From "Notes on the Parish of Mylor", published by Hugh Pengelly Olivey 1907
Beware, Ongoing work - This is First Draft Only and likely to contain typographic errors
SECTION 5
Industries and Old Customs. In the Dairy, Agricultural Processes, Harvest Operations, Baking, Mining, etc.
THE chief industry in this parish is that of agriculture, although from its position on the sea coast a great number of its inhabitants are called to a seafaring life. Many are employed in the oyster fishery during the season, who, after dredging them in the open, lay them in beds on the foreshore of the estuaries. Mining has been engaged in, but without much success. A good deal of market gardening is carried on, and of late years the cultivation of flowers, for which the climate and soil are well adapted, is becoming a growing industry, and we may expect considerable increase in the future. Orchards are not very general, but there is no doubt fruit growing would give good results. There are a few engaged in fishing, but from the fact of the fish being driven further away from the coast, the industry is a diminishing one.
Of Old Customs, the poet, Wordsworth, writes
" As generations come and go,
Their arts, their customs ebb and flow."
There are various customs and usages which are peculiarly Cornish, these from time immemorial have been observed in the parish of Mylor. For instance, the process of the dairy. Who would think of making butter without first " scalding " the milk ? And even in recent times, since the introduction of the " separator," the cream is still " scalded." This was an ancient British practice, and is peculiar to this county and part of Devon. This process, like many we read of in Holy Scripture of the Jewish hygienic laws, has anticipated modern science by sterilizing the milk and destroying the noxious germs, and is said to have been introduced by the Phoenicians, who at a very early date traded with this county for tin.
The process of this " scalding " is to allow the milk twelve or twenty-four hours for the cream to rise on the surface, and then to place the pans containing it over the fire in a kettle containing hot water, and allow it to remain until sufficiently warmed throughout. It is then allowed to cool and the cream skimmed off. The butter made from this has certainly better keeping qualities than that made from the unprepared cream.
I find many allusions to this " clotted " or clouted cream." Polwhele says : " I doubt not that of our cream was made the very sort of butter so much esteemed by the Romans." " Butter was a British luxury with which the Romans were unacquainted " ; and, quoting Mrs. Bray (Borders, II, p. 34), "Of what an ancient date your scalded cream is you little think," said I to a good old dairy-woman. ' Auntient,' she exclaimed, ' I'se warrant he's as old as Adam; for all the best things in the world were to be had in Paradise.'"
The following has reference to cream with the famous Cornish pies:
"Dear to Cornish palates, ' one and all,'
Appear'd in crusted pomp to grace the hall,
The pie, where herbs with veal in union meet,
The tasteful parsley, the nutritious beet,
The bitter mercury wild, nor valued less,
The watery lettuce and the pungent cress;
When ravishing with odours every nose,
The leek o'er layers of the pilchard rose,
Or, in a gentler harmony, with pork,
E're yet of mouths it claim'd the playful work,
Attack'd the nostril with a tempting steam,
As opening, it ingulph'd the golden cream."
-Old English Gentleman, pp. 75, 76.
An old poet, King, in his Art of Cookery, gives us some strange combinations:
"Trotter from quince and apples first did frame
A Pye, which still retains his proper name,
Tho' common grown, yet with white sugar strew'd
And buttered well, its goodness is allow'd."
Our fathers most admir'd their sauces sweet,
And often ask'd for sugar with their meat ;
They butter'd currants on fat veal bestow'd,
And Rumps of Beef with Virgin Honey strow'd.
Hence Mack'rel seem delightful to the eyes,
Tho' dres't with incoherent Gooseberries."
It has been facetiously said that the devil does not come into Cornwall because he fears being put into a pie. I do not think this is quite true! They make pies of almost everything eatable squab pie (mutton with apples and onions, etc.), herby pie, pilchard pie, conger pie, muggoty pie, etc., etc., and most of them with cream.
The " Harlyn pie " was peculiar. A cottage was held for several generations in the parish of St. Merryn under the proprietorship of Harlyn by the annual render of a pie made of limpets, raisins, and various herbs, on the eve of the festival in honour of the saint to whom the church was dedicated (St. Constantine). The pie is said to have been excellent. This cottage was overwhelmed by sand.
Mr. Robert Hunt, in his Popular Romances of the West of England, says "Cornish traditions are very contradictory. On the one hand we have amid the rocks and hills numerous devil's coits, plenty of devil's footsteps, with devil's bellows, devil's frying-pans, devil's ovens and devil's caves in abundance. On the other hand we are told that the devil never came into Cornwall, 'because when he crossed the Tamar, and made Torpoint for a brief space his resting place, he could not but observe that everything vegetable or animal was put by Cornish people into a pie. He saw and heard of fishy pie, star-gazy pie, conger pie, and, indeed, pies of all the fishes of the sea ; of parsley pie, and herby pie, of lamy pie, and piggy pie, and pies without number. Therefore, fearing they might take a fancy to a devilly pie, he took himself back into Devonshire.'"
Mr. Hunt, however, omits all allusion to the cream which might have made the pies more tempting.
Polwhele writes: "The squab pye, the herb pye, the leek and pork pye, on which clouted cream was poured profusely, the goose and parsnip and the fish and apple pye were frequent in Meneg. And pilchards, herrings and potatoes, and barley bread baked under the kettle, were the chief sustenance of the poor."
Mrs. Sandford, in her interesting book, Tom Poole and his Friends, which relates chiefly to his home on the Quantocks in Somersetshire, refers to the poet, Coleridge, who was a frequent visitor there, and to his fondness for "clouted cream," and says it was in use there, and in Wales. Coleridge is then staying at Crescilly in Wales, the seat of one of the Wedgwoods, and in writing, he says he is very happy there, and has "plenty of music and plenty of cream." " For at Crescilly (I mention it as a remarkable circumstance, it being the only place I was ever at in which it was not otherwise), though they have a dairy, and though they have plenty of milk, they are not at all stingy of it. In all other houses where cows are kept you may drink six shillings worth of wine a day and welcome, but use three pennyworth of cream and, 0 Lord! the feelings of the household ! Their looks would curdle the cream dish I have never been able to understand or analyze this strange folly, it is a perfect mystery why three pennyworth of cream should be more costly than a shilling's worth of butter."
There is then a note by Tom Poole: " C. used to be very fond of the clouted cream, eating more than my dairymaid thought sufficient."(1)
SUPERSTITIONS.
There can be no doubt the Cornish were very superstitious, and they attributed many things either to the evil one, or to giants, ghosts, and fairies. All the granite rocks and caves of any magnitude are invested with the supernatural.
The Cornish were also a religious people. In the great Cornish rebellion Of 1549, they made the newly-formed English Liturgy a grievance, and desired still to continue the Romish mass and other Roman uses which were then discontinued.
The belief in charms used to be very prevalent. I remember an old woman at Flushing of great repute in this way ; one of our household was taken to her to be cured of a " kennell," or ulceration of the cornea. I have myself crept under a bramble which had taken a second root, nine times backwards, for the cure of boils. For warts there was charming, stealing something, as meat, etc., and burying it, and as it decayed the warts would disappear. Passing the cat's tail across it nine times for the curing of a stye.
Many old sayings occur to me as having been common from my earliest days. " It is bad luck to begin a new piece of work on a Friday." " Turn your money for luck on the first sight of the new moon." " Bad luck to meet on the stairs." " Good luck to nail up a horse-shoe." "Bad luck to see one magpie." If you see one, take off your hat to it to change the luck.
" One is a sign of sorrow,
Two is a sign of mirth,
Three is a sign of a wedding,
Four is a sign of a birth."
A tea-stalk in the tea indicates strangers. By putting it on one hand and striking it with the other, the number of blows given before it adheres is the time in days of his arrival. The penalty for killing a robin or a wren -
"Who kills a robin or a wran
Will never prosper, boy or man."
Under the influence of religious teaching and education, in a great measure by the preaching of John Wesley and the establishment of schools, many of these superstitions have faded away.
OLD PROCESSES IN AGRICULTURE.
There are some other points in agriculture peculiar to Cornwall, and which are practised in this parish. In the preparation of the wheat tillage : the first process, 11 turning to rot," which is done in early spring by a sort of half ploughing, or throwing a narrow furrow over an unploughed piece of land of about the same width. This is left for a month or so, when the harrow and scuffler are put to work and the whole surface of the ley broken down and made fine enough to rake and burn, or else carted off into big heaps, and these heaps are made to grow cabbages on. All the roots of grass and weeds are cleaned off, and the ground prepared for a clean ploughing for seed. Turnips are prepared for in like manner, only the " turning to rot " takes place a few months earlier. The effect of burning is to form a valuable manurial product in the ashes. Latterly such products are largely supplemented by artificial manures.
Polwhele writes : " In agriculture we owe much to the Romans; yet I cannot applaud the Roman method of burning the soil, which Virgil and others describe, and which, from its being more extensively practised in Devonshire than in any other county, is emphatically called Denshiring."
Carew also refers to this custom as being peculiar to Cornwall : 11 And yet whosoever looketh into the endeavour which the Cornish husbandman is driuen to use about his tillage, shall find the trauel painful and the time tedious, and the expenses very chargeable. For first, about May, they cut up all the grass of that ground which must newly be broken into Turfes, which they call Breaking. These Turfes they raise up some what in the midst, that the wind and sunne may sooner drie them. The inside turned outwards drieth more speedily, but the outside can better brooke the change of weather. After they have been thoroughly dried, the husbandman pileth them in little heapes and so burneth them to ashes."
And, speaking on the subject to the fine old sporting farmer of Canara, he gave me the following old rhyme,
"Tobs, tabs, and tubbuns, burning by the ton,
Will do for the father, not the son."
Meaning that the land was temporarily improved but afterwards impoverished by this practice.
These clods were collected by a rude implement called a " drudge," which was a magnified kind of rake. It was drawn by two oxen(2) and a horse, and when a sufficient quantity was collected in a row, it was raised by two handles at the back, and when collecting these rows into heaps in a cross direction the driver sat upon it to keep it down to its heavier work, and raised it as before when full. The above gentleman describes it as being tremendously hard work, and the drudge-man was always allowed three pints of beer a day. The plough also, which was used in this parish until a comparatively recent period, was a very primitive implement of wood, and could not have undergone much change for ages past, and was fixed up with home-made wedges. I am informed on good authority that my father was the first to introduce an iron " Ransome " plough, with one wheel : this must have been at least fifty years ago. To this has been adapted a second wheel, and it is still in use in the parish, and is a most serviceable implement, and has passed through several hands.
HARVEST OPERATIONS.
Until very recently no farmer would think of saving his harvest without first of all putting it up in the field in what was called "Airish Mows," or wind mows-now, perhaps, owing to the low price of corn they may consider it is not worth the extra labour. The word " Airish " appears to be from etch, or eddish, or edich, which means the stubble of the previous crop of whatever kind. Seebohm in his book The English Village Community (p. 376), speaking of Tusser's description of " Five hundred points of good husbandry," written in the sixteenth century, makes frequent mention of these words. In his directions for February he says:
" Eat etch e're ye plow,
With hog, sheep and cow."
This is to prepare the stubble of the last year's corn crop for the spring sown crop, for under the same month he says:
" Go plow in the stubble for now is the season,
For sowing of vetch, of bean and of peasan."
In his directions for October are the lines
" Seed first go fetch, for edish or etch,
White wheat if ye please, sow now upon pease."
And again
" When wheat upon eddish ye mind to bestow,
Let that be the first of the wheat ye do sow."
"Etch grain" is therefore the crop sown in spring after
ploughing the stubble of the wheat crop, which itself was best
sown upon the fallow, and was called " tilth grain."
In this "Airish Mow" the sheaves were built up in a regular solid cone about twelve feet high, the "beards" all turned inwards and the "butt end" of the sheaf only exposed to the weather. The whole cone is finished by a sheaf or two inverted and tied to the upper rows.
This custom was of very high antiquity, probably an ancient British one. It may have been due to the greater uncertainty and moisture of our climate in Cornwall, but the result shows the careful husbandman the value of the precaution. The grain is much better preserved, and in inclement seasons the corn is guarded from the rain and wind, whilst time is gained for the better saving of the later crops, without incurring danger of hot ricks or grown-out corn. This custom prevails nowhere else in England except the Western extremities of Devonshire and in Wales - the close connection between Cornwall and Wales in ancient days, accounting not only for their similarity of language but their customs. That primitive manners and customs so long prevailed in Cornwall cannot be wondered at, being cut off as it was from intercourse with the rest of England, and almost a distinct province. There was much jealousy at the introduction of any novelty, and they accepted improvements slowly. Those who now travel by the Great Western Railway and grumble, have had no experience of the journeys of former days. Within my recollection the only way out of Cornwall was by coach to Plymouth or Exeter, or by steamboat-from Hayle to Bristol used to be a favourite routethe deck half-mast high with crates of broccoli, and being hours out waiting for the tides. I need only go back to 1850.
The ceremony of "cutting the neck"(3) (or the last handful of wheat) was almost universally practised, and all the neighbourhood were made aware by the loud shouting and " hurrahs," that farmer so-and-so had been rejoicing over the last handful. This was plaited and adorned with flowers and hung up in the kitchen until the next season.(4) I have as a boy often joined in this custom, the formula being:
First voice : " I hav'en, I hav'en, I hav'en."
Second voice What hav'ee, what hav'ee, what hav'ee ? "
First voice : " A neck, a neck, a neck."
All: " Hurrah," Hurrah," etc.
Corn carrying was also made a great event. All hands were in earnest to "clear up" on a fine day, and were warmed by a glass of spirit about four or five o'clock in the morning (there were no teetotalers in those days) ; then for breakfast a big boiling of " flowery milk " (or " white pot "):(5) a kind of frummity or gruel with currants in it, and winding up with a supper at night. I believe the late Mr. H. Trevascus was the last to keep it in this fashion in this parish.
The Harvest-home Festival (revived some years ago by the late Archdeacon Denison, at South Brent, Somerset), with thanksgiving services in most parish churches, followed by a social gathering, has lately taken its place, although now most denominations hold their own festival services. This is much to be regretted, as in conformity with old parish amity it is well that there should be one day at least when minor differences could be thrown aside, and all could meet in friendly and social intercourse for one common object.
In those days people were not so temperate as they have since become. On this subject Polwhele remarks : "On our farms the women as well as the men have at particular seasons their morning drams before the commencement of work. And the brandy-glass circulates briskly before the farmers before any occasional dinner, immediately after dinner, and a third time before the breakingup of the company : this latter is called the stirrupglass, and is generally given by the master of the house to his departing guests when mounted at the door."
The same historian goes on to say The love of malt liquors is peculiarly prevalent in Cornwall. Enormous quantities of beer were drunk. Our beershops (or kidlewinks) are very numerous and our aversion to the temperance societies is here stronger than in most other counties." Also, '' In the early part of the century intemperance was a crying evil in Cornwall and more particularly among the mining population."
In a statement made by Dr. Borlase he estimated that £8,000 was annually expended in liquor only, by labourers in the parish of Redruth, and in December, 1804, a meeting is called at Redruth to take into consideration what steps could be taken to counteract the evil. It is called " a meeting of the society for the suppression of drunkenness," and is presided over by the Rev. Hugh Rogers. A series of resolutions are passed, and active steps are taken to prosecute for illegal practices. Three persons of Perran-ar-Worthal are brought to justice the following year.
It is very gratifying to find a very marked improvement in the habits of people since then, and that employers now see that the generous hospitality of those days was not always for the public good.
This reminds one of the legend of St. Perran. There are three parishes in Cornwall dedicated to this saint. Perran-ar-Worthal, or "on the noted river," Perran-Zabuloe, " in the sand," PerranUthnoe, "little Perran." To which of these the following relates I will not say. "St. Perran having discovered tin whilst boiling his pot over a stone of tin and seeing the white metal run away, he called the miners together and showed them how to obtain it and gave them mead and metheglin and other drinks and the people were rendered incapable, thereby' Drunk as a Perraner,' has passed into a proverb from that day."-Hunt's Popular Roances of the West of England.
With the advent of machinery it is surprising the many changes that have been made in agricultural processes. I remember the reaping being done with a small reaping-hook. A portion of corn was taken up by the hook, and this bent back towards the standing corn was secured in single handfuls until enough was placed to make a sheaf. The women were also employed at this.(6) Then came a larger hook, called a " yaw-hook," with which the corn was slashed in against that standing and then collected into a sheaf. This did not seem expeditious enough, and at length the scythe was used and the cut corn collected by another. Now, after numerous alterations and improvements, has come perfection in the way of implements-the reaping machine-which delivers its corn firmly bound into sheaves.
And what a change has been wrought by the introduction of the threshing machine in place of the tedious process of the flail, or " drashal," which was in its turn superseded by the roundabout machine fixed in the farmyard. This has almost entirely gone out of use. I believe there is only one farmer now in the parish who uses it. All the rest have the migratory steam thresher.
BAKING.
The process of baking is also peculiar to Cornwall. Barley bread was frequently used. It was made up with " leaven " into cakes or loaves of a conical shape, and baked under an iron kettle, on an iron or stone(2) slab heated with wood faggots, and the kettle covered over with chaff (after winnowing), or turf, or furze. Other things were baked in the same way, and it was common to use an iron rod applied to the kettle and the ear to ascertain by the sound thereby conveyed if the article covered over was boiling or not. This must have given a hint to the physician as to his stethoscope.
Polwhele asks the question, " Is the custom of baking bread upon the hearth under a kettle known anywhere but in Devon or Cornwall? Is not this a relic of the ancient mode of baking ? " We find in Scripture mention of bread baked among the ashes. Sarah made cakes upon the hearth when the three men came to see Abraham. And the Arabs are accustomed to bake in the same manner.
MINING.
In Mylor some attempts have been made at mining, and until recently there existed some shafts on Mylor downs, and an old adit from a former mine called Wheal Lemon is still there. The Carnon stream-works is also adjoining, for which, as seen by the overseers' accounts, at one time poor rates were paid (see under Section X). Gold is also said to be found at Carnon.
" Native gold," says Polwhele, " is to be found in all our stream-works." Borlase notices "a piece of gold in the possession of Wm. Lemon, Esq., which weighed in gold coin three pounds and three shillings, or fifteen pennyweights and sixteen grains. It was found in the parish of Creed. Mr. Rashleigh's piece of gold was of less weight ; it was from Carnon."
Tonkin, speaking of Carclew, says: " There hath been much tin on this barton, and perhaps it would turn to good account if a deep adit were brought in to unwater the shafts in depth. There is also a pretty good lode of antimony not wrought, and perhaps not worth working."
To the Phoenicians we are said to be indebted for many of our old customs.
They were the first traders to Cornwall for tin, afterwards the Greeks, and then the Romans. The Phoenicians found their trade very profitable, and were very jealous of it. It is recorded that the master of a Phoenician vessel, perceiving that he was "dodged " by a Greek to discover his route, ran his ship ashore, risking his life and ship and cargo (for which he was remunerated by the public treasury of his country) rather than that he would admit a partner in this traffic by showing him the way. The Greek vessel being led astray was also wrecked.
Who were these Phoenicians who are so often mentioned as trading with Cornwall for tin ? They were the men of Tyre, who are said to have done so since the days of Solomon, and who are mentioned in the Old Testament (Ezekiel, xxvi and xxvii) : " Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus ; and say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God: O Tyrus, thou hast said I am of perfect beauty, thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty . . Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots . . . All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. . . . Tarshish (Cadiz, as will be shown) was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches ; with silver, iron, tin and lead they traded in thy fairs." Also Isaiah, i, 25 : " I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin." These extracts show the antiquity of the metal, and have reference to events which occurred seven hundred years before the Christian era. But Moses mentions it still earlier, fourteen centuries and half before our era (Numbers, xxxi, 22), " The gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead."
Tin, at that early period, appears to have been found only in Portugal, and the adjoining parts of Spain on the north.
The men of Tyre were transplanted to Carthage in Africa, and again to Cadiz in Spain (Tarshish), and in their enterprising spirit, finding the tin becoming exhausted in Spain and Portugal, sailed across the Atlantic, and discovered the valuable metal at the Scilly Isles and the West of Cornwall, a district which was before that totally unknown to them. They concealed the position of these isles, and, by giving false accounts, imposed on the world for three or four ages. The Greeks eventually explored for, and found them, and, after them, the Romans. The Greeks gave their own names to the islands, calling them " Cassiterides," as they did also to many other places on the coast, but the Phoenicians imposed none.
(1) The secret probably was that the dairymaid had to make up her butter account. Tom Poole was a bachelor.
(2) " In Redruth show fair in 1807 a prize was given for working oxen."-Royal Cornwall Gazette article, " One hundred years ago."
(3) This word is a corruption from" anek,"-harvest, or a handful.
(4) Since writing the above I am informed that it was not always "hung up until the next season," but was sometimes given on Christmas Day to the best milch cow. The following incident actually occurred: The late Mr. Henry Trevascus, who was to the last much attached to old customs, ordered his man to do so, and on asking him if he had complied, said he had. Soon after he found the "neck " thrust up into the spout of the pump; asking why, he was told: " That is the best milch cow you have." This might have been very well for a present-day milk dealer, but evidently this lad was before his time.
(5) " White pot " is rather a dainty of our Eastern neighbours, and is therefore called " Devonshire white pot." This is emphasized in the following, from King's Art of Cookery
" A widow has cold Pye, nurse gives you Cake,
From gen'rous merchants Ham or Sturgeon take.
The farmer his Brown-Bread as fresh as day,
And Butter fragrant as the Dew of May.
Cornwall squab-pie and Devon white pot brings
And Lei'ster Beans and Bacon food for Kings."
The Harvest-home supper of the sixteenth century is thus graphically portrayed by Herrick
" Foundation of your feast fat beefe
With upper stories, mutton, veale
And bacon (which makes full the meale).
With sev'ral dishes standing by,
And here a custard, there a pie,
And here all tempting Frumentie."
(6) In reaping women were largely employed, and a great number came from the towns, somewhat as in the present day for hoppicking. The farmers fetched them in their carts and took them back again in the evening. The men did the binding. Each reaper had a width of nine feet, which was marked by the plough when tilled. There was great emulation among them.
(7) The stones in Cornwall were called " greidiols " or gridles, they were sometimes laid on the bottom of the chimney or supported by baking irons.
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