Glasney College

Glasney College once stood in the woods near Penryn, a small creek at its head. Founded in 1265 by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter, it became the most important religious institution in Cornwall. The college included canons’ houses, a deer park, a bishop’s palace, a church, and a refectory. Built between the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, its chapel was dedicated to Saint Thomas Becket. Limestone for the buildings came by sea from Beer Quarry Caves in Devon. For nearly three hundred years Glasney was a centre of learning and Cornish culture. It supported the Cornish language and literature, and produced plays like the Ordinalia and Bewnans Meriasek. The college held the patronage of sixteen parishes and had an income from rectorial tithes across Cornwall. Its canons lived under a constitution modelled on Exeter Cathedral, with one provost and thirteen Augustinian canons. William Bodrugan served as the first provost from 1283 to 1288. Today almost nothing remains above ground except a single section of stonework in a chantry chapel’s east wall. The site was neglected after the college’s dissolution in 1548. A memorial at Glasney Parc on the Penryn Campus features medieval herbs and flowerbeds. The Friends of Glasney College, formed in 1987 by Dr James Whetter, continues to promote awareness of its history and importance.