| Summary : Site of Dominican friary, founded pre-1259 and dissolved in 1538. The Friary stood in the angle between Kenwyn Street, Castle Street, and the river. It was extended in the 14th and 15th centuries; it had a church, cemetery, chapter-house, etc., a culverhouse (on the west side) and a well. The gate seems to have opened on to Kenwyn Street. For a long time the site was a desolate meadow known as 'Friary Meads', where parts of the church were distinctly visible. Later in the 18th century a tan-yard was built in the precincts. Slight remains of the Friary are said to have been discovered, and destroyed when River Street and Francis Street were built in the 19th century. Shops now occupy the site. |
More information : (SW 82364484) Dominican Friary (NR) (Site of) (1)
Friary founded before 1259, dissolved 1538, with eleven friars in residence. The Friary church was consecrated 1259-60. (2)
Excavations were made circa 1840 at the Friary site which, up to circa 1830, was a meadow called "The Friary". A capital, presented to Truro Museum, was found; also smaller stone fragments and human bones. Hals (circa 1750) recorded parts of the chapel and well (SW 84 SW 29) still standing. (3)
The Friary cemetery produced a late 16th century gold ring, enamelled and set with a ruby. (4)
The Conventual Seal of the Friars Preachers of Truro (see illust) was dug up in the garden of the vicarage house at Sturry (TR 181609) near Canterbury in 1842. Dated to middle of 13th century and in the possession of the vicar of Sturry. (5)
The Friary stood in the angle between Kenwyn Street, Castle Street, and the river. It was extended in the 14th and 15th centuries; it had a church, cemetery, chapter-house, etc., a culverhouse (on the west side) and a well. The gate seems to have opened on to Kenwyn Street.
For a long time the site was a desolate meadow known as 'Friary Meads', where parts of the church were distinctly visible. Later in the 18th century a tan-yard was built in the precincts. Slight remains of the Friary are said to have been discovered, and destroyed when River Street and Francis Street were built in the last century. (6)
There are no extant remains of the friary; its site is now occupied by a 19th century block of shops. (7)
The Friary was founded before 1259, when its church was consecrated ¿ probably several decades after 1221, when the order reached England (Henderson, C. c.1910 Ecclesiastical Antiquities 1, 319-324, MS at RIC). According to Henderson, the church and other principal friary buildings stood in the area between River Street (on the north), Little Castle Street (west), and Kenwyn Street (south), the main gate opening onto Kenwyn Street. The friary land however probably extended west to St Dominic Street, and north onto the foot of the natural slope south from the medieval castle; it expanded to the west following an endowment of 1462 (Reynolds, A. 1998 Kenwyn Street and Kenwyn Mews, Truro, 8-9, report at CAU). There is a holy well of St Dominic, on the west of the main precinct (428863).
According to a Mr Spry, writing in 1840, parts of the friary chapel were still standing in Hals¿ time, pre-1737 (Appendix 1, Report of the Royal Institution of Cornwall 22, page 40-42). Spry records the discovery of architectural fragments ¿ one, a capital, preserved in the RIC museum ¿ and human bones, during ¿excavations made lately¿ north east of the Western Inn. The latter is shown on the Ordinance Survey 1:500 town map of 1880, on the corner of Kenwyn Street and Little Castle Street. Spry¿s excavations would have been approximately at SW82364483. Walls and over 100 coffins are said to have been found here around this time (Reynolds, op cit, 9) Henderson notes that slight remains of the friary were said to have been found, and destroyed, during the building of River Street and Ferris Town, c1840 (op cit, 324). He also notes a pillar built into an inn yard wall in Kenwyn Street. This site of the friary is marked on the 1:2500 Ordinance Survey maps of 1880 and 1907; the 1:500 Ordinance Survey town map showing the plan of a rectangular building, presumably a conjectural reconstruction.
The OS fieldworker in 1970 found no extant remains of the friary, the site having been developed in the 19th century (Ordinance Survey index card). A watching brief was carried out in 1988 during works on the former Western Inn site, then an Army recruiting office (Hartgroves, S, CAU information file). A trench on the north of this property exposed walls going down over 1.5m. These clearly pre-dated the standing buildings but their date and function could not be established. Unstratified finds included one fragment of human bone.
The visit in 2001 found no visible remains of the friary on the site between the three streets. The area is densely built up with mainly retail development. There are limited open spaces used as yards, with rubble stone boundary walls of post-medieval type. (8)
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