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21 
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH, 1905. 
A Peep at Pre-Bistoric Man. 
BY 
Mr. CORNELIUS ROBBINS, L.D.S. 
N detailing the history of the Harlyn Bay (Cornwall) discoveries, 
the lecturer stated that he was not an anthropologist, archzo- 
logist or antiquarian, but he was subject to fits of enthusiasm, 
and it was the result of one of those attacks of enthusiasm that 
he desired to place before the Members. 
In August of 1902 a family holiday was spent in a most 
delightful corner of North Cornwall, a little place called Polzeath, 
on the coast line, half-way between Tintagel and Newquay. The 
place had been made famous in the writings of Baring Gould, for 
at this point on the sea coast was pitched the story entitled ‘‘ In 
the Roar of the Sea,” dealing with an age in which smuggling 
was a fine art, and Coppinger’s name was a terror to the Custom 
officers. ‘The place was interesting for its natural rugged beauty, 
its rock grandeur, its coves and caves so useful formerly for storing 
contraband, and its close proximity to St. Enodoc, the little 
church that for a long period was lost entirely under the blown 
sand, but which had since been dug out and restored, and in 
which services were held regularly during the summer months. 
In Baring Gould’s story, the wedding of Coppinger and his 
unfortunate bride took place in the portion of the chancel from 
which the sand had been removed, and the entrance on that 
occasion was made through one of the windows. 
The passage ran as follows: “‘ Mr. Peter Trevisa (Peter was 
a family Christian name) was for twenty-five years Rector of 
St. Enodoc, on the north coast of Cornwall, at the mouth of the 
Camel. The sand dunes had encroached on the church of 
St. Enodoc, and had enveloped the sacred structure. A hole was 
broken through a window, through which the interior could be 
reached, where divine service was performed occasionally in the 
presence of the churchwardens, so as to establish the right of the 
rector, and through this same hole bridal parties entered to be 
coupled, with their feet ankle-deep in the sand that filled the 
interior to above the pew-tops.” 
Polzeath was seven miles from Wadebridge, and Mr. Robbins 
and his party frequently cycled over to friends who lived in that 
