58 ANCIENT INSCRIBED STONES. 



CrantocTi was the seat of a very early collegiate ecclesiastical 

 establishment, having nine pi'gbends ; it is mentioned as such in 

 Domesday; and in the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and 

 Winchester, 1294, it is higher rated, says Hals, to the Pope's annat 

 than any other Church in Cornwall. — It seems to have been an im- 

 portant centre for education also ; and it may reasonably be inferred, 

 that the choice of this locality, somewhat difficult of access, as it is, 

 from the body of the County, was determined by the fact that it had 

 been, in much earlier times, the scene of active missionary efforts, 

 and that it had continued for some ages a focus of religious ministra- 

 tions. The discovery of monuments contemporary with almost the 

 earliest of these apostolic labours, serves to invest their legendary 

 history with a reality, which adds greatly to its interest. 



Both these stones have been protected by popular veneration — 

 the best security being afforded to them by making them integral 

 parts of the two Churches. The monument at Cuby is, I believe, 

 the only instance in which several members of a family are included 

 in any early Cornish inscription, or a female name recorded. If 

 there are three names on the Cubert stone, that would be a second 

 similar, but less marked, example. 



My remarks have run to greater length than I intended; but 

 these stones, besides the interest they possess in common with those 

 already figured in Cornish works, seemed to open up a line of in- 

 quiry into the religious and social connection of this county and 

 "Wales, at the most flourishing period of their independent existence, 

 not as yet, so far as I am aware, much explored, but to be followed 

 up, it is to be hoped, hereafter by competent hands. 



Note. — I beg to tender my best thanks for valuable aid, to cm- President, 

 Mr. Smirke ; to the Eev. R. P. Warren, formerly Vicar of Tregoney, who first 

 called my attention to the Cuby stone ; to the present Yicar, the Eev. J. H. C. 

 Borwell ; to the Bev. R. H. Tripp, Vicar of Altarniin ; to my fellow-labom-er 

 in the rubbings, Mr. Alexander Paull ; and to the Eev. J. W. Murray, who 

 bestowed much pains on the elaboration of the Genealogies, and by whom 

 the story of S. Gerennius has been pleasingly told in a Letter to the Rev. 

 S, J. Trist, Vicar of Vei-yan, published in 1855. 



