Davidstow
DAVIDSTOW, in the hundred of Lesnewth, and deanery of Trigg-Major, lies
about three miles from Camelford, which is the post-office town. The principal villages in this parish are Trevivian and Tremeal. The site of the manor of Treglasta,
which lies chiefly in Alternon (fn. 1) , seems to have been at Treglasta, in this parish.
The manors of Halwell and Hendraburnick, held formerly under Launceston
Castle, and the manor of Tremeal, partly in this parish and partly in St. Juliot,
which had belonged to the Grenville family, were, in 1620, the property of
Richard Piers or Pierce, Esq., of Halwell.
The barton-house of Davidstow, adjoining to the church, now inhabited by
labourers, and Trehane, now a farm-house, were formerly seats of the family of
Pearse, and passed, in marriage, to that of Nicholls: they have long since passed
again to the family of Pearse, and are now the property of William Pearse, Esq.,
who is impropriator of the great tithes formerly belonging to the priory of Tywardreth. The advowson of the vicarage was annexed to the duchy of Cornwall
in 1540, when several estates were settled on that duchy, in lieu of the honor
of Wallingford. The registers of the see of Exeter record three chapels in this
parish, dedicated to St. Augustine, St. Ellen, and St. Michael. (fn. 2)
St. Dennis
ST. DENNIS, in the deanery and in the east division of the hundred of Powder,
lies about four miles south-east from St. Columb, which is the post-office town.
The principal village in the parish is Hendra.
The manors of Ennis-Caven and Dimiliock, which had long been in the family
of Arundell, were purchased, a few years ago, by Thomas Rawlings, Esq., of
Padstow, who is the present proprietor. Dimiliock was held under the Arundells,
by Sir Hugh Courtenay, in the reign of Henry VI. (fn. 3)
The manors of Hendra and Menna have long been in the Boscawen family, and
are now the property of Lord Falmouth.
St. Dennis is held under the same presentation with St. Michael-Carhayes, which
is the mother-church, and St. Stephen, in Brannell. The incumbent has the great
and small tithes of the three parishes, of which he is spiritual vicar and rector, sine
curâ animarum. Lord Grenville is patron, in right of his manor of Brannell.
Robert Dunkin, incumbent of this parish, who was dispossessed by the Puritans,
and lived to be restored to his benefice, was a learned divine, and published some
tracts against Milton.
St. Dominick
ST. DOMINICK, in the deanery and in the middle division of the hundred
of East, lies about three miles south-east from Callington, which is the post-office
town, and six north from Saltash. Hals says, that the manor of Halton belonged to an ancient family of that name, whose heiress, in the reign of
Edward II., married Wendyn; that the heiress of Wendyn married Whitlegh,
of Efford, in Devonshire, whose coheiresses, in the reign of Henry VII., brought
this estate to Grenville and Hals. Mr. Tonkin, on the contrary, supposes Halton to have been the seat of the Inkpens, and, indeed, it appears by record,
that the manor belonged to that family in the reigns of Edward I. and Edward III. (fn. 4) ; Hals's account of the Haltons and Wendyns possessing the manor at
that period, must, therefore, be incorrect. The manor was soon afterwards in the
family of Fichet (fn. 5) ; in the fifteenth century, it was in severalties, two of which appear to have passed, by marriage, to the families of Hill and Keryel (fn. 6) . At a later
period, the whole became vested in the family of Rous of Edmerston, in Devonshire, a younger branch of the ancient family of Rous of Little Modbury. It
was purchased by John Rous, uncle of Sir Anthony. Francis, son of the latter,
was born at Halton, in 1579. This Francis became a distinguished character in
Cromwell's time; was a speaker of the Little parliament, a member afterwards
of the upper house, and provost of Eton college. He died, in the month of
January 1659, at his house at Acton, in Middlesex, and was buried with great
funeral pomp at Eton (fn. 7) . The manor of Halton passed, not many years afterwards,
together with that of Tynall, in this parish, to the family of Clark. They are now
the property of Mrs. Bluett, wife of the Rev. —— Bluett, and daughter of the
late John Clark, Esq., who is also patroness of the rectory. The old mansion at
Halton is occupied as a farm-house.
Westcote, in this parish, some time a seat of the Brendons, is now the property
and residence of William Pode, Esq., who possesses the manor of Ashton or Ashtorre-Barrett. This manor passed, with the heiress of the ancient family of Barrett,
to the Prestwoods, in 1707. It has since passed, by successive sales, to the families
of Huddleston, Rashleigh, and Spurrell, and from the latter, by bequest, to Mr. Pode.
Charles Fitz-Geoffrey, rector of this parish, published a life of Sir Francis Drake,
"written in lofty verse, when he was Bachelor of Arts," Latin poems, a collection
of poems out of his own and the works of others, made in the early part of the
reign of James I., under the name of "Choice Flowers and Descriptions," a book
which appears to have been extremely scarce, even in Anthony Wood's time; and
several sermons, amongst which were those preached at the funerals of Sir Anthony
Rous, of Halton (1622), and Philippa his lady (1620), and "The Curse of Cornhoarders; with a Blessing of seasonable Selling," in three discourses. Mr. FitzGeoffrey died, and was buried at St. Dominick, in the year 1637. (fn. 8) There were
formerly chapels of St. Ethelred and St. Ildract in this parish (fn. 9) . The sites are not
known, but it is probable that one of them was at a place called Chapel, near the
Tamar.
Duloe
DULOE, in the hundred and deanery of West, lies five miles and a half from
Liskeard, and three and a half from Looe, which is the post-office town. The
principal villages in this parish, exclusively of the Church-town, are Higher, and
Lower Tredinneck.
The parish of Duloe is divided into three districts; west, north, and south.
Almost the whole of the west district is held under the Hon. Mrs. Agar, (as representative of the Robartes family). A yearly court is held for this estate at Pendriscot;
but the several proprietors of estates in fee in this district, exercise manerial rights
over their respective lands.
The manor of Treworgye belonged, for many generations, to the ancient family
of Kendall, who had their seat there. It was sold, in the seventeenth century, to
the family of Williams (fn. 10) , who were merchants at Bodenick; a descendant of this
family sold it to the father of Mr. John Eliot, of Bartholomew-Close, in London,
who is the present proprietor. The manor-house is occupied by the tenant of the
demesne farm.
The manor of Tremoderet, now called Tremadart, belonged, at an early period,
to the family of Hewis or Hiwis. Emmeline (fn. 11) , the heiress of this family brought it
to Sir Robert Tresilian, Chief Justice of the King's-Bench, who was executed at
Tyborn, in 1388, for having been the adviser of arbitrary measures, which his
misguided Sovereign had not the power to enforce. In the year 1391, Sir John
Coleshill, second husband of Emmeline, procured a grant to him, his wife, and their
heirs, of this and some other manors, which had been forfeited by the Chief Justice's
attainder (fn. 12) . Sir John Coleshill, their son being then about twenty-three years of
age, was slain at the battle of Agincourt, leaving an infant son, who died without
issue in 1483, being then Sir John Coleshill, Knt.; his only sister, Joanna, was
thrice married, to Sir Renfrey Arundell, a younger son of the Lanherne family,
Sir John Nanfan, and Sir William Haughton. By the former she had two sons,
Sir Renfrey, and John, who was made Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry in 1497,
and, in 1501, translated to Exeter. On the death of Sir Edmund Arundell,
grandson of Sir Renfrey, without issue, Tremoderet and several other estates in
Cornwall, devolved to the two sisters of Sir Renfrey Arundell the younger (married to Stradling and Whittington), and their half-sister (the daughter of the heiress
of Coleshill, by her second husband Sir John Nanfan (fn. 13) ), married to Bolles, or their
representatives. A descendant of Whittington (a Gloucestershire family) left six
daughters coheiresses, married to Poole, Berkeley, Bodenham, Throgmorton,
St. Aubyn, and Nanfan. The latter having no issue, her share in the inheritance of
the Coleshills was divided among her sisters. John Arundell, Esq., of Trerice,
having purchased Bodenham's share, left it to his second son Thomas, younger
brother of John Arundell, the brave defender of Pendennis-castle. This Thomas
settled at Tremoderet, and purchased, not only the smaller shares which had belonged to the Pooles and Berkeleys, but the two-thirds of the estate which had
been purchased of the families of Danvers (heirs of Stradling) and Bolles by the
Bevilles, and had descended to the Grenvilles. Thomas Arundell died in 1648,
being possessed of the whole of the estate, except St. Aubyn's inheritance and that
of Throgmorton, which had been purchased by the St. Aubyns (fn. 14) . In 1708 John
Arundell, Esq. (the last of this branch of the family) bought what belonged to
the St. Aubyns, and in 1711 sold the whole to Sir John Anstis, Garter King of
Arms, from whom the present proprietor, Thomas Bewes, Esq., of Tothill, near
Plymouth, is descended in the female line. The manor-house is now occupied by
the tenant of the demesne farm. William of Worcester, who wrote an Itinerary of
Cornwall in the reign of Edward IV., speaks of a dilapidated castle, called
Bodleit (fn. 15) , near Sir John Coleshill's mansion, at Tremoderet.
The manor of West-North was given, in marriage with a daughter of the Kendall family, in the reign of Edward IV., to Kelliow, whose daughter brought it to
Bastard. In 1671, William Bastard, Esq. sold West-North to Sir John Anstis,
before-mentioned, author of the Register of the Garter, and other heraldic works,
and an industrious topographical collector, who made West-North his principal
residence. The old mansion, which is much decayed, is occasionally visited by
Mr. Bewes, the present owner of the estate, for the purpose of meeting his tenants,
and holding his courts.
The manor of Great-Trenant was, at an early period, in the Hiwis family, from
whom it descended, with Tremoderet, to the Coleshills, Arundells, and Whittingtons. In 1620, it was in moieties between the St. Aubyns, in right of a coheiress
of the Whittingtons, and the Gifford family (fn. 16) . At a later period, the whole became vested in the family of Treise, from whom, after the decease of Sir Christopher Treise without issue, it passed to the Morsheads. John Morshead, Esq., of
Trenant-Park, was created a Baronet in 1783. In 1806, he sold this estate to
Rear-admiral Sir Edward Buller, who was created a Baronet in 1808.
The manor of Bodbrane, which belonged to the Arundells of Lanherne, is now
the property, by a late purchase, of Mr. Joseph Grigg. Killigorick or Kilagoric, in
ancient records called a manor, belonged formerly to the baronial family of Bottreaux (fn. 17) . It is now the property of Richard Hall Clarke, Esq., of Bridewell, in
Devonshire.
In the parish-church is the monument of Sir John Coleshill, the last of
that family, who died in 1483; an altar-tomb for John Kelliow, Esq., of WestNorth; and some memorials of the families of Arundell of Tremoderet, and
Coffin. Sir John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, who died in 1743, and his son,
John Anstis, Esq., who succeeded him in that office, and died in 1754, both lie
buried at Duloe; but there is no monument for either. The advowson of the
rectory of Duloe, which was in moieties between the families of Arundell of Tremoderet and St. Aubyn, was sold by them, in 1701, to the Master and Fellows
of Baliol College, in Oxford. The rectory, which is a sinecure with a stipend of
fifty pounds per annum, was united to the vicarage about the middle of the last
century. There was formerly a chapel at Hille, in this parish, dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. (fn. 18)