Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/18

4 LAUNCESTON. the rule of St. Augustine. The Bishop thus states his ownership, and the disposition which he makes of it : " Let the present age know that Ralph, Dean of the Church of Saint Stephen at Launceston, gave up the deanery to me, William the Bishop;" and continues, "I have given the whole to the regular Canons whom I have set over that Church." " Regular canons " were those who lived in a conventual manner, under one roof, and had a common refectory and dormitory, and were bound by solemn vows to observe the rules of their order. Warlewast removed the site of the convent of St. Stephen to St. Thomas. The new buildings seem to have been called St. Stephen-amidst-the-hills, to distinguish them from St. Stephen-on-the-hill, and consisted of the conventual church, a refectory, dormitory, and adjacent chantry chapels. These occupied the site of the present parish church of St. Thomas, extending westward as far as the office of Mr. Trood, and eastward to a little beyond the present Gas Court. South of these buildings were the meadows now known as The Priories, or The Priory Meadows. The new buildings were probably first occupied about the year 1 140. Between 1140 and 1176 Reginald de Dunstanville, Earl of Cornwall, natural son of Henry I., confirmed and extended the rights of the church and town of Lanstone as follows : Reginald, son of King Henry, Earl of Cornwall, To all his people, Franks, Angles, and Walense (Welsh), Greeting. Know ye that I have taken under the protection of God, of the Lord Henry King of England, and of myself, the Church of Lanstone, with all its appurtenances as well ecclesiastical as lay, and the Canons ministering there in honour of God and of the blessed prothomartyr Stephen, continually beseeching God as well for the stability, tranquility, and peace of Henry King of England and of the kingdom, as for the health of the soul of King Henry my father, and of all our predecessors and successors. Wherefore I