Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/50

34 LAUNCESTON. November, 1650, Sir Francis Drake, Baronet (nephew of the navigator), purchased from Connocke's representatives, not only the same house, site, barton, grange, and water- mills, but also other " lands, woods, meadows and pastures belonging to the site and precincts of the said Priory, part of the manor of Launceston, and within the towns, parishes, fields and hamlets of Launceston, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Thomas, and St. Stephen." His purchases from Connocke's representatives afterwards passed into the hands of Sir William Morice, and, later, into those of the Dukes of Northumberland, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Dick, and Mr. Deakin successively. On the death of the last-named gentleman, the trustees of his will, in July, 1882, sold the property in parcels. The modern manor of Launcestonlands com- prises Newport, portions of St. Stephens, some tene- ments in St. Thomas, St. Mary Magdalene, Laneast, and Tresmere, in Cornwall, and some rights in Ashwater, Devonshire. It would not be very difficult to trace from Henry VIII. to their present holders other benefices and lands acquired by the annihilation of Launceston Priory ; but it is not within the scope of this work to deal further with that subject. The destroyed chapels of St. Catharine, St. Margaret, St. John of Bridlington, St. James, and St. Gabriel, were evidently clustered around the Priory House, and the chapel of St. Thomas-the-Martyr seems to have stood at only a little distance from the conventual buildings. We suggest that the last-named chapel was within what is now known as St. Thomas Hamlet. " The inhabitants who dwelt near the Chapel" were to have the same general religious rights as " the parishioners." The Commissioners' report gives separate values of Seynt Thomas (£6 6s. 8d.) and Saint Thomas (£2 2s.), the former probably referring to the Parish, and the latter to the Hamlet.