Nooks and Corners of Cornwall Part 14

The Tamar and Torridge spring from a rushy knoll on the eastern wilds of Morwenstow, three miles from the sea. From that, practically the most northern spot in the county, the larger river with some windings flows south, forming the eastern boundary of the county. It finally widens into the Hamoaze and, by way of Plymouth Sound, finds its way into the sea. Many are the bridges and ferries from the one county to the other, and every army that has come to invade, to subjugate, or even to punish the insurgent west, must have come by way of this peaceful stream. The first ferry is at Tor Point, where the Tamar is about a mile wide. It was the old coach route and thither came the people who would catch the packet at Falmouth, thither also in yet earlier times came the Cornish pack-horses, laden with tin at their going and merchandise on their return. It was the highway when roads were only tracks and the boats in which men voyaged were of wattle covered with hide. Now it is crossed by a "steam bridge" which starts every quarter of an hour!

Where another ferry crosses the estuary of the Lynher is the church and village of Antony East. Carew, whose amusing Survey supplies us with so many stories of old Cornwall, is buried here, the doggerel verses on his monument having been found in his pocket, after his sudden death when at prayer in his study. There is also a memorial to Margery Arundell, which is of interest, as it is the only example in the county of a canopied bra.s.s.

TREMATON CASTLE

When Robert, Duke of Normandy, died, Arlette, the tanner's daughter, was sought in wedlock by one Herlwin, and in due course she bore him two sons, Odo, afterwards Bishop of Bayeux, and Robert, whom she named after the unforgotten lover of her youth. These twain, worthy half-brothers of the stern and rigorous b.a.s.t.a.r.d, rode one on each side of him at the battle of Hastings--that fatal battle which delayed for so many years the consummation of our English liberties! Over against the Normans were the equally loyal brethren of Harold, the King. But William's star was in the ascendant, and two at least of the sons of G.o.dwin and Gytha were among the slain. As soon as the Conqueror was firmly settled on the throne that he had seized, he bethought him of his favourite brother and added to Robert's earldom by the Breton march the more famous earldom of the kindred land of Cornwall. Robert of Mortain, riding gaily down to the west, found a wealth of manors awaiting him and two castles--afterwards to be mentioned in Domesday--those of Launceston and Trematon.

Trematon is on the Lynher which, rising near Five Lanes towards the centre of the county, flows steadily south until it is joined by the Tidy near Ince Castle, (the only sixteenth-century brick house in the county), and with a sharp easterly turn flows broadly and genially into the Tamar below Saltash. Above its placid waters rises the old keep, the keep that was built to keep the unruly Cornish in order. Tintagel, Restormel, and Launceston are ruinous, but Trematon is still in fairly good repair. The wall crossing the motte is of early date, probably thirteenth century, while the archway of the square entrance tower carries portcullis grooves, and the keep, once 70 ft. by 50 ft., is still about 30 ft. in height. The castle with its park and manor and the borough of Saltash was granted by Edward III. to the Dukes of Cornwall for ever. It is not generally known that in some respects this dukedom differs from all others. The eldest son of the reigning sovereign is the duke, and he comes of age as soon as he is born and preserves all the rights of the dukedom without patent of creation; the essential difference between this and the princedom of Wales being that the latter is specially conferred by the sovereign.

ST. GERMANS

Not far from Trematon is St. Germans, birthplace of the famous Sir John Eliot, after whom Port Eliot was called. This worthy, though consistently loyal to Charles I., opposed that monarch's illegalities and died in the prison to which he was consequently consigned. He was one of the n.o.blest of the fine band of Cornishmen who came to the front at that period of the nation's history, an honest, just, and fearless man. Port Eliot, though charmingly situated where the Tidy widens into a lake, is otherwise only interesting on account of its pictures, of which there are several by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

St. Germans is thought to have been the seat of the ancient bishopric of Cornwall, but there is no evidence in support of the theory. The "see,"

or bishop-stool as it was called by our fathers, was nothing more than the seat of the bishop, the church in which it rested being his cathedral church. In early times the bishop was generally attached to some monastery or else he moved from place to place, taking his "seat"

with him. In course of time, a suitable place being found, the see would become fixed, but there is no evidence of any fixed see in this county until 1877, when it was placed at Truro.

MARKETS

The following entry in the exchequer book at the time of the Domesday survey marks one of the contrasts between then and now: "In this manor there is a market on Sunday, but it is reduced to nothing on account of the Earl of Mortain's market, which is very near thereto." Robert, Earl of Mortain and Cornwall, held his market by his Castle of Trematon, and so we are confronted with two markets on a Sunday in Sabbatarian Cornwall! The boldness of the folk, with all those petrified pipers and fiddlers and merry maidens to point a moral! And to think that nothing happened.

A good deal of water has flowed under Tamar bridges since those days. In the reign of Henry VIII. Andrew Furlong, priest and schoolmaster at Saltash, was imprisoned for having a Bible in his possession--and this is the tercentenary of that Bible's translation into the vulgar tongue.

Verily times have changed.

SALTASH

From the Hoe to Saltash, low hills flank an estuary of great width which narrows sharply where Brunel's triumph, the Royal Albert Bridge, spans the flood. This great railway bridge, which was opened by the Prince Consort in 1859, cost over three-quarters of a million and is still one of the wonders of engineering.

Saltash suffered considerably during the wars between King and Parliament. It was taken and retaken any number of times, occupied by first one party and then the other, fortified, attacked, and generally treated with scant courtesy. It has several points of interest; an old shop dated 1584, fine corporation regalia, a church containing a very ancient font bowl (brought from Wadgworthy), and an exquisite silver vessel of 1624 now used as a communion cup.

MODITONHAM

This part of the county is noted for its strawberries, its gooseberries, and for a sweet kind of small cherry called mazzards.

"_Let Uter Pendragon do what he can The Tamar water will run as it ran,_"

says the Celtic proverb, embodying no doubt some forgotten story. It is certainly a fine sheet of water above Saltash and he would be a bold man who would seek to divert its flow. Not far from the town is the manor of Moditonham, which was built not long after the Restoration by Colonel Waddon, who, from long residence abroad, had gathered a love of foreign architecture, and who chose for his model a French chateau. John Grenville, Sir Beville's son (who attended Charles II. in all his wanderings, was sent by him to negotiate with Monk, and was King's messenger with his letter to the Parliament), had been made Earl of Bath and Governor of both Pendennis and Plymouth. He was the most loyal of Charles's subjects, but under James II. his long faith wavered, and it was at Moditonham that, with Colonel Waddon, the Deputy Governor of Pendennis, he treated with the commissioner of the Prince of Orange. His brother, Denis Grenville, Dean of Durham, less wise, but more loyal, followed James over seas and died in exile.

PALEOLOGUS

The river winds in such deep curves above Botus-fleming that Landulph is almost surrounded by its waters. In the quiet churchyard lies Theodore Paleologus, the last descendant of the Christian emperors of the east.

Some years ago the vault in which he lies was accidentally opened and it was seen that he had been a tall man with a long head and a beard of unusual dimensions. During his lifetime this man, who might have been an emperor, had been reduced to such straits of poverty, that he had written to that soldier of fortune, the first Duke of Buckingham, praying to be taken into his service. In the letter, which has been preserved, he pathetically describes himself as a gentleman, born of a good house, a soldier from his birth, accomplished and worthy of the name he bears, but unfortunate in the reverse of fortune.

PENTILLIE

Above Landulph the curving flood gradually narrows into the semblance of an ordinary river and goes softly between woods and orchards and farmlands till the finely placed grey towers of Pentillie, built by that eccentric charlatan, Sir William Tillie, come into view. It is a mistake to hurry through this scenery in the bustling steamer that ploughs up from Plymouth, gives you barely time to swallow a fine strawberry at Calstock and rushes back again. The Tamar, with its forest-clad declivities, its rocks and crags and cliffs, its long reaches of s.h.i.+ning water fringed with deep green meadows and woodland, is essentially a river for the man with leisure. In the opinion of those who have seen both, the scenery far surpa.s.ses that of the belauded Dart. The production of a.r.s.enic has discoloured the water in parts, as the mine shafts have destroyed the sylvan charm of the sh.o.r.e, but this is only for a short distance above New Bridge, the New Bridge over which Ess.e.x so foolishly led his troops in 1644.

COTEHELE

The Tamar is navigable for good sized vessels as far as the Weir Head, but that is away beyond first Cotehele and then Calstock, past Harewood, the most easterly part of the county, a peninsula which, like Landulph, is nearly an island, and even past the craggy Morwell Rocks.

Cotehele, a Tudor mansion, "antient, large, strong, and fayre," was once the chief seat of the Edgc.u.mbe family. On the cliff can be seen the little chapel built by Richard Edgc.u.mbe in grat.i.tude for his escape from the myrmidons of Richard III. (see page 136). The chestnut trees in these woods are large and of great age, but suffered severely from the blizzard of 1891. Within the house is an interesting chapel with, under the pulpit, a small apartment, known as "the Leper's Room." In the vault, the mother of the first baron was buried (1742) while in a trance. "The knave of a s.e.xton, the night after the funeral, broke open the coffin with intent to steal the rings which adorned the body, when, to his utter alarm, she who was thought to be dead opened her eyes and began to move; thereat the thief fled amain as though chased by the awakened spirit, leaving his lanthorn behind him, which served to light the lady out of the vault."

The simple brevity of the account is delightful. No nerves on the part of the dame, whose motto must have been "n.o.blesse oblige." We picture her stepping gracefully out of her narrow bed, taking that lanthorn, so conveniently left, and in her white shroud making her way to the supper-room, where no doubt her sorrow-stricken descendants were sustaining life with beef and beer and bread. Were they really and truly glad to see her? She must have been a woman, not only of great presence of mind, but of strong character, and we, at this distance, can look back admiringly; but as to her dutiful and obedient children--well, one wonders.

HINGSTON DOWN

The New Bridge leads directly out to the high land of Hingston Down, where before stannary laws were enacted and coinage towns a.s.signed, the tinners of Devon and Cornwall met on Kit Hill and held their parliament.

During the fourteenth century difficulties arose, and after that only the Cornish came to the old earthwork for their debates. An interesting light is shed, by a speech of Sir Walter Raleigh's in Parliament, when Lord Warden of the Stannaries, on the men and their earnings. In those days it would appear that the pay of a working tinner was 4_s_. a week, finding himself. Of this Sir Walter boasts as a great change for the better inasmuch as previously the tinner had received but half that amount.

These hills used to be famous for their tin, hence the saying:

"_Hingston Down well wrought Is worth London Town, dear bought._"

In 835 the Cornish were defeated by the men of Devon on this open ground, and some centuries later Charles I. crossed it on his way to try conclusions with Lord Ess.e.x. A little beyond Callington is St. Ive, one of the most lovely churches in the duchy. The east end and north side are fourteenth-century work of great merit, and the remainder is fifteenth century. The beautiful tower has cl.u.s.tered pinnacles, but the chief interest lies in the chancel window with its fine tracery, and the ogee-headed niches in the jambs of the scoinson arch, while some of the gla.s.s in the east window is of the same date as the tracery.

The river no longer curves in upon itself so frequently, but the landscape, deeply wooded and with the fine Carthamartha Rocks above the junction of the Inny with the Tamar, is softly beautiful. Greston Bridge crosses the river between Lezant and Lawhitton, and at Trecarrel House in the former, Charles I., with his army sleeping round him in the fields, lay on the night of August 1, 1644. At Lewannick, west of Lezant, a cresset stone has been preserved. This structure resembles a font, but with the top hollowed out into a number of bowls to contain oil and floating wicks. Before the days of matches, a light was kept perpetually burning in the church in order that the paris.h.i.+oners might resort to it, if by any chance their hearth-fires, always carefully sodded up, should be extinguished. Cresset stones are now rare. The one at Calder Abbey has sixteen bowls, but that at Furness resembles the one at Lewannick in having only five.

POLYFANT

In this parish, at a little distance from the church town, is the famous stone quarry of Polyfant. The greater number of the Norman arches in this part of the county are made from this stone, the quarry having been worked for over a thousand years. There are three old crosses in this neighbourhood, the one at Holloway being of unusual design, while the "four-holed" cross at Trelaske has projections at the neck. Trelaske is a well-wooded and picturesque country-place, and contains the remains of an encampment, while the view from Trelaske Beacon is extensive. A couple of miles above Greston Bridge the river takes a bend almost at right angles to its former course, and runs east and west until it reaches Poulston Bridge, across which Charles I. led his army that never-to-be-forgotten August and marched on Launceston.

CHAPTER X

NOOKS AND CORNERS FROM LAUNCESTON TO DOZMARe

_The Upper Reaches of the Tamar: Launceston: The Old Highways: St.

Clether: Altarnun: Trebartha: The Trethevy Dolmen: The Cheesewring: St.

Cleer: St. Neot: Dozmare: Tregeagle: Lake Dwellings._

THE UPPER REACHES OF THE TAMAR

Above Launceston, the Tamar soon has a companion in the shape of the Bude Ca.n.a.l, which was built at great cost, but is no longer worked. At Werrington, the river of that name joins the mother stream, after forming an artificial lake, and Werrington is also interesting as a place to which several bequests were made for the benefit of the poor and the support of a school. Many years ago the parish chest, which contained the donation deeds of these charities, was stolen from the church. After a long time and great hue and cry it was discovered built up into the wall of one of the houses and, of course, empty.

Boyton, a little north, is divided by the Tamar between Devon and Cornwall. Here lived Agnes Brest, brought to the stake 1557, the only one among the Cornish Protestants who was actually burnt. North Tamarton, like Boyton, has a piece of land on the other side of the river, but, unlike its neighbour, this portion was returned to Cornwall by an Act of Parliament in 1832. The church of St. Denis is worth a visit for the sake of the beautiful carving of the pulpit.