A curious circumstance occurred relative to his relics. In 1177 a canon
of Bodmin, named Martin, made a clean bolt with the shrine of the
saint, an ivory box that contained his bones, and carried them to S.
Maen, in Brittany. There were "ructions." The Prior of Bodmin appealed
to Henry II., who sent orders to the Justiciary of Brittany to insist
on their surrender. Accordingly the prior and this officer went to S.
Maen, but when required to give up the holy bones the abbot demurred.
However, the justiciary would stand no nonsense, and threatened to use
such severe measures that the abbot was forced to give way, and Prior
Roger, of Bodmin, marched away with the recovered ivory box and its
contents.
Curiously enough this identical box, quaintly ornamented with
paintings, still exists, and belongs to the municipality: the contents
have, of course, disappeared.
In the market-house is a very interesting granite corn measure.
It will not be out of place to notice here the "lord's measures" found
in great numbers about Cornwall. They are small basins cut in granite
or in some volcanic free stone, usually with lobes or ears outside. At
S. Enodoc, near the "Rock Inn" on the Padstow estuary, a quantity of
them have been collected, and are ranged beside the churchyard path.
There is another large collection in the parsonage garden at Veryan.
They were probably standard measures for grain, and were preserved in
the churches.
In Bodmin Church, which is fine, is the rich monument of Prior Vivian,
1533.
The bench-ends were carved by one Matthew More in 1491.
Castle Canyck is a fine circular camp, probably Celtic, and west of the
town is a quadrangular entrenchment where Roman remains have been
found. The Allan and the Camallan, or Crooked Allan, unite to form the
Hayle or Saltings. Allan is the name of the river at S. David's,
Pembrokeshire. The name is found also in Scotland, as the Ilen in
Ireland, and as the Aulne in Finistère. The derivation is doubtful.
On the right hand are the woods of Pencarrow (Pencaerau), the headland
of camps, with, in fact, remains of two; one must have been important.
Here, perhaps, dwelt a chieftain Conan.
S. Breock was on his way from Cardigan to Brittany when his
hide-covered boat was nearly upset by a whale, and so great was the
alarm of those sailing with him that the vessel put into Hayle estuary
and ran up to the head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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