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III. — Chronicles of Cornish Saints. 



IV. — S, Samson. 



By the Eeverend John Adams, M.A., Vicar of StocJccross, Berks. 



Read at the Autumn Meeting, November 30, 1868. 



N the life of S. Petrock the name of S. Samson incidentally 

 occurs as that of a hermit who occupied a cell someAvhere in 

 the neighbourhood of Padstow, and who was highly esteemed for 

 his zeal and holiness. Several memorials of this Saint's connection 

 with Cornwall still exist in the county. There is a parish in the 

 Plundred of Powder still called by his name. It is also designated 

 Golant, a Avord compounded of tAvo Cornish AA^ords, — Gal, holy, 

 and Lan, an enclosure ; and this probiibly Ayas its earliest name ; 

 but in the lith century Ave find it called S. Samson's;* and in 

 subsequent times, AAdien the sacred spot became the site of a 

 Parish Church, the name of the holy man, Avho in former times 

 had halloAved the place, was given to the Church, and Golant 

 thenceforAvard became S. Samson's. The parish of South-hill also 

 has a Church dedicated to him, and in ancient times it Avas ylfnoAvn 

 as S. Samson's de South-hill. One of the Scilly Islands too has 

 from time immemorial borne his name ; leading us to conjecture 

 that it also Avas one of his traditional abodes. Furthermore, there 

 was at one time a chapel called S. Samson's on the site of Place 

 House, near Padstow ; t and that chapel probably occupied the 

 actual spot of the hermitage or oratory, AAdiere S. Samson chvelt 

 at the time of Petrock's visit. These local traces of Samson 

 entitle him to a place amongst the Cornish Saints, and give us an 

 interest in the legendary accounts of him which have come doAvn 



* See a writ directedTto the Sheriff of Cornwall, for levying a subsidy of 

 £50,000, granted to King Edward III. — Carew's Survey of Cornwall, 442. 

 Ed. 1811. 



f Davies Gilberts History of Cornwall, vol. iii, 281, 



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