Chapter IV: BODMIN, olim Bosmanna.88

1. AUSTIN CANONS. The body of St. Petroc being removed[89] to this place, there was a church built to his memory, and the episcopal see for Cornwall was therein placed by K. Edward the elder and archbishop Plegmund, A.D. 905.[90] Here K. Æthelstan is reported to have met with old Saxon, or rather British, monks following the rule of St. Benedict, to whom he granted so great privileges and endowments, that he is accounted founder of the monastery here, about A.D. 926. That settlement was destroyed by the Danish pirates, A.D. 981, yet the Religious continued here under several shapes,[91] and much alienations of their lands, both before and after the Conquest, till about the year 1120, when one Algar, with the king’s licence and the consent of Will. Warlewast bishop of Exeter, re-established this religious house, and placed therein Regular canons of the order of St. Austin, who continued till the general suppression, when it was styled the priory of St. Mary and St. Petroc,[92] and was valued at 270_l._ 0_s._ 11_d._ _per ann._ Dugd. 289_l._ 11_s._ 11_d._ Speed. The site, with the demesnes, were granted, _36 Hen. 8._ to Tho. Sternhold, one of the first translators of the Psalms into English metre.

_Vide_ Mon. Angl. tom. i. 213. ex Leland. Collect. vol. i. p. 75,
76. Et ibid. p. 227. cartam Ethelredi regis de episcopo Cornubiæ
apud S. Petrocum, et libertatibus eidem concessis. Ibid. tom. ii.
p. 5. cart. 57 Hen. 3. m. 9. confirm. cartam Eadredi regis priori
et canonicis de Bodmine, de manerio de Niwetone.
Leland. Itin. vol. ii. p. 114. vol. iii. p. 12.
In Itinerario Will. de Worcestre, p. 100. 111. de fundatione et
dimensione ecclesiæ; p. 107. excerpta ex kalendario principalis
Libri Antiphoner: p. 111. nomina nobilium et generosorum in
kalendario memoratorum: p. 112. ex registro.
Cart. Antiq. D. n. 40, 41.
Cart. 36 Hen. 3. m. 18. pro manerio de Neweton.
Cart. 13 Ed. 1. n. 9. et 66. pro piscaria in Alan, bosco in Bodan,
et aliis libertatibus.
Cart. 6 Ed. 2. n. 1.
Cart. 9 Ed. 3. n. 41. pro emptione stanni: Pat. 19. Ed. 3. p. 2. m.
d. de visu franci plegii infra villam: Pat. 48 Ed. 3. p. 2. m. 12.
de XL _s._ redd. exeunt. de burgo, et boscis de Kingswood et
Kelleritho.
Pat. 3 Ric. 2. p. 2. m. 25.
Pat. 1 Hen. 4. p. 8. m. 34.
Pat. 1 Hen. 6. p. 3. m. 24. Pat. 3 Hen. 6. p. 1. m. 11.
Pat. 3 Ed. 4. p. 1. m.

2. HOSPITAL. About a mile from Bodmin is St. Laurence,[93] a poor hospital or lazarhouse,[94] on the east; well endowed for nineteen leprous people, two whole men and women, and a priest to minister unto them.[95]

_Vide_ Leland. Itin. vol. ii. p. 115. vol. iii. p. 12.

3. ALMSHOUSE. At the west end of the town was a chapel and an almshouse,[96] but not endowed with lands.[97]

_Vide_ Leland. Itin. vol. ii. p. 115.

4. GREY FRIERS. A house of Grey friers on the south side of the market-place, begun by John of London a merchant, and augmented by Edmund earl of Cornwall.[98] After the dissolution this friery was granted to one William Abbot, _37 Hen. 8._ and in Q. Elizabeth’s time it was made the house of correction for the county.[99]

_Vide_ Leland. Itin. vol. ii. p. 115. vol. iii. p. 12.
Stevens’[100] Supplement, vol. i. p. 154.
In Itinerario Will. de Worcestre, p. 99. de fundatione et excerpta
quædam ex kalendario.
[Harl. MS. 6964. p. 77.
Hoveden, Script. post Bedam, fol. 324.
Domesd. tom. i. fol. 120. b. 121.
MS. Cole, Brit. Mus. vol. xxvii. 184 b. H.E.]