Lostwithiel

It is to St. Bartholomew, Patron Saint of Tanners, that the Church is dedicated. The exact date of its building cannot be stated but it is thought that Robert de Cardinan commenced work there in the year 1190 on the foundations of an earlier Church built around 542 AD.

The outstanding feature of the Church is its Lantern Spire. The tower is square and buttressed and rests on the North and South sides on arches which were, at one time, open and formed a right of way through the tower. This was closed and doors fixed at the time of the restoration of the Church in 1878-9. Surmounting the tower is the very beautiful, octagonal Lantern Spire built in the Early English style of architecture.

The spire was struck by lightning in 1757 and severely damaged. In January 1876 a violent gale, almost amounting to a cyclone, passed over the town when the tower was again damaged, shattering the stone cross with which the spire was finished.

The most ancient monument in the Church is a brass to the memory of Tristram Curtys who represented Lostwithiel in Parliament 1419-1421.

During the occupation of Lostwithiel by Parliamentary forces in the Civil War, the Church was used as a stable for their horses. According to records taken from a diary of 1644 there is an entry which read “In contempt of Christianity, Religion and the Church they brought a horse to the font, and there, with their kind of ceremonies, did as they called it, christen the horse and called him by name of Charles in contempt of His Sacred Majesty.”

The font is made of Pentewan stone and is thought to be dated about the middle of the 13th century, sometime in the reign of King Henry III.

There is an ancient Cornish Cross in the Churchyard. Stocks in the Church Porch are made to accommodate three people and A ONE LEGGED MAN!

St Saviour’s Church is a small Church on the Bridgend side of the river.