228 THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 



fresli points of interest were seen in passing : — including tlie 

 House and the Obelisk. The church is near the house, and 

 ancient crosses are erected in the grounds. 



Boconnoc, now the seat of Capt. Fortescue, is mentioned in 

 early documents, and it abounds with historical associations. 

 Traces of the military operations of the Civil War yet appear, 

 and records are preserved describing the occupation of the house 

 at different times by the contending parties, and giving details 

 of the fighting carried on. Between the square entrenchment 

 (dating from that period), in which the more recent obelisk now 

 stands, and Braddock Church, an important battle was fought 

 by Sir E,alph Hopton, for the king, on the 19th of January, 

 1643-4. Sir Beville Grrenville graphically described it in a letter 

 to Grrace, his lady. He endorsed his missive — probably to 

 ensure its safely reaching her hands — ''The messenger is paid, 

 yet give him a shilling more." Concluding his account of the 

 rout of the enemy, and the capture of many of them, his words 

 are "All our Cornish grandees were present at the battle, with 

 the Scotch Greneral Huthven, the Somerset Colonels, and the 

 Horse Captains Pim and Thomson, and but for their horses' 

 speed had been all in our hands." 



Many well-known families, in succession, were j)ossessors of 

 Boconnoc. Thomas Pitt, of Dorchester, Esquire, Governor of 

 Port St. Greorge, Madras, direct ancestor of the Earls of 

 Londonderry and Chatham, and of the Lords Camelford, bought 

 for £20,000 the famous jewel, since known as the Pitt diamond, 

 and sold the same, in 1717, for £135,000. For about half that 

 sum he bought, of the last Lord Mohun, the fine property of 

 Boconnoc. His great grandson. Lord Cameliord, built the 

 obelisk, which is 123 feet high, in memory of Sir Eichard 

 Lyttleton, his maternal uncle, in 1771. 



Lostwithiel, the rendezvous of the morning, was the halting 

 place — a borough town, considerably benefitted by the Earl of 

 Mount Edgcumbe's ancestors. 



The vicar, the Pev. H. "VV. Taylor, and the mayor. Dr. Eow, 

 kindly afforded facilities for viewing everything noteworthy in 

 their charge. 



The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is of the early 

 English and decorated styles. It has piers without capitals 

 supporting the arcades, a spire ornamented with open-work, an 



