The Lost Land of Lyinesse, or Lethowsow - Part 6

  The Scillonian ferry regularly crosses the waters above the legendary Lyonesse.  If you wish to use my photo please attribute this blog!

[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

Map - Land's End

Map - Isles of Scilly

Map - Saint Michael's Mount 

Map - The Seven Stones  

Saint Levan's Baptistry

Saint Levan's Well - http://www.flickr.com/photos/treehouse1977/2769137480/sizes/z/in/photostream/  Some rights reserved by treehouse1977

"The ruins of the old well of St. Levan remain on the side of the stream that now flows over it. It must have been his original baptistery."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Saint Levan's

Saint Levan's oratory

"There was once a small chapel or oratory dedicated to St. Levan in this cove [Porthcurno Cove] (as there generally was in the others), but only a little square enclosure now remains of it."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Porthcurno Cove

The Olive, The Crown, The King and The Church - part 2

Bath Abbey or Cathedral - Some rights reserved by alkruse24

"...He interpreted this dream as calling on him to restore the Church, for Olive answered to his Christian name, Oliver, and King to his family name. Most certain it is," Harrington continues, "he was so transported with his dream for the time, that he presently set in hand with the church (the ruins whereof I rue to behold even in writing these lines), and at the west end thereof he caused a representation to be graved of this his vision of the Trinity, the angels, and the ladder; and on the north side the olive and crown, with certain French words, which I could not read, but in English is the verse taken out of the Book of Judges, chap. ix. :-

'Trees going to choose their king,
Said, Be to us the Olive King.'"

The window to which Harrington refers is, at the present day, one of the glories of the cathedral; it represents the dream which led to the re-erection of the building. 

But Bishop King died and left his work unfinished, and the Reformation arrested all architectural ecclesiastic work, and in Harrington's time the church, which had become dilapidated, lay in a ruinous state."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Bath Abbey

Netley Abbey

"On the turf in the church lie many fragments of the old roof, which bear mute testimony to an accident, of which a strange account has been preserved in the locality. The Abbey roof was entire up to 1704, when Sir Bartlet Lucy possessed the Abbey, With singular want of feeling or sentiment, the Earl of Huntingdown, its next possessor, actually sold the materials of the church to a builder. The following strange story is told of this purchase by Browne Walters, the antiquary:-

"The earl, it is said, made a contract with a Mr. Walter Taylor, a builder of Southampton, for the complete demolition of the Abbey; it being intended by Taylor to employ the materials in erecting a town house at Newport and other buildings. After making this agreement, however, Taylor dreamed that, as he was pulling down a particular window, one of the stones forming the arch fell upon him, and killed him. His dream impressed him so forcibly that he mentioned the circumstance to a friend, who is said to have been the father of the well-known Dr. Isaac Watts, and in some perplexity asked his advice. His friend thought it would be the safest course for him to have nothing to do with the affair, respecting which he had been so alarmingly forewarned, and endeavoured to persuade him to desist from his intention. Taylor, however, at last decided upon paying no attention to his dream, and accordingly began his operations for the pulling down of the building; in which he had not proceeded far, when, as he was assisting at the work, the arch of one of the windows, but not the one he had dreamed of (which was the east window still standing), fell upon his head and fractured his skull. It was thought at first that the wound would not prove mortal; but it was aggravated through the unskilfulness of the surgeon, and the man died."

The accident that befell Taylor was thought to have been a judgment of Heaven on him, and the Abbey was thus saved from demolition.

This story is told in the "History of Mitred Abbeys," and is quite intelligible. The instinctive reverence of the builder, struggling with his greed, undoubtedly caused his dreams, aided perhaps by his knowledge that the task of taking down the Abbey church must necessarily be a dangerous one. Happily, however, the walls still in great part remain, probably no one caring to take the risk of their removal."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Netley Abbey

[I am unsure as to where to start the westcounrty - my instinct is it starts roughly on a line between Poole and Bath or Bristol. This entry, then, is a little generous, but so be it.]

Pelynt - Saint Nun's Well - part 2

"...Though the superstitious hinds had spared the well, time and storms of winter had been slowly ruining it. The oak which grew upon its roof had, by its roots, dislodged several stones of the arch, and, swaying about in the wind, had shaken down a large mass of masonry in the interior, and the greater part of the front. On its ruinous condition being made known to the Trelawny family (on whose property it is situated), they ordered the restoration, and the walls were replaced after the original plan. 

This well and a small chapel (the site of which is no longer to be traced, though still pointed out by the older tenantry) were dedicated, it is supposed, to St. Ninnie, or St. Nun, a female saint, who, according to William of Worcester, was the mother of St. David. The people of the neighbourhood knew the well by the names St. Ninnie's, St. Nun's, and Piskies' Well. It is probable that the latter is, after all, the older name, and that the guardianship of the spring was usurped at a later period by the saint whose name it occasionally bears. The water was doubtless used for sacramental purposes; yet its mystic properties, if they were ever supposed to be dispensed by the saint, have been again transferred, in the popular belief, to the Piskies.

A piskie and a pin at Penlynt - please attribute this website if you wish to use my drawing

In the basin of the well may be found a great number of pins, thrown in by those who have visited it out of curiosity, or to avail themselves of the virtues of its waters. A writer, anxious to know what meaning the peasantry attach to this strange custom, on asking a man at work near the spot, was told that it was done "to get the goodwill of the Piskies," who after the tribute of a pin not only ceased to mislead them, but rendered fortunate the operations of husbandry."

Hope 1893

 Map - Saint Nonna's Well, Penlynt

[There appear to be no copyleft images of the well now on the internet. If anyone has a photo I would love to be able to use it.]

Lydford Law

"It [Lydford] is certain that it was formerly a place of importance; had its own mint, and in its castle were confined those who offended against the forest and stannary law - that oft-quoted and most unpleasant Lydford Law, "Hang to-day; try to-morrow."

In the morn they hang and draw,

And sit in judgment after.

"Is this the place?" you will cry shortly after turning down by the Dartmoor Inn, and Lydford comes at once in sight.

The castle keep, a grey ruin, stands on a mound near the church; a few houses cluster round it; the street is empty

For of its great name, I wis,

It only now the shadow is.

So wrote Risdon two centuries ago."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Lydford Castle

The burried city under Braunton Burrows

Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.


'Beyond it [Croyde Bay] stretch for 3 miles or so the Saunton Sands, which become Braunton Burrows, that end only above Bideford Bar. This wide labyrinth of sandhills and burrows, said to cover the ruins of an ancient city, has been opened up by road, and a hotel built there (Saunton Sands), which is reached from Braunton station.'

Hope Moncrieff 1895