342 THE NEIGHBOTTEHOOD OF BEOWN WILLY. 



ing* is carved the legend anno domyne 1513, iohn morydeg. It is 



interesting to come across such a distinctly British name. I can 

 find no mention of it in the parish registers, but these date no 

 further back than 1688. It reminds one of the Breton saint 

 Meriadec ; is the name Morydeg still to be met with in Cornwall ? 

 Conan Meridock, nephew to Octavius, whom the Emperor 

 Constantino appointed governor of this island, was Duke of 

 Cornwall. 



On this farm, in a meadow known as the "church close," 

 there are such portions of an ancient rectangular rampart, as have 

 not succumbed to the ravages of agriculture and hedge-building. 

 The tenant tells me that when ploughing the ground, the share 

 has from time to time grated on granite slabs, which have turned 

 out, on being raised, to be covering stones of an underground 

 passage. These slabs are about 4 feet square, and seem to have 

 been originally worked; but, as every one knows, blocks of 

 weathered moorstone often assume such an appearance, though 

 they have never been touched by any tool. This passage being 

 within the camp seems to correspond with what one reads of the 

 Irish raths and souterrains ; the landlord has kindly permitted 

 me to have it opened out to discover the actual nature thereof, 

 and I have intended to avail myself of his goodwill, but 

 procrastination often proves the thief of time. The local tradition 

 asserts that the ground was called the church close, because it 

 was intended to build Altarnon church there ; but as fast as the 

 stones were brought to the spot, they were removed by the devil, 

 (accompanied by a deer and a hare) to where the church now 

 stands, in a lower and less conspicuous position. A somewhat 

 similar version of a common legend is met with in connexion 

 with Towednack Tower and its battlements. 



In the adjacent parish of St. Clether, near to its church and 

 in the heart of the glebe, but not belonging thereto, is an old 

 Baptistry and Holy-well ; portions of the walls remain, and the 

 worked jambs of door and windows are lying about among the 

 brambles. It is desirable that the baptistry should be fenced 

 round, and the scattered stones replaced, if possible ; but two 

 letters addressed to the trustee of the owner of the land (who is 



* The moulding of the mullions is similar to that at Pengersick Castle. 



