St Austell

“ St. Austell is situate in the hundred of Powder, and hath upon the north Roach, east St. Blaze, west Mewan, south the British Channel; in Domesday Roll, 1087, the modern name of this parish was not extant, but the same and the districts of St. Blazy, Mewan, and Menagnissy, passed then in tax under the jurisdiction of Earl Cradock's manor of Towington, now duchy, Treverbyn, Trenance, and Pentewan. Note further, that, if Saint Austell be a corruption of Sancto Hostell, it signifies the holy inn or court. ”

“ Austell is situated in a highly cultivated part of the county, on the side of a hill. It is now become a very considerable and populous market town, and with the parish, which is one of the largest extent, contains no less than 6175 inhabitants. Although it has no claim to antiquity, it is noticed only as a poor 37village in Leland’s times; but the numerous Mines in its vicinity, [8] have caused its present rapid rise. The Church, which stands nearly in the centre of the town, is a handsome fabric, ornamented with fanciful and grotesque sculpture. ”

“ Many have been the attempts made to remove these stones. They are carried away easily enough by day, but they ever return to the spot on which they now repose, at night.
THE LONGSTONE. THE GIANT’S HAT AND STAFF.
Some say it was St Roach, others refer it to St Austell; but all agree in one thing, that the Longstone was once the staff of some holy man, and that its present state is owing to the malignant persecution of the demon of darkness. It happened after this manner. The good saint who had been engaged in some mission was returning to his cell across St Austell Downs. ”

“ Austell, where a church-tower of wonderful splendour and richness rises from the dull streets of stuccoed and slated houses. Our road to Truro is wide and has an excellent surface, but one hill succeeds another with exasperating regularity and promptitude. The scenery varies from dulness to beauty: the villages seem, to eyes that have lately looked upon those of Devon, a little uninteresting, for we are in the land of the Celt. Thatched cottages are rare, but in Probus there are several of them clustered round the churchyard very prettily. ”

“ Like as not, St. Austell Bay would be patrolled by half a dozen man-of-war's boats in addition to the water-guard: and this meant Dan'l's losing the lugger, losing his life too, maybe, or at the least being made prisoner. Well, and why not? Wasn't one man master enough for Porthleah Cove? And hadn't Dan'l and the girl deserved it?
I believe the miserable creature wrestled against his temptation: and I believe that when he weighed next morning and hoisted sail in the Nonesuch for Guernsey, where the Black Joke was to meet him in case of accident, he had two minds to play fair after all. ”

“ Old Pennefather pulled up in a twitter, tapping his stick on the pavement. What he wanted to say was, "Your partner, Dan'l Leggo, has a cargo for St. Austell Bay. He'll get into trouble there, and I'm responsible for it; but I want you to warn him before 'tis too late." What he did was to put on a frown, and, said he, "Looky here, Mr. Geen, I've been wanting to see you or Leggo for some days, to give you fair notice. I happen to have lost sight of the Nonesuch for some days; though I conclude, from meeting you, that she's back at Porthleah at her moorings. ”

“ PADSTOW, a small seaport and market town in the St Austell parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, on a branch of the London & South Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) , 1566. It lies near the north coast, on the west shore, and 2 m. from the mouth of the estuary of the river Camel, a picturesque inlet which from Padstow Bay penetrates 6 m. into the land. The church of St Petrock, with a massive rood stone in the churchyard, is mainly Perpendicular, with an Early English tower. ”

“ From May to November 1656 Parker was in Cornwall, and there wrote two books; the second, ‘A Testimony of the Light Within,’ addressed chiefly to the inhabitants of St. Austell, whose vicar, William Upcott, he roundly attacked. In August he wrote to Mrs. Fell from St. Austell: ‘There is not a Friend in the ministry’ (meaning a preacher) ‘within three or four score miles that is at liberty but myself.’ July and September 1657 found Fox and Parker again in Cornwall, whence they proceeded through Wales, Lancashire, and Cumberland to Scotland. ”

“ The wall of the chapel is the south wall of the churchyard.
“The chapel was paved with beach pebbles, and was built partly of common clay slate raised on the spot; the wrought stones were of compact hard porphyry, from Pentewan Quarry in the parish of St. Austell, and hornblende from the cliff between Duporth and Charlestown in the same 105 parish. All the carved work is executed with much skill and taste.” ”

“ But after awhile he shouted to the post-boy to pull up again.
"What's the matter, love?" sings out Mrs. Polwhele, overtaking him and coming to a stand likewise.
"Why, it occurs to me, my angel, that you might get into my chaise, if you're not too tightly wedged."
"There's no saying what will happen when I once begin to move," said Mrs. Polwhele: "but I'll risk it. For I don't mind telling you that one of my legs went to sleep somewhere near St. Austell, and 'tis dreadfully uncomfortable." ”

“ The market of St. Austell is held on Friday, the charter for which was first bestowed by Oliver Cromwell, as a grateful reward for the heroic exertions of one May, who had a seat near the town; and for his particular gallantry displayed in a battle fought near Boconnoc, in 38Cornwall. It is plentifully supplied with all sorts of provisions. A large market, equal to a fair, is held annually on the day preceding Good Friday. It has two fairs for bullocks, sheep, coarse woollen goods, &c. ”

“ It is a busy and self-respecting little town, and is the commercial centre of a district that, for Cornwall, is quite thickly populated; it is, indeed, one of the few Cornish districts in which population has really shown an increase of recent years. Much of its growing activity is due to the china-clay business; St. Austell claims to be the china-clay metropolis of the world. Most of the shipment is done from Fowey, Par, and Charlestown. The industry is becoming a recognised lucrative field for investment. ”

“ In the interior of the Cornish churches the chief feature is the absence of a chancel arch, which is almost universal. The arch was unnecessary when the roodloft extended upwards and was backed by a painted board. In some of the churches there are interesting bench ends. At St Austell, the miners' tools are represented on them; on some rabbits running in and out of their burrows are figured, and seagulls are frequent.
In painted glass Cornwall is not rich, except in the 15 windows of St Neot near Liskeard, and in that in the north aisle, and the fragments in the south aisle of St Kewe. ”

“ In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, before mentioned, Ecclesia de Fanum, appropriata Dom’ni de Tywardreth, in Decanatu de Powdre, this parish was taxed to the Pope’s first fruits, or annats, iiiil. vicar ejusdem nihil propter paupertatem. In Wolsey’s Inquisition, and Valor Beneficiorum, it goes as a daughter church in presentation and consolidation with St. Austell. The patronage in the King, the incumbent Hugoe, the sheaf or rectory in Mr. May ”

“ Austell measures 10,018 statute acres.
Increase on an hundred in thirty years, 131.2, or above 131 per cent.
Present incumbent, the Rev. T. S. Smyth, presented in 1815 by the King.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
This parish, so important in an economical point of view, on account of its minal production, affords a vast fund of geological information. Its northern part is composed of granite; its southern part of various rocks belonging to the porphyritic group. Its granite on the eastern side is like that of Alternun, and contains layers which abound in porphyritic crystals of felspar. ”

“ Austell river, which would form a pretty little port, were it not for the bar of sand made by the waste brought down from the tin-works, so that small craft only can get in, and that at spring-tides. It is a handsome village, and in good seasons great stores of fish are brought in here. ”

“ In the Austens’ time the status of a clergyman depended a very great deal on himself, and as the patronage of the Church was chiefly in the hands of the well-to-do lay-patrons, who bestowed the livings on their younger sons or brothers, there was very frequently a tie of relationship between the vicarage and the great house, which was sufficient to ensure the vicar’s position. ”

“ Astell met with unmerited obloquy for her 'Serious Proposal,' the balance was partly redressed by the extravagant eulogy which her antagonist, and editor of the 'Letters,' lavished upon her. As a matter of fact, the 'Letters' are full of pertinent inquiries, and prove the writer to have been, at any rate, a very intelligent woman. In 1705 Mrs. Astell published an octavo volume entitled 'The Christian Religion, as professed by a Daughter of the Church of England,' which gives a clear exposition of Church teaching, according to the type of the great Caroline divines ”

“ The little Austerfield church and the old church at Scrooby are the only picturesque or romantic elements of the environment, and on these churches the Pilgrims turned their backs as though they had been temples of Baal. In the single street of Austerfield the traveler meets the cottagers of to-day, and essays to talk with them. They are heavy and somewhat stolid, like most other rustic people in the north country, and an accent to which their ears are not accustomed amuses and puzzles them. No tradition of the Pilgrims lingers among them. ”

“ Manufactures of ochre, of which there are quarries in the vicinity, and of iron goods are carried on. The canal of Nivernais reaches as far as Auxerre, which has a busy port and carries on boat-building. Trade is principally in the choice wine of the surrounding vineyards, and in timber and coal.
Auxerre (Autessiodurum) became the seat of a bishop and a civitas in the 3rd century. Under the Merovingian kings the abbey of St Germain, named after the 6th bishop, was founded, and in the 9th century its schools had made the town a seat of learning. ”

“ Its cathedral is distinctly minor as to style, and is mainly Gothic of the fifteenth century; though not unmixed, nor even consistent, in its various parts. No inconsiderable portion is modern, as will be plainly seen.
One distinctly notable feature is a series of Romanesque columns in the nave, possibly taken from some pagan Roman structure. They are sufficiently of importance and value to be classed as "Monuments Historiques," and as such are interesting.
Aoste (Aoste-St.-Genix) is on the site of the Roman colony of Augustum, of which to-day there are but a few fragmentary remains. ”

“ So rarely in Italy is a church perfect both within and without that it is with amazement we find at Assisi not one but two churches, choir and nave piled above each other, and covered from roof to floor with frescoes, as perfect of their kind as the buildings which they decorate. Wars in every town, trouble, dissension and jealousies among men, raged like a storm over the land, but all this turmoil of a fevered age was unable to check the steady, rapid progress of at least this monument to a dead saint's memory ”

“ The small town of Auxonne, lying between Dijon and Besançon, is seldom thought of in connection with a cathedral church. There is little there to compel one's attention beyond the fact that the Church of Notre Dame, of the fourteenth-sixteenth century, is an interesting enough example of a minor edifice which at one time was classed as a cathedral. ”

“ Aston Church is a noble old structure, "to the manor born," though probably several hundred years before the present hall was erected, to which it seems to have been an apanage. The external is more impressive than its interior aspect, as it looks to be larger at a little distance than it really is. Perhaps this impression is produced by the massive tower and its tall and graceful spire. Both pedestal and statue are as graceful as colossal. Its "God's Acre" holds the dust of a dozen generations, and is filled to its walls with monuments of every grade and shade. ”

“ The adjoining Bishop's palace, with its rugged Romanesque arcades planted on a bit of Gallo-Roman city wall, and the interesting fragment of the church of Saint Germain, beside the hospital, are among the other notable monuments of Auxerre; but these too, masked by the incessant downpour, remained in memory as mere vague masses of dripping masonry, pressed upon by a low black sky. ”

“ Their churches, with red roofs all subdued with lichen into the softest browns, rise above the cottages or farm buildings that surround them in the ideal fashion that is finally repeated at Ouistreham where locks impound the waters of the canal, and a great lighthouse stands out more conspicuously than the church tower. Seen through the framework of closely trimmed trees Ouistreham makes a notable picture. The great Norman church is so exceedingly imposing for such a mere village, that it is easy to understand how, as a port in the Middle Ages, Ouistreham flourished exceedingly. ”

“ It was at Auxerre that the art and craft of building noble edifices developed so highly among churchmen. The builders of the twelfth century were not only often monks but churchmen of rank as well. They occupied themselves not only with ecclesiastical architecture, but with painting and sculpture. ”

“ And let me note the fact that here, too, is the tiniest and daintiest parish church in Scotland—the outpost of the Presbytery of Auchterarder in this direction.
Between us and the gap, but much nearer the gap, is a bit of rising ground, running eastward almost parallel with the Ochils, with a downward slope from west to east, upon which may be seen, if the atmosphere is clear, smoking chimneys and a faint ruddy hue, as if with the memory of tiles now discarded for the prosaic if more permanent roofing slate. ”