16th century Cornish place names

[QuayGar]

Can anyone help identifiy the modern locations of some places mentioned in a 16th century will?  I am fairly certain they are all in Cornwall.  Had some difficulty transcribing.

Trewythan in the parish of keverne?; Trewhavas wartha in the parishe of Grade
Buskassock wollas and Goverrowe in the parish of Sy...y; Tredower in the parish of St Issey;
Helson in keiyer (Cober?); Trewenhayle (Tywarnhayle?)

Any assistance gratefully received, QuayGar

[Little Nell]

I'm pretty certain that all these places are on or around the Lizard in Cornwall.

There is a Trethvas farm in the parish of Grade and another place called Gwavas nearby, as well as Worvas Farm.

The 'Buskassock wollas' - don't know, but I do know a farm called Predennack Wollas.  Perhaps the writing is really bad?

There is also the parish of St Keverne near Helford.

Helston lies on the river Cober on the west side of the peninsula.

The parish of St Issey is further away near Padstow.

I'll have another look at the maps tomorrow.

Nell

[Little Nell]

Hi again,

I've done some research with maps and various books that I have.

Wollas and Wartha are both Cornish words meaning Upper or Higher.  You find a lot of farm names nowadays as Higher or Lower ........

I think that Buskassock Wollas might now be Higher Boscadjek in Sithney parish ( I can easily see this written as Sythney).  I have found reference to it in the 14th century as Boscasek.

The word keryer is the name of the Cornish hundred which encompases many of the Lizard parishes and beyond towards the north coast.  It lived on for a while in the name of Kerrier District Council.  Helston lies within this hundred.

If you use modern online map sites e.g. http://www.streetmap.co.uk then you stand a reasonable chance of finding these modern names.

I also wonder if  it might be worthwhile asking the staff at the Cornwall Record Office if they recognise any of the names.  They will be more familiar with the evolution of both the Cornish and English names for many places.

Nell

[QuayGar]

Hi Nell

Thanks for your trouble.  I'm familiar with Cornish names and have pored over O/S maps but missed some of the connections you have made.  I am sure you are correct with Buskassock.  Your 14thC reference was just the sort of thing I was after.  I had leaned toward Sythney as being the parish but there was definitely not letter "h" in the original which threw me.  I guess either the clerk who wrote it wasn't familiar with the names or they have evolved since then.  I did wonder if Goverrowe was Coverack but that would be different parish.

I also think you're spot on with Kerrier.  Why that didn't occur to me, I don't know.  Maybe I was thinking in terms of parishes and not hundreds and swayed by the fact Helston stands on the Cober.

I found the Grade places and suppose Trethvas Farm has evolved from Trewhavas.

Some further names I omitted from my original post were Calabigen, Trevoracke and Bonyosse or Bonjosse.  Any suggestions for these gratefully received.

Thanks again
QuayGar