The town of Launceston, in East Hundred, 213 miles from London, is pleasantly situated on a steep hill; at the foot of which is the river Attery, a little above its junction with the Tamar. The ancient name of this place was Dunheved, the swelling hill; it was also called Lanstephadon, or Stephen-Church-Town; but its present appellation is no doubt derived from Lancester ton, or Church-castle town. The ruins now remaining of the ancient castle surround and cover a very considerable extent of ground. Borlase, who examined this building with great attention, thus describes it:—"The principal entrance is on the northeast, the gateway 120 feet long; whence, turning to the right, you mount a terrace, running parallel to the rampart till you come to the angle, on which there is a round tower, now called the Witches' Tower, from which the terrace runs away to the left at right angles, and continues on a level parallel to the rampart, which is nearly of the thickness of 12 feet, till you come to a semicircular tower, and, as I suppose, a guardroom and gate. From this the ground rises very quick, and, through a passage of seven feet wide, you ascend the covered way betwixt two walls, which are pierced with narrow windows for observation, and yet cover the communication between the base-court and the keep or dungeon. The whole keep is 93 feet diameter; it consisted of three wards: the wall of the first ward was not quite three feet thick; and therefore, I think, could only be a parapet for soldiers to fight from, and defend the brow of the hill. Six feet within it stands the second wall, which is twelve feet thick, and has a staircase three feet wide, at the left hand of the entrance, running up to the top of the rampart: the entrance of this staircase has a round arch of stone over it. Passing on to the left, you find the entrance into the innermost ward, and on the left of that entrance a winding staircase conducts you to the top of the innermost rampart; the wall of which is 10 feet thick, and 32 feet high from the floor; the inner room is 18 feet 6 inches diameter; it was divided by a planking into two rooms. The upper room had to the east and west two large openings, which were both windows and (as I am inclined to think) doors, also in time of action to pass from this dungeon out upon the principal rampart, from which the chief defence was to be made; for it must be observed, that the second ward was covered with a flat roof, at the height of that rampart, which made the area very roomy and convenient for numbers. These openings, therefore, upon occasion, served as passages for the soldiers to go from one rampart to the other. In the upper room of the innermost building there was a chimney to the north; underneath there was a dungeon, which had no lights. The lofty taper hill, on which this strong keep is built, is partly natural and partly artificial. It spread farther in the town anciently than it does now; and, by the radius of it, was 320 feet diameter, and very high." Borlase supposes this castle to be older than the year 900, and says it is not improbable that this spot might have been fortified by the Romans. There was, undoubtedly, a castle here before the Conquest, of which Othamarus de Knivet was hereditary constable, and displaced by the Conqueror, who gave both it and the town to Roger, Earl of Moreton, with the earldom of Cornwall, and many other manors and estates. William, his son and heir, kept his court here, and, probably, made so many alterations and additions, that he has by some been considered as the founder. From him it fell to the crown, with his other lands, and was at length made, and still continues, a parcel of the estates of the dutchy of Cornwall. Leland, mentioning this castle, says, "the hill on which the keep stands, is large and of a terrible height, and the arx (i.e. keep) of it, having three several wards, is the strongest, but not the biggest, that 1 ever saw in any ancient work in England." Two of the ancient town-gates are still standing; and in Leland's time, the wall which surrounded the town was entire. At the entrance of the White Hart Inn, Dr. Maton observed a noble Saxon arch.

By charter of Philip and Mary (granted in 1555, since confirmed under several subsequent reigns,) the government of the town was vested in a mayor, recorder, and eight aldermen, who, With the free burgesses, have the right of electing the representatives in parliament. The borough made its first return in the 23rd of Edward I. and had a mayor as early as the time of Edward IV.

The church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, and is a very handsome structure; the body built with square blocks of the moor-stone, or granite, ornamented with curious carved work. At the west end are two or three tenements, which completely separate the body of the church from the tower, which is built of different materials, and appears to be of much greater antiquity. At the east end of the building there is a figure of the Magdalen, in a recumbent posture, of very rude workmanship.

It is an extraordinary circumstance, that the mayor for the time being is vicar of this church, and appoints a curate for the year.

Some parts of the old wall that surrounded the town still remain; the houses are in general well built, but the streets are narrow, and badly paved. There are two charity-schools, maintained by voluntary subscriptions, for the education of the infant-poor, and a free grammar-school, founded and endowed by Queen Elizabeth.

The market at Launceston, on Saturday, is well supplied With all sorts of provisions, at very moderate prices, during the time of peace, but in wartime a multitude of jobbers attend to buy all they can to carry to Plymouth. The inhabitants of Launceston suffer much inconvenience in summer, through a scarcity of spring-water; their chief supply, in this season, being from the ancient well formerly belonging to the castle. Coals are also an expensive article. Many people used to be employed, at this place and Newport, in the manufacture of serges, for the clothiers at Exeter.

The borough of Newport so immediately joins the town of Launceston that it appears to the traveller like its suburbs, and it was formerly under the same jurisdiction. The right of returning members to parliament for this borough has been exercised ever since the sixth year of Edward VI. The right of election is vested in two officers, called vianders, annually chosen at the court-leet, held by the lord of the manor, and all the inhabitants paying scot and Jot.

The whole number of voters does not amount to 30.

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LAUNCESTON, the “Hanscavetone” of Domesday, is said to have been called by the name of “Dunheved” (the Swelling Hill), and to derive its modern name from the appellative “Llanstephadon,” or “Church Castle Town,” transformed into “Lancesterton” and contracted. Launceston is a municipal borough, market and union town and head of a county court district, on the border of the county, adjoining Devonshire, and on the high road to Truro and Falmouth, and has a terminal station on a branch of the Great Western railway from Plymouth. There is also a station here on the London and South Western railway, which, since 1889, has been in course of extension from this place to Wadebridge and Padstow; it is now (1897) complete as far as Wadebridge. Launceston is 213 miles by road from London, 280 by the Great Western via Plymouth, 223 ¾ by the London and South Western railway via Okehampton, 24 from Plymouth, 40 from Exeter and 13 ½ north-west from Tavistock. The Bude canal, 21 ½ miles in length, and terminating at Druxton, in the parish of Werrington, 2 miles north-east of the town, is now disused. The river Attery passes through and the great London road crosses the parish from east to west. The town is in the North Eastern division of the county, northern division of the hundred of East, petty sessional division of East North, rural deanery of Trigg Major, archdeaconry of Bodmin and diocese of Truro.

There were originally two boroughs, Dunheved and Newport, but they were united under the single name of Launceston before 1400: Dunheved was incorporated as a free borough by Richard (Plantagenet), Earl of Cornwall and Poitou, in the 13th century, and the borough appears to have had a mayor as early as 1257. The first charter of incorporation granted to Launceston was by Queen Mary in 1553. The Corporation consists of a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors, with a town clerk and other officers. The borough has a commission of the peace, granted 1st July, 1890, but is under the control of the county constabulary. The borough originally returned two members to Parliament, as did also the ancient borough of Newport, in St. Stephen’s parish, but on the passing of the Reform Act, in 1832, the two boroughs were consolidated and enlarged, and returned one member until 1885, when the independent representation was merged into that of the county by the “Redistribution of Seats Act” of that year. The sanitary arrangements are under the jurisdiction of the Town Council, who assumed the duties of the Sanitary Authority on the extinction of the late Local Board of Health, on, the 9th November, 1889, at which date also the borough was extended by provisional order, and now includes the parish of St. Mary Magdalene, hamlet of St. Thomas, and the urban portions of the parishes of St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Stephens and Lawhitton. The town is lighted with gas by a local company, from works in St. Thomas’s road. The water supply is derived from a moorland stream at Carne Down, in the parish of Altarnun, about 10 miles distant from Launceston, whence, after filtration, the water is conveyed by a 6 inch main to an open service reservoir at “Windmill,” a lofty eminence 4 acres in extent, overlooking the town and which the Corporation purchased about 1896 and laid out as a pleasure ground. The service reservoir has a capacity of about 400,000 gallons, and thus ensures a continuous day and night supply to the town. The present waterworks, the property of the Corporation, were constructed at a cost of about £11,000. The Corporation are also owners of the Trethorne and Tregadillett waterworks, about 4 miles from Launceston, in the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle, and the Trebursye waterworks, in the same parish, and about miles from Launceston, from which the town was supplied previous to 1895. The Corporation now utilize the former works for supplying the London and South Western Railway Company, while the Trebursye stream is being allowed to flow into the Kensey. The footpaths in and about the town have recently been improved by the Corporation, at a cost of £1,000. The Corporation, in March, 1897, propounded a scheme for the treatment of the sewerage of the borough by means of filtration and chemicals, and have applied to the Local Government Board for permission to erect works near St. Leonards, about 2 miles from Launceston, in the valley of the Tamar; the estimated cost of which is £4,000.

The parish church of St. Mary Magdalene, built in 1524—40, by Sir Henry Trecarrell kt. is an edifice of granite, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of eight bays, aisles, south porch, over which is a parvise, and an embattled western tower, of the latter part of the 14th century, 84 feet in height, with pinnacles, and containing a clock and 6 bells; the tower was formerly detached, but is now connected with the church by a room erected by the 5th Duke of Northumberland (d. 1867) for municipal purposes and now used as a vestry: the exterior walls are elaborately panelled and relieved in the basement with quatrefoils, alternating with shields and fleurs-de-lys; above is a boldly moulded plinth, then another course of panelled tracery, with inscriptions running round the building from the chancel door eastward, a shield bearing a coat of arms, separating each word, as follows:-“Ave Maria, gracie plena, Dominus tecum. Sponsus amat sponsam. Maria optimam partem elegit. O quam terribilis ac metuendus est locus iste. Vere aliud non est hic nisi domus Dei et porta coeli” ; above is a course of foliaged ornaments: the battlemented parapet and the buttresses between the windows are also elaborately carved: at the apex of the chancel window are the arms of Henry VIII. and in an arched recess at its base a recumbent figure of St. Mary Magdalene, flanked on either side by sculptured panels: on the front of the porch, between the parvise windows, is a niche of tabernacle work; below are the arms of Trecarrell, with the date 1511, and under the windows sculptures of St. George and the Dragon and St. Martin of Tours dividing his cloak with a beggar, with several other devices: at the east end of the north aisle is an elaborate monument with effigies to Sir Hugh Piper, ob. 1687, and Sibella (Parr), his wife, ob. 1704, and in the same aisle a magnificent cenotaph, supported on marble pillars, to Granville Pyper, ob. 1717, and Richard Wise, ob. 1726, both aldermen of this borough, with figures of various Virtues, and robed busts of the two friends: there are other memorials to Philip Kent, gent. ob. 1636, and Mary, his wife, ob. 1626; Leonard Treise esq. J.P. recorder of Truro, ob. 1653; Emlen, wife of Sir John Speccott, ob. 1659; Captain Philip Piper (son of Sir Hugh), ob. 1677, and Mary (Gaer), his wife; Cresten (Stokes), wife of Thomas Bewes, ob. 1679; William Oliver A.M. fellow of this collegiate church, and rector of the Free School, ob. 1681; John Ruddle A.M. 35 years vicar, ob. 1698, and Sarah, his wife, ob. 1667, besides many others of later date: there is also a curious little brass effigy of a female, c. 1630, probably by some local artisan, but without name: the stained east window was presented in 1858 by Edmund Spettigue; all the other windows, save one, are also stained, and six of these are memorials: the church was restored in 1852, and the interior was restored in 1893, at a cost of £2,500: there are sittings for 750 persons: in the churchyard, surmounting a modern tombstone, is the head of an ancient cross. The register dates from the year 1558, the earlier portion being a transcript. The living is a vicarage, net yearly income £163, including 22 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Truro, but pro hac vice, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and held since 1890 by the Rev. Thomas Jackson Nunns M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge.

The Congregational chapel, built in 1712, stands at the junction of Northgate and Castle streets, and is a plain building, holding 400 persons. The Bible Christian chapel, in Tower street, erected in 1897, in place of a former chapel, built in 1851, will seat 300 persons. The old chapel is now used as a school room. The Wesleyan chapel, in Castle street, erected in 1870, is 3 building in the Early English style, with tower and spire, and occupies the site of a former chapel, built in 1812, itself replacing one formerly existing in Tower street, erected in 1785: the present edifice will seat 800 people. There is a Free Methodist chapel, in St. Thomas’ road, built in 1840, and seating 300 persons. The Baptist chapel, in Western road, built in 1892, at a cost of about £700, will seat 120 persons.

A Burial Board of nine members was formed in 1881, and a piece of ground one acre in extent and one mile from the town on the Bodmin road, acquired, at a cost of £100, and formed into a cemetery. The Dissenters have a cemetery at the bottom of St. Thomas’ street; and there is an old Church cemetery, now disused, near the Walk; neither of these possess mortuary chapels.

The Guildhall, opposite the western entrance to the Castle grounds adjoining the Sheep market, and erected in 1881, is a castellated building with a tower, used both for municipal purposes and for the business of the borough petty sessions. In the Guildhall hangs a portrait of Mr. John Kittow, three times mayor of Launceston. The Corporation insignia include two maces, a mayors chain and badge and borough seals; the maces, of silver, and 33 inches in length, are quite similar, and have beautifully chased shafts and richly ornamented knops and bases, the latter being flat and bearing a representation of the borough seal in relief; the heads display the national badges crowned, and have a cresting of crosses and fleurs-de-lis, with open arched crowns above; both were given in 1679 by Sir Charles Harbord kt. M.P. for Launceston, 1661—79: the mayor’s badge, presented by Alderman John Ching in 1881, is of gold and enamel: the chain, given by past mayors and their relatives, each of whom contributed a gold link, consists of shields of the arms of Cornwall and roses, united by a series of ornamental links, bearing the names of past mayors and other officers; the pendant badge exhibits the borough arms:-gu. a triple round tower, or, within a bordure, az. charged with eight turrets of the second; crest, mantling and motto: the borough seal, c. 1573, is similar, and there is a smaller seal: the mayor’s robe is of dark purple cloth, faced with fur. The Corporation also possess a loving cup of silver, 17 inches high, given by Thomas Bowlby M.P. in 1780, and a fine oak chest, carved in front with figures of swans and arabesque foliage.

The Town Hall, which adjoins the Guildhall, and was erected in 1887, at a cost of about £2,300, is a building of stone in the Gothic style, from the designs of Mr. Otho B. Peter F.R.I.B.A. of Launceston and Mr. Hine, of Plymouth, architects, and will seat 1,000 persons.

The Butter and Poultry Market, erected in 1840, and occupying the site of the ancient assize courts, is an oval structure surmounted with a turret, containing one bell and quarter chimes. The Meat Market, near the church, was also erected in 1840. A market is held on the last Wednesday in each month for cattle. The weekly markets are held on Saturdays, and the meat market is also open on Wednesdays. The trade of Launceston is principally-confined to agricultural produce, but there are tanneries, iron foundries and flour mills in the town. There are four banks and a savings bank. The " White Hart” and the “King’s Arms” are the principal hotels. The “White Hart” is a building of considerable antiquity, and the fine old Norman archway, forming the entrance, originally belonged to the Priory. The Masonic Hall, a building in the Classic style, in Tavistock road, was erected in 1877, and the Oddfellows’ Hall, in the Western road, in 1880. There is a local Agricultural Association, a Scientific and Historical Society, and a Land and Building Co.

The Tamar Club, founded in 1872, occupies a portion of the same building as the Savings Bank, in Exeter street, and comprises a circulating library find writing and reading rooms, amply supplied with newspapers, reviews and periodicals. The Constitutional Club has premises in Southgate street, and there is also a Liberal Club, for which new premises are now (1897) being erected in Northgate street. The Launceston Working Lads’ Temperance Institute, in the Wooda road, is a building of stone, with Bath stone dressings, erected in 1889 at a cost of £1,300, and comprising library, committee and reading rooms, senior members’ room, a large hall, seating about 250 persons, refreshment, bar, gymnasium, lavatory and cartaker’s apartments; the present number of members is 180, all young men between 18 and 25 being eligible, provided they are total abstainers; the institute is supported by fees and subscriptions; hon. secretary, James Treleaven, jun. 1. Ridgegrove villas. Charities amounting to £1,134 6s. 8d. in Consols are in the hands of the Official Trustee, of charitable funds; a yearly rent-charge of £2 12s. 6d. issuing out of Hay Common is administered by trustees under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, the amount being applied towards church expenses; C. R. G. Grylls esq. clerk; the municipal charities consist of £323 17s. 3d. in Consols, the income of which is distributed annually to poor widows and poor of the borough; C. L. Cowlard esq. clerk: Lazar Ground Charity, consisting of a yearly rent of £36 and the interest on a sum of £360 Consols, is devoted to the Launceston Infirmary and Rowe Dispensary; C. L. Cowlard esq. clerk. The County Police station, Westgate street, erected in 1886, comprises a superintendent’s residence, quarters for four constables, and the usual offices and cells. Launceston Infirmary and Rowe Dispensary, in the Western road, is supported by voluntary subscriptions: the infirmary was founded by the late Sir W. Rowe, recorder of Plymouth, in 1862, and the dispensary in 1871; there are eight beds.

The town was formerly surrounded by a wall, pierced by three gates, only one of which, Southgate, now exists; over the arch is a room formerly used as a place of confinement for prisoners, but now occupied by the Launceston Scientific and Historical Society for the purposes of a museum. The Northgate was taken down in 1834. The town wall, when intact, was about a mile in extent, and from 7 to 9 feet thick; portions of it still remain.

The remains of the ancient Castle, which is mentioned in Domesday Book, are still very extensive and occupy the summit of a steep and lofty hill, the base of which is washed by the Kensey, a tributary of the Tamar; the elevated mound on which the keep stands, which is partly artificial and about 100 feet above the river, makes that part of the ruins a very prominent object for miles around: the main entrance is on the west, where originally there was a moat, but in 1834 a new approach was made to the town, under the remains of the old tower: from the eastern gate the wall extends to the south-western angle, where stood the “Witches’ Tower,” a structure which unfortunately gave way while the new road above mentioned was being made: from the Witches’ Tower the wall extends eastward towards the keep, at the foot of which are the remains of another tower: at the eastern side of the courtyard is another gate leading into the town: this is in a more perfect state than the rest of the buildings; it had walls to protect the approach and was used as a prison, and here George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, was immured for eight months, when committed in 1656 for distributing a religious paper near the Land’s End: the keep, the most prominent part of the ruins, is about 32 feet in height and 18 feet in diameter on the inside, its walls being about 12 feet thick, and consists of a circular tower, with an outer parapet and a strong high wall surrounding it, of considerable thickness, containing two staircases leading to the top, which is crowned with a low parapet: the tower itself, built of hard blue stone, is entered by a low triangular arch: the approach to the platform on which the keep stands is by a long flight of stone steps: no trace whatever remains of any of the buildings in the court yard, and the hall, chambers, chapel and modern gaol were removed when the assizes were transferred to Bodmin in 1838. The grounds around the Castle have been tastefully laid out, and form a pleasing resort for the inhabitants. The Castle was held from the Conqueror by the family of de Burgo or Moreton, Earls of Cornwall, and in 1337—8 was merged in the Duchy; in 1645 it was held for Charles I. by Sir Richard Grenville, but surrendered to Fairfax in March, 1646: it is extra-parochial. Lord Halsbury P.C. the present Lord Chancellor and M.P. for Launceston, 1877—85, is constable of the Castle.

Petty Sessions are held at the Guildhall first Tuesday in the month at 11 a.m. The following places are included in the petty sessional division:-Altarnun, Boyton, Egloskerry, Laneast, Lawhitton, Lewannick, Lezant, North Hill, St. Stephens-by-Launceston (part of), St. Thomas parish (part of), South Petherwin, Tremayne, Tresmeer. & Trewen.

LAUNCESTON UNION

Board day, alternate sats. at 12 noon at the Workhouse.

The union comprises the following places :-Altarnun, Boyton, Broadwood Widger (Devonshire), Egloskerry, Laneast, Lawhitton, Lewannick, Lezant, North Hill, North Petherwin (Devonshire), Northcott Hamlet (Devonshire), Stoke-Climsland, South Petherwin, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Stephens urban & rural, St. Giles (Devonshire), St. Thomas Apostle urban & rural, St. Thomas street, Treneglos, Tresmeer, Tremaine, Trewen, Virginstowe (Devonshire), Warbstow, Werrington (Devonshire). The population of the union in 1891 was 15,874; area, 101,580 acres; rateable value in 1896, £87,533.

Workhouse, Page’s Cross, is a plain block of buildings for 212 inmates, erected in 1838; Daniel Downing, master; Mrs. Louisa Downing, matron; Charles G. Gibson, medical officer; children go to the Board school.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

St. Mary Magdalene Church, Rev. Thomas Jackson Nunns M.A. vicar; Rev, Hubert Parry Brockman, curate; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; & daily 8 a.m. & 5.30 p.m. in winter & 6.30 p.m. summer.

St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Rev. Thomas Gilpin Johnson, vicar; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

St. Stephen’s Church, Rev. Matthew Henry Fisher A.K.C.L. vicar; 8.30 & 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; & daily 7 p.m.

St. Mary the Virgin Mission Chapel, Tregadillett, the Vicar of St. Thomas’; 3.30 p.m. Sundays.

Catholic, Kensey, St. Stephen’s hill, Rev. Charles Baskerville Langdon, priest; mass, Sundays & holidays, 11 a.m. & evening service, 6.30 p.m.; week days, 7.30 a.m. in summer & 8 a.m. in winter.

Baptist, Western road, Henry Smart, evangelist; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tues. 7.30 p.m.

Bible Christian, Tower street, Rev. John Charles Sweet; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational, Castle street, Rev. William Miles; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tues. 7.30 p.m.

United Methodist Free Church, St. Thomas’ road, Rev. Thomas Henry Opie; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, Castle street, Rev. George Searle & Rev. Daniel Bate; Rev. G. Lupton Allen, supernumerary;. 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tues. 7.15 p.m.

SCHOOLS

The Grammar school, originally held in a chapelry & chantry at Week St. Mary, was founded about 1450 by Dame Thomasine Percivall (nee Bonaventure), who was born of poor parents at Week St. Mary, her second husband being John Percivall, Lord Mayor of London, 1408: in the reign of Edward VI. its revenues became vested in the Crown; it was transferred to Launceston on account of the inconvenience experienced in procuring provisions for the scholars. Under a scheme dated 6th April, 1889, the fund is now administered by a governing body of 9 persons, of whom 7 are representative & 2 cooptative: the school house & premises are now let & the rents of the same, together with that of an endowment of £10 payable out of the Paris Garden Estate, London, now in the possession of E. G. Baron Lethbridge esq. are now applied in providing exhibitions called “the Grammar School Exhibitions,” each of a yearly value of not less than £5 nor more than £15 & tenable at any place of education higher than elementary approved by the governors & awarded on examination to boys & girls of Launceston in equal shares & to those of the parish of Egloskerry, & to be held for one year: there is also a sum of £16 yearly payable by the Treasury, but this has been withheld by them for some years, since they contend that as there is no Grammar school they are not liable to pay the amount.

Dunheved College, in the road of the same name, was founded in 1873, and is under the management of a council appointed by the Dunheved College Company; the buildings, which stand in extensive grounds, were erected in 1874: there are scholarships of £50, £10 & £5 each, besides exhibitions &c. ; Benjamin B. Hardy M.A. Cantab, headmaster, assisted by graduates of English universities; Charles S. Parsonson Mus. Bac. music master; A. H. Grigg, hon. sec.

Horwell’s Endowed School, St. Stephen’s, was founded by John Horwell esq. a native of this parish, in 1707, & reorganized under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners in 1877; six scholarships of the annual value of £5 are attached to this foundation, tenable from the age of 15 & awarded by competition to boys whose parents have resided for at least 5 years in the parish of St. Stephen; there are other scholarships open to the whole school, the value of which is de pendent on surplus foundation income; the governing body consists of 9 local residents, 1 being ex-officio 3 representative & 5 cooptative: Richard Carlyon Coode esq. J.P. of Polapit Tamar, is chairman; the school furnishes a good middle-class education or moderate terms: boarders are received by the master Charles Douglas Rosling B.A.Lond.; John Harbour B.A.Lond. second master.

A School Board of 5 members was formed February 7 1871; Claude Hurst Peter, Westgate, clerk to the board; W. H. R. Atkins, Tower street, school attendance officer.

Board (mixed & infants), Western road, for 400 children; average attendance of boys & girls, 160; infants, 90.

St. Stephen’s School Board (ex-municipal), of 5 members was formed March 18, 1890; Truman Brighton, clerk to the Board & attendance officer.

Board (mixed & infants), St. Stephen's, built in 1880 at a cost of £1,000, for 180 children; average attendance, 80 boys & girls & 26 infants.

National, St. Thomas’ road (mixed & infants), erected in 1840, for 330 mixed & 150 infants; average attendance, boys & girls, 162; infants, 95.

Tregadillett Mission, Compass (mixed), opened in 1876, for 120 children; average attendance, 63.