LOSTWITHIEL

'Lostwithiel' () is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739.

Contents

Geography

Buildings

Administration

Culture

Education

Origin of the name

See also

External links

Geography

The town lies on the A390 road from Tavistock to Truro.
Lostwithiel railway station is on the Cornish Main Line from Plymouth to Penzance. It is situated on the south side of the town, just across the medieval bridge. The railway's workshops were built here, but the remaining buildings were transformed into apartments in 2004. A branch line takes china clay trains to Fowey.

Buildings

Lostwithiel's most notable buildings are St Bartholomew's Church and Restormel Castle. There is a small museum devoted to the history of the town. Once a stannary town, and for a period the most important in the country, it is now much decayed. There is a fine early fourteenth century bridge with five pointed arches, and nearby the remains of the Stannary Court, with its Coinage Hall - this was the centre of royal authority over tin-mining, and 'coinage' meant the knocking off of the corner of each block of tin for the benefit of the Duchy of Cornwall. The small Guildhall has an arcaded ground floor. The old Grammar School has been converted into dwellings.

Administration

Lostwithiel is a historic borough. It elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons, but was disenfranchised by the Reform Act 1832. It remained a municipal borough until the 1960s, when it became a civil parish.

Culture

The town boasts a number of annual cultural activities. There is a week long carnival in the summer. In May the town participates in a competition with neighbouring villages, each town/village erects a large pole and the other villages try to steal the poles. On new-years eve there is a masked procession around the town. The town has a King George V Playing Field.

Education

The majority of children aged between 11 and 16 attend Fowey Community College.

Origin of the name

The origin of the name Lostwithiel is a subject much debated. In the 16th century it was thought that the name came from the Roman name ''Uzella'', translated as ''Les Uchel'' in Cornish. In the 17th century popular opinion was that the name came from a translation of ''Lost'' (a tail) and ''Withiel'' (a lion), the lion in question being the lord who lived in the castle.
Current thinking is that the name comes from the Old Cornish ''Lost Gwydeyel'' meaning "The place at the tail end of the forest". The view from Restormel Castle looking towards the town shows how this may have come to be.

See also

★ Battle of Lostwithiel

★ List of topics related to Cornwall

External links

★ GenUKI page

★ Lostwithiel Bridge and its Memories - The Reverend Canon E Boger, 1887

★ Lostwithiel OCS

★ Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for Lostwithiel