gnificent view of land and water. With the death of Lord
Francis the title de Dunstanville became extinct. Carn Brea cannot
actually be said to belong to the coast, being several miles inland,
but it is a dominant feature in any view from a far distance, and it
claims a visit partly on account of this monument and partly for its
prehistoric remains. This mass of granite, rising to a height of about
740 feet, bears traces of immemorial occupation that have been both a
delight and a puzzle to antiquaries. Those familiar with the works of
the artist Cruikshank will remember that the giant Bolster used to
take this hill with one stride from St. Agnes Beacon, and in addition
to this tale of giants there was the usual chatter about Druids and
Druidic monuments in connection with Carn Brea. It is safest to leave
the Druids alone--they are at a discount now; the place is
interesting enough without them, and the view from the summit is
magnificent, reaching as it does from sea to sea. Clusters of hut
circles and signs of neolithic military entrenchment are very obvious,
and a number of pure gold coins have been discovered here. There is
also a mediaeval castle, restored, and, of course, the inevitable
logan-stone. Nearer to Redruth is one of the Cornish "places of play"
(_plan-an-guare_), known as Planguary. These rounded hollows, such as
the famous Gwennap Pit, were formerly used for sports and dramatic
performances; they played an important part in the social life of the
past, and Cornwall had its own speciality in miracle-plays or
interludes. Carew tells us that "the Guary Miracle is a kind of
interlude compiled in Cornish out of some Scripture history. For
representing it they raise an earthen amphitheatre in some open field,
leaving the diameter of the enclosed plain some forty or fifty feet.
The country people flock from all sides to see and hear it, for they
have therein devils and devices to delight the eye as well as the ear.
The players speak not their parts without book, but are prompted by
one called the ordinary, who followeth at their back with the book in
his hand and telleth them softly what they must pronounce aloud. The
dramas were acted at one time for several days together and were
similar in character to the English mysteries of the same period."

The parish of Illogan was the birthplace of the engineer Trevithick,
who was born here in 1771. His father, a prominent manager of local
mines, was a Methodist, of