LAUNCESTON, a municipal and parliamentary borough and market-town of England, in the eastern division of the county of Cornwall, is situated on a branch railway line from Plymouth, on an eminence near the Kinsey, an affluent of the Tamar, 213 miles west-south-west from London. The streets are narrow and irregular, but of late years have been considerably improved. The parish church, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, and built of curiously carved blocks of granite, was erected in the beginning of the 16th century, but possesses a detached tower of the date 1380. There are important remains of the old castle, which was the ancient seat of the earls of Cornwall, and was frequently besieged during the wars of Charles I. For the grammar school originally established in the reign of Edward VI. a new building was erected in 1862. The trade of the town is chiefly in agricultural produce. The population of the municipal borough (area 1504 acres) increased between 1871 and 1881 from 2935 to 3217, and that of the parliamentary borough (area 14,707 acres) from 5468 to 5675.

The ancient name of Launceston was Buηηeheνed, the swelling hill. The name Launceston, originally Lanstephen, is derived from an old monastery dedicated to St Stephen. From the time of the Conqueror the place has belonged to the earls of Cornwall. It was made a free borough in the reign of Henry III., and received a charter of incorporation from Queen Mary in 1555. From 1294 it returned two members to parliament until 1832, when it was deprived of one of its members, and the disfranchised borough of Newport, comprising the parish of St Stephens, was included in its boundaries. The assizes of the county were transferred to Bodmin in 1838....