Lostwithiel

Coordinates: 50°24′27″N 4°40′11″W / 50.40741°N 4.66964°W / 50.40741; -4.66964

Lostwithiel (/lɒstˈwɪðjəl/; Cornish: Lostwydhyel) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwithiel electoral ward had a population of 4,639 at the 2011 census. The name Lostwithiel comes from the Cornish "lostwydhyel" which means "tail of a wooded area".

Origin of the name

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 Gwydhyel meaning "tail-end of the woodland". The view from Restormel Castle looking towards the town shows how this may have come to be.

Lostwithiel (UK Parliament constituency)

Lostwithiel was a rotten borough in Cornwall which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in the English and later British Parliament from 1304 to 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.

History

The borough consisted of the town of Lostwithiel and part of the neighbouring Lanlivery parish; it was a market town whose trade was mainly dependent on the copper mined nearby.

Unlike many of the most notorious Cornish rotten boroughs, Lostwithiel had been continuously represented since the Middle Ages and was originally of sufficient size to justify its status. However, by the time of the Great Reform Act it had long been a pocket borough, under the complete control of the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe since 1702. The right to vote was vested in the corporation, who numbered 24 in 1816; they made no attempt to defy their patron, who regularly paid the corporation's debts and advanced them money.

In 1831, the borough had a population of 1,047, and 303 houses.