Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/396

 358 ST. THOMAS CHURCH. We can offer no other explanation concerning the scries of names, followed by varying sums, than that the entry shows either an individual collection of money, or a pro- portional rating, voluntary or otherwise. The account for the year 1 48 1 begins thus [trans.] : " Memo- randum. On Sunday next after the Feast of All Saints, 20 Ed. IV., in the house of Walter Congan, all the brothers and sisters of the aforesaid guild acknowledge that they owe to the Church of St. Thomas, Launceston, for the purchase of bells [or a bell] and repairing the bell-tower there, as follows : Walter Congan, for his part, 23d. ; John Northay, for his part, ijd. ; William Greiston, for his part, 6d. ;" and so on, naming eleven others. "Total, us., which was paid to the church before the Feast of St. Michael the Arch- angel, in the 20th year of the reign of Ed. IV." Then John Garya and John Northay, keepers of the guild, admit receipts for ale in the year, 4s. 3d. ; for the hire of one cow with William Congan, I2d. ; and of another cow with John Garya, I2d. ; and 5s. 3d. for a cow sold. The expenses include the cost of making ale, which, with a receipt for ale sold, forms a usual item in these accounts. The keepers also acknowledge small sums from eleven persons, and allege a payment " for the brothers " of 3s. to the church. The account for 1 482 is lost. We avail ourself of the hiatus occasioned by this loss to direct attention to the just-cited statement respecting the " purchasing of bells, and repairing the bell tower." The lower portion of the existing tower bears intrinsic evidence of having been erected or recon- structed at about this period. The same may be safely said of the church, except as to the south porch, which is a little more recent. Both church and tower unquestion- ably occupy the site of a former church or chapel. It was an almost universal practice to rebuild on ground once appropriated to ecclesiastical edifices. The petty con-