Mr. Bond has given so good and ample an account of this parish in his
Topographical and Historical Sketches of East and West Looe, 1 vol.
8vo. printed by Nichols, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster, 1823,
that the whole which is addative to Hals and Tonkin, is here inserted.
West Looe is situated in the parish of Talland, within which parish is
a hamlet called Lemain, and part of West Looe lies in this hamlet. On
the barton of Portlooe in the parish of Talland, just opposite Looe
Island, was a cell of Benedictine Monks, called Lammana, subject to
the Abbey of Glastonbury, to which the site appears to have been given
by the ancestors of Hastulus de Solenny; there are some remains of the
chapel still in existence.
I measured this chapel on the 13th of April 1815, and found it, within
the walls, about forty-seven feet long by twenty-four wide. About
three or four hundred yards to the eastward of the chapel are the
remains of some antient building, perhaps that in which the monks
dwelt. The remains of the eastern end wall thereof, at present eight
or ten feet high, have two very narrow windows or openings, still in
being. The situation of this chapel and house is very pleasant; they
lie in a sort of natural amphitheatre, sheltered from the north winds
by high land.
In Hearne’s Appendix to Adam de Domerham, is a grant of Hastulus de
Solenny, confirming the Island of St. Michael de Lammana (most
probably that of St. George opposite Looe) to the Monks of
Glastonbury; a grant of Roger Fitzwilliam quitting claim to the lands
of Lammana, which he held for life under the Church of Glastonbury
(reserving the house which Mabil his sister occupied), and one of
Richard Earl of Cornwall, granting the Monks a licence to farm out the
church, and the Island of Lammana. It appears that Abbat Michael,
about the middle of the thirteenth century, leased it to the
Sacristary of the Convent. The Free Chapel of La Mayne in Cornwall,
was granted to Edward Bostock, 5th Jac.――_Lysons’s Mag. Brit._
* * * * *
Two of the grants noticed by Mr. Lysons, are printed in the New
Edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon.
Carta Hastuli filii Johannis de Soleneio.
Universis Christi fidelibus, ad quos præsens scriptum pervenerit,
Hastulus filius Johannis de Solenneio, salutem in Domino.
Universitati vestræ notificetur, quod Ego Hastulus filius
Johannis de Solenneio concessi, et præsenti carta confirmavi, Deo
et ecclesiæ beatæ Virginis Mariæ Glaston. et ejusdem loci
conventui, totam Insulam Sancti Michaelis de Lammana, cum omnibus
pertinentiis suis, et terris, et decimis, quam ab antiquo, dono
prædecessorum meorum, tenent; ut in omnibus, tam libere, et
quiete, et honorifice, ab omni servitio sæculari et exactione
servili, ipsam possideant, integre, plenarie, et pacifice, in
planis et pascuis, et in omnibus consuetudinibus liberis, sicut
Ego melius et liberius terram meam in dominiis meis possideo, et
ut omnia pecora sua cum meis ubique pascantur. Concedo etiam eis
plenarie decimas dominii mei omnes de Portlo, et ut jura,
libertates et consuetudines, sicut ego in mea curia, ita ipsi in
sua curia habeant. Prohibeo siquidem, ne aliquis ex ballivis vel
servientibus meis, illis quacumque occasione aliquam molestiam
inferant; vel sæculare servitium ab eisdem exigere præsumant,
unde fratres mei, Monachi Glastonienses, in prefato loco Lammana
Deo servientes, ab eisdem famulatu, ullatenus præpediantur. Si
quis autem huic concessioni meæ fidem et effectum adhibuerit, a
pio Judice mercedem condignam inveniat. Qui vero eam in irritum
ducere præsumpsit, deleat eum Deus de libro vitæ, et cum Juda
proditore sine fine pœnas exolvat. Ne igitur facti mei tenor
vacillet in dubio, præsentis scripti paginam sigilli mei
appositione roboravi. His testibus,
Helya, tunc ejusdem Priore, et ejus socio Monacho
Johanne――Henrico filio Milonis――Willelmo
Milite――Grimbaldo――Roberto Clerico――Jordano Decano――Angero de
Surtecote――Jocelino Milite fratre ejus――Gervasio Capelleno de
Sancto――Marco――Rogero Ruffo――Rogero Cileintenat――Willelmo filio
Roberti――et multis aliis.
Carta Ricardi Comitis Cornubiæ.
Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos præsens scriptum pervenerit,
nobilis vir Ricardus Comes Cornubiæ salutem in Domino. Noveritis
nos, pro salute nostra, et hæredum et successorum nostrorum,
remisisse et quieta clamasse in perpetuum pro nobis, heredibus et
successoribus nostris, viris religiosis, Abbati et conventui
Glaston. ac Ecclesiæ ejusdem loci, Hospitia cum arreragiis,
sectas comitatum, schire hundredorum, et curias de factum, et
omnes alias sectas et consuetudines quæ ad nos et hæredes et
successores nostros alicujus jure pertinebant seu pertinere
poterant, de terris et possessionibus suis de Lammena, cum
pertinentiis, videlicet――pro x solidis sterlingorum annuatim
solvendis senescallo nostro vel ballivo Cornubiæ apud castrum de
Lanstavetone ad festum sancti Michaelis. Concessimus etiam, in
puram et perpetuam elemosinam, dictis Abbati et conventui
ecclesiæ Glaston, pro nobis et hæredibus et successoribus nostris
imperpetuum, plenam licentiam et liberam potestatem ponendi
Ecclesiam et insulam de Lammana, præfatas ecclesias, terras et
possessiones ejusdem loci cum pertinentiis, ad firmam alienandi.
Insuper eas, si voluerint, vel aliter de eisdem, pro ipsorum bene
placitodis ponendi, sine aliqua contradictione, exactione vel
impedimento nostri vel hæredum aut successorum nostrorum.
Et ut hæc nostra remissio, quieta clamantia, et concessio rata
sit et in posterum perseveret, huic scripto sigillum apposuimus.
His testibus, Dominis Ricardo de Latur, Willelmo Talebot, Petro
Gandi, Olivero de Aspervile, Petro de la Mare, militibus, Johanne
de Latur, Ricardo Basset, et aliis.