s as this,
having a delightful cove protected by the fine headland of Willapark.
The fishing hamlet is close to an ancient burial-mound or barrow, from
which election writs were once read and the local mayor proclaimed.
From this cove we can pass upward into the glorious Rocky Valley, with
its broken crags, its tangled foliage and rushing stream, its old
mill. It is just a little like the gorge at Lynmouth, but wilder.
This is the stream forming the famous cascade known as Knighton's (or
St. Nectan's) Kieve. It is not very easy to find, and, here as at
Tintagel, a key must be procured before its beauties can be examined.
The Kieve is a basin of rock, into which the water has a fall of about
40 feet. St. Nectan is supposed to have been a brother of Morwenna, of
Morwenstow; it is said he had an oratory here, and when he was dying
he threw its silver bell into the waterfall. But Mr. Baring-Gould says
that he died at Hartland. Following the usual guide-book convention,
this would be the right moment for quoting Hawker's ballad, "The
Sisters of Glen Nectan," but that piece is not one of his happiest
efforts, and the legend is at least dubious. Those who journey afoot
from Bossiney to Boscastle will find it almost impossible to keep to
the coast, as the Rocky Valley forms an impediment, especially when
its stream is in flood after heavy rains. But they can find a
tolerable road to Trevalga, crossing the stream at the Long Bridge,
and at Trevalga they will find an interesting little church. The shore
here is broken into some small creeks of great beauty, but one chasm
is so dark and sombre that it has won the name of Blackapit. There are
dangers along these wild beaches; the poet Swinburne, when a boy, was
almost cut off by the tide near Tintagel. From Blackapit we rise to
Willapark Point and the church of Forrabury. The view from the Point
is very fine, covering the ravine and haven of Boscastle on the east,
and looking towards Tintagel on the west. Forrabury, the parish church
of Boscastle, is dedicated to St. Symphorian, whoever that saint be
(perhaps St. Veryan); and in situation it much resembles that of
Tintagel. The pulpit and the woodwork of the altar date from the
fifteenth century. There is a good granite cross in the churchyard.
Here again there is a temptation, into which most writers fall, of
quoting from Hawker, with his poem, "The Silent Tower of Bottreaux,"
in which he gives us a legend accounting for the fact t