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THIS OBJECT IS PART OF THE PROJECT 'A HISTORY OF CORNWALL IN 100 OBJECTS'.

ANTONY HOUSE. If the Greeks had Herodotus then Cornwall had Richard Carew. Poet, antiquarian and Elizabethan gentleman he was born at Antony in East Cornwall in 1555. This portrait was painted in 1586 when he was in his prime. Dressed in fashionable black, he wears heavy gold chains of office.

Carew trained as a lawyer, held most county offices and was an MP twice. He spent his lifetime collecting noteworthy facts about Cornwall. The first part of his Survey, published in 1602, describes the Cornish landscape, mining, farming, fishing, communications and recreations including hurling. Among many interesting vignettes are West Cornwall's matmakers - women and children - who sold their wares in London, or the Cornish chough 'somewhat dangerous in carrying stickes of fire'. Once endangered, choughs are back in Cornwall, and there are stuffed examples in many Cornish museums. The rest of Carew's survey tours the nine Cornish hundreds noting natural features, curiosities, towns and gentlemen's estates.

Photo: National Trust Reference: 103077
Copyright: ©NTPL/John Hammond