XXVll 



and capitals of the chimneys are very nearly perfect in each 

 ■chamber, and are ornamented with the peculiar erect form of con- 

 ventional foliage which betokens French rather than English 

 work. The Keep surmounts the mound and is built with excel- 

 lent mortar, in a form neither circular nor oval, but in irregular 

 curves, which appear to have followed the natural figure of the 

 summit of the rocky mound. A few corbels appear internally 

 a little below the parapet, and may have served either to support 

 the roofs of buildings within the Keep, or a broader parapet from 

 wliich the archers shot their arrows. It seems quite within pos- 

 sibility that the main parts of the walls of the Keep are those 

 which were in existence when Domesday was compiled by William 

 the Norman. A small chapel on the S.E. side, which is referred 

 to in Hals, adjoins the modern wall of the garden, and is the 

 same which appears on the right in Lysons' view. Admiral Tucker 

 offered every facility for thoroughly investigating every part of 

 the castle, accompanying the party, and showing the collection of 

 curiosities, chiefly ethnological, which his father placed in a 

 museum formed by the two chambers over the gate. The Admiral 

 also offered the hospitalities of his house to the visitors, but as a 

 luncheon had been prepared at St. Germans, and it was necessary 

 to get back to the station at Saltash, his liberal offer was courte- 

 ously declined. 



After luncheon at the Eliot Arms, St. Germans, the excursion- 

 ists were accompanied by the Reverend Tobias Furneaux and his 

 son, to his very interesting old Church, situated within the park, 

 and adjacent to the mansion, of Port Eliot. This building ex- 

 hibits the most important example of Norman architecture extant 

 in Cornwall ; whilst those parts of the original structure which 

 had perished, have been replaced by aisles in two, if not more, 

 subsequent styles of architecture. The enriched Norman of the 

 12th century is exhibited in the West Front, especially the lower 

 stages of the two west towers, in a portion of the Nave, and in the 

 North Transept arch. The eastern portion of the South Aisle is of 

 good Decorated woi-k ; while the western portion of that aisle, and 

 all that remains of the Chancel, are Perpendicular. The rest is 

 modern.* The details of the Norman and Decorated parts are 

 in an unusually perfect state, and prove the excellent care with 

 which they have been preserved. — Ecclesiologists will probably 

 agree in thinking that no part of the present Church can claim 



* An illustrated Article, by Mr. J. Furneaux, on the architectural pe- 

 culiarities of this Church, has been published in the Transactions of the 

 Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society, Vol. III. 



