Townstal Church was granted to
Torre Abbey in about 1198, shortly after the founding of that Abbey by the
Premonstratensian order. In 1329 the vicar of Townstal allegedly drowned himself and the
Bishop of Exeter punished this crime by issuing an
interdict that forbade any religious services from taking place at the church for two years. The Bishop gave licence to William Bacon, one of the wealthiest
burgesses of the town of Dartmouth, to hold private services at a chapel in his house, but nothing was done for the general public of the town. In 1330 King
Edward III visited Dartmouth and was petitioned by the town's burgesses to allow them to build a church down by the waterside because of what they said was the "very great fatigue of their bodies" in climbing the hill to Townstal. Their petition was granted by a charter dated 16 February 1330 which allowed William Bacon to assign to Torre Abbey an acre of land in Clifton, near the river, to "build anew the parish church". However both the canons of Torre Abbey and the
Bishop of Exeter opposed the building of a new church so nothing was done. In 1331 permission was granted "for aged and infirm parishioners" to celebrate mass at the chapel of St. Clare in a lower part of the town, but everyone else was clearly still expected to climb the hill to Townstal.
Dartmouth Friary Dissatisfied with the situation, early in 1331 William Bacon negotiated to give the acre of land in Clifton to two
Augustinian Hermits on which they should build an "oratory and dwelling houses". They apparently started building promptly because later in 1331 Bishop
John Grandisson ordered action to be taken against two men "posing as priests" at Dartmouth, and he also
excommunicated Bacon. In 1334 the bishop lifted Bacon's excommunication and the following year he allowed the friars to use their newly built chapel, but only for preaching, not for the celebration of mass or to hear confessions. In 1340 a widow named Elena Cove won a case at the Exeter assizes in which she accused the friars, William Bacon, and several other Dartmouth burgesses of depriving her of a house and half an acre of land at Clifton. As a result of this case the land was restored to her, reducing the chapel's landholding by half. By 1344 Bishop Grandisson and the
Arches court of Canterbury had ordered the friars to demolish their chapel on the grounds that it had been built on a site "belonging to the Abbot and Convent of Torre". This attempt to save the friary was ultimately unsuccessful, and shortly after the result of the appeal reached Devon the Augustinian Friars were forced to leave.
Later history The problems relating to the chapel were not resolved until 1372 when a charter dated 4th and 5 October stating that the Abbot and the Vicar of Townstal assented to its consecration at the expense of the parishioners who were also to bear the cost of services, with the proviso that if it was neglected in favour of the mother church at Townstal, then it would be closed.{{cite book ==Manor==