The place of next importance in this parish is Trelisick. Perhaps the etymology of this word may be tre-les-ick, the town on the inclosed water, les, or lis, being an inclosed place; and the river Hayle here expands itself into the appearance of a lake; and the same circumstance applies to Trelesick as the head of Falmouth harbour.
The tale related by Mr. Hals respecting the change of name from De Camborne to Paynter, does not seem very probable. I remember, however, a man of that family who was a house-painter, and who would be driven into most violent fits of passion when boys hallooed after him, "Painter by name and painter by nature."
Mr. Francis Paynter is said to have married, first, a daughter of ——— Sutherland, Esq. one of the Clerks of the Admiralty, and to have had by her one son, who died in his father's lifetime. I apprehend that this son, James, too warmly espousing the politics then most popular in Cornwall, took an active part in proclaiming King James on the death of Queen Anne; that he was indicted by the victorious party, acquitted at Launceston, and welcomed by bonfire and by ball from thence to the Land's End.
Of the two daughters by his second marriage, with his cousin of Boskenna, one made a most imprudent match with a foreigner, and settled in France, leaving many descendants.
The other daughter, Mary, born in 1709, married a very respectable gentleman, Mr. Hearle, of Penryn. They acquired the other sister's share of the property by purchase, and the whole is now equally divided between the families of her three daughters. One married the Rev. Henry Hawkins Tremayne, of Heligon; another Francis Rodd, Esq. of Trebather; and the third Capt. Wallis, of the Royal Navy, well known for his discovery of Otaheite, in a voyage round the world.
The house at Trelisick has been greatly reduced in size; but the whole place continues to bear the appearance of a gentleman's seat, and the property is much improved by the rapid advance of trade and of establishments at Hayle.
