The Countess of Mount Edgcumbe, Emma Gilbert, had a pet pig which she called Cupid.
Cupid led a charmed life eating at the dinner table of the Edgcumbes and even accompanying the Countess, Emma Gilbert, on trips to London. The Edgcumbes love of their pets can be seen at Fern Dell where many of them are buried. When a later Countess of Mount Edgcumbe, Caroline Georgia, died in 1909, she requested that a fountain be erected near the shore at Cremyll which bore the inscription, 'For the Doggies'.
When Cupid died in 1768, it was said that he was buried in a gold casket beneath the Obelisk at Cremyll.
A Kingsbrige man wrote a poem about Cupid on hearing of it's demise. It read:
'Oh dry those tears so round and big,
Nor waste in sight your precious wind,
Death only takes a little pig
Your Lord and Son are still behind.'
Cupid's resting place is a mystery though, as it appears to have had a grave at Fern Dell. A monumental urn dedicated to the pig has long since disappeared.
On one of his visits to Mount Edgcumbe, George III, on seeing Cupid's headstone, remarked to Queen Charlotte, 'It's the family vault, Charley! The family vault!'
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