Churches of the British Isles

Penryn Primitive Methodist (Second) Chapel is at the bottom of St Thomas Street. It was built in 1878, and became Thomas Street Methodist Church in 1932. In that year the land was sold to the Plymouth Roman Catholic trustees. By 1939 the chapel closed, described as bomb damaged. It was sold in 1949 by the Catholic Church to a local merchant and then a local builder. By the 1970s it was a car workshop and may also have hosted the New Life Elim Church.

From Thomas Hill, use Bohill to reach Quay Hill Memorial Garden. Penryn Church Institute here was on land which was assigned in 1881 to Thomas John Rickard. He cleared the land and built three houses along with the church institute. During the 1920s and 1930s the British Legion branch headquarters were located here. Bombing destroyed the houses and institute on 13 May 1941, with significant loss of life. Today this is the site of the memorial garden.

The collegiate church of St Thomas was founded in 1265, and maps indicate the location being Glasney College Field, which sits between College Hill and Hill Head. Today part of a small three-cornered arch is situated in the north-east corner of the recreation ground. Glasney Theological College & Chapel had twin dedications to St Thomas Becket and to the Virgin Mary, along with three fortified granite towers and a chain boom across the creek to protect from pirate attacks.

In the 1300s and 1400s the bishops had occasion to discipline Glasney. With the accession of Henry VIII, in 1509 the monarch took exception to the memory of St Thomas Becket and it was felt advisable to emphasise the other dedication, to the Virgin Mary. Glasney's dissolution occurred in 1548, again due to Henry VIII. The old buildings were used as a quarry for Penryn in the 1600s and 1700s and, by 1824, it was reported that nothing remained of the buildings.

At the bottom of the Hill Head/Glasney Terrace road triangle, a mansion and associated Chapel of St Leonard were built by one of the twelve canons of Glasney (above). By 1270 this had been appropriated by Bishop Bronescombe for his own Glasney College residence. After the reformation, the chapel fell into ruin. The house was used by a local farmer after 1550. The palace was later converted into the borough gaol but was largely demolished in the early 1800s.

Five photos on this page by Jo Lewis, and one by Simon Cobb, reused under a cc licence.