GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE AFTER THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

When the survey of this castle was taken in the reign of Edward III. one of the chapels contained two bells; there were also gates, but they were in a decayed state; and the chambers that were over the gateway were covered with lead. There were also without the gate, two stables, sufficient to contain twenty horses on each side of the way; but even at that time these stables were considered as old and ruinous. Since that period most of these distinguishing particulars have disappeared. At present sufficient remains to shew us the extent and height of the wall, to inform us that the ditch from the outer bank is about nine yards deep, and that the parts which have survived the ravages of time, are, like all the works of human art and ingenuity, mouldering to decay.

The castle which formerly stood in the vicinity of Truro, but of which not a single vestige remains, is attributed to one of the Norman earls. The spot on which it stood is now a waste area, on an eminence at the north-west end of the town. It is still distinguished by its name, and by the artificial mound of earth on which the edifice was erected. But nothing remains to point out the extent of the building, or to direct the inquirer to the age when the fabric was raised. And even the tumulus on which it stood is daily decreasing, the earth being carried from the spot for such purposes as the wants of those who remove it may require.

In the parish of Breage is an embattled square tower, which is nearly all that has survived of an old castellated mansion, still known by the name of Pengersick Castle. But of this edifice, with Ruan Lanyhorne Castle, Trelonk House, and many others, we shall speak more particularly, when we proceed to the parochial department; in which view several specimens of Norman architecture will appear. From the few military edifices which we have examined, nothing has appeared to mark the Conquest as forming an era in architectural science. That which has appeared most conspicuous is, that the buildings which have been erected since the Norman period, seem to have been less able to resist the corrosions of the elements, and the wasting hand of time, than others which are evidently of a far more ancient date. Restormel Castle, and the fragments at Pengersick, seem to be all that Cornwall can now boast of the military architecture of the Normans. In other departments we shall probably discover more specimens than in this; but it will not always be easy to discriminate between the works of the Normans and those of others.

Of the changes and advantages which our architecture derived from the Normans, Dr. Borlase speaks as follows:-" As the sciences were in this age more cultivated among the Normans, than here in England, they improved our manner in works of taste and art; they introduced a more noble and elegant kind of building and designing, than we had been used to before. From this time therefore, our

GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE AFTER THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

monuments have no more the rudeness and disproportion of the natural stone. They no longer remain uninscribed, silent as well as monstrous. They want dates indeed, but they are generally inscribed, and surnames are added. But what shall particularly distinguish all inscribed monuments erected by the Normans, is the old French, which in all the law courts, and elsewhere on all occasions, this king (William) laboured most assiduously to introduce, in place of the Saxon or English language. Those inscribed in French, are likely to be near the Conquest, if the characters will suit that age. For notwithstanding all the struggles of the Norman line, the Saxon tongue gained ground again, and in a little time nothing but the law remained in French; a sure sign how difficult it is to make thorough alterations in language; and that chains are more easily imposed on the hands than on the tongue. The other works of the Normans, such as monasteries, palaces, courts of justice, churches, crosses, and the like, are too little different from the works of the late or present age, to require any particular notice here."

It has been argued, that the introduction of the peaked arch into our public buildings, formed a distinguishing criterion of the Conqueror's reign. In this opinion we have been taught to acquiesce with a degree of implicit confidence which few would presume to question. But the fallacy of this opinion has been pointed out; and the peaked arch has been traced back to a period long before the Normans became embodied as a nation, and swarmed in hordes from the shores of the Baltic; and it was introduced into this kingdom long before the name of the Normans had found its way into any language.

Mr. Whitaker says, "The use of the peaked arch, if we go upon those facts which alone ought to fix our faith, is prior to the Conquest within this island. The church of Kirkdale, the church of Aldsbrough, the sanctuary of Westminster, and the coin of the Confessor, shew the arch to have been used here in the Confessor's days. The appearance also of the peaked arch, in the empress Helena's magnificent church of Jerusalem, upon a monument of the Romans in the north of Britain, and in a remaining church of theirs within the south, proves it to have been equally used here, as early as the days of the Romans. Then the old cathedral of St. Germans comes in to fill up the vacuity of the ages between, and forms an intermediate link in the chain of transmission betwixt the Romans and the Confessor. Whatever antiquity of an earlier nature it may challenge, it was certainly built as early as the conquest of Cornwall, certainly coeval in existence with Athelstan's appointment of a bishop there under 936; it is prior to the reign of the Confessor by more than a century, and cotemporary with any coins of the tenth century, representing a church with peaked arches, upon the continent,"

GREAT ANTIQUITY OF THE PEAKED ARCH IN ARCHITECTURE.

In favour of the great antiquity of peaked arches, this author has argued with considerable force; and the evidence which he has adduced, the reasonings which he has advanced, and the facts to which he has appealed, appear in a light sufficiently commanding to preclude the Normans for ever from claiming the honour of introducing the peaked arch into this country. In Cornwall we discover very little to ascribe exclusively to them, besides the enlargement of some of our public edifices, which will fall more immediately under our particular notice hereafter.

CHAP. XI.

Insurrections and civil Vicissitudes which have occurred in Cornwall.

?

SECTION I.

St. Michael's Mount first seized, fortified, and defended by Henry de la Pomeroy, for John Earl of Cornwall, against Richard I.

AMONG the military exploits by which Cornwall has been distinguished, there is only one memorable incident that is recorded, from the Norman conquest to the year 1497; and this occurred while England was engaged in those wild crusades which stamped an indelible disgrace upon all the romantic adventurers. In these visionary expeditions there are not many Cornish names to be discovered. Mr. Hals informs us, that "One of the Tregarthyns of Tregarthyn in Gorran, accompanied Richard I. to the Holy Land." But the only exploit that he has recorded of him is, that he carried with him an escalop shell to drink out of; in consequence of which his posterity had the honour of having three escalop shells incorporated in their arms.

Among the ancient families whose names we have already mentioned, was that of Pomerai or Pomeroy, one of whom stood among the principal landholders in the records of 1255. This family had two seats; that of Berry or Bury Pomeroy in Devonshire, and that of Tregony Castle in Cornwall. At the former of these places, this baronial family was seated in the reign of William the Conqueror; the latter was of a subsequent date; and this Cornish branch of the family is said to have become extinct in the reign of Elizabeth.

The mad expedition of Richard into the Holy Land, to rescue Palestine from the hands of infidels, caused much uneasiness and dissatisfaction among the more considerable of his subjects at home. Among these, was Henry de la Pomeroy, then lord of Bury Pomeroy in Devon, and Tregony Pomeroy in Cornwall.

Richard, though a monarch at home, was enslaved to the dominion of the Pope; and in obedience of his mandate, he had abandoned the affairs of his kingdom to pursue chimeras in a foreign land. On his departure from England he had consigned the care of his dominions to a favourite Norman, Longchamp bishop of Ely. This wretch, intoxicated with power, no sooner found himself enthroned,

ENORMITIES COMMITTED BY LONGCHAMP, VICEROY IN THE ABSENCE OF RICHARD I.

than he began to display the tyranny of his disposition. He extorted from the people enormous sums of money without a parliament; insulted the nobility and gentry of the kingdom through the insolence of office; and excited abhorrence by that idle parade of grandeur which he displayed in his public appearance; as he rarely went abroad without having a thousand attendants in his train.

John, the brother of Richard, was at this time earl of Cornwall; who being irritated at the enormities of Longchamp, and perhaps secretly influenced by a wish that Richard might never more return, began to concert measures for the deposing of Longchamp, and for the establishment of himself on the throne of his absent brother. In this conspiracy he was secretly joined by numbers, among whom was Henry de la Pomeroy.

To accomplish their purpose the more effectually, they transmitted to Richard an account of the enormities of Longchamp, and pleaded so effectually, that by the king's letters patent he was deposed, and the archbishop of Rouen was appointed to succeed him. In this state of degradation he was obliged to disguise himself in female attire, to escape popular fury; but being detected, he was assaulted by some women and severely beaten.

Previous however, to this event, Longchamp had received information of the designs of John and of Pomeroy, so far as respected his own tyranny; and in order to prevent their effects, he dispatched a messenger to Bury Pomeroy, with orders to arrest Pomeroy in the name of Richard. The messenger on his arrival, concealed the nature of his errand; and, as the descendants of Pomeroy have reported, was hospitably entertained at the castle for several days, and when about to depart was complimented with a liberal present. Having thus received all that his host could bestow, he instantly arrested him in the king's name, commanding him to make his immediate appearance to answer for some capital offence. Smitten with the treachery of the messenger, and perhaps with a consciousness of a secret which he imagined Longchamp knew, he drew his dagger, and stabbed the messenger to the heart. Pomeroy immediately fled into Cornwall, and placed himself under the secret protection of John, who is said to have privately supplied him with men and arms, sufficient to secure his safety against the power of the viceroy, from whom the aggravation of his crime forbade him to expect any mercy. This was effectual until Longchamp was displaced; and it is probable, that Pomeroy during these intermediate months, took up his abode in Tregony Castle.

The deposition of Longchamp was a circumstance highly favourable to Pomeroy, who now hoped to escape with impunity. This event was followed by another, that seemed still more auspicious. Richard, on his returning from the holy war,