Lammana Priory
Lammana Priory was a priory on Looe Island in Cornwall, UK, consisting of two Benedictine monks until 1289. It was owned by Glastonbury Abbey and the property was sold in 1289 to a local landowner.[1]
History
The Priory of
The earliest documentary evidence for the existence of the priory is a papal confirmation of Pope Lucius II in 1144.[2] The confirmation (Privilegium) was made during the abbacy of Bishop Henry of Blois, the brother of King Stephen.
Some sixty years later, (c. 1200) we have the charter of
Although not strictly a parish, it consisted of approximately 297 acres of tithe lands which ran from the edge of
The ownership of tithes were the matter of a long-standing dispute with the Augustinian canons of Launceston Priory, who acquired the parish of Talland early in the 13th century.
In about 1240–50, Earl Richard of Cornwall granted permission for Glastonbury to lease out the manor of Lammana, and on the 24 June 1289, the patronage of the island chapel was sold to Walter of Treverbyn, lord of Portlooe.
The dispute over ownership once again returned, and Walter was forced to sue Launceston Priory for damages amounting to £40.
The chapels remained in use up until the
Archaeology
The mainland chapel was excavated in 1935 and 1936, by Charles Kenneth Croft Andrew, antiquarian and archaeologist, with the support of his friend the Rev. Henry Ardern Lewis, M.A., then Vicar of Talland, and Mr C.B. Willcocks, F.R.I.B.A., F.S.A.
Croft Andrew's excavations were re-evaluated in 1994 by Dr Lynette Olson, senior lecturer of History at Sydney University, along with Cathy O'Mahoney, Ann Preston-Jones and Peter Rose.[4]
In 2008 Channel 4's archaeology series Time Team carried out excavations on Looe Island and the mainland. Wessex Archaeology were commissioned to record finds and evaluate the archaeological context.
Post archaeological assessment
Looe Island
The evaluation concluded that there was 'no definitive evidence for
Mainland Chapel
Wessex Archaeology confirmed the 1930s ground plan consisting of a nave and chancel with a south facing porch, and a second entrance to the north of the building. There was evidence of a
References
- ^ Orme, Nicholas (2007) Cornwall and the Cross. Chichester: Phillimore; pp. 30-31, 35, 38
- ^ Adam of Domerham, Historia De Rebus Gestis Glastoniensibus, Vol. II, Thomas Hearne, London, 1727, pp. 322-23, fol. 24. b
- ^ Hull, P.L. (1987) The Cartulary of Launceston Priory. Devon & Cornwall Record Society; p.168
- ^ Lammana, West Looe; C.K. Croft Andrew's excavations of the chapel and Monks House, 1935-6, Cornish Archaeology No. 33, 1994, pp. 96-129
- ^ Wessex Archaeology (2009), Looe, Cornwall: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment Results, p. iii
- ^ Orme, Nicholas (2007), Cornwall and the Cross, Christianity 500-1560: Phillimore, p. 102
Further reading
- Lewis, H. A. (1936) The Child Christ at Lammana: a legend of Looe and Talland; 2nd ed. (with suppt). [Falmouth: the author]
- Henderson, C.G., (1925) The Cornish Church Guide, Oscar Blackford, p. 125
- Looe Old Cornwall Society Recorder Notebook, 1933-36: 20 January 1934, pp. 61–65 (unpublished)
- Andrew, C.K., Lammana (Nr. Looe), Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries 19 (1936), p. 145
- Paynter, W.H., A Relic of Ancient Christianity, Chapel ruins at Hannafore (1972), Cornish Times, 18 February
- Olson, Lynette (1989) Studies in Celtic History XI, Early Monasteries in Cornwall, Boydell Press
- Picken, W.M.M., A Medieval Cornish Miscellany, (2000) ed. O.J. Padel, Phillimore, pp. 69–75