Newsletter - Issue 31

Jubilees

In 2002, our present monarch's Golden Jubilee year, it may be of interest to look back to previous royal golden jubilees. Since 1066 there have been four.

Henry III, 1266

Henry III's Golden Jubilee occurred during the last stages of a prolonged civil war, a power struggle between the king and the barons, led by the formidable Simon de Montfort until he was killed in 1265. The conflict ended in 1267, and the king lived peaceably until his death in 1272.

In the circumstances it is doubtful whether any sort of celebrations were staged to mark the jubilee year.

At Saltash, the de Valletort fami1y, who had arrived with William the Conqueror, still dominated the area from their stronghold at Trematon Castle. The little town had become a borough towards the end of the previous century, and probably very few of its inhabitants even realised that their king, far away in London, had reigned for fifty years.

Edward III, 1377

This monarch just managed to achieve his Golden Jubilee, dying five months later. Unlike Henry III, he was very much a warrior king, involved throughout almost all of his reign with the so-called Hundred Years War with France, in which his son Edward, the Black Prince, played a significant part.

However, by 1377 the Black Prince was dead and problems in financing the war were increasing, so, as with Henry III, jubilee year arrived accompanied by serious national difficulties.

Saltash is more closely connected to the Black Prince, in that he was Duke of Cornwall, and overlord of the Manor of Trematon. There is no record of jubilee celebrations locally.

George III, 1810

The Golden Jubilee of George III took place during the Napoleonic Wars with France, and with the king in a confused mental state, which resulted in regency powers being granted to his son, the future George IV, immediately jubilee year was over. Nevertheless, the occasion was celebrated nationwide.

Because of the conflict, several ships were berthed in the Tamar to house prisoners of war, under the command of Captain Edward Hawkins of Duncan House, just below the present Guildhall. A burial ground for the many prisoners that died in these vessels was established in the area between the newly built Baptist Church and Coombe Lane, later Coombe Road. Culver House was also a recent addition to the landscape.

According to historian P.E.B. Porter, the principal local celebrations for jubilee year took place at Shillingham, the residence of James Buller, then mayor of Saltash.

Victoria, 1887

By the time of her Golden Jubilee year, the Queen had recovered much of the popularity she had lost during her period of comparative seclusion after the death of her consort, Prince Albert, and the event was a cause of national rejoicing.

Our local celebrations mostly took place in the 'Park', an open space centred on the present Victoria Road. There were sports, a bonfire, and the children received medals and mugs.

Queen Victoria was the only one of the four monarchs to live long enough to achieve a Diamond Jubilee, although George III failed by only nine months. Of the four, three of the jubilees occurred in troubled times, and by curious coincidence all three kings were the third of that name.

David Coles

Hatt and Hollands Inn
or
Heads and Tales

In Mediaeval times a deep water channel ran right up to where the Rising Sun Inn now stands, providing water transport for farm produce etc.
And so it was on a bleak November day, there arrived a Cardinal and his entourage from the cathedral of Bayeux to inspect the daughter church at St. Germans. (It would appear the St. Germans river was not navigable in those far off days.)
After disembarking the horse and pack donkeys, the envoy and his servants proceeded further up the hill.
Darkness was drawing in, worse still rain started to fall, so the Cardinal, espying a small hostelry, called a halt and arranged to stay the night.
The Landlord was overwhelmed by such an august person as the cardinal. Came the morning, the company departed. An hour later, while the landlord was relating to his cronies the recent event, the silence was broken by a very agitated outrider shouting "My Cardinal's Hat!"
An intense search revealed nothing.
The dejected outrider decided to return. Bidding the landlord "Goodbye", he went up the mounting platform. Just as he was about to mount his horse, he steadied himself with the post. To his immense surprise and joy, a round hat-box toppled off the post!
The hostelry became known as the "Cardinal's Hatt" and it retained that name until the Reformation when a number of Dutch religious refugees settled in the area. The "Cardinal's Hatt" became the "Hollands Inn", and so it was that the tiny hamlet just north of the inn became known as "Hatt".

Norman Ash

Saltash Heritage, 17 Lower Fore Street, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 6JQ --- Tel: 01752 848466 --- Email: info@saltash-heritage.org.uk --- Registered Charity No. 297525