Just came across this in Rev. Williams Dictionary, I wondered if anyone knew where this was?
" In the four parishes of Redruth,
Gwennap, Kenwyn, and St. Agnes, where, at a point,
the four western Hundreds of Cornwall meet or unite,
is a barren heathy spot denominated Kyvur ankou;
where all self murderers belonging to those parishes
are deposited by virtue of the coroner's warrant, a custom immemorial,
whence the spot takes its name."
Polwhelt's Cornish Glossary.
And incase you don't know cornish, kyvur ankou litteraly means the Place of Death.
I'm guessing it around Carnmarth somewhere? Marhak do you know?
I think its a bit ambiguous, I'm guessing its where the four parishes meet. And there is quite a bit of common land still around there, around Carnmarth.
Just checked the old hundreds of Pydar, Powder, Kerrier and Penwyth did meet up at around the same place, I think. Penwyth was obviously a lot bigger then!
Fingers crossed, marhak will know, when he turns up...
Could this place be more of an area than a place.
I mean, like an area of 1mile radius, which in that circle the Hundreds joined, but not neccesarily in one place.
It its where I think it is, then just up on the ridge are the remains of a stone circle. This point is on the main watershed between the outer (ocean) side and the inner (Mounts Bay) side of Penwith, and also on the main ridge bisecting W Penwith at right-angles to the first division, i.e. SW/NE. Definitely a significant spot.
There is only one place in W Penwith where four of the traditional parishes meet. But I think the name contains _keverang_ "hundred" (territorial division). I don't think it has 'death' in it, any more than 'goat'. I dont know a word for 'place' that could fit this sound.
That's the trouble when the language goes, people will come out with any old garbage and others knowing no better will believe them and pass the story on. Most Cornish 'folklore' has probably been invented over the last 150 years to amuse tourists, the real stuff would have gone down the tubes with the language, since apart from JCH and a couple of bits of songs, no one was interested in collecting or preserving this material.
I think you right TEL i just read Murderers but I think its on about suicides... I think, It was some kind of evil sin to kill yourself so they probably put you as far away as possible.... ...and I suppose no other parish wanted the bodies!
I wonder if the skeletons are still there somewhere... in someone's field perhaps?
"... the Sieur Angwyn, the greatest and the eldest of the late proffessors of our Cornish Tongue, Who being desired to interpret Gevern Anko, prepossedded with the thoughts of Gever which signifieth Goates, and perplexed about Anko, concluded it was Goats all: Whereas it signifies the Bounds of the Hundred; Gevern he knew to be the Hundred, but forgot that the Word Ko was Cornish for remembering ..."
"... an Empack Angwin an brauza ha an cotha Fratier mesk ul an clappiers Carnoack, a dewethaz rag guffiniez tho dismiggia, Gevern Anko, eue a reeg peverre war Gever, ha meskeeges dro tho Anko, eue levarraz droua Gever ul, eue a wya dro, Gevern buz nekovaz dro tho an geer "ko" dewethaz durt perhen Ko."
(Some real Late Cornish there, clear as mud isn't it?)
I may be thinking of a different place with the same original Cornish name. Or was Boson on about the spot near Carn Marth? Would that have been known to a Penwith Cornish speaker c1700??
The name fits as this is the only place in Cornwall where four hundreds (Kevrangow) meet at a point. I was thinking of four parishes meeting at a point.
Seventy Percent of "competent & frequent" Cornish users prefer to write KK! (MAGA/CLP Survey)
Is it confirmed that Carn Marth is the place where the 4 Hundreds meet? On another note, some Cornish photographers have recently displayed 360 Deg views from there, which are quite spectacular, on a clear day that is.
The only maps I could find (quickly) on line showing the hundred boundaries were old ones with little detail, so I couldn't pin down the exact spot. Does anyone have them plotted on a modern detailed map? OS maps don't even seem to show parish boundaries these days.
Seventy Percent of "competent & frequent" Cornish users prefer to write KK! (MAGA/CLP Survey)
Well 'Polwhelt' might not have been that far off the track even though the translation has been misinterpreted.....
It probably meant the name Gevern Anko was associated with a place of death in the folk memory. If the old hundreds of Pydar, Powder, Kerrier and Penwyth relate to more ancient 'tribal' areas it could fit. The tradition of burying executed people on tribal/royal boundaries may have been a local tradition or may even have been brought by the bands of Irish that came with the early 'christian' monks that arrived on Cornish shores in the 6th and 7th centuries. Who knows.
In williams dictionary, he gives kyvur as (KK spelling) Kevar ~ Area of ploughable land. And Ankow ~ Death, wether this changed into a meaning of meeting of the hundreds I don't know... Perhaps all dead people were burried at the borders of hundreds?
Its got to be somewhere between Scorrier, and Carnmarth...
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