Footprints of Former Men in Far CornwallHawker, Robert Stephen
History
Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall
Hawker, Robert Stephen
Cornwall (England : County) -- History
The next capital has the following inscription, _upside down_--
“THIS IS THE HOVSE OF THE L.”
The supposed piscina, according to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, is merely
“the base of a small pillar, Norman in style, with a hole in it for
a rivet which attached to it the slender column it supported” (“The
Vicar of Morwenstow,” ed. 1899, p. 60). It has also been stated that
Mr. Hawker obtained the piscina from the ruined chapel at Longfurlong,
Hartland, and placed it in his church at Morwenstow (Rev. T. H. Chope,
“Hartland Parish,” 1896, p. 17).[160]
FOOTNOTE:
[160] Hawker’s account (on p. 11) of the discovery of the piscina in
the chancel wall at Morwenstow is, however, very circumstantial. If
“the jumbled carved work and a crushed drain,” which, he says came to
light when the mortar was removed, proceeded from his imagination, it
is a touch of genius in fabrication. In a letter to Mr. Richard Twining
dated October 25th, 1855, Hawker writes: “Will you have the kindness
to present the inclosed drawing to Miss L. Twining in my name and with
my best regards. It is of a piscina discovered by me in the south wall
of my chancel, where it has been hidden by mortar full 300 years, and
existed there before that date full 500 years more.”
The whole passage from Mr. Baring-Gould is as follows: “The ancient
piscina in the wall is of early English date. Mr. Hawker discovered
under the pavement in the church, when reseating it, the base of a
small pillar, Norman in style, with a hole in it for a rivet which
attached to it the slender column it supported. This he supposed was
a piscina drain, and accordingly set it up in the recess beside his
altar.” Mr. Baring-Gould evidently uses the word “piscina” as meaning
the whole “recess” beside the altar. Mr. Chope appears to use it for
the pillared structure within the recess. Hawker’s own words seem to
show that he found the whole piscina, _i.e._ the recess with the drain
inside it, “in the chancel wall.” He says nothing of any discovery
“under the pavement,” and Mr. Baring-Gould does not give his authority
for this statement.
At any rate, if the piscina, or piscina drain, or pillar-base,
whichever it be, was abstracted from the ruined chapel at Longfurlong,
it presumably was not discovered under the pavement of Morwenstow
Church, unless by another stroke of genius.
It may be of interest to add that, on thrusting a piece of grass
down the hole which Hawker took for a piscina drain, and which Mr.
Baring-Gould says is a rivet-hole, I found that it went right through
to the floor of the recess, a depth of about 13 inches. It is quite
possible, therefore, that, if connected with another hole through the
wall, it might at one time have served the purpose of a drain.--EDITOR.
APPENDIX A_a_ (p. 9 and foll.)
MORWENSTOW CHURCH
BY THE LATE REV. W. WADDON MARTYN
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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