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.
Meli
Moore, Texas
<melibob4@@texasbb.com>