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Camelford in Cornwall County England History and GeographyCAMELFORD, a borough and market town (having separate jurisdiction) in the parish of LANTEGLOS, locally in the hundred of Lesnewth, county of CORNWALL, 15 miles (W. by S.) from Launceston, and 228 (W.S.W.) from London. The population is returned with the parish. This place, supposed to have been the Guffelford of the Saxon chronicle, takes its name from a ford on the river Camel; and is generally thought to be the scene of a memorable battle between King Arthur and his nephew Mordred, about the year 542, in which the former was mortally wounded, and the latter killed on the spot. About a mile to the north of the town, where the road crosses a small brook, is a place called ';Slaughter Bridge,' in allusion to the carnage which then ensued. In 823, a battle took place between the Britons and the Saxons under Egbert, when the former were defeated with great loss. The town, though in a dreary part of the county, has a pure air, and is considered healthy; it is indifferently built, and not lighted, but the streets are spacious and roughly paved, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. There is a manufactory on a small scale for the spinning of yarn. The market is on Friday: the fairs are on the Friday after March 10th, May 26th, June 17th and 18th, and September 6th, chiefly for cattle. Camelford was made a free borough by Richard, Earl of Cornwall; its privileges were confirmed by charter of Henry III. in 1259; and in the 25th of Charles II. it received a charter of incorporation, by which the government is vested in a mayor, eight aldermen, and an indefinite number of freemen, assisted by a serjeant at mace and subordinate officers. The mayor, who is elected annually on the Monday after Michaelmas, by the aldermen, from their own body, is a justice of the peace within the borough. The petty sessions for the hundred are held here. The freedom of the borough is acquired by presentation from a jury of free burgesses empannelled by the mayor at his courts held at Easter and Michaclmas. The corporation hold a court every third week, in which civil actions to the amount of £50 within the borough are cognizable; but this is mere formality, it being immediately adjourned. The elective franchise was granted in the reign of Edward VI., since which time the borough has rcturned two members to parliament: the right of election is vested in the free burgesses, being householders residing in the borough, and paying scot and lot, whose number is about twenty: the mayor is the returning officer. The parliamentary influence is possessed by the Marquis of Cleveland, who is owner of great part of the property within the borough. The town-hall, begun in June, 1806, was built at the expense of the Duke of Bedford, then proprietor of the borough: the lower part forms the market-place. Camelford has not a separate place of worship in connexion with the establishment, the parochial church being about a mile and a half to the south. An ancient chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas a$$ Becket, has long been desecrated. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A charity school was founded in 1679, by Sir James Smyth, and endowed with the tenement of Tregarth, producing £25 per annum, which is paid to the master: the school-room was rebuilt in 1823 by the corporation, who appoint the master, and nominate five children for gratuitous instruction. The renowned king Arthur is said to have been born at Tintagel castle, about five miles north-westward from the town. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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