ITS Norman castle may be the crowning visual landmark of Launceston, but recent years have seen growing interest in another relic of the town's past — its Augustinian Priory. Now writer and lecturer Terry Faull has written and published the first detailed history of the Priory. A religious community was established at St Stephen's sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries, probably by travellers from Ireland or Wales. A number of monastic communities with Celtic origins were developed in Cornwall during this 'Age of the Saints'. Terry Faull writes that there are good reasons to believe that St Stephen's was one of these by virtue of its size, location and later traditions. The St Stephen's monastic community's role grew when it became the only place in Anglo-Saxon Cornwall where coins were minted. Its income diminished somewhat when William the Conqueror's half-brother, Robert, Count of Mortain, deprived the canons of a significant source of revenue by moving the Sunday market to Dunheved, although some compensation was paid. For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.