e till the ransom of
King Richard I was paid, and it has been generally supposed that, as the
eldest sons of the greatest noblemen were sent, Lord Briwere's only son
was among the number, and that the Abbey was a thank-offering, the fruit
of a vow made by the father in regard to his son's happy return. Lord
Briwere installed in the Abbey seven monks of the Premonstratensian
Order. Alicia, daughter of Lord Briwere, married Reginald de Mohun, and
as, on the death of her brother, she inherited the Torre property, it is
easily seen how Tor-Mohun came to be the name of the parish. Successive
bequests to the monastery made it the richest house of the Order in
England, though at the time of its dissolution there were only fifteen
monks besides the Abbot. The peace and prosperity of the Abbey were once
broken, Dr Oliver tells us in his 'Monasticon Dioecesis Exoniensis,'
by a painful incident: 'In 1390, notwithstanding the Abbot's
irreproachable life and manners, some malicious person spread a rumour
that he had beheaded one of the Canons of Tor called Simon Hastings.'
The Abbot was 'greatly distressed,' and the Bishop pronounced the
accusation to be a falsehood of the 'blackest dye,' and, besides,
declared that he, the said Canon, was _alive and well_. But that it
should be possible to bring such a charge against an 'irreproachable'
Abbot in this casual way, and that the accusation should for a moment
be listened to, is a view of those days not often opened to one.

After changing hands several times, the Abbey became the property of the
Carys (in 1662), and their descendants still live in it. Many
alterations have been inevitable, but much of the character of the
building still remains. Parts of the walls of the original church are
still standing, and enough of the masonry is left to show the exact
plan. It was longer than any other church that has since been built in
Torquay, and wanted only seven feet to equal the length of Exeter
Cathedral between the west end and the organ-screen. The refectory
stretches towards the west; it has been converted into a chapel, and a
stone cross rises from the roof. The embattled gateway and the whole of
the building near it are of a soft rose colour; beyond stands a tower,
duller in tint, and at right angles the old grange, known since
Elizabethan days as the Spanish Barn. For the _Capitana_, the first ship
of the Armada to be taken, fell to Sir Francis Drake off Torbay, and the
four hundred