Nooks and Corners of Cornwall Part 12

'Tis true that Allen was the son of a St. Blazey innkeeper, that he had made instead of inheriting his money, but to go down to posterity as "humble" and "awkward!" The first edition is "low-born Allen," but this was altered at the poor man's protest.

THE CIVIL WARS

It is pleasant to leave the china clay with its milky fouling of clear waters and its diseased outcrops, white with the white of leprosy.

Crossing Par sands, where Ess.e.x watched in vain for the ships laden with his supplies and where, of the old lead smelting works even the chimney known all over the countryside as Par Stack is now gone, the road turns down the coast--past Menabilly with its geological grotto and museum, past Gribben Head set with a day-mark tower some 80 ft. high--and so round the little peninsula into which the Parliamentarian Army was penned by the more active Royalists in 1644, and up to Fowey.

When Charles I. in the August of that year pursued the foolish and shortsighted Ess.e.x into Cornwall, the King began by calling together his soldiers and enumerating the services rendered to his cause by the people of the duchy, and he strictly and with divers threats forbade plundering. That for once he meant what he said, was proved a fortnight later by Prince Maurice, who hanged a soldier for plundering Lanhydrock; and that there might be no misunderstanding about the matter, left him with a ticket to that effect pinned on his breast.

Ess.e.x, a stupid and inactive man, had come into Cornwall against his better judgment, Lord Robartes having said that the country would rise to join him. Before he got as far as Bodmin he discovered that the contrary was like to be the case; and when the King came sweeping into the duchy and Sir Richard Grenville marched out of Truro, Ess.e.x, who was between them, saw the hopelessness of his position. In the midst of a country so hostile that his soldiery had to forage far and wide for grudged provisions, he had nothing upon which to fall back, for some ships loaded with cheese and biscuit which he was daily expecting had not arrived. Ess.e.x, who always did the wrong thing or else the right thing too late, cast about at this eleventh hour to keep a pa.s.sage open for his supplies and, anxious to get nearer the sea, made for Lostwithiel. The immediate result of this movement was that the forces of Grenville and the King presently formed a semicircle about him from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e, and matters went from bad to worse. His soldiers, in need of food and tempted by papers offering a free pardon which the Royalists scattered among them, were daily slipping away to join the King. Having left the eastern side of the harbour unguarded, the forts there, as well as Polruan and Hall House, were soon taken; and this gave Charles the command of the estuary, while on the other side Grenville had secured the little haven of Par, where Ess.e.x was hoping his delayed stores would be landed. At this juncture he made a belated effort to help himself and those dependent on him. On the evening of August 31 deserters reported that the Parliamentarian cavalry was drawn up on the east bank of the river. It was evident that Ess.e.x was contemplating a move, and orders were issued to the Royalists to stand at arms throughout the night, break down all bridges, and throw baulks of timber across the roads and lanes. Furthermore Goring was bidden collect his cavalry and be in readiness to act on any point at which the enemy might attempt to break through.

Unfortunately, when the King's orders reached Goring he was in no condition to obey them. The night came on dark and foggy. There was a narrow s.p.a.ce on St. Winnow's Downs between the two Royalist divisions; but though not covered with troops it was guarded by some fifty fusiliers. These men were--what shall we say? They could scarcely on such a raw night have been asleep and why should they have been absent?

At any rate it was over this s.p.a.ce that, moving with silent celerity, Sir Wm. Balfour with the whole of the Parliamentarian horse pa.s.sed unchallenged out on to the open ground. Until a second message from the King reached Goring, he could not be got from his wine. The enemy was then actually pa.s.sing over the hill, and had it not been for this scandalous behaviour probably not a man would have escaped.

Some days earlier poor old Restormel Castle had been stormed by Grenville, and his forces under cover of a mist had then moved down towards Lostwithiel, but it was reserved for the King to take that ancient town; which he did just in time to prevent the destruction by the retreating Ess.e.x of the beautiful bridge.

Although the Parliamentarian General was forced to retire, he did so doggedly, contesting every street and every field, and that night the King slept in the rain under a hedge by the prehistoric earthwork of Castle Dor.

LOSTWITHIEL

On the following morning Ess.e.x proposed a parley. Before the King's answer could reach him, however, he had, with a sudden change of front, embarked on one of the ships in Fowey harbour and set sail for Plymouth.

Major-General Skippon, who had been left in command, immediately capitulated with six thousand men; and then for once in its long and sleepy existence was Lostwithiel aroused. The Parliamentarians had desecrated the beautiful church; the slates of the roof were lying in heaps where a barrel of gunpowder had been touched off under the graceful octagonal lanthorn of its spire--"the Glory of Cornwall." They had plundered the Exchequer Hall, burnt the stannary records, and committed other enormities; but now the yoke of the oppressor was broken. Tho King did his humane best to protect the soldiers, but the long-suppressed hostility of the mob found vent in a sudden flame of violence, while the women set upon the officers, stripped them of all they had and rode off with their horses!

LANHYDROCK HOUSE AND RESTORMEL CASTLE

Lanhydrock House being now the property of the King, he, as a mark of his grat.i.tude, granted it to Sir Richard Grenville, whom he created Baron of Lostwithiel; but no sooner did the Parliament get the upper hand than the new-made baron was deprived of his property. The present house is of granite and stands low, the hills springing from the end of the gardens. On them is a little church, and in front an open and undulating park. The headquarters of Ess.e.x were in this park, through which a long avenue of sycamores leads to a barbican of fine workmanship, behind which appears the simple facade of the two-storied house. Within, a room is shown as that used by Tregeagle when steward of the estates.

A little south is Restormel Castle. Its long life has been that of a ruin slowly sinking into the earth from which it rose. In 1245 Earl Richard found it much decayed. He restored it; and the Black Prince, who twice stayed there, did the same. When the Parliamentarians came it had long been abandoned to the owls and the ivy, but as it commanded the Fowey they repaired and garrisoned it. After the surrender of their army it was once more abandoned, and now all that remains of the old fortress is the round keep with a gate-house on the west and a projecting turret on the north-east. It is on a mound surrounded by a moat and lies deep in woods and remote from human habitation. Its very name, Restormel (once Lestormel, a chief's dwelling), shows that its builder was a man of note among the people who are gone. It has seen them make merry in its halls, it has seen them pa.s.s. It has roused up now and again to groan under the tyranny of new masters; but now, deserted in its robe of ivy, a mound, and a few stones, it sleeps through the sunshine and the rain, and with every year sinks a little and a little into itself and the kind covering earth.

"_The old sea here at my door, The old hills there in the West-- What can a man want more Till he goes at last to his rest?_"

LOWRY.

Nor is Lostwithiel much more widely awake. Nowadays it consists of a few rather picturesque streets, an old stone bridge, and a church with a lanthorn spire--the finest piece of church architecture in Cornwall! But it has not forgotten the days when a desperate king, gladdened by a brief gleam of success, fought his way through those same picturesque streets with an enemy that contested every stone and every house. It has not forgotten that he fought from early morning, pushing the stubborn foe before him, until by eventide he had the streets clear, and Lostwithiel, happy loyal Lostwithiel was his.

THE FIGHT ON ST. WINNOW'S DOWNS

Before this came to pa.s.s, however, a curious conflict had taken place on St. Winnow's Downs. One hundred Roundheads, youths from sixteen to twenty years of age and led by Colonel Straughan, had challenged a like number of the King's troops to heroic combat on Druid's Hill. On a set day the two bodies of horse met in sight of both armies, Straughan having "nothing on his head but a hat and on the trunk of his body naught but a white shirt"--he was indeed fighting bare-sark--"while his troop consisted of men so young that on their chins never a razor had pa.s.sed." Lord Digby, the Royalist leader, and his followers advanced firing their pistols as they came, whereupon Straughan and his boys charged furiously, withholding their fire until they were so close that at the deadly discharge half the Royalists were slain on the spot and there was scarce horse or man but received some hurt.

The Church of St. Winnow is beautifully placed on the very margin of this charming estuary, a little before the Lerryn creek opens to the east. Below is the pa.s.s between St. Veep and Golant, a pa.s.s taken and fortified by the Royalists.

THE GALLANTS OF FOWEY

The Gallants of Fowey probably means the men of Golant, near Fowey, though various other derivations have been suggested, as for instance the fight between the seafaring men of Rye and Winchelsea and those of Fowey. It appears the latter had sailed somewhat near the aforesaid towns, and when summoned to make civil apology for the intrusion "stiffly refused to vaile their bonnets. This caused the Ripiers to make out with might and main against them; howbeit with a more hardy onset than happy issue, for the Fowey men gave them so rough entertainment as their welcome that they were glad to depart without bidding farewell--the merit of which exploit afterwards ent.i.tled them 'gallants of Fowey.'"

This little town, which consists of a single street along the western bank of the estuary and many houses set down higgledy-piggledy wherever room could be found, was once of some consequence. During the reign of Edward III. it sent--a.s.sisted, no doubt, by the surrounding country--no less than forty-seven ships manned by seven hundred and seventy men, to the siege of Calais. No other town in England sent so many ships and no town but Yarmouth so many men. The Black Prince, who it must be remembered was the first Duke of Cornwall, granted the people of Golant certain common rights in return for their services, and Fowey grew in pride and consideration. In fact, as the saying is, it grew "too big for its boots," and did more than a little privateering on its own account.

When Edward IV. made peace with France, Fowey, which had grown fat on the plunder of foreign merchantmen, continued its hostilities; and in time a pursuivant rode down from London to make inquiry.

"I am at peace with my brother of France," ran the royal message.

"But we are not," was the reply. Furthermore they took the pursuivant, slit his ears and cut off his nose.

It was hardly the way to treat a King of so royal a temper as Edward IV., and Fowey--is it Fowey now or Troy?--suffered. His commissioners did their work treacherously, but they did it well. The chief men were seized, their goods confiscated, and their leader hanged. The great chain which barred the narrow entrance to their harbour and protected them from night attacks was taken away, while the men of Dartmouth were sent by sea to remove their ships. Edward meant to smoke out this nest of freebooters. There could be only one king in England and he would have them recognise it. The savage punishment resulted in the gradual decay of the little cheerful town. Those who had been so greatly daring were dead, and until Henry VIII. built batteries here the place lay at the mercy of any pa.s.sing marauder. A story interesting for the light it sheds on Queen Elizabeth's character is told of some Spanish ships in 1568. Bound for Alba, in the Netherlands, with a large sum of money, they were chased by privateers and took refuge in Fowey and other ports.

The privateers waiting outside till they should reappear, the Spaniards were helpless. After a little hesitation Elizabeth had the treasure seized and the crews arrested. She said that, fearing the audacity of the pirates, she would keep the money safe!

PLACE

The old fortress mansion of the great family of Treffry is on the opposite side of the harbour. Tradition says that a Treffry took King John prisoner at Poictiers, and as a reward was given permission to quarter on his shield the arms of France. More than once the Treffrys helped to defend Fowey from foreign violence; and their wives were as brave as they. In the grounds of Place House is a statue of Elizabeth Treffry who, in the absence of her husband, July 1457, headed his men and beat off the French.

On the sh.o.r.e at Polruan is a ruinous blockhouse, from which the chain that guarded Fowey Harbour was once stretched across the estuary to a similar building on the other side. Here is Hall, the ancient seat of the Mohuns, and while Charles I. was walking on the terrace he narrowly escaped being struck by a ball from the guns of Lord Ess.e.x. The chapel and guardhouse are still standing, but the former is used as a cowhouse.

LANTEGLOS: POLPERRO

The church of Lanteglos, consisting as it does of the work of so many periods, is exceptionally interesting to the student of architecture.

The tower opens into the church by three ma.s.sive arches, the western corner of the piers being Norman; the nave arcades are of the fourteenth century, the northern slightly earlier than the southern. The four deeply recessed windows in the north with their elaborate tracery are recognised by architects as resembling those of Somerset, which is probably accounted for by the fact that this church was appropriated in 1284 to St. John's Hospital at Bridgwater. Between Lansallos Church, with its lofty tower (514 ft. above the sea), a well-known seamark, and Talland Church, which is full of rich and beautiful work lies Polperro (Pool of Peter) in a cove at the foot of two high hills. This little place is the southern duplicate of Port Isaac, but its air is milder--less bracing--than that of the grey northern town. The houses cl.u.s.ter thickly at the mouth of a cleft between the hills and the storms are so terrible that although three piers protect the little harbour, heavy baulks of timber have often to be let down into grooves, to break the force of the waves. The Couch family have lived at Polperro during several generations, the father and grandfather of the novelist having been doctors there.

It is said that the first station of the Coastguard Preventive Service was at Polperro, a statement which "gives furiously to think." The welcome Cornwall gave to the Parliamentarian generals must have been genial compared with that extended to the preventive officers.

Coastguards in Cornwall, the home of wreckers and smugglers! No doubt they had an exhilarating time!

TALLAND, KILLIGARTH AND TRELAWNE

There are three houses in this neighbourhood about which stories are told. The manor of Talland formerly belonged to the Morths, and one of this family employed a French servant. Mr. Morth does not seem to have given his servant satisfaction, for the man returned home, and when war broke out "returneth back again with a French crew, surprizeth suddenly his master and his guests at a Xmas supper, and forceth the gentleman to redeem his enlargement with the sale of a great part of his revenues"

(Carew). It is not often that the tables can be so neatly turned.

Killigarth belonged to the Bevilles, and in the sixteenth century, one Sir William going forth from his own house on a winter's day, found under a hedge a certain John Size nearly dead with cold. He took him into his service and found that he had gotten a remarkable sort of servant, for Size "would eat nettles and thistles, coals and candles, birds with their feathers, and fish with their scales. He could handle, unhurt, blazing wood and hot iron, and used to lie asleep with his head curled under his body" (Carew).

The Trelawnys of Trelawne originally came from another place of the same name, further inland. Among the pictures at this house--parts of which are old--is an early one of Elizabeth, interesting on account of the queen's youth.

John Trelawny, father of the celebrated Jonathan, Bishop of Bristol, was committed to the Tower in 1627 by the House of Commons. As he was popular in the county the Cornish were greatly exercised, and it is said that the old ballad sung riotously by his compatriots:

"_And shall Trelawny die?

Here's twenty thousand Cornishmen Will know the reason why--_"

was instrumental in procuring his release. Be that as it may, he was set free by order of the King and shortly after made a baronet. The ballad composed for the misfortunes of the father survived to be made of use when his son, one of the seven bishops who presented the pet.i.tion to James II., was imprisoned and tried for seditious libel by that most worthless of the Stuarts. The verses were subsequently lost, the Rev.

Robert Hawker, always ready to make good any little deficiency of the kind having composed the present version.

THE GIANT'S HEDGE

A model of Bishop Trelawny's pastoral staff, made of gilt wood with ornaments of copper, is preserved in Pelynt Church, where he was buried; but the most interesting thing in this neighbourhood, as well as the most puzzling, is that great earthwork the Giant's Hedge, which, stretching from Lerrin to Looe, a matter of seven miles, pa.s.ses through this parish.

"_One day the devil having nothing to do Built a great hedge from Lerrin to Looe._"