manor of Portlooe

2.0 History
2.1 Origins
East and West Looe were rival medieval planned towns; East Looe was
created within Pendrym Manor in the parish of St. Martin while West Looe
(Porthvean) was created in the manor of Portlooe in Talland. Both were in
existence by 1201. It was common for major landowners to layout planned
settlements in locations where it was felt that conditions may be favourable
for economic activity and trade. Individual parcels of land, known as
burgage plots, were loosely identified and trusted individuals would be
granted rights to that land on agreed terms. The tenant would then
formally enclose their plot and build a home. In Looe each town had its
boundaries and building plots laid out, special borough rights to attract
settlers, a corporation able to own property and chapels that remained
subject to the mother churches until the mid 19th century. A series of later
royal charters (from the 13th to 17th centuries) confirmed these original
grants.

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1.3.12 Why did the priory come into being, and what were its functions? The lords
of Portlooe may have wished to have monks at hand to organise worship
and pray for them, as other Cornish aristocracy had at Minster and Tregony.
The mention of baptism in 1238, together with later references to the clergy
of Lammana ministering to the dwellers in the demesne of Portlooe, make it
possible that some pastoral work was done from the priory, although
Benedictine monks like those at Glastonbury were not normally active in this
respect. Since Lammana’s revenues were small, and the abbey had no
other churches or lands in Cornwall, one of the main tasks of the monks on
the island may have been to minister to pilgrims visiting its chapel.

1.3.13 It has been suggested that an attempt may have been made to develop a
cult of St Michael on Looe Island in the 12 th century, when the chapel was
transferred to the mainland because ‘people who through devotion would
have wanted to visit the chapel on St Michael's Day often lost their lives in
the stormy sea’. The mainland chapel had monastic buildings associated
with it, which were built down the hill in a sheltered spot, but little evidence
later than 1290 exists for this. William Worcester, who visited Cornwall in
1478, noted the names of several places where St Michael was honoured –
Lammana was not amongst them.

1.3.14 The fate of the Looe Island chapel is known. Glastonbury records state that
Abbot Michael of Amesbury (1235-53) ‘put Lammana in Cornwall to farm
and assigned it to the sacristy’. There was still a monastic presence on the
island in 1277 when the abbot of Glastonbury sued persons who had broken
into the ‘cell’ at Lammana and had assaulted his monk, William de Bolevill.
During the 1280s the abbey decided to withdraw from Lammana – the
patronage of the island chapel and its lands and possessions were sold to
Ralph Bloyou on behalf of Walter of Treverbyn, the lord of the manor of
Portlooe. The sale took effect on the 24 th June 1289.

...

7.3.11 It is possible that these additional works occurred following the sale of the
chapel by Glastonbury Abbey to the lord of the manor of Portlooe in 1289.
The chapel may have fallen into a state of disrepair prior to the sale, and
been consolidated following the appointment of Andrew as the ‘portionary’ or
secular chaplain in 1297

https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/sites/default/files/68734_Looe%20Cornwall…
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