My Home - Lostwithiel

For anyone visiting who maybe interested in the history of Lostwithiel, (which has been my home for the past 31 years), I have compiled a date led summary below! (If there are mistakes feel free to let me know and I will amend)..

Hope you enjoy, Kevin

Lostwithiel Palace Engraving 1734

From first footprints to a Norman crossing

Prehistoric settlement:

People were living and farming on the high ground above the Fowey thousands of years before there was a “Lostwithiel”. On Helman Tor, just north of town, archaeologists have mapped a rare Neolithic tor enclosure (early 4th millennium BCE) with terrace platforms and field systems—evidence of an early settled community exploiting the ridge for pasture, visibility and defence. In the Iron Age, power clustered at nearby Castle Dore, a small multivallate hillfort that commanded the river approaches between today’s Lostwithiel and Fowey.

Tin trade beginnings:

Cornwall was rich in tin, which was a valuable resource in the Bronze Age. The Fowey estuary provided a natural transport route for tin, linking inland mining areas with the sea, and by extension, with Mediterranean traders (Phoenicians are often mentioned in legend, though this remains debated).

Tin conflicts:

Tin was the lifeblood of Cornwall. Control of river crossings and estuaries, like that at Lostwithiel, would have been contested between tribal groups, especially in the Late Bronze Age, when demand from the Mediterranean was high.

Roman and Early Medieval Period (43 – 1066 AD)

Roman influence:

While Cornwall was never heavily Romanised, the tin trade continued under Roman Britain. The area around the Fowey estuary likely remained a trading hub. Cornwall was never fully subdued by Rome. While there are villas and forts further east, here Roman presence was weak. Local tin interests continued semi-independently, with trade routes down the River Fowey. Friction probably existed between Roman traders/tax collectors and Cornish tinners, but evidence is fragmentary.

Post-Roman - Early Medieval:

After the collapse of Roman control, Cornwall was part of the kingdom of Dumnonia. The place name Lostwithiel derives from Cornish, often interpreted as Lostwydhyel or lostwydhyel, meaning “tail of the woodland” or possibly “place at the end of the woodland.”

Early Middle Ages onwards:

The settlement was small, with scattered farmsteads and river-related trade. Conflict was frequent between Cornish rulers and the expanding Anglo-Saxons. The Battle of Hingston Down (AD 838, near Callington) showed Cornish and Viking allies defeated by King Egbert of Wessex. While not in Lostwithiel, this reflects the contested status of the region.

Lostwithiel itself was still a small riverside hamlet, but its location at the head of the navigable Fowey made it strategically valuable. Whoever controlled it effectively controlled access to inland tin streams.

A Norman river-port and ducal town

The town itself emerged after the Norman Conquest, as lords established Restormel Castle above a convenient, tidal bend of the Fowey and laid out a planned riverside borough on a regular, “medieval grid” of streets. Richard, Earl of Cornwall (brother of Henry III), granted the town its charter in 1189, and by the later 13th century it had become the administrative heart of ducal Cornwall, profiting from the tin trade that moved downriver to the sea. The Stannary Courts (for the tin trade) and the Duchy Palace were based here, making it the centre of Cornish government and economy.

The Black Prince and Lostwithiel:

The Black Prince refers to Edward of Woodstock (1330–1376), eldest son of King Edward III of England. He was given the title Duke of Cornwall in 1337 – the very first duke in English history – and thus had strong ties to Cornwall.
As Duke of Cornwall, he controlled the Duchy of Cornwall, which provided him with income from lands, manors, and estates spread throughout the county (and beyond).

Regarding Lostwithiel:

Lostwithiel was the administrative capital of the Duchy of Cornwall in the 14th century.

The Black Prince did not permanently reside there, but he did use it as a ducal and administrative base.

He had a palace at Lostwithiel (sometimes called the Black Prince’s Palace), which was the duchy’s administrative center.

Documents and charters of the Duchy were issued from Lostwithiel during his time.

So while the Black Prince’s main residences were elsewhere (such as at Berkhamsted and Wallingford), he did have a significant presence in Lostwithiel, but more in an official/administrative capacity than as a permanent residence.

Norman and Medieval Ascendancy (1066–1500)

Norman control:

After 1066, William’s barons secured Cornwall. The Earl of Cornwall took direct interest in Lostwithiel’s river crossing and fertile hinterland.

Foundation of the town:

In the 12th–13th centuries, the Earls and later Richard of Cornwall (brother of Henry III) deliberately expanded Lostwithiel, granting borough status and building the Duchy Palace. It became the capital of Cornwall’s stannary system, administering the tin trade.

Rivalry with Fowey:

As Fowey grew into a port town, Lostwithiel and Fowey often clashed over rights to tin export. In the 14th century, violent disputes are recorded between tinners and shippers. Fowey’s seafaring community, notorious for piracy, sometimes bypassed Lostwithiel’s controls, angering duchy officials.

Rebellions:

In the Cornish Rising of 1497, led by Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank, rebels from across Cornwall marched to London against Henry VII’s tax demands. Lostwithiel, as a duchy town, was sympathetic to Cornish grievances. The rebellion was crushed at Blackheath.

In 1497 again, a second rebellion saw Perkin Warbeck, the pretender, land in Cornwall. His supporters included Cornishmen frustrated with Tudor taxation and the decline of Lostwithiel’s port role.

The English Civil War (1642–1651): The Lostwithiel campaign (1644)

Background:

By the summer of 1644, the First English Civil War was at a critical stage. Earlier that year, Parliament’s forces had secured a major victory over King Charles I at Marston Moor (2 July 1644), giving them control of the north of England. However, the King still retained strong support in the west, especially in Devon and Cornwall, where Royalist loyalty was deep-rooted.
In June 1644, the Earl of Essex (Robert Devereux), commanding one of Parliament’s main field armies, set out from London with roughly 10,000–14,000 men. His aim was to march into the far west, relieve the besieged Parliamentary garrison at Plymouth, and reassert Parliamentary control over Cornwall. It was an ambitious operation, but Essex’s army was operating far from its bases of supply and was in hostile territory.

The Campaign in Cornwall, Advance to Lostwithiel:

Essex’s army pushed deep into Cornwall, reaching as far as Lostwithiel, near the River Fowey, by late July 1644. The Royalist garrisons fell back before him, and he seemed to have made good progress. However, his position was precarious: the rugged Cornish landscape, narrow lanes, and hostile local population made resupply difficult.

Royalist Counter-move:

King Charles I himself, accompanied by his nephew Prince Maurice and experienced commanders such as Sir Richard Grenville and Lord Goring, rapidly marched west to trap Essex. By mid-August, the King had united his forces—numbering perhaps 15,000–17,000 men—with reinforcements arriving from Wales and the Midlands. Essex now found himself cut off, hemmed in on three sides by Royalist troops, with the sea at his back.

Siege and Encirclement:

The King established his headquarters at Boconnoc House near Lostwithiel and gradually tightened the noose around Essex’s army. Skirmishes and artillery duels took place around Restormel Castle, Fowey, and Lostwithiel itself. The Parliamentarians tried to hold a defensive perimeter, but their supplies dwindled and morale faltered.

Breakdown of the Parliamentary Army:

Essex realized his position was hopeless. He and several officers escaped by boat from Fowey to Plymouth on 31 August, leaving his cavalry under Sir William Balfour to attempt a breakout. Balfour’s cavalry managed a daring escape through the Royalist lines, riding eastward under cover of night and eventually rejoining Parliament’s main forces. The infantry, however, under Major-General Philip Skippon, were surrounded near Lostwithiel. On 2 September 1644, Skippon negotiated a surrender. About 6,000 Parliamentarian foot soldiers laid down their arms, though they were allowed to march away under parole, stripped of artillery, ammunition, and baggage.

Outcome and Significance:

The Lostwithiel Campaign was one of the worst disasters suffered by Parliament during the entire Civil War. Essex’s field army, one of their largest, was effectively destroyed as a fighting force in the west.

Parliament lost nearly all its artillery, munitions, and stores, along with control of Cornwall. The Royalists, and Charles I in particular, gained a huge morale boost: the King had personally overseen a major victory. However, the long-term impact was less decisive than it first appeared: Although Essex’s reputation was badly damaged, Parliament regrouped quickly. Only a month later, at the Second Battle of Newbury (October 1644), the Royalists were checked again, showing the King could not exploit his Cornish triumph to turn the war in his favour.

In summary:

The Lostwithiel Campaign (July–September 1644) was a dramatic episode where the Earl of Essex led Parliament’s army deep into Cornwall, only to be surrounded and forced into a humiliating surrender near Lostwithiel. It marked the nadir of Parliament’s fortunes in 1644 and demonstrated the perils of campaigning deep in hostile territory without secure supply lines.

Essex himself escaped by boat from Fowey. The registered battlefield landscapes around Lostwithiel preserve this grim chapter.

Commerce, river and reform: 17th–19th centuries

Prosperity in the later Middle Ages and Tudor period rested on tin, river trade and ducal government. Barges once rode the tide to the bridge; over time, silting shortened navigation and shifted trade patterns, though the town remained an inland port of note. The borough sent two MPs to the unreformed Parliament until disfranchised by the 1832 Reform Act, and the 19th century saw civic life reorganise under changing county and parish structures. The fabric of the town—its narrow plots, medieval lanes and Georgian frontages—speaks to steady adaptation rather than grand Victorian remodelling.

Buildings of interest in Lostwithiel

Restormel Castle:

The castle began existance as an earthwork and timber fort and matured into a remarkably complete circular shell-keep in the 13th century, set within deep ditches and a bailey on the ridge north of town. Though in decline by the 1500s, it was still strategically useful: Parliamentarian troops briefly garrisoned the ruin in 1644 during the Civil War, before being forced out in the Lostwithiel campaign (see below). Today its perfect ring of walling still surveys the bend of the Fowey and the town it fostered.

The site was first fortified soon after the Norman conquest (late 11th or early 12th century).

Likely built by the Cardinham family, Norman lords who held estates in mid-Cornwall.

The earliest castle was probably a motte-and-bailey earthwork, with timber defences, controlling the River Fowey crossing.

Around 1270–1280, the castle was rebuilt in stone by Isolda de Cardinham’s descendants, later passing to the powerful Earls of Cornwall. The design is remarkable, a perfect circular shell keep, about 38m in diameter, with thick curtain walls and internal ranges built against them. Inside were a hall, solar (private chamber), chapel, kitchen, guest chambers, and latrines — making it more a luxury residence than a stark fortress. Its siting on a hill above the Fowey Valley gave commanding views, both defensively and symbolically, of the earls’ dominion.

In 1337, when Edward the Black Prince became the first Duke of Cornwall, Restormel passed to the Duchy of Cornwall. The Black Prince invested in the castle, using it as a hunting lodge and an occasional administrative residence. Records note repairs and refurbishments during his tenure.

The Duchy (Stannary) Palace:

In the late 1200s Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall, built a grand complex beside Fore Street—the Stannary (or Duchy) Palace—housing an Exchequer Hall, Coinage Hall, smelting house, treasury and prison. Here, tin was assayed, taxed and stamped; here, stannators met in “parliament”; and here, the Black Prince, as Duke of Cornwall, ran his Cornish exchequer in the 1350s. The complex suffered in 1644, but the Exchequer Hall survived—later a masonic hall, now conserved as one of Cornwall’s most important secular medieval buildings.

Lostwithiel’s medieval bridge:

The lowest crossing of the river—anchors the town to the opposite bank at Bridgend. A crossing is recorded by 1280; the current stone structure took shape in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its western arches are believed to date from a major rebuild in 1437; further rounded arches were added eastwards as the river shifted course. Grade I listed today, it remains a handsome survivor of medieval road engineering.

St Bartholemew’s Church:

First mentioned c.1220 and largely rebuilt around 1300, St Bartholomew’s church (an example of fine Gothic architecture), anchors the upper end of Fore Street. Its square 13th-century tower carries an octagonal lantern and spire of 14th-century character (the spire has been renewed more than once, famously after a lightning strike in 1757). The church is Grade I listed and has long been read as a potted history of the town in stone.

Taprell House & Edgcumbe House:

A significant merchant’s complex with medieval roots, associated with a tin-trading family who furnished numerous mayors in the 16th century. Later given a refined Georgian frontage (Edgcumbe House) in the 1740s as a town residence for Lord Edgcumbe. Today the ensemble houses the library and a Methodist church space.

Lostwithiel Guildhall / Museum:

(former Corn Exchange, court and gaol) – The municipal heart of Fore Street evolved through the 18th–19th centuries; the museum building has served as Corn Exchange, schoolroom, butcher’s, magistrates’ court, fire station and town jail before settling into its present role.

Bridge House (The Parade):

A characterful riverside structure hard by the medieval bridge, listed Grade II, emblematic of the town’s intimate relationship with its crossing.

Coinage Hall (site) and Duchy Treasury undercroft:

Elements of the Stannary complex survive and are interpreted locally; the Exchequer undercroft once stored blocks of tin (and other goods) awaiting taxation and export.

In sum:

Lostwithiel grew where a castle met a river and tin met a ledger. From Neolithic walls on Helman Tor and Iron Age ramparts at Castle Dore, through a Norman castle, a medieval bridge and stannary palace, to a Civil War battlefield and Georgian civic rooms, the town’s stones remember Cornwall’s wider story—trade, crown, church and community—condensed into a single, walkable riverscape.

9brain Surfboards

Lostwithiel, Cornwall

Tel: 0753 2131779

(Kevin)

2025