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)
This means, in plain English, to say † "Clarice, the wife of
Geoffry de Bolleit, lies here: God on her soul have mercy: Who
prays for her soul shall have ten days' pardon."[2] Now the "Bo"
we know to be another form of Beau, in ancient French names.
Leit may be a variation of lieu. The provincial pronunciation of
Beaulieu is, in many parts of Northern France, simply Bolè.[30]
And this is the nearest approach to the proper sound of the name
that a Cornish man would be likely to turn his tongue to form.
This old Norman family, as in many other instances, might have
done their best to give to their new inheritance a name which was
a common one in their former home. This conjecture respecting
the derivation is at least as probable as the others. We know of
no Cornish name which terminated in leit, yet, if the name be
Cornish, it is safer to take the traditional pronunciation of those
who live in Buryan than to go by any mode of spelling.
Menheres.
The most striking objects seen after passing through the hamlet
are two large long stones or pillars of granite, sometimes called
the pipers, but formerly known as the hurlers, which stand in the
fields on the north side of the road. Antiquaries are far from
being unanimous in their conjectures as to the purpose intended
to be served in the erection of these remarkable stones. Whether
they were astronomical, sacerdotal, or sepulchral monuments—whether
erected for all or neither of these objects—the learned
think it premature to decide. There is no mark on these
mysterious stones to throw any light on the subject. Yet it is
pretty certain that all the large menhere stood in pairs; that
their bearing is generally east and west; that they are mostly
found on an open plain near other Celtic monuments, and the
vestiges of ancient British habitations; and we may be sure
they were formerly more numerous and regarded as objects of
great importance, from the number of dwelling-places, enclosures,
and names of old Cornish families terminating in Menhere, as
Tremenhere, or Tremener, (Longstone place) Polmener, (Longstone
pool) Goonmenhere, (Longstone downs) and many others.
Probably many of the companion stones of the erect single
pillars may be still found lying along in some hedge, at no great
distance, (about the twelfth of the circle north of east or south
of west), from those which remain where placed thousands of
years ago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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