Nooks and Corners of Cornwall Part 17

BLACKWATER AND ILLOGAN

The long western road is approaching the busiest, greyest, and most populous part of the county--the mining district. Camborne and Redruth are the princ.i.p.al towns and in a sense rivals. Each has a school of mining, though Camborne's is now _the_ school of the county and the great mine, the greatest and the oldest of all, Dolcoath--where, in lively contrast with his work of the moment, Raspe wrote "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"--belongs to the former. Before the road reaches either of these towns, however, it pa.s.ses Blackwater, the birthplace of Pa.s.smore Edwards (1823). Though he was a well-known journalist as well as the owner of the Echo newspaper, he is most likely to be remembered as the donor of a large number of philanthropic inst.i.tutions, beginning with the reading room which he built for his native village in 1889.

Not far south-west of Blackwater is Illogan, where the engineer Trevithick made the first steam carriage, known locally as "Cap'n d.i.c.k's Puffer."

REDRUTH AND ST. DAY

A little north of Redruth lies St. Day, of the growth of which Norden, in the sixteenth century, left a charming description. "There was sometime a chappell now decayde, called Trinitye, to which men and women came in times past from far in pilgrimage: the resort was so great, as it made the people of the Countrye bringe all kind of provision to that place; and so long it continued with increase, that it grew to a kind of market and by that means it grew and continued a kind of market to this day, without further charter."

Of Redruth itself there is little to be said. Like so many Cornish towns, it consists of a chief street that is wearisomely long: it had its famous man, Murdock, who first used gas as an illuminant; and the first railway in Cornwall ran from Redruth to Hayle, being opened in 1835. To the east is Carnmarth, 750 ft. high, with a wide view, and on one side the Gwennap Pit, a mine subsidence, in which John Wesley often preached and in which the members of his denomination a.s.semble in their thousands every Whit Monday.

"Why," asked a "foreigner" of a Redruth man, "are the Cornish, and especially the miners, called Cousin Jacks?"

"Spoase Adam gave it out when he named t'other animals."

But Camborne asks the sister town a less civil question. "Who was it crowned the donkey?" And this had its origin in a certain playful disloyalty on the accession of George IV. Cornwall, as it might say of itself, has "never taken much stock in kings." It cropped the ears of Edward IV.'s pursuivant, killed Edward VI.'s commissioner, and crowned a donkey as George IV. Inconsistent county! For the Stuarts it must needs pour out blood like water and impoverish itself for generations!

CARN BREA

Between Redruth and Camborne is the rocky hill of Carn Brea (740 ft.).

It consists of a rugged ma.s.s of granite crowned with huge piles of weathered rocks. In neolithic times it was undoubtedly a military station, large remains of the enclosing walls as well as many hut circles having been found. This hill has three summits, with the remains of an old castle on that towards the east, which castle is mentioned by William of Worcester in 1478. On the central peak is an ugly granite cross erected in 1836 by the county to the memory of their very good friend, Francis, Lord de Dunstanville and Ba.s.set. In one of the hut circles on the top of Carn Brea was found a cooking hearth now in the Truro Museum, whither went many of the old British and Roman coins, stone weapons, and tools, flint and quartzite spear heads, and socketed bronze celts unearthed on the hill. St. Ewny's Well is a romantic spot of repute for sanct.i.ty, while the "Giant's Well" halfway down the hill was said to be bottomless.

CAMBORNE

Camborne Church is interesting for its carvings, those of the animals being comparable with the exquisite heads at Newlyn East. Near the porch is an ancient cross and below the communion table an early altar slab, formerly built into the exterior wall of the transept, but now restored.

It is inscribed "Leviut jusit hec altare pro anima sua."

It is not easy to obtain permission to see more than the surface workings of the venerable Dolcoath, and even for them, in spite of the present-day harem skirt, the dress provided creates some disturbance in the mind of the average woman. She had not thought to see herself wearing the breeches--at least in public!

A WORD IN FAREWELL

Round this wonderfully indented coast, up the winding Tamar, and across the moors! You who have gone with me on this delightful journey, can you think of any county with a greater variety, historical, antiquarian, natural, to offer you for the good and bracing time of a holiday? And if in the years to come you find time to look back and in thought travel over the self-same ground, will you be able to do it without the longing--put into words by the poet who spent so much of his time at Camborne:

"_To sleep and to take my rest, The old sea here at my door, The grey hills there in the West-- What can a man want more?_"

LOWRY.

APPENDIX A

THE GREEN BOOK OF ST. COLUMB

In olden days the parish as distinct from the church was an ent.i.ty with the power not only of appointing a sort of select vestry of twelve (was this number chosen because of the Apostles?) with wardens for the parish, for the poor, for the coffer, and for the pews, but of holding property such as sheep, cattle, and land. It lent money, sometimes at interest, sometimes gratis, it kept ladders, charging for their hire, and, above all, it encouraged Morris dancing and Robin Hood entertainments.

For instance, in 1616, we find in the Green Book, "The young men of the parish wh: played a stage-play, 3_s_. 4_d_."

In the list of parish goods set down in 1585 we have: "Ladder. Five coats for dancers. A Friar's Coat. Twenty-four dancing bells. A streamer of red moccado and locram. Six yards of white woollen cloth."

In most places the Morris dance was part of the pageant of Robin Hood, and that this was the case at St. Columb is shown by the "Friar's Coat."

The bells were worn on a band at the knee, and the streamer or flag was of two materials, no longer known under those names, the moccado resembling coa.r.s.e velvet, and the locram an equally coa.r.s.e linen.

In many parishes a special collection for the "Robin Hood" penny is recorded, and in the Green Book we have:

"Richard Beard oweth to be paid at Lady Day in Lent 10_s_. of Robin Hood's money; Robert Calwye oweth for the same 2_s_. 8_d_."

Hurling also received its due meed of parochial attention. In 1593 is an entry; "John Menheere and wife for a silver ball delivered to Tobye at his instance and upon his word 10_s_." But in those days the ball differed from that now in use inasmuch as it was gilt, and a year later we find that "Tobye" pays the 10_s_. for his "silver ball gilt."

APPENDIX B

ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT

It is a place of historic and prehistoric interest. Here is the well by which

"_Jack the valiant Cornishman Did slay the giant Cormoran._"

Jack being the Cornish variant of the better known Peredur of Wales and Ian MacAnnheil of Ireland.

Here, too, are the "Giants' Graves" which cover the victims of Jack's valour; and on the beach at the foot of the hill is the Chapel Rock, whereon once stood an oratory of which Leland speaks as "a little chapel yn the sande nere by the towne toward the Mount," and where it is said the pilgrims were wont to halt before making the ascent. But the Chapel Rock has a legend older than those connected with the building which once stood upon it. Cormoran having already carried off the top of the neighbouring hill of Trencrom to make the Mount itself, was in want of further stones wherewith to build his castle, and sent his wife to fetch them. She thinking any stone would do as well, fetched this from the nearer hill of Ludgvan-Lees. Angry at her conduct, the monster slew her with his mighty foot, and the great rock, rolling from her ap.r.o.n, fell where we now see it--a silent witness to the lady's strength and to the truth of the narrative.

St. Keyne is said to have conferred on St. Michael's Chair the power of giving to that one of a married couple who first sits therein domestic mastery; such as can also be obtained by drinking from her more celebrated well near Liskeard. Curiously enough, legend and name have been transferred from the real chair of St. Michael on the western side of the hill to the ruined lanthorn of moorstone on the chapel tower, the lanthorn which in olden days was probably used as a lighthouse, as the grooves for the sheltering horn or gla.s.s can still be seen.

The little old church has a beautiful rose window at the east, and a yet more beautiful one let into the western wall; this latter was until recently hidden by the organ pipes. Some interesting alabaster bas-reliefs are also to be seen. The roof timbers of the refectory are very old, but the carving on them is modern, and the frieze Elizabethan.

The place contains many interesting curios such as the clock from G.o.dolphin House, a Jacobean bed, the Glas...o...b..ry chair, and a pair of silver candlesticks in which the p.r.i.c.kets have given place to sockets, and which Lord St. Levan believes to be unique.

These details have been taken from a paper on St. Michael's Mount by Mr.

Thurstan Peter.