About a quarter of a mile from the church are the remains of St Benet's, a monastery of the Benedictine order, said to have been subordinate to Monte Cassino, in Italy, or according to others, Clairvaux in Burgundy. It was founded as a lazar house in 1411, and during the 15th century a chapel with a tower and an adjacent longhouse were built. The building work was not complete by 1430; it is mentioned in a document of 1535. The tower and longhouse are mentioned by Charles Henderson as being still in existence; he refutes the idea of it as an abbey. After the Reformation it became the home of the Courtenay family; the present house looks 19t–-century with 15th-century windows built into the facade. St Benet was restored by, its then owner, Charles Eldon Sargeant in 1878, and is described by "The Cornishman" newspaper as "... a charming and picturesque place".