Gwithian Methodist Chapel, Church Town, Gwithian

Gwithian or Gothian

GWITHIAN or GOTHIAN, in the deanery and in the east division of the hundred of Penwith, lies about seven miles from Redruth, which is the nearest market-town. The regular post-office town is Marazion, but there is a bye-post to Hayle-Copperhouse, in the parish of Phillack. The only village of any consequence in this parish, except the church-town, is Trevernon.

The great manor of Conarton, as parcel of the honor of Gloucester, belonged, before the conquest, to Brictric, a Saxon. The Conqueror gave it to Alan Earl of Britanny, but being resumed by the crown, it was settled on Queen Maud. William Rufus gave it to Robert Fitzhamon, whose daughter brought it by marriage to Robert, the illegitimate son of King Henry I., who was created Earl of Gloucester (fn. n36). Robert Earl of Gloucester, son of this Robert, gave Conarton, in 1154, to Richard Pincerna (Butler), whose son took the name of Conarton, from his residence on this manor; the grandson, settling at Lanherne, took the name of Lanherne, and his heiress brought both manors, with other large estates, to the Arundells. This great manor, to which many extensive privileges, together with the lordship of the hundred of Penwith (fn. n37), are annexed, was purchased not long ago, of Lord Arundell, by Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart. Most of the lands belonging to it had been before alienated. The site of the manor of Conarton, which anciently gave name to the parish, is said to have been formerly occupied by a large town, which had two parish-churches. This must have been what Leland calls Nikenor; his account of which is as follows: "Nikenor a 2 miles from Ryvier, sumtyme a great town, now gone; 2 paroch chirches yet seene, a good deale several on from the other, sumtyme in the towne, but it is now commonly taken to be in St. Guivians paroch."

The manor of Godrevy, which formerly belonged to a family of that name, extends into this parish: the greater part of the estate, which is in Gwithian, belongs to Lord De Dunstanville, and was purchased chiefly of the Arundells of Menadarva, in 1740 (fn. n38).

The advowson of this parish, called in old records Conarton, was given by William Earl of Gloucester, in the reign of Henry II., to the priory of St. James in Bristol. Near the parish-church is the site of an ancient chapel, of which there are no remains. A considerable portion of the parishes of Gwithian and Phillack is covered with sand-hills, supposed to have been originally brought from the sea-side by hurricanes, probably at a remote period; and we are informed, that among the Arundell papers there is mention of such an event having happened in the twelfth century. The disproportionately high valuation of the rectory of Gwithian, in the old Valors, when compared with that of other parishes, which were then rated much lower, though now of very superior value, affords a probable conjecture that much land has been lost by the influx of the sand. It is known by oral tradition, that whole farms have been overwhelmed, at a period not very remote. We have been informed by Mr. Hockin, the rector, who has obligingly favoured us with a communication on this subject, that the barton of Upton, one of the principal farms in Gwithian, was thus overwhelmed; that his great-grandfather remembered the occupier residing in the farm-house, which was nearly buried in one night, the family being obliged to make their escape from the chamber-windows. It is very remarkable that the ruins of this house, which had never been seen by the oldest man living, were again exposed to view in consequence of the shifting of the sands in the winter of 1808-9. The present rector remembers two fields lost at Gwithian, having been buried with sand ten or twelve feet deep. The church-town would have shared the same fate, had it not been prevented by the timely exertions of the churchwardens, who, with all possible expedition, caused large plantations to be made of a species of rush, which grows abundantly in that neighbourhood, and by the rapid spreading of its long fibrous roots, affords the only known method of checking the progress of the sands. (fn. n39)

In this parish is an extensive earth-work, called Trevarnon Rounds; it has a moat and rampart, with an advanced work, which seems to have been occupied in times not very remote, a cannon-shot having been dug up within its site, by some labourers employed by the late rector.