He was supposed to be the Giant of Dosmary Pool, on the Bodmin Downs, which was believed at one time to be a bottomless pit.  When the wind howls there the people say it is the Giant roaring, and “to roar like Tregeagle” was quite a common saying in those parts.  “His spirit haunts all the west of Cornwall, and he haunts equally the moor, the rocky coasts, and the blown sandhills; from north to south, from east to west, this doomed spirit was heard of, and to the Day of Judgment he was doomed to wander pursued by avenging fiends.  Who has not heard the howling of Tregeagle?  When the storms come with all their strength from the Atlantic, and hurl themselves upon the rocks about the Land’s End, the howls of this spirit are louder than the roaring of the wind.”

In this land of legends, therefore, it is not surprising that the raising of that extraordinary bank which blocks the end of the River Cober, at what should be its outlet into the sea, should be ascribed to Tregeagle.  It appeared that he was an extremely wicked steward, who by robbery and other worse crimes became very wealthy.  In the first place he was said to have murdered his sister, and to have been so cruel to his wife and children that one by one they perished.  But at length his end came, and as he lay on his death-bed the thoughts of the people he had murdered, starved, and plundered, and his remorseful conscience, so haunted him, that he sent for the monks from a neighbouring monastery and offered them all his wealth if they would save his soul from the fiends.  They accepted his offer, and both then and after he had been buried in St. Breock’s Church they sang chants and recited prayers perpetually over his grave, by which means they kept back the demons from his departing soul.  But a dispute arose between two wealthy families concerning the ownership of some land near Bodmin.  It appeared that Tregeagle, as steward to one of the claimants, had destroyed ancient deeds, forged others, and made it appear that the property was his own.  The defendant in the trial by some means or other succeeded in breaking the bonds of death, and the spirit of Tregeagle was summoned to attend the court as witness.

When his ghostly form appeared, the court was filled with horror.  In answer to counsel’s questions he had to acknowledge his frauds, and the jury returned a verdict for the defendants.  The judge then ordered counsel to remove his witness, but, alas! it was easier to raise evil spirits than to lay them, and they could not get rid of Tregeagle.  The monks were then sent for, and said that by long trials he might repent and his sins be expiated in that way.  They would not or could not hand him over to the fiends, but they would give him tasks to do that would be endless.  First of all they gave him the task of emptying Dosmary Pool, supposed to be bottomless, with a small perforated limpet shell.  Here, however, he narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the demons, and only saved himself by running and dashing his head through the window of Roach Rock Church.  His terrible cries drove away the congregation, and the monks and priests met together to decide what could be done with him, as no service could be held in the church.