed. More than twenty years since, +Richard Jefferies wrote about the tonsured priest becoming a power in +English country lanes. Here in the West Country hundreds of rich acres +are held by the monastic orders. The country parson has now to fight +against his old opponent, the Methodist or Baptist, and his older +opponent, the priest of Rome. But the winds that sweep across the +meadows and sand-dunes, the waves that lap peacefully or dash +thunderously, tell us nothing of these old and often dismal quarrels. +They are but secular things after all; the things that are eternal +reach deeper than creed or vestment. We do not ask what fetish or +totem the sleepers in the grassy barrows believed in; we may ask if +they lived their lives truly and faithfully, doing that which was +good according to the light of their primitive consciences. + +Between the two headlands of Penhale Point and Kelsey Head lies +Holywell Bay, the larger portion of which is in the parish of Cubert. +It is a wild region of blown sand. The two headlands are grandly +lashed by breaking waves in rough weather, while the interlying beach +is swept with great rolling breakers. A little inland are many traces +of discontinued mining; and though their suggestions are dismal +enough, these are probably more picturesque in their neglect and decay +than they could be if in full operation. The bay and the sands are +named after the holy well of St. Cubert, formerly one of the most +famous of Cornwall's numerous wells. St. Cubert, the titular patron of +the parish and well, has been mistaken for St. Cuthbert; but it is +obvious to any one who has devoted any study to Cornish saint-lore +that the Northumbrian saint has no business here, good man though he +was. He has been intruded to displace some earlier and less widely +known possessor. Cuthbert was certainly never in Cornwall, and the +older Cornish dedications are almost invariably the actual footprints +of Celtic missionaries. It is probable that the true Cubert was St. +Cybi, or Cuby, whom we find at Cuby near Grampound, and whose name +also survives in the Caergybi and Llangybi of Wales. There is another +well of St. Cuby at Duloe, north of Looe; and he was related to some +of Cornwall's most notable saints. The Holy Well is a fresh-water +spring on the north side of the beach; it is in a cave, accessible at +low water, and is reached by a flight of rough steps. Its water was +once supposed to be highly medicinal--in fact, miraculous. It is true +that there is some mineral solution in the water, but this is not of +medicinal value. The well or spring is in a kind of grotto at the head +of rugged steps in the rock; and its water drips into a series of +natural basins, beautiful with the loveliest colouring--quite a fairy +grotto, worthy of being a sea-nymph's bathing-place. Our faith in +miraculous cures may be slight enough at this present time, but so +long as the human eye can appreciate loveliness this spot must ever +have its delicate satisfying charm, all the more striking in contrast +to the long, weary stretches of sand-dune. + +The beauty of the spot abides, but the old-world faith in the waters +has well-nigh departed--gone with many another quaint credulity. The +change cannot be better emphasised than by a quotation from another +writer, who described the same scene several centuries since. The +Cornish historian Hals writes: "In this parish is that famous spring +of water called Holywell (so named, the inhabitants say, for that the +virtues of this water was first discovered on All-hallows Day). The +same stands in a dark cavern of the sea-cliff rocks, beneath full +sea-mark on spring tides, from the top of which cavern fall down or +distil continually drops of water from the white, blue, red, and green +veins of those rocks.... The virtues of this water are very great. It +is incredible what numbers in summer season frequent this place and +waters from counties far distant." It is said that, even within the +nineteenth century, the crowd that used to assemble here, especially +those bringing rickety and crippled children, was so large that the +scene resembled a fair. But now it is curiosity that brings the +visitor, or the attraction of a lonely, beautiful scene; Cornish +mothers seek other remedies for their delicate children; only perhaps +a few of the elder folk fondly nurse a memory and a belief in the +powers of St. Cubert's Well. Yet the spring flows on, heedless of its +neglect as it was heedless of its worship; it is only the false, the +fantastic, the deceptive that have passed--the truth, the loveliness +remain. + +About two and a half miles from the well, across the sand-downs and +commons, is the little church-town of Cubert. It stands high, +overlooking the sand-wastes of Holywell and Perran Bays, and its +church serves the purpose of a landmark in this somewhat trackless +district. It is Early English in character, with later additions, such +as the Decorated woodwork about its roof; the graceful tower has an +octagonal upper stage and low spire, with three bells in the belfry. +The church was struck by lightning in 1848, and restored under the +care of G. E. Street, R.A. The font, of Norman design, was preserved +from mutilation in Puritan times by veiling its beauties beneath a +covering of plaster. During the restoration a granite monumental stone +was unearthed, of Romano-British character; it has been placed in the +wall outside the tower, and its inscription reads _Conectoci fili +Tegerno Mali_. Whether legends of the lost Langarrow are true or not, +there was evidently a considerable population of this part in early +British times. Cubert is still peaceful and primitive, being a little +too far from Newquay to be overrun by the summer visitors. A pleasant +and fairly good road leads towards Crantock, passing by Trevowah, +beyond which a turning to the left takes us to West Pentire and the +small bay known as Porth or "Polly" Joke. The "joke" needs +explanation; possibly it is the corruption of some forgotten Cornish +word. It is a charming little bay lying snugly between the two +headlands of Kelsey and West Pentire, both of which command fine views +of coast and sea. We are now in the parish of Crantock, whose +antiquity and importance have been over-shadowed by the ever-growing +popularity of the comparatively juvenile Newquay; yet present-day +Crantock owes so much to Newquay that it cannot afford to be +disdainful. In these days no picturesque village can afford to scorn a +wealthy neighbour; yet Crantock claims to have been a populous town +before Newquay was dreamed of. + +Crantock, or St. Carantoc, stands a little way inland from the coast, +and the older part is cradled in a sheltering hollow. Its boast of +former importance is by no means an idle one. Even within +comparatively recent years the estuary of the Gannel, now sand-locked, +was navigable for large fishing-craft; and the "new quay" of the +prosperous neighbour points indirectly to a time when there was an old +quay here. In the sand-flats and rocks around the river-mouth it is +possible to trace signs of old shipping, old mooring-rings, and +curious excavations. Hals tells us that "in this parish is the port or +creek or haven, called the Gonell or Ganell. It also, at full sea, +affordeth entrance and anchorage for ships of greatest burthen, if +conducted by a pilot that understandeth the course of the channel." +But tradition goes further back than this, and speaks of Crantock as +having been once part of a large town or district named Langarrow, or +sometimes Languna, most of which now lies beneath the sand-towans. +This town is said to have had many fine churches and buildings, vying +with the best cities in the Britain of that day, which seems to have +been the tenth century. With wealth drawn from a fertile soil, a +productive sea, and from rich mines of tin and lead, the inhabitants +waxed proud in their prosperity, and revelled in luxurious vice. It +would seem that a problem as to the provision of labour for the +mines--still a vexed question in parts of the British dominions--led +the Government of that day to convert Langarrow into a criminal +settlement. There were no opposition newspapers in those times, or +their perusal would be deeply interesting. The convicts were not +allowed to reside within the town, but had a reservation or compound +outside, and they passed most of their time toiling in the mines for +the enrichment of others. Such work was probably done chiefly by means +of quarrying and "streaming," rather than by the burrowing underground +which we now generally understand as mining. This importation of +criminal labour added greatly to the wealth of the neighbourhood, but +it gradually induced its ruin. The daughters of Langarrow began to +marry with the convicts; a slow process of contamination took place +among those whose morals were already sapped by luxury. At last the +town absolutely reeked with wickedness--so says the highly moral +legend. When the sin had reached its utmost the wrath of God +descended. The cities of the Plain were destroyed by fire; this +Cornish town was overwhelmed by a terrible uprising of wind and sea. +The waves broke angrily over the haunts of man's degradation, followed +by driving sands that blotted them out for ever. But perhaps it may +not be for ever. Some day the fickle sand may desert that which it +once buried, or the spade may lay bare relics that shall prove the +tradition's truth. The lost church of St. Piran has been found; it may +be so with the lost Langarrow. Already many human remains have been +found among the sand-heaps that extend intermittently from here to +Perranporth, and traces of "kitchen-middens" which would throw back +the date of Langarrow a thousand years or so. Some have imagined that +the destruction occurred at the time when Lyonesse was swallowed by +the waves, leaving only the Scillies to point to its former extent; +and there have been those who identified this catastrophe with the +tempest mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the date 1099. +Others, again, without daring to name a date, have thought that the +storm which destroyed Langarrow may have been the same as that which +overwhelmed the "Lost Hundred" of Cardigan Bay. But without denying +these convulsions of nature, we cannot venture to identify or time +them. + +The name of Langarrow, however, may safely be regarded as historic; +and this, with its variants of Languna or Langona, is the earliest +name that we can trace at Crantock. It proves the existence of a +settlement here before the time of St. Carantoc; it seems also to +prove the earlier existence of a church. The "garrow" might denote an +untraceable St. Garrow or Carrow. Langona has been differently +interpreted as the "Meadow Church" and the "Church on the Downs," +either of which names would be appropriate. But we reach something +more definite when we come to St. Carantoc himself, the Irish Cairnech +or Crannach. He is a genuine personality of British saint-lore, the +only doubt being whether he was an Irishman, a Welshman, or a +Cornishman. All three countries have claimed him. Most likely he was a +Welshman, and as he lived at a time when Wales and Cornwall were +practically one land, Cornwall must not feel defrauded if this +decision is arrived at. The most notable point about Cairnech is his +connection with St. Patrick, who appears to have been his intimate +friend; some even say that Patrick was baptized by Cairnech. It is +clear that Cairnech was associated with Patrick in the famous revision +of the Brehon Laws which became known as the _Senchus Mor_. It was +natural that, in Cornish, his name should become Crannog, Latinised +into Carantocus; in Wales it seems to have become Caranog. Singularly +enough, not far from the Welsh Newquay there is one of his churches, +Llangranog, so that both Newquays have their Crantock. The fact that +Cairnech was chosen to make one of this committee of revision +establishes the esteem in which he was held; though it must be +confessed that some authorities doubt that the Brehon Laws were ever +revised at all at this date. When the saint came to Cornwall (always +supposing that he was not born here), he is reputed to have landed in +the Gannel, and to have built his cell on a strip of land that the +local chieftain gave him. While whittling the handle of his mattock he +noticed that a wood-pigeon picked up the shavings in its mouth and +carried them to a certain spot. He took this as a sign that he was to +build his church there, and this, says tradition, is the present site +of Crantock Church. There was a collegiate foundation here in Saxon +times, mentioned in the Exeter Domesday as Langorroc; but the oldest +existing portions of the building are Transition-Norman and Early +English, dating from the reign of Edward III., at which time the +previous collegiate establishment seems to have been restored. The +accommodation was for a dean and nine prebendaries, which proves that +Crantock must have served a large neighbourhood. There must have been +a much older building on the site, perhaps coeval with the ancient St. +Piran's; for a large sandstone coffin, of at least a thousand years in +antiquity, was discovered in the churchyard some years since, and now +lies there to be marvelled at by the casual visitor and to delight the +antiquary. Not many years ago the church had fallen into sad decay, +but the Rev. G. M. Parsons set himself to remedy this, and by +strenuous collecting he was enabled to reopen the restored edifice in +1902. At the time of the Dissolution the establishment here consisted +of a dean, nine prebends, and four vicars-choral, quite a cathedral +foundation; but at that time the revenue was very small, there being +barely enough to support one vicar, and the prebends must have been +simply honorary titles bestowed on neighbouring clergy. There is every +proof that the church was intended for a large body of resident +priests, there being an important division between choir and nave. +There are other collegiate relics in the village, besides the usual +holy well. The church stands finely on a sloping meadow looking +towards the sea. The village is typically Cornish even to the extent +of having no public-house (unless that defect has lately been +remedied). A few years since the inhabitants regarded the lack with +befitting pride; but the views of visitors differ. It is amusing to +learn the experiences of those who had arranged a stay at Crantock +without previous knowledge of this missing source of refreshment; and +the fact has afforded an explanation of their very frequent walks to +Newquay. As a commercial centre it may freely be admitted that +Crantock is limited. Its chief link with civilisation is the tiny +post-office, which is also a provision store; but Cornwall has +acquaintance with a kind of glorified hawking or peddling with which +dwellers in town have no concern. A shop on wheels may occasionally be +seen in the heart of some quiet hamlet, surrounded by speculative +housewives and wondering children. But Crantock has its charm of the +present, as well as a delightful association with the past. Close to +its undulating slopes lies the grandeur of a glorious coast, meeting +the deep blues and greens of the Atlantic. On the headland across the +Bay there are barrows that tell of days before the coming of Saxon and +Norman; and among these sport numberless rabbits, vanishing with +marvellous quickness at the slightest movement. In storm all is +magnificence; in calm there is the brooding of a fathomless peace. It +is a perfect rest to lie on the sandy dunes or breezy warrens, gazing +dreamily at sky and waters. The air rings with the cry of sea-fowl and +the song of the lark, while from beyond comes the eternal wash of +waves or the low boom from hidden caves. Blended with these comes the +more homelike sound of cattle, and often the laugh of children. At +nightfall the village and its surrounding meadows soon become +slumberous. The field-paths and lanes become utterly lonely and +solemn. Bats swoop down, and around the isolated farms may be heard +the strange cry of the owl. It is little wonder that superstition dies +slowly in such an atmosphere; and there was one such superstition +that long lingered around the Gannel gorge. Perhaps it is not yet +quite dead, but is told by some mothers to their children at +nightfall. + +[Illustration: CRANTOCK CHURCH. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +Penpoll Creek is reached by a delightful wild-flower lane leading from +Crantock; it is the quickest way into Newquay. What may be called the +main road goes inland, by Trevemper Bridge, a good four +miles--sometimes to be chosen instead of taking the ford. The Gannel +is only a small stream in itself, but here, at its sandy mouth, it +broadens to a considerable width, and flows with rapid current. At +Penpoll the road runs to meet the river on either side, and there is a +narrow plank-bridge by which travellers can pass dryshod when the tide +is low. But the banks of sand are very shallow, and are quickly +flooded by the incoming water; this little bridge of planks is soon +washed by the waves, and during some hours each day the Gannel cannot +be forded. In broad daylight, when visitors from Newquay are passing +and repassing, the spot may be cheerful enough; but at nightfall a +dusky solemnity possesses it. There is the rumour of immemorial +tradition in the air; it comes with the lap of the water and the low +sob that breathes from the sands; it speaks in the cry of the birds as +they wing their way restlessly from bank to bank. The countryfolk +whisper that these birds are the souls of those who have been drowned +at the ford--those who have dared to pass unwarily when the tide was +pouring in with the force of the ocean behind it. The moment of safety +had gone, but rather than drive many miles round to the bridge at +Trevemper, they risked the passage, their horses became confused by +the whirl of waters, and by the sands, that are always treacherous in +a rising tide; the flow was too strong for swimming; the waves soon +bubbled mockingly above the drowned heads of man and beast. + +But there is another cry that suddenly resounds through the stillness, +a long-drawn, mysterious utterance, passing drearily, difficult to +locate, more difficult to name--one of those sounds by which Nature at +times reaches to the dark places of our spirit and terrifies us with +vague dread of the unknown. Is it the wail of an owl or other bird of +the night? It pervades the air wildly and lingeringly. Those who come +late to the ford and hear this sudden strange call draw rein and turn +backward; it is better to drive the weary distance to the bridge than +to brave a crossing when this warning is abroad. Those who are +familiar with this country-side, with its dim lingerings of Celtic +tradition, its strange borderland of myth and reality, know the +meaning of the cry in their hearts, though, perhaps, they decline to +give mention to it with their lips. They have been told in their +childhood of a man who once lived in these parts, whose life was +stained by many black deeds, and lightened by a single good one. He +had been a smuggler, a wrecker, a pirate; his hand was red with blood, +his soul dark with the soil of crime. One night a cottager lay dying, +and was praying that a priest might be fetched to his bedside. Moved +by a rare impulse of pity, the man of many sins set forth to cross the +Gannel and to bring the priest from a religious house beyond. But the +time for fording had passed; the river was running swiftly, and waves +were leaping hungrily about the usual track of passage. Yet it meant a +long delay to go round by the bridge, and the occasion was pressing. +Merging all his virtue into one brave deed, the man plunged into the +boiling torrent, and never reached the other side. In consideration of +this last action the doom that would otherwise have been his was +mitigated into a nobler penance. He is permitted to haunt the shores, +and by his cries to warn passengers when the ford has become perilous. +So does he save others and work out his own salvation. + +Immediately beyond the Warren, with its old-world tumuli, is Fistral +Bay, the eastern point of which is Towan Head, giving Newquay its +finest promenade. Here, just beyond the golf-links, are two of the +largest hotels, and beyond these is the lifeboat-house, with its slip +for launching. Beneath are caverns and natural tunnels once devoted to +smuggling; while a memorial of old Newquay's other industry exists in +the quaint Huer's House, on the eastern point of the headland. It was +from this look-out that the hue-and-cry was raised when the shoals of +pilchards were sighted; a man being on watch here, to give signal to +the fishing-boats. But the pilchards do not come so far eastward now; +the house remains to remind Newquay, now in the day of its pride and +fashion, that it was a humble lowly fishing village. Carew, three +centuries since, spoke of "newe Kaye, a place in the north coast of +Pydar Hundred, so called because in former times the neighbours +attempted to supplie the defect of nature by art, in making there a +kay for the rode of shipping." + +There is usually some amount of charm about a harbour; but neither the +harbour nor even the sea is visible from the streets of Newquay, +except in rare glimpses. Modern Newquay seems to have striven to +render itself uninteresting; Mr. Hind says that it is the ugliest +though the most popular coast-town in Cornwall. Of course, this only +applies to the town, not to its situation, its fine cliffs and broad +sands; Newquay townsfolk might with a little foresight have made their +leading street into a most attractive promenade by leaving one side +open towards the sea. As it is, the streets are resorted to for +shopping and business purposes, and for nothing else; they have +nothing else to offer. Commonplace on this plateau above the cliffs, +the coast becomes glorious below, eaten out as it is into grand caves +and hollows, with alluring stretches of weeded beach and firm +shell-sand. Fistral Beach and the bracing headlands have their own +special charm; but the popular beach at Newquay is that which reaches +towards St. Columb and Trevalgue Head. Visitors find particular +delight in the Island, a mass of rock that is really insular at high +water, and the numerous caves are a constant temptation to young and +old explorers. There are barrows also above the Crigga Rocks, linking +modern Newquay with a far-forgotten past; and at St. Columb Porth, +generally called Porth for short, are traces of submerged forest. +Trevalgue Head is practically an island, joined to the mainland by a +narrow bridge; and in tempestuous weather this is a grand spot for +noting the force and sublimity of Cornish seas. The Banqueting Hall +and Cathedral Cavern are especially fine caves here. Of course, care +must always be taken to watch the tides, or trouble may be expected. +About a mile inland from the Porth is the village of St. Columb Minor, +the mother-parish of Newquay; farther inland still is St. Columb +Major, and both churches appear to be dedicated to a maiden Columba, +who suffered martyrdom in Gaul. We must not think of the great Irish +Columba here. The district has long been a chief centre of Cornwall's +popular game of hurling, which still enjoys an annual revival, +sometimes in the village itself, sometimes on the sands reaching +towards Newquay. The ball used on these occasions is a little smaller +than a cricket-ball, and has a coating of silver; it is inscribed with +the verse-- + + "St. Columb Major and Minor, + Do your best; + In one of your parishes + I must rest." + +The sides are not now confined to the parishes, but usually consist of +"Married _versus_ Single," or "Townsmen _versus_ Countrymen." The ball +is thrown up and hurled from hand to hand, no kicking being allowed; +and the game is won by him who reaches the opponents' goal with it. +From Carew's account of the game as formerly played, we may judge that +a very extensive ground was used; he speaks of the players as taking +"their way over hills, dales, hedges, ditches--yea, and thorou bushes, +briers, mires, plashes, and rivers whatsoever--so as you shall +sometimes see twenty or thirty lie tugging together in the water, +scrambling and scratching for the ball. A play verily both rude and +rough." A writer of half a century since gives this description: "A +ball about the size of a cricket-ball, formed of cork or light wood +and covered with silver, was hurled into the air, midway between the +goals. Both parties immediately rushed towards it, each striving to +seize and carry it to his own goal. In this contest, when any +individual having possession of the ball found himself overpowered or +outrun by his opponents, he hurled it to one of his own side, if near +enough, or if not into some pool, ditch, furze, brake, garden, house, +or other place of concealment, to prevent his adversaries getting hold +of it before his own company could arrive." It is clear that hurling +somewhat resembled football as anciently played in England and +Scotland between parish and parish. In old times the ball was provided +by the corporations of the different localities; we read in the St. +Ives parish accounts for the year 1639: "Item for a Silver Bole that +was brought to towne, 6s. 6d." On such balls was often inscribed the +Cornish motto, _Guare teag yu guare wheag_--"Fair play is good play." +A curious method of forming sides, in the past, was to set all the +Toms, Williams, and Johns on one side, while their neighbours of other +Christian names were ranged against them; from whence came the rhyme-- + + "Toms, Wills and Jans, + Take off all on the sands." + +But even St. Ives seems now to have abandoned the old sport, and it is +limited to these parishes of St. Columb. Cornwall now devotes itself, +and very successfully, to our customary football. + +The two Columb churches are both interesting, that of St. Columb Minor +having the second highest tower in Cornwall. Porth Island is really a +portion of the Glendorgal estate, the home of the late Sir Richard +Tangye, who did so much for the preservation of local antiquities. +Just beyond is Flory Island (Flory being clearly a corruption of +Phillory), sometimes known as Black Humphrey's Isle; Black Humphrey +was one of the pirate-smugglers whose tales are common around this +coast. + +Beyond the northern end of Watergate Bay we come to Mawgan Porth, and +a mile beyond this are the famous Bedruthan Steps. Both places, but +especially the Steps, afford a very favourite excursion from Newquay, +seven miles distant; and whether the journey is performed on foot, or +by cycle, motor-car or carriage, it is full of interest and beauty. It +is best to come during the ebb of a spring tide, when the coves and +caves may safely be explored; at other times there is grave peril. The +caverns at Mawgan Porth are remarkably fine, and the grandly wild +stretch of beach can hardly be spoken of with too great enthusiasm. +The coast is as pitiless as it is beautiful, and many relics of +wreckage are often washed ashore; after heavy storms the crags and +caves are still searched for jetsam. It may be noted that those who do +not wish to examine the caves, but who desire to see massive waves +breaking on a magnificent coast-line, should come when the tide is +nearing the full after prolonged westerly winds; they will see +something that is even grander than high-arched dusky caverns and +glimmering rock-tunnels. The beach at Bedruthan has nothing specially +to distinguish it from those at Newquay and Porth, with the exception +of the isolated masses of rock and boulder that in some sense cause it +to resemble Kynance. Several of these have been given fanciful +names--such names being always dear to the average tourist; one of +these is the striking Queen Bess rock, and another is the Good +Samaritan. This last is so named, not very aptly, because it proved +the destruction of an East Indiaman, the _Good Samaritan_, many years +since; but as it is an ill wind that blows no one any good, so it is +certain that the wreck of this richly-cargoed vessel provided the +womanfolk of the district with fine silks and satins for many years +after. We can thus understand the point of the local saying, "It is +time for a Good Samaritan to come." The coast-people's attitude +towards wrecks has never been one of ingratitude--except when +Preventive officers proved too wary. Diggory Island, a little to the +north, has two natural arches, making a fine spectacle at floodtide. + +[Illustration: BEDRUTHAN STEPS. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +Perhaps it is partly by reason of its contrast with the wild, stark +coast that the far-famed Vale of Lanherne has won its reputation. It +is a spot that has excited the enthusiasm of painters, versifiers, and +guide-books; yet probably its chief charm is the surprise of its +sylvan and pastoral character in a tract of country that is not +notable for either. Counties farther east can show hundreds of such +scenes; but the quiet rusticity and woodland features here come with a +special touch of soothing and repose after the long, bare moorlands, +sandy dunes, and stern, naked cliffs. There is also another +attraction--the convent of Lanherne, once the manor-house of the +Arundells. Mr. Baring-Gould says that "Lanherne lies in the loveliest +vale in Cornwall"; Mr. Hind says, "the Vale of Lanherne did not rouse +my enthusiasm." Most visitors agree with the Rector of Lew Trenchard. +The mansion, now the convent, came into possession of the "great +Arundells" in 1231 by marriage with a daughter of John de Lanherne. It +was in the reign of Henry VII. that a later Arundell purchased +Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, and gifted it to his son Sir Thomas, who +was married to a sister of Catherine Howard; and it is at Wardour that +the family of Arundell still flourishes. The family remained Catholic +through the Reformation, and the sanctuary lamp in Lanherne Chapel was +never extinguished; so that English Catholics have a very special +regard for this spot, where the light of their faith still burns +brightly after so many centuries. The front of the old house dates +from 1580; but many buildings have been added of late years for the +accommodation of the nuns, whose seclusion is very strict. It came +into possession of the Carmelites in 1794, when a party of nuns, +driven from France by the Revolution, came to England, having in vain +tried to find safety at Antwerp. They were given this mansion by +Henry, eighth Lord Arundell of Wardour. + +Here they have been ever since, the settlement having been much +enriched and enlarged more recently. Their presence has drawn other +Catholics to the spot, so that the district is quite mediaeval in its +spiritual atmosphere; besides which many visitors not of the faith +come hither to worship in the beautiful chapel, and to try to obtain +glimpses of the fair recluses. Having once taken the veil, these nuns +never again leave the precincts. They attend the services in a gallery +concealed by a grating; they take exercise in a high-walled garden; +when they die they are buried in the convent cemetery. There cannot +fail to be a touch of sadness in thinking of these ladies thus +secluded from the "stir of existence," severed from the interests of +their brothers and sisters, not even having the fair country-side and +grand coast as a feast for their eyes, their lives spent in ceaseless +prayer and liturgy. It is strange that such things should be, and we +can only imagine the haven to be welcome to those who, in their +declining years, crave perfect peace and retirement after the stress +of uttermost sorrow or restless buffetings. There are paintings of +Vandyke and Rubens in the chapel. Outside the door is an old cross, +brought from Gwinear, which is supposed to be Anglo-Saxon; its +inscriptions have never been deciphered. They are thought to be in +both Saxon and Latin. There is a secret chamber in the older part of +the convent, dating from those Elizabethan days when priests lurked +about the Cornish country-side, nourishing their faith in the +villagers, who were very slow to welcome the Reformation, and always +seeking if possible to stir a rising against the new order. It is said +that a priest was once successfully concealed here for eighteen +months. + +Many stirring things are told of the Arundells, who were dauntless +Royalists. One is the siege of Wardour Castle in 1643, when it was +heroically defended by Blanche, wife of Lord Arundell, who was with +the King at Oxford. This lady, with a garrison of fifty, so stoutly +resisted the Parliamentary attack that most honourable terms of +capitulation were granted; but these terms were not kept. It was +another Arundell, then a very old man, who defended Pendennis. The +family had another house at Trerice, about three miles south-east of +Newquay; and at the Restoration, when their confiscations were +removed, the title of Lord Arundell of Trerice, now extinct, was +created. Carew has some curious remarks about them. He says: "Their +name is derived from Hirondelle, in French, a swallow, and out of +France at the Conquest they came, and six swallows they gave in +arms. The country people entitled them the Great Arundells; and +greatest stroke, for love, living, and respect, in the country +heretofore they bear. Their house of Lanhearn standeth in the parish +called Mawgan. It is appurtenanced with a large scope of land which +was employed in frank hospitality." + +[Illustration: MAWGAN CHURCH. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +The next attraction at Mawgan is its church. Perpendicular in style +but dating from the thirteenth century, its pinnacled tower is +surrounded by beautiful Cornish elms, and close to the graveyard runs +a prattling brook. The restoration by Butterfield was not all that +might be desired, but it happily spared the carved bench-ends, the +fine pulpit and the screen. There are also some good brasses and +memorials of the Arundells. In the churchyard is a remarkable +lantern-cross--not Celtic but mediaeval; it is described by Blight as +"the most elaborate of the kind in Cornwall. What is intended to be +represented by this carving is not very evident; an angel seated on a +block in a corner holds a serpent turning round a pillar, and with its +head touching the face of a king. By the king's side is the figure of +a queen kneeling before a lectern." There is also in the graveyard a +curious monument, the stern of a boat, bearing the record of ten +seamen who drifted ashore in their little vessel, frozen to death, at +Beacon Cove in 1846. Before leaving Mawgan most visitors will take a +ramble through the beautiful Carnanton woods, while some may remember +that Carnanton was the residence of William Noye, Attorney-General to +Charles I., who as member for St. Ives had signalised himself as a +champion of parliamentary rights. Ministerial rank worked a wonderful +change; so much so that Noye was actually the originator of the +ship-money tax which played so large a share in embroiling the nation. +Hals goes so far as to say that Noye "was blow-coal, incendiary, and +stirrer-up of the Civil War"; and it was he who prosecuted the +arrested members of the House of Commons. He had the reputation of a +miser, so that, when he died, it was stated that his heart had +shrivelled into the shape of a leather purse. It is rather a pitiful +memory to attach to so delightful a district. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PADSTOW DISTRICT + + +When we turn from the Mawgan district to make our way towards the +Padstow estuary the grand, broken coast goes with us, ever presenting +new aspects of varying beauty--coves of golden sand succeeded by +gaunt, caverned headlands, with here and there a craggy islet lying +among the tumbling breakers. The great plateau of the Bodmin Moors +here touches the coast, bringing its profusion of prehistoric +remains--though in that matter there is little of Cornwall that is not +plentifully endowed. Immediately above Bedruthan there is one +cliff-castle, and on Park Head, a little beyond, are the burial tumuli +of some unknown people. We are now in the parish of St. Eval, whose +church stands on high ground about two miles inland. It is said that +Bristol merchants, in the eighteenth century, found this church so +useful a landmark for their vessels that they rebuilt it at their own +cost. Eval is a saint not easy to identify; there is an inscribed +stone in Pembrokeshire giving the name _Evali fili Dencui_, so that he +may have been a missionary from South Wales. North of Park Head are +the Butter Coves, and the coves of Porthmear and Portcothan. They are +magnificent in times of rough weather. In a quiet way Porthcothan is +beginning to attract visitors, but the place is not very accessible, +and has little but its loveliness to recommend it. There is, however, +a remarkable _fogou_, or subterranean cavern, about 38 feet long and 6 +feet in height, with a passage leading into another similar chamber. +_Fogou_ is the Cornish word for cave (sometimes corrupted into Hugo); +but it usually signifies a cavern or passage of artificial +construction, built at an early date for the concealment of persons or +of property. There are good specimens at Cairn Uny, at Trelowarren, +and at Trewoofe near Lamorna. In most of these passages only a few +yards can now be traversed, as they have fallen into disuse, and +unless repaired frequently the sides and roofs have a tendency to fall +in. Sometimes they obviously connect with old hill-castles and +strongholds, in which case their construction takes us beyond the +reach of history; and generally their formation was assisted or +suggested by nature. But their comparatively recent use by smugglers +for the concealment of run goods makes it particularly difficult to +speak with certainty as to their true antiquity; and the coves around +Porthcothan saw the landing of many an illicit cargo. Stories of +fugitive Royalists taking refuge in these _fogous_ are common, and +have doubtless a basis of fact. It is supposed that the entire length +of the Porthcothan _fogou_ must have been over 1,000 yards, one +gallery leading to Trevethan, whence another communicated with the +beach at Porthmear. + +[Illustration: PORTHCOTHAN BAY. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +Passing other jagged points and creeks, we come to Constantine Bay, +where the ordinary visitor may pardonably suppose he is on the steps +of a Roman emperor, but the Constantine here recorded was a genuine +Cornish saint. Perhaps his name was Cystennyn, Latinised after, as was +a common custom. He was of the Cornish royal family, being son of +Cador; and Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us, fabulously, that he +succeeded Arthur as King of the British. He is chiefly remembered in +literature by the abuse that Gildas heaped upon him, in those letters, +written about 546, that are notable for imperfect accuracy, fervent +religion, and virulent bad temper. Gildas calls Constantine the +"tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Damnonia"; and further +asks, "Why standest thou astonished, O thou butcher of thine own soul? +Why dost thou wilfully kindle against thyself the eternal fires of +hell?" It is quite likely that Constantine had done some bad things +and been no better than his neighbours; but it is supposed that he was +converted in his old age, through the preaching of St. Petrock, whom +we shall meet more intimately at Padstow. It is said that Constantine +was hunting, and the stag that he was pursuing took refuge in +Petrock's cell; the animal's recognition of the saint's holiness and +appeal to his protection so touched his heart as to lead to a change +of life. Another story refers his conversion to grief at the death of +his wife. Mr. Baring-Gould tells us that: "So completely did he sever +himself from the world, that it was supposed by some that he had been +murdered by Conan, his successor. He retired to a cell on the sands in +the parish of St. Merryn, near Padstow, where there was a well, and +where he could be near Petrock, through whom he had been brought to +the knowledge of himself." It is probable that he journeyed later to +the creek of the Helford River, in South Cornwall, and founded the +Constantine that we find there. It is doubtless on the site of his +original cell that the old church of St. Constantine stands, +overwhelmed and ruined by sand-storms long since, buried utterly for a +time like that of St. Piran, and now again visible, a few broken and +rugged walls among the towans. The sand that destroyed the church +destroyed also the village, and the parish was merged in that of St. +Merryn, whither the beautiful font was conveyed. This font and other +portions of St. Merryn Church are of the well-known Cataclew stone, +from the Cataclew quarries by Trevose Head. This stone was formerly +put to very effective use in church-building, and it is pleasant to +know that it has again come into popularity. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF CONSTANTINE CHURCH. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +But the fact that has given greatest distinction to this spot, and +that which does more than anything else to draw visitors, is the +discovery, about ten years since, of a prehistoric burial-ground at +Harlyn Bay. The _Athenaeum_ of that date announced to its readers that +"a discovery of the highest importance to the study of the prehistoric +races inhabiting England before the first Roman invasion has recently +been made in a remote corner of Cornwall. On a sloping sandy hillside +overlooking the picturesque white sand-bay of Harlyn excavations were +being made by Mr. Reddie Mallett for sinking a well preparatory to +building a house overlooking the sea. The spot selected for boring +turned out to be exactly in the centre, not of a tumulus containing +but two or three interments, but of a perfect cemetery, with three +distinct layers of burials of men, women, and children. The drift +sand that is so extensive in this part of Cornwall rose some 8 to 10 +feet above the graves, but when the original hardly compressed sand +was reached, the great slates with which the kists were carefully +formed were often not more than 2 feet below this surface." Dr. Beddoe +pronounced the remains to be neolithic, and the persons here interred +were of a dolichocephalic or long-skulled race--sometimes known as the +long barrow-builders, who generally buried their dead without +cremation. There were some tiny kists for children, but a great number +of the bodies had been buried uncoffined. The district had afforded +earlier similar traces of pre-Roman interment, but nothing on so large +a scale as this. Although a great deal of excavation has gone on +since, and there is a small museum erected close by to contain the +more striking finds, much more may yet be done and other secrets be +revealed. It is not quite certain yet where the persons lived whose +bones have thus been uncovered to the gaze of a late generation of +sight-seers, but it is supposed that their habitations must have been +near this site. They were, of course, in a higher state of +civilisation than mere cave-dwellers, but their huts may have been of +perishable wattle, or they may have come from some of the hut-circles +of the Bodmin Moors. The remains, like those around St. Piran's, +bespeak a somewhat dense population. As Harlyn Bay has become popular +for picnic parties from Padstow and elsewhere, this old necropolis +often resounds with laughter and merry-making; but in winter and in +rough weather it is left to its own solemnity. A spirit of awe broods +above it; we remember the words of Ezekiel: "The hand of the Lord was +upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down +in the midst of the valley which was full of bones." + +Meeting the ocean westward of Harlyn is Trevose Head, with its +lighthouse and coastguard station. The headland rises to nearly 250 +feet, and its light is sorely needed, the coast, with its outlying +masses of crag, being a deadly peril to navigation. The views to be +obtained here are of exceptional grandeur, and the lighthouse-keepers, +though far less lonely than on many similar stations, generally +welcome a visit. + +[Illustration: TREVOSE LIGHTHOUSE. + +_Photo by Alex. Old, Padstow._] + +Padstow is situated on the western side of the Camel estuary, below +the sandbank known as the Doom Bar (probably _dune-bar_). The gates of +the river-mouth are the Stepper Point, with its white day-mark, and +Pentire Point; the Doom Bar lies well within these, almost blocking +the passage, which, with vessels of any draught, must be made on the +Stepper side. The name Doom Bar is, of course, provocative of legend, +and an appropriate one has been found. It is said that Padstow had +once a safe and commodious harbour, whose mouth was haunted by a +beautiful mermaid. The harbour was under her special protection, and +she was consequently revered by the inhabitants. But one day a youth +foolishly fired on her from the cliffs. With a cry of rage she plunged +into the water, but reappeared for a moment to vow that henceforth the +harbour should be ruined. An old Cornishman who told the story in the +days when such traditions still passed current, used to add: "We +have had commissions and I know not what about converting this place +into a harbour of refuge. A harbour of refuge would be a great +blessing, but not all the Government commissions in the world could +keep the sand out, or make the harbour deep enough to swim a frigate, +unless the parsons can find out the way to take up the merry-maid's +curse." But there is another tradition attaching to the Bar. This is +the country of Tregeagle--he lies buried at St. Breock, close to +Wadebridge: "John Tregeagle, of Trevorder, Esqr., 1679." His story +forms a curious mixture of the recent and the prehistoric. We see that +a man named Tregeagle truly lived and died something more than two +centuries ago; but the Tregeagle or Tergagle of legend belongs to +folk-lore rather than to modern social life. Very old ideas and +superstitions have in some manner become attached to a recent name; +tradition has a knack of bringing forward its dates; stories of +immemorial antiquity are related as though they were the experience of +the narrator's father or grandfather, and are modernised to suit that +supposition. Legend never sticks at absurdity or anachronism. From +some versions of the story it would appear that Tregeagle could not +have lived earlier than the seventeenth century, in actual accordance +with the date on his tombstone; but in others certain of the early +Cornish saints are introduced, carrying the history twelve centuries +back or further still. It would seem that Tregeagle was a landowner in +the neighbourhood of Bodmin, holding the Trevorder estate; but he won +his chief notoriety as steward on the lands of the Robartes family, at +Lanhydrock. There is still a room in the Lanhydrock mansion known as +Tregeagle's. The man doubtless did many things of which morality +cannot approve, but tradition has overdone itself in attributing to +him every possible crime, including the murder of his wife, his +children, and his sister. He was an unjust steward, grinding the +tenants unmercifully, and enriching himself not only at their expense +but at that of his employer. But he contrived to purchase the goodwill +of the Church, and at his death it was only seemly that the clergy +should do what they could for him. When the spirits of darkness came +to claim the soul of the dying wretch they were successfully repelled +by the priests with the powers of bell, book, and candle. The Church +wrangled with the fiends above the breathless body, defeated them in +heated theological controversy, dismissed them with contumely, and +laid Tregeagle to rest with his fathers at St. Breock. He was not +destined to repose there long. There was a heritage of trouble in +connection with the Lanhydrock estate, and the defendant in one +particular case sorely needed the witness of Tregeagle himself, to +settle a disputed point. By some means he managed to procure it; the +clergy provided a safe-conduct, and the figure of the dead Tregeagle +was led into the witness-box. A thrill of horror passed through the +court, but this spectral witness gave evidence faithfully, and gained +a triumphant verdict for defendant. The trouble now was what to do +with Tregeagle. The fiends were still waiting for him; defendant who +had summoned him took no further interest in the matter; but the +clergy felt that they still owed him a duty. They knew that the dead +man's chance at the Day of Doom was not a good one, but in the +meantime they would do what they could. It was decided to give him a +perpetual penance, which might keep the evil spirits at a distance. He +was led away to the shores of Dosmare Pool, on the desolate Bodmin +Moors, and there set to drain the pool with a leaky limpet-shell. In +those days Dosmare was supposed to be bottomless--a reputation which +it has since destroyed by drying in hot summers. For long years +Tregeagle toiled at his hopeless task. If he ceased from his labour +for a moment he would be at the mercy of the devils. + +One night, after many years of fruitless toil, there came a terrific +storm, with thunder and earthquake. In sheer horror and despair +Tregeagle fled. Immediately the demons were on his track, chasing him +so closely that he could not stay to dip his limpet-shell in the +foaming water. Feeling that they were upon him, he rose with a cry of +anguish, and fled across the pool, thus gaining a temporary advantage, +for spirits of evil cannot cross water. He made for the hermitage on +Roche Rock, the yelling pursuers at his heels. Just as they were about +to seize him he thrust his head within the small window of the +hermit's chapel, and thus was safe. There was still a difficulty about +his position. He could not get further into the church, nor does it +appear that the hermit desired it; and he could not withdraw his head +lest the fiends should seize him. He had to stay and listen to the +good man's prayers and liturgies, which only added to the terrors of +his guilty conscience, so that his remorseful screams were heard above +all the psalms and prayings. The hermit found it a great affliction, +for the population of the district was kept away by the unpleasantness +of Tregeagle's presence. At last two other clergy came to his +assistance, and Tregeagle was led away to the coast at Padstow. His +new task was to make ropes of sand--one of the familiar penances of +such traditions. He could not do it; it was worse than draining +Dosmare. Night and day he rendered the place hideous with his frantic +cries, and the Padstow folk did not like it at all. It was making the +neighbourhood unbearable. At their earnest request another effort was +made by the priests to dispose of poor Tregeagle. He was ruining the +harbour by his attempts to make the ropes of sand; every rising sea +scattered these ropes, however carefully formed, and the sand was +accumulating in a bar of Doom. It is said that St. Petrock himself, +the spiritual founder of Padstow, forged a chain of which every link +was a prayer, and thus led away the unhappy ghost to Helston. In the +estuary of the Hel River he spoiled the harbourage also, for a devil +tripped him one day, when toiling across with a sack of sand, and the +sand was spilt right across the mouth of the river. At last he was +cast out from Helston also, and dismissed to Land's End, where he +remains labouring to this day, endeavouring to sweep the sands from +Porthcurno Cove into Nanjisal. Of course, it cannot be done; the full +force of the Atlantic drives around Land's End, and the sands are +driven backward again and again. But he is safe from the immediate +attack of the fiends, and he is out of the way of the countryfolk. His +cries are lost in the crash of the seas that dominate that desolate +shore, and the fishermen have given up thinking about Tregeagle. +The legends vary in telling his doom; some make the draining of +Dosmare his last penance and some this task at the Land's End. But if +an imaginative reason is desired to account for the formation of the +Padstow Doom Bar, surely this tale will do as well as any other. + +[Illustration: CLIFFS NEAR PADSTOW. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +It will be seen that this chronicle of Tregeagle carries him back to +the time of Petrock, the patron saint of Padstow, whose name is a +corruption of Petrock's-stow. Little Petherick, sometimes called St. +Petrock Minor, is thought to be a corruption of the same name. Petrock +was a Celtic saint, probably a Welshman, who went to Ireland for his +religious education; he crossed to Cornwall in a coracle, and landed +in this estuary of the Camel. He founded an oratory here, and probably +another at Little Petherick. It is also suggested that he established +another cell at Place, the seat of the Prideaux, but it seems more +likely that the chapel at Place was founded by St. Samson. After +spending many years at Padstow the saint is said to have voyaged to +the East, visiting India, and also going on a visionary journey to +some Island of the Blest, after the manner of St. Brendan. After +returning to Cornwall he removed to Bodmin and established the most +important of his religious foundations. Like Padstow, Bodmin was +formerly named Petrockstow, and this has caused endless confusion to +the chroniclers as well as some quarrels between the two towns. +Further, the saint evidently went into Devon; we trace his footsteps +at Dartmouth, Exeter, Hollacombe, Anstey, and elsewhere. Bodmin can +boast precedence of Padstow in certain respects, for it attained +episcopal consequence, besides being the county town of Cornwall; but +with regard to priority in connection with Petrock, it is clear +Padstow has the first claim. At one time Padstow appears to have been +called Lodenek or Lodernek, but in the thirteenth century it was +certainly known as Aldestowe; in fact, the town has been troubled with +a multiplicity of names, which is always a regrettable thing, for a +person or a place. The town is about two miles within the estuary, and +were it not for the sands that block its entrance, this would be truly +a fine harbour; even so, it is the best that North Cornwall possesses. +Two vessels sailed from here for the siege of Calais; and in the +sixteenth century some sort of corporation was granted, but this seems +to have been lost. At the present day it is a picturesque, quaint old +town, in a beautiful and most interesting site, dominated by a +weather-beaten old church. But Mr. Hind, though he finds much to +admire, does not regard Padstow as in any sense typically Cornish. He +says: "An air-voyager dropped from a flying-machine upon the roof of a +Padstow house would never think that he was in Cornwall. If he walked +out to Stepper Point, or strode some miles westward to Trevose Head, +the first land sighted in old days by Canadian timber vessels trading +to Padstow, the majestic sweep of coast, the jagged headlands and +scattered rocks would certainly suggest Cornwall; but the estuary of +the Camel from Wadebridge to Padstow, although beautiful, has no claim +to the epithet wild. The panorama induces reflection, moves one to a +mood of gentle melancholy; but it does not stimulate. Nowhere in +Cornwall have I seen such sand--gold, grey and yellow, equally lovely +at all tides. Looking across the river, the eye is soothed by these +wastes of blown sand stretching inland from the sea to where the +little hamlet called Rock rises from the shore." Sundries are imported +at the docks, and there is some shipment of corn; but the +ship-building, once notable, has greatly declined, and the town now +does little but repairing. It is satisfactory to find that the sands +of the Doom Bar have a certain value, as they contain much carbonate +of lime, and they are carried inland for agricultural purposes. The +church, which stands well above the town, has a good Early English +tower, and a beautiful, finely carved catacleuse font; in the south +porch the parish stocks are preserved. In the chancel, over the +piscina, is an effigy sometimes mistaken for that of St. Anthony, but +almost certainly the figure is St. Petrock himself, with his usual +symbols, the staff and wolf, at his feet. There are modern monochrome +pictures from drawings by Hofmann in front of the organ. It is natural +to find monuments of the Prideaux family both within the church and +without; in the churchyard also are two granite crosses, one much +mutilated. + +Prideaux Place, generally named Place, stands a little higher than the +church, in a glorious situation; it is a finely designed Elizabethan +mansion--Elizabethan in style if not exactly in date--erected by Sir +Nicholas Prideaux about the year 1600. Its old staircase was brought +thither when Stowe House, once the seat of the Grenvilles, was broken +up. The Prideaux are a Cornish family of ancient note, whose names we +often meet with in the Duchy's annals; but the most widely known was +Humphrey Prideaux, born here in 1648, who at one time was Rector of +St. Clement's, Oxford, and later became Dean of Norwich. He wrote a +Life of Mahomet, and also a work in which he attempted to bridge over +the interval between the Old and New Testaments--rather a ticklish +job, one might imagine. There are a good many excellent pictures at +the house--a Vandyck and many Opies; but the visitor, unless specially +introduced, will have to be content with the outside of the beautiful +manor-house. + +Padstow has been associated from immemorial times with a special +celebration of the May-Day festival, immediately deriving from the old +folk-plays and mummings that were once universal. The special survival +here is of the Hobby Horse, that once played so prominent a part in +these boisterous masquerades, but such life as it still enjoys at +Padstow is somewhat a galvanised existence, just as children still +occasionally dress in poor tinsel and gaiety in order to collect a few +coppers. Such exhibitions are melancholy rather than interesting-- + + "For who would keep an ancient form + Thro' which the spirit breathes no more?" + +The horse is a wooden circle, with a dress of blackened sailcloth, a +horse's head, and a prominent tail. Readers of Scott's _Abbot_ will, +of course, remember that the Hobby Horse was equally popular in +Scotland. The Hobby Horse song, as rendered at Padstow, was probably +only a variant of verses common elsewhere, but local and topical +allusions were freely introduced, and stanzas were addressed to +special personages. The performance is in a moribund condition, and it +is certainly not worth while for a stranger to travel to Padstow on +May-Day to see it. Very likely he would not see it; it is a thing +that may be discontinued at any time. If we were devoting our +attention to Cornwall as it used to be, much would come into this book +which is now utterly obsolete, and would cause as great surprise to +Cornish folk as to others. + +[Illustration: A ROUGH CORNISH SEA. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +If the tide serves, it is certainly worth while to go up to +Wadebridge, if only for the sake of the grand old bridge, originally +built of seventeen arches, in the year 1485, by Thomas Lovibond, Vicar +of Egloshayle. The bridge has been widened since its erection, but is +not otherwise much changed. There was a ferry here in the past, but it +was perilous, and Lovibond could not rest till, with the assistance of +his bishop, he had collected money for this beneficent work. There was +a great difficulty in sinking foundations for the bridge, owing to the +shifting sands, but, guided by a dream, Lovibond is said to have +resorted to packs of wool--the same method reported by tradition of +Bideford Bridge. The bridge is 320 feet long, and remains the best +specimen of its class in England, as it retains its protecting angles +for the use of pedestrians, which at Bideford have been removed. +Lovibond was not only a bridge-builder; he also erected the fine tower +of his church at Egloshayle (the mother-parish of Wadebridge). +Egloshayle probably means the "church by the river" (_eglos-hel_); its +church is particularly interesting for its western doorway, its Norman +font, and its Kestell monument, while there is some good carving in +the roof of the south aisle. The church of St. Breock is distant +nearly a mile from Wadebridge, on the western side of the river, and +is perhaps still more delightful in its position; it is noteworthy for +its monuments, which, however, have been much displaced. It is here +that the remains of Tregeagle lie entombed; his spirit, if we may +credit tradition, is otherwise engaged. St. Breock is supposed to have +arrived in Cornwall, from Wales, earlier than Petrock. He was an old +man, and, as Mr. Baring-Gould tells us, one day his companions "left +him to sing psalms in his cart whilst they were engaged at a distance +over some pressing business. When they returned they found a pack of +wolves round the old man, but whether his sanctity, or toughness, kept +them from eating him is left undecided." Surely it must have been his +sanctity. His name attaches to the Breock Downs, a high-lying moorland +rising to about 700 feet, thickly strewn with prehistoric remains. +Wadebridge has suffered by the opening of the railway to Padstow, but +it can boast that its rail to Bodmin was the second line to be opened +in England. Many jests were current in reference to the speed of this +early railway. Professor Shuttleworth, who was born at Egloshayle +Vicarage, says: "I have often seen the train stop while people got out +and gathered blackberries. But it is lovely country down around +Egloshayle and Wadebridge, just as pretty and quiet as can be." Mr. +Arthur Norway also has a very tender regard for the district, for a +similar reason, and he has given some weird stories of local +superstition. But it cannot be claimed that Wadebridge is on the +coast, and we must retreat seaward. + +[Illustration: WADEBRIDGE. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +Readers of Baring-Gould's stirring novel, _The Roar of the Sea_, are +sure to look eagerly for St. Enodoc's Church. It lies among the +sand-dunes on the eastern bank of the estuary, and is now protected +from the sands that once practically buried it by the growth of +rush-grass and tamarisk hedges; even now it lies low within a deep +trench, and we can easily picture its condition in days when the +parson used to enter through the roof to perform service, so as to +keep his tithes. Built in 1430, it was the successor of an earlier +cell of the saint's. Its slightly crooked spire of slate is the sole +landmark to guide a visitor. In the graveyard is a curious collection +of stoups and water-bowls. It is about forty years now since the +church was excavated from the sands that rose to its roof and restored +to usefulness. Those familiar with Mr. Baring-Gould's book will +remember that he places the home of Cruel Coppinger in this district, +with his house at Pentire Glaze; but we shall find the true home of +Coppinger further northward, near Morwenstow. Just within Hayle Bay is +the little village of Polzeath, which in time may become a popular +watering-place; it has a wonderful charm of position, and enough sand +to satisfy anybody. The fine headland of Pentire reaches beyond, with +its off-lying islet of Newland. Mr. Norway thinks that the stretch of +coast visible from Pentire is the finest in all Cornwall, and he +speaks with authority. On the west the view extends to Trevose, and +embraces the whole of the beautiful Padstow harbour, together with an +unlimited ocean of marvellous ever-changing colours. "On the east the +prospect seems almost boundless. Port Isaac Bay lies just below, +sweeping far back into the land, half hidden by the Eastern Horn of +Pentire. Across the bay Tintagel lies directly opposite, eight miles +away over the sea, every crevice and gully of its riven island clearly +marked in the translucent air; and beyond it the eye follows leagues +and leagues of iron cliffs towering far higher than any others in the +west, and point after point of noble jagged promontories, past +Boscastle, set back a little out of sight, past Bude and Cambeak, and +rugged Morwenstow, till it rests at last on the dim line of Hartland +Point, full 40 miles away as a bird would fly. It is idle to compare +any other view in the West Country with this either in extent or +grandeur, or in the immediate beauty of its surroundings. It is little +known, and rarely visited by any but by shepherds. Yet it is more easy +of access from Wadebridge than the Land's End or the Logan from +Penzance; and there will be some to whom its very loneliness is an +additional attraction. However this may be, those who leave Cornwall +without visiting Pentire have missed its noblest scenery." + +[Illustration: PORT ISAAC. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +It is a large claim that Mr. Norway makes, but surely it is justified. +The parts of Cornwall that are best known are naturally those that +come within range of the more popular resorts--Newquay, Bude, +Penzance, St. Ives, Falmouth--while eastern Cornwall is accessible +from Plymouth. But this stretch of coast is near no popular centre, +and, with the exception of Tintagel and Boscastle, it remains +neglected. If Padstow or Polzeath, Portquin or Port Isaac, ever become +more popular, visitors will flock to these grand cliffs and marvel +that they never came here before. There is a remarkable triple +entrenchment on the eastern Horn of Pentire, above its stark, rugged +caverns; but those who came here and fortified this noble headland, in +far-back days of which we can only dream, came not in search of the +picturesque as we do, nor probably for the spiritual repose that we +crave in this age of hurry. Even sterner necessities governed their +existence. Cliff-camps of this nature cannot have been designed +against any foe from the sea--even to-day it would be a perilous thing +indeed to attempt a forcible landing at such places--they were more +likely a last refuge from invading tribes that came overland from the +south-east. The struggles witnessed here must almost certainly have +been far earlier than the coming of Roman or Teuton; it was probably +successive waves, or antagonist tribes, of Stone Age men that here +contended and opposed each other. But the ditches and embankments have +little to tell us; tradition is silent, the lonely barrows are dumb. +Yet the blood of the peoples still flows within Cornish veins; and +those characteristics that we vaguely speak of as Celtic often derive +from a far earlier source. + +The little island to the east of Pentire is the Mouls, and to the +right is Portquin Bay. Port Isaac Bay, beyond Kelland Head and Varley +Point, takes its name from the delightful little fishing village of +Port Isaac, of which Port Gaverne may almost be considered as a +suburb. Both are in the parish of St. Endellion, but Port Isaac has +its own church, erected in Early English style in 1882. Its small pier +is said to date from the time of Henry VIII., and before the railway a +good deal of Delabole slate was shipped here. The fishing for +pilchards is here done by trawlers, not by seines, as round Land's +End. The name may probably be interpreted as _porth izic_, the "corn +port," though certainly this is not a grain country. Very +appropriately, it is said that fish are exhibited among the fruits +and flowers at the Port Isaac annual harvest service. Some other West +Country fishing-towns have introduced nets and oars at such services, +but to bring in the actual fish seems peculiar to this place. The fish +has always been a sacred symbol in Christian art, and it represents to +fisher-folk what the fruits of the earth do to the field labourer. +Both these little twin ports--Isaac and Gaverne--are entirely +charming, and much to be commended to all who would know unspoiled +Cornwall. Nestling within their tiny coves, they have a varied +background of interesting country, pleasant little beaches, beautiful +cliffs, and a glorious sea. There is one other resort to be visited +before reaching Tintagel, and that is Trebarwith Strand, which +similarly reaches the sea by a tiny cove, with the Gull Rock lying off +shore as a target for storms. Trebarwith is likely to become +fashionable. It has a fine stretch of sands, and provides some of the +best bathing to be had in North Cornwall. Those who wish to be near +Tintagel and yet close to the sea had better come to Trebarwith rather +than to the Tintagel village itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TINTAGEL AND BOSCASTLE + + +When we come to the region that is specially sacred to traditions of +King Arthur we find ourselves in the presence of wonderful natural +charm and of considerable historic perplexity. Those who are content +with the ordinary guide-books, and who have no conception of Arthur +beyond what they may have gained from snatches of Tennyson, will not +be troubled by this perplexity; they will take the crumbling walls on +Tintagel heights to be the actual castle in which the Celtic prince +was born, and any round table will suffice them as being that around +which the king and his chieftains sat. But something a little better +than this is desirable. We want Arthur to be something more than a +mere ghost, something even more than the blameless hero of a beautiful +Victorian poem. Yet if we go to the learned authorities the ghost +becomes more ghostlike, the phantom becomes more dim; it is mainly +destructive criticism that we meet with, and assertions that are +largely negative. In spite of this, there must be something tangible +behind so persistent a rumour as this tradition of Arthur. Wherever +the Brythonic tribes extended, there we find traces of him. The Gaels +know nothing of him. Finn, Oisin, Cuthullin, Cormac--such as these +were the great Goidhelic heroes. But the British tradition reached +from Armorica to the Forth, and carried Arthur with it. The Welsh +claim him, the Bretons, the Cornish, the Lowland Scotch. Cornwall, +with Tintagel as an asset of faith, claims his birth; Somerset, with +Cadbury on the river Camel, claims Camelot; and Glastonbury boasts of +his grave. Of these claims, that of Cornwall is the most powerfully +supported; there is not only Tintagel, but Kelly Rounds, Damelioc, and +Cardinham. One of the Welsh Triads speaks of the three chief palaces +of Arthur as being Caerleon-on-the-Usk, Celliwig in Cornwall, and +Penrhyn Rhionedd in the north. Celliwig may safely be identified with +the partially effaced earthwork near St. Kew Station, known as Kelly +Rounds (probably from the Cornish _killi_, meaning woods or groves), +standing in what may be described as a Kelly district, for we have +here in a cluster such names as Kelly Green, Kelly Farm, Bokelly, +Kelly Brae, Calliwith. The Rounds have been cut across by a road, but +there are distinct traces of two ramparted circles, with some remains +of a sheltering earthwork to the west. Damelioc, a large and strong +entrenchment with three concentric ramparts, lies about seven miles +south-west of Tintagel; and it was here that Gorlois, Duke of +Cornwall, took up his position after placing his wife Igerne for +safety within Tintagel itself. The common story says that Uther, mad +with love, overcame and slew Gorlois at Damelioc, and gained admission +to Tintagel in his guise, thus becoming the father of Arthur. Of +course, there is the other tradition that represents Arthur as of +supernatural birth, washed to the shore by the waves, rescued by +Merlin, and given to the world as a son of Uther. Cardinham, the other +almost certain Arthurian locality in Cornwall, is about five miles +east of Bodmin, and is identified with the Caradigan where Arthur +sometimes held court. It is a large, lonely earthwork, in a field near +a farmhouse. It must not be forgotten that the guide-books usually put +forward Camelford as another most important Arthurian place, +mentioning Slaughter Bridge as the scene of the king's last battle. +There certainly was a battle here between Britons and Saxons, but this +took place at least two centuries after Arthur's time; and though a +spot named Arthur's Grave is shown to visitors, all definite +connection between the king and Camelford must be surrendered. The +last great battle, according to all authentic tradition, was fought +against Picts, and what would Picts have been doing in Cornwall? The +grave at Glastonbury, it must be owned with regret, is now generally +understood to be a monkish fable. It is not pleasant for a West of +England man to surrender either Camelford or Glastonbury, but truth +must be faced, and the fact is almost certain that Arthur's last +battle, and therefore his grave, must be sought in Scotland. + +[Illustration: TINTAGEL. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +We may assume that Arthur was a Romanised Briton, born in the late +fifth century at Tintagel; his name being possibly a Celtic form of +the Latin _Artorius_. He became the champion of his race against +encroaching Saxons, North-Country Picts, and wandering pagan hordes +who fought for lust of bloodshed and pillage. Against these it is +likely that Arthur sought to maintain a semi-Romanised, partially +Christianised civilisation. He is credited with twelve great battles, +in all of which he proved victorious; some of these were certainly in +Somerset, and the last of his triumphs, that of Badon Hill, somewhere +in Wessex. His rule thus established on a firm foundation, for many +years Britain knew comparative peace and good government. The Round +Table of which we hear so much is probably a symbolic addition of the +bards, unless it means that in Arthur's time persons of good class +began to sit decently together at tables. The thirteenth battle, in +which he lost his life fighting against his nephew Mordred, has +usually been given to the West of England--Malory and Tennyson both do +so. But the traditions that became most popular sprang up in an age +when the Cymry were forgetting the former wide extent of their tribal +sway, and were limiting their racial pride to a part of the country +that was still free from the Teuton. The fact that Arthur's last fight +was with the Picts, and against Mordred, is almost conclusive as to +its location. His sister, the mother of Mordred, had married Llew or +Lot, of the Lothians, and there is reason to believe that the king was +already familiar with this part of Scotland. The battle is always +given as fought at Camlan, and this name has diverted later writers to +the Camels of Cornwall and of Somerset. But the Celtic _cam_ in +place-names is quite common; it signifies crooked, and we find it in a +number of river-names. Mordred had become a chieftain of the Picts, +and he possibly resented any claims of suzerainty on the part of +Arthur. The fight, whose date is stated as 542, was almost certainly +waged at Camelon on the river Carron, near Falkirk. Arthur was +defeated--it is likely that his forces were greatly outnumbered; and +he died, either on the field or as an immediate result of a wound +then received. Not many miles distant is an earthwork still known as +Mordred's Castle; and at Carron, nearer still, there was formerly a +mound or cairn known as Arthur's Oon (oven). All the picturesque +detail in Tennyson's wonderful "Passing of Arthur" must be attributed +to Cymric bards, to the genius of Malory, and to the poet's +imagination; we must be content with the conclusion that Arthur was +born but did not die in Cornwall. + +[Illustration: KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +In any case nothing of the present ruins at Tintagel existed in the +time of Arthur. Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote about the year 1150, +says of the stronghold that "it is situated upon the sea, and on every +side surrounded by it; and there is but one entrance into it, and that +through a straight rock, which three men shall be able to defend +against the whole power of the kingdom." Even Gorlois, we remember, +only gained admittance by stratagem. Tintagel, Dundagel, or Dundiogl, +the _Dunecheniv_ of Domesday, seems certainly to have belonged to +Gorlois when Uther was Pendragon or Head-king of Britain; it would +have been a cliff-castle such as that on Pentire Head. As years passed +the rock probably became more insular, and when the Norman stronghold +was built it was connected with the mainland by a drawbridge. From +earliest times the castle attached to the Earls of Cornwall, one of +whom protected David, Prince of Wales, during his revolt against +Edward I. Later it was used as a kind of prison, a Mayor of London +being confined within it. Elizabeth had some thought of restoring it, +for it had already become ruinous; Leland says: "The residue of the +buildings of the Castle be sore wetherbeten, and yn ruine; but it +hath beene a large thinge." Its outworks extended to the mainland, but +the great keep was on the isolated mass of rock. Here also are the +remains of St. Juliet's chapel, with its altar-slab and stone benches. +It is not easy to say much about the Juliot or Julitta to whom this +chapel was dedicated; but the chapel is certainly that mentioned in +the thirteenth-century _High History of the Holy Grail_. "They came +into a very different land, scarce inhabited of any folk, and found a +little castle in a combe. They came thitherward and saw that the +enclosure of the castle was fallen down into an abysm, so that none +might approach it on that side, but it had a right fair gateway and a +door tall and wide, whereby they entered. They beheld a chapel that +was fair and rich, and below was a great ancient hall." But the spirit +of modernism now comes very near to this sacred spot of antiquity; on +an opposite headland stands a commodious hotel, and the Tintagel +golf-links come very close to the castle. A tiny port lies below, from +which a little slate is sometimes shipped. The village, whose correct +name of Trevena is being displaced by that of Tintagel, lies about a +mile inland; it is clean and comfortable, but not remarkably +picturesque except for the old gabled building that was once its +post-office. Those who want the perpetual presence of the sea will not +be contented with it. Its church, dedicated to SS. Marcelliana and +Materiana (of whom the latter may be the Welsh Madron), stands at a +distance, above the cliffs west of the castle; it is a stern, bare +building, magnificently placed, so fully exposed to the force of +Atlantic gales that the very tombstones have been buttressed. A +portion of the walls, in their rude simplicity, appears to be +Saxon, but many orders are represented here, from the late Norman +chancel-arch to the Decorated south transept and Perpendicular screen. +There is a rugged circular font, and what is supposed to be a Roman +milestone. The vestry was formerly a Lady-chapel, possibly Saxon, with +a thirteenth-century door and a curious mutilated altar. The +south-transept window is to the memory of J. Douglas Cook, founder of +the _Saturday Review_, who returned to his native Cornwall to die. In +the churchyard are the graves of drowned seamen, British and foreign. +It is a striking and solemnising little church, quite in harmony with +a district of myth and sublimity. It is possible that some who come to +Tintagel for the first time may be disappointed. If so, they have +expected too much, or have expected the wrong thing. There is no gloss +of false romance about the place; the ruins have not the hollow +pretentious grandeur of some Norman castles; what we see is the +unadorned, unveiled reality of a majestic coast, the low, stark walls +of ruin on an immemorial site, the naked wind-beaten church on the +heights, the sea breaking into gaunt caverns below. Sheep feed within +the enclosure to which we scramble by a ragged path. Sentiment may +resent the hotel and the golfers, but any jarring note can easily be +ignored. Yet even Tennyson seems to have been disappointed at first; +afterwards, the spirit of the place sank into him and prevailed. +Perhaps old Hawker has described it best, in few pregnant words:-- + + "Hark! stern Dundagel softens into song. + They meet for solemn severance, knight and king, + Where gate and bulwark darken o'er the sea." + +He gives us the words of Arthur, when the listeners "hush their hearts +to hear the king":-- + + "I would not be forgotten in this land: + I yearn that men I know not, men unborn, + Shall find, amid these fields, King Arthur's fame. + Here let them say, by proud Dundagel's walls-- + 'They brought the Sangraal back at his command, + They touched these rugged rocks with hues of God,' + So shall my name have worship, and my land." + +And after the king had spoken:-- + + "That night Dundagel shuddered into storm-- + The deep foundations shook beneath the sea." + +And we have the grand final picture:-- + + "There stood Dundagel, throned; and the great sea + Lay, a strong vassal at his master's gate, + And, like a drunken giant, sobb'd in sleep." + +There was a time when Trevena, with Bossiney and Trevalga, formed a +borough, and sent members to Parliament, of whom Francis Drake was +one. It needed little apology to disfranchise such a small corporation +as this, but the first Reform Bill had to deal with far greater +anomalies. Bossiney has other attractions than such memories as this, +having a delightful cove protected by the fine headland of Willapark. +The fishing hamlet is close to an ancient burial-mound or barrow, from +which election writs were once read and the local mayor proclaimed. +From this cove we can pass upward into the glorious Rocky Valley, with +its broken crags, its tangled foliage and rushing stream, its old +mill. It is just a little like the gorge at Lynmouth, but wilder. +This is the stream forming the famous cascade known as Knighton's (or +St. Nectan's) Kieve. It is not very easy to find, and, here as at +Tintagel, a key must be procured before its beauties can be examined. +The Kieve is a basin of rock, into which the water has a fall of about +40 feet. St. Nectan is supposed to have been a brother of Morwenna, of +Morwenstow; it is said he had an oratory here, and when he was dying +he threw its silver bell into the waterfall. But Mr. Baring-Gould says +that he died at Hartland. Following the usual guide-book convention, +this would be the right moment for quoting Hawker's ballad, "The +Sisters of Glen Nectan," but that piece is not one of his happiest +efforts, and the legend is at least dubious. Those who journey afoot +from Bossiney to Boscastle will find it almost impossible to keep to +the coast, as the Rocky Valley forms an impediment, especially when +its stream is in flood after heavy rains. But they can find a +tolerable road to Trevalga, crossing the stream at the Long Bridge, +and at Trevalga they will find an interesting little church. The shore +here is broken into some small creeks of great beauty, but one chasm +is so dark and sombre that it has won the name of Blackapit. There are +dangers along these wild beaches; the poet Swinburne, when a boy, was +almost cut off by the tide near Tintagel. From Blackapit we rise to +Willapark Point and the church of Forrabury. The view from the Point +is very fine, covering the ravine and haven of Boscastle on the east, +and looking towards Tintagel on the west. Forrabury, the parish church +of Boscastle, is dedicated to St. Symphorian, whoever that saint be +(perhaps St. Veryan); and in situation it much resembles that of +Tintagel. The pulpit and the woodwork of the altar date from the +fifteenth century. There is a good granite cross in the churchyard. +Here again there is a temptation, into which most writers fall, of +quoting from Hawker, with his poem, "The Silent Tower of Bottreaux," +in which he gives us a legend accounting for the fact that this church +has only a single bell. But as he frankly confessed, in after life, +that he had invented the story on the very slightest foundation, it is +better to avoid quoting from the ballad, except solely for the +melodious smoothness of its burden:-- + + "Come to thy God in time, + Thus saith the ocean chime; + Storm, whirlwind, billow past, + Come to thy God at last." + +[Illustration: ST. KNIGHTON'S KIEVE. + +_Photo by Alex. Old._] + +Boscastle, taking its name from the old Norman family of Bottreaux +(though there are many other place-names in Cornwall beginning with +_bos_, which means abode or dwelling-place), is certainly the most +romantic and picturesque haven in the Duchy, though there may be +others that surpass it in actual beauty. The coast has a wild grandeur +rather than loveliness, and in dismal or stormy weather there is a +weird, solemn gloom. The little town lies sheltered at the head of a +gorge in which two rivulets meet and form the haven. Old Leland in his +graphic manner mentions one only of these brooks: "There cummith down +a little broke from South-Est out of the Hilles thereby, and so +renning by the West side of the Towne goith into Severn Se betwixt two +hilles, and there maketh a pore Havenet, but of no certaine +salvegarde." It is the river Valency of which he speaks, the more +important of the streams that join just above the haven. This is a +tiny land-locked harbour with stone piers, at which some coal, lime, +and general merchandise are imported; the entrance is very difficult +to make, and vessels that succeed in doing so have to be warped in by +immense hawsers. Seeing this, and the small haven at Bude, one +realises the wildness of this unsheltered coast, where such perilous +places are called harbours. The village, though not large, is a long +one, straggling down a hill and along the narrow ravine. Its activity +is maintained by the daily arrival and departure of cars from +Camelford, Bude, Otterham, and Tintagel, bringing many visitors in the +summer season. Some come to stay, but most make only a fleeting call; +Nature has placed grave obstacles in the way of Boscastle's ever +becoming a fashionable watering-place. Its charm is unique and +undeniable; but it appeals to the artist, the sturdy pedestrian and +climber, the lover of solitude that at times is absolute desolation, +rather than to the parent of a family. But the desolation, if that is +not too stern a word to use, only applies to the coast; the Valency +Valley is verdant and beautiful. It runs among furze and bracken by +the riverside, and by this path we can reach the quiet, lovely vale in +which Minster stands, so named from a former monastic establishment. +Like the church at Tintagel, this of Minster is dedicated to St. +Materiana, whom Mr. Baring-Gould identifies with the Welsh Madrun. The +tower is of a single stage; there are good bench-ends and +roof-carvings. A portion of the church having fallen in one Sunday, +after morning service, it was rebuilt about forty years since. The +priory was founded by William de Bottreaux in the reign of Richard +I., but does not seem to have had a long existence. Minster is a large +parish, but Forrabury is one of the smallest in Cornwall. + +Pentargon, the bay and headland beyond the Boscastle golf-links, is +sometimes interpreted as "Arthur's Head," but this is doubtful. The +caves here, and those below Willapark, were once much haunted by +seals; the coast being absolutely honeycombed by the constant fretting +of the waves. At times, but rarely, the Cornish chough may be seen on +the cliffs, recalling the old tradition that the spirit of Arthur +lingers around his native rocks in this form--a tradition that was +even familiar to Cervantes, though he knew the Welsh version of it, +which makes Arthur a raven. Eastward past Beeny the cliffs gradually +rise, till at High Cliff they reach the height of 700 feet; it needs +some enthusiasm for a pedestrian to keep to the coast-line, though +every mile has its grandeur. Beyond Cambeak lies the delightful +Crackington Cove, which will some day become a watering-place; it +stands at the mouth of a verdant valley with a stream like that of the +Valency. It is in the parish of St. Genny's, whose church is dedicated +to St. Genesius of Auvergne, of whom it is related that after being +beheaded he walked about with his head under his arm. The saints of +Cornwall are reported to have done some extraordinary things, but they +do not usually descend to absurd actions of this nature; and there may +be a shrewd suspicion that Genesius has no business here at all. +William Braddon, a Parliamentary officer and member in the time of the +Civil War, lived at Treworgye in this parish, and was buried in the +church; some have supposed that he was vicar here. Pencannow Head, +the north limit of Crackington Cove, rises sheer from the shore to the +height of 400 feet. Dizzard Point is far less precipitous. A few miles +further east the cliffs break to allow room for a fine stretch of +sands at Widemouth Bay, and here we have another spot that is certain +to develop into a pleasure-resort of the future. It cannot, of course, +compare with the coast magnificence of the shore from Pentire to +Boscastle, but it has what these wilder spots lack--a possibility of +conventional settlement and expansion in the style of watering-place +that the British public chiefly loves. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +BUDE + + +We read in the memoir of Tennyson that in the year 1848 he felt a +craving to make a lonely sojourn at Bude. "I hear," he said, "that +there are larger waves there than on any other part of the British +coast, and must go thither and be alone with God." So he came, with +the subject of his Idylls simmering in his mind. He found the great +rollers, the grand, open coast, the solitude; these are still there, +to be found of all that seek. There may be some lessening of the +solitude, but only in parts; Bude has not yet become widely popular; +it is the haunt of those who love bracing air and quiet. It grows, but +grows slowly; old friends may return to it without being tortured by +too glaring a change. + +The coast must indeed be destitute of harbours that can call Bude a +haven; yet the name Bude Haven stands, as if in deadly irony. This +whole north coast of Cornwall and Devon has little enough of refuge +for seamen in distress; and if they endeavour to make Bude when seas +are running high they are simply courting disaster; it were better to +stay far out, if the cruel Atlantic will let them. Yet a rumour of +history says that Agricola landed here. It is not impossible, though +accredited history tells nothing of such a visit; seas are not always +stormy, even on the shores of North Cornwall--there are days when the +waters from St. Ives to Lundy are peaceful as a child asleep. But such +slumbering is not their characteristic mood; there is generally a +strong ocean swell, and when westerly winds chafe the tide its force +and fury are tremendous. Hawker, who was familiar with every yard of +the district, has a ballad to the purpose:-- + + "Thus said the rushing raven + Unto his hungry mate: + 'Ho! gossip! for Bude Haven; + There be corpses six or eight. + Cawk, cawk! the crew and skipper + Are wallowing in the sea; + So there's a savoury supper + For my old dame and me.' + + . . . . . . + + 'Cawk, cawk!' then said the raven; + 'I am fourscore years and ten; + Yet never in Bude Haven + Did I croak for rescued men.-- + They will save the captain's girdle, + And shirt, if shirt there be; + But leave his blood to curdle + For my old dame and me.'" + +The graveyards, the fields, the farmyards, will bear out this grim +character; there are traces of shipwreck everywhere--memorials of +drowned seamen in the burial-ground, figure-heads of shattered vessels +placed here and there, beams and spars applied to unintended +agricultural uses. One such figure-head is that of the _Bencoolen_, in +the churchyard, reminding us of a vessel wrecked in 1862, when only +six were saved from its crew of thirty-five. The _Bencoolen_ was +trading from Liverpool to Bombay. We may take Hawker's description of +the disaster, recollecting, however, that he wrote in great +excitement, and that he was a little unjust to the men of Bude. The +wreck took place towards the end of October, after a hurricane that +"lasted seven days and nights. On Tuesday at two o'clock afternoon a +hull was seen off Bude wallowing in the billows. All rushed to the +shore. At three she struck on the sand close to the breakwater--not +300 yards from the rocks. Manby's apparatus was brought down--a rocket +fired and a rope carried over to the ship. The mate sprang to clutch +it--missed--and fell into the sea, to be seen no more alive. 'Another +rope!' was the cry. But from the mismanagement of those in charge +there was no other there. They then saw the poor fellows constructing +a raft and launching it. A call for the lifeboat, one of large cost, +provided with all good gear, kept close by. She was run down to the +water. A shout for men--none--a few of the Hovillers, pilotmen, got on +board, but refused to put off--all Bude lining the cliffs and +shore--Well, well--to abbreviate a horror, the raft was tossed over. +About six were washed ashore with life in them, four corpses, and the +rest were carried off to sea dead--26 corpses are somewhere in our +water, and my men are watching for their coming on shore. The County +gives 5s. for finding each corpse, and I give 5s. more. Therefore they +are generally found and brought here to the vicarage, where the +inquest and the attendant events nearly kill me.... Hordes of people +picking up--salvors with carts and horses--and lookers on. It reminded +me of old Holingshed's definition, 'a place called Bedes Haven (Bede, +a grave).' When the masts went over the captain, married a fortnight +before, rushed down into his cabin, drank a bottle of brandy, and was +seen no more. The country rings with cries of shame on the dastards of +Bude." A calmer eyewitness quite absolves the Bude men from all +blame--to render more help had been impossible. The vessel was being +steered skilfully to take the haven, but she was too large for its +mouth. But, unjust or not, we must love Parson Hawker. He tells of his +procedure when a corpse was reported: "I go out into the moonlight +bareheaded, and when I come near I greet the nameless dead with +the sentences 'I am the Resurrection and the Life,' &c. +They lay down their burthen at my feet--I look upon the +dead--tall--stout--well-grown--boots on, elastic, and socks--girded +with a rope round the waist. I give him in charge to the sexton and +his wife to cleanse, to arrange, to clothe the dead. I order a strong +coffin, and the corpse is locked in for the night. I write a letter to +the coroner and deliver it for transit to the police. And here the +misery begins." To every corpse discovered Hawker gave burial in +consecrated ground; it was not many years since the law had forbidden +this. The few graphic words quoted give us an idea of his days spent +on this lonely, pitiless coast--days which he varied by acts of +beneficence to his parishioners, and by the writing of much beautiful +poetry. Close to the mouth of this perilous haven is the low +breakwater, built to connect an outlying mass of rock that was +formerly insular with every tide. Carew (1602) speaks of this rock; he +says: "We 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 +chapell: it spareth roade only to such small shipping as bring their +tide with them, and leaveth them drie, when the ebb hath carried away +the salt water." He tells how Arundel of Trerice had a house here +named Efford, now the Bude vicarage; and how this gentleman "builded a +salt-water mill athwart this bay, whose causey serveth, as a verie +convenient bridge, to save the way-farers former trouble, let and +daunger." The present church stands near, built by Sir Thomas Acland +in 1835. The chapel on the islet, decayed even in Carew's time, was +dedicated to St. Michael, its dedication being transferred to the +present church; only a few faint traces of the old building can be +seen. It was this same Sir Thomas Ackland who constructed the +bathing-pool at the end of the breakwater, where it forms a very +pleasant little swimming-bath. But in time of storm, rock and pool and +breakwater are a mass of snowy, quivering foam; even in less +tempestuous times it is fine to see the waves rush seething up the +sides of the substantial little breakwater, with suggestiveness of +what they can do in wilder hours. + +It must be confessed that this corner by the haven is the most +interesting portion of Bude, which some visitors have condemned as an +unattractive place. Certainly the growth of lodging-houses has not +added to its charm, as these houses have all the tameness, though +doubtless also the convenience, of modern street-architecture. It is +by the haven and on the banks of the now useless canal that there is +anything of an old-world atmosphere. As compared with places like +Polperro or Boscastle, Bude has a touch of the commonplace, but its +coast is fine, and it is an excellent centre for a district of +supreme attraction. Readers who care to see how it figures in modern +fiction should turn to the _Seaboard Parish_ of the late George +Macdonald, in which Bude is the Kilkhaven of the story. Even here the +novelist had to borrow another church for his setting; the present +Bude Church is by no means that of the romance. The town is now +reaching from the canal banks to the breezy Summerleaze Downs, and +beyond; and of course the golfer is here in all his glory. But if we +go a little more than a mile inland we find all that may be lacking in +Bude at Stratton, which may or may not be named after an old "street" +that passed this way from Devonshire. That street was almost certainly +not Roman, even if the Romans used it. There is a little stream here +called the Strat, which does not help us, for the stream _may_ have +been called after the town. Stratton shares with Stowe in the glorious +memories of Sir Beville Grenville, his wife Grace, and his servant +Anthony Payne; but Bideford has also its claim to long association +with the Grenvilles--it was from Bideford that Sir Richard sailed the +_Revenge_. Stowe, in the parish of Kilkhampton, a few miles north of +Bude, is now a farm, showing very few traces of the Grenville +manor-house, which was one of the finest and most extensive in the +West. There were two houses, an earlier and a later, but both are now +things of the past. At Stratton, however, there is still the Tree Inn, +which seems to have been the business residence of Sir Beville, +whither he came to settle matters with his tenants and followers; and +it was here that his servant, Anthony Payne, was born. Payne, who +stood seven foot four in his stockings, was devoted and loyal to his +heart's core; it was he who, when Sir Beville fell fighting for King +Charles at Lansdown, led the knight's son up the hill at the head of +the gallant, irresistible Cornishmen. These Cornishmen had already +proved their powers much nearer to Stratton. The battlefield known as +Stamford Hill is close by; it was here that Sir Beville and Hopton +defeated the Parliamentary forces under the Earl of Stamford and +Chudleigh. The fight took place in 1643, and was one of those Royalist +victories in the West that for a time made the cause of the King look +very hopeful. The Cornish troops were outnumbered almost by two to +one; they were tired and hungry, and they had the worst of the ground, +for the Roundheads had entrenched themselves; yet they stormed the +hill, routed the Parliament men, and took 1,700 prisoners. An old gun +still lies there to mark the spot, and above is the inscription: "In +this place an army of ye Rebels under ye command of ye Earl of +Stamford received a signal over-throw by ye valour of Sir Bevill +Grenville and ye Cornish Army." If there be ever glory attaching to +battlefields, it may be found here. While the battle was raging Grace +Grenville, the wife of Sir Beville, was waiting in anguish of heart at +Stowe, only to be pacified when her husband himself came home at night +to tell her of the issue. Yet scarce two months had flown when the +sorrowful Payne wrote telling his beloved mistress the sore tidings of +Lansdown, where the Cornishmen followed their slain master's son up +the hill with tears in their eyes. "They did say they would kill a +rebel for every hair of Sir Beville's beard. But I bade them remember +their good master's word when he wiped his sword after Stamford fight; +how he said, when their cry was 'stab and slay,' 'Halt, men; God will +avenge.' I am coming down with the mournfullest burden that ever a +poor servant did bear, to bring the great heart that is cold to +Kilkhampton vault. Oh, my lady, how shall I ever brook your weeping +face?" + +Never was a sweeter communionship of husband and wife than that +between Sir Beville and Lady Grace, thus brought to an earthly end; it +gives a lovely touch of domestic affection to annals that are +otherwise stern and bloody enough, with all their glory. There are +some charming letters preserved, that passed between the two; showing +the beautiful simplicity of their natures and the tone of their home +life. "My dearest," wrote the knight from London, "I am exceedingly +glad to hear from you, but doe desire you not to be so passionat for +my absence. I vow you cannot more desire to have me at home than I +desire to be there." And again: "Charge Postlett and Hooper that they +keepe out the Piggs and all other things out of my new nursery, and +the other orchard too. Let them use any means to keepe them safe, for +my trees will all be spoild if they com in, which I would not for a +world." And the lady, addressing "Sweet Mr. Grenvile," adds in a +postscript to her letter: "If you please to bestowe a plaine black +Gownd of any cheape stufe on me I will thank you, and some black +shoes." She died about four years after her husband fell at Lansdown. +These two lie buried at Kilkhampton, but Payne, the loyal servant, is +somewhere within the noble church of Stratton; there is no monument to +say where. The church is of excellent restored Perpendicular, with +fine pinnacled tower. Within are a Norman font, a Jacobean pulpit, and +the black marble tomb of Sir John Arundel (1561), whose former +manor-house at Efford is now Bude Vicarage; there are brasses of the +knight, his wives and their children. The fourteenth-century effigy of +a knight in the north aisle is supposed to be that of Sir Ranulf de +Blanchminster, who is commemorated in one of Hawker's ballads. It is +fitting to think of the poet-parson in this spot; not only are we now +approaching very near his own parish, but his father was Vicar of +Stratton and lies buried in the church's chancel. Hawker was often +asked to preach here, but he long declined, fearing that the +associations would be too overwhelming for him. This proved to be the +case when at last, in his old age, he preached at the church. Suddenly +breaking in his sermon, he explained with faltering voice, "I stand +amid the dust of those near and dear to me." It is little wonder that +his listeners shared his emotion; and some touch of it may still come +over those to whom the records of Hawker are very dear. The number of +such lovers should have been much increased by the adequate biography +that is now at the service of the public, prepared by the son-in-law +of the poet; and Hawker is pre-eminently one of those whom we learn to +love even more through his memoirs than by his writings. For his life +was a life of noble deeds, not only of beautiful words. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MORWENSTOW + + +There is a fine stretch of sands protecting the Bude shores, but the +background of these sands is cliff. It was this sand that made one of +the chief uses of the canal from Bude to Holsworthy, now superseded by +the railway; containing a large proportion of lime, it is valuable for +agricultural purposes. The sands have a further use now as a +playground for visitors; very few watering-places become really +popular without such a beach for the children and the bathers. But the +true coast is, of course, the background of cliff, and this continues +grandly rugged and broken to the Devon borders, and beyond. Little +more than a mile north of Bude is Poughill, pronounced Puffill. The +church, dedicated to St. Olaf, is one of the few Teutonic foundations +in Cornwall; but, indeed, this northern corner of the neighbouring +counties, with its "weeks" and "hams" and "worthies," must have been +largely held by settlements of Saxons. The value of place-names in +such matters is very great, though it must never be pressed too far. +Poughill Church, with a good Perpendicular tower, is chiefly notable +for its frescoes, somewhat glaringly restored; they resemble those of +St. Breage, in the Helston district. Both figures represent St. +Christopher bearing his sacred burden across the tide, and the details +are in an advanced stage of symbolism. Far more pleasing, +artistically, are the beautiful bench-ends of the early sixteenth +century, with their various emblems of the Crucifixion, their armorial +insignia, their symbols and initials. This church is peculiarly +attractive, and its situation is delightful. From thence the road runs +to Kilkhampton, whither recollections of the Grenvilles have already +carried us. We are now getting into the heart of the Hawker district, +but other associations are so numerous here that it seems impossible +to deal with them all in anything like an adequate manner. The +Perpendicular church of Kilkhampton chiefly dates from the Elizabethan +days when one of the Grenvilles was rector here; but it embodies the +beautiful Norman doorway from the church supposed to have been built +in the eleventh century by another Grenville. Some other Norman traces +are preserved--Rector Grenville was a judicious restorer. Of his date +are the oak bench-ends, which are as good as Poughill's, and there is +an elaborate screen. The monument of Sir Beville Grenville, erected +long after his death by his grandson, is perhaps not quite what it +ought to be--it is too dismal and conventional. It is very much in the +spirit of the Calvinistic clergyman, James Hervey, who, when curate at +Bideford, was so much impressed by Kilkhampton Church that it prompted +his once famous _Meditations among the Tombs_. The work and others of +its author's, such as _Theron and Aspasio_, may still be met with +occasionally on old-fashioned bookshelves, or on the second-hand +stalls; and they forcibly remind us of the style of second-rate +reflection which, in a different dress, is still dear to the average +sober-minded individual. But Hervey is not at all bad, of his sort, +and our great-grandfathers thought him profound. Probably, however, he +was dearer to their wives; it is chiefly women who support this kind +of moralising. To Hervey Kilkhampton Church was "an ancient Pile, +reared by Hands that ages ago moulded into Dust--the Body spacious, +the Structure lofty, the whole magnificently plain." He was at +Bideford in 1740. Much more lively in its nature was the connection +with this parish of the notorious Cruel Coppinger, smuggler, wrecker, +and desperado. + + "Will you hear of Cruel Coppinger? + He came from a foreign land; + He was brought to us by the salt water, + He was carried away by the wind." + +Coppinger has become almost mythical, by reason of older traditions of +pirate-smugglers being attributed to him. The Rev. S. Baring-Gould +himself, in his book on the _Vicar of Morwenstow_, has located +Coppinger in the Kilkhampton district; but his novel, _In the Roar of +the Sea_, places its hero, somewhat humanised, at St. Enodoc. The +truth is, there are similar traditions in several parts of the Cornish +coast, and elsewhere. There was a floating mass of legend ready to be +appropriated by any character that might seem to deserve it; and we +may take Coppinger as a kind of generic title, the clustering of +varying Cornish traditions of wrecking and piracy round one name. Such +being the case, he may as well be placed at Kilkhampton as anywhere +else. He is reported sometimes as a Dane, sometimes as an Irishman, +who was thrown on the coast in a tempest, who leaped upon her horse's +back behind a girl who had come to witness the wreck, and who +ultimately married her. He proved to be one of the blackest villains +Cornwall had ever known, but as he had a powerful gang of followers +who aided him in all his misdoings, there must have been plenty as bad +as he, though they might lack his gift of leadership and initiative. +He is said to have chopped off a gauger's hand on the gunwale of a +boat--rumour reported even worse things than this; and he once soundly +horsewhipped the parson of Kilkhampton, who had offended him. There is +also a story of his carrying a terrified tailor to "mend the devil's +breeches." He departed as mysteriously as he came, after many years of +vile outrage; he "who came with the water went with the wind." It is +clear that a great deal of old-time folk-lore has gathered round this +name, and probably no single man must be held answerable for all the +wild doings related of Cruel Coppinger. In all such traditions Hawker +is a most unsafe guide; he did not consciously "falsify the books," +but he had misled many who came after, particularly the popular +guide-books, by his looseness and his play of fancy. But he came to +this district at a period when smuggling, if not actual wrecking and +piracy, was at its height--not only in Cornwall, be it remembered, but +in many other parts of the coast, such as Sussex and Kent. It was a +time when the Cornish used to thank God for wrecks; and if they did +not actually lure vessels to destruction on their cruel coasts, which +it may be feared they did sometimes, they at least did nothing to +avert the disasters which, to their mind, were sent by a merciful +providence. There was even a proverb that it was unlucky to rescue a +drowning man--widespread, for Scott mentions it in the "Pirate"; the +bad luck which these coast-folk had in view being the fact that a +rescued personage could claim his property that the sea had cast up. + +[Illustration: MORWENSTOW. + +_Photo by Gibson & Sons._] + +Hawker was born in Norley Street, Plymouth, December 29, 1803; his +grandfather and uncle were both clergy in Plymouth at the time. Thus, +though he has won a world-wide fame as the Cornish poet, Hawker was +really Devonian; in this borderland of the two counties there is +practically no difference. In the same manner the Grenvilles were of +Devonshire, yet Cornwall treasures their memories with justifiable +pride. In after years Hawker used to say that, could his mother have +foreseen how sorrowful his life would be, she would have given a +gentle pressure to his throat in his first hour, and so have averted +all his earthly trials. He grew to be a mischievous and daring lad. +One of his pranks was to swim out to the crags at the mouth of Bude +haven, and there pose as a mermaid; which he did to the prolonged +bewilderment of the countryfolk. He was educated at Liskeard, +Cheltenham, and Oxford; coming to Morwenstow in 1834 after having held +the curacy of North Tamerton. He had already married a lady who was +twenty years older than himself--a marriage of the deepest lasting +affection. His second marriage, in his old age, was to a lady forty +years his junior; but by this time the poet's spirit had been broken +by solitude, grief, failure to win literary success, and by the +terrible scenes of shipwreck and death that often distracted him. He +died in 1875, having been received into the Romish Church a few hours +before his death; and the remains were laid in Plymouth Cemetery. On +his tombstone is a line from his own beautiful poem, "The Quest of the +Sangraal"-- + + "I would not be forgotten in this land." + +There is now an elaborate memorial window in Morwenstow Church, +unveiled in 1904. The poet has not been forgotten in this land, nor is +he likely to be. He has impressed himself so vividly on the district +that was long his home, that we may now as justly speak of the Hawker +country as we do of the Scott or the Wordsworth country. The work was +accomplished even more by the man's personality than by his writings. +If only these writings had been preserved he would not pass to +posterity quite as fully as he merited; only a portion of the man +would survive. But there was the tradition of the man himself, +assisted by some inadequate memoirs; and now we have one of the most +charming biographies of recent times to bring him before us. He was +not only poet and essayist; he was cleric and mystic, preacher, +prophet, symbolist, philanthropist--some may add reactionary. His life +was permeated with Catholic doctrine and colour. When he passed, in +his closing hours, to a sister communion, the step was a natural and +easy one, however unnecessary some of us may think it to have been. He +loved the Church of England devotedly and unfailingly; but he always +looked upon her as the Old Church, rather than as a reformed body; and +to his unquestioning mind a few extra dogmas would never have +presented any difficulty. It was disbelief, doubt, that he abhorred. +Like Sir Thomas Browne, he was greedy for more mysteries, more +marvels, more sublimities for unhesitating acceptance. He was always +in sympathy both with the Roman and the early Greek Churches, and +sometimes in his own ritual he borrowed from both; yet he could +fulminate hotly enough at times against the excesses of either. He +loved deeply and hated strongly; but the love was permanent and real, +the hatred transient and superficial. + +He had a lifelong bitterness against Dissenters, and lived on the +tenderest terms with many. His bark was very much worse than his bite. +"I understand, Mr. Hawker," once said a Nonconformist lady to him, +"that you have an objection to burying Dissenters?" "Madam," he +replied, "I should be only too delighted to bury you all." But there +was no real sting behind the words, and some of his dearest and +kindest parishioners were not Churchmen. He spent his days in doing +good deeds to man and beast, saving strangers from the devouring sea, +or giving their bodies Christian burial; tutoring the rugged hearts of +his people; and living himself, in spite of much sorrow, +disappointment, loss, in a world of holy dream and vision, conversing +in spirit with saints and angels. Hawker believed that his dear +country was given over to doubt and laxity; and every affliction of +war, misfortune, bad weather, he interpreted as the chastening hand of +God. He would have had his world coloured entirely by faith and +religious observance; stained as it were, like the glass of church +windows, by sacred image and story. But practicalities pressed heavily +upon him and almost broke his heart; his poetic impulse failed under +sore discouragement; he did not proceed with his finest poem; those of +his poems that became popular did so without the attachment of his +name. Very much of this was due to his own procedure; yet the man had +much hardship, neglect, and suffering, for which he could in no sense +be held responsible. He was a true descendant of the early Cornish +saints, born perhaps several centuries too late, and thrust upon a +world where he had to turn to sea and wind and woodland for the mystic +symbolism which was his life-breath, finding too little of it in the +ways and words of Victorian England. + +The present vicarage at Morwenstow was built by Hawker himself, there +having been no vicar in residence for long years before his coming. It +was here, in 1848, that Tennyson visited him, coming over from Bude, +where he was staying at the Falcon Hotel. In stepping hastily from the +garden to reach the sea, when he first arrived, the poet had fallen; +there was no protecting rail there at that time. The injury proved so +serious that he had to see a surgeon; and this surgeon happened to be +Mr. John Dinham, Hawker's brother-in-law. Two days after the accident +Tennyson drove over to Morwenstow with Dinham to see Hawker. His own +note on the visit is brief and unsatisfying: "In a gig to Rev. S. +Hawker, at Morwenstow, passing Comb Valley, fine view over sea, +coldest manner of vicar till I told my name, then all heartiness. Walk +on cliff with him; told of shipwreck." This is very meagre. Happily +Hawker himself wrote down a more detailed account, and this was +discovered among his brother's papers. It was headed with a cross, +signifying that it recorded what Hawker deemed a mark of divine +favour. "It was in the month of June, 1848, that my brother-in-law, +John Dinham, arrived at Morwenstow with a very fine-looking man whom +he had been called in to attend professionally at Bude for an injury +in the knee from a fall.... I found my guest at his entrance a tall, +swarthy, Spanish-looking man, with an eye like a sword. He sate down, +and we conversed. I at once found myself with no common mind. All +poetry in particular he seemed to use like household words.... Before +we left the room he said, 'Do you know my name?' I said, 'No, I have +not even a guess.' 'Do you wish to know it?' 'I don't much care--that +which we call a rose, &c.' 'Well then,' said he, 'my name is +_Tennyson_!' 'What!' said I, '_the_ Tennyson?' 'What do you mean by +_the_ Tennyson? I am Alfred Tennyson who wrote Locksley Hall, which +you seem to know by heart.' So we grasped hands, and the Shepherd's +heart was glad.... Then, seated on the brow of the cliff, with +Dundagel full in view, he revealed to me the purpose of his journey to +the West. He is about to conceive a poem--the hero King Arthur--the +scenery in part the vanished Land of Lyonesse, between the mainland +and the Scilly Isles.... Then evening fell. He arose to go; and I +agreed to drive him on his way. He demanded a pipe, and produced a +package of very common shag. By great good luck my sexton had about +him his own short black dudheen, which accordingly the Minstrel filled +and fired. Wild language occupied the way, until we shook farewell at +Combe. 'This,' said Tennyson, 'has indeed been a day to be +remembered.'" Hawker had a presentiment that they would never meet +again, and they never did, though Tennyson visited Cornwall in later +years. There was some slight correspondence, and an interchange of +books; but the two drifted apart in spirit--perhaps they had never +been very near. Tennyson's theology was that of Maurice, whom Hawker +came to regard as an arch-enemy of Catholic truth. On one ground they +both met in later life--when they chose the subject of the Holy Grail +for poetic treatment; and on this ground the lesser poet beat the +greater, as Tennyson himself frankly acknowledged. Yet both in their +different ways lived near to the spirit that is typified by the Grail; +but the one abode in solitude on his wild Cornish cliffs and the other +lived in the blaze of popular fame, visited and loved by the greatest +in the land. Who shall say that Hawker's life, after all, was not the +nearest to his best ideals? Morwenstow vicarage is curious for its +chimneys, which Hawker himself designed from church-towers in his +neighbourhood and at Oxford. The church and vicarage stand in +loneliness; there is no central village at Morwenstow, but the +residences are scattered about the swelling downs and high-banked +lanes. At the entrance to the graveyard is the lich-gate and mortuary, +where many wrecked seamen were taken for burial. Such burials recall +the unforgettable incident that occurred during the conveyance of one +poor mangled body from the shore. "It was dark, and the party of +bearers, with the Vicar at their head, were making their way slowly up +the cliff by the light of torches and lanterns, when suddenly there +arose from the sea three hearty British cheers. A vessel had neared +the shore, and the crew, discovering by night-glasses what was taking +place, had manned their yards to greet the fulfilment of duty to a +brother mariner's remains." Morwenstow is really Morwenna-stow, +Morwenna being a grand-daughter of Brychan, and thus belonging to a +famous Welsh family of saints. The church is therefore a Celtic +foundation, not Saxon as Hawker believed; he was always a little shaky +in such details. In some maps and old local signposts the name is +still written Moorwinstow, and was anciently Morestowe. Probably the +earliest relic in the church itself is the font, which appears to +belong to the tenth century; three typical Norman pillars support the +northern arcade of the roof, and there is a very fine Norman door at +the south porch. The Vicar loved to interpret the zigzag moulding as +the "ripple of the lake of Gennesareth, the spirit breathing upon the +waters of baptism"; he was doubtless more correct in reading a +symbolic meaning into the carved vine that creeps from the chancel +down the church. On the furze and bracken-clad slope above the cliffs, +not far distant, is the hut that Hawker himself constructed, building +it of wreckage; this was the sanctuary to which he loved to retreat +for contemplation and literary work. It was here that he wrote his +Sangraal poem, and the strong picture of its close might apply to this +scene as forcibly as it does to its original. + +In this parish is Tonacombe, a finely preserved specimen of the +mediaeval manor-house, its hall containing the old minstrels' gallery. +This deeply interesting house has many memories of Charles Kingsley as +well as of Hawker. Kingsley was a visitor here while writing his +_Westward Ho!_ and Tonacombe figures in that book as "Chapel." Hawker +met Kingsley at this time, and introduced him to the Grenville +localities. It is not likely that the two men got on well together; +they were complete contrasts in nature and gifts. Hawker did not care +greatly for _Westward Ho!_ when it appeared, and thought its local +colour defective. He rarely mentioned Kingsley in later life without a +note of depreciation. He was far more in sympathy, intellectually and +spiritually, with Kingsley's great antagonist, John Henry Newman. At +Tonacombe are preserved a curious old lantern and walking-stick that +formerly belonged to Hawker. The lantern "was made for Thomas Waddon +of Tonacombe, who died in 1755. His brother Edward Waddon lived at +Stanbury, and their sister Honor was the wife of the Rev. Oliver +Rouse, Vicar of Morwenstow. The three families used to meet regularly +at each other's houses for dice and cards. In the excess of their +merriment the cronies would dash their glasses on the table, and the +broken pieces were preserved as a record of the jest. In course of +time there was a goodly collection of these fragments, and in order +that their memorial should not perish the lantern was made of solid +oak, square, with a pointed roof and little windows formed of the +round bases of the broken glasses and other pieces cut in the shape of +dice, hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades. Thereafter, when the +festive party broke up, those whose turn it was to walk homewards +through the dark lanes had their way lighted before them by this +emblem of their wit and humour." Stanbury, an old manor south of +Tonacombe, claims some notice as the birthplace of John Stanbury (or +Stanberry), confessor of Henry VI., who was appointed by that king to +be first Provost of Eton. From being a Carmelite friar at Oxford he +rose to be bishop, first of Bangor, finally of Hereford. He died in +the Carmelite convent at Ludlow, 1474, and was buried at Hereford. +Marsland-mouth, the northward boundary of Morwenstow parish, is also +the boundary between Cornwall and Devon. Its utter loneliness and +wildness are in complete contrast to the great southward boundary at +the mouth of the Three Rivers. Here at Marsland Devon and Cornwall +merge imperceptibly; the characteristics of the one are carried over +into the other; in scenery, people, dialect, no change can be noted. +This close community was emphasised, in Hawker's day, by the fact that +for the last twenty-five years of his life he held charge of Welcombe +parish as well as Morwenstow, Welcombe (most suitably named) being the +first parish in Devon. In his old age, when Dr. Temple was appointed +to the diocese of Exeter, the Vicar had some fear that he would be +deprived of this additional cure, as Temple was expected to be no +friend to Dr. Phillpotts' nominees; but, somewhat to his surprise, +Hawker found that he got on fairly well with the new Bishop, though he +detested his theological standpoints. Obviously, the name of Welcombe +might be "Well-combe," there being a holy well of St. Nectan here; but +that derivation does not seem to be correct. In the Exeter Domesday +Book the parish is given as _Walcomba_, and probably the name +signified Welsh-combe, marking the juncture when Saxonised West Devon +passed into "West Wales." The church is three miles' distance from +Morwenstow, and Hawker used to ride over every Sunday afternoon for +service. On one occasion he forgot to bring his watch, and he needed +some guide in timing his service so that he might return to officiate +at Morwenstow in the evening. He asked the folk standing about the +church porch if they could oblige him in this particular. "But time is +of no great import at Welcombe, and no watch was to be had. At last, +just as the service was beginning, an old woman hobbled up the aisle +and handed to the Vicar a large and ancient timepiece. 'Her's only got +one hand, your honour,' she said, 'but yu must just gi' a guess.'" +Perhaps the name Welsh-combe (Welsh being taken in the old sense of +"foreign") denoted some survival of earlier occupation here, some +lingering neolithic remnant; the Welcombe folk are still distinguished +by their dark hair and skins, and as being somewhat of a race apart. +In Hawker's day they were very ignorant and superstitious, though +sufficiently devout. They had "no farrier for their cattle, no medical +man for themselves, no beer-house, no shop; a man who travels for a +distant town (Stratton) supplies them with sugar by the ounce, or tea +in smaller quantities still. Not a newspaper is taken in throughout +the hamlet, although they are occasionally astonished and delighted by +the arrival, from some almost forgotten friend in Canada, of an +ancient copy of the _Toronto Gazette_. This publication they pore over +to weariness, and on Sunday they will worry the clergyman with +questions about Transatlantic places and names, of which he is obliged +to confess himself utterly ignorant. An ancient dame once exhibited +her prayer-book, very nearly worn out, printed in the reign of George +II., and very much thumbed at the page from which she assiduously +prayed for the welfare of Prince Frederick." He himself used to act +as their postman. Perhaps it is misleading to say that Welcombe is +only three miles from Morwenstow; visitors who try to find their way +through the rambling narrow lanes will find it much nearer to five or +six. But the loveliness of Marsland vale is a recompense, and a +charming introduction to the beauties of North Devon. + +On the Cornish side of Marsland-mouth is a secluded old farmhouse, +which Hawker solemnly averred was haunted. It was once truly haunted +by smugglers. Mr. Baring-Gould introduces it into his novel, _The +Gaverocks_. Hawker once said to a visitor, "You must go and look at +the old house there--there is a very curious old lady there you may +see--come into my study and I will show you her picture--she died, at +least her body did, some sixty years ago. I frequently see her and +talk with her." This spot must not be quitted without recalling that +Marsland-mouth is the home of Lucy Passmore, the white witch in +_Westward Ho!_ It was hither that Rose Salterne came to perform the +love-charm that should reveal her lover. It can hardly be said that +such superstitions have yet died out of the West Country, but it is +the older people now that cherish these ideas, secretly and furtively. +The youngsters are being taught differently in the Council Schools. + +There are some fine headlands in this part of the coast, such as the +two Sharpnose Points, but the finest of all is Hennacliff, which rises +to about 450 feet, and drops sheer into the Atlantic waves. Even where +there is a beach beneath these rugged cliffs, it is usually difficult +to reach; in many parts the breakers dash full against the granite +precipices, and there are often outlying reefs of cruel jagged crag. +Noting the deadly features of the coast, we can understand how even +Bude attained its name of Haven, however bitterly ironic that name may +often have sounded. But it is a grand coast and mainland confronting +the wild, unresting sea, and the traditional atmosphere of the +district is wholly in keeping with its physical features. Rumours of +bygone peoples float around us--of Saxon and Celt and of earlier +people still; the legends that they fostered are repeated to us, the +footsteps of old saints may be traced, together with secular records +of pirate and smuggler. There are memories of glorious and gracious +personages, as well as of those whose villainy at least was +picturesque; there are sad memorials of shipwreck, death, and +heartbreak. There are stretches of undulating upland, with fragrant +turf, gorse, bracken; valleys almost too low for sunlight to enter, +the wild and tortuous mouths of rapid streams, patches of meadow and +pasture, with lonely cottages and isolated church-towns. Different +from the southern coast in aspect, more desolate, less fertile, there +is yet a special charm even in the desolation, a stimulating appeal in +the solitude, and a marvellous purity in the bracing winds that blow, +sometimes with ruthless violence, from a thousand leagues of ocean. + + + + +INDEX + + + Acland, Sir T., 358 + + Addison, 109 + + Agnes, St., 356, 360 + + Aitken, Rev. R., 223 + + Anthony-in-Meneage, 110-11 + + Anthony-in-Roseland, 79 + + Antony, East, 27 + + Armada, Spanish, 20, 25-7 + + _Armorel of Lyonesse_, 198, 208 + + Arthur, King, 335-46 + + Arundel _family_, 292-9 + + Arundel, John, 86-7, 270, 362 + + Arwenack, 86, 88 + + Athelstan, 184-5, 197 + + Atwell, Martin, 69 + + Austell, St., 66 + + + Baring-Gould, Rev. S., 36, 51, 326, 365, 379 + + Bassets, 254-6 + + Bedruthan Steps, 293-4 + + _Bencoolen_, Wreck of the, 355 + + Benson, Dr., 103, 210 + + Besant, Sir W., 198 + + Bessie's Cove, 159 + + Beville, Sir J., 40 + + Bligh, Capt., 110 + + Bochym, 138 + + Bodinnick, 51 + + Bodmin, 319 + + Bodmin Moors, 301 + + Bodrigan, 73 + + Boleigh, 184 + + Bolster, 260-1 + + Bonaparte, Lucien, 180 + + Borlase, Dr., 115, 223, 242 + + Borrow, George, 180 + + Boscastle, 347-51 + + Bossiney, 346 + + Braddon, W., 352-3 + + Breage, St., 151, 188 + + Breock, St., 325-6 + + Brett, J., 178 + + Brutus, 17 + + Bude, 354-8 + + Burney, Fanny, 22 + + Buryan, St., 185-6, 197, 265 + + Byron, 81 + + + Cadgwith, 118 + + Calais, Siege of, 60 + + Cambeak, 352 + + Camelford, 339 + + Cape Cornwall, 221 + + Carclaze Mine, 67 + + Cardinham, 339 + + Carew, 28, 73, 257, 357 + + Carhays, St. Michael, 76 + + Carminow, 143 + + Carnanton, 299 + + Carn Beacon, 78 + + Carn Brea, 256 + + Carn Galva, 225 + + Carn Kenidzhek, 222 + + Carter, "King of Prussia," 158 + + Cataclew Stone, 306 + + Cawsand, 24, 38 + + Celts, 17, 58, 147, 273 + + Chapel Carn Brea, 221 + + Charlestown, 65, 67 + + China-clay, 64, 66-7 + + Choughs, 352 + + Chun Castle, 224 + + Chysauster, 170 + + Cinque Ports, 60 + + Clarendon, 76, 87 + + Coleridge, Derwent, 147 + + Collins, Rev. J., 95 + + Columb Major and Minor, St., 288, 290 + + Constantine, St., 305-6 + + Cook, Capt., 92 + + Coppinger, Cruel, 329, 365-6 + + Corineus, 17-18 + + Cornish character, 147, 252 + + Cornish language, 96, 124-5, 180, 236 + + Cornwall, Formation and appearance, 14-15 + + Cotehele, 24 + + Couch, Jonathan, 44, 46 + + Couch, Sir A. T. Quiller, 60 + + Coverack, 117 + + Crackington Cove, 352 + + Crantock, 277-82 + + Crantock Church, 280-1 + + Crowza Downs, 116 + + Cubert, 274, 276 + + Cuby, St., 274 + + Cury, St., 138-9 + + + Damelioc, 336 + + Davy, Sir Humphry, 173 + + Defoe, 82, 108, 170 + + Dingerrein, 77 + + Disraeli, B., 82 + + Dodman, 75 + + Dollar Hugo, 122 + + Doom Bar, 310-19 + + Dosmare Pool, 77, 146, 315 + + Downderry, 27, 40 + + Drake, 19, 26 + + Drayton, 17 + + Dryden, 89 + + Dunstanville, de, 256, 259 + + Dutch, 63 + + + Edgcumbe, 20, 24, 73, 75 + + Edward IV., 62 + + Egloshayle, 325 + + Enodoc's, St., 326-9, 365 + + Eval, St., 301 + + Evelyn, 152 + + Ewe, St., 69 + + Exmouth, Lord, 173 + + + Fal, River, 100 + + Falmouth, 81-96 + + Finbar, St., 59 + + Fishery, 35, 71-2 + + Flavel, 133 + + Flushing, 98 + + _Fogous_, 122, 184, 302 + + Forbes, Stanhope, 177 + + Forrabury, 347 + + Fowey, 55-65 + + Fyn and Joan, 38 + + + Gannel, 277, 285 + + Garrick, 22 + + Genny's, St., 352 + + George's, St. (Looe Isle), 37 + + Geraint, 77-9 + + Germoe, 153-4 + + Gerrans Bay, 77 + + Gilbert, 74 + + Gildas, 305 + + Glassiney College, 96 + + Glastonbury, 339 + + Godolphin _family_, 151-3, 198 + + Godolphin Hill, 153 + + Godrevy Rock and Lighthouse, 253 + + Goethe, 135 + + Gogmagog, 17-8 + + Goonhilly Downs, 115, 142 + + Gorlois, 336 + + Gorran Haven, 74-5 + + Gotham, Men of, 75 + + Grade, 121 + + Grenville _family_, 40, 51, 199, 359, 364 + + Grenville, Sir Bevil, 40, 76, 359-62, 364 + + Grenville, Grace, 359-62 + + Gulf Stream, 207 + + Gulval, 175 + + Gunwalloe, 141 + + Gurnard's Head, 225 + + Gweek, 107, 108 + + Gwythian, St., 251 + + Gyllyngvase, 86 + + + Hall House, 50 + + Hals, 61, 246, 275 + + Halsetown, 246 + + Halzaphron, 143 + + Harlyn Bay, 306 + + Hawker, Rev. R. S., 41, 345-7, 348, 355-7, 362, 369-78 + + Hayle, 251 + + Helford, 106-7, 306 + + Heligan, 68-9 + + Helston, 144-6, 316 + + Hennacliff, 379 + + Henry VII., 25 + + Henry VIII., 99 + + Hereward the Wake, 107 + + Hervey, Rev. J., 364-5 + + Hilary, 163 + + Hind, C. L., 320 + + _Holy Grail, High History of the_, 342 + + Holywell Bay, 274-5 + + Housel Bay, 126 + + Hudson, W. H., 148, 178, 215 + + Hurling, Game of, 289-90 + + + Ia, St., 232 + + _Ictis_, 160 + + Illogan, 257, 259 + + Irving, Sir Henry, 246-8 + + Ives, St., 231-46, 254, 256 + + Ives, St., Borough Accounts, 237-42 + + + Jews in Cornwall, 160 + + Johns, Rev. C. A., 122, 145, 147 + + Johnson, Dr., 22 + + Juliet, St., 342 + + Just, St., 116 + + Just-in-Penwith, St., 221 + + + Kaiser, the, 21 + + Kelly Rounds, 336 + + Kennack Sands, 118 + + Kenwyn, 104 + + Keverne, St., 115-17 + + Kilkhampton, 359, 364 + + Killigarth, 40 + + Killigrews, 85-6, 88-90, 95, 97 + + King Harry's Ferry, 101 + + Kingsand, 24 + + Kingsley, Rev. C., 70, 107, 147, 375-6 + + Knighton's Kieve, 347 + + Knill Monument, 248-9 + + Kynance, 128 + + + Lamorna, 183 + + Landewednack, 123-4 + + Land's End, 211-17 + + Langarrow, 276-9 + + Lanherne, Vale and Nunnery of, 249-6 + + Lansallos, 46 + + Lanshadron, 69 + + Lanteglos-by-Fowey, 48-50 + + Lanyon Quoit, 224 + + Leland, 45, 142, 341, 348 + + Lelant, 235, 249-50 + + Levan, St., 188-9 + + Levant, 222 + + Lizard, 123 + + Lizard Lighthouse, 127 + + Lizard Town, 126 + + Loe Pool, 144-6 + + Logan Stone, 186-7 + + Longships, 217 + + Looe, 29-40 + + Looe Island, 37 + + Lostwithiel, 63 + + Lovibond, T., 325 + + Lyonesse, 14-5, 194-6, 279 + + + Macdonald, George, 359 + + Madron, St., 168, 176, 351 + + Mail Packets (Falmouth), 90-5 + + Maker, 24 + + Manaccan, 110 + + Manacles, 111-12 + + Marazion, 159 + + Marconi Station, 136-8 + + Market-Jew, 160 + + Marsland-mouth, 377-9 + + Martin, St., 35-6 + + Mary's, St. (Scilly), 193 + + Mawes, St., 81, 99 + + Mawgan-in-Meneage, 107 + + Mawgan-in-Pydar, 299 + + Mawgan Porth, 293 + + Mawnan, 106 + + _Men Scryfa_, 224 + + _Men-an-tol_, 224 + + Menabilly, 64 + + Menagew, 67 + + Meneage, 107 + + Merlin, 195, 218 + + Merry Maidens, 185 + + Merryn, St., 305-6 + + Mevagissey, 69-73 + + Michael, St., 25, 160, 358 + + Michael's Mount, St., 159-66 + + Milliton, 154 + + Milton, 17 + + Minster, 351 + + Mohuns, 50 + + Mordred, 195, 340 + + Morvah, 223 + + Morwenstow, 369, 374-5 + + Mount's Bay, 150 + + Mount Edgcumbe, 20-4 + + Mousehole, 179-83 + + Mullion, 131-2 + + Mylor, 98-9 + + + Napoleon III., 21 + + Nare Head, 77 + + Nash, 76 + + Nectan, St., 347, 377 + + Neolithic cemetery, 306-10 + + Newlyn, 176-8 + + Newquay, 287 + + Norway, A. H., 43, 90, 173, 326, 329 + + Noye, W., 299 + + + Olaf, King, 197 + + Opie, 262-3 + + Ordulf, 121 + + + Padstow, 301, 319-22 + + Par, 64 + + Paul, 179 + + Payne, Anthony, 359 + + Pellew (Lord Exmouth), 173 + + Pendeen, 222-3 + + Pendennis, 81, 86-8 + + Pengersick, 154 + + Penny-come-quick, 85 + + Penpoll Creek (Newquay), 285 + + Penryn, 85, 96-8 + + Pentewan, 67 + + Pentire Glaze, 329 + + Pentreath, Dolly, 179-80 + + Penwarne, 73 + + Penzance, 167-74 + + Perranporth, 264 + + Perranuthnoe, 159 + + Perranzabuloe, 266 + + Petherick, Little, 319 + + Petrock, St., 305, 316, 319 + + Phillack, 250 + + Pigeon Hugo, 131 + + Pilchards, 35, 71-2, 118, 244, 287, 333 + + Pipers, the, 185 + + Piran, St., 115, 159, 264-70 + + Place House, 59, 79, 321 + + _Plan-an-guare_, 221, 257, 270 + + Plymouth, 15-20 + + Poldhu, 136-8 + + Pole-Carew, 27 + + Polkinghorne, 250 + + Polperro, 42-7 + + Polruan, 48-9 + + Poltesco, 118 + + Polwhele, 110 + + Polzeath, 329 + + Port Isaac, 333-4 + + Porthcothan, 301-2 + + Porthcurnow, 187 + + Porthglaze, 226 + + Porthgwarra, 189 + + Porthleven, 150 + + Porthoustock, 111, 113 + + Porthpean, 67 + + Portloe, 77 + + Portholland, 77 + + Portmellin, 73 + + Portreath, 259 + + Portscatho, 79 + + Poughill, 363 + + Praa Sands, 157 + + Prideaux, Dean, 321-2 + + Prideaux Place, 321 + + Prussia Cove, 157 + + Prussia, King of, 158 + + + Rame Head, 25, 75 + + Rashleigh, 64 + + Reynolds, Sir J., 21 + + Roads, 16 + + Rocky Valley, 346 + + Romanism in England, 273 + + Romans, 16, 104 + + Roseland, 77 + + Rosemullion, 106 + + Ruan or Rumon, St., 121 + + Ruan Lanihorne, 121 + + + Samson, St., 198 + + Sandplace, 40 + + Scilly cable, 206 + + Scilly flowers, 203-5 + + Scilly Islands, 190 + + Scilly, Origin of name, 196-7 + + Scilly, St. Mary's, 193, 207 + + Scilly seabirds, 209 + + Scilly, Tresco, 197-8, 200, 208 + + Seagulls, 53, 244 + + Sennen, 217-18 + + Serpentine, 122 + + Shuttleworth, Professor, 326 + + Sidonia, Medina, 20, 26 + + Slanning, 76 + + Smith, Augustus, 200 + + Southey, 166 + + Stamford Hill, Battle of, 255, 360 + + Stanbury, 376 + + Storm of 1703, 108-9 + + Stowe, 359 + + Stratton, 359 + + Submarine platform, 13 + + Swinburne, 347 + + + Talland, 32 + + Tavistock, 121 + + Tehidy, 254-6 + + Teilo, St., 78 + + Tennyson, 101-2, 145, 212, 341, 354, 372-4 + + Tewdrig, 235, 249 + + Thackeray, 50 + + Tin, 16 + + Tintagel, 335-46 + + Tonacombe, 375-6 + + Tonkin, 263 + + Towednack, 230, 235 + + Trackways, 16 + + Trebarwith, 324 + + Treffry, 59, 62 + + Tregeagle, 313-19 + + Tregonning, 153 + + Trelawne, 41 + + Trelawney, 41-2 + + Trenwith, 236 + + Trerice, 296 + + Treryn Dinas (logan stone), 186-7 + + Treryn Dinas (Gurnard's Head), 225 + + Tresco Abbey, 197-8, 200 + + Trevanion, 76 + + Trevemper, 285 + + Trevena (Tintagel), 342, 346 + + Trevithick, 257-9 + + Trevose, 310 + + Trewoofe (or Troove), 184 + + Truro, 100-4 + + Tywardreath, 65 + + + Uny, St., 151 + + Uther, 336 + + + Valency, River, 348 + + Vandevelde, 21 + + Veryan, 77 + + Victoria, Queen, 101 + + + Wadebridge, 325 + + Warbeck, Perkin, 236 + + Watergate, 40 + + Welcombe, 377-8 + + Wesley, 148, 242, 261 + + Western Rebellion, 236 + + Whitaker, 110 + + Whitesand Bay, 25, 27, 38, 221 + + Widemouth Bay, 353 + + Winoc, St., 123, 230 + + Winwaloe, 123-4, 139 + + Wolcot, Dr., 262 + + Wolf Lighthouse, 217 + + Wyllow, St., 48 + + + Zennor, 226-9 + + Zose Point, 79 + + + + +The G. W. R. Series of TRAVEL BOOKS + + +"Travel is the great source of true wisdom."--BEACONSFIELD. + +The travel books published by the G. W. R. have become widely known as +"The Holiday Books of the Holiday Line." They are unique in railway +literature, and form a series of works which are exceedingly popular +owing to the extent of the territory they cover, the great variety of +the information they contain, and the thoroughly practical, and at the +same time interesting, manner in which the information is presented. +All the books are beautifully illustrated, and each contains an +excellent map. + + +LIST OF TRAVEL BOOKS AND SOME PRESS OPINIONS. + +=THE CORNISH RIVIERA.= Price 3_d._, post free 6_d._ + + "The admirable pictures and brightly written letterpress well + fulfil their purpose of explaining how to get to this national + resort and what to see there."--_Daily Telegraph._ + +=DEVON: THE SHIRE OF THE SEA KINGS.= Price 3_d._, post free 6_d._ + + "A bright and interesting account of the manifold attractions + which Devonshire offers."--_Daily Telegraph._ + +=SOUTHERN IRELAND: ITS LAKES AND LANDSCAPES.= Price 3_d._, post free +6_d._ + + "Both dainty and artistic.... 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