Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/331

 PAROCHIAL CHAPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE. 299 ye hall and chappell quite Icvell wth yc ground!' There are other allusions, however, to the chapel, which directly con- firm our theory respecting its site; ex. gr. : In 1385 the Besmary Bench, which was probably of stone, abutted on the north upon this chapel. And in the year 1531 John Spetigowe, butcher, held "a stone [used as shambles] at the corner of our Lady Chapel," and so on. We doubt whether any Duke of Cornwall kept an estab- lishment at Dunheved. From the moment when the Black Prince, the heir-apparent to a throne^ became possessed of the territory, it was not likely that its owner would reside in Cornwall. The constable of Dunheved Castle attended to his limited military duties, and the spiritual care of its few occupants devolved upon the Prior and Convent, aided pecuniarily by the Mayor and Commonalty. Notwithstanding that the fabric devoted to Mary Magdalene was, in 13 19, and in the various borough accounts of subsequent date, designated a "church," it seems to have been technically a parochial chapel. The distinction " chapel " and " church " may, in this instance, be accounted for by the fact that the former was a private oratory of the Earl and his attendants, and the " church " was the place for public religious services. The " church " was undoubtedly vested in the mayor and burgesses, who received its revenues, repaired the fabric, paid the priests and other officers, and entirely managed its affairs. We think that, among the buildings of the " new town of the Castle of Dunhevet" mentioned in Reginald's charter, p. 5, was the chapel dedicated to Mary Magdaleite ; that that building, having served its purposes for about 250 years, fell into decay, and that another edifice, inclusive of the present Tower, was, in the 14th century, erected on its site. The architecture of the Tower is clearly of that era. On its eastern face the lines of the roof of this second chapel are still visible. Were the alms, given by the