Part 26 (1/2)

Est locus Abrini sinuoso littore ponti, Rupe situs media, refluus quern circuit aestus.

Fulminat hic late, turrito vertice Castrum, Nomine Tindagium, veteres dixere Corini.

Which import in English:

There is a place within the wind- ing sh.o.r.e of Seuerne sea, On mids of rock, about whose foote, The tydes turne-keeping play: A towry-topped Castle heere, wide blazeth ouer all, Which Corineus auncient broode, Tindagel Castle call.

It is not layd vp amongst the least vaunts of this Castle, that our victorious Arthur was here begotten by the valiant Vter Pendragon, vpon the fayre Igerna, and [122] that without taynt of b.a.s.t.a.r.dy, sayth Merlyn, because her husband dyed some houres before.

Of later times, Tintogel hath kept long silence in our stories, vntill H. the 3. raigne, at which time (by Mat. Paris report) his brother, Earle Ri grew into obloquy for priuy receyuing there, & abbetting, his nephew Dauid, against the King. After which, being turned from a Palace [8 .R. 2.] to a prison, it restrained one Iohn Northamptons libertie, who for abusing the same, in his vnruly Maioralty of London, was condemned hither, as a perpetuall Penitenciary. A see of ancienty belonging to this Castle, was cancelled as vnnecessary, by the late L.

Treasurer Burleigh.

One collecting the wonders of Cornwall, rimed touching this, as followeth:

Tintogel in his ruines vauntes, Sometimes the seate of Kings, And place which worthy Arthur bred, Whose prayse the Breton sings, A bridge these buildings ioynd, whom now The fallen clifs diuorce, Yet strength'ned so, the more it scornes, Foes vayne attempting force.

There, caue aboue, entrie admits, But thorowfare denies; Where that beneath alloweth both, In safe, but ghastly wise.

A Spring there wets his head, his foote A gate of Iron gardes: There measure due to eche ones length, The Hermits graue awards.

IN the mids of the wilde moores of this Hundred, far [122] from any dwelling or riuer, there lyeth a great standing water, called Dosmery poole, about a mile or better in compa.s.se, fed by no perceyued spring, neither hauing any auoydance, vntill (of late) certaine Tynners brought an Audit therefrom. The countrey people held many strange conceits of this poole; as, that it did ebbe & flow, that it had a whirle-poole in the midst thereof, and, that a f.a.got once throwne thereinto, was taken vp at Foy hauen, 6. miles distant. Wherefore, to try what truth rested in these reports, some Gent, dwelling not farre off, caused a boate and nets to be carried thither ouer land. Fish, they caught none, saue a fewe Eeles vpon hookes: the poole prooued no where past a fathome and halfe deepe, and for a great way very shallow. Touching the opinion of ebbing and flowing, it should seeme to bee grounded, partly vpon the increase, which the raine floods brought thereinto from the bordering hils (which perhaps gaue also the name; for Doz, is, come, and maur, great) and the decrease, occasioned by the next drowth, and partly, for that the windes doe driue the waues to and fro, vpon those sandie bankes: and thus the miracle of Dosmery poole deceased. Of this other wonder hee sayd,

Dosmery poole amid the moores, On top stands of a hill, More then a mile about, no streames It empt, nor any fill.

Camelford, a market and Fayre (but not faire) towne fetcheth his deriuation from the riuer Camel, which runneth thorow it, and that, from the Cornish word Cam, in English, crooked, as Cam, from the often winding stream. The same is incorporated with a Maioralty, & nameth Burgesses to the Parliament, yet steppeth little before the [123] meanest sort of Boroughs, for store of Inhabitants, or the Inhabitants store.

Vpon the riuer of Camel, neere to Camelford [525.], was that last dismal battel strooken betweene the n.o.ble king Arthur, and his treacherous nephew Mordred, wherein the one took his death, and the other his deaths wound. For testimony whereof, the olde folke thereabouts will shew you a stone, bearing Arthurs name, though now depraued to Atry.

Master Camden letteth vs vnderstand, that this towne is sometimes termed Gaffelford: wherethrough we may marke it for the lists of a great fight betweene the Bretons & Deuons.h.i.+re men [812.], which Houeden a.s.signeth to haue bene darrayned at Gauelford, and perhaps the same, which the said Master Camden voucheth out of Maria.n.u.s Scotus [820.], and describeth by these verses of an elder Poet:

------------ Naturam Cambala fontis, Mutatam stupet esse sui, transcendit inundans Sanguineus torrens ripas, & ducit in aequor Corpora caesorum, plures natare videres, Et petere auxilium, quos vndis vita reliquit.

The riuer Camel wonders, that His fountaines nature showes So strange a change, the b.l.o.o.d.y streame Vpswelling ouerflowes His both side banks, and to the sea The slaughtered bodies beares: Full many swimme, and sue for ayde, While waue their life outweares.

In our forefathers daies, when deuotion as much exceeded knowledge, as knowledge now commeth short of devotion, there were many bowssening places, for curing of mad men, and amongst the rest, one at Alternunne in this Hundred, called S. Nunnes poole, which Saints Altar (it may be) by pars pro toto, gaue name to the Church: and because the maner of this bowssening is not so vnpleasing to heare, as it was vneasie to feele, I wil (if you please) deliuer you the practise, as I receyued it from the beholders.

The water running from S. Nunnes well, fell into a square and close walled plot, which might bee filled at what depth they listed.

Vpon this wall was the franticke person set to stand, his backe towards the poole, and from thence with a sudden blow in the brest, tumbled headlong into the pond: where a strong fellowe, provided for the nonce, tooke him, and tossed him vp and downe, alongst and athwart the water, vntill the patient, by forgoing his strength, had somewhat forgot his fury. Then was hee conueyed to the Church, and certaine Ma.s.ses sung ouer him; vpon which handling, if his right wits returned, S. Nunne had the thanks: but if there appeared small amendment, he was bowssened againe, and againe, while there remayned in him any hope of life, for recouery.

It may be, this deuice tooke original from that master of Bedlem, who (the fable saith) vsed to cure his patients of that impatience, by keeping them bound in pooles, vp to the middle, and so more or lesse, after the fit of their fury.

[124]

Trigge Hundred.

THe name of Trig, in Cornish, signifieth an Inhabitant; howbeit, this Hundred cannot vaunt any ouer-large scope, or extraordinary plenty of dwellings: his chiefe towne is Bodmyn; in Cornish, Bos venna, commonly termed Bodman, which (by illusion, if not Etimology) a man might, not vnaptly, turne into Badham: for of all the townes in Cornwall, I holde none more healthfully seated, then Saltash, or more contagiously, then this. It consisteth wholly (in a maner) of one street, leading East and West, welneere the s.p.a.ce of an Easterne mile, whose South side is hidden from the Sunne, by an high hill, so neerely coasting it in most places, as neither can light haue entrance to their staires, nor open ayre to their other roomes.

Their back houses, of more necessary, then cleanly seruice, as kitchins, stables, &c. are clymed vp vnto by steps, and their filth by euery great showre, washed downe thorow their houses into the streetes.

The other side is also ouerlooked by a great hill, though somewhat farther distant: and for a Corollarium, their Conduit water runneth thorow the Churchyard, the ordinary place of buriall, for towne and parish. It breedeth therefore little cause of maruaile, that euery generall infection is here first admitted, & last excluded: yet the many decayed houses, proue the towne to haue bene once very populous; and, in that respect, it may stil retaine the precedence, as supported by a weekly market, the greatest of Cornwall, the quarter Sessions for the East diuision, and halfe yeerely faires. The iurisdiction thereof is administred by a Maior and his brethren, and vpon warrant of their Charter, they claime authoritie, to take acknowledgment of statute bonds.

In former times, the Bishop of Cornwall (as I haue elsewhere related) held his See at S. Petroos, in this towne, vntill the Danish pirats, firing their Palace, [981.] forced them to remoue the same, with their residence, vnto S. Germans. They were succeeded by a Priory, and Friery; which later, serued a while as a house of correction, for the s.h.i.+re, but with greater charge, then benefit, or continuance.

For other accidents, I find, that Perkyn Warbecke, [11.H.7.] after his landing in the West parts of Cornwall, made this towne the Rendez vous of his a.s.sembling forces, for atchieuing his, alike deseruing, and speeding enterprise against King Henry the seuenth.