Townstal

St Clement's Church, Townstal
View to the north of Townstal

Townstal (anciently Tunstall,[1] Townstall,[2] etc.) is an historic manor and parish on elevated ground now forming part of the western suburbs of the town of Dartmouth in Devon.

St Clement's Church, the parish church of Townstal, was formerly the mother church of Dartmouth.[3] Within the parish was situated the estate of Mount Boone (now the site of Britannia Royal Naval College), in 1810 the residence of John Henry Seale (1780–1844), later 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for Dartmouth in 1838, lord of the manors of Stoke Fleming and Cornworthy,[3] where the Seale family had resided for many generations.[3] Also within the parish was the estate of Mount Galpin, in 1810 the seat of Arthur Holdsworth[4] (1780–1860), MP, Governor of Dartmouth Castle.

  1. ^ Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.285
  2. ^ Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, pp.169,381
  3. ^ a b c Risdon, p.381
  4. ^ Swete, John, Names of the Noblemen and Principal Gentlemen in the County of Devon, their Seats and Parishes at the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century, 1810, published in 1811 edition of Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.7. Arthur Holdsworth also seated at Widecombe in the parish of Stokenham