Two battered eagles perch on the gate posts
of Trewince – a
link with the past to the Hobbs family who had eagles in their coat
of arms and had connections here. The ancient manor overlooks both
Froe Creek, leading to the Percuil river, and the sea, and stands on
a wooded spur with woods of beech and pine leading to a small quay
which belongs to the house. A field called Pardon Bank is just below
Trewince, and it is here that Henry VIII is said to have pardoned all
political offenders in the area.
John Collett Thomas was a draper
in London who retired to Trewince and he was the next to last squire
in residence. The title
of squire of Gerrans was generally held by the tenants of Trewince.
Local people still remember the last of the squires and the time when
people would touch their hats as the coach & horses rode through
the village; there is a spot in the woods where the squire would sit
and where the servants used to deliver his afternoon tea.
In the early 19th century the squire hunted
regularly and Carew, in his "Survey of Cornwall", describes the Cornish
gentry gathering in each others’ houses, feasting and dancing,
gambling and drinking. Last century Trewince was the place for the
annual Sunday School treat. “They had a carriage and pair and
servants in livery. We had splits and Saffron buns, and each took
our own mug. We had games on the beach!!" (from "Accounts
of the memories and reminiscences of a number of people of the parish
of Gerrans”, collected by Sam Marsden, former rector of Gerrans).
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