Catalogue description CARLYON OF TREGREHAN

This record is held by Kresen Kernow (formerly Cornwall Record Office)

Details of CN
Reference: CN
Title: CARLYON OF TREGREHAN
Description:

TITLE DEEDS AND LEASES

 

Arranged alphabetically by parish

 

ESTATE ADMINISTRATION

 

Documents relating to individual parishes

 

General administration:

 

rentals and ledgers

 

estate accounts

 

general administration

 

estate plans

 

parish administration

 

mining and industry (tin, copper, china clay; fishing, quarries, railways, harbours, plans)

 

FINANCIAL RECORDS

 

Marriage settlements

 

Trust deeds

 

Bonds

 

Trewbody dispute

 

Langmaid dispute

 

Tontine papers

 

Requests for money

 

Miscellaneous accounts

 

PROBATE RECORDS

 

(Arranged alphabetically by surname)

 

LEGAL RECORDS

 

Hundred of Powder court

 

General legal papers

 

PERSONAL, PRIVATE AND DOMESTIC RECORDS

 

Public appointments:

 

parliament

 

shrievalty

 

land tax commission

 

Army:

 

volunteers

 

regular army

 

Navy

 

domestic and personal:

 

education and careers

 

domestic management

 

accounts

 

correspondence

 

genealogy

 

pastimes

 

miscellaneous

Date: 13th century -1951
Arrangement:

The collection of documents relating to the Carlyon family of Tregrehan in St. Blazey was deposited in the County Record Office in 1952 and 1968 by Mr. T. Carlyon and Miss G. Carlyon.

 

On arrival they were briefly listed; the collection has now been catalogued more fully, individual documents being listed separately and given reference numbers.

 

The catalogue follows the pattern of other family collections, the documents being divided into categories of deeds and leases, estate administration (including plans, accounts, rentals, mining records, etc.), and personal and private papers.

 

Title deeds and leases have been arranged in alphabetical order of parish rather than by groups of properties acquired by sale or marriage. Acquisition and sale of lands can be discovered by looking through the section dealing with title deeds, and the arrangement by parish makes for ease of location and indexing.

 

Deeds containing references to more than one parish have been listed in the alphabetical sequence under the parish coming first in the A-Z arrangement.

Held by: Kresen Kernow (formerly Cornwall Record Office), not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

Carlyon family of Tregrehan, Cornwall

Physical description: 3546 files
Immediate source of acquisition:

Documents of the Carlyon family of Tregrehan, St. Blazey, deposited by Mr. Tristram Carlyon and Miss Gillian Carlyon Accession nos. 5, 953, 956, 957, 967

Subjects:
  • Carlyon, Thomas, d 1732, lawyer of Tregrehan, Cornwall
  • Carlyon, Thomas, 1748-1830, of Tregrehan, Cornwall
  • Carlyon, Edward, d 1854, of Tregrehan, Cornwall
  • Armed forces
Administrative / biographical background:

The documents include title deeds for Tregrehan, held by the Carlyons since 1565. Apart from a few early Bodrugan deeds, they show purchases of parts of Tregrehan by successive Carlyons in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, although the Edgcumbes of Mount Edgcumbe were still the overlords of the manor.

 

In 1565 (CN/362) Walter Carlyon of St. Blazey, yeoman, bought a moiety of the whole vill of Tregrehan, which he occupied. 9 years later he purchased more property at Tregrehan, with lands in Tregorrick in St. Austell (CN/90, 366). Between 1591 and 1616, when he died, he acquired additional parts of Tregrehan (CN/368, 369).

 

Walter's son William, described as a husbandman, in 1597 (CN/371) purchased a small part of Tregrehan of which his father was tenant. In 1602 he purchased from his father for £50 some fields in Tregrehan. Walter made a settlement in the same year for himself and his son, (CN/372-374), but William died in 1615, a year before the death of his father.

 

Twenty years later, in 1635, when Charles I was attempting to raise money without a Parliament, and using as many feudal aids and dues as he could, an Inquisition Post Mortem was made on William and Walter, (CN/376), showing that Walter's only possessions were 2/3 of Tregrehan.

 

William's son Walter lived at Tregrehan, but his son, William, farmed a considerable area of leasehold land in Lansallos, where he made his home.

 

In 1652 William married Mary, daughter of Thomas Rawe or Rowe of Endellion, gentleman. By the time the marriage settlement was drawn up (CN/377), William was styling himself "gentleman".

 

The Rawe marriage brought to the Carlyons property in Endellion, Blisland, Davidstow, St. Gennys, and Clawton and Holsworthy in Devon. Among the documents which William acquired are a series of early deeds for these properties, (CN/120-125; 1034-1117). They include deeds of Fentonorne in Blisland, Trewassa in Davidstow, properties in Padstow, and Kempthorne and other Devon properties. In 1243 Kymethorne, (now Kempthorne) was held by William Pedeleure (who occurs as a witness in early Lanlivery deeds) for 1/40 fee of de Valletort (History of Totnes Priory, Watkin, Vol. II). From the region of Richard I to the time of Edward III Kempthorne belonged to the family of Le Pedlear. They were succeeded by a younger branch of the Leys, who were also sometimes surnamed Kempthorne. By the sixteenth century the Devon properties had passed to the family of Pote, and in 1686 were sold to the Rawes of Endellion (CN/123). In 1732 Charity Rawe gave to Thomas Carlyon, "her godson and kinsman", all her lands in Clawton, Holsworthy, Davidstow, Padstow and St. Gennys (CN/1112).

 

William, who had married Mary Rawe, died in 1676, leaving 5 sons and 3 daughters. His eldest son John died in 1678 and the second son Thomas succeeded. In 1680 he is described as "of St. Blazey, gent", but later "of St. Austell".

 

In 1681 he married Agnes, widow of Peter Allen of Roseweek in St. Austell (CN/378). The family from this time became very prosperous, the St. Austell district having been developed as a rich mining area. Thomas and his son, another Thomas, steadily added property to their estate; in 1715 another part of Tregrehan was purchased (CN/403) and by 1724 the Carlyons held 4/5 of the barton, the remaining 1/5 being held by the Edgcumbes until its sale to the Carlyons in 1787.

 

In the years between 1690 and 1700 parts of Biscovey in St. Blazey were acquired (CN/302-4, 310, 313), and a moiety in 1744 (CN/308). Between 1709 and 1722 Carveor and Vounder were purchased (CN/341-346).

 

Thomas junior was the first of the family to be styled "esquire". He was a successful lawyer and a tin-adventurer. In 1715 he married the wealthy Elizabeth Hawkins of Pennance in Creed, (CN/98). She became heiress to the extensive Hawkins fortunes and the Carlyons benefitted accordingly. The Hawkins connection brought to the Carlyons property in Creed, St. Austell and St. Blazey, and the advowson of St. Just-in-Roseland, to which Thomas, son of Thomas and Elizabeth, was presented after his ordination in 1742. This Thomas, the second son, married in 1747 Ann Gwavas of Sithney (CN/125). The marriage brought to Thomas the rectorial tithes of Paul, lands in Sithney, Penzance and other properties in West Cornwall. Thomas was rector of St. Just for 51 years, until his death in 1793. His son Thomas inherited the Carlyon estates from his cousin Edward Trewbody Carlyon who had died unmarried in 1768.

 

Edward Trewbody Carlyon was the child of the Rev. Thomas' elder brother Philip, and his wife Katherine Trewbody, heiress to the family of Trewbody whose seat was originally at Castle in Lanlivery. The collection contains a number of very early deeds relating to properties in Lanlivery, Lostwithiel and St. Winnow, including the 14th-century settlement made at the marriage between John Trewbody and the heiress of Castle in Lanlivery.

 

Katherine's marriage (CN/99) added further properties to the Carlyon estates, including Boscundle, which the Trewbodys purchased gradually between 1603 and 1759 (CN/16-21), and which had more recently been their home. Ennys in Luxulyan was also acquired. Boscundle was a particularly useful addition to the Carlyons, as it adjoined Tregrehan, so that while the property was considerably extended, the estate remained compact. The land was also rich in minerals.

 

Katherine's son, Edward Trewbody Carlyon, died in 1768, leaving all this property to his cousin, the son of the rector of St. Just. This Thomas also inherited the Gwavas estates from his mother. In 1778 he married his first cousin, Mary Carlyon (CN/104). She was the daughter of the Rev. Thomas' brother William and his wife Elizabeth Pomery. William had succeeded to the family's attorney's office in St. Austell, and his wife, the heiress of the Rev. John Pomery of St. Ewe, brought him a substantial fortune, including the barton of Trelissick in St. Ewe as a residence. Trelissick had been the property of the wife of John Pomery, Thomasine Hooker, a great-niece of Richard Hooker, the author of the "Ecclesiastical Polity".

 

The marriage of Mary and Thomas resulted in the amalgamation of the Carlyon estates. In addition to this accumulation of inheritances, the mining industry was at the height of its prosperity, and Thomas took full advantage of the mineral wealth in his property.

 

He also consolidated the Carlyon estates in St. Austell and St. Blazey (CN/4); in 1770 and 1784 he bought those parts of Boscundle which had not come to the family through the Trewbody marriage CN/22, 24), and in 1787 he bought the last piece of Tregrehan from the Edgcumbes (CN/388), who however retained the manorial rights.

 

In 1770 he had purchased Biscovillack (CN/13) and in 1810 acquired the rest of Biscovey (CN/321). Menagwins had already been added to the family estates in 1745 and 1755 by the Rev. Thomas (CN/132).

 

The property at Merthen, Crinnis, Porth and Cuddra was purchased at the end of the eighteenth century. These lands had been in the possession of the Laa family for many generations, as the deeds in the Carlyon collection show (CN/43-88). In 1694 William Laa transferred all his property to his son Bennet on his marriage with Sibley Budge. The marriage was childless and Bennet's sister Mary inherited. She married Digory Tonkin of St. Blazey, a well-to-do merchant (see inventory ACP/W 1694). After Digory's death the property was sold, and in 1716 purchased by Henry Hawkins of St. Austell. It formed part of the lands settled on Henry's marriage in 1725 with Grace Hext (CN/79). Their son Samuel Hext sold the property to Thomas Carlyon in 1792 (CN/86).

 

Edward Carlyon, son of Thomas and Mary, in 1820 married Anna Maria Spry of Place. They had ten children. This marriage, according to Henderson, "was destined a century later to bring more property to the Carlyons" (see Spry collection). The folder of notes which Charles Henderson compiled will supply further details on the family's history.

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