Penryn reached its zenith in the eyes of the Established Church with the founding of the great Glasney College. According to Thurston Peters[fn1], "It was the founding here of the Collegiate Church[fn2] of Glasney in 1265, that gave Penryn its chief importance, and made the place known all over England, and indeed Europe... For three hundred years Glasney was a favourite establishment of the Bishops of Exeter, and many men of high standing in the Church held prebends therein. It was a centre from which important orders were frequently promulgated, and excommunications pronounced, and indeed was the centre of Church life in Cornwall." Many historians also believe that if it, was not for the Reformation and the destruction of Glasney, that Penryn might now be the religious capital of Cornwall, rather than Truro.
The story of Glasney College began when the Bishop of Exeter, Walter Bronescombe (1257-1280), or Walter le Goode as he was sometimes called, was taken ill after journeying to Germany on the king's business. Near death, he had a vision in which St Thomas of Canterbury appeared to him three times and foretold of his recovery. The saint also added that it was God's will that on his return to the Diocese he should found in the woods of Glasney, on his manor of Penryn, a college to the praise of God, which was to be dedicated to the Saint.
The story, which was recorded in a document called ‘The Glasney Cartulary’ goes on to say that St Thomas also said, "This shall be to thee a sign. When thou comest to the place, Glasney, thou shalt search for a certain spot in it near the River of Antre, called by inhabitants Polsethow, which Cornish name being interpreted as `mire' or a`pit' which said place hath of old time borne such name from the fact that wild animals in the neighbourhood when wounded by an arrow., were wont to run thither after the nature and custom of such animals, and to plunge into the depth, and arrows could never be discovered there. And thou shalt find in it a large willow tree, and therein a swarm. of bees; and there thou shalt appoint the High Altar and ordain the fabric. On which said place it hath been anciently prophesied: ‘In Polsethow ywhylyr Anethow', that is to say, ‘in Polsethow shall habitations or marvellous things be seen.”[fn3]
As soon as Bronescombe recovered his health, he set out to fulfil this prophecy, and found all the things that had been revealed to him in his dream. The author of the Cartulary tells us that "in the same place oft times, in the blackness of night, was seen a most brilliant shining light from heaven girt around with burning candles, a multitude of clerks clad in white, praising God there; as is positively testified by the neighbours, who told how they themselves saw these things.”[fn4]
So guided by this revelation on his death bed, he was spared to build one of the greatest religious foundations in Cornwall. In 1265 the first foundations of Glasney College were laid. It was situated within the parish boundaries of St Budock and the deanery of Kerrier; but because of its acciliation with Penryn, it was more associated with the St Gluvias Parish than with its pluralist neighbour.
Whether St Thomas could foresee into the future to the Reformation and the eventual destruction of the College, or not, but the area of land that he instructed Bronescombe to build upon, was the marshland at the bottom of the Episcopal park; and so throughout the relatively short history of the College, the foundations were never safe, continually requiring repairing, and of course, final dismantling.
The College was founded "To fynde one dean, vii canons residents, v canons non resident, vii vicars, and one pryste, called the chauntrye pryste, to celebrate dyvyne servyce daylye in a church annexed to the college, being no parishe churche, but merylye appert aynyng to the same College."[fn5]
In 1267 the College itself was completed and dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St Thomas Becket; but when the first canons arrived, they erected their own buildings, and turned the swampy waste lands into fields and orchards. Ultimately, the buildings were quite extensive, for as well as the Church, there was a Refectory, a Chapter-House, Dormitories, and its own corn mill. To run and maintain the College, Bronescombe appointed and designated thirteen Black Canons of the Order of St Augustine and thirteen vicars, and of the former, one was appointed as Proctor. Eventually, the Chapel [on the site of the current Town Hall] over which the people of Penryn had fought Sir Stephen of St Gluvias, was also united with the College, for the use of clerks perpetually serving there.
The College had to be financially supported, and so the churches of St Gluvias, St Budock and Feock were appropriated to it; and in 1270 the churches of St Sithney, St Zennor, St Goran, St Enoder and Kea (with its chapels of Kenwyn and Tregavethan) were also appropriated for the daily distribution amongst the clergy of the College. The Bishop also granted thirteen acres of land in Glasney for their houses and other buildings. Reservations were also made for the stipend of a perpetual vicar in each of these parishes. This, as previously mentioned, left the parishes themselves very poor. The Vicar of St Gluvias and Budock had to pay the taxes, the whole alterage of his churches, except the tithe of fish, wool and lambs, of peas and of vetches growing in the fields.
Without doubt, the revelation of St Thomas Becket to Bishop Bronescombe completely changed the whole pattern of church-life in Penryn. For not only did it put the town on the ecclesiastical map, but it drew the spiritual strength of the Borough under the close supervision and control of the College and its Canons. Because of the close association of the College anrd the Sts Gluvias-Budock plurality, three successive Vicars of these parishes were appointed as Provosts to the College: Sir John Oby [1491-1497], John Nans [1497-1501] and Alexander Penhill [1501-1507]. Oby was only appointed Vicar of St Gluvias in 1497, whereas the office of Provost was granted to him in 1491. St Gluvias must have therefore enjoyed some prestige during these ten years; and the parish may well have continued having this great honour if one of the following Vicars, `Bishop' Thomas Chard, had not been one of the many pluralists and scoundrels that were disgracing the Church at the time.
Bronescombe, before he died, also built a residence at the bottom of Hill Head, which was to be the Bishop's Summer House (or Bishop's Palace) - an ideal place for him to keep a watchful eye on the College.[fn6]
After Bronescombe's death, successive bishops found the distance of over a hundred miles between Exeter and Penryn was too great for regular visits, especially as he had requested the Bishop to water a garden he had planted at the College. So in 1283, the then Bishop, Bishop Quivil ordered the appointment of a Provost, who should be in priest's order and should reside during two parts of the year at Glasney [doubt the most likely reason for the choosing of the St Gluvias vicars]. With this, the College now had: a Provost, eleven prebendaries, seven vicars and six choristers. The canons were also to be in priests’ orders and when in residence were to attend all services, unless permitted to be absent or for any legal reason. Quivil also added the appropriations of St Mylor and St Alban to the College. But with the Black Death, it was found that the Vicars of Glasney were not receiving enough of the accustomed stipends to give a sufficient livelihood.
As previously stated, the College was constantly in need of repair, and not always due to the unsure foundations. By 1316, no less than £13..6..8d had to be spent on the fabric of the College; and in 1372 [just over a hundred years after its foundation] the College was in the course of reconstruction. In fact, there were attempts to repair it right up to the time of the Reformation.
However, as the material building of the College seemed to be failing apart, so was its spiritual and moral structure. For as soon as the College threw off the direct influence of the See of Exeter, so the moral condition of the College deteriorated. As early as 1330, Bishop Grandisson was having to write to his bailiff, ordering him to see that the canons fenced their gardens and stopped up the gates leading to his park in which some of them had been poaching. Also in 1374, a coadjuter appointed at the request of the Provost, met with rough handling. In 1379, a Commission had to be appointed in order to inquire into and correct crimes, excesses and negligences in the College; but by 1387, conditions were no better, with canons living desolate lives and even harbouring women of dubious character in their houses.
In the same year, the Bishop found that five hundred marks belonging to the College Treasury, as well as ornaments, vestments and other goods belonging to the College were missing. Also, in 1400, the Bishop found that there was even irreverence in the saying of the divine affairs; and again in 1495, Provost Oby complained that they did not say Matins at midnight.[fn7]
Despite the above, and although the College became a popular haunt for infamous absent pluralists (and trespassers who enjoyed the sport in the Bishops Woods), some good did come out of the College of these years: mainly in the form of the famous Miracle Plays of Cornwall. One of these, ‘The Life of St Meriasek’, about the building of Solomon's Temple, was written by Canon Dominus Hadton of Glasney in 1504. In this play, the Temple builders were given:
"Together with all the field of Bohellan
And the Wood of Penryn wholly,
And all the water-courses;
The island of Arwinnick,Treonver and Kegellick.”
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fn1: "The History of Glasney Collegiate College" by Thurston Peters [1903]
fn2: About 1100 a new kind of religious life was introduced, with groups of priests living together in poverty. They were called the Augustine Canons because they based their lives on the writings of St Augustine. “By the Middle Ages; these had formed themselves either into Cathedral Churches or their smaller counterparts, Collegiate Churches. These foundations were to provide dignified and impressive settings in which a small group of priests might offer daily worship to God, and not be bound by the withdrawal practised by other monastic bodies. [taken from Moorman's “A History of the Church in England"]
fn3: Taken from Thurston Peter’s History of Glasney Collegiate College
fn5: Taken from "Parochial History of the County of Cornwall" Volume 2
fn6: This building later became the Town's Manor and Borough Prison until the end of the Eighteen Century when cells were provided in the Town Hall [also the site of a former Church building; of course]
fn7: Examples from Elliott-Binns and Thurston Peters
