PENZANCE. 
A large trail: of marfn-land adjacent to Penzance, 
fubjeit to occafional inundations of the dea, has been 
partly refcued from fterility and wafte, through the lau¬ 
dable exertions of Dr. Samuel Moyle, of Marazion. It 
was effected by means of an aqueduft or pipe, communi¬ 
cating with the fea, which carried off all the drainage- 
water from the marlh. Several Crops of corn and pota¬ 
toes have been obtained frorri the parts fo laved, and it 
promifes to reward the adventurer for his expenfe and 
perfeverance. In cutting one of the drains, an earthen 
pot was difcovered, containing nearly a thoufand Ro¬ 
man copper coins, which the impreflions !how to have 
been ifiued between the years 260 and 350. 
Madern, a village two miles north, is the parifli in 
which Penzance is lituated. It was once noted for a 
fpring of water, faid to cure lamenefs and the colic.— 
Morvath is alfo north of Penzance, near the fea. 
Weft of, and contiguous to, Penzance, are feveral 
fmall villages and antiquarian objects deferving notice. 
—Moufe-hole, on the weftern fide of Mount’s Bay, is 
celebrated among antiquaries for having been the refi- 
dence of Dolly Pentreath, one of the laft perfons known 
to fpeak the Cornifh language. She lived to the great 
age of 102, and was buried in the parifli church-yard of 
St. Paul’s.-—St. Burien is the name of a parifli, which, 
though at prefent confiding only of a few wretched cot¬ 
tages, was formerly diftinguifhed by a college of Auguf- 
tine canons, founded and endowed by Athelftan about 
the year 930. The deanery includes the pariflies of Burien, 
Senner, and St. Levan. At the Norman conqueft there 
were fecular canons here, and in the 20th of Edward I. 
a dean and three prebends. The church is built on a 
high fpot of ground; it confifts w'holly of granite, and 
and its tower forms aconfpicuous objecft from the Land’s 
End, the Scilly Iflands, and the North and South Chan¬ 
nels. 
The greater part of the diftridl round St. Burien, 
though wild and unfheltered, is interefting to the anti¬ 
quary, being interfperfed with cairns, circles, cromlechs, 
and other Druidical remains. In the parifli of St. Paul 
is a circular inclofure of ftones, called the Roundago, 
fifty-two paces from north to fouth, and thirty-four from 
eaft to weft. Some of the ftones are ere6t, others piled in 
a wall-like form, but without mortar. In the parifli of 
Senner is a circle of limilar fhape and character, and at 
Tredineck another of the fame kind. I11 the parifli of 
Burien is a fmall circle-of 19 upright ftones, called the 
Dance Maine, or the Merry Maidens, the ftones are 
about four feet above the ground, and five feet diftant 
from each other; the diameter of the circle is about 
twenty-five feet, and at fome diftance north-weft from it 
are two taller upright ftones, called the Pipers. Ano¬ 
ther of thefe Druidical circles is named Bofcaw'en-un, 
which alfo confifts of 19 upright ftones, and is about 25 
feet ill diameter, having a fingle leaning ftone in the 
centre. In the parifli of Gulval is Bofkednan-circle, 
■confiding alfo of 19 ftones, but of fmaller diameter than 
the two former. In the parifli of St. Juft is a confiderable 
ftrufture of this kind, known by the name of the Botal- 
lacli circles, compofed of four circles of upright ftones 
interfering each other. Lanyon Quoit is a cromlech, 
confiding of four upright ftones, three of which fupport 
the other, a broad flat ftone, 28 feet long, by 14 wide. 
In the parifli of Morval is a cromlech, fimilarto this laft, 
but of ftnaller dimenfions, called Chun Quoit; and half 
a mile eaft of Senner church is another, the quoit of 
which is fupported by a barrow heaped round it, 14 yards 
in diameter. In the parifn of Madern ftand three ftones 
ere£f, on a triangular plane, the middle one of which is 
perforated with a large hole near the bafe, nine inches ill 
diameter. Dr. Borlafe conjectures that this perforation 
was appropriated to fuperftitious rites, in the days of 
Druidifm. 
Thefame antiquary has defcribed various logan or rock- 
V-Ofc. XIX. No. 1326. 
575 
ing-ftones as formerly extant in this part of Cornwall; 
the moft confiderable and curious of which was at Treryn- 
Caftle, in the parifli of St. Levan. The chief ftone is an 
immeiife granite block, fuppofed to weigh nearly 90 tons, 
poifed on the top of a' vaft pile of rocks which project into 
the fea. This enormous mafs, it is ftated and believed, 
was once liable, from a peculiarity of pofition, to be 
moved to and fro. Treryn-Caftle is a large piece of 
rocky ground, projecting into the fea, and inclofed by 
two formidable ramparts and ditches, one within the 
other, ftretching in a femicircular form from the tides of 
the cliffs : the perpendicular rocks form three tides of 
this fortification, and the land-fide is guarded by thefe 
thick and high embankments. About a mile and a half 
weft of this, the cape, called Tolpedn-penwith, is di¬ 
vided from the main land by a ftone wall. The caftles 
Karnijeck and Bofcagell, in the parifli of St. Juft, are 
alfo of the fame kind, as well as many others on the fea- 
coaft. 
A little up in the country towards the north-weft is 
Godolchan ; which, though a hill rather than a town, 
gives name to theancient and noble family of Godolphin; 
and nearer on the northern coaft is Ryalton, which gave 
the fecond title to the earls of Godolphin. This place, 
alfo, is infinitely rich in mines. 
From the tops of the hills, on this extremity of the 
land, you may fee out into what they call the Chops of 
the Channel; which, as it is the greateft inlet of com¬ 
merce, and the moft frequented by merchant-fhips, of any 
place in the world, fo one feldom looks out to feaward, but 
fomething new prefents of fliips pafling or repairing. The 
point of the main land called the Lizard, which runs 
out to the fouthward, and the other promontory called 
the Land's End, make the two angles or horns, as they 
are called, from whence it is fuppofed this country re¬ 
ceived its firft name, Cornwall, or, as Camden fays. Cor - 
nubia in the Latin, and in the Britifh Cerneu, as running 
out in two vaftly-extended horn's. 
The Land's End is the moft wefterly promontory in 
England. It is a point of huge and ragged rocks, form¬ 
ing a barrier to the tumultuous fea, of the moft awful 
and vvildly-fublime kind. It was called Bolerium by- 
Ptolemy; by the Britifli bards Penringhuaed, or the Pro¬ 
montory of Blood; and by their hiftorians Penwith, or 
the Promontory to the Left. Near this craggy cliff are 
three caverns, in which the agitated waters occafionally 
roar with tremendous fury. Several mafl’es of rock are 
leen above the furface of the fea, more than two miles 
weft of the Land’s End, called the “ Long Ships.” On 
the largeft a light-houfe was erected in 1797 by Mr. 
Smith, who obtained a grant for that purpofe, and is re¬ 
warded by a certain rate on all fliips that pafs the Land’s 
End. 
Nature has fortified this part of the ifland of Britain in 
a ltrange manner, and very much worth a traveller’s ob- 
fervation. Firft, there are the iflands of Scilly, (which 
fee,) and the rocks about them, placed like out-works 
to refift the firft aflaults of this enemy the ocean, and fo 
break the force of it; as the piles or llarlings were placed 
before the folid ltone-work of London-bridge, to fence off 
the force, either of the water or ice, or any thing elfe 
that might be dangerous to the work. Then there are a 
vaft number of funk rocks, befides fuch as are vifible and 
above water; which gradually leflen the quantity of 
water, that would otherwife lie with an infinite weight 
and force upon the land. It is obferved, that thefe rocks 
lie under water for a great way oft’ into the fea on every 
fide the faid two horns or points of land ; fo breaking the 
forceof the water, and lelfening the weight of it. But, be¬ 
fides this, the whole body of the land, which makes this 
part of the ifle of Britain, feems to be one folid rock, as if 
it was formed by nature to refift the otherwife irrefiftible 
power of the ocean. And, indeed, if one were to obferve 
with what fury the fea comes on fometimes againft the 
7 II fliore, 
