A book of the west. Volume 2, Cornwall : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 2, Cornwall : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Cornwall (England : County)
Callington was made a borough in 1584, and its earliest patrons were
the Pauletts. From them the patronage passed to the Rolles, who divided
it with the Corytons. Then it went to the Walpoles, next to Lord
Clinton, and finally to the first Lord Ashburton. It never bore arms,
nor had a corporation, but there is an early and interesting silver
mace, now in the custody of the portreeve, who is elected with other
officers annually at the manor court of Kelliland.
Perhaps the most quaint and beautiful of the chapel wells in Cornwall
is Dupath, near Callington, though not in the parish, but in that of S.
Dominick. Unhappily dirty farmyard surroundings disfigure the scene,
and make one fear pollution of the sparkling water.
Hingesdon, on the N.E., rises to the height of 1091 feet, its highest
point being called Kit Hill, where are remains of a camp; the moor,
moreover, is strewn with barrows. It was on Hingesdon that the
Britons, uniting their forces with some Danes who had come up the
Tamar, met and fought Egbert in 833, and were defeated. The surface of
Hingesdon and Kit Hill has been much interfered with by mines, and the
summit is crowned with a ruined windmill erected to work the machinery
in a mine hard by. The road to Tavistock passes over Hingesdon at
a height of 900 feet, and thence after nightfall can be seen the
Eddystone light.
On the Liskeard road, beside the Lynher, is a well-preserved oval camp
called Cadsonbury. Other camps are at Tokenbury and Roundbury.
S. Ive (pronounced Eve) is probably a foundation of one of the Brychan
family, and certainly not dedicated to S. Ive of Huntingdonshire, who
is an impostor, nor to S. Ive of the Land’s End district. The church is
interesting, but has been unfeelingly “restored.” The east window, with
its niches, deserves special notice.
By far the finest church in the neighbourhood is Linkinhorne (Llan
Tighern), the church of the king, that is, of S. Melor. It was erected
by Sir Henry Trecarrel, who built Launceston Church, but Linkinhorne is
in far superior style. The story of S. Melor is this. He was the son of
Melyan, prince of Devon and Cornwall and of Brittany. Melyan’s brother
was Riwhal, or Hoel the Great, cousin of King Arthur. Hoel, being an
ambitious man, murdered his brother Melyan, and cut off the hand and
foot of his nephew Melor, so as to incapacitate him from reigning; as
a cripple, according to Celtic law, might not succeed to the headship
of a clan or of a principality. In the place of the hand and foot of
flesh and blood the boy was supplied with metal substitutes, and the
hand was formed of silver.
For precaution the child was sent to Quimper, and placed there in a
monastery.
Now it fell out that Melor and other boys were nutting in a wood, and
his comrades made their little pile of hazel nuts and brought them to
Melor. To their great surprise they found that, notwithstanding that
his hand was of metal, he was able therewith to twitch off the nuts
from the trees.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account