Goonhilly Down
Some idea of Goonhilly in ancient times may be
gathered from the name applied to it by Leland (who
died 1552) "The Naemaen 'Wood" on
Cornwall, he said, "was formerly very full of
wild beasts". "St. Runon made an
oratory for himself in the Naemaen Woods" (the
exposed beaten prominence that shoots out into the
Lizard and Ruan Minor and Ruan Major are named
after him).
Formerly the Church of St. Grade, tithed all the
estate of St. Keverne which runs from the valley of
Ruan parishes westward. Both Ruan Major and Ruan
Minor were then included in the parish of St.
Keverne. The wild beasts, however, had departed
when Malmesbury wrote the Saint's life in 1100
A.D. and the wood which had defied the blasts which
now sweep this region is no more.
Borlase says "There is a tract of land
(Whitakers Ancient Cathedrals) nearly three miles
across consisting of a loamy soil, but having not
even copse wood, at present on which are those
little horses "the memory of whom is preserved
in the appellation of Gunhylle".
Referring to ancient implements Borlase writes
"Hundreds of flakes I found in the course of a
few hours" showing that the St. Kevernites
were a stone using people - the flakes being either
ancient weapons or waste pieces struck off the
weapons by artificers.
Leylands Itinery 1533-1550
Also wythyn III miles of the south se betwene
Haylford and the eat syde of Mountes Bay is a wyld
moore cawled Goonhilly i.e. hilly hethe where ye
brood of catayle. Also yn the west syde of the
poynt of Hayleford Haven and withyn the land of
Mancke or Manegland is a parish church of St.
Keveryn otherwise Piranus and there is a sanctuary
with X or XII houses and thereby was a sel (all of
monkes but now goon home to ther hed hows). The
ruins of the monastery yet remaineth.
The Cornish Language
Quoting from the diary of a Royalist soldier -
written about 1644 Cumming gives the following:
"The Cornish language is spoken altogether at
Goonhilly in Meneage not far from the Lizard; and
about Pendennis and Land's End they speak no
English." Appropros of this Sit. H. Jenner,
says that the ancient language of Cornwall stood in
much closer relation to Breton than the Welsh.
Richard of Cirencester 680 A.D. writes, "By
royal privileges and the retention of its ancient
language, Cornwall retains some semblance of a
distinct sovereign even after it had been conquered
by King Athestan.
The language, which was a dialect of ancient
British, was generally spoken till the reign of
Henry 8th when the introduction of the English
Liturgy paved the way towards its gradual disuse.
After the departure of the Romans, it became one
of the last retreats of the Britons, who seem to
have been sometime under the dominion of the Kings
of Wales and sometimes governed by independent
sovereigns. It is said to have been at the desire
of the Cornish that the English Service was
enjoined in preference to that of their native
tongue, whilst in Wales, a contrary system has
proved the preservation of their language.
Horses in Cornwall
Norden's Speculi Britannica (written 1593.
Edition pub 1728)
Their horses are of small growth being fed and
brought up upon the high colde and harde
mountaigne. There is a kind of nagges bredd upon a
mountainous and spacious piece of grounde called
Goon-hilly, lying between the sea waste and
Helston, which are the hardest naggs and beste of
travaile for their bones within this kingdom,
resembling in body for quantitie and in goodness of
mettle the Galloway Naggs.
Horses in Cornwall, Tonkin.
This writer says "We formerly had a very
excellent breed of Barbery horses on Goonhilly in
Meneage, put there in the first place by the Erisey
family, What tended to exterminate this excellent
race of horses was the statute of Henry 8th, which
permitted any person to seize on horses below a
certain standard at the time of the rebellion.
Though this breed is in a manner extinct, we still
call our small western horse Goonhilly, being very
strong.
Horses. Goonhilly. History of Cornwall.
Hitchens & Drew. 1530.
It has been asserted that prior to the days of the
Romans the saddle horse was unknown in England,
although previous to that period the wild hobbies
of several forests had been used in peace and war.
These native horses were small, remarkably strong,
sure-footed and active.
"Of all animals" says Mr. Polwhele,
"the most sure footed and nimble are these
Cornish horses. In the neighbourhood of Tintagel I
have seen them up and down the most precipitous
places".
These probably are among our aboriginal horses
"The Goonhillies" of which not a genuine
one is left - was of a later age - as it is only of
late years that the use of carts has been
introduced and less attention was paid to their
size.
Most Cornish horses were therefore of no great
rising but were adapted to the country being strong
and hardie, sure footed and protected by hoofs of
peculiar hardness, fit to resist the rough roads
over which they had to travel.
Polwhele writing in 1816, says "Mr. James of
St. Keverne opened a barrow on Goonhilly Downs
where he found only scattered fragments of urns and
bones when he rightly concluded that it had been
opened before. On Crousa or Goongartha Downs
(Grougath? JN) are several barrows.
Crousa Downs
History of Cornwall, edited by Mr. Page.
Crousa Downs, an isolated patch of gravel
consisting of rounded quartz pebbles, occupied,
according to Sir H. de la Beche, an acre of about
half a mile square at a height of about 365 ft.
above sea level. The evidence of this deposit is
wrapped in obscurity, but its correspondence is
elevation to the sand of St. Agnes Beacon suggests
that it may be of corresponding age.
In connection with Crouza Downs the Rev. E. G.
Harvey says, "Casons is the district lying
between these Downs and the Blackhead (in St.
Keverne) wherein the inhabitants are known as
Casonsers. This name he traces to the Welch and
Breton term for people to be avoided. He believes
that a leper community existed here and that the
Lizard is derived from the Lazars' abode. This
loathsome disease was introduced into this country
by returning Crusaders and those afflicted by it
were obliged to live apart from other people.
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