The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and StudiesTaylor, Thomas
History
The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and Studies
Taylor, Thomas
Cornwall (England : County) -- Church history
The next name—Trevelaboth—presents no difficulty. There is a continuous
chain of evidence to show that it is identical with Traboe, a small
manor in the parish of St. Keverne. In order to equate the three
holdings which remain, viz. Lismanoch, Trequaners and Carmailoc, it will
be necessary to refer to a document in the Otterton custumal[129] in
which they appear as Tremain, Listyavehet, Treganeis and Carmaheleck.
Carmailoc is obviously Carmaheleck or Carvallack, a holding in St.
Martin’s parish which derives its name from the prehistoric earthwork in
that parish. If we suppose the “n” in Trequaners and Treganeis to be a
false reading for “u”—a pardonable blunder of constant occurrence—we
have the modern tenement of Tregevas or Tregevis also in St. Martin’s.
We are thus left with Lismanoch as the equivalent of Tremain (the modern
Tremayne) and Listyavehet. Tremain calls for no remark in this
connection: everyone knows where it is. Lismanoch, of which it appears
to have formed a portion, presents some difficulty, because in that form
the name is now unknown. As Lesmanaoc it occurs in a grant of King Edgar
in 967 to Wulfnod Rumancant. In that grant its boundaries are minutely
described, but unfortunately to little purpose owing to the fact that
many of the place-names in it are either purely descriptive or have
become so altered during the ten centuries which have elapsed since the
grant was made as to be incapable of recognition. One or two points are
clear. Lesmanaoc was of considerable extent. For some distance it lay
along the river which empties itself at Porthallow. It must have reached
well towards the south of St. Keverne parish if “Castell Merit” and
“Crouswrah” (two places mentioned in the charter) are, as seems
probable, the modern tenement of Kestlemerris and Crousa Downs. At the
time of Count Robert’s charter its area had evidently been contracted,
otherwise it could hardly have escaped mention in Domesday Book. The
portion which had been lost was probably the southern portion, for no
mention is made of any possessions south of Traboe in the grants of the
priory lands after its dissolution.
These considerations lend support to what is something more than a
conjecture of Mr. Henry Jenner, viz. that in the two tenements now known
as Lesneage we have the site of Lesmanaoc. Lesneage, as he points out,
may well be a contracted form of Lesmeneage, which in turn may be only
another form of Lesmanaoc, on the same principle as Treveneage in St.
Hilary can be shown by an unbroken series of documents to have been
derived from Trevanaek.
It is worthy of remark that within a short distance of Lesneage is Mill
Mehal or St. Michael’s Mill. If this be the true etymology then the name
Listyavehet becomes less formidable than it looks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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