Looe Island and Glastonbury

Looe Island and Glastonbury

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

In 2008 the Time Team archaeology television programme went to Looe Island and Lammana on the south Cornish coast to investigate the fabric and history of two chapels built there by Glastonbury abbey.[1] The property was the only possession of Glastonbury in Cornwall.

Lammana and Looe Island

Lammana lies on the south coast of Cornwall in the parish of Talland. It occupies a natural amphitheatre facing the sea and Looe Island.[2] The hamlet of Lemain retains the place-name to this day.[3] Looe Island is about a half mile off the coast and measures about fourteen acres.[4]

Glastonbury acquires Lammana and Looe Island

Before 1144 Glastonbury had acquired Looe Island which it made into a cell of St. Michael de Lammana for two monks.[5] This was in the time of Abbot Henry de Blois (1126-1171) who did much to restore the fortunes of Glastonbury abbey.[6] In 1144 Pope Lucius II confirmed Glastonbury’s possession of the Island.[7]

Glastonbury received Lammana and Looe Island from the ancestor of Hastulf de Soleigny with the tithes of Portloe. In about 1200 Hastulf de Soleigny, son of John de Solenneio, confirmed the gift. John de Solenneio was a person of consequences in Cornwall in the time of King Richard 1.[8] Unfortunately the confirmation document didn’t mention exactly when Glastonbury got Lammana or the name of the ancestor who made the gift.[9]

Helias, prior of Lammana, and his fellow monk, John, witnessed the reconfirmation of the foundation charter of Glastonbury’s religious site at Lammana. In the Time Team television programme the impression is given that Helias and John were the first Glastonbury monks at Lammana but they were there at least 60 or 70 years after the first monks arrived.[10]

Glastonbury 

Early Glastonbury records of Lammana

On 19^th April 1168 Pope Alexander III wrote to Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester and administrator of Glastonbury. The letter confirmed all the monastic properties and vills formerly held by Glastonbury including Lammana with Looe Island and the adjoining mainland. The letter also confirmed the free election by the monks of a future abbot on the death of Henry or any nominated abbot.[11]

Early in 1203 three papal judges made a judgement on the division of property following the union of Glastonbury abbey with the bishopric of Bath. In 1200 Bishop Savaric had untied Glastonbury with the see of Bath. Before 1203 Glastonbury had three priories under it in Ireland, Bassaleg in Monmouthshire and Lammana in Cornwall. The Bishop was to get the Irish property while Glastonbury retained Bassaleg and Lammana.[12]

The cult of St. Michael

Having this property on the south coast of Cornwall was one thing, making money from the place was another thing. Glastonbury came up with developing a cult of St. Michael at Looe Island. In the time of Anglo-Saxon England there was great devotion to St. Michael and the feast day was observed with unusual solemnity.[13] The most famous centre of devotion to St. Michael in Cornwall is St. Michael’s Mount towards the western edge of the south Cornish coast. In 1033-1048 King Edward the Confessor gave St. Michael’s Mount to the monastery of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy.[14] In 1087 Robert, Count of Mortain, made a new grant of St. Michael’s Mount to Mont Saint Michel.[15]

Although St. Michael’s Mount attracted a lot of pilgrims on the 29^th September feast of St. Michael and again on 16^th October for the feast of ‘St. Michael in the Cornish Mount’ much of the money went overseas to Mont Saint Michel.[16] Glastonbury saw what monks of St. Michael’s Mount were doing and the crowds they were attracting.

To promote Lammana and Looe Island as a place of pilgrimage Glastonbury told the story that Joseph of Arimathea brought the young Jesus Christ to Looe Island where he played about while Joseph went off to get some tin from some Cornish merchants.[17]

But all their storytelling didn't seem to work. In 1262 a certain woman called Christina from the neighbourhood of Glastonbury abbey went on pilgrimage to St. Michael’s Mount and had her sight restored after she was blind for six years.[18] Clearly Glastonbury was not even attracting its own people to Looe Island.

The normal pilgrim route for those coming from Ireland or Wales and going to St. James at Compostela was to cross Cornwall by way of Padstow and Fowey and visit St. Michael’s Mount before taking ship for France and onto Spain.[19] Again Looe Island appears to have been bypassed by the pilgrims. By the end of the thirteen century Glastonbury gave up the struggle to make money at Lammana and Looe Island and sold the property. But while Glastonbury had the property it developed two chapels to accommodate the expected pilgrims.

Looe Island and Lammana chapels

The island chapel and the mainland chapel are both located at the same elevation to within a meter of each other. The chapel of St. Michael on Looe Island appears to have been in existence before Glastonbury acquired the site. Time Team found that the chapel was in one part of a large ring ditch which contained some Roman coins.[20] The excavation concluded that the chapel was built in a single phase with a nave and chancel area.[21]

Looe Island chapel site

It was said that before Glastonbury acquired Lammana there was an existing chapel on the site and that this chapel was later enlarged by Glastonbury abbey. The investigations by C.K. Croft Andrew and the Time Team unit revealed a chapel with a nave and chancel separated by a chancel arch with a southern porch and a second northern entrance. It appeared that the nave and chancel were built at the same time with the southern porch added later. The archaeological investigation concluded that Lammana chapel was built later than the chapel on Looe Island.[22] 

The mainland chapel was deliberately sited to face the island chapel and at the same elevation. The ground had to be extensively changed to make this happen and this would support the idea of the Lammana chapel as a later construction than Looe Island.[23] The Lammana chapel was possibly built to provide a religious building for worship when, due to rough seas, pilgrims could not get out to Looe Island.

Although evidence of an earlier church was not conclusively found during the archaeological investigation the name Lammana means ‘the early Christian enclosure or monastery of the monk’ and so an earlier building than the 12^th century cannot be ruled out in the general area.[24]

In the papal taxation of Pope Nicholas IV, taken in 1291, the chapel at Lammana, opposite Looe Island, was worth 30s.[25]

In about 1727 the foundations of the little chapel at Lammana was still visible. The structure was measured at about 43 feet in length, 16 feet in breath with a porch 11 feet by 9½ feet. The chapel faced the sea and was exposed to storms from all sides but especially from the sea. By that time the old parish of Lamana was joined to that of Talland.[26]

In 1815 the remains of a house and chapel at Lammana were still visible.[27] In the 1930s Croft Andrew excavated these structures and in 2008 the Time Team archaeology programme excavated both this chapel at Lammana and the other chapel on Looe Island.[28]

Lammana chapel site

Lammana in the thirteen century

Reports suggest that Glastonbury disposed of Lammana in 1239 but abbey records still imply ownership for another fifty years at least.[29] The idea may have originated in 1239 because of the dispute between Glastonbury abbey and Launceston priory concerning tithe income around Looe.[30] This was because Glastonbury held Lammana which was within the parish of Talland and that parish was held by Launceston priory. It was the vicar appointed by Launceston who had cure of souls for the inhabitants of Lammana. It was decided that Launceston would pay Glastonbury 5s per year via the prior of Lammana or to a messenger of the Glastonbury abbot if he came to Lammana.[31] This settled their differences for awhile but further disputes over money would surface time and again.

In about 1245 Robert de Colerne acknowledged that he was bound to provide one horse to take monks from Glastonbury into Cornwall and to go as far as the priory of Lammana. This obligation was in return for Robert to have property called Somerset in Sticklinch. Robert was also bound to pay Glastonbury 30s per year in rent and perform all the services due from a tenant. By about 1265 Juliana, widow of Robert of Colerne, held Somerset in Sticklinch but only for life and she couldn’t pass the land onto her heirs.[32]

At some unknown time Roger Fitzwilliam released his interest in property at Lammana to Glastonbury abbey which he held of them except the house occupied by his sister, Mabel.[33]

In about 1245 Michael of Amesbury, Abbot of Glastonbury, declared in a document that Glastonbury was bound to pay a yearly fee of 10s to Richard, Earl of Cornwall, at Launceston castle at Michaelmas. This amount was in compensation to the Earl for payments which Glastonbury owed the Earl for the Lammana area (Looe Island and the adjoining mainland). If Glastonbury fell into arrears the Earl could enter and distain to recover the amounts owed. A scribe in the fourteenth century said the yearly fee was no longer due as the property was by then alienated.[34]

In 1277 the abbot of Glastonbury sued a number of people who had broken into the priory of Lammana and had assaulted the monk there, William de Bolevill.[35]

Further disputes between Glastonbury and Launceston

For ten years, in the reign of King Edward, Launceston priory was in dispute with Glastonbury abbey about the advowson of Lammana and the tithes of same. The abbot of Glastonbury, John by name, was also chaplain of the chapel at Lammana until June 1289 when he resigned and Walter de Treverbyn acquired the right of presentation.[36]

This had happened because sometime before 1289 Glastonbury abbey had sold of all its property and income rights at Lammana and on Looe Island to Ralph Bloyhou for the use of Walter de Treverbyn, lord of Portloe manor. This included the advowson of Lammana and Walter appointed Andrew as chaplain. Launceston priory objected to this appointment and Walter de Treverbyn took Launceston to court to recover damages of £40. Walter showed that Launceston had previously acknowledged the rights of Glastonbury and won the court case.[37]

For some years in the late thirteenth century the income rights of Glastonbury from sheep and sea salt in the area around Lammana was challenged by Launceston priory. In 1321 a ship called la neof Seynt Johan of Looe transported 250 quarters of salt to Exeter along with 16 tuns of wine.[38] In 1279 Glastonbury and Launceston settled their dispute by dividing the area in two parts. In the area assigned to Launceston priory the monks of Glastonbury retained an ancient pension of 5s and an increment of 20d payable at Christmas and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist at Lammana. It was further agreed that if the sheepfold of the lord of Portloe was south of the highway then Glastonbury would receive the sheep tithes and if the sheepfold was north of the road then Launceston would get the money.[39]

In 1289 it was said in a court case that Glastonbury held a messuage and a carucate of land at Lammana along with Looe Island with its chapel of St. Michael. Glastonbury also had the greater tithes relating to Lammana and Portloe south of the King’s Highway.[40]

Glastonbury leaves Lammana

The continuing disputes with Launceston priory and the failure to develop a cult of St. Michael to rival that at St. Michael's Mount was just too much even for a great abbey like Glastonbury. In the late thirteenth century Glastonbury gave up ownership of Lammana and Looe Island.[41] But even by 1257 Glastonbury was thinking of giving up Lammana. In that year Glastonbury was allowed to farm out or dispose of their priory at Lammana by Richard, Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans.[42] It seems that Glastonbury did sell Lammana in the early years of the fourteenth century yet in 1337, according to the caption of seisin of the Duchy of Cornwall, Glastonbury abbey was still expected to pay the 10s per year for Lammana by ancient custom.[43]

After Glastonbury left Lammana and Looe Island, the patronage for a time passed to the Hospital of St. John at Bridgwater. They kept a chantry chapel there in the fourteenth century.[44]

The impact of Glastonbury on the local people was mixed. In later centuries people recalled rumours of a Benedictine cell at Lammana called the chapel of Lammana or the Blessed Michael of Lammana. Yet people thought this was a reference to the later chantry chapel of the Dawney family of the fourteenth century.[45]

Lammana in the fourteenth century

Lammana was situated in the manor of Portloe. This manor was at first owned by the Treverbyns family and later passed to the Dawney family.[46] The Dawney family were one of the chief families of fourteenth century Cornwall with Nicholas Dawney of Sheviock serving in Parliament in the 1320s.[47]

On 8^th February 1329-30 Sir William de Trewidel, priest, was instituted as chaplain of the chapel of St. Michael at Lammana. At that time Sir John Dawney was patron of the chapel.[48] Elsewhere in Cornwall Sir John Dawney was patron of St. John in Cornwall and Northill.[49] In 1336 Bishop Grandisson confirmed the endowment of a chapel of St. Nicholas in West Looe for John Dawney. After the Reformation this chapel fell into ruins but was restored in the nineteenth century as a parish church.[50]

In January 1343 Adam Bryan, deacon, was instituted to Lammana on the death of Sir William Wydd, alias Trewidel. Sir John de Alueto (Dawney) was still the patron of the chantry chapel.[51] It is possible that this was the same Adam Bryan who, in 1345-6, was one of two trustees for the property of John Dawney in various places across Cornwall.[52]

On the death of Sir Adam Bryan in 1348, Sir John Doygnel, priest, was appointed to the chapel of St. Michael at Lammana on 23^rd December 1348. The patron on this occasion was Sibilla, widow of Sir John de Alneto (Dawney).[53] It is interesting that two inquisitions post mortem held following the death of Sir John Dawney fail to mention his patronage of Lammana chapel.[54]  

On 26^th September 1352 Sir Richard Abeham, priest, was instituted to the chapel of St. Michael at Lammana. Dame Sibilla Daune, widow of Sir John Daune (Dawney) was again the patron.[55] Richard Abeham was still the chapel in 1361 when he was consulted, with others, about the vacant benefice of the rectory and vicarage of Dulo.[56]

In the 1350s Richard Abeham was one of a number of trustees assigned the lands of John Dabernoun at Trewinhelekmur, Treynhelekbrighan and at Tregentulion. After John’s death the trustees were to give the property to John de Tremaen and Isabella his wife.[57]

Lammana in the fifteenth century

By the fourteenth century the Dawney family had disposed of Lammana to the Courtenay family. In August 1433 Sir Robert Symone, chaplain, was instituted to Lammana chapel on the death of John Lyne. The patron of the chapel was then Sir Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon.[58] The land of Talland and Lammana remained with the Courtenay family until 1540 when it was seized by the crown and was made part of the Duchy of Cornwall.[59] In 1426 Robert Symon, acolyte, was granted all sacred orders. Robert Symone was still at Lammana in 1441.[60]

When William of Worcester visited Cornwall in 1478 he found no dedication at Lammana to St. Michael but did find such dedications elsewhere.[61]

In the time of King Henry VIII it was said that the Earl of Exeter had founded a chantry chapel on Looe Island and at Lammana. These chapels were then worth £4 12s.[62]

Looe Island changing dedication

In Camden’s map of Cornwall in 1722 Looe Island was described as dedicated to St. Michael and this was also the case in 1588.[63] Yet by 1602 the dedication of St. Michael for Looe Island had ceased. Instead the place was dedicated to St. George and known as St. George’s Island.[64] The island was at other times dedicated to St. Nicholas as noted by John Leland in 1536.[65] By the nineteenth the St. George dedication was in use again and the island chapel was said to be dedicated to St. George.[66]

By the sixteenth century Looe Island was well known as a breeding place for sea birds and still is today. In former times the birds built no nests as few predators were on the island.[67] This may not have been always the case as in the eighteenth century the island was alive with rabbits and rats. It is said that the Finn family from near Plymouth moved to the island and eat all the rats and rabbits. The island was later owned by the May family and in the nineteenth century by the Trelawnys family.[68]

Bibliography

Atkinson, E.G. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, volume IX (Liechtenstein, 1973)

Chynoweth, J., Orme, N., and Walsham, A. (eds.), The survey of Cornwall by Richard Carew (Exeter, 2004)

Daniell, Rev. J.J., A compendium of the History and Geography of Cornwall (Truro, 1906)

Elliott-Binns, L.E., Medieval Cornwall (London, 1955)

Elton, C.J. (ed.), Rentalia et Custumaria Michaelis de Ambresbury, 1235-1252 et Rogeri de Ford, 1252-1261 Abbatum Monasterii Beatae Mariae Glastoniae with an excursus on manorial land tenures (Somerset Record Society, vol. 5, 1891)

Filbee, M., Celtic Cornwall (London, 1996)

Fletcher, Canon J.R. (edited by Dom John Stephan), Short History of Saint Michael’s Mount (St. Michael’s Mount, 1951)

Hingeston-Randolph, Rev. F.C. (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1420-1455), part 1:- the register of institutions (London, 1909)

Hingeston-Randolph, Rev. F.C. (ed.), The register of John de Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1327-1369), part III, 1360-1369 with the register of institutions (London, 1899)

Hingeston-Randolph, Rev. F.C. (ed.),  The registers of Walter Bronescombe (A.D. 1257-1280) and Peter Quibil (A.D. 1280-1291) Bishops of Exeter (London, 1889)

Hull, P.L. (ed.), The cartulary of Launceston priory (Exeter, 1987)

Hull, P.L. (ed.), The caption of seisin of the Duchy of Cornwall, 1337 (Torquay, 1971)

Kowaleski, M. (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter 1266-1321 (Exeter, 1993)

Kowaleski, M. (ed.), The havener’s accounts of the Earldom and Duchy of Cornwall, 1287-1356 (Exeter, 2001)

Polsue, J., A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume III (Truro, 1870)

Polsue, J., A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume IV (Truro, 1872)

Potts, R. (ed.), A Calendar of Cornish Glebe Terriers 1673-1735 (Torquay, 1974)

Reichel, Rev. O. (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1420-1455), part II:- the register commune (London, 1915)

Rowe, J.H. (ed.), Cornwall feet of fines, volume 1, Richard 1-Edward III, 1195-1377 (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1914)

Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, volume VIII (Liechtenstein, 1973)

Watkin, Dom A. (ed.), The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, Volume 1 (Somerset Record Society, LIX, 1947)

Watkin, Dom A. (ed.), The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, Volume II (Somerset Record Society, LXIII, 1952)

Watkin, Dom A. (ed.), The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, Volume III (Somerset Record Society, LXIV, 1956)

Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results (Salisbury, 2009)

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[1] Time Team S16 E05 Hermit Harbour, Looe, Cornwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PdeyBZ7lw accessed on 29^th April 2017; Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results (Salisbury, 2009), p. 8

[2] Elliott-Binns, L.E., Medieval Cornwall (London, 1955), p. 346

[3] Daniell, Rev. J.J., A compendium of the History and Geography of Cornwall (Truro, 1906), p. 299

[4] Daniell, A compendium of the History and Geography of Cornwall, p. 298

[5] Polsue, J., A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume IV (Truro, 1872), p. 200

[6] Elton, C.J. (ed.), Rentalia et Custumaria Michaelis de Ambresbury, 1235-1252 et Rogeri de Ford, 1252-1261 Abbatum Monasterii Beatae Mariae Glastoniae with an excursus on manorial land tenures (Somerset Record Society, vol. 5, 1891), p. xvii

[7] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 2

[8] Elliott-Binns, Medieval Cornwall, p. 346; Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume IV, p. 200

[9] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 2

[10] Time Team S16 E05 Hermit Harbour, Looe, Cornwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PdeyBZ7lw accessed on 29^th April 2017

[11] Watkin, Dom A. (ed.), The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, Volume 1 (Somerset Record Society, LIX, 1947), p. 129; Hull, P.L. (ed.), The cartulary of Launceston priory (Exeter, 1987), p. xxxvi

[12] Watkin, (ed.), The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, Volume 1, p. 78

[13] Fletcher, Canon J.R. (edited by Dom John Stephan), Short History of Saint Michael’s Mount (St. Michael’s Mount, 1951), p. 7

[14] Fletcher, Short History of Saint Michael’s Mount, p. 6

[15] Fletcher, Short History of Saint Michael’s Mount, p. 9

[16] Elliott-Binns, Medieval Cornwall, p. 345

[17] Time Team S16 E05 Hermit Harbour, Looe, Cornwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PdeyBZ7lw accessed on 29^th April 2017

[18] Fletcher, Short History of Saint Michael’s Mount, p. 67

[19] Filbee, M., Celtic Cornwall (London, 1996), p. 90

[20] Time Team S16 E05 Hermit Harbour, Looe, Cornwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PdeyBZ7lw accessed on 29^th April 2017

[21] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. iii

[22] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, pp. iii, iv

[23] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 23

[24] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 2

[25] Hingeston-Randolph, Rev. F.C. (ed.),  The registers of Walter Bronescombe (A.D. 1257-1280) and Peter Quibil (A.D. 1280-1291) Bishops of Exeter (London, 1889), pp. 468, 481

[26] Potts, R. (ed.), A Calendar of Cornish Glebe Terriers 1673-1735 (Torquay, 1974), p. 156

[27] Elliott-Binns, Medieval Cornwall, p. 346

[28] Time Team S16 E05 Hermit Harbour, Looe, Cornwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PdeyBZ7lw accessed on 29^th April 2017; Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results (Salisbury, 2009), pp. 5, 8

[29] Elliott-Binns, L.E., Medieval Cornwall (London, 1955), p. 346

[30] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume IV, p. 200

[31] Hull, P.L. (ed.), The cartulary of Launceston priory (Exeter, 1987), no. 458

[32] Watkin, Dom A. (ed.), The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, Volume II (Somerset Record Society, LXIII, 1952), p. 328

[33] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume IV, p. 200

[34] Watkin, Dom A. (ed.), The Great Chartulary of Glastonbury, Volume III (Somerset Record Society, LXIV, 1956), p. 580

[35] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 3

[36] Hull, P.L. (ed.), The cartulary of Launceston priory (Exeter, 1987), no. 458

[37] Hull, (ed.), The cartulary of Launceston priory, no. 458; Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 3

[38] Kowaleski, M. (ed.), Local customs accounts of the Port of Exeter 1266-1321 (Exeter, 1993), p. 196

[39] Hull, (ed.), The cartulary of Launceston priory, no. 457

[40] Hull, (ed.), The cartulary of Launceston priory, no. 458

[41] Time Team S16 E05 Hermit Harbour, Looe, Cornwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PdeyBZ7lw accessed on 29^th April 2017

[42] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume IV, p. 200

[43] Hull, P.L. (ed.), The caption of seisin of the Duchy of Cornwall, 1337 (Torquay, 1971), p. 10

[44] Daniell, A compendium of the History and Geography of Cornwall, p. 113

[45] Daniell, A compendium of the History and Geography of Cornwall, p. 299

[46] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume III, p. 163

[47] Elliott-Binns, Medieval Cornwall, p. 231

[48] Hingeston-Randolph, Rev. F.C. (ed.), The register of John de Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1327-1369), part III, 1360-1369 with the register of institutions (London, 1899), p. 1276

[49] Hingeston-Randolph, (ed.), The register of John de Grandisson, part III, 1360-1369, p. 1673

[50] Daniell, A compendium of the History and Geography of Cornwall, p. 298; Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume III, p. 163

[51] Hingeston-Randolph, (ed.), The register of John de Grandisson, part III, 1360-1369, pp. 1338, 1659

[52] Rowe, J.H. (ed.), Cornwall feet of fines, volume 1, Richard 1-Edward III, 1195-1377 (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1914), no. 570

[53] Hingeston-Randolph, (ed.), The register of John de Grandisson, part III, 1360-1369, p. 1370

[54] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, volume VIII (Liechtenstein, 1973), no. 648; Atkinson, E.G. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, volume IX (Liechtenstein, 1973), no. 59  

[55] Hingeston-Randolph, (ed.), The register of John de Grandisson, part III, 1360-1369, p. 1424

[56] Hingeston-Randolph, (ed.), The register of John de Grandisson, part III, 1360-1369, p. 1464

[57] Rowe, J.H. (ed.), Cornwall feet of fines, volume 1, Richard 1-Edward III, 1195-1377 (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1914), no. 597

[58] Hingeston-Randolph, Rev. F.C. (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1420-1455), part 1:- the register of institutions (London, 1909), p. 157

[59] Stoate, T.L. (ed.), Cornwall manorial rentals and surveys (Bristol, 1988), pp. 18, 19

[60] Reichel, Rev. O. (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1420-1455), part II:- the register commune (London, 1915), pp. 555, 800

[61] Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 3

[62] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume IV, p. 200; Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 4

[63] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume III, p. 163; Time Team S16 E05 Hermit Harbour, Looe, Cornwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PdeyBZ7lw accessed on 29^th April 2017

[64] Chynoweth, J., Orme, N., and Walsham, A. (eds.), The survey of Cornwall by Richard Carew (Exeter, 2004), pp. 26v, 128r

[65] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume III, p. 163; Wessex Archaeology, Looe, Cornwall Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results, p. 4

[66] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume III, p. 163

[67] Chynoweth, Orme, and Walsham, (eds.), The survey of Cornwall by Richard Carew, p. 128r

[68] Polsue, A complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, volume III, pp. 163, 164