Location, location, location!
Long ago, all the fields around Trewince had descriptive names, and these can still been seen in the Tithe map of 1841 which can be viewed in the County Records office. The names are even older than this, though. In the Henderson Calendars we read:
“25/5/1648 Sir Peter Courteney leases to Ferdinando Hobbs of Gerrans gent for £60 and a surrender all Trewince and 4 closes called the Well Ground 20 acres, the Pease Meadow 1 1/4 acres, the Westerne grounds 12 lying on the west side of the Highway from Gerrans to St Anthony and being part of Trewynce and lands called the Downes 80 acres and a piece of waste ground called Polkerah (?) – lives said Ferdinando, Elizabeth his wife and Nicholas (son) — to the manor of Trethyn (illegible)”.
One field below Trewince is called Pardon Bank, and it is where Henry VIII allegedly pardoned all political offenders in the area. In his “Accounts of the memories and reminiscences of a number of people of the parish of Gerrans”, Sam Marsden, rector of Gerrans 1975 or 6, wrote:
” The field on the left hand side of the road down to Trewince was where Henry viii held court, at which he pardoned all political offenders in the area. It is known as the Pardon Bank.”
Laurence O’Toole in his book “Roseland between river and sea” wrote that Henry VIII was credited with staying at the Royal Standard in Gerrans during the time he was building St Mawes Castle but there is actually no evidence that he ever came to Cornwall. A bit like those other legends about Joseph of Arimathea…..