PARISHES OF CORNWALL.
LANWHITTON, or LAWHITTON.
HALS.
The manuscript relating to this parish is lost.
TONKIN.
Lanwhitton, vulgo Lawhitton, is in the hundred of East; and hath to the west South Pederwin, to the north Launceston, to the east the river Tamar, to the south Lezant.
As for the name, I take Whitton to be the same as Whidden, white or fair; so as to signify the white or fair church, from the beauty of its first building. It is a rectory valued in the King’s books at 19l. 6s. 8d. The Bishop of Exeter is the patron.
All this parish doth in a manner entirely belong to the Bishop of Exeter’s great manor of Lanwhitton.
I shall begin therewith: Mr. Camden tells you that this was one of the three manors given by Edward the elder about the year 905 to the Bishop of Kirton, from whom, on the union of the sees, it came to the Bishop of Exeter, in whose hands it hath ever since continued.