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Lostwithiel
Cornish: Lostwydhyel
Lostwithiel  Lostwithiel shown within Cornwall
Population	2,739 (Census 2001[1])
OS grid reference	SX104598
Parish	Lostwithiel
Unitary authority	Cornwall
Ceremonial county	Cornwall
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LOSTWITHIEL
Postcode district	PL22
Dialling code	01208
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Cornwall
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	South East Cornwall
List of places: UK • England • Cornwall

Lostwithiel

The town lies on the A390 road from Tavistock to Truro.

Lostwithiel railway station is on the Cornish Main Line from Plymouth to Penzance. It is situated on the south side of the town, just across the medieval bridge. The line was originally built for the Cornwall Railway which built its main workshops here, but the surviving workshop buildings were transformed into apartments in 2004. A branch line takes china clay trains to Fowey.

Lostwithiel's most notable buildings are St Bartholomew's Church and Restormel Castle. There is a small museum devoted to the history of the town. Once a stannary town, and for a period the most important in Cornwall, it is now much reduced in importance. There is a fine early fourteenth century bridge with five pointed arches, and nearby the remains of the Stannary Court, with its Coinage Hall - this was the centre of royal authority over tin-mining, and 'coinage' meant the knocking off of the corner of each block of tin for the benefit of the Duchy of Cornwall. The small Guildhall has an arcaded ground floor. The old Grammar School has been converted into dwellings.

Lostwithiel is a historic borough. The Lostwithiel constituency elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons, but was disenfranchised by the Reform Act 1832. It remained a municipal borough until the 1960s, when it became a civil parish.

The town boasts a number of annual cultural activities including an arts and crafts festival, a beer festival, a week long carnival in the summer and a Dickensian evening in December. The town has a playing field known as King George V Playing Field. Lostwithiel has several large parks. Coulson Park was named after Nathaniel Coulson who was raised in Lostwithiel after being abandoned by his father.

There are two primary schools in Lostwithiel: St Winnow C E School and Lostwithiel Primary School. The majority of children aged between 11 and 16 attend Fowey Community College.

The origin of the name Lostwithiel is a subject much debated. In the 16th century it was thought that the name came from the Roman name Uzella, translated as Les Uchel in Cornish. In the 17th century popular opinion was that the name came from a translation of Lost (a tail) and Withiel (a lion), the lion in question being the lord who lived in the castle.

Current thinking is that the name comes from the Old Cornish Lost Gwydeyel meaning "The place at the tail end of the forest". The view from Restormel Castle looking towards the town shows how this may have come to be.

From Lostwithiel railway station trains operated by First Great Western run approximately every two hours towards Plymouth or Penzance. Some through services to and from London Paddington station and those operated by CrossCountry between Penzance and Scotland also stop.

National Express provides a regular coach service to London which runs via Plymouth for connections to other destinations. The coach stop is located outside the Royal Talbot Hotel.

A shoppers bus to St Austell operated by First Devon & Cornwall (service 24) runs four journeys (Monday to Friday) via Luxulyan with stops close to the Eden Project & China Clay Country Park. Stops in Lostwithiel are outside the Royal Talbot Hotel & Cott Road phone box.

Pleiber-Krist, Brittany, France