The Parochial History of Cornwall/Volume 1/St Eve
ST. EVE, OR ST. IVONIS.
HALS.
Is situate in the hundred of Eastwellshire, and hath upon the north Northill; south, Quethiock; west Menhynyet; east, St. Mellyn. For the modern name of this parish, it is taken from the tutelar guardian of the church, not St. Eve, that is to say, life or living, the first woman created by God, whose history is to be seen in the third chapter of Genesis; but, as the parishioners tell us, St. Eve is a corruption of St. Ivonis, in British St. John, viz. St. John Baptist, to whom the same is dedicated. And suitably in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, this church is called Ecclesia Sancti Ivonis in Decanatu de Eastwellshire, and valued to First Fruits iiiil. xiiis. iiiid. In Wolsey's Inquisition and Valor Beneficiorum 26l. The patronage heretofore belonged to the preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John Baptist, at Jerusalem, who endowed it; now to Coryton. The incumbent Holden; and the parish rated to the 4s. in the pound Land Tax, by the name of St. Ive, 1696, that is to say, St. Ivonis or John, 170l. 8s. 8d.
At the time of the Domesday Tax, 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of Bicketone, id est, little town, then and long before, by prescription, the voke lands of a manor, barton, and court leet; the same now extant by the name of Tre-bighe, or Tre-bicke, that is town little; but not so little but that it was a kind of franchise royal, exempted and privileged in some respects against the common law, and within its precincts held pleas of debt and damages before the steward thereof, life, land, and limb, excepted, and had its prison and bailiff for the public service, as the hundred courts have. Now the writ to remove an action at law depending in this court must be thus directed: Senescallo et Ballivo Manerii sui de Trebiche, alias Trebighe, in comitatu Cornubiæ salutem.
This lordship was either by King Stephen or King Henry II. given to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John Baptist of Jerusalem, about the year 1150; (who endowed this church as aforesaid, where they had their preceptory or commandery, a corporation under a preceptor or commander, who took care of all their revenues, lands, and tenements, churches, chapels, and tithes; and those, their churches, were wholly appropriated to them, though they were not in holy orders, to preach or administer the Sacraments. These followed the rules of Augustine and Bernard.
This order originated in the time of the first Crusade, about the year 1100, when the members were called Knights of the Military Hospital of St. John Baptist of Jerusalem. They were most amply endowed throughout Christendom, and especially from the spoils of the Knights' Templars. The prior of the order for England, had his residence in St. John-street, London, and was accounted the first Baron of the land.
When the Franks were driven from Jerusalem and the whole of Palestine, this order of monastic warriors took refuge in the Isle of Rhodes, where it continued to rule till the Turks expelled them in 1523. The Island of Malta was then given to them by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, where they have remained as Knights of Malta, opposing an impenetrable barrier against the progress of the Turks.
In the 31st year of Henry the Eighth, all the possessions of the Knights of Malta in England were seized, together with all other monastic property; and the last prior of the English, William Weston, is said to have died from grief.
This lordship of Trebich, or Trebigh, passed from Henry the Eighth to John Wrey, Esq., and from him to John Wrey, Esq. Sheriff of Cornwall 28th of Elizabeth, that married Killigrew, and had issue by her William Wrey, Esq. afterwards knighted, that married Courtney of Powderham, Sheriff of Cornwall 41st of Elizabeth; and had issue William Wrey, Esq. created the 209th Baronet of England, that married and had issue Sir William or Sir Chichester Wrey, Bart, that married Frances daughter of Richard Bourchier, the fifth Earl of Bath, who by her had issue Sir Bourchier Wrey, Bart, that married Rolle of Stephenston, now in possession thereof; who also, for that his uncle, Henry Bourchier, sixth Earl of Bath, died without issue, in right of his mother is become one of his heirs. The arms of Wrey are, Sable, a fess between three hatchets Argent.
TONKIN.
Hay, in this parish, is the residence of Thomas Dodson, Esq. a commissioner for the peace and taxes, and burgess in this parliament (1702) for Liskeard. He married a daughter of John Buller, of Morvell, Esq; his father a daughter of Lidley. Originally from the Dodsons of London. Their arms. Argent, a bend engrailed Azure, between two birds Sable; quartering, Argent, an etoile Gules.
The parish is so called from St. Ivo, or Ives, a Persian bishop, as says Mr. Camden; who, they write, about the year 600, travelled over England with a great reputation of sanctity, all the way carefully preaching the Gospel, and left his name to this place, where he left his body too, meaning St. Ive's, in Huntingdonshire. Perhaps in his peregrination, though vix credo, he might take this place in his way.
Trebigh manor had formerly lords of its own name, from whom is descended the Hon. George Treby, of Plymston, in Devonshire, Master of his Majesty's Household, and some time Secretary at War, only son of the late Lord Chief Justice Treby. He bears, Sable, a lion rampant Argent, armed and langued Gules, three Plates in chief.
The manor of Bickton was one of the 288 manors in this county given by the Conqueror to Robert Earl of Morton with the Earldom of Cornwall. Under him, I suppose, it was held by a family of the same name, Bickton, who gave for their arms, Gules, a fess Or between four fleurs-de-lis Argent in chief, and three annulets in base of the Second.
THE EDITOR.
The town and parish of St. Ives, in Penwith, are universally believed to have for their patroness a female missionary from Ireland. The ruins of an old fortress is there called Dinas Iva; and various other circumstances tend to confirm the tradition. It seems to be much more likely, therefore, that another parish in Cornwall should be dedicated to the same person, than to a Persian bishop, of whose pilgrimage to England there can be little assurance.
The church stands on the top of a hill; and the tower is remarkable from the circumstance of having the two buttresses at each corner, as well as the corner itself, terminated by a pinnacle, making twelve in all. The patronage is in the Duke of Cornwall.
This parish measures 5,085 statute acres.
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | £. 3767 |
s. 0 |
d. 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 404 | 3 | 0 |
| Population,— | in 1801, 486 |
in 1811, 535 |
in 1821, 602 |
in 1831, 656 |
giving an increase of 35 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Rector, the Rev. J. Jope, presented by the King in 1806.
GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The southern part of this parish touches on the great eastern patch of granite. Its rocks are similar to the rocks of St. Cleer, with the exception of those in the southern part, which contain a portion of calcareous spar.