About
Lostwithiel Museum tells the story of a town whose modest present bears little trace of its remarkable medieval past. For two centuries, Lostwithiel was the capital of Cornwall — the seat of the Duchy administration, the site of the Stannary Parliament and coinage hall where all Cornish tin was weighed and taxed, and the port from which the county's wealth in black metal flowed to the wider world. Standing at the tidal limit of the River Fowey and surrounded by a landscape of ancient farmland and woodland, Lostwithiel reached its administrative zenith under Edward, the Black Prince, who established his Duchy of Cornwall here in 1337.
The museum, housed in the former Guildhall on Fore Street in the town centre, brings this history to life through an engaging collection of artefacts, documents, maps, and models. The coinage hall, built in 1330, still stands just around the corner, and Restormel Castle — the finest motte-and-bailey castle in Cornwall, from which the Black Prince governed — is a twenty-minute walk away through the meadows. The museum provides the essential interpretive thread connecting these sites.
Beyond medieval glory, the museum covers Lostwithiel's Civil War significance — a major battle was fought nearby in 1644 when Royalist forces under Charles I trapped and humiliated a Parliamentary army under Essex, one of the greatest Royalist victories of the war. The town's subsequent development as a centre of wool, agriculture, and small-scale industry is traced through domestic objects, craft tools, and a photographic archive. The museum is run entirely by volunteers whose enthusiasm for their town's outsized history makes it one of the most rewarding small museums in Cornwall.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- The museum is open mornings only (10:30–12:30), Easter to October — plan your visit accordingly and arrive by 12:00 to have adequate time.
- Walk to Restormel Castle (English Heritage, separate charge) through the water meadows after the museum — the medieval atmosphere of this circular keep is extraordinary.
- The Coinage Hall (1330) on Quay Street is a 3-minute walk from the museum and is free to view externally — one of the few medieval coinage halls surviving in England.
- The medieval bridge is one of the finest in Cornwall and worth crossing on foot for the views over the Fowey.
- Lostwithiel has several antique shops concentrated on Fore Street — the town is popular with dealers.
- Fowey (7 miles downstream, pronounced 'Foy') pairs well with a visit — du Maurier's Daphne is buried at St Winnow nearby, and Castle Dore (site of the 1644 battle) is on the road between.
- The railway station at Lostwithiel (Paddington–Penzance Great Western line) makes car-free visits straightforward from London, Exeter, or Plymouth.
Highlights
The Duchy of Cornwall and the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock — the Black Prince — established the Duchy of Cornwall here in 1337 when his father Edward III created the title, and Lostwithiel became the administrative centre of this powerful estate. The Duchy managed the revenues from Cornish tin, and the Stannary Parliament — the governing body of the tinners — met in the town.
The museum holds documents, seals, maps, and artefacts relating to Duchy administration, illustrating how a small market town at the tidal head of the Fowey briefly occupied a position of national economic importance.
The Stannary and Tin Coinage
Cornwall's tin trade was governed by the Stannary system, under which all tin had to be assayed and taxed at designated coinage towns. Lostwithiel's Coinage Hall (built 1330, still standing on Quay Street) was the principal point at which Cornish tin was weighed, stamped, and taxed before export. The museum explains this crucial system through models, tools, and documentary evidence, demonstrating how the tin trade generated wealth that sustained the medieval town.
The word 'coinage' referred to the cutting of a small corner from each block for testing, not to money itself.
Restormel Castle
Restormel Castle stands on a wooded hill a mile north of Lostwithiel and is one of the finest examples of a circular shell keep in England. Built largely in the late thirteenth century on earlier earthworks, it served as a hunting lodge and occasional residence for the Earls and later Dukes of Cornwall.
The Black Prince stayed here several times.
The museum holds plans, drawings, and historical accounts of the castle's construction and use, and provides the interpretive context for visiting the English Heritage site, which can be reached on foot through the meadows from the town.
The Battle of Lostwithiel, 1644
In the late summer of 1644, King Charles I led a Royalist army that trapped a Parliamentary force of some 10,000 men under the Earl of Essex in the Fowey peninsula. Essex escaped by boat but his cavalry and infantry were forced to surrender on 2 September at Castle Dore near Fowey, then retreated through Lostwithiel in disorder.
It was one of the greatest Royalist victories of the Civil War.
The museum holds maps of the campaign, contemporary accounts, and artefacts recovered from the area, placing this little-known but decisive engagement in the broader context of the Civil War in the West Country.
Collections
The museum's collection of approximately 2,000 objects, documents, and photographs reflects Lostwithiel's history from prehistoric times to the twentieth century.
The strongest holdings relate to the medieval and early modern town — Duchy documents, Stannary records, coinage artefacts, and Civil War material — but domestic and agricultural objects from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are well represented. The photographic archive is particularly valuable for documenting the late Victorian townscape.
A small library of Cornish local history is available to researchers.
Capital of Cornwall: The Medieval Town
Core permanent display covering Lostwithiel's role as the administrative and commercial capital of Cornwall from the 13th to 15th centuries, including the Stannary Parliament and the Duchy of Cornwall.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.