Lammana, place of mystery & peace

The holiday season is upon us, Looe will soon be busy with visitors enjoying the various delights of a seaside break, others may well take time to investigate the heritage of the twin towns. Where better to explore than a church, there you can find many pointers to the past ages.

However, there is a place close by, where you can experience the spiritual peace of a church, yet there are practically no traces of buildings. The area is Lammana and, where now there are just green fields and cliffs, there was once a monastic settlement and a place of pilgrimage affiliated to the powerful Abbey of Glastonbury.

The name Lammana incorporates two areas, one is situated at the west end of the area of housing at Hannafore, West Looe, the other lies just off the shore, it is Looe Island, which has had several names over the centuries, one of which, in the 13th century, was St Michael’s. On the mainland site there was a Priory up on the hillside, probably because dedication to St Michael often meant that the site would be an elevated one. The other building there, called the Monk’s House is adjacent to the last house in Marine Drive, adjacent to the gate, here, there is still a small portion of a wall.

On the Island at the summit, there was a small Chapel. The sites are linked to the local legend that Jesus came to the Island with Joseph of Arimathea, his uncle, a tin trader.

Recently, Time Team from Channel 4 undertook an archaeological dig at both sites and we await the programme and their conclusions in due course.

The following images in the slide show were all taken on 20th June 2008 by Peter King, after Time Team had left.

 

 

 

 

The Looe Old Cornwall Society has a long standing link with Lammana. the sites on the mainland were excavated in the 1930s by C.K.Croft Andrew, who was one of the original members of Looe Old Cornwall Society, having been the original Chairman then Recorder for 4 years.

After negotiations with the owners, the Duchy of Cornwall, excavations took place in 1935 and 1936. Funds & time were limited but the findings and history of the establishments have been well documented. The late Dr Peter Leggat & his wife published 2 booklets on Lammana and other authors have published their theories. LOCS hold some papers, plans and reports of the excavation. The rest of Croft Andrew’s papers were deposited in The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. The Priory site was surveyed by Cornwall Archaeology Unit in 1988.

It is worth noting that, due to the findings by Croft Andrew and the importance of the site, a proposed sale of the land for further development, fell through and the area was saved.

So, even if the visitor finds the ascent to the Priory site daunting, it is still possible to see the small wall of the Monk’s house or just to sit a while, in the field, feel the peace and imagine the monks and pilgrims going about their lives more than 10 centuries ago, or to gaze out to the Island and go back further in time to a site which has been venerated for even longer. There have been exciting finds on the Island, by Time Team which point to that conclusion.

And the legend? Well, traders from the Mediterranean apparently did visit these shores and in the museum one can see 2 artefacts, an amphora neck and a tin & copper ingot, dated as about 2,000 years old, found in the waters off the Island. There is a lot more to discover and LOCS intends to be part of the Lammana story for many years to come.