3-066-101 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Views of Launceston, Cornwall, 1881. '1. Launceston, from St Catherine's Hill. 2. The Castle. 3. The Castle. 4. Town Gate. 5. The River. 6. St. Stephen's Church, with Werrington Park and Launceston in the distance...Our page of engraved Views presents two different aspects of the town, but the finest is that from the suburb of St. Stephen's and Werrington Park, on the Bude road north of Launceston. This hamlet of St. Stephen's, with its old Gothic church, is said to be of greater antiquity than the town or the Castle...The Castle Yard was one of the places of execution for Protestant martyrs in the reign of Queen Mary. In the civil wars of Charles I.'s time, this fortress was repeatedly captured and retaken by the Parliamentary and the Royal army, but without much fighting. It was afterwards partly destroyed, and is now a fine old piece of ruin, ivy-grown and majestic, looking down from its steep hill over a green and peaceful valley. The ground about the Castle is laid out as a pleasant garden. There is little to be seen of the ancient walls of the town; but the south gate is still extant, though much disfigured by modern alterations. The Church of St. Mary Magdalene, built of granite, is a handsome structure of the time of King Henry VIII.'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.