“Reputed,” saith Mr. Willis, “the ancient Uzella of Ptolemy, lies
situated on the river Uzella,” (I wonder how Mr. Willis came to be
guilty of this mistake, since both Leland and Camden, whom he quotes,
tell him that it lies on the river Fowy,) “from which it more probably
had its name, as the learned Camden thinks” (Mr. Camden says as I have
quoted him above,) “than from Carew’s interpretation of the word
Lestwithiel, which he would have to signify in English, lion’s tail.
This town is reputed in former times to have stood on a high hill,
where the old castle of Lestormel showeth its ruins, which with a park
thereto belonging, lies on the north side of the town” (and is in the
parish of Lanlivery, for which reason it is not treated of here). “In
the park was a Chapel of the Trinity, long since defaced, as are the
public buildings of the town, insomuch that little remains of them;
though some small parts are repaired, and made use of for the prisons
and courts belonging to the Tin Stannaries, which are appointed to be
kept here, this being one of the coinage towns.”
Before I go on any further with Mr. Willis, it may be proper to insert
at length what Mr. Camden saith of it. “More within the land, on the
same river (Fowy), the Uzella of Ptolemy is seated; and has not quite
lost its name, being called at this day Lestuthiell, from its
situation; for it was upon a high hill, where is Listormel, an ancient
castle; though now it is removed into the valley. Now Uchel, British,
signifies the same as high and lofty; from whence Uxellodunum of Gaule
is so termed, because the town being built upon a mountain, has a
steep rugged ascent every way. This in the British history is called
Pen-Uchel-Coit, a high mountain in a wood, by which some will have
Exeter meant. But the situation assigned it by Ptolemy, and the name
it has to this day, do sufficiently evince it to have been the ancient
Uzella. Now it is a little town, and not at all populous; for the
channel of the river Fowy, which in the last age used to carry the
tide up to the very town, and bring vessels of burthen, is now so
stopped up by the sands coming from the tin-mines, that it is too
shallow for barges; and indeed, all the havens in this county are in
danger of being choaked up by their sands. However, it is the county
town, where the Sheriff every month holds the County Court, and the
Warden of the Stannaries has his prison. For it has the privilege of
coinage, by the favour (as they say) of Edmund Earl of Cornwall, who
formerly had his palace there. But there are two towns which
especially eclipse the glory of this Uzella,――Leskerd to the east, and
Bodman to the north.” Now to return to Mr. Willis. “It is a very
ancient corporation, belonging to the Duchy, having had great
privileges conferred upon it by Richard Earl of Cornwall (so saith
Leland, Itinerary, vol. III. fol. 16,) who, when he was King of the
Romans, in the twelfth year of his reign, by charter dated at
Wallington, made Lostwithiel and Penknek (alias Penkneth, in the
parish of Lanliversey, for Lanlivery, saith Leland, in the above cited
place,) a place near adjoining, and now part of the borough, one free
burgh, and granted his burgesses a gild mercatory, &c. When this place
was first incorporated, I have not been informed; but it has returned
Members to Parliament ever since 4 Edw. II. and once before, viz. 23
Edw. I. The Representatives are chosen by the majority of the
Corporation, which consists of seven capital burgesses (whereof one is
Mayor), and seventeen assistants, in whom, as I presume, the fee-farm
rent of the borough is vested, who hold the same, or not many years
since did, of the Duchy. This Corporation (otherwise a poor one) holds
also the anchorage in the harbour, and bryhelage of measureable
commodities, as coals, salt, malt, and corn, &c. in the town of Fowey;
which port lies lower on this river, which was navigable to this town
before the sands barred it up. The town of Lestwithiel consists
chiefly of two streets, from east to west, meanly built, and has in it
a church (of which more at the end).
“In August 1644, some soldiers of the Parliament Army, as may be seen
in Dugdale’s Short View of the late Troubles in England, p. 560,
defaced several stately edifices in this town, as the great Hall and
Exchequer of the Dukes of Cornwall, who had their palace here in times
past; this having been formerly reputed the shire town of the county,
a small branch of which it yet retaineth, viz. the election of knights
of the shire, and keeping the county weights and measures, which it
had assigned by Act of Parliament, anno 11 Hen. VII. Who held this
manor (note, that this place is no manor, but Penknek,) at the making
of Domesday Book, the learned Dr. Brady could not discover; but no
doubt it was reckoned among those of Robert Earl of Moreton and
Cornwall, the King’s brother. Though in the reign of Richard I. it was
part of the demesne lands of Robert de Cardinan Lord of Fowey, who was
returned debtor into the Exchequer, of ten marks due to the King for
having a market at Lestwithiel. _Robertus de Cardinan debet decem
marcas pro habendo Foro apud Lostwithel. Mag. Rot. 6 Ric. I. Rot. 12
a. m. 2, Cornwallia._ However, this town belonged, temp. Hen. III. to
Richard Earl of Cornwall, King Richard’s nephew, upon the death of
whose son Edmund, it became part of the King’s demesne, and anno 7
Edw. III. upon the creation of John Earl of Cornwall, the King’s
brother, he had this borough, _inter alia_, granted him; which was
afterwards assigned to Edward the King’s son, when he was made Duke of
Cornwall, and became, upon his death, the jointure or dowry of Joan
Princess of Wales, his wife; on whose decease, anno 9 Ric. II. the
King granted it to Tho. Holland Earl of Kent, his (half) brother, who
held for life the manors of Lestwithiel and Camelford; he died in the
20th Ric. II. His son Thomas was created Duke of Surrey, and was
beheaded anno 1 Hen. IV.”
Mr. Willis having a little mistaken this, I have thus rectified it.
After the death of which last Thomas, (who also held them for life),
Sir John Cornwall, Lord Fanhope, obtained a grant of the same on
account of marrying Elizabeth, the King’s sister; and obtained a grant
of the same from Henry Prince of Wales to enjoy them during her life;
and afterwards procured it for his own life, and died accordingly
seised thereof in December 1443 (22 Hen. VI.) as may be seen in
Dugdale’s Baronage. The yearly rent of this borough, payable to the
Duke of Cornwall, is in Doddridge’s History of that Duchy, p. 108, set
down at £11. 19_s._ 10½_d._
The town is situated between hills. Boats of ten and twenty tons come
up hither. Here are about 70 houses; and the manor is in the duchy.