Lanprobus, Melville Road, Falmouth

Probus

PROBUS, in the deanery and in the west division of the hundred of Powder, lies about two miles and a half nearly west from Grampound; three north-west from Tregony; and five east-north-east from Truro, which is the post-office town. A market on Mondays, long since disused, was granted, in the year 1320, to the treasurer of the cathedral of Exeter (fn. n40), to whom this church was appropriated; and two fairs, each for three days; one at the festival of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the other at that of St. George the Martyr. There are now four fairs, all belonging to Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart.; two of them are vested in him in right of his manor of Lanprobus, the ancient possession of the college of Probus, and afterwards to the church of Exeter; one of the others was purchased of the Rev. Robert Hoblyn; they had both belonged to the family of Williams, and one of them is said to have been granted, soon after the Restoration, in approbation of the loyalty of this parish during the civil war. They are all large fairs for horses and cattle; and held April 5, April 23, July 5, and September 17.

The manor of Trelowthas was parcel of the possessions of the Bodrugans, and was granted with other estates, after the attainder of Sir Henry Bodrugan, to the ancestor of the Earl of Mount-Edgcumbe, who is the present proprietor. The manor of Tredenham was the property and original seat of the Tredenhams, who removed thence to Kellis in Cornely, and afterwards to Tregonan in St.Ewe: this manor was purchased of the Tredenham family, (which became extinct about the year 1708,) by Henry Hawkins, D.D., ancestor of Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart. Sir Christopher's seat is at Trewithan, in this parish, which barton was purchased, early in the last century, of Courtenay Williams, Esq., by Philip Hawkins, Esq. There is a view of Trewithan-house in Borlase's Natural History of Cornwall.

The manor of Trewithgy, or Treworgy, was part of the possessions of the ancient family of Wolvedon, or Wulvedon of Wulvedon alias Golden, in this parish; the last male heir of which died in the year 1512, as appears by his epitaph in Probus church: their large estates passed by a female-heir to the Tregians or Tregyans, who built a magnificent mansion at Golden: this mansion, of which the ruins still remain, was unfinished when Leland visited this county, in the reign of Henry VIII.: that author speaks of it as "richly begon, and amply, but not ended." Francis Tregian, of Golden, being then 28 years of age, having been accused, in the year 1577, of recusancy, and harbouring Cuthbert Mayne, a Romish priest, was found guilty; adjudged to have incurred a præmunire; his goods and estates seized, and himself imprisoned during the Queen's pleasure; after having lain some time, and been subjected to great hardships in Launceston gaol, his lady procured his removal to the King's Bench; he was afterwards removed to the Fleet, where, in 1593, he had been confined 13 years, his lady having lived with him during the whole time of his imprisonment: she then had 18 children, 11 of whom had been born in the Fleet, and most of them then living. Norden, whose survey must have been written about the year 1602, as he had evidently seen Carew's work then printed, says, "for his and his wife's recusancie, and for some former observed offence committed, the land of Tregian was suspended, and himself near 20 years imprisoned; but he is now at libertie, and liveth with sufficient glorie nere London; havinge noe use of his lande, which was in the handes of the late Lorde Hunsdon, Lorde Chamberlaine to Her late Majestie. This gentleman's reliefe is thowght to grow by the bounty of suche as affecte his parte." In July 1606, we are told that Mr. Francis Tregian, then an ancient gentleman, arrived at Douay on his way to Spain. Tregian's estates, consisting of several manors and other lands, then estimated at nearly 500l. per annum, were given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir George Cary, afterwards Lord Hunsdon; whose widow, in the year 1607, sold the whole (except a small part which had been previously disposed of by her husband) to Francis Tregian the younger. Most of these estates, including the manor of Treworgy, and the barton of Golden, were alienated, either by this Francis, or by his younger brother Charles, (who survived, and was in possession of some of the estates in 1620,) to John Vincent (fn. n41). Charles Tregian was in Cardinal Allen's family, and published a work entitled, "Planctus de Morte Cardinalis Alani." Ezekiel Grosse, who became possessed of most of the Tregian property, purchased the barton of Golden of Vincent, and made it his residence; his only daughter and heir married the ancestor of J. F. Buller, Esq., the present proprietor of these estates. Golden has been long occupied as a farm-house: the dilapidated part consists principally of a gateway and chapel, opposite to which is what is called the chaplain's apartment; and within is a small room, with stone seats: they show a dungeon under an old tower, in which Cuthbert Mayne is said to have been confined.

Treworgy-house was successively the seat, as lessees, of the family of Williams, Harris, and Bone: it is now a farm-house of Mr. Buller's. Williams, the wealthy and charitable farmer, spoken of by Carew, was probably Williams of Treworgy; that writer speaks of him as "grandfather to sixtie persons now living, and able lately to ride twelve myles in a morning, for being witness to the christening of a child, to whom hee was great-great-grandfather." This Williams was ancestor of the Williams's of Carvean, Treworgy, and Trehane, in this parish, and Truthan (in St. Erme), several times sheriffs of the county (fn. n42). Trehane belonged, at an early period, to a family of that name, afterwards to the Scawens: the latter sold it to John Williams, Esq., of Carvean, who built a new house on this barton, now the seat of William Stackhouse, Esq., whose father, Dr. Stackhouse, (brother of the Rev. Thomas Stackhouse, author of the History of the Bible, and the Body of Divinity,) acquired it by marriage with a coheiress of the Williams' family. Carvean is now a farm-house of Mr. Buller's. There was another family of Williams of Treverne, in the parish of Probus (fn. n43), whose ancestor, five generations before 1620, married the heiress of Treverne: this family was a younger branch of that of Williams of Herringston, in Dorsetshire; the arms are different from those of Williams of Treworgy. (fn. n44)

The manor of Trenowth belonged to the ancient family of that name, which became extinct in the reign of Henry VIII.; the coheiresses married Boscawen, Borlase, and Herle: this barton was inherited by the Herles (fn. n45), and was some time their seat: it is now a farm-house, the property of the Rev. George Moore, of Garlineck: the manor has been sold in lots. The manor of Hellan was purchased of the Wollocombe family in 1753, by John Roberts, and is now the property of his nephew Matthew Roberts, Esq., of Lamellan, in this parish. Trethower, some time a leasehold seat of the family of Huddy, is now a farm-house, belonging to J. T. P. B. Trevanion, Esq., as parcel of his manor of Cornely, otherwise Grogoth.

In the parish-church, which has a very handsome tower, built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth (within our remembrance, says Carew), is the monument of Thomas Hawkins, Esq., and the memorial of Wolvedon, before-mentioned. The church of Probus, and the rectorial estate, called in the survey of Domesday, Lanprobus, belonged to a college of canons at this place: this college consisted anciently of a dean, and five prebendaries: the dean had the patronage of the prebends: in 1268, Henry de Bollegh, Dean of Probus, conveyed the patronage to the Bishop of Exeter, and his successors for ever; probably he was the last dean. The prebendaries continued till the Reformation, when the college was dissolved, and pensions were assigned them: previously to this, they had each certain glebes, and portions of tithes, which were assigned by Bishop Stapleton in 1312. The church of Probus, with the right of nominating the prebendaries and the vicar, had before that time been granted by the Bishop to the treasurer of the church of Exeter, and his successors: in this grant no mention is made of a dean (fn. n46). The lands belonging to the prebendaries, constituting the manor of Lanprobus, were granted by King Edward VI., in 1549, to Sir Thomas Pomeroy, and are now the property of Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart. The great tithes are now appropriated to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter: the Bishop is patron of the vicarage. The site of the college is supposed to have been near the churchyard, between the school-house and the parish road: the school-house is supposed to have been a chapel. There were chapels also at Golden, Hellan, Trelowthas, and Treworgy, and a small chapel or oratory in Trenowth wood, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and St. Mary. The Exeter registers speak also of a chapel of St. George. (fn. n47)

A grammar-school at Probus was founded by Mr. John Williams of Treworgy, in 1688, and endowed with a salary of 10l. per annum: this school was formerly one of the principal seminaries in Cornwall (fn. n48) : but in consequence of the smallness of the salary, it has not, of late, been kept up as a grammar-school; but only for reading, writing, arithmetic, &c. There is another reading-school, endowed with the interest of 100l. by Mrs. Hawkins.

Footnotes

• n40. Rot. Cart. 14 Edw. II.
• n41. Extent. Terrar. Ducat. Cornub, 17 Jac. 1.
• n42. The late John Williams Hope, Esq. was an immediate descendant of the Truthan branch of this family.
• n43. Said at least in the pedigrees to be in Probus, but no place or house of the name is now known.
• n44. See p. cxvii, and p. clxiii.
• n45. It passed in the same manner as Prideaux, and was purchased of the representatives of Dr. Kendall's daughters. See p. 206.
• n46. Borlase's Collections from the Registers of the see of Exeter.
• n47. Ibid.
• n48. Polwhele's Literary History of Cornwall, p. 57.