LAUNCESTON (lahn'ston), a market town and municipal borough in Cornwall, England, 351 m. N.W. of Plymouth, on the South Western and Southern railways. Pop. 0930 4,071.
A silver penny of Aethelred II. witnesses to the fact that the privilege of coining money was exercised by Launceston (Dun heved, Lanscaveton, Lanstone) more than half a century before the Norman conquest. At the time of the Domesday survey the canons of St. Stephen held Launceston, and the count of Mortain held Dunheved. The number of families settled on the former is not given, but attention is called to the market which had been removed thence by the count to the neighbouring castle of Dun heved, which had two mills, one villein and 13 bordars. It is not known when the canons settled here nor whether the count's castle, then newly erected, replaced some earlier fortification. Reginald, earl of Cornwall (1140-75) granted to the canons rights of jurisdiction in all their lands and exemption from suit of court in the shire and hundred courts. Richard king of the Romans, constituted Dunheved a free borough, and granted to the burgesses freedom from pontage, stallage and suillage, liberty to elect their own reeves, exemption from all pleas outside the borough except pleas of the crown, and a site for a gild-hall. In 1205 the market which had been held on Sunday was changed to Thursday. An inquisition held in 1383 discloses two markets, a merchant gild. pillory and tumbrel. In 1555 Dunheved, other wise Launceston, received a charter of incorporation, the com mon council to consist of a mayor, 8 aldermen and a recorder. By its provisions the borough was governed until 1835. The parlia mentary franchise which had been conferred in 1294 was confined to the corporation and a number of free burgesses.
In 1832 Launceston was shorn of one of its members, and in 1885 merged in the county. Separated from it by a small bridge over the Kensey lies the hamlet of Newport which, from 1547 until 1832, also returned two members. These were swept away when the Reform Bill became law. Launceston was the assize town until Earl Richard, having built a palace at Restormel. removed the assize to Lostwithiel. In 1386 Launceston regained the privilege by royal charter. From 1715 until 1837, eleven years only excepted, the assize was held alternately here and at Bodmin. Since that time Bodmin has enjoyed the distinction.
Launceston lies in a hilly district by and above the river Kensey, an affluent of the Tamar, with the keep of the ancient castle crowning the summit of a hill. On the northern slope lies the parish of St. Stephen. The castle, the ruins of which are in part of Norman date, was the seat of the earls of Cornwall, and was frequently besieged during the civil wars of the 17th century. In 1656 George Fox the Quaker was imprisoned in the north-east tower for disturbing the peace at St. Ives by distributing tracts. Fragments of the old town walls and the south gateway are standing. The church of St. Mary Magdalen, built of granite, was erected early in the i6th century, but possesses a detached tower dated 1380. A Norman doorway, now appearing as the entrance to a hotel, is preserved from an Augustinian priory founded in the reign of Henry I. The parish church of St. Stephen is Early Eng lish, with a Perpendicular tower.