LANEAST.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Laneast is in the hundred of East. To the west of it is St. Clether, to the north Egloskerry, to the east Trewren, to the south Alternun.
This parish taketh its name from its situation to the east of St. Clether.
It is an impropriation, belonging formerly to the Priory of Launceston. The great tithes are at present in the hands of the Earl of Radnor (Robarts); and the small tithes, out of which seven pounds a-year are paid for the supply of the cure, are in the possession of Mr. Arthur Squire and Mr. King.
THE EDITOR.
This parish contains three villages, the Church Town, Badgall, and Trespearn.
The principal or only seat is Tregeare, belonging to the family of Baron.
The late Mr. Jaspar Baron either rebuilt or greatly improved the house. This gentleman was for some time a member of Pembroke College, Oxford, but did not proceed to a degree. He died in early life, leaving a son and a daughter. The son became a member of Wadham College, Oxford. He died unmarried, and still earlier than his father. The sister, heiress of the very considerable property possessed by this family, has married a son of the late Mr. Christopher Lethbridge, of Madford in Launceston.
The great tithes now belong to Mr. George Bennett, and the impropriate vicarage to Mr. Baron and Mr. Cook.
This parish measures 2111 statute acres.
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Annual value of the Real Property, as returned to Parliament in 1815 | 851 | 0 | 0 |
| Poor Rate in 1831 | 148 | 19 | 0 |
| Population,— | |||
| in 1801, 179 | in 1811, 149 | in 1821, 229 | in 1831, 279 |
giving an increase of 56 per cent. in 30 years.
THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.
The geology of this parish is precisely similar to that of the adjacent parish of St. Clether.
The northern part is situated on that range of downs which extends from Launceston to the British Channel. These downs consist principally of varieties of dunstone, which are sometimes felspathic; but in general they are very siliceous, and even quartzoze. They are interesting in an economical point of view, as containing extensive deposits of the ores of manganese. A mine of this substance has been long worked at Letcot in Laneast. The ores occur in a lode or cross course of capel, running north-east and south-west; the lode is about twelve fathoms in width, and is composed of siliceous materials, or rather varieties of compact felspar, in which silex greatly predominates. The ore is arranged throughout the substances of the lode in veins and branches. In the latter form it was originally discovered, not many feet below the surface, and in such abundance that it was obtained at a very trifling cost, for the hardness and tenacity of the capel permitted the ore to be followed in all its ramifications without needing support: and the result of these operations has been to produce a large chasm, with curiously irregular and indented sides.