Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/282

CORNWALL old Celtic name. These names, too numerous to be given here, may be gathered from any local guide-book. Close by is the Chair-ladder, with its traditions of a witch named Madge Figgy. From this chair she would pour forth her incantations, or taiie flight at the head of her witch companions. Towednnck (3 m. S.W. of St. Ives) was originally a tiny hamlet in the parish of Le- lant ; its name was written Towynnok. Clearly enough, this is a corruption of St. Winoc or Gwynog, a Welsh saint of the sixth century, whose name also survives at Landewednack. If this saint is really the same as Winwaloe (Mr. Baring-Gould giving Winwaloe as patron of both churches), then the name Winwaloe must somehow have been corrupted to Winoc, which seems unlikely. Though very plain, the little church is interesting. Its low, massive tower is striking in its simplicity. It is said that when the builders were attempting to adorn its summit, the devil came each night and tore down the pinnacles. That explains why Towednack tower has, popularly speaking, no horns on it. Within is the only chancel- arch among West Cornish churches, and this, acutely pointed, dates from the thirteenth cen- tury. The tower staircase is of an uncommon plan. In the porch is a bench formed from a granite block, bearing a double cross incised — probably, says Blight, an early Christian sepul- chral monument. When a neighbour quarrels with a Towednack man, he is wont to ask him, 242