XXXVll 



tiful and romantic scenery to wliich he conducted tliem. To some 

 few it was an additional charm that they found the Maiden-hair 

 Fern growing there, as in a native habitat. On returning to the 

 Guide's Elizabethan dwelling, it was found that the thoughtful 

 kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson had provided good store of 

 claret-cup and lemonade, seltzer water, and other refreshing bever- 

 ages, which Avere soon dispensed to appreciative recipients by 

 amateur almoners. 



Among objects of antiquarian interest near Trethevy was 

 observed an old well, with a pyramidal superstructure ; and, 

 (also forming part of the premises occupied by Mr. Goard) a 

 building, now a farm-outhouse, which was formerly a Chapel; 

 it has a single-lancet light, with cusped trefoil head in the east 

 end ; and in the south-east corner of the chancel the remains 

 of, apparently, a piscina; and the chancel is raised, about one 

 step, above the general floor level. The chapel litis both a north 

 and a south door ; the latter being of wood, arched, like those at 

 the Governor's House, St. Lawrence, near Bodmin. At the 

 dwellmg-house there is a recently constructed court-yard with 

 embattled walls, in various parts of which Mr. Goard has inserted 

 such stones of architectural character and ancient date as he has 

 found in the vicinity of his dwelling. Thus, there are seen here, 

 a chamfered cross, of four equal limbs, and also a trefoil-headed 

 recess, which may have been either a piscina or a window-head. 

 Around the doorways and other parts of the recent erections are 

 pieces of carved oak with running pattern of stems and foliage — 

 portions of wall-plates from the roof of Minster Church, during 

 its renovation ; and, also from this church, are some carved ribs, 

 a boss, and other portions of its ro^, now piled in a shed. 



Dr. Oliver, in his " Monasticon," states that in Tintagel parish 

 the church is dedicated to St. Marcelliana or Materiana, and that 

 there were in the parish, chapels of St. Pieran and St. Denis, 

 which were licensed May 8, 1457. It has been suggested for 

 inquiry, whether the ruined and desecrated chapel at Trethevy, 

 was St. Nighton's, or St. Piran's, or St. Denis's ; and also, whether 

 some ruins near the cascade formed part of St. Nighton's Oratory. 

 These ruins are now spoken of traditionally as remains of a cottage 

 in which two ladies once lived in mysterious seclusion ; and Mr. 

 T. Q. Couch draws attention to the fact that a similar legend 

 exists in other parts of Cornwall, and, especially, that it is told, 

 with little variation, in connection with ruins at Polperro and 

 near Padstow. A chapel in the parish of St. Winnow, Cornwall, 

 was dedicated to St. Nighton, as were also churches in Devon, 

 at Ashton and Wellcombe. At Hartland also, Githa, wife of Earl 

 Godwin, believing that through the holy man's intercession her 



