' CHAPTER VIII

MANORS

MOST of the Cornish estates had never been bought or sold but had been derived by hereditary succession from feudal times, before land was regarded as property. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the feudal system passed away by degrees, and land came to be regarded as property. The extinction of old families during the Wars of the Roses, the rise of a new commercial class under the Tudors, and the dissolution of the Monasteries (1535-1540), brought great changes in the ownership of land and broke up many large estates. The end of the eighteenth century was another period of change—economic circumstances assisted a new class of capitalists to obtain social and political influence.

According to Henderson, in the time of Domesday about one person in thirty was an owner of land.

MANORS OF CARNMARTH AND TOLGULLOW

The early historians failed to identify the locations of the Manors of Chenmerch and Talgolle, mentioned in the Domesday Survey under the Nos. 291 and 292, respectively. The first to suggest that Chenmerch referred to Carnmarth was Mr. John Carne (see Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, 1867) ; subsequent research seems to substantiate his statement that Chenmerch is likely to be Carnmarth, a tract which may have comprised the present Manors of Tolcarne, Trevethan, Carharrack, Trevarth..... '