Ertach Kernow - John Norden mapping the Penwith hundred
John Norden has been mentioned many times in these Ertach Kernow articles, with extracts from his maps showing the location of historic towns. It’s now been some time since we looked at his travels around the hundreds of Cornwall during the late 16th century. West Wivelshire and Powdershire have been covered so now perhaps to the far reaches of his travels around the Penwith Hundred is worth a look.
Cornwall during this period was still pretty wild and unreachable, so for Norden to come and produce maps was quite a feat. Although compared to today’s maps they are quite rough they do include a huge amount of information about the places inhabited and some of the more interesting places and monuments he recorded. John Leland had travelled around Cornwall describing towns and places some decades previously but had not produced maps, so Norden’s work was additional and also carried on the story of Cornwall’s development. Many of the places mapped are still seen on modern maps albeit the names have often changed as spelling evolved. However there are some places which he mentioned and seen on slightly later maps that seem to have vanished entirely. John Norden died in his late seventies, about 1626, his maps relating to Cornwall weren’t published in full until 1728 due to lack of patronage. Some maps were included within other publications such as Camden’s Britannia of 1607 and were often preferred to the better-known maps by Christopher Saxton.
As always click the images for larger view
When Norden visited Penwith around 1584 the vast majority of people would have spoken Kernewek as their main or perhaps only language so far west. Most of the place names would have originated from the Cornish language spelling beginning with the well-known Tre, Pol and Pen but also Bos and Ros and others. Besides the town’s villages and hamlets Norden mentions coastal features, castles and hill forts, as well as the seat’s of gentlemen. Mentioning these large houses owned by wealthier families and those considered gentlemen and nobility was an ongoing thing with writers well into the nineteenth century. Perhaps because they were buildings of outstanding merit within a lesser community or to encourage the owners to subscribe to the publication. Norden also mentions the existence of ‘tynn-workes of name within this Hundred of Pen-with’ also noting their owners at that time.
The houses occupied by wealthy people which are mentioned by Norden, along with their owners provides us with some historic indication of the people and wealth within Penwith. Bodrugie, Boskenna, Bosistow, Clowans, Drysse, Gurlyn, Kenegie, Kerthyes, Penrose, Pendryn Polkenhorne, Treworgan, Trewarneth, Tringwenton, Trewynard, Treswythen and Tehiddy are amongst them. Many names are recognisable and although rebuilt many still exist today although the surnames of those Tudor owners are mostly extinct in Cornwall today.
One very well-known place Norden mentions was St Michael’s Mount. He notes the ancient nature of the buildings at the peak of the mount saying these were first erected by William, Count of Mortain and Earl of Cornwall during the early 12th century. Although described as originally a cell for monks it was later fortified and had a stone pier for boats to harbour along with a causeway during low tides to nearby Marcia-iewe. This is a somewhat confusing name for the far better-known Marazion, which was also known as Market Jew into the 18th century and occasionally later. This name derived from Marghas Yow meaning Thursday Market. Perhaps of interest for those reading Tudor quotations is the following. The Tudor alphabet contained only 24 letters, as ‘u’ and ‘v’ were the same letter as were and ‘I’ and ‘j’. ‘J’ was mostly used as the capital form of the letter ‘I’ and ‘u’ was used only in the middle of a word, with ‘v’ used at the beginning. Marazion was at that time a larger more important town than Penzance until the late medieval period and Norden mentions that both had been burnt by the Spanish during raids in 1595.
Penzance at that time was within the parish of Madron where the mother church was located. Norden call’s it Maderne or St Maderne and writes about Maderne Well which he says had claims for healing infused into the water by Saint Maderne and later becoming a place of pilgrimage. Today Madron Well and the close by 12th century baptistry can be found along a pleasant pathway, although to reach the well itself can be a bit muddy. Today just as well known is the nearby Cloutie Tree which is often festooned with pieces of cloth and said in past times to take away illness as they deteriorated. Whether Norden actually visited the well is unclear, but it’s worth a visit if in the area and you fancy a short ramble.
Of the towns, villages and small hamlets in the late 16th century many are now large and well-known. Newlyn was described as a small hamlet within Mounts Bay ‘nere Pensans’ by Norden. This too was burned by the Spaniards in 1595. Also attacked was Mousehole with every building damaged save that now known as the Keigwin Arms, a Tudor building which was defended by the local squire Jenkyn Keigwin who died during the attack. The historian Raphael Holinshed mentions in his 1577 Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland the following. ‘As for Mowshole it selfe, it is a towne of the maine, called in Cornish Port Enis, that is, Portus insulae, whereof the said He taketh denomination, and in tin workes neere vnto the same there hath beene found of late, speare beds, battell axes, and swords of copper wrapped vp in linnen, and scarselic hurt with rust or other hinuerance. Certes the sea hath won verie much in this corner of our Iland, but cheefelie between Mowshole and Pensardz.’ Two points of interest in that quote, that Copper or Bronze Age weapons had been found in good condition showing potential early occupation and that there had been some inundation of the sea in Mount’s Bay. This helps confirm the existence of the submarine forest prior to that date and often uncovered after storms in Mount’s Bay.
At St Levan Norden notes that there is some cover for fishing boats and that there are many tin mines there. A little hamlet at Botallack is mentioned ‘moste visited with tinners, where they lodge and feede, being nere their mynes.’ These mines would later become amongst the most famous in Cornwall and of course today the Crown Engine Houses at Botallack have become a well-known tourist destination.
Lelant or Lalant as mentioned by Norden was quoted as a ‘somtyme a hauen towne, and of late decayed by reason of the sande which hath choaked the harbor and buried much of the lande and howses.’ Although the sand had engulfed the harbour he notes that ‘here are greate store of tynn and copper mynes.’ Nearby St Ives now a wealthy town with a rich more recent history for art and culture was said to be ‘a poore hauen towne and market’. Although like Lelant St Ives had suffered from the sands preventing shipping of any size it was noted for its fishing. ‘Fisher boates who beinge well exercised, bring profit to the inhabitants, beinge greate store of fishe vpon that north coaste’ St Ives’ Kernewek name of Porthea was mentioned by Norden in his description. Another settlement nearby which was also suffering from sand inundation was Gwythian having much of its settlement swallowed up. This included the 13th century St Govian's Chapel which had been mentioned by John Leland during his travels in Cornwall in 1538. This issue regarding sand seems to have been a major concern during the medieval period along the north Cornish coast. Perhaps best known is the oratory of St Piran near Perranporth which led to a larger church being built in the 12th century and this in turn abandoned and dismantled to be rebuilt further inland due to the encroaching sands.
Of other major towns in the area Redruth was described as ‘a hamlet annexed to vni-redruth, where are manie tynn workes, both Stream and lode works.’ Strange to think of Redruth as just a hamlet and of Camborne it was just mentioned as ‘a Churche standinge among the barrayne hills’. These two town would later become the centres of the largest mining areas in Cornwall. It would take, as with many other Cornish mining regions, the Industrial Revolution and the development of engines powerful enough to drain water from ever deeper mine workings. During Norden’s time it seems that stream working was still taking place so there must have still been a good amount of tin deposits close to the surface.
Throughout his dialogue relating to the maps he mentions the tin and copper mines. It is quite clear the importance of these during the Tudor period, as they had been for thousands of years previously in helping the Bronze Age become established with in the Anglo-Celtic Isles. The full potential of these mines wouldn’t be realised for some two hundred years after Norden’s account until the introduction of steam powered engines in the 18th century. Tudor tin and copper mines in Cornwall were either superficial with little depth, or opencast pit mining operations. Some of these would in a later century, due to their fortunate location, evolve into quarries for china clay extraction.
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