Francis Tregian the Elder

A staunch Catholic, he inherited substantial estates on the death of his father, including the manors of Bedock, Landegy, Lanner and Carvolghe, and the family home, 'Golden', in the parish of Probus, near Truro.

In 1576 Tregian harboured at Golden Manor House a Catholic seminary priest, Cuthbert Mayne, who passed as his steward.

[1] On 8 June 1577, the Sheriff of Cornwall, Richard Grenville surrounded the house with some hundred men and arrested both Tregian and Mayne.

The case demonstrates "...the political and religious infighting that continued in local communities...as Protestant officials took the opportunity to settle personal scores and to take revenge on Catholic neighbors for penalties inflicted during Queen Mary's reign.

(Tregian was initially interred beneath the floor of the nave in front of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament; an inscribed stone still marks that spot.)

The inscription on the present tomb, translated, reads: Here stands the body of Master Francis Tregian, a very eminent English gentleman who – after the confiscation of his wealth and after having suffered much during the 28 years he spent in prison for defending the Catholic faith in England during the persecutions under Queen Elizabeth – died in this city of Lisbon with great fame for saintliness on December 25th, 1608 [sic].