Morval (
Cornish: Morval) is a rural
civil parish, hamlet and historic
manor in southeast
Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet is approximately two miles (3 km) north of
Looe and five miles (8 km) south of
Liskeard.[1]
Morval parish is in the Liskeard Registration District and the population in the 2001 census was 616, which increased to 711 at the 2011 census.[2] The meaning of the name Morval is unknown. To the north the parish is bounded by the parishes of
Dobwalls and Trewidland and
Menheniot, to the east by
St Germans, to the south by
St Martin-by-Looe and to the west by
Duloe.[3]
St Wenna's Church
The 13th-century parish church is situated in a secluded location at OS Grid Ref SX260567 in Morval hamlet. It was probably built in the 13th century with transepts and a north aisle added in the 15th century. The west tower is built of slate.[3]
The dedication to Saint Wenna could refer to
Saint Wenna, to whom three other churches are dedicated,[4] or another contemporaneous Wenna, also called Gwen, who was queen of Cornwall.[5] The latter is known as the wife of
Selyf (or Salomon), mother of
Saint Cybi, and sister of
Saint Non.[6] She was martyred in
Brittany with her husband.[7] Both saints share the feast day of 18 October.[8]
A monument survives to Walter (or William?) Coode (died 1637) and his family. Two early pieces of communion plate survive comprising a paten of 1528–29, plain in design and the only pre-Reformation plate in Cornwall,[9] and a chalice of circa 1576. The church contains the oldest known
sundial in Cornwall, dating back to 1671, and is one of only three 17th-century dials in Cornish churches. The dial is in a poor condition and a motto on the dial reads Ut Ora sic Vita.[10]
Manor
A hundred metres south of the church is Morval House,[11] the
manor house, a large Tudor residence which was once the home of the Glynn, Buller and Kitson families. The house was altered in the 18th century and according to
Nikolaus Pevsner (1970) is "one of the best in Cornwall".[12] The descent of the manor of Morval was as follows:
Coode
The estate was the property of John Coode, whose daughter and sole heiress Anne Coode married
John Buller (1632–1716), MP, of Shillingham near
Saltash, in Cornwall.
Buller
The ancient family of Buller is descended from Ralph Buller of Word in Somerset, sixth in descent from whom was Richard Buller who settled in Cornwall and married the heiress of Tregarrick.[14]
They derived much of their political power from their kinship to the
Trelawny family of
Trelawny in the parish of
Pelynt, Cornwall, who controlled the
pocket borough of nearby
East Looe.[15][16]
John Buller (1632–1716), MP, of Shillingham near
Saltash, in Cornwall. His son, who predeceased him, was John Buller (1668–1701), MP for Lostwithiel in 1701.
John Francis Buller (1695–1751) (grandson), of Morval, MP for Saltash 1718–22, himself the father of three members of parliament: James Buller (1717–1765), John Buller (1721–1786), Lord of the Admiralty and Francis Buller (1723–1764) and of William Buller (1735–1796),
Bishop of Exeter.
James Buller (1717–1765) (eldest son), MP for East Looe 1741–47 and for Cornwall 1748–65.[17] His first wife Elizabeth Gould was the heiress of the estate of
Downes near
Crediton in Devon, which became the principal seat of the senior line of the Buller family.[18] He married Secondly in 1744 to Lady Jane Bathurst (died 1794), second (or third.[19]) daughter of
Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst. Morval became the inheritance of his eldest son from this second marriage.
John Buller (1744–1790) (eldest son by father's second marriage), of Morval, MP for Exeter 1768–74, Launceston 1774–80, West Looe 1780-2, a
Lord of the Treasury. He inherited the estate of Morval from his father.[19] In 1770 he married Anne Lemon (died 1800), daughter of William Lemon of
Carclew House,
Mylor, Cornwall, and sister of
Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet (1748–1824) of Carclew.[20]
John Francis Buller (1818–1890) (only son), of Morval, JP, DL,
High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1853. He died without progeny and was succeeded by his sister Charlotte Buller, wife of Henry Hawkins Tremayne, into which family passed the estate of Morval.[20]
Tremayne
Henry Hawkins Tremayne (died 1894), JP, who in 1858 married his cousin[21] Charlotte Buller (died 1909), heiress of Morval. He was the 3rd son of John Hearle Tremayne (1780–1851), JP, DL, of Heligan, St Austell, Cornwall, and Sydenham House, Lew Down, Devon,
High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1831, MP for Cornwall 1806–26. Henry's mother was Caroline Matilda Lemon (died 1864), youngest daughter of
Sir William Lemon, 1st Baronet (1748–1824) of Carclew.[20] He was a descendant of the ancient family of Tremayne, which in the reign of King Edward III (1327–1377) were lords of the manor of Tremayne in the parish of St Martin, Helford Haven.[22]
Henry Arthur Tremayne (1866–1921) (eldest son), a captain in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.[20]
Arthur Hearle Tremayne (1868 – after 1937) (brother), a captain in the
Royal Navy.[20]