Lostwithiel Cornwall Family History Guide

Lostwithiel is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Cornwall.

Other places in the parish include: Restormel.

Alternative names:

Parish church: St. Bartholomew

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1609
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1616

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Presbyterian, Wesleyan Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist Association.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

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.

It 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.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Bankrupts

People declared bankrupt and the date of bankruptcy.

Jenkins Joseph, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, cabinet maker, March 23, 1832.

Mortimer John Henry, Lostwithel, Cornwall, brandy merchant, Dec. 30, 1823.

Pearce William, Lostwithiel, Cornwall. timber merchant, March 13. 1832.

Skeat James, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, druggist and grocer, Oct. 5, 1838.

Dissolution of Partnerships

The following have been extracted from the London Gazette 1851

NOTICE is hereby given that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undeisigned as Dealers in Iron Coal Timber Slate Bricks Seeds and other articles of the like nature and carried on at Lostwithiel in the county of Cornwall under the firm of Arthur Collins and Parkin was this day dissolved by mutual consent. And that all debts due to or owing by the said firm will be received and paid by the undersigned Christopher Arthur by whom the said business will in future be carried on. As witness our hands the 22nd day of March 1851

Christr Arthur, Wm Collins, John Parkin