THE PAROCHIAL HISTORY OF CORNWALL. J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT-STREET. THE PAROCHIAL HISTORY OF CORNWALL, FOUNDED ON THE MANUSCRIPT HISTORIES OF MR. HALS AND MR. TONKIN; WITH ADDITIONS AND VARIOUS APPENDICES, BY DAVIES GILBERT, SOMETIME PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, F.A.S. F.R.S.E. M.R.I.A. &c. &c. AND D.C.L. BY DIPLOMA FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. _IN FOUR VOLUMES._ VOL. I. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SON; AND SOLD BY J. LIDDELL, BODMIN; J. LAKE, FALMOUTH; O. MATTHEWS, HELSTON; MESSRS. BRAY AND ROWE, LAUNCESTON; T. VIGURS, PENZANCE; MRS. HEARD, TRURO; W. H. ROBERTS, EXETER; J. B. ROWE, PLYMOUTH; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN CORNWALL AND DEVON. 1838. PREFACE. Having read in the earliest portion of my life the small part of Mr. Hals’ Parochial History published about the year 1750, I entertained from that time a strong desire for seeing the remainder also in print; this desire grew up with my years, increased perhaps by an understanding that the manuscript had disappeared, no one seemed to know in what way, and that it might possibly have been destroyed. At last, the manuscript was recovered by the most justly celebrated Mr. Whitaker, from a bookseller at Exeter, who had retained the papers as a pledge for some debt; from Mr. Whitaker they have come to his son-in-law Richard Taunton, Esq. M.D. who has with great liberality placed them in my hands; mutilated, however, as to the histories of several parishes, from want of care and of attention on the part of the individual holding them as a deposit, although he must have deemed them to be of pecuniary value. Mr. Tonkin’s papers were preserved by his niece Miss Fosse, who died more than fifty years ago, at a place that may now be termed, without offence, the village of Michell. This lady must have been the last of Mr. Tonkin’s near relations; for, although the property left at her decease could not have amounted to anything of importance, the funeral was attended by many scores of persons, claiming shares of whatever could be found. Under such circumstances every moveable was soon converted into money, and the manuscript of the Parochial History, complete as Mr. Tonkin left it, got into the possession of Lord Dunstanville, by whom it was instantly offered to me, on my preparing to edit the Parochial History of Mr. Hals. And as Mr. Tonkin copied largely from Mr. Hals, many of the lost parishes are at least partially supplied. The late Mr. Lysons got possession of a beautifully transcribed copy of the whole that remains of Mr. Hals’ Parochial History; this was purchased at the sale of his books by the Earl of Aylesford, who without any personal acquaintance whatever, has had the liberality to allow me the use of this splendid folio volume, during the whole time of my work passing through the press.