NANCE
General Information
I am
not a Nance descendant,
but my Phillips ancestor and his siblings were raised
on the Nance farm and
their parents William Phillips and his wife Elizabeth
Withiel leased or rented and farmed the property
from about 1815 to about 1830 or 1835. The property is
now a B & B and the manor house looks much the
same as it did then! My ancestor, Hugh Phillips, died
in Mineral Point, Wisconsin in 1880. I have a copy of
a letter of condolence his brother Robert Phillips
wrote to the Wisconsin family where in he described
the Nance Farm as it was
in his youth. For those of you Nances
who trace your lineage to this area, I thought you
might enjoy reading the fabulous description by Robert
Withiell Phillips in 1880 from Edgebaston, England:
"A fine old country estate was Nance (for that was the name it then bore) & I have only seen it once or twice since. The House was a fine old country mansion having something of the Baronial Hall type about it and was, in the days of its glory I think occupied by big Folk, but fell into neglect & decay & was after let with the farm. Attached to it were very large very quaint and very beautiful old English Gardens with such Glorious old fashioned flowers, in dense masses and marvelous variety & profusion. There were extensive & charming orchards & I remember after the apple season we used to make very large quantities of cider, which we boys used to assist in doing, much to our delight. Then there were grand old woods at Nance where in the glowing autumn tide we spent many a day nutting— In the Majestic branches of the large Forest trees and the thickness of smaller vegetation, many of our native song birds built their nests and reared their callow broods. From the rich virgin soil of those old woods, sprang many rare British wild plants, among which plants were the wild Hyacinth, wood Sorrel, and Anemone, and Wild Rose, Eglantine & Broom, wafted around their rich perfume.
Then there were fine Sheep-walks near the open sea and extensive crofts covered with fine patches of yellow broom, golden gorse, Bracken etc which afforded good shelter for Hares, Rabbit, and Game-birds; and whose air, through the long summer days was redolent with the perfume of Honeysuckle, Briar Rose, & wild Thyme and burdened with the mighty music of murmuring sea, Song bird & Bee. Such was our early home, & now looking back through the vista of long years, it seems to me the vision of some pleasant dream of youthful happy days which fall to the lot of but few." © transcript by Melinda F. Moore 2009
Also, On the internet there is considerable information on the Nance families of Cornwall and particularly in Illogan. The following Nans / Nance families apparently built and lived on the Nance Farm from about the middle of the 16th to 17th centuries.
Henry Trengove, alias Nans, Esquire (son of Alexander Nans) and his wife Constance Gylette (daughter of Henry Gylette of St. Just Parish) 1536.
John Nance, Esquire, first of the line to use the Nance spelling (son of Henry Trengove, Esq.) and his wife Chesten Nanspyan. 1557.
Henry Nance, Esquire b. 1556 d. 1625, (son of John Nance, Esq.) and his wife Margery Arundell of Trerise.
Henry Nance, Esquire b. 1623 d. 1660 (son of Henry Nance, Esq.) and his wife Margery Basset of Tehidy in Illogan.
John Nance, Esquire, 1660 (son of Henry Nance, Esq. Jr.) and his wife Luce Hele. Sold Nance ca 1679 and moved to Trengoff in Warleggon.
The Nance estate remained in the hands of the Trengove family until about 1720. Included on the farm is a prehistoric camp circle where, as a Cornish Bard, Denis Ivall, researcher, took part in the Gorseth meeting in 1981. My research has not included finding the new owners after 1720 nor who owned it in the early 1800s when the Phillips family would have leased and farmed it for their home. However, pictures are available online as it looks today, 2011. It has been lovingly restored into a Bed & Breakfast. http://www.chycor.co.uk/bnb/illogan-redruth-bed-and-breakfast-nance-farm/
If anyone knows who owned the Nance Farm between 1800 and 1840, I would love to know. Hope this info will be of interest to Nance reseachers.
"A fine old country estate was Nance (for that was the name it then bore) & I have only seen it once or twice since. The House was a fine old country mansion having something of the Baronial Hall type about it and was, in the days of its glory I think occupied by big Folk, but fell into neglect & decay & was after let with the farm. Attached to it were very large very quaint and very beautiful old English Gardens with such Glorious old fashioned flowers, in dense masses and marvelous variety & profusion. There were extensive & charming orchards & I remember after the apple season we used to make very large quantities of cider, which we boys used to assist in doing, much to our delight. Then there were grand old woods at Nance where in the glowing autumn tide we spent many a day nutting— In the Majestic branches of the large Forest trees and the thickness of smaller vegetation, many of our native song birds built their nests and reared their callow broods. From the rich virgin soil of those old woods, sprang many rare British wild plants, among which plants were the wild Hyacinth, wood Sorrel, and Anemone, and Wild Rose, Eglantine & Broom, wafted around their rich perfume.
Then there were fine Sheep-walks near the open sea and extensive crofts covered with fine patches of yellow broom, golden gorse, Bracken etc which afforded good shelter for Hares, Rabbit, and Game-birds; and whose air, through the long summer days was redolent with the perfume of Honeysuckle, Briar Rose, & wild Thyme and burdened with the mighty music of murmuring sea, Song bird & Bee. Such was our early home, & now looking back through the vista of long years, it seems to me the vision of some pleasant dream of youthful happy days which fall to the lot of but few." © transcript by Melinda F. Moore 2009
Also, On the internet there is considerable information on the Nance families of Cornwall and particularly in Illogan. The following Nans / Nance families apparently built and lived on the Nance Farm from about the middle of the 16th to 17th centuries.
Henry Trengove, alias Nans, Esquire (son of Alexander Nans) and his wife Constance Gylette (daughter of Henry Gylette of St. Just Parish) 1536.
John Nance, Esquire, first of the line to use the Nance spelling (son of Henry Trengove, Esq.) and his wife Chesten Nanspyan. 1557.
Henry Nance, Esquire b. 1556 d. 1625, (son of John Nance, Esq.) and his wife Margery Arundell of Trerise.
Henry Nance, Esquire b. 1623 d. 1660 (son of Henry Nance, Esq.) and his wife Margery Basset of Tehidy in Illogan.
John Nance, Esquire, 1660 (son of Henry Nance, Esq. Jr.) and his wife Luce Hele. Sold Nance ca 1679 and moved to Trengoff in Warleggon.
The Nance estate remained in the hands of the Trengove family until about 1720. Included on the farm is a prehistoric camp circle where, as a Cornish Bard, Denis Ivall, researcher, took part in the Gorseth meeting in 1981. My research has not included finding the new owners after 1720 nor who owned it in the early 1800s when the Phillips family would have leased and farmed it for their home. However, pictures are available online as it looks today, 2011. It has been lovingly restored into a Bed & Breakfast. http://www.chycor.co.uk/bnb/illogan-redruth-bed-and-breakfast-nance-farm/
If anyone knows who owned the Nance Farm between 1800 and 1840, I would love to know. Hope this info will be of interest to Nance reseachers.
Meli
Moore, Texas
<melibob4@@texasbb.com>
This page last updated 9/17/2012