EARLY HISTORY OF THE MOUNT EDGCUMBE FAMILY. Hi 



Edgcumbe (the then head of the family) was engaged with his 

 regiment, near his other residence, in the contest that was 

 raging round the beleaguered town of Plymouth. The war 

 dealt hardly with him. I have various bills for silver-plate, of 

 an earlier date, very few articles in which I can identify, 

 although there are a few old forks and an ancient salt-cellar 

 which seem to have been his, but all the rest must have gone 

 either in the service of the King or in payment of his fines as 

 a delinquent. As late as 1651, he was still a prisoner in St. 

 Mawes Castle ; and, although at the restoration his services 

 appear to have been recognised by his son being made a Knight 

 of the Bath, he himself seems to have spent the rest of his days 

 quietly here, and is buried at Calstock. 



From that time, with few exceptions, this house was little 

 occupied for two centuries. 



For many years the eastern side of it was used for farm 

 buildings ; and with the excejDtion of the arms and the pictures 

 — the former of which were all periodically painted brown, and 

 the latter washed by an old housekeeper with gin and water 

 " every spring and fale " — no hand but that of time has 

 interfered with the house or its contents, until about twenty 

 years ago I made a residence for my mother in that part of it 

 which had been only used for farm purposes, or left to the mice 

 and bats. 



