:''see also Tresillian House'' Tresillian () is a small village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of St Clement, in mid

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, United Kingdom. It is three miles (5 km) east of

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

on the A390 road. Tresillian means "a place of eels" in the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or , ) is a Southwestern Brittonic language, Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. Along with Welsh language, Welsh and Breton language, Breton, Cornish descends from Common Brittonic, ...

, according to a 19th-century writer. However, modern toponymists agree that the name in fact translates as "farm/settlement of a man called Sulyen" (a Celtic personal name from British: sulo-genos, "sun-born").

History

Tresillian was the home of

Robert Tresilian Sir Robert Tresilian (died 19 February 1388) was a Cornish lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench between 1381 and 1387. He was born in Cornwall, and held land in Tresillian, near Truro. Tresilian was deeply involved in the struggles be ...

Chief Justice of the King's Bench The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

between 1381 and 1387. A famous event of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

took place here in 1646.

Thomas Fairfax Sir Thomas Fairfax (17 January 1612 – 12 November 1671) was an English army officer and politician who commanded the New Model Army from 1645 to 1650 during the English Civil War. Because of his dark hair, he was known as "Black Tom" to his l ...

sent a ''summons of surrender'' to

Ralph Hopton Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton (159628 September 1652) was an English politician, military officer and peer. During the First English Civil War, he served as Royalist commander in the West Country, and was made Baron Hopton of Stratton in 16 ...

who replied on 8 March that he was willing to negotiate terms. Fairfax agreed to negotiate and on 10 March 1646 both sides met at Tresillian Bridge. Hopton agreed to move his army to

St Allen St Allen () is a civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The church town of St Allen is an isolated hamlet and the main settlement in the parish is Zelah which is situated on the A30 trunk road four miles (6.5 km) north of Tr ...

as a gesture of trust and goodwill allowing Fairfax to occupy Truro. The Wheel Inn at Tresillian is Grade II

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and is said to be to have been used as Fairfax's headquarters during the Civil War (Battle of Tresillian). The village is mentioned as having a yearly fair in "Owen's book of Fairs" 1788 (https://archive.org/details/owensnewbookfai00owengoog)

Church

A new church was built at Tresillian Bridge in 1904 (the font, bells, statue of St Anthony and pulpit from

Merther Merther (, meaning ''martyr's church'') is a small hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of St Michael Penkevil, in the Cornwall district, in the ceremonial county of Cornwall, England. It lies east of Truro, on the eastern side of t ...

were moved to the new church). The parish church of Merther was abandoned in the mid-20th century: previously it had been used occasionally, usually for funeral services. There is a small Cornish cross on top of the church wall.Langdon, A. G. (1896) ''Old Cornish Crosses''. Truro: Joseph Pollard; p. 82

References

External links

Tresillian village website
{{authority control Villages in Cornwall English Civil War