Lestwithiel evidently owes its locality to that which determined in
early times the site of all towns placed on the banks of navigable
rivers. They were universally built on the highest point to which
vessels or boats frequenting the estuary were capable of being carried
by the tide.
Richard Plantagenet might well have been captivated by the beauties of
this place and of the surrounding country, by its central situation,
and by the commanding eminence of Restormal. Here the last of our real
feudal princes, whether he originally built or only enlarged the
castle, fixed his court, and collected those revenues with which he is
said to have bought from the venal electors of Germany, the titular
office of King of the Romans; conveying, however, the legal right of
succession to the throne of his grandfather the Emperor Henry the
Fifth.
Nummus ait pro me, nubit Cornubia Romæ.
Carew, 204, Lord Dunstanville’s edit.
To Richard King of the Romans Lestwithiel is indebted for the remains
of the palace or stannary buildings, and for its privileges.
The palace, if it was ever the residence of a Prince, has long since
been converted into a prison, with apartments for occasionally holding
the Stannary Courts.
Various charters have been granted to this town. The last was given in
the reign of King George the Second, by which seven permanent Aldermen
annually chose, for one year, seventeen other persons, misnamed
freemen, who altogether formed the select body for electing Members of
Parliament. The validity of this charter has never been contested; but
a doubt can scarcely be entertained of all its being utterly void, at
least as to constituting a Parliamentary grant, on the ground of its
entire variance from the common law of the land: but this question has
now lost its importance in consequence of the Reform enacted in 1832.
The church possesses a character unusual in the west of England, by
having its nave elevated, with a series of windows above the two
ailes. It contains several monuments, and a curious antique font.
The etymology of this town, like that of Leskeard, has suffered from
modern caprice, the Les having been here changed into Los; as Dover,
from some strange fancy, is rapidly passing into Dovor.
No separate measurement has been taken of this parish, not even
co-extensive with the modern town; the site is included in the
parishes adjacent.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1498 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 398 3 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 743 | 825 | 933 | 1548
giving an increase of 108 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. John Bower, presented in 1816 by Lord Mount
Edgcumbe.