Blackwood' Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Volume 3
April - September
By William Blackwood, Edinburgh
and
John Murrey, London
An online version here
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Mention of the White Bird of Oxenham
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| The White Bird of the Oxenhams - In Baring Gould 1908 by JAMES OXENHAM [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
"...The portrait, painted by the hand of a spectre, and the phantom, whose occasional appearance on earth is mysteriously connected with that terrible portrait, and whose kiss is the signal of death to every successive member of the family to which it belongs, are manifest improvements on such traditions as those of the White Lady of the house of Brandenburg, the Fairy Melusine, whose appearance used constantly to prognosticate the recurrence of mortality in some noble family of Poitou; the White Bird which, as Prince records in his Worthies of Devon, was in the habit of performing the same office for the worshipful lineage of Oxenham."
Extract from - PHANTASMAGORIANA; Ou Recueil d'Historics a? Apparitions, de Spectres, de Revenans, Fantomes, ect. Traduit de FAUemand, par un Amateur. Paris. 2 tomes 12mo. TALES OF THE DEAD, PRINCIPALLY TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.
In Blackwood's Edingburgh Magazine 1818
Map - Oxenham Arms
Map - South Tawton
Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 7
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| St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
[cont...] "...42 I am here, replied Ivan. In the name of Mary, whom do I hear said she ; if you are Ivan, come in. Bring you also a light, said Ivan. Then she brought a light.
43 And when Ivan was come in, as I was advancing to the door, said he, I heard some one else in the bed.
44 Oh ! Ivan, replied she, when you determined to go away, I was three months gone with child ; and now we have a beautiful infant in the bed, gracious in the sight of God may he be !
45 Reph'ed Ivan, I will tell thee, my master and my mistress gave me a cake, and told me, when I and my wife should be most joyful together, that we should break the cake and not sooner. And now we have cause to be joyful.
46 Then they broke the cake, and there were nine pounds in the cake; and the money they had, and the bread they eat ; and there never was an idle word nor strife between them afterwards. And so it ends."
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Maps with help from here - http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Celtic_Fairy_Tales/Addenda_and_Corrigenda
Map - Llanlavan / St Levans.
Ty Hwrdh / Chyannor [Unknown]
Map - Wayn Her / St Hilary's Moor. [Saint Hillary?]
Map - Kaer Esk fair (Exeter)
Map - Tre Rhyn / Trereen [Treen?]
Map - Market Jew / Marazion.
Coed Carn y Wylfa / Cûz Carn na huila [Unknown]
Map - Burman / Buryan.
[The place-name corrections in this tale are due to Mr. Phillimore, who points out that Llwyd, in his Welsh translation of the original Cornish, gave the Welsh equivalents of the Cornish place-names.]
Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 6
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| St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
[cont...] "...37 Then they came together out of Market-Joy (Marchnad-Joy Thursday market). And they said, come with us as far as Coed Carrn yr Wylfa (the Wood of the heap of stones of watching), in the parish of Burnian.
38 There two roads separated, and the merchants wished Ivan to go home Ofay with them ; but that tune he would not, but would go home to his wife.
39 Then when he had separated from the merchants, he foolishly spent his time to try his wife, whether she proved constant to him, whether she did or did not.
40 And when he came to the door, he heard some one else in the bed ; he placed his hand on his dagger to slay them both ; but he recollected that he ought to suffer twice before he struck once.
41 And he came out again, and then he knocked. Who is there, in the name of God ? said she...." [cont...]
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 5
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| St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
26 And while Ivan was in bed, there was a hole in the pine-end of the house, and he saw a light, and he rose out of his bed and listened, and heard the monk speaking; and the monk turned his back upon the hole "perhaps," said he, " there is some one in the next house who may see our horrid deeds :" And with that the adultress, with her paramour, put the old man to death.
27 In the meantime, however, Ivan with his knife cut, through the hole, a pretty round piece of the monk's gown
.
28 And the next morning the adultress began to cry aloud, because her beloved was murdered ; and as there was neither man nor child in the house except the merchants, they ought to be hanged on his account.
28 And the next morning the adultress began to cry aloud, because her beloved was murdered ; and as there was neither man nor child in the house except the merchants, they ought to be hanged on his account.
29 Then they were taken and carried to prison, and at last Ivan came to them.
30 Alas, alas! Ivan, said they, a hard fate attends us ; our host was killed last night, and we shall be hanged for him.
31 Aha ! request the justices, said Ivan, to summon those who committed this heinous crime before hem.
32 Who knows, replied they, who committed the crime ? Who committed the crime ! said Ivan. If I know not how to prove who committed the crime, I will suffer myself to be hanged in their stead.
33 Explanation replied they
(Nos 33, 34, and 35, Ivan repeats what he had seen, and produces the piece of the gown in evidence.)
36 And with that the merchants had their liberty, and the woman and the monk were hanged...." [cont...]
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 4
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| St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
18 And they began to cry out, and With the cry which the merchants made, Ivan also shouted Thieves! thieves !
19 And at the shout which Ivan gave, the robbers left the merchants. And when they came to Market-Joy, there they met again.
20 Oh, Ivan! said they, we are bound to thee, had it not been for thee, we should have been lost men. Come with us, and thou shalt be welcome.
21 And when they were entering the house where they were accustomed to lodge, I must, said Ivan, see the man of the house.
22 The host ! replied they ; what dost thou want with the host ? here we have the hostess, and she is young. If thou must see the host, go to the kitchen, and thou shalt see him.
23 And when he came to the kitchen, he saw the host, and he was an old man, and weak, and turning the spit.
24 Oh ! quoth Ivan, here I will not lodge, but in the next house. Not yet, replied they ; sup with us, and thou shalt be welcome...." [cont...]
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 3
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| St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
14 Kaer Esk fair (Exeter). Oho! Ivan, said they, come with us, joyful are we to see you. Where have you been so long ?
15 I have been, said Ivan, in service, and now I am going home to my wife. Oh ! said they, come with us, and thou shalt be welcome.
16 And they took the new road, and Ivan kept the old.
..." [cont...]
..." [cont...]
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 2
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| St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
6 Give them to me, said Ivan. No, I will not, replied his master, I will explain it to thee. Keep you them, said Ivan. Then, said his master," Take care not to leave the old road, for the sake of a new road."
7 Then they agreed for another year for the same wages : and when the end of the year was come (the same conversation takes place as in Nos. 5 and 6, till the master delivers his second aphorism, which " is), Take care not to lodge where a young woman is married to an old man."
9 10 (The same conversation, &c. takes place for the third year, and the master delivers his third aphorism), " Suffer thyself to be struck twice before thou strikest once, for that is the most prudent quality of all."
11 Then Ivan would not serve any longer, but he would go home to his wife. Not to-day, replied his master ; my wife bakes to-morrow, and she shall make thee a cake to take home to thy wife.
12 And they put the nine pounds in the cake. And when Ivan was about to take his leave, Here, said his master, is a cake for thee to take home to thy wife; and when thou and thy wife are most joyous together, then break the cake and not sooner..." [cont...]
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 1
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| St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
THE TALE OF IVAN.
( Translated from the Cornish.)
MR EDITOR, I HAVE sent you the following translation of one of the "Inabinogi," or tales for the instruction of youth, which is chiefly curious, as it is the only tale that I am aware of which is in existence in foe Cornish language; at the same time, it may not be disagreeable to some of your readers, to see how the ancients of the times gone by conveyed their lessons of instruction to the young. It is to be found in the 251, 252, pp. of Llwyd's Archaeologia Britannica, with a Welsh translation annexed.
Yours, PWY.
Jesus College, Oxford, 23d April 1818.
1 There were formerly a man and woman living in the parish of Llanlavan, in the place which is called Ty Hwrdh.
2 And (the) work became scarce and therefore said the man to his wife, I will go and search for work, and you may live here.
3 He took fair leave, and travelled far towards the East ; and at last he came to the house of a husbandman (Villanus), and asked there for work to perform.
4 What work canst thou perform ? said the husbandman. I can perform every kind of work, said Ivan, Then they agreed for three pounds as the hire of a year..." [cont...]
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Two little things
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| Merlins Magic City - Minehead, Somerset © Copyright Phil Champion and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
[Two things interested me today. One was that when old Devon ladies come into the dairy in Chagford they occasionally ask for "a bid'a grid'ee" (according to my friend behind the counter). This is 'a bit of gritty", referring to the Taw Valley mature cheddar (a really nice cheese!) that has a slight gritty texture owing I think to salt granules in it.
The other thing I noticed was while in Minehead this weekend there was an amusement center called 'Merlin's Magic City', with a cartoon of a purple clad star bedecked and bearded old wizard. Interesting how old folklore continues into the present day. Looking across the channel I could see the Welsh mountains where I have always believed Merlin still lies sleeping in his cave...]
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Proverb on the contagious nature of poverty on all levels of society
"After a famine in the stall.
Comes a famine in the hall." - Somerset
Ray 1768
[Easy to interpret - look after the lowly if you wish the wealthy to flourish.]
Comes a famine in the hall." - Somerset
Ray 1768
[Easy to interpret - look after the lowly if you wish the wealthy to flourish.]
Proverb on giving someone a look of disdane.
"She look'd on me as a cow on a bastard calf." Somerset.
Ray 1768
Ray 1768
Proverb on dying in debt
"Let him hang by the heels." - Somerset.
(Of a man that dies in debt : His wife leaving all at his death, crying his goods in three markets and three Parish Churches is so free of all his debts).
(Of a man that dies in debt : His wife leaving all at his death, crying his goods in three markets and three Parish Churches is so free of all his debts).
Ray 1768
[Not sure how the proverb links to the interpretation! A friend of my wife said that if you die in debt you have made a profit.... Once again we find the number 3 has massive importance in folklore]
Monday, 10 October 2011
A sunken forest near Clement's Isle
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| Saint Clements Isle with Christmas light on! © Copyright Rod Allday and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
"Six miles south of St Michael's Mount waved, from Clement's Isle to Cudden Rock, a wood."
Hunt 1903
Black Rock in Falmouth - a sunken island
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| Black Rock is now marked by a tower to protect shipping. © Copyright Rod Allday and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
"The Black Rock in Falmouth Harbour is stated to have been a large island, which was surrounded by the sea only at high-water."
Hunt 1903
Map - Black Rock
The sunken valley from Rame Head to Looe
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| Towards Rame Head from Portwrinkle, part way to Looe. © Copyright Trevor Rickard and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
"From Rame-head to the two Looes very fertile valleys are stated to have extended at least a league southwards, over a tract now covered with sea; and around the coast in many places, we are assured, in twelve feet of water, trees are to be seen in the sea."
Hunt 1903
Map - Looe
Map - Rame Head
The Lost Land of Lyonesse, or Lethowsow - Part 7
[cont.] "..."The flats, which stretched from one island to another, are plain evidences of a former union subsisting between many now distinct islands. The flats between Trescaw, Brêhar, and Sampson are quite dry at a spring-tide, and men easily pass dry-shod from one island to another over sand-banks (where, upon the shifting of the sands, walls and ruins are frequently discovered), upon which, at full sea, there are ten and twelve feet of water. From the southern side of St Martin there stretches out a large shoal towards Treacaw and St Mary's; and from St Mary's a flat, called Sandy-bar, shoots away to meet it; and between these two shoals there are but four feet of water in the channel called Chow Sound,--all strong arguments that those islands were once one continued tract of land, though now, as to their low lands, overrun with the sea and sand. 'The Isles Cassiterides' (says Strabo, Geo., lib. 5) 'are ten in number, close to one another. One of them is desert and unpeopled; the rest are inhabited.' But see how the sea has multiplied these islands; there are now one hundred and forty. Into so many fragments are they divided; and yet there are but six inhabited."--An Account of the Great Alteration which the Islands of Scylley have undergone, &c., by the Rev. Wm. Borlase, M.A., F.R.S., Phil. Trans., vol. xlviii. part i.
"The Cornish land, from Plymouth, discovers itself to be devoured more and more to the westward, according to the aforesaid tradition of the tract of the Lionesse, being encroached upon above half the present distance from the Land's End to Scilly; whence it is probable that the low isthmus once joining Scilly and the Lionesse was first encroached upon in the same manner. The projecting land being exposed to the concurrence of the tides from the Irish, the Bristol, and British Channels, by whose violence and impetuosity, increased by the winds, the loose earth of the Gulf-rock might be worn away, leaving the resistible substance behind, standing as it is in the middle way betwixt Scilly and Cornwall."--A Natural and Historical Account of the Islands of Scilly, by Robert Heath."
Hunt 1903
The Lost Land of Lyinesse, or Lethowsow - Part 6
[cont.] "..."That Cornwall once extended further west may be inferred from hence, that about midway between the Land's End and Scilly are rocks called in Cornish Lethowsow; by the English, Seven-stones.
"The Cornish call the places within the stones Tregva, -- i.e., a dwelling;--and it has been reported that windows and other stuff have been fished up, and that fishermen still see tops of houses under water. From the Land's End to Scilly, a tract of thirty miles, is an equal depth of water, and the bottom of the sea a plain, level surface. St Michael's Mount is called in Cornish, Careg cowse in clowse--i.e., the hoary rock in the wood. Large trees with roots and bodies have been driven in by the sea of late years between St Michael's Mount and Penzance; and tradition says that at the time of the inundation which made the separation, one Trevelyan swam from thence on horseback; and in memory thereof the family, now in Somersetshire, bears gules a horse argent, from a less wavy argent, and azure, issuing out of a sea proper,"--Gough's Camden, vol. 1. p. 15...... [cont.]"
Hunt 1903
Saturday, 8 October 2011
The Lost Land of Lyinesse, or Lethowsow - Part 5
[cont.] "..."Strabo expressly tells us that the Cassiterides (so called from the Greek name of tin, there produced) were in his time only ten in number; whereas they are now divided into a hundred and forty rocky islets. Solinus also makes mention of a large and respectable island, called Silura, evidently the Scilly of present times, lying on Damnonian or Cornish coast, and separated from the mainland by a strait turbulent and dangerous--a character which sufficiently marks the compression of its waters. And William of Worcester, an author of our own country, thirteen centuries after Solinus, states, with a degree of positive exactness, stamping authenticity upon its recital, that between Mount's Bay and the Scilly Islands there had been woods, and meadows, and arable lands, and a hundred and forty parish churches, which before his time were submerged by the ocean. Uninterrupted tradition since this period, which subsists to the present day vigorous and particular, authenticates his account, and leaves no doubt upon the wind that a vast track of land, which stretched anciently from the eastern shore of Mount's Bay to the north-western rock of Scilly (with the exception of the narrow strait flowing between the Long-ships and Land's End), has, since the age of Strabo and Solinus, and previous to that of William of Worcester, been overwhelmed and usurped by the waves of the sea. . . . The depth of the water at the Land's End is about eleven fathoms; at the Long-ships, eight; to the north of them, twenty; to the south, thirty; and twenty-five, twenty, and fifteen fathoms between them and the north-west of Scilly. The shallowest water occurs in the mid-space between Cornwall and the Isles. "--A Tour through Cornwall in the Autumn of 1808, by the Rev. Richard Warner.
"Yet the cause of that inundation, which destroyed much of these Islands (the Scilly Islands), might reach also to the Cornish shores, is extremely probable, there being several evidences of a like subsidence of the land in the Mount's Bay. The principal anchoring-place, called a lake, is now a haven, or open harbour. The Mount, from its Cornish name, we must conclude to have stood formerly in a wood, but now, at full tide, is half a mile from the sea, and not a tree near it; and in the sandy beach betwixt the Mount and Penzance, where the sands have been dispersed by violent high tides, I have seen the trunks of several large trees in their natural position."-- Borlase, Phil. Trans., vol. xlviii. part I..... [cont.]"
Hunt 1903
Friday, 7 October 2011
The Lost Land of Lyonesse, or Lethowsow - Part 4
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| The Scillonian ferry regularly crosses the waters above the legendary Lyonesse. If you wish to use my photo please attribute this blog! |
[cont.] "...and, to increase the wonder, a gentleman, accidentally on horseback, is carried by this animal to the neighbouring shore of Whitsand Bay, or twenty miles further off, to Perranuthnoe, through a sea which had swallowed an entire country, and from which the largest of modern vessels could not possibly have escaped. This idle tale, related by one writer after another, has almost reached our own times. The editor remembers a female relation of a former vicar of St Erth who, instructed by a dream, prepared decoctions of various herbs, and, repairing to the Land's End, poured them into the sea, with certain incantations, expecting to see the Lionesse country rise immediately out of the water, having all its inhabitants alive, notwithstanding their long submersion. But
'Perchance some form was unobserved,
Perchance in prayer or faith she swerved.'
Perchance in prayer or faith she swerved.'
No country appeared, and although the love of marvellous events, and of tales exciting the passions, seems not to have diminished in recent times, yet the editor is unaware of any subsequent attempt having been made to rescue those unfortunate people from their protracted state of suspended animation."--The Parochial History of Cornwall, by. Davies Gilbert, vol. iii.pp. 109, 110.
"Although a sweep of ocean, twenty-seven miles in breadth, separates at present the Land's End from the Scilly Islands, there can yet be little doubt of their having been heretofore united to each other by the mainland. The records of history indeed do not rise so high as the era when this disjunction was first effected; but we have documents yet remaining which prove to us that this strait must have been considerably widened, and the number of the Sciilly Islands greatly increased within the last sixteen or seventeen centuries, by the waters of the Atlantic (receding probably from the coast of America) pressing towards this coast of Britain, accumulating upon Bolerium, and overwhelming part of the western shores of Cornwall...." [cont.]
Map - Perranuthnoe
Map - Isles of Scilly
Map - Whitesand's Bay
Map - Bolerium
The Lost Land of Lyonesse, or Lethowsow - Part 3
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| The Scillonian ferry regularly crosses the waters above the legendary Lyonesse. If you wish to use my photo please attribute this blog! |
[cont.] "...Solinus (cap 22) applies Siluria to the country lying west of the Land's End. His words are, "Siluram quoque insulam ab ora quam gens Britanna Dunmonii tenent, terbidumn fretum distinguit."
"There is a tradition that there formerly existed a large track of land between the Land's End and the Scilly Islands, called the Lioness, which was destroyed by an inundation of the sea. One of the family of Trevilian now residing in Somerset, but originally Cornish, saved himself by the assistance of his horse at the time of this inundation; and it is reported that the arms of this family were taken from his fortunate escape, to commemorate his providential preservation. "--Drew and Hitchin's Cornwall.
"A cave is pointed out in Perranuthnoe, where the ancestor of the Trevelyans is said to have been borne on shore, by the strength of his horse, from the destruction of the Lionesse country west of the Land's End. The Trevelyan family are too old, too honourable, and now too much distinguished by science, for them to covet any addition of honour through the medium of fabulous history.
"It is recorded in the Saxon Chronicle that, in the year 1099, there was so very high a tide, and the damage so great in consequence, that men remembered not the like to have ever happened before, and the same day was the first of the new moon. Stow, who wrote his History of England about the year 1580, notices the great tide of 1099, when he says, 'The sea brake in over the banks of the Thames and other ryvers, drowning many towns and much people, with innumerable numbers of oxen and sheepe; at which time the lands in Kent, that sometime belonged to Duke Gociwyne, Earle of Kent, were covered with sandes and drowned, which are to this day called Godwyne Sandes.' On the slender foundation of these alluvial, catastrophes, Florence of Worcester either invented, or, with more than monkish credulity, received the tale of a whole district being engulfed, not at some remote geological period, but in what may be considered as the recent times of authentic history, after the existence of systematic registers and records; a district covered, as he states, by a city and by a hundred and forty churches, with their accompanying villages, farms, &c., an event that must have shaken the whole of Europe;..." [cont.]
Map - Perranuthnoe
Map - Isles of Scilly
The Lost Land of Lyonesse, or Lethowsow - Part 2
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| The Scillonian ferry regularly crosses the waters above the legendary Lyonesse. If you wish to use my photo please attribute this blog! |
[cont.] "...A small, but very ancient, oratory, "Chapel Idne," or the "Narrow Chapel," formerly stood in Sennen Cove. It is said to have been founded by one Lord of Goonhilly, who owned a portion of the Lyonesse, on the occasion of his escape from the flood. By this war of waters several large towns were destroyed, and an immense number of the inhabitants perished.
In the absence of full traditional evidence, it will not be uninteresting to gather together the fragmentary statements which exist in the writings of historians and others -
"The number of parish churches lost is so astonishingly great as to baffle the power of evidence, to preclude the possibility of conviction. I, therefore, take upon me to reduce the number from 140 to 40, -- to cut off what any dash of Worcester's pen might casually have created, the first figure."--Whitaker's Supplement to Polwhele's History of Cornwall.
The Saxon Chronicle says the Lionesse was destroyed on the 11th of November 1099.
"On the third of the Nones of November (1099) the sea overflowed the shore, destroying towns and drowning many persons and innumerable oxen and sheep."--The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester, translated by Thomas Forester, A.M. Bohn, 1854.... [cont.]"
Hunt 1903
In the absence of full traditional evidence, it will not be uninteresting to gather together the fragmentary statements which exist in the writings of historians and others -
"The number of parish churches lost is so astonishingly great as to baffle the power of evidence, to preclude the possibility of conviction. I, therefore, take upon me to reduce the number from 140 to 40, -- to cut off what any dash of Worcester's pen might casually have created, the first figure."--Whitaker's Supplement to Polwhele's History of Cornwall.
The Saxon Chronicle says the Lionesse was destroyed on the 11th of November 1099.
"On the third of the Nones of November (1099) the sea overflowed the shore, destroying towns and drowning many persons and innumerable oxen and sheep."--The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester, translated by Thomas Forester, A.M. Bohn, 1854.... [cont.]"
Hunt 1903
The Lost Land of Lyinesse, or Lethowsow - Part 1
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| The Scillonian ferry regularly crosses the waters above the legendary Lyonesse. If you wish to use my photo please attribute this blog! |
A region of extreme fertility, we are told, once united the Scilly Islands with Western Cornwall. A people, known as the Silures, inhabited this tract,--which has been called the Lyonesse, or sometimes Lethowsow,--who were remarkable for their industry and their piety. No less than 140 churches stood over that region, which is now a waste of waters; and the rocks called the Seven Stones are said to mark the place of a large city. Even tradition is silent on the character of this great cataclysm. We have only one hint--and we know not its value--which appears to show that the deluge was comparatively gradual. One of the ancestors of the Trevilians is said to have had time to remove his family and his cattle; but at last he had to fly himself with all the speed which a fleet horse could give him. From this it might appear that, though gradual at first, the waters, having broken down the barriers, burst over the whole at last with uncontrolled fury. ... [cont.]"
Hunt 1903
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Robert Hunt on the lost lands of Cornwall and West Devon
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Sand and mermaid -   Some rights reserved by zakwitnij |
"The notion of cities and extensive tracts of cultivated country being under the waters of the ocean and of lakes appears to have existed from all time. In the "Arabian Nights," we have constant references to lands under the sea; and in the traditionary stories of all Celtic people the same idea presents itself in some form or other. Mr Campbell appears to confound stories of mermaids with those traditions which have their origin in actual physical changes. They appear to me to have little relation to each other. (See West Highland Tales, by J. F. Campbell. Vol. iii. p. 410. )
In addition to the traditions given of large tracts of land which have been lost in the sea, I have given those which relate to cities, or towns, or churches which have been buried in the sands. These traditions are of the same general character.
This subject deserves a much more careful investigation than it has yet received. I hope simply to draw attention to the subject, and to show that those dim traditions point to some buried truth. They are like the buried lights which are supposed to indicate the resting-places of the dead."
Hunt
Sunken Lands off Land's End
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| The Scillonian - a boat that often crosses this stretch of water - © Copyright Chris Walpole and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
"Between Land's End and Scilly rocks
Sunk lies a town that ocean mocks.
Where breathes the man that would not weep
Sunk lies a town that ocean mocks.
Where breathes the man that would not weep
O'er such fine climes beneath the deep?"
Historical Records of Ancient Cornwall
--THOMAS HOGG."
--THOMAS HOGG."
in Hunt 1903
Proverb on poverty and abundance
"Where there is store of oatmeal you may put enough in the crock [pot.]" - Somerset
Ray 1768
Ray 1768
Malicious proverb
"More malice than matter" - Somerset
Ray 1768
Ray 1768
[Presumably about one who's argument is more to do with malcontent than any substance. A good one for modern day trolling perhaps?]
Monday, 3 October 2011
The Cock-crow stones of Cornwall
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| The Cheesewring at St Cleer is on the left of the photo. Image by © Copyright Eric Foster and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. |
"A ROCK of white marble (?) with many rock basins on its surface lies in Looe harbour, under Saunder's Lane, and is now -covered by every tide. This stone once stood on the top of an elevated rock near it, and when in this position, whenever it heard a cock crow in the neighbouring farmyard of Hay, it turned round three times.
The topmost stone of that curious pile of rocks in the parish of St Cleer known as the Cheesewring is gifted in like manner. Even now the poultry-yards are very distant, but in ancient days the cocks must have crowed most lustily, to have produced vibrations on either the sensitive rock or the tympanum of man."
Hunt 1903
Map - Hay Lane, Looe
Map - The Cheesewring
Elder's Black - A Proverb from Somerset
"When elder's black brew and bake a sack." - Somerset
Ray 1768
Ray 1768
[Elderberries turn black about September near us. Whether you are supposed to bake and brew with the elder, or whether it is a sign that this is the best time for baking and brewing I am not sure. Black Elder berries certainly make an amazing red wine, and I can imagine you might use them in currenty bread, although they would be quite gritty!]
Blessed are the cheesemakers - sorry - cheese making proverb
"If you will have a good cheese and have'n old you must turn'n seven times before he is cold." - Somerset.
Ray 1768
Ray 1768
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