Page:The parochial history of Cornwall.djvu/415

Rh committed; for it was not made a county bridge till the beginning of James the First's reign. Now this licence of all spiritual benedictions, collection, and commutation of penance, throughout the counties of Cornwall and Devon, was there granted by Dr. Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter, to Thomas Longbound, then Vicar of Egles-hayle, his chaplain or vicar, 1485, who raised a considerable sum of money by that means, viz. of absolution, as also from charitable and well-disposed Christians. The undertaker, that expert mason John de Harlyn, and the treasurer Longbound, brought the bridge's building to that perfection as it now stands, consisting of seventeen arches of stone of great height and magnitude, all built with great cost and labour, through which (as aforesaid) the sea passes up and down daily through the Alan river to Tagus, (i.e. Goodwood,) a mile, and is navigable for boats, barges, and lighters, to that place, which there bring sea sand, and other commodities, for the country-people's use.

On the lower side of the bridge, from Padstow Haven, ships and barks laden with merchandise frequently arrive, of burthen from twenty to sixty tons, from Bristol, Wales, Ireland, and other places, where their commodities have better vent than at Padstow, two or three miles below, nearer the main sea.

Leland, in his Itinerary, tells us, volume the second, that some of the arches of this bridge were laid upon quicksand, which for some time made the treasurer and undertaker despair of success, till they projected the laying of packs of wool under the groundwork, which proved such a useful expedient as carried on the fabric according to their desire, and the same stands firm to this day.

After this bridge was erected, Longbound, the vicar, gave a small parcel of land towards the repair thereof, now worth 20l. per annum, and enfeoffed the twelve men of this parish, and their successors, in trust with the same for ever. There are also other lands in St. Breock, given by