Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second SeriesBottrell, William
General
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series
Bottrell, William
Cornwall (England : County) -- Social life and customs; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
Now, 'tis said that this Parson Polkinghorne had power, also,
over the spirits of air, or whatever they be, that usually raise the
wind, when ghosts are laid; for on this night all was so quietly
done that the weather was not, for a wonder, uncommonly stormy.
The I'an's ghosts, however, were settled, that's certain; they
met with their match at last, and quitted their old habitation for
good. From that night their old house was quiet and remained
so for a few years, then part of it was again haunted by the
ghost of a crazy spinster called 'Bitha (Tabitha) who also became
insane from grief at her sweetheart's untimely end. But this
spirit gave little trouble, compared with the former ones, and
took its departure in a few years, of its own accord; at least we
never heard of anything having being done to "lay" it.
About sixty years ago these almost forgotten traditions were
revived. One Sunday afternoon, in summer time, a carriage
arrived in Treen, stopped near the I'an's house, and a middle-aged
gentleman stepped from the conveyance just as an old man
drew near, who saluted the visitor, and asked if he would be
pleased to accept of his services to show him the Castle? The
stranger replied, in but indifferent English, that he would like to
know if there were any remains in Treen of an ancient mansion,
or castle, that once belonged to a family called I'an or Ivan, as
he spelt it for Uncle George, who was a most intelligent old
guide and the best chronicler of Treen.
"Why, there's the dwelling," said he, "that old people always
called the I'an's house, though young ones, thinking to improve
the name, have lately called it the John's house; but no family
called Johns were ever proprietors of it that I ever heard of."
[126]
The gentleman looked at the old house, and said that he
expected to find a much grander one.
"Yet, in its day, that was considered far above the common,"
Uncle George remarked; "and it must have cost much to build
when no wheel-carriages were in use, and timber had to be dogged
(dragged) many miles through narrow lanes, and stones and
other materials were carried on drays, or on horses' backs.
Besides, where you see nothing now but pigs'-crows and turf-ricks,"
continued he, in conducting the visitor towards the house,
"there was once a large green-court; and at the back where
you will find little else but dung-pits and heaps of rubbish, there
were more buildings belonging to the house, with a large walled
garden and a rabbit warren beyond."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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