In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Lostwithiel like this:
LOSTWITHIEL, a town and a parish in Bodmin district, Cornwall. The town stands in a deep valley, on the river Fowey, and on the Cornwall railway, 5 miles SSE of Bodmin; was originally called Lestwithiel, signifying the "lofty palace;'' was founded, together with "a palace ''or stannary court at it, by Richard, Earl of Cornwall; sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward II., till disfranchised by the act of 1832; was visited by Charles I. ...
in 1644, prior to the flight of Essex to Fowey, and by the Prince of Wales in 1864; is governed, under a charter of George II., by a mayor, six aldermen, and seventeen councillors; was long the seat of the county courts of Cornwall; retains a monument of its former importance in the stannary court or county buildings; and has a head-post office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, a good inn, a picturesque old bridge, a town hall, a market-house, a church, three dissenting chapels, a mechanics' institute, a free grammar school, a girls' national school, and charities £19. The stannary court is in good preservation; was an oblong massive structure, flanked by graduated buttresses, and ornamented with the duchy arms; is built chiefly of local slate, without ashlar; has semicircular arches, constructed of thin slate laminæ; and includes portions which were used as the shire-hall and the prison. The town hall is a neat edifice of 1740. The church is chiefly of the 14th century; has an early English tower, with a decorated octagonal lantern and spire; has also a fine E window; and contains a curious octagonal sculptured font, and several old monuments. A weekly market is held on Friday; fairs are held on 31 March, 10 July, 4 Sept., and 13 Nov.; a cattle show is held on 12 Dec.; some business is done in tanning and wool stapling; and trade is carried on in connexion with neighbouring mines.—The parish comprises 110 acres. Real property, £2,038; of which £25 are on the railway. Pop., 1,017. Houses, 229. The manor belonged to the Duchy of Cornwall; was purchased, about the end of last century, by the Earl of Mount Edgecumbe; and was conveyed to the corporation. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £96. Patron, the Earl of Mount Edgecumbe. A House of Mercy, about ½ a mile from the town, was founded in 1862. The fine ruin of Restormel Castle crowns an eminence about 1 mile to the N.
Lostwithiel through time
Lostwithiel is now part of Restormel district. Click here for graphs and data of how Restormel has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Lostwithiel itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Lostwithiel, in Restormel and Cornwall | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1067
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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