The parish of

LOSTWITHIEL

Above: View of Lostwithiel, © 2002, A. Tumser Top right: Duchy Palace, © 2003, A. Tumser Bottom right: Tudor Bridge © 2003, Charles Winpenny

Lostwithiel, in the hundred of Powder, is bounded on the west, north, and south by Lanlivery and on the east by St. Winnow. Situated at the tidal reach of the river Fowey, in a beautiful wooded valley, the delightful town lies tucked away just off the A390, a haven of peace and tranquility.

The name 'Lostwithiel' means 'tail of the forest', coming from two old Cornish words. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Lostwithiel was the capital of the Duchy, being further developed by the Earls of Cornwall. It was the centre for the administration of county affairs and the main trading centre for tin.

At that time the river Fowey was deep and wide and sea going ships tied up along the quay for loading the tin. The town was officially known as 'The Port of Fawi', and became the second busiest port on the south coast of England.

The medieval church (dedicated to St. Bartholomew), the 16th century bridge and part of the Great Hall (now known as the Duchy Palace) still stand as testimony to its original splendour.

The Online Parish Clerk for Lostwithiel is Ann Tumser, who can be contacted by Email.

A Message from the OPC:   Since the inception of the Cornwall Online Parish Clerk scheme in 2001, I've been the OPC for Lostwithiel. I am transcribing their records, and offer lookups from this data. Donations of transcriptions are always welcome. If you wish to contact me, please use the above link, but please place the words 'OPC Lostwithiel' as your subject for e-mails. Please note that I do not live in or near Lostwithiel, but I've spent five extended vacations in this charming town. Ann

PARISH INFORMATION

CENSUS:

Information can be found at COCP (Cornwall Online Census Project) which is complete for 1841 to 1891 and has been verified, FreeCen at Rootsweb, which has a very good search engine and information from COCP, as well as GenUKI, which has more reference information and alternate resources.

REGISTERS:

The OPC has transcribed Births and Marriages from the 1813-1900 St. Bartholomew registers, and will gladly provide lookups from them. Burials for the same time period are available in our online database and here in register order. For further Parish Register information, please see our online searchable database (C-PROP) which is updated frequently. The parish coverage page is here.

DIRECTORIES:

The OPC holds directories for every year from 1791 to 1939 in which directories were published. Please contact her for lookups. For other information, see GenUKI or visit the University of Leicester's Historical Directories website.

OTHER:

The OPC offers look-ups from:

• Independent Church christenings 1805-1837 (IGI)
• Marriage and burial transcriptions
• MIs
• War Memorial photo with all names from WWI and WWII
• Names of Incumbents of the Parish
• Many photographs of Lostwithiel
• I subscribe to the Lostwithiel Museum Association and have all of their publications since their beginning in 1996 (Lostwithiel Past and Present)
• Map of Lostwithiel town
• OS map (Explorer 107)
• Brochures of "Walks Within The Town of Lostwithiel", "Walks Around Lostwithiel", "Lostwithiel, Celebrating 800 Years"
• Copy of Frances M. Hext's book "Memorials of Lostwithiel"
• "The Book of Lostwithiel" and "The New Book of Lostwithiel" by Barbara Fraser
• Copy of "Lakes Parochial History of the County of Cornwall: Lostwithiel Vol III"

Bastardy/Filiation Documents:

1. Examination of Elizabeth ROSKELLY of this parish, dated 28 Apr 1804, and Bond, dated 9 Jul 1804. Both also mention Thomas JANE of Lanlivery.
2. Bond, dated 8 May 1811, concerning a child of Elizabeth ROSKILLY's, chargeable to this parish.

Other Documents:

1. an Indenture, dated 1 February 1836, concerning land in St Blazey but William MEDLEND maltster of this parish and Louisa his wife.
2. the Will of Sarah POMERY, dated 15 Jan 1822, with a codicil dated 26 May 1846.
3. a transcription of Settlement Examinations, dated 7 Sep 1847, regarding James Every BESWARICK, late of this parish.
4. an Indenture, dated 21 Feb 1852, which mentions George Bell LAWRENCE, Dorothy BULLOCK his wife and William BURGESS all of this Parish.
5. An article concerning William BARTLETT (1837 - 1882), for some time a resident of this parish, hanged for a murder committed whilst he was Foreman of Messrs Freeman’s Colkerrow Granite Quarry, Lanlivery.
6. the Will of Richard REED and Probate, dated 11 Mar 1889.

For more information regarding history, population, etc., visit GenUKI.

MAPS:

For a Parish Locator map, please click here. Lostwithiel can be located at coordinates H - 5.

For further map information, please visit GenUKI (Genealogy - United Kingdom & Ireland).

To see a current, zoomable Ordnance Survey map, please visit MultiMap, or for maps and satellite images use Google Maps.

ADJACENT PARISHES:

Lanlivery and St Winnow.

ONLINE BOOKS:

Lostwithiel is included in The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume III by Davies Gilbert, William Hals, Thomas Tonkin, Henry Samuel Boase, originally published in 1838. Also downloadable as a pdf from here.