Into men’s houses fierce he breakes,
And on each stop his rage he wreakes.
Shepheard adiews his swymming flocke,
The hinde his whelmed harvest hope.
The strongest rampire fears his shocke,
Plaines scarce can serve to give him scope,
Nor hills a barre, whereso he strayeth
Ensue loss, terrour, mine, death.
The Lynher Creek, about four miles below Natter bridge, joins Saint German’s Creek, made by the River Tidi, which has its rise on the South side of Caradon Hill, near Liskerd, where there is a place called Tidicomb, another Tidewell; and after dividing Quethiok parish from Minheneth, it enters the parish of St. German near Molinic, and about two miles lower becomes navigable at a place called Tidiford, (or the first ford on the Tidi) about two miles lower, it washes the sides of the antient borough and formerly Episcopal See of St. German, whence the Creek below is called St. German’s Creek; and joining the Lynher, they both together proceed into the Tamar.
Seaton is the next River: it rises in Saint Clare, about four miles to the North-East of Liskerd; and parting within a mile of that borough to a place thence called Lanseaton, goes through Minheneth parish, and dividing St. German’s on the East from Morval, and Saint Martin’s on the Western bank, falls into the Sea at Seaton, after a course of about twelve miles. The antient town, which probably gave name to this water, must have lain at its mouth, or opening
into the Sea; but there are no remains to be seen : the town therefore has probably been swallowed up by the encroachments of the Sea, which in this place have been very considerable, if we may regard the tradition of the neighbourhood. Loo, or East Loo ,has its rise also in the highlands of St. Clare; and parting under Liskerd park, divides Keyne parish from Liskerd, then Morval from Dulo ; and becoming navigable at Sand-place, empties itself, about three miles after, between two little boroughs, which have their names, East Loo and West Loo, from the River, as the River has its name from the large Pool, which it makes every full tide, between the two towns. Its whole course is about ten miles. Here is a stone bridge of fifteen arches', one hundred and forty-one yards long, and six feet three inches wide betwixt the walls. Here is a stone bridge of 15 arches': below this bridge is the Creek, which, thro’ a narrow gut, admits the tide, and with it small barks. One mile below Sand-place, the Loo is joined by another stream Dulo, or from the West, called Dulo; that is, the Black Loo, or Water \ west loo river The district through which it mostly runs, is called Dulo, or Duloo parish, as ’tis reasonable to conjecture, from some apparent darkness in colour sufficient to distinguish it from the adjoining stream of East Loo, whose whole course is at a medium not two miles distant. This water rises in the parish of St. Pinok, and coasting nearly South, becomes navigable at Trelaun wear, about two miles from the Sea; a mile after it joins the East Loo, and they both pass the stone bridge above mentioned into Loo Creek; its whole course being about seven miles.
Fawy rises in Fawy moor , at a place called Fawy "Well, in the Fawy River, parish of Altarnun, not far from Brownwilly, one of the highest mountains in Cornwall'. The higher part of this River is also called Draines, and the first bridge upon it is by Leland “ called Draines Bridge; after which parting three other bridges ', and having taken into its stream the Rivulets of St. Neot’s, Warlegan, and Cardinham parishes, it comes to Resprin, alias Laprin Bridge,
whence, in about three miles, it reaches the borough of Lostwythyel, where it passes a fair stone bridge of nine arches, of which the water at present only useth three. In former ages the sea ebbed and flowed above this town , and Camden says brought up vessels of good burthen : at present loaden barges scarce come within a mile of it. In three miles more the Fawy, having taken Pellyn Brook from the West, receives the water of Leryn River and Creek from the East, and becomes thence a deep and wide Haven : in two miles more it reaches the town and borough of Fawy on the western bank; and a little below, being joined by Polruan creek and brook from the East, opens into the Sea, after a run of twenty-six miles, betwixt two old towers (built in the reign of Edward IV .) from which there formerly stretched a chain for the defence of the harbour. This is thought the largest body of fresh water, except the Tamar, in all this county.
NATURAL HISTORY
The next navigable stream is the Fal, which rises at a place called Fenton Val, (that is, the source of Fal) about two miles West of Roche Hills, and running about eight miles to the South, may be called a plentiful stream at the borough of Granpont, where it passes under a stone bridge that gave the present name to this borough, but has nothing else remarkable. About a mile below this bridge the River was formerly navigable, at least for boats; but is
now deprived of that great advantage; in three miles farther, it reaches the borough and bridge of Tregeny. To this place in the last century the design of making the River Fal navigable by sluices up to Granpont was nearly completed by one Colonel Trevanion; but this attempt, so much for the benefit of the adjacent country, had no consequence but what should be mentioned with concern; I mean, that of exhausting the private purse of this public spirited Gentleman. A mile below Tregeny Bridge the waters begin to spread, and assisted by the tide, and many little brooks on either hand, forms a Creek, about three miles long, called Lamoran Creek. Here, having washed the Southern side of the lands and park of Tregothnan, seat of the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Falmouth, it is joined by Truro Creek, a noble body of water to which the Rivers of Kenwyn and Saint Allen give the first rise, and meeting at the borough of Truro, make with the tide a navigable chanel for ships of 1oo ton burthen to come up to the town Kaye. From Truro, after making a small Creek to the West, in two miles it joins St. Clement’s Creek, which is navigable for barges, three miles to the East, as far as Tresilien Bridge. Truro Creek and St. Clement’s at their meeting make Morpas Rode, and proceeding about a mile farther, meet the Fal at the mouth of Lamoran Creek, whence
they all together, under the name of Fal, in two miles more reach the principal branch of Falmouth Harbour, called Carreg Rode; hither flows from the Westward Tretheag River, and with some other Brooks from the North form Restronget Creek . Melor, or Milor Creek is next; small, but sheltered ': then comes the great Creek, or rather Harbour, called King’s-Rode, which has Flushing to the East, and the populous town of Falmouth to the West, and is navigable two miles up to the borough and port of Penryn, whither ships of 100 ton and somewhat more may come up. A little below this last-mentioned town, on each side of the Creek, there was a jutty head, and, to guard the gap between, there was a chain in the time of Leland ; but such unwieldy defences are become in a manner needless, since the improvements of naval architecture have so much advanced the Royal Navy. The Creeks on the Eastern bank of this harbour are the little Creek of Saint Just, and the irregularly wandering one of St. Maudit's; and all these branches being united in Carreg Rode, as the stem and trunk, (four miles long, above a mile wide, and fourteen fathom deep) the Fal runs into the Sea betwixt Pendinas Castle on the Western bank, and Saint Maudit’s and Anthony Point on the East: the opening here into the Ocean is near a mile wide, deep chanel, but near the middle a large rock , most dangerous when the water is most deep; for then it is hid. To remedy in some measure this danger, the heirs of Killigrew, Lords of Pendinas Castle, (which guards this entrance) are obliged to keep a tall pole fixed on the highest part of the rock. Not with standing this inconveniency, the harbour of Falmouth must be reckoned among the most secure and capacious harbours belonging to the crown of Great Britain. Leland' calls it “ a very notable and famous, and in a manner the principal haven of all Britain.” Camden equals it to Brundusium, in Italy; and Carew, Camden, and Speed, agree, that a hundred sail of ships may anchor in it, and no one see the other’s top . Hamoze Harbour, at the mouth of Tamar, is reckoned to be better set off with prospects of seats, towns, and gently declining shores, and has a greater space of deep water for the Royal Navy ; but Falmouth has a bolder shore, is better secured with hills and winding creeks for trading vessels, and its situation more convenient for getting clear of the chanel: in short, yielding only to Milford Haven on the coast of Wales, it is generally reckoned the second harbour of Great Britain.
This River is called Hel, and the first ford over it Helford \ hel or Heyl The head of it lies upon the hills of Wendron parish, near Penhal Kerrier.'” Guy (i. e. water coming from the head of the hill) whence it runs, in about three miles, to a village called Guyk , whither, by help of the tide, barks come up. A mile farther down the Hel is joined by Maugan Creek on the South, and three miles farther by Kestel or Helford Creek, where there is a passing boat, and at its mouth, three miles farther, by Gillan Creek. On the North it has first Polpenrith, alias Polpere, and Polwevorel Creeks, running up towards Constantine Church ; and a mile farther down, Chielow,
alias Calmansake Creek (Leland III. 13).’ This haven, within a mile of it’s mouth, is secure enough for ships of 200 ton; and at it’s passage into the sea, is about a mile wide.
Lo, or Low
This River rifes in the highest Northern part of Wendron parish, river in whence, in about five miles, it reaches the borough of Helston; ’ about a mile below which it forms a Lake, called the Lo Pool; the River giving rise to the Lake, and the Lake, as the most remarkable part of the Water, giving name to the River Hayl River, Four brooks give rise to this River , and uniting at Relubbas in Penwith. from a Western Course, turn to the North, and in three miles
reach St. Erth, alias St. Ercy Bridge, of three stone Arches, and a raised Causey well walled on each side, reaching cross the valley. The Bridge has been built somewhat more than 400 years, before which time there was a ferry here, and ships of great burden came up to it. The valley, above bridge, has been much raised by the sands and earth, washed down from the hills and mines ; and the haven below has suffered the same misfortune, from the sands of
the Northern sea ; so that lighters only come within a bow-shot of the bridge ; and that with the tide of flood, which at spring tides flows near a mile above the bridge. Here the land of Cornwall, is at it’s narrowest dimension; so that from the full sea mark of Heyl on the North Sea, to the full Sea-mark at Marazion in Mount’s Bay on the South Sea, the distance is but three miles. From St. Erth the Heyl bears directly North, spreading an area of sand, of half a mile wide at a medium, and two miles long, but navigable only in the chanel of the River, which admits small ships a mile inwards from the sea under the village of Lannant. Near it’s mouth the Heyl is joined by a brook from the East, which, under the Parochial Church of Philac, makes a branch of this haven for ships of 100 tons. The Sea has not only almost filled this small harbour with sand, but forms a bar also at it’s mouth, over which ships of 80 and 100 ton only can come in at the height of a spring tide; and the bed of the whole is so raised, that it admits the tide in it only six hours in twelve ; so that whereas, in harbours open to the sea, the tide flows six hours, and ebbs six hours : here ’tis
otherwise; the tide has flowed three hours before it can enter Heyl, and it ebbs three hours in the open Sea after the tide has quite disappeared in Heyl: ’tis therefore but a half-tide haven: yet, not withstanding this, ’tis a place of considerable trade for iron, Bristol wares, but more especially Welsh coal, for which at present there is such a demand for fire-engines, melting-houses, and the home consumption of a populous neighbourhood, that usually there are above five hundred, oftentimes a thousand horses, which come to carry off coals, for some purpose or other, six days in the week. The fire-engines, which take off the greatest quantity of coal from this harbour, are still increasing in number, and the trade here must proportionably advance. Ganal Creek * runs up into the land from the North or Severn Sea, as it is sometimes called, about two miles, where it meets the creek , which rises in the parish of Newlan, near Trerice, the paternal seat of Lord Arundel of Trerice. This water was more considerable formerly, but, like our other little havens on the North Sea, has suffered much from the plenty of Sea-sand, with which the
North Channel so much abounds, that every storm from the West and North throws it in more or less upon the creeks and havens, and in many places upon the hills. At the mouth of the Ganal stands a little village, called Carantoc, from the Saint to whom the parish Church is dedicated. Tradition says, that it was antiently a large town, and very probably it was so, the religious house here being the residence of a Dean and nine Prebends. Sloops of thirty
tons only can frequent this Creek.
We proceed next to the greatest River on the North of Cornwall, River Alan, at present commonly called the Camel (that is, the crooked River), from the many turnings in its course, especially from the sharp angle it makes near Bodman, where, from a South South West course of twelve miles or more, it bears for the Sea North North West. It was also called in Leland’s time' Dunmere; that is, the Water of the Hills; and the bridge over it, near Bodman, is still called Dunmere Bridge. It was also “ called Cablan in some histories;” but this is only a contraction of Cabm Alan, that is, the crooked Alan; (not Camblan, as in Camden “,) the b being inserted before the m by the Cornish idiom 1; for Alan is indeed the proper name *. This River rises about two miles North of the borough of Camelford, where its banks are famous for two considerable battles; the first in which King Arthur received his mortal wound: thus recorded
by the Poet :
------------- “ Naturam Cambela fontis
Mutatam ftupct esse fui, transcendit in undas
Sanguineus torrens ripas, et ducit in aequor
Corpora caesorum ; plures natare videres,
Et petere auxilium quos undis vita reliquit.”
The other, a bloody battle, fought betwixt the Cornish, and the West Saxons of Devonshire, in the year 824 in which many thousands fell on each side, and the victory remained uncertain. Hence, after a run of about 12 miles, it becomes navigable for sand barges at Parbrok; and at Egloshel", receives a plentiful addition to it’s stream, from the River Laine ". A mile farther down, this River reaches the greatest bridge in this county, called Wadebridge : about the year 1460 °, there was a ferry here whilst the tide was in, and a very dangerous ford when the tide was retired, which moved the then Vicar of Egloshel, one Mr. Lovebon, with great industry and public spirit, to undertake this bridge; a great and useful, but tedious work. Besides the expense, so disproportioned to his circumstances, in the course of the work, there arose such difficulties, as might have baffled a more mechanical age than that in which he lived: the ground, for the foundation of some of the piers, proved so swampy, that after repeated efforts another way, they were forced at last to build on wool-packs ; however, it should never be forgotten, that by his sollicitations, and the liberal contributions of others, but chiefly by his own perseverance, and the blessings of providence, he lived to accomplish the bridge as it now stands, with seventeen fair and uniform arches, reaching quite across the valley, to the great safety of travellers, and the credit of his country. Hither come up small barks of 40 and 60 ton, and supply the country with coal from Wales, with flat, which rises about ten miles off, lime, timber, and groceries from Bristol. A mile farther down the Alan makes two small Creeks on the East, in return for a brook or two which it receives; then keeping to the North-West, and supplying two Creeks on the Western bank which run up into St. Iffy,
and little Petrock parishes, in a mile more it reaches the antient town of Petrockstow, alias Padstow, where there is a pier, and some trade from Ireland, Wales, and the Bristol channel. Here at Padstow the Alan is near a mile wide, and there is a ferry-boat to cross. At the mouth of this harbour, about two miles below the town, the Sea, as in all our harbours on the North channel, has acted against itself, and thrown a bar of land cross the haven, which prevents
ships of more than 200 tons from coming in at all, and makes it hazardous even for the smaller ships to come in, but when the tides are high and the weather fair. Farther up on the Northern Tide of Cornwall, there is no considerable or navigable River; but we find the Creeks of Portisic, and Botrcaux Castle, and Bude Haven, which name, the last Creek, had it not been formerly a more considerable retreat for shipping than it is now, could never have deserved ; but indeed, what seems antiently to have been the haven, is now all morass and meadow ground, reaching from the Barton of Whalesborough nearly to the town of Stratton, about two miles long, and little less wide. In the middle
of this morass runs the River, which, with the tide, makes the present Creek, and opens into the Sea by a narrow passage. Before I take my leave of the navigable Rivers of Cornwall, I cannot help observing, that there is scarce any one of them so destitute of water, or so distressed by untoward levels, but that their navigation may be either extended or improved : but some improvements are more desirable as they will be more advantageous to the
country, and more easily effected than others: their neglect is therefore the more affecting. Lanceston is a populous town, and in the neighbourhood many families of rank and fortune, and in general the country round is well peopled and cultivated ; yet all the coal for firing, fir-timber for building, all foreign products, all goods from London, Exeter, and Plymouth, all sea-sand for manure, they are forced to send for ten miles at least, and have them all from Morlham or Boscastle, which is still further, by land-carriage, through ways in general egregiously bad ; difficulties which necessarily occasion little trade, and scanty employment for the poor. Now the Tamar passes within a mile and half of this town (a little above Polstun Bridge) where it is a noble stream of water, a wide chanel, and receives the Aterey River coming directly from the walls of Lanceston: hence the Tamar sets to the South, so directly, that it is but little more by water than by land. Surely so rich and populous a neighbourhood as this, might be well requited for the charge of making, or at least for exerting all their interest to make this River navigable at the public expense for the short space of ten or twelve miles. a Another improvement pointed out by nature is, the uniting the Fawy, on the South Coast, with the Alan on the North. Thesetwo
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