West Looe Town Trust: … … Furthermore, 27 poles of very valuable building land in West Looe are being leased for the amazing sum of 5s a year ground rent. A hundred years ago this was leased to the late Mr. John Buller, of Morval, for a similar sum. There is now a pressing need for a public hall for Looe and the most suitable site for it is a portion of the 27 poles of land referred to, upon which a garage and cellars, or stores of a dilapidated appearance, now stand. Upon the other portion of the land there are five cottages, a shop and dwelling house. And, as the whole of the land has been in the occupation of the family of the present lessee for a period of sixty years, I am of opinion that it would be fair and equitable If the freehold of the land, upon which the houses and shop now stand were handed over to the lessee and the remaining portion retained by the Trust. A Mr. Pinsent was the lessee of the land before Mr. Buller and in the year 1619 seven persons were “presented” at one of the borough Law courts of West Looe — for that we suppose their houses and courts are built on and upon the town land. And of course, there were free tenants then and the land came into the possession of certain persons in a mysterious manner. I therefore think that the time has come when a solicitor not connected with the Trust should be engaged to inquire into all the old leases …
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0835 Hennock: Thomas Pynsent: 1808 – 1887