Lelant in Matthews's history 1892



This compilation © Maxwell Adams 2005

SOURCE: JH Matthews (1892) A history of the parishes of St Ives, Lelant, Towednack, and Zennor Elliott Stock, London
Page numbers are in parentheses. Words from Matthews are in quotation marks; the rest are my summaries.

Payments by St Ives to Lelant as recorded in St Ives borough accounts
(Year and spelling as in Matthews; money outside quotation marks are my modernisation; comments in square brackets are mine.)

The rent mentioned is a payment from St Ives to the "mother church" at Lelant. St Ia's church at St Ives was at this time dependent on St Uny's at Lelant and St Ives was part of Lelant ecclesiastical parish. Assuming the transcription is the verba ipsissima of the original, Lelant in the last part of the sixteenth century in St Ives is regularly called and spelt with l not n as the third letter: see The real and true name of Lelant on this website.

AD 1573 "paid to the parish of St Unye for one years rent" £1.3.4 (page 145)

1576 "pd to Lelant for rent" £1.6.8 (149)

1577 "payde unto Vny lalante men for there rente dewe" 1s (150)

circa 1580 "paid to a sowdier which [sic] in lalant" 6d (153)

1587 "pd Henry pawlye ffor chrismas qr Rente ffor Vny Lelant 6s 8d" (157)

1597 "pd 4 men to help downe the stones at lalante" 6d (167)

1603 "Pd a soldier of lalant that came owte of Ierland [sic] by the consente of the hole 12: 12s 6d" (170). [The "hole 12" is the St Ives 'council.']

1658-1659 "Received of Hoskin of Lelant ffor a ffyne ffor bloodshed 3s 4d" (237)

1660-1661 "pd the parish of Lelant by order £5.0.0" (240)

1679-1680 "Pd to carry sd Anthony and his children to Lelant 1s 0d" (253) [There is an immediately preceding but obscure reference to H Anthony.]

1726 "Pd to Uny Lelant officers £1.6.8d" (75) [This entry is from the churchwardens' book.]

Tithes
Tithes were a source of much dispute between priest and people.

In 1629 several St Ives people disputed the apparent attempt by the vicar, John South, to increase the tithe payment and referred to the "ancient custom" to pay the vicar annually 4d for each cow and 2d for each calf under the number of four. There was a case in the archdeacon's court (187-188).

In 1636 a similar dispute arose between Thomas Corey, the "vicar of Unie Lelant," and some St Ives people. The "ancient custom" was again referred to though this time it was three cows or under that was the threshold (192).

In 1680-1681 there was another tithe dispute. John Hawkins, the vicar of Lelant, St Ives, and Towednack, challenged Andrew Rosewall of Towednack over the latter's refusal to pay tithes. Although this focuses on Towednack it tells us much about the tithes to be paid and incidentally shows how shamefully neglectful the priest had become. The official references are Exchequer Depositions by Commission: 31 Charles II, Michaelmas, number 6; 32 Charles II, Easter, number 29.

"Arthur Edwardes of the parish of Uni Lelant in the county of Cornwall aged ffower and ffiffty yeares or thereaboute ... sworne and examined sayth as followeth: Mr John Bullocke was the complainant's predecessor in the vicariate of Lelant, St Ives, and Towednack, and had borrowed money of Mr Edwardes on the security of the smaller tithe. William Robinson officiated as 'Deacen and Clearke' within the said parishes"(262).

Thomas Hodge, a yeoman of Towednack, aged fifty, said that it was the tithe custom in Towednack for every person who had three or fewer milking cows to pay the priest four pence for every milking cow and two pence for every calf of such cow; and the tithe of pigs, geese, turkeys, hemp, and hay was paid in kind to the priest (262-263).

James Trewhella of Towednack, a yeoman aged sixty five said that it was the tithe custom at Towednack for anyone who had more than three milking cows to pay the priest butter and cheese made from ther cows' milk - nine days' milk made into butter and cheese and five days' milk made into cheese. All the tithes were given to the priest the first Sunday after Trinity (263).

John Hicks of St Ives said: "For the tyth of each henby the custome of the sayd parishes of Unylelant and Towednack the owners thereof ought to pay to the vicar of the sayd parishes yearly one penny or egs [sic] in kind for the same att Easter. And the tenth young pig and the tenth young goose to bepayd in kind, as likewise the tyth of hemp and hay in kinde; but as for ducks and turkeyes this deponent [viz John Hicks] never receaved nor knows not how it was payd" (264-265: the Excequer words).

Neglect by the vicar
Evidence in the 1680-1681 tithe dispute revealed serious neglect by the priest, John Hawkins. Again, this focuses on Towednack but undoubtedly reflects what was happening at Lelant too. "John Hingston of Towednack, gentleman aged thirty three, saith that a child of his and children of other parishioners had died unbaptised, owing to the neglect and absence of copmplainant [viz John Hawkins], to the great grief of this deponent [John Hingston]; and 'severall persons dyeing within the said parish and having no priest to bury them according to the Church of England, whereof one of them was left without buryall, which became noysome untill some other minister came to bury him. The complainant of late since his non-residency in the sayd viccaredge very often when hee comes to officiate comes very unseasonably, vizt sometymes att seaven of the clock in the morninge, sometymes att eleven of the clock, sometymes att one of the clock, and sometymes towards the eveninge about sun sett. And imediately on his coming att church begins prayer although very few of his parishioners are present' " (265, Exchequer and Hingston's words).

Smuggling
A smuggling case at St Ives in 1598 involved evidence by a guilty Lelanter. He tells all and names the other smugglers.

"Thomas Edwardes of Lelaunte, gentleman, aged thirty four, beinge sworen and examyned sayth that he bought CCth waighte [two hundredweight] of sugars and about iiij li [four pounds] more, a barrell of greene ginger and a jarre of greene ginger of about vj li weighte. He was perswaded by the maryners and some of the men of St Ives that there was always allowed in such cases a chest of sugar to the companie. But he did understand by Lawrence Beard, the deputie customer in the creeke, that the custome was not paied; and he sent his men to fetch it awaye on his horsback by night, att what tyme (because of a watch sett by the deputie customer) they could not carrye it awaye; and the next day yt was fetched awaye, as he this deponent [Thomas Ewardes] remembreth. There was also in the same sellar whereout he had his sugars another vessell of greene ginger of the bignes of haulfe a barril, and who had the same Richard Jack can best declare because he the said jack had the keye and charge of the said sellar wherein the same sugar and greene ginger was. And himself the deponent knoweth that Arthur, Sir Nicholas Parkers cooke, had about Cth waighte of the likje sugars; Anthonie Rosgreeg and John Chenoweth had about Cth waighte apeeice. Richard jack and Thomas Paufrey had the rest of the sugars in the said sellar (130-131).

St Uny's oak benches "The old oak benches of Lelant church, which so closely resembled those of St Ives that they seemed to be the work of the same hands, were destroyed about the year 1830, and the remains buried beneath the floor of the church. The present vicar [Tyacke] says that he was present at the restoration of the church [1873] when the old bench-ends were disinterred; they crumbled into dust after being for a few hours exposed to the air" (91).

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