Lostwithiel is a small town at the head of the Fowey estuary, and for a stretch of the Middle Ages it was one of the most important places in Cornwall. In Kernewek it is Lostwydhyel, the tail-end of the woodland. It was founded in the twelfth century by Norman lords who built Restormel Castle on the ridge above, and it received its charter in 1189.
The stannary town
For a time this was the working capital of Cornish tin. The Stannary Palace stood here, and Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, oversaw the building of the palace, the bridge and the square church tower in the late thirteenth century. The town was laid out as two adjoining boroughs, Penknight and Lostwithiel, and the two were absorbed into one in 1268.
War and iron
In 1644 the Battle of Lostwithiel saw a Parliamentarian army beaten by Royalist forces, and Cornwall stayed Royalist until 1646. Later the town worked iron: Trinity Iron Mine, renamed Royal Restormel in 1846, dug haematite until it closed in 1883. The Guildhall of 1740 now keeps the museum, and the railway still carries china clay down the branch line to Fowey.
Sources
Last checked: 2026-10-11