TfiE ECCLESIASTICAL SEALS OF CORNWALL. 47 



As to the question of Nunneries or no Nunneries, Leland, in 

 his Itinerary, wrote concerning the Monastery at Bodmin — 

 " there hath been monkes then nunnys," but this Latter state- 

 ment has been refuted. 



In Bishop Stafford's Eegister it is mentioned that Margaret, 

 an Anchoress of Bodmin, was allowed to quit her cell, March 

 10, 1415, to proceed to a Nunnery — but whether Cornwall then 

 possessed one, or not, does not appear from the record, her des- 

 tination being St. Bridget's at Sheen.* 



Further, it is to be observed that the Carmelite Nunnery now 

 in the venerable house of Lanherne, at Mawgan, is a convent of 

 quite modern date. 



The mention of the Bodmin Anchoress reminds us that in 

 early days there were Anchorites in various parts of Cornwall. 



St. Guron in the 6th century, before settling by the south 

 coast, where Goran Church f now commemorates him, is said to 

 have occupied a Hermitage in the centre of the county, not far 

 from the unfailing fount of water which gushes forth at what is 

 now called Bodmin Church Stile. His small dwelling has been 

 regarded as the origin of Bodmin [Bos, Bod, manach — house of 

 the Monks], for, when he resigned his quiet retreat to St. 

 Petrock, who associated with himself a few companions, tha 

 abode of the Solitary became a Monastery, which in course of 

 time developed into the important Priory, with a Church of its 

 own, and meanwhile, on account of this conventual establish- 

 ment, a town gradually sprung up, a parochial Church also was 

 built, the largest in Cornwall, whilst various other local organi- 

 zations, clerical and lay, were founded. 



Again, the remains of a Hermitage, with Chapel above it, are 

 found on the highest central point of Roche Bocks. The 

 recluse there, according to some writers, was a member of the 

 Tregarrick family, whose name, derived from the rocky manor 

 which they held, assumed also the synonymous forms of de 

 Rupe and de la Roche. Little seems, however, to be really 



* Oliver's Mon : additional supplement 1854, p. 2. 



f At Goran is a carved chair, of perhaps IGth century work, displaying- in 

 the panel a cowled figure kneeling as in prayer upon a chequered pavement 

 whereon rest a skull and open book. In the background is shown a Church tower 

 with spire. The design is considered to represent St. Guron the Hermit with 

 the Church either of Bodmin or of Goran — both built after his time. Each of 

 them had a spire. 



