Category: Cornwall - Meandering Through Time

Sir Humphry Davy

26/3/2020

The death of Sir Humphry Davy in Geneva, Switzerland, on 29 May 1829

One of Cornwall's famous sons, Sir Humphry Davy was born in Penzance in 1778. Davy was later educated in the Cornwall's county town of Truro and this was followed by an apprenticeship to a Penzance surgeon. In 1797, Davy took up chemistry and was taken on as an assistant at the Medical Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. It was here he experimented with various new gases by inhaling them which nearly cost him his life on more than one occasion, eventually though, this experimentation led to the discovery of the anesthetic effect of what we know as laughing gas.

In 1815, George Stephenson, from Newcastle, claimed he was the inventor of a safety lamp for the use in coal mines but it is Davy who is credited with the invention. This lamp allowed coal to be mined from deep coal seams reducing the dangers of explosions from methane gas. The lamp, consisted of a wick with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen, Davy discovered that if the mesh was fine enough, it would not ignite the methane.

Norman Lords in Cornwall

14/9/2018

Penhallam Manor Cornwall

What remains of the once impressive Penhallam Manor can be found in the North of Cornwall not too far from Cornwall’s border with Devon and a few miles north of the villages of Weeks St Mary’s and Jacobstow. Its walls, which are still clearly visible, are at ground level and covered in grass. On a visit last year I found the surrounding thick woodland in full bloom, making it very easy for me to visualise how the manor once had been. The remains of the manors moat is still visible, albeit dried and the only safe access is at the designated entrance which was, in fact, the drawbridge.

Once within the manor walls we find each room is clearly seen and marked, what will help is some knowledge of how a medieval manor was built and run that will make all the difference, because it really appears as a lot of square, grass covered clumps. Now cared for by English Heritage the site is well maintained but is off the beaten track and a good twenty minute walk is needed to get there.

The Manor, excavated in 1968 and again in 1973, was built of stone and constructed on four sides of a courtyard and probably built between the 12th and 13th centuries on the site of its original Norman structure. This original building, the Camera, was a suite of rooms or a single room was used by family members or an important guest. This structure was built between 1180 and 1200 with additions to the buildings were added by 1224. The remains we see today were built when the last male owner of the house inherited it between 1224 and 1236. The final addition appeared around 1300. The house at its completion contained a camera, hall, service rooms, chapel, lodgings and a gatehouse. It was abandoned by the 14th century its stones taken from the site and probably used in constructions elsewhere. This manor house was the principle residence of the Cardinham family whose progenitor held this land under the king soon after the conquest of England, they were also one of the largest owners of land in the county of Cornwall. Penhallam, for a brief time, was where the power lay.

My initial interest was not with Penhallam itself but with another pre conquest manor known as Hele which, along with Penhallam and Poulza made up what is now the aforementioned Parish of Jacobstow. Before the conquest of England the land of Hele was owned by Colo who also held the manors of Week St Mary’s. Both Hele and Week St Mary’s were held by my direct ancestors from the middle of the 13th century. My ancestors marriage between the female heir of Weeks St Marys and male heir of Hele links my family with that of the manor of Penhallam, although not linked by blood my ancestors would have been directly involved with the family that held the manor. Unlike Penhallam the home of my ancient family at Week St Mary’s and Hele was probably a timber structure of which there are no remains, this and their land were lost simply due to the lack of male heir.

At the time of Edward the Confessor the people of Cornwall lived a more or less quite life in small settlements and their living earned from land and the sea, they had little or no knowledge of what was going on in the rest of the county let alone England itself. By 1068 the town of Exeter was in the hands of the Conqueror, the people of that city had not given up without a fight and neither had the inhabitants of Cornwall but by at least 1072 William I had total control of England and Cornwall. William held a number of manors in Cornwall himself such as the Manor of Brannel in the south of the county which incidentally becomes the property of the descendants of my family at Week St Mary’s by early in the 13th century. On the whole most of Cornwall was held by the conquerors half brother, Robert, Count of Mortain. Under Mortain in the north of Cornwall there were three other powerful men. Turstin the second most powerful man under Mortain who was Sheriff of Cornwall, Richard Fitz Turold, who was his steward, and Reginald de Vallatort.

It is Richard fitz Turold who we are interested in in connection with Penhallam. It is probable that fitz Turolds father was in Mortains entourage and was said to have been in command of the troops that secured Cornwall and was for this reason he was rewarded with Penhallam. It is probable that he built the foundations and moat which circled the later building. By 1087 Richard Fitz Turold succeeded his father at Penhallam still holding it under the family of Mortain. Due to the exploits of Mortains son and the loss of his the families lands Richard Fitz Turold was given Penhallam which he held directly from the king thus setting the family on the road to being one of the most powerful family in Cornwall.

Richard Fitz Turold son William received from his father the manor of Penhallam along with twenty seven other manors that made up the great Honour of Cardinham. Richard’s greatest achievement was the amassing of power and lands and William’s was getting his family through the doors into the royal court, albeit by the back door. William married his daughter to Reginald, Earl of Cornwall who was son of Henry I and his mistress Sibyl Corbett. By 1166 the manor had passed to Robert fitz William who held a vast amount of land in his own right, the manor of Bodardle and parts of the manor of Restomal all of which were the lands of the above named Tursin whose family had become extinct on the death of Walter Hay, who was Roberts brother in law. On his death Robert held these lands through that of his wife. It is more than likely that Robert built the stone keep at Restormal Castle.

Roberts son, also Robert was the first to use the name of Cardinham which was how the family were later known. Probably Robert built most of the house but it was his son Andrew de Cardinham who built the hall and western parts of the house. Andrew is named in a charter to the priory of St Michael’s Mount which was dated c 1223. Andrew had no sons to carry on the line of his ancestor Turold who conquered Cornwall for his Norman lords and when his nephew died so did the male line of Cardinham. Andrew did leave a daughter, Isolde. She had married into the de Tracy family but by him had no children. She later married William de Ferrers and had two sons. On the death of Andrew de Cardinham Isolde became a wealthy heiress and seems that she held her lands and had control of them herself , whether this was due to her being widowed for the second time or that she was in fact an independent and strong willed woman I don't know. Eventually the lands that had been in her family for nearly two hundred years passed into the Champernowne family. The exact relationship of the Champernowne family to the Cardinhams is not known but there would have been some family connection, there may have been some family ‘in fighting’ among the Cardinhams that caused Isolde to gift the land else where but even so it is unlikely that the lands of Isoldes ancestors would have passed out of the family into the hands of complete strangers. After Isoldes death and the transference of Penhallam to the Champernowne it is not known who exactly lived there. The Champernownes were tenants in chief directly under the king and who held much land in Devon so it would be more than likely that Penhallam was held by a Cornish family under them. It is known that the manor was held by the Beaupre family for a considerable time and they may have lived there but by mid 14th century the Cardinhams, Champernownes and Beaupres were extinct their blood intermingled with that of the wealthy land owning Cornishmen who once were their vassals.

And of Penhallam, that too as we have seen is gone, it is now a protected and cared for ruin, a shell of what it once was. Even today, as mentioned in the first chapter, its remains are a good distance form ‘civilisation’ so its is fair to say that this may have been the reason that it fell into decay.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

14/6/2018

I discovered quite recently that the building of the Clifton Suspension Bridge book-ended Isambard Kingdom Brunel's career in engineering.

Work on this fantastic bridge started in 1831, but was suspended due to the Bristol Riots and was completed in 1864, five years after Brunel's death.

The design of the bridge was originally submitted among other in a competition, all entries were rejected, however, it was in a second competition that Brunel's entry won.

Interestingly, Robert Stephenson's famous Rocket, manufacture in 1829 was also a winner in a competition.

"Robert Stephenson and Company at Newcastle’s Forth Street Works, close to today’s Newcastle Central railway station, Rocket won the famous Rainhill Trials the same year to become the fastest locomotive ever built up to that point. The Rainhill Trails were a major public competition held in October 1829 by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world’s first main-line railway, to find a new, more efficient form of locomotion.

When Rocket’s turn came it completed the trials at an average speed of 15 miles per hour. It later made celebratory runs in front of the crowds at Rainhill that set a world speed record of 35 miles per hour, three times Rocket’s design speed.

In his attempt to win the prize of £500 (worth approximately £50,000 today) the 25-year-old Robert Stephenson combined several innovations with his new locomotive Rocket to improve efficiency and performance. As Rocket was built as a prototype, the production models made soon after were more refined. But Rocket had already secured its place in history: the basic design was ground-breaking and paved the way for subsequent main-line steam locomotive design."

Medieval Quilting

28/5/2018

One of my favourite tales of Middle Ages is that of Tristan and Isolde, the doomed love affair between the Cornish knight Tristan and his Irish princess Isolde, which incidentally, the Arthurian legend of Guinevere and Lancelot is thought to be based on.

The couples tale is represented on this quilted bed cover, and is made up of fourteen different scenes from their story. There are two sections of the quilt, one at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the other in the Bargello in Florence. There is a third piece, but this is held by a private owner.

All three Tristan Quilts are the only known surviving examples of medieval quilts.

Battle of Statton

15/5/2018

The Cornish town of Stratton, that lies close to the boarder with Devon, was a manor owned by my ancestors in the early 12th century, its history, and theirs is quite fascinating. Stratton was the head of its hundred (a division of the county for judicial purposes) which is a good indicator of its importance in the north of Cornwall. It had a thriving agricultural and leather trade.

By the 17th century there was little to show that my ancestors ever lived there, however on the 16th May 1643, a civil war battle, the Battle of Stratton, took place at the base of Stamford Hill, less than a mile north of the family's castle.

The battle raged for most of the day, but by the end of it Henry Grey, Earl of Stamford, had lost half of his forces enabling the Cornish Royalist army to march across the border from Cornwall to Devon. It was a Royalist victory, and a quite remarkable one considering the three thousand Royalist troops, under Sir Ralph Hopton, faced Grey's Parliamentarian army that numbered over five and a half thousand.

By July, Hopton had lead his forces in two more battles, one at Crediton and one at Landsdowne, where Hopton was injured. A year later he successfully defended Devizes from an attack by William Waller's forces and two years after that he had taken up a defensive position in the Devon town ofTorrington, a battle that marked the end of Royalist resistance in the West Country.

Henry Grey, Earl of Stamford

Sir Ralph Hopton

Henry Grey's failure at Stratton and the surrender of the City of Exeter after a three month siege effectively ended his career as a Parliamentary commander.

Hal an tow and the Furry Dance

7/5/2018

The 8th of May in Cornwall: Hal an tow and the Furry Dance - One big party but two pagan festivals.

The Furry Dance, which is also known as The Flora or Floral Dance, takes place in Helston on or around May 8th every year. Pre Christian in origin, it is a celebration of spring, and one of the oldest British customs still in performed.

On this day much dancing takes place, with children dancing hand in hand up and down the Cornish streets but it is the midday dance is perhaps the best known: it was traditionally the dance of the gentry in the town, and today men wear top hats and tails while women wear pretty spring dresses.

On the same day, the Hal an tow event takes place, it is a pageant that takes the form of roaming mystery play with historical and mythical themes that represent good versus evil, such as George and the Dragon, as seen here. This event is also based on the seasons but it is quite distinct from the Furry dance.

This festival was suppressed in the nineteenth century owing to the over exuberance of merrymakers and later became associated with drunkenness. The Hal an tow was revived by the Helston Old Cornwall Society in the 1930's and has since merged with the Furry Dance celebrations as one festival.

The Conception of King Arthur

6/11/2017

This rather amusing scene depicts Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. Looking over its ramparts is a very angry Ingraine, the wife of Gwrlais the Duke of Cornwall.

In the illustration there is trickery afoot, Merlin has used his magic to aid Uther Pendragon's entry into the castle. Pendragon has had his eye on the beautiful Ingraine for ages and had every intention of having his wicked way with her!

Poor Ingraine has realised that Merlin has changed Pendragon's appearance and has enabled him to take the form of Gwrlais. When Ingraine sleeps with her husband that night she is in fact really being ravaged by Uther Pendragon - the cad!

Ingraine becomes pregnant and later the legendary King Arthur is born.

Fire at the Falmers Arms St Columb Minor Cornwall

12/10/2017

Just over a hundred years ago in the small Cornish village of St Columb Minor, the villages thatched public house caught on fire, not unusual for buildings of this sort, but what was unusual was what occurred after the fire was out.

The public house, the Farmers Arms, caught fire on the 10th of this month in 1913 the cause of which was a firework. Two fire brigades arrived, one from Newquay, who arrived first wearing brand new uniforms and one brigade from St Columb Major, both brigades work together but sadly the fire destroyed the inn. Once the fire was out a 'water fight' between the two fire brigades began. The fight was over the use of the single hydrant which stood near the inn. The hydrant had two hose connectors and the Newquay brigade, who had arrived on the scene forty minutes before St Columb Major had attached their hoses to both connectors. St Columb Major fire brigade, who considered themselves the superior force, were extremely angry that they had to use water from the local pond to help put the fire out turned their hoses on 'rival' brigade.

The fight lasted only a quarter of an hour but Newquay’s new uniforms were ruined and both brigades returned home to find later that the incident had been relaid to a national magazine and the rest of the country were reading all about them.

The English Civil War

23/9/2017

In the book 1066 and All That, a humorous and satirical look at history, it states that the English Civil Wars were fought between the Cavaliers (Wrong but Wromantic) and the Roundheads (Right but Repulsive) and that Charles I thought that

"He was king and that was right, kings were divine and that was right, kings were right,
and that was right, and therefore everything was alright"

We may find the ideas of Divine Right ludicrous and amusing today, but what must be remembered is the cost of it to our ancestors.

The English Civil Wars put family against family and father against son and no better example of this is William Frederick Yeames's painting where a little boy in a royalist household is being spoken to by parliamentarians who ask the question "And When Did You Last See Your Father" which quite naturally puts the child in a difficult position and his family in a dangerous one.
While researching my 17th century Cornish ancestors I wondered if any of them found themselves in this position, for many were loyal to their king - however a few were not, I have discovered it certainly placed friend against friend. Sir Bevill Grenville of Stowe in Cornwall was a Royalist whose allegiances were torn when his friend St John Eliot of St Germans was incarcerated, on more than one occasion, in the Tower of London for his views on parliamentary rights. Eliot eventually died in the Tower and King Charles refused his son permission to bury his father in his homeland cruelly stating

"Let Sir John Eliot be buried in the church of that parish where he died."

These men were dealing directly with the fall out of King Charles I's ideas of the Divine Right of Kings and his attempt to enforce it in the wars that raged between 1642 and 1651. These wars resulted in the loss of over eighty thousand lives plus the hundreds of thousands who died from war related diseases, ultimately though King Charles I would be held responsible and he would pay with his life.

My research into this period is presently focusing on my family in the years 1636 to 1646, this family lived in the Cornish village of St Columb Major. You can see some of the architecture from that period in two of the images below.

In 1641 the marriage of my ancestor took place just five days before parliament passed the Triennial Act, an Act that was drawn up to prevent kings from ruling without Parliament, and in 1645 Royalist troops, under Sir Thomas Fairfax, camped just outside St Columb Major.

The Battle Dyrham

5/7/2017

The Battle Dyrham in Gloucestershire in 577 severed the tie between the Britons of Wales and their sister tribes of Devon with the effect of allying the county with Cornwall. Just over one hundred years later, after the arrival of the Saxons, what remained of unconquered Devon would become part of Cornwall.

When the Saxon’s arrived the lives of the West Country people were turned upside down, no longer could they live their ‘clan’ existence but they had to conform to a new way of living, to the system of cultivation in the open field, areas split into our equivalent of allotments being one of them. In the year, 614 the Saxon's first attack met the people of Devon at Bindon, near Axemouth. Slinging stone have been found at the hill fort of Hawkesdown, this suggests that the Britons had the advantage. Despite this, the people of Devon were defeated enabling their enemy to take over the land of the Axe and Coly Valleys.

In 682, the Saxon king Centwine made another attack to the north of Dartmoor, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle tells us that "Centwine drove the Britons to the sea".