Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI. LAUNCESTON Launceston a borrowed name--Celtic system of separation between town of the castle and town of the church--A saint's curse--Old name Dunheved--Castle--Church--Sir Henry Trecarrel--The river Tamar--Old houses--S. Clether's Chapel--Altarnon--The corn man--Cutting a neck--The Petherwins--Story of S. Padarn--Is visited by his cousin, Samson--Trewortha Marsh--Kilmar--An ancient village--Redmire--Cornish bogs--Dozmare Pool--Lewanick--Cresset-stone--Trecarrel--Old mansions--The Botathen ghost. THE most singular thing about the former capital of Cornwall is that it does not bear its true name. Launceston is Llan Stephan, the church of S. Stephen. Now the church of S. Stephen is on the summit of a hill on the further side of the river, divided from the town by the ancient borough of Newport. The true name of the town is Dunheved. It grew up about the Norman castle, instead of about the church, and as it grew, and the colony at S. Stephen's dwindled, it drew to itself the name of the church town. Launceston is, in fact, one of those very interesting instances of the caer and the llan, separated the one from the other by a stream. According to the Celtic system, a church must stand in its own lawn, surrounded by its own tribesmen, and the chief in his caer or dun must also be without competing authority surrounded by his own vassals. Consequently, in Cornwall, churches are, as a rule, away from the towns, which latter have grown up about the chieftain's residence, except in such instances as Padstow and Bodmin, where a religious, monastic settlement formed the nucleus. Camelford, an old borough town, is over two miles from its parish church, Lanteglos, without even a chapel-of-ease in it, an ecclesiastical scandal in the...
