see also Tresillian House

50°16′41″N 4°59′42″W / 50.278°N 4.995°W / 50.278; -4.995

Tresillian Bridge
Roadsign in the village

Tresillian (Cornish: Tresulyan)[1] is a small village in mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is three miles (5 km) east of Truro on the A390 road. Tresillian means "a place of eels" in the Cornish language, according to a 19th-century writer.[2] However, modern toponymists[which?] agree that the name in fact translates as "farm/settlement of a man called Sulyen"[3] (a Celtic personal name from British: sulo-genos, "sun-born").

History edit

Tresillian was the home of Robert Tresilian, Chief Justice of the King's Bench between 1381 and 1387.

A famous event of the English Civil War took place here in 1646. Thomas Fairfax sent a summons of surrender to Ralph Hopton who replied on 8 March that he was willing to negotiate terms. Fairfax agreed to negotiate and on 10 March 1646 both sides met at Tresillian Bridge. Hopton agreed to move his army to St Allen as a gesture of trust and goodwill allowing Fairfax to occupy Truro.[4] The Wheel Inn at Tresillian is Grade II Listed building and is said to be to have been used as Fairfax's headquarters during the Civil War (Battle of Tresillian).[5]

The village is mentioned as having a yearly fair in "Owen's book of Fairs" 1788 (https://archive.org/details/owensnewbookfai00owengoog)

Church edit

 
The bells of Tresillian church

A new church was built at Tresillian Bridge in 1904 (the font, bells, statue of St Anthony and pulpit from Merther were moved to the new church). The parish church of Merther was abandoned in the mid-20th century: previously it had been used occasionally, usually for funeral services.

There is a small Cornish cross on top of the church wall.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine. Cornish Language Partnership.
  2. ^ Fox, Sarah Prideaux (1874). Kingsbridge Estuary: with rambles in the neighborhood. G. P. Friend. p. 54. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  3. ^ Craig Weatherhill (2009) A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names. Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype ISBN 978-1-904808-22-0; p. 75
  4. ^ "Sir Ralph Hopton - Lord Hopton, 1st Baron of Stratton". Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  5. ^ Good Stuff (17 October 1984). "Wheel Inn - St Clement - Cornwall - England". Britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  6. ^ Langdon, A. G. (1896) Old Cornish Crosses. Truro: Joseph Pollard; p. 82

External links edit

  Media related to Tresillian at Wikimedia Commons