17th Century Tokens : Newport-Penare in Cornwall

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Click Images to View Coin Details Newport Like St. Ives and St. Neot, this is a very difficult town to deal with, as there are so many Newports to which tokens bearing that name may be assigned. Though a suburb of Launceston down to 1832, the Cornish Newport was a Parliamentary borough, and in the seventeenth century was of some importance. The tokens which follow are believed to be unquestionalbly Cornish, while in all probability others might be claimed. W49: Cornwall, Newport (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  Three sheep in a fold IOHN KERTON OF NVE R  I I K PORT IN CORNWELL I I K Image not available The "Sufferings of the Quakers" states that "Kerton, like so many of the trading class of that day, was a Quaker. John Kerton, having been prisoner some time before, for refusing to take the oath of a constable, and on that account brought to the sessions, was then ensnared with the oath of allegiance, and re-committed." W50: Cornwall, Newport (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  The Grocers' Arms IOHN NORMAN R  I E N IN NEWPORT I E N Image not available The presumption in favour of this coin being Cornish mainly rests upon the name of the issuer, which is common in the district. All efforts to trace him have, however, failed. W51: Cornwall, Newport (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  A beehive WILLIAM ROWE R  W M R APPOTHECARIE W M R Image not available The beehive is the arms of a branch of the Rowe family, and this token may be associated with the Cornish Newport in the fact that Rowe is not only a common name in the district, but has long been directly connected with the town. Richard Rowe was churchwarden of St. Thomas, Launceston, in 1630; Nicholas Rowe occurs in 1632; Henry Rowe, a leper, in 1648; and John Rowe in 1652; but the name does not reach the local mayoralty until 1772, in the person of William Rowe. W52: Cornwall, Padstow (Farthing): (1668) O  1668 PETER SWYMMER 1668 R  P G S IN PADSTOWE P G S Image not available Robert Swimmer, the last Prior of St. Germas, died Rector of Minster, a parish on the north coast of Cornwall, not far from Padstowe. The name is so unusual that there is, probably, some connection. W53: Cornwall, Penare (Farthing): (Date Unknown) O  An angel FRANCES OSGOOD IN R  F V O PENAYR CORNWALL F V O Image not available There is more than one Penare in Cornwall; but the one here intended is probably a small hamlet, in the parish of Gorran(?), which appears in former days to have been of more importance that it is now. The triple initials show that Frances really stands for Francis, and that this token was issued by a man. Unless OSgood can be identified with Hosegood, a frequent surname in the neighbourhood of Crediton, it has altogether disappeared from the West. Penare is also given as Peneyr and Penyer.

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