Cornwall, King Arthur and Pilgrims

Sunday night we stayed on a little farm called Higher Chapel Farm in Halton Quay, Cornwall, England. It is a dairy and beef cattle farm. Our hostess, Jean, was actually from Ireland and had done some genealogy research herself. One of her ancestors was from the Norfolk, England area but in the 1600s, went to Ireland. She suggested we start with the church and graveyard. Unlike the rest of Europe, Britain actually has gravestones that date back hundreds of years. We ate dinner at the local pub down the road. Attempting to cleanse my body from the full English breakfast I had consumed earlier, I chose the veggie curry and it was very good! I would expect it to be since Britain has had a presence in India for 200 years. Of course I washed my curry down with the local drink, Cornish Tribute Pale Ale brewed in St. Austell, Cornwall. Getting back to our B&B was less fun. The country roads in England are one lane and the sides are lined with stone walls which are covered in grass and topped with tall hedges. In other words, at night, it is like going down the canyon of death. Anyway, yesterday morning I awoke to the gentle sounds of mooing. I had not intended to eat another full English breakfast but when Jean asked if I wanted one, she looked at me so expectantly and hopefully, that I couldn't say no! So, I had another breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, cereal, toast, butter and jam, and yogurt with tea (of course). I don't know if it was because we were on a farm and everything was fresh, but I actually enjoyed it! The night before, Jean brought us lemon cake and fresh milk, as in straight from the cow, it was delicious!

Note the one lane and nice tall hedges.

After breakfast, we traveled down the road to Stoke Climsland, the hometown of the Grubbs. I wasn't sure if we would find anything. Since Quakers go back to the basics, a common practice up until the 1800s was to avoid the use of gravestones.  I found this in the Quaker cemetery in North Carolina where Charity Grubb (1687-1761) and her husband are buried. Meeting house records show that they are buried in the cemetery but because of the time period, no gravestones. Since Charity's grandparents, Henry and Wilmot, were Quakers near the beginning of the Quaker movement, the question is whether they were still being baptized, married and buried in the Anglican Church. I read somewhere that many Quakers during this time were still baptizing their children in the Anglican Church and after the children reached an appropriate age, they entered the Society of Friends. So it is a possibility that John Grubb was baptized. I also know that in Norway at least, Quakers were banned from burying their dead in consecrated church grounds. Since Quakers were persecuted, hence why Henry Grubb was arrested multiple times and why John Grubb immigrated to the colonies, I wonder if the Stoke Climsland Quakers had to make their own arrangements for burial. In any case, off to Stoke Climsland we went! There has been a church on the present site since at least 1245. Since the Quaker movement began in the mid-17th century and Grubbs have been in Stoke Climsland for generations, undoubtedly, there are Grubbs buried in the cemetery. We explored the cemetery. It was rainy and windy, then the fog rolled in which gave a rather creepy air to the place. I half expected a hand to reach out of the ground and grab my foot. We found no evidence of Grubbs. The church was open so we took a peek inside. On the wall was the Lord's Prayer in Cornish. Cornwall is interesting because it is considered to be one of the Celtic nations. They had their own language. The last native speaker died in 1740 but it is still around and very much a part of everyday life, as us evidence by this framed Lord's Prayer in a little parish church. In the church there was also a list of all the rectors the church has ever had from 1245 to the present. The church had kindly left out information for family research including a book of the burials and where they were located in the cemetery as well as who to contact in the Cornwall archives for the parish's older records. I will of course be contacting the Cornwall archives! 

After scoping out Stoke Climsland, we drove to the northern part of Cornwall to Tintagel Castle. This castle is also called Arthur's Seat and legend has it that this castle belonged to King Arthur. In Cornish, Tintagel is Din tagell which means a fortress with narrow entrance. The legend of Arthur first appears in 800s AD when a Welsh monk, Nennius, started the tale to give inspiration during tough times. Over the centuries the tale has been embellished to include fights with monsters, giants and include magic. Sometime during one of these embellishments, someone associated Arthur with Tintagel. The current castle was built in 1244 for the earl of Cornwall, Richard, brother of the King. The purpose was to tie himself to the legend of Arthur, to make himself a symbol of power. However, there is evidence of other buildings that date before 1233 during the Dark Ages when a Cornish King may gave held court at Tintagel. Perhaps this Cornish King was Arthur?

                  Merlin's Cave

From Tintagel we left Cornwall and traveled south to Plymouth. This is where the Mayflower departed for America. This is special because I have discovered that I am descended from Elder William Brewster, the religious leader of these pilgrims. William is my 11th great grandfather. His daughter, Fear Brewster, married another Mayflower pilgrim, widower Isaac Allerton. Fear and Isaac are my 10th great grandparents. I will talk more about the Brewsters later when we travel to Scrooby and Boston (England, not Massachusetts). In Plymouth there is a memorial to the Mayflower and her passengers. What was so cool to me was that my ancestors' names are listed on the memorial. There is a plaque that lines the railing which tells the story of the pilgrims' journey to America as well as list the pilgrims who journeyed with their families. I literally got chills. Fear did not travel with her parents and two brothers on the Mayflower, she came a year later with other siblings.

        The Mayflower memorial

My 11th great grandparents, William and Mary Brewster.

My 10th great grandfather Isaac Allerton is listed with his first wife, Mary. She was among those that perished during the first winter. Isaac married Fear Brewster a year later. 

The harbor from whence the Mayflower sailed!